NFL - NEWS & NOTES

They actually switched conferences twice. (The only team in the NFL to do that in the post AFL merger era.)

• They began NFL play in the NFC West in 1976.
• Switched to the AFC West in 1977.
• Then back to the NFC West in 2002.

 

Despite speculation that the Vikings simply tagged safety Anthony Harris with an eye toward trading him, Harris has accepted the franchise tender — and it sounds like he plans to remain with the team for years to come.

“Since arriving in Minnesota with uncertainty as an undrafted free agent in 2015, I have accomplished my dream of playing in the NFL, going from practice squad, to making the active roster, to becoming a full-time starter, to leading the league in interceptions,” Harris said on Twitter. “During the past five years, Minnesota has become home and is where I want to continue to develop as a player, having only scratched the surface.”


Harris became a full-time starter during the 2018 season, and he held that role throughout 2019.

“Although it has been a strange offseason, time spent in isolation with family has been refreshing and energizing,” Harris said. “This is just one step in God’s plan for me and my family. I will let my agents and the Vikings work towards long term certainty in Minnesota, but I am excited to be back for the 2020 season.”

Harris has plenty of reason to be motivated. Despite a great year in 2019, he didn’t make it to the Pro Bowl, and he received only one All-Pro vote.

“I am continuing my focus on what it takes to be successful both as a team and as an individual,” Harris explained. “I am excited for the new challenges the 2020 season will bring, but I am most excited for the opportunity to help bring a Super Bowl to Minnesota and the best fans in the country. Skol!”

Harris will earn a guaranteed salary of $11.441 million in 2020, a number higher than the cash ($8.75 million) and cap figure ($10.75 million) attributable this year to safety Harrison Smith.

The Vikings and Harris have until July 15 to finalize a long-term deal. Otherwise, Harris will be in line for a shot at the open market or a franchise tag of $13.72 million in 2021.

NBC

 

Tyreek Hill: I feel like this will be a crazy year for me



Tyreek Hill showed how well he can run a route late in Super Bowl LIV when he shook the 49ers defense for a 44-yard catch on a play called 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp.

Hill’s catch set up a Travis Kelce touchdown that cut the 49ers lead to three points and the Chiefs would finish off the comeback a few plays later. They haven’t been able to do any in-person work on their repeat attempt since the win in Miami, but Hill believes the team will see even better route running once they do get back together.

“I’m kind of taking a different approach this year. I’m doing yoga two times a week, so I’m getting into yoga a lot. I’ve been trying to open up my hips a little more and open up my glutes — things like that,” Hill said, via the team’s website. “I’ve been feeling amazing and [I’ve] been getting out of routes even better. It’s going to be crazy. I feel like this is going to be a crazy year for me, so I’m excited.”

The prospect of Hill adding to his skills as a receiver is likely exciting to everyone with the Chiefs and another reason for them to look forward to finally getting back to work.

NBC

 

Coaches likely won’t return until all facilities open

The NFL will allow some teams to reopen as of Tuesday, even if all can’t. The league will balance that inherent disparity by prohibiting coaches from showing up.

As noted by Judy Battista of NFL Media, the current thinking is that coaches will not be permitted to return to any team facilities until all team facilities are open.

At some point, however, that position may become impractical. That point likely will be the launch of training camps. If the 10 (or so) teams that currently can’t reopen their facilities still can’t open their facilities when training camp opens, they’ll have to take training camp to another state as teams in states that are open bring back coaches and players.

This creates a different kind of disparity, one in which some teams operate under “normal” (as normal as it will be) circumstances and others shift from being stuck at home for months to being required to pack up and hit the road for multiple weeks. With or without their families.

And that’s just the start. What if some states allow open stadiums and others don’t? Some teams will have a home-field advantage, and others won’t. Some teams may have to play their home games in other states.

Although the NFL would prefer to have all teams operating on an equal footing, reality sometimes intervenes. We’ve seen it with wildfires. We’ve seen it with hurricanes. We’ve seen it with snowstorms that collapse roofs of stadiums.

Of course, we’ve never seen it to this degree. But the league and its teams will have to deal with it. The NFL will do all it can to get the 256 games played. And the NFL won’t shut down all games simply because some teams won’t be able to play in full stadiums or in their home stadiums.

