NFL - NEWS & NOTES

@Torgo

If you want to avoid getting a gorilla red ass, dont look at Falcons Wire, lol. Here's a couple headlines...

39 QBs ranked ahead of Desmond Ridder by Chris Simms

Falcons land at No. 26 in PFF's 2023 roster rankings
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On the bright-side... cBS predicts a double digit winning record for the Falcons... Thats more like it.

I have a lotta kin-folk down South, Ima get some good fried crow recipe's and distribute them when they take back the South.

 

I mentioned that one already in the Falcons News thread. Simms had Ridder at #40 and his backup Taylor Heinicke at #33 - so neither of them is in the top 32 QBs in a 32-team league.

If anything, Ridder is moving up the list from last year. Simms listed him as only the #5 QB prospect in the 2022 draft and didn't have him among last year's top 40 QBs. Heinicke didn't make the top 40 list last year either, with the bottom five spots going to Tyrod Taylor, Gardner Minshew, Teddy Bridgewater, Kenny Pickett and Drew Lock.

Of course, last year he rated Tua Tagovailoa #29, Jalen Hurts #25 and Trevor Lawrence #24 while putting Zach Wilson at #22, Jameis Winston and Mitch Trubisky at #26 and #27. So I'm quite content to let the season play out.

 

I cant keep track sometimes and its tough to pay attention these days with the economy and all.

 

Done deal.

The Steelers are talking about a contract extension with Alex Highsmith, but that didn’t get in the way of their efforts to add another veteran to their edge rushing group.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team has agreed to a deal with Markus Golden. It will be a one-year deal in Pittsburgh for Golden, who visited with the team this week.

Golden had 48 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 20 quarterback hits in 17 games for the Cardinals last season. He had 22 sacks in four seasons with the Cardinals to start his career and 14 more in 2020 and 2021 after returning to Arizona in a trade with the Giants.

Golden will join Highsmith and T.J. Watt as options off the edge in Pittsburgh this season.
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Pretty badassed edge rushing core.

 

Andy Reid on kickoff changes: Eventually you’ll be playing flag football


The NFL’s obsession with making the game safer has its limits. At some point, it stops football from being football.

In the aftermath of the most recent revisions to the kickoff, Chiefs coach Andy Reid made that observation when asked about the new rule that allows the receiving team on a kickoff to make a fair catch and get the ball at the 25.

“I don’t know,” Reid told reporters, via John Dixon of ArrowheadPride.com. “We’ll have to go through all that. My thing is, ‘Where does it stop?’ Right?

“So you start taking pieces [away] — and we’ll see how this goes — but you don’t want to take too many pieces away. You’ll be playing flag football.”

That’s the balance the NFL needs to strike. It’s one thing to make football safer. It’s another thing to make football not football.

That’s the risk. The game has changed slowly but, overall, dramatically in the past 14 years. Watch games from the 1980s or 1990s on YouTube.com. It was brutal, so much more than it is now.

At some point, the league risks crossing the line into something that makes football feel like it isn’t football anymore. The NFL isn’t there yet, but it could be getting close to it.

PFT

 

Little ironic that he said losing in Chicago sucked the fun out of the game, so he went to the Lions. I know they’re building something that looks like it will be something now, but not many teams lost more than the Lions the past few decades lol

 

Patriots lose two days of OTAs for violating offseason rules

The Patriots have lost two of their organized team activities sessions just a couple days into Phase 3 of the NFL's offseason program.

The NFL docked two of New England's 10 scheduled OTAs due to a violation of offseason rules, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. The exact nature of the violation has not been reported.

According to a team release, the club will no longer conduct practice on May 25 or May 30 and will instead resume its offseason schedule next Wednesday.

The Patriots, who began OTAs on May 22 and had undergone two practices before the punishment was handed down, will now have just six more practices to work on the field together before they open up three-day mandatory minicamp on June 12.

Two teams last year were docked practices for violation of non-contact rules -- the Cowboys and the Bears. Live contact is not permitted at OTAs, but teams are allowed to run 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.

Head coach Bill Belichick will speak to the media following the resumption of New England's OTAs on May 31.

NFL.com

 

The hoodie’s at it again… why don’t they just ban him?

 

John Harbaugh opposes new rule promoting fair catches on kickoffs

The NFL changed its kickoff rule to put the ball on the 25-yard line after touchbacks, in the hopes that it would lead to fewer returns, fewer high-speed collisions and fewer injuries.

Not everyone likes the idea.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who was a special teams coordinator before he became a head coach and is always one of the most prominent voices in the league on special teams matters, said the Ravens voted against the rule change because, “We thought there were better ideas.”

