NFL - NEWS & NOTES

The Browns are set to unveil new uniforms in 2020 and they’ve made a change to their primary uniforms in the meantime.

The team announced on Wednesday that the league has granted them approval to wear what had been their Color Rush uniforms as their primary outfit for the 2019 season. Cleveland was 3-0 in those uniforms during the 2018 season.

Those uniforms feature brown jerseys with orange numbers and orange stripes matched with brown pants that also have orange stripes. The team will be wearing those uniforms for Sunday’s opener against the Titans. They are also expected to wear them for home dates against the Rams, Seahawks, Steelers, Bengals and Ravens.

There’s no word on what uniforms they’ll wear for the other two home games on this year’s slate.

 

That's a ridiculous offer. Gordon should not be paid like one of the top two to three running backs in the league, but that trade offer is not even close.

 

It's one of those "so you want him gone at this point" offers. Me and some buddies are debating on this vs Clowney trade. Most of us think the Clowney trade was much worse but there are a few that think the opposite.

 

Colts claim Jim Irsay turned down $3.2 billion offer for the team



The Colts are not for sale. If they are, it’s going to cost more than $3.2 billion to get them.

Via the Indianapolis Star, the team has confirmed that owner Jim Irsay rejected an offer from an unspecified buyer of $3.2 billion for the franchise. The identity of the potential buyer was not disclosed. A team spokesperson also told the Star that the Colts are not for sale.

If it’s true that some unknown bidder offered $3.2 billion for the Colts, and if the offer had been accepted, that would have been a record price tag for any NFL team. Last year, David Tepper bought the Panthers for $2.3 billion.

And there’s no way to know whether it’s true, unless and until the unidentified buyer becomes identified — and unless and until the unidentified buyer confirms the rejected offer. Otherwise, it’s possible that the team is for sale, and that telling the world that a $3.2 billion offer was rejected sends a message that it will cost more than that to get the team.

Like, perhaps, $3.2 billion and Weird Al Yankovic’s accordion.

(PFT)

 

Football is here. Real, competitive professional football with stakes is back in our lives, starting this Thursday night.

And what a way to start.

Kicking off the National Football League's 100th season is not the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots but two of the league's oldest franchises engaging in an age-old rivalry: the 199th edition of Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers.

The two NFC stalwarts opened last season on Sunday Night Football, when Green Bay came back to defeat Chicago at Lambeau Field in a 24-23 instant classic. This year, the Packers will take on the Bears at Soldier Field on Thursday night to kick-start their campaigns. Green Bay enters with a 97-95-6 advantage in their all-time series.

Thursday's events will either pull the Bears one game closer to tying the rivalry record and gaining one leg up in the division race or distance the Packers' all-time lead and give Green Bay its first road victory of the year, matching last season's total.

We've been looking forward to this opener for months, hashing out every matchup and detail to the extreme. But there's still one more day to anticipate and one more preview to read.

Here's what to watch for during Thursday evening's season opener at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC:

1. How will Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay's offense perform in their first game under Matt LaFleur?

On Thursday night, Rodgers will suit up for the very first time without Mike McCarthy calling shots from the sideline. Mike has been replaced with Matt. The first-time head coach comes by way of assisting Sean McVay in Los Angeles and running Mike Vrabel's offense in Tennessee. At 39 years old, he is four years Rodgers' senior. Who the senior voice at the line of scrimmage will be Thursday night and throughout the season was a point of discussion and, reportedly, contention this offseason.

Rodgers and LaFleur spoke to NFL.com's Michael Silver this summer and both expressed there was a disconnect regarding Rodgers' freedom to audible LaFleur's play calls. The storyline was picked at over and again throughout the summer, and despite LaFleur's best wishes, it has not resolved itself because Rodgers has yet to see the field; he was supposed to play in Green Bay's second and third preseason games but was held out both times for precautionary reasons.

All this has continued to build anticipation for Thursday night when we will surely get our first look at Rodgers in LaFleur's system, though what that look looks like remains to be seen. Will there be more pre-snap movement? Will Aaron Jones shoulder a larger workload? How long will the honeymoon last? Those questions will start to be answered on Thursday evening.

2. Will the Bears' defense pick up where it left off without Vic Fangio?

There are few holes on Chicago's roster on either side of the ball, but especially on defense. The Bears lost just one starter from last year's top scoring defense to the Packers (Adrian Amos) and replaced him a former Packers starter (Ha Ha Clinton-Dix). Their biggest loss on the defensive side of the ball, in fact, came on the sidelines where Fangio was replaced by Chuck Pagano at defensive coordinator. Chicago is expected to experience a regression in the turnover department from last year's outsize performance and there might be some growing pains with a new defensive playcaller, who hasn't held a DC position in eight seasons. But the Bears are also returning an impenetrable front seven led by Akiem Hicks, Roquan Smith and of course Khalil Mack. The Bears linebacker has been a menace off the edges over the past three seasons, recording 162 QB pressures (2nd) and forcing 12 turnovers (T-4th) in that span. In his first game as a Bear, Mack recorded a strip sack and a pick-six at Lambeau before sitting out the second half during Rodgers' miraculous comeback. Expect Mack to play the whole game Thursday barring injury and being the focal point of a Bears defense adjusting to new management.