Ultimately the NFL will do whatever it has to do to get the games in, even if it means moving all teams to one state and playing games in college stadiums or high-school stadiums or practice facilities or parking lots. And if any measures aimed at allowing the games to be played create an undue burden on some teams, they’ll just have to deal with it.

NBC

 

As the NFL world begins to accept that Jarrett Stidham is the heir apparent to Tom Brady in New England, we’re increasingly hearing that the people inside the Patriots’ facility are confident that Stidham is up to the task.

The latest Patriot to say so is fullback Rex Burkhead, who says Stidham came in as a rookie last year and made a quick impression on his teammates.

“Very impressed,” Burkhead said on WEEI. “Last year even though he didn’t step on the field that much, just seeing his improvement every day on the practice field, in meetings. He’s a very humble guy and he came in eager to work right away and picked it up so quickly. I think that is what struck me, how quickly he picked up the offense from the get-go. He’s out there making calls, making adjustments in audibles like he has been in this system for a while. I’m excited for him. Excited for his opportunity. Whoever is at quarterback — whether it’s him, Hoy [Brian Hoyer], whoever — just ready to follow them.”

Taking over for Brady is a tall order, but Stidham has made a lot of believers in New England.

NBC

 

Seahawks CB Quinton Dunbar posts bail, released from jail, attorney confirms

Less than a day after turning himself in to the Miramar (Fla.) Police Department, Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar has been granted his release.

Dunbar's attorney, Michael Grieco, confirmed to NFL.com on Sunday evening that his client has been released from the Broward County jail on $100,000 bond.

Dunbar's release comes three days after he and Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker were issued arrest warrants after being accused of armed robbery during an incident on May 13.

NFL.com

 

That last part is the important bit - getting the system down. Brady won because he knew how to manipulate the offense and take what the defense gave him. The Pats have proven that they can win with anyone at QB - and Bill said as much after the draft (I LOVE the pettiness, man). If Stidham can learn how to manipulate the offense and take what the defense gives the same way Brady did, then, well... the Pats will be just fine. Brady was always a system QB, and both he and the Pats seem determined to prove it this year.

 

Gov. Gavin Newsom says pro sports could be back in California in early June

California Governor Gavin Newsom said in April that he didn’t anticipate football games being played in front of full crowds in the state this fall, but they are moving closer to a point where they could be played without fans.

Newsom said on on Monday that current numbers showing the spread of COVID-19 in California have led to thoughts of opening the state up for professional sporting events in a few weeks “if we hold these trend lines.”

“Sporting events, pro sports, in that first week or so of June without spectators and modifications and very prescriptive conditions also can begin to move forward,” Newsom said.

Newsom has raised other questions about how sports will move forward amid the pandemic. As California and other states move toward opening their doors to those events, we’ll likely start to get some of those answers.

NBC

 

Texas is readying to welcome back pro sports to the state.

Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday afternoon that “Texas is prepared to move into Phase 2 for further reopening of business.”

The Genesys 600 NTT IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled for June 6, a day after the SpeedyCash.com 400 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race.

The PGA Tour is scheduled to resume its season with the Charles Schwab Challenge event June 11-14 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.

It does not mean business as usual, though, with both IndyCar and the PGA Tour returning to competition without fans.

“The professional sporting events may not have spectators physically present on the premises,” the state’s minimum standard health protocols statement reads. “Each league must submit, along with a request for approval in the manner prescribed by the Department of State Health Services, a plan that incorporates applicable minimum standard health protocols recommended by the Department of State Health Services and such additional measures as are needed to ensure a safe plan for conducting the events.”

The Cowboys are scheduled to hold training camp in Oxnard, California, but it seems more likely they will remain at their training facility in Frisco, Texas. The Texans hold camp at their training facility in Houston.

NBC

 

The Ravens are among the 10 teams not allowed to reopen their team facility this week as they remain under a state stay-at-home order.

“Well, no, we are not reopening tomorrow,” Ravens president Dick Cass said, via the team’s Twitter account. “What the commissioner’s memo said is that teams are allowed to reopen their practice facilities on a limited basis if it is OK under state and local regulations. In Maryland, we are deemed to be an non-essential business and while Governor [Larry] Hogan eased his stay-at-home orders somewhat last week, the easing didn’t affect our status. So under local and state regulations, we remain closed, and we will remain closed until the governor permits us to open up.