“The fair catch rule, we had a chance to weigh in on that with all the special teams coaches,” Harbaugh said. “We had a long talk and discussion about that. We weren’t for it. We voted against it. We think it’s going to create more high-speed head trauma than not having it in there. That’s our position on it. But we’ll see. They want to give it a shot and take a look at it.”

Harbaugh didn’t explain why he thinks the rule will create more high-speed head trauma, nor did he say which better ideas he favors.

One better idea that is generating interest in the football world, however, is the low-impact kickoff popularized by the XFL. That kickoff features 10 players on the kicking team and 10 on the receiving team lining up five yards apart, with no running starts. The XFL has found that its rule results in fewer injuries and more returns. It’s an idea worth exploring, but the NFL’s rule changes seem geared more toward eliminating kickoffs altogether.

PFT
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I find it very interesting how coaches and players are coming out against this fair catch crap. Maybe the brass running the NFL should listen and let the ballers and coaches run the show or at least have input thats taken seriously.

I truly believe owners are more concerned about cashmoney than the integrity of the good ol' game.

 

Travis Etienne: Last year was about getting healthy, now I’m able to work on football



Jaguars running back Travis Etienne spent last offseason recovering from the Lisfranc injury that cost him his rookie season, but the focus on his foot didn’t keep him from producing on the field.

Etienne ran for 1,125 yards and caught 35 passes for 316 yards in the regular season before picking up 201 yards from scrimmage and scoring a touchdown in the postseason. There’s no injury issues keeping him from building on that this year and Etienne said this week that change has allowed him to keep his focus on “fine-tuning my skills.”

“Last year was more about getting healthy and getting back,” Etienne said, via Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union. “This year, I didn’t have to worry about my foot. It’s great. So I’m able to work on football.”

Footwork and ball security are among the skills that Etienne plans to hone between now and a season that he and the Jaguars hope is even better than the one they had in 2022.

PFT

 

And now this...

Per a league source with knowledge of the situation, the decision to table the fair-catch rule in March was followed by an agreement to have a gathering of special-teams coaches at the offices of NFL Films in New Jersey, with the goal of brainstorming ideas for making the kickoff safer in lieu of another rule change that would simply lead to fewer kickoff returns, in theory. And a meeting, we’re told, did happen.

At the meeting, multiple options were given to the league (which was primarily represented by league executives Troy Vincent and Jeff Miller) that were believed to be superior to the fair-catch proposal that became an official rule this week. The coaches also explained the problems that the fair-catch proposal will cause, and they pointed out that the league’s injury data is flawed.

But there was a problem. Per the source, NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay didn’t attend the meeting. That’s an issue because, as the source also explained it, the rulemaking function has evolved to the point where it’s basically Commissioner Roger Goodell and McKay setting the agenda and calling the shots.

With kickoffs, there’s a lingering liability concern. If/when a player suffers a serious injury during the play the NFL has flagged as the most dangerous in the game, the fear is that the player will sue everyone.

Here’s the question. Would any such lawsuit have a real chance at prevailing? For starters, the CBA would limit the player’s case against the league or the team to arbitration, eliminating the possibility of a runaway jury verdict in a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction. Also, who at this point can say they don’t know the risks of playing football and aren’t assuming the full slate of potentially bad outcomes when signing up to play?

Although the “if you don’t like it, don’t play” argument gets thrown around far too recklessly by fans and media, this is one of the only occasions where it’s more than fair to say, “If you’re not prepared to assume the risks of playing football, football might not be for you.”

And if the goal is to make the most dangerous play in football safer, embrace the opportunity to make it safer. Rule changes aimed at reducing the chances of a worst-case scenario don’t really help anyone.

Indeed, if there ever is a serious injury and a lawsuit, a good lawyer will argue that the league ignored opportunities to make the play safer, opting instead to simply decrease the number of chances for a serious injury during an unsafe play to happen.

Ultimately, this is a non-solution to a non-problem. And it could invite other potential problems, especially as special-teams coordinators brainstorm ideas for making the powers-that-be regret making this latest change.

PFT

 

The Patriots will lose a pair of OTA days for violating the offseason rules. Given that the offseason rules can be violated in many ways, we wanted to find out what the Patriots did.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, it was a meeting violation. According to the source, an observer from the NFL Players Association believed that one of the optional early offseason meetings was a violation, because the 15-minute meeting in question (a special-teams session) was made visible on the internal schedule.