3. Is David Montgomery the real deal?

Chicago's biggest mystery on offense is likely whether Mitchell Trubisky can take The Next Step, but that won't be resolved in one evening of late-summer football. Instead, Bears fans should be looking forward to the debut of Montgomery, their third-round running back out of Iowa State entering the league with hype and expectations galore. Replacing Jordan Howard, whom Chicago traded to Philadelphia before the draft, Montgomery will be paired with the speedy Tarik Cohen in the backfield and should take a large share of carries out of the gate. Montgomery played just one game in the preseason, totaling six touches for 46 yards and a touchdown. But it was enough to set the fantasy football-industrial complex and Bears chat forums ablaze with anticipation. Against a refurbished Packers front seven (Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, Za'Darius Smith among the additions) that ranked 22nd in rushing defense in 2018, can Montgomery carry the load and Chicago to victory in his first career start?

4. Is Chicago's kicker situation really resolved (and will the Bears fans be patient with Eddy Pineiro)?

It's been 242 days since the "double doink," the second-to-last play of Chicago's loss to the Eagles in the wild-card round. Two-hundred-and-forty-two days with a nagging need at the kicker position. Let's recap Chicago's crazy kicking competition: Out went Cody Parkey, in came nine tryouts for rookie minicamp, out went most of them, in came Pineiro via trade, out went Chris Blewitt and then finally out went Elliott Fry. The last man standing in Chicago's quest to find a kicker averse to launching pigskins into goalposts, Pineiro enters Thursday night's opener as the Bears' starting kicker ... for now. He closed the preseason by hitting three of three field goals, but also shanking an extra point juuuuuuuust a bit outside and earning boos from the Soldier Field faithful. If or when Pineiro misses a kick against the Packers, be it in the first quarter or the dying embers of the fourth, will Chicago's fans, after toiling in offseason-long agony over the state of their place-kickers, give him a break? Or will Pineiro crumble under the regular-season scrutiny and force the Bears to go back to the drawing board, again?

(NFL.com)

 

Are they serious tho? Do the Chargers really want to trade Gordon, or is it just a chess move to try to get him crawling back and not demanding such a raise? I think, that if a team were to offer a 1st rounder with other assets, they would take it under serious consideration, but I don't think they will get in this day and age what they think they are looking for. I personally don't think the Chargers are handling this well and are really screwing their football team... they need Gordon, big time.

As far as the comparison between the Clowney trade and this stuff in San Diego, the Clowney trade as it stands right now is worse. Time will only tell if the Chargers make things worse if they actually trade Gordon on a note of just wanting to rid themselves of him. Why they would do that is beyond me.

Interesting difference in owners here too. JJ, some say, got played and owned by Zeke... the Chargers on the other hand are playing hardball to its fullest.

 

Now that the contract numbers are out looks like Jerry did a pretty good job. Basically breaks down to 4yrs, 48M and then a bunch of option years.

 

like the Clowney trade was any better? Roseman is testing the interest waters Dawg. you don't show all of your cards. you gotta see what's out there. they said "no." now they know it will take a lot more to acquire him. they may send a second offer?

 

If the Raiders suspend AB for conduct detrimental to the team then his guarantees will likely be voided which means it's time to start thinking about Oakland moving on from AB within the year. AB can't be cool with his guarantees gone.

 

the steelers laugh more and more at this!

 

That’s the team that wouldn’t pay Khalil Mack....but happily bought one of the biggest headaches in football.

 

Jon Gruden, the $100 million dollar / 10% man...

 

That's hilarious Bww!! LOL

 

Antonio Brown is just unbelievable....

Rumor has it, the Raiders are trying to void out his entire deal and cut bait. Looking to re-coup about $30M

 

Has there EVER been a more narcissistic player in sports, than A.B.?

 

I would love to see a list. A Rod? Maybe?
Brown is nuts. I look at his actions and it's clear they are those of a very unhinged person.

 

im probably wrong on this but i read 2 weeks ago they can't just cut him and get the money back until 2020 or 2021? again, im probably wrong, but the article had referenced some contract policies with the NFL etc.

 

I'm hearing the opposite now from some of the sites like CBS. If it's possible, I'm sure the Raiders explore it at this point.

 

It depends on if he has language in his contract that would make behavior detrimental to the team a reason to cut ties without the current contract structure in place.

If not, the Raiders would have to eat around $15mil in cap space this season. If they could trade him it would result in saving around $13mil, but who in the hell would give up anything worthwhile for him?

The only other option would be to dress him and sideline him for 2019, the cut him in the off-season to mitigate the cash loss.

Unless, like I said at the top, the language in the contract kills the guaranteed cash in 2019. There is a possibility that the Raiders could cut him in that scenario and only give up around $2mil this season.

Money well spent to get him the hell off of the roster, IMO. Just suck up the loss of the draft picks and move on.