“But I think it’s important to note that the opening up the NFL is permitting is a very limited one. No players will be allowed, and for the time being, no coaches will be allowed. We knew that players would not be allowed. I think some teams expected coaches to be allowed back in the building when the NFL lifted its stay-at-home order, but I think the league decided that since some teams could not reopen, it would not be fair to have teams that could reopen have their coaches back, because that might somehow give them a competitive advantage.”

The NFL ordered all team facilities shut down March 25 after stay-at-home orders already had closed some of them. Those teams that meet guidelines announced by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last week are allowed to partially reopen beginning Tuesday.

NBC

 

Colorado Governor Jared Polis has signed off on professional sporting events being played in the state without fans in attendance, according to Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com.

Polis said Colorado will be ready to host sporting events as soon as the leagues themselves are ready to return to action.

“We’re certainly ready as soon as the leagues are ready,” Polis said. I talked to the baseball commissioner (Rob Manfred) today. I think their protocols look really good and we’re certainly excited to get them going as soon as they’re ready to go.”

Polis’ comments come on the heels of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and California Governor Gavin Newsom also indicating an openness for sports to be held in their states if several precautionary measures are in place and with fans not allowed to attend. Polis is open to a handful of fans attending games in Colorado as a symbolic gesture and in so few a number that distancing is easy to maintain.

“I did suggest to the (MLB) commissioner that they maybe have 10 or 15 people they honor and allow free to represent the rest of us at every game, like nurses, members of our military night. I think that’s symbolically important. It’s easy to have 10, 15 people at a distance from one another. And we can all watch vicariously through them and we can watch on TV, but I would love to see some members of the community honored in a safe way.”

It’s the latest in a growing push to get sports leagues back playing after being shutdown completely for the last two months.

Baseball would be the first to return as football won’t be played until the fall. Polis is hopeful circumstances allow for things to progress back toward normal into football season.

“There’s more time before they have their protocols for playing,” Polis said. “But I think, again, if there’s a way to do it in a safe way, and that includes, hopefully at that point, some folks can go in the stadium — I sure hope so — it’d be great. If it’s one every four seats or whatever, the more, the merrier as long as it’s not putting everyone in danger.”

NBC

 

Some NFL teams are beginning to reopen their facilities, but the Lions are taking a cautious approach.

Lions coach Matt Patricia said that even if the league and the local authorities give the team the go-ahead to open, it will be a slow process for the Lions do so.

“First and foremost we’re going to try to do everything possible to make sure we’re keeping everybody safe,” Patricia said on WJR, via the Detroit Free Press. “Our facility is just kind of going to stay in operation the way it is right now. . . . Some of the things we’ve been working on is the virtual meetings, and with the coaches not being able to go in from our standpoint and the phase that we’re in right now in the offseason program, we’re going to stand pat with what we’re doing for the next couple weeks and wait to kind of see what happens here.”

Patricia said he’s optimistic that players rehabbing injuries will be able to work with the team’s medical staff reasonably soon, but he doesn’t see himself calling all 90 players on the roster into a big team meeting for quite a while.

“But there’s just a lot of guidelines that go along with that as far as how many people in the hallway, how many people in a room, how far apart we have to be. And some of those guidelines and restrictions are real difficult for to operate within, as opposed to kind of the current setup we already have,” Patricia said. “For us to go into a building and not to be able to have a meeting where we’re all in the same room and basically do a Zoom call from our offices doesn’t really make sense from that standpoint.”

NBC

 

When it comes to underlying conditions, Steelers running back James Conner has a legitimate one — he beat cancer four years ago.

But Conner said during an interview with Adam Schefter of ESPN that he didn’t think about any excess risk that might put him in.

“Honestly, it truly doesn’t,” Conner said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I am so far removed from [cancer treatments] — I am going on four years now — so just talking with my doctor, I have great relationship with him, Dr. [Stanley] Marks, he said, ‘You don’t have anything to worry about as far your immune system or any of that.’ I am far removed, and our bodies are constantly healing and changing. So I have no concerns with that.

“I am still keeping [social] distance and all that, just like everyone should and is doing. But as far as my health history, there’s nothing I’m concerned about.”

Conner was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2015, when he was playing at the University of Pittsburgh. When he worked out the following spring, he did so with a surgical mask on.

He said he’s still following the guidelines for social distancing and wearing masks when he’s around others, but he’s positive about his own outlook.