In the opinion of the NFLPA, placing the meeting on the formal schedule converted it from “optional” to “mandatory.”

The violation, per the source, had nothing to do with activities on the practice field, including whether or not there was impermissible contact.

Given the consequences, it was an unforced error that forces the Patriots to lose 20 percent of their OTA sessions for 2023.

PFT

 

The Steelers have added another wide receiver to their roster.

The team announced the signing of Cody Chrest on Thursday. Pittsburgh also signed veteran edge rusher Markus Golden and linebacker Toby Ndukwe while cutting three players this week.

Chrest went undrafted out of Sam Houston State in April. He signed with the Colts, but was let go after a brief stay in Indianapolis.

Chrest had 131 catches for 1,715 yards and nine touchdowns over three seasons at Sam Houston State.

The Steelers also have Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, Allen Robinson, Calvin Austin, Miles Boykin, Gunner Olszewski, Cody White, Anthony Miller, Hakeem Butler, Dez Fitzpatrick, Ja’Marcus Bradley, Dan Chisena, and Jordan Byrd at receiver.

 

This was a 'Headline' on NFL.com today;

AFC South projected starters for 2023 NFL season: Jaguars clear division favorites; Colts in the mix

I guess the Titans might have something to say about that. Have Henry and Tannahill bottomed out already? Are they capable of a comeback year or are they washed up?

 

TWO practice sessions lost because they listed an optional meeting on their schedule, during the offseason when ALL such meetings are known to be optional? It was probably a Zoom meeting at that.

This is mind-numbingly lame.

 

Ive been posting 2023 team schedules in each teams threads (just the most popular, visited ones). If you want a particular teams schedule other than what ive already posted, no problem... just hit me up.

Not doing all of them, just teams where regulars on this site might want to have one on their particular thread.

PS - I can do every team if im asked to... thats not a problem, just let me know.

 

If you could put up 31 teams that would be great. Just leave the Cowboys off.

 

Davante Adams, Raiders, Chiefs sued by photographer he shoved after game in 2022

The photographer who Davante Adams shoved has filed a lawsuit against the Raiders receiver as well as the Raiders and the Chiefs, the Kansas City Star reports.

Park Zebley filed the lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, saying he was diagnosed with concussion symptoms. He also claims he feared for his life, receiving death threats after his contact information was circulated online.

The suit also names the Jackson Sports Complex Authority and Landmark Event Staffing Services as defendants.

Following the 30-29 loss to the Chiefs at GEHA Field on Oct. 10, Adams pushed Zebley as he crossed paths with the 20-year-old. Zebley was a University of Missouri-Kansas City student carrying video equipment for a local production company contracted with ESPN to cover the game.

The incident was caught by television cameras.

He was charged with one count of misdemeanor assault in Kansas City municipal court, and his next appearance is scheduled for a hearing June 26.

“A municipal misdemeanor battery charge is not sufficient,” Zebley said in a statement to The Star. “I’m looking for justice. You can’t shove someone down and walk off like it didn’t happen. Not in real life.”

The NFL did not suspend Adams for the incident, which Adams was asked about Thursday before the filing of the lawsuit.

“I mean, I wouldn’t look at the KC incident as something that – I don’t want to say I didn’t learn from it because that makes it sound like I’m not remorseful and stuff like that — but it was just an instance,” Adams told reporters in Las Vegas. “It’s not something that I needed that to happen for me to know that was not the right thing to do. So, it was just something that happened.”

PFT
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Here is the incident... total Bullshit in my opinion. Hope Adams has to pay.

 

***BREAKING***

DeAndre Hopkins is on the open market.

The Cardinals announced on Friday that they have released Hopkins, with the club unable to find a trade partner.

Darren Urban of the team’s website noted that Arizona will incur a dead cap hit of $21 million in 2023. Arizona has already used its two post-June 1 designations on former center Rodney Hudson and now-retired J.J. Watt.

But with quarterback Kyler Murray recovering from an ACL tear suffered late in the 2022 season, it might behoove the Cardinals to just rip off the proverbial bandage in the coming year.

The Cardinals acquired Hopkins in March 2020 from the Texans. He caught 115 passes for 1,407 yards with six touchdowns in his first year with the club. He was then limited to 10 games in 2021 due to injury, catching 42 passes for 572 yards. A suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy kept Hopkins out for the first six games of 2022. He finished the season with 64 catches for 717 yards with three TDs.

Hopkins was the 27th overall pick of the 2013 draft for Houston.

With no personnel notice coming on Friday, Hopkins’ release will be official through the league on Tuesday.