NBC

 

Miles Sanders led the Eagles in carries during his rookie season, but he spent much of the year sharing time with Jordan Howard in the lead running back role.

Sanders doesn’t have a clear partner at the top of the depth chart this year. Howard moved on to Miami as a free agent, which leaves Boston Scott and Corey Clement as the experienced backs behind Howard on the depth chart.

That will likely mean a jump from the 229 touches that Howard handled last year and Sanders said on SiriusXM NFL Radio that he’s “absolutely” ready for that kind of increase.

“I believe that’s why they drafted me in the first place,” Sanders said. “It was really just a switch that turned. All of a sudden, I was a starting running back and I didn’t start at the beginning of the season. I just looked at the opportunity and attacked it.”

The Eagles could still add to the backfield before the start of the season, but it seems unlikely that anyone they pick up at this point will do more than improve the options behind Sanders.

NBC

 

If the NFL plays a season without fans in the stands, it’s a given that the NFL will lose money.

Mike Ozanian of Forbes.com estimates that loss at a staggering $5.5 billion.

That’s the sum of lost ticket revenue, concessions, parking, and merchandise sales, if all games are played without fans. It would amount to 38 percent of the league’s total revenue, based on 2018 numbers.

The absence of fans would hit some teams harder than others. As explained by Ozanian, the Cowboys and Patriots would lose more than half their total revenue. Other teams, like the Bills, Titans, and Bengals, would lose less than a third.

It’s unclear whether and to what extent games will be played without fans. It’s possible that some states will allow stadiums to be open, and that others won’t. It’s also possible that medical advances in the coming weeks and months (such as a greater understanding of what it means to test positive for coronavirus antibodies) will make it easier to open stadiums and invite fans at low or no risk for developing COVID-19.

Any money lost in 2020 will potentially affect the 2021 salary cap. As recently explained, however, the league and the union set the annual spending limit via negotiation, and it’s possible that the two sides will agree to, for example, borrow against future salary caps in order to keep the 2021 cap at or near where it otherwise would have been.

Whether the revenue actually drops remains to be seen, and it will be determined by plenty of factors beyond the control of the league.

NBC

 

If there's one thing I've learned for certain lately, it's that economists are just guessers with a degree. I don't know who this Ozanian guy is, but without access to team books, it'd be really difficult to accurately make those estimates.

I have no doubt teams will miss the attendance revenue (especially true for playoff teams). But I'm very skeptical that it counts for more than half of a team's revenue. If the author does somehow have access to team books, I'm happy to admit to being wrong.

 

5.5 billion seems a little too much for stadium revenue for one season. If teams are making that much I won’t go to a live game again. No wonder the players are so greedy. Without them the money can’t be made. When you start seeing numbers like that it puts the term that it’s a business more to the forefront. The fan is just a sucker emptying their wallets. The players are probably thinking they can pay 15 for their beer so I can get more money.

 

(this is based on things returning to "normal" before the end of the season) wouldn't playoff teams, at least the ones with home playoff games, end up with profits closer to what non-playoff teams would make in a normal season? If the ticket prices and parking remain the same, which is not a given? By the sounds of it, the hope for some teams is to operate at 25-50% capacity to start the season. However, the economy hit is almost certainly going to make ticket prices go lower. Definitely with you on doubting the hit will be close to 50% of their revenue.

 

They still aren’t completely sure that there will even be a football season this year and they are talking about revenue losses from not having fans at the stadiums. These teams aren’t going to be negative in their finances if no fans can attend games. They will still make a profit, it will just be less than it would normally be. I hate how companies making millions of dollars in profits consider it a loss when they were still in the positive revenue. Making a 5 million dollar profit instead of a projected 10 million dollar profit is still a profit.

 

Aldon Smith, the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft who last played in 2015, is back in the NFL.

A source with direct knowledge of the situation tells PFT that Smith’s application for reinstatement under the substance-abuse policy has been granted.

Smith, who has played for both the 49ers and Raiders, has been suspended on multiple occasions, for various off-field issues. He was dominant early in his career, averaging nearly one sack per game.

The Cowboys signed Smith pending his potential reinstatement. As of May 26, he officially will join the Dallas roster.

It remains to be seen whether Smith can play like he once did. Very few players return to football after so much time off. If Smith, who’ll be 31 in September, can get back to what he once was, the Cowboys will have dramatically boosted their pass rush.

NBC