NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Brandon Brooks tore his other ACL. Well that sucks.

 

49ers extend Kyle Shanahan through 2025



The 49ers are not getting rid of head coach Kyle Shanahan any time soon.

Shanahan and the 49ers have agreed on a new contract that extends him for six more seasons, through 2025, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

The deal gives the 40-year-old Shanahan some of the strongest job security in the NFL, and is a major statement from 49ers ownership that they believe Shanahan is the kind of coach they want leading their franchise for many years.

Shanahan went just 6-10 in his first season leading the 49ers and 4-12 in his second, and there was some talk heading into his third season that he was on the hot seat. But in Year 3 in 2019, the 49ers went 13-3 and got to the Super Bowl. Shanahan proved he was building a winner, and the 49ers rewarded him.

NBC

 

NFLPA: Plan is to test players for COVID-19 about three times a week

News on Monday that players from the Cowboys, including running back Ezekiel Elliott, and Texans have tested positive for COVID-19 brought another reminder of the challenges that teams will face as the NFL moves forward with the 2020 season.

One of the questions that many are waiting to have answered is how often players will be tested once they report for training camp this summer. NFL Players Association medical director Thom Mayer offered an idea about that answer during a call with players and agents on Monday.

Mayer said, via multiple reports, that players should expect to be tested about three times a week and, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, isolating those who test positive. He also said that he was 90 percent certain that saliva tests will be readily available for that process when teams get to camp in July. Positive tests are expected and Mayer offered a reminder that everyone is going to have to figure out a way to work around that inevitability.

“We can’t figure out how to fit the virus into football, we have to figure out how we’re going to fit football into the virus,” Mayer said, via Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com. “This is a bad-ass virus.”

A full set of protocols is expected in the coming weeks with the league looking for camps and the regular season to start on schedule.

NBC

 

Achilles

 

James Conner: Ball was whistling out of Ben Roethlisberger’s hand



Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger‘s return from a right elbow injury has progressed to throwing with teammates and the reviews continue to be positive.

Wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ryan Switzer offered up some plaudits last month about Roethlisberger’s work in sessions that also included running back James Conner. Now Conner has done the same about the quarterback’s arm and his bearing.

“He looks great, the ball was whistling,” Conner said on ESPN, via 247Sports.com. “He’s confident. He works so hard to get back to where he’s playing confident. We’re just excited for him. That’s our guy. We’re just so thankful that we’ve got our quarterback. He has Super Bowl rings and that’s what we all want to do. He leads by example going out and organizing things. It’s been awesome to be back there with him.”

Roethlisberger missed more time than Conner and Smith-Schuster last season, but injuries impacted all three players as the offense went south last season. A return to form for all three is a must for a move back in the right direction.

NBC

 

Jared Goff thinks Rams have an offensive advantage this season



It has been an offseason of adaptation for NFL teams as they find ways to build their rosters and get their work done without the benefit of in-person work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Rams’ work on their roster has included saying farewell to players like Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks, but the departures of key offensive players hasn’t left quarterback Jared Goff feeling gloomy about what will come this season. While the personnel has changed, the Rams are running the same offense and Goff thinks that gives them a leg up.

“It’s so fluid, it changes every week at this point,” Goff said, via the Los Angeles Daily News. “It’ll be good that the whole league will have to stick to a similar program, so there won’t be any disadvantage in that way. I do think we [the Rams] have an advantage offensively with the same system, the same players and everything. Our defense is obviously going to have to get on the grass and learn their new system.”

The Rams might enjoy a bigger advantage if they played in a different division. The 49ers, Seahawks and Cardinals are in the same boat when it comes to keeping offensive systems in place and the first two teams on that list were more successful than the Rams offensively in 2019.

NBC

 

I think the virus is going to play a big part for this season if they don’t keep the players separated from society for the whole season

 

How did he do that while working out

 

Todd Wash affirms Jaguars defensive scheme not changing to a 3-4



Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Todd Wash says that despite the turnover in personnel on defense, the team isn’t moving away from its 4-3 front.

“We’re not built to be a two-gap team; we’re still going to be one-gap, single-high,” Wash said, via the team’s website. “It’s just guys playing different spots, changing some alignment. We have not installed a different front from what we’ve had in our system the past two years. Leverages and alignments are going to be a little different within our scheme.”

Jacksonville traded away Jalen Ramsey last season, traded Calais Campbell during the offseason and declined their option on Marcell Dareus. The Jaguars had two selections in the top 20 of the draft and added cornerback C.J. Henderson and defensive end K’Lavon Chaisson to help replenish their losses. Additionally, the team signed Aaron Lynch and Cassius Marsh to help bolster the group as well.

While the personnel changes have given the makeup of the roster a different look, Wash says they will continue to keep their base scheme the same while finding ways to tweak things to highlight their personnel.

“It’s funny: everybody says we’re going to a 3-4,” Wash said. “You will see some different fronts, but we want to still continue to give teams a lot of multiple looks. Most importantly, we want to put the players on our roster in a position to be successful in any scheme that they fit.

“You’re going to see a lot of fronts that we’ve run through the years within this system that just match the personality and the skill set of our players.”

NBC

 

David Montgomery pledges 'better' Bears running game

Though an impending quarterback competition between the much-maligned Mitchell Trubisky and the much-traveled Nick Foles is at the forefront of Chicago Bears storylines and their fans' reasoning behind past struggles, the offense as a whole scuttled mightily in 2019.

Entering his second season in Chi-Town, running back David Montgomery is confident he and his backfield brethren will produce better numbers and results in the season ahead.

"It's going to be better this year," Montgomery told reporters Tuesday, via the Chicago Sun-Times. "I'm going to be better this year for this team and this organization. I'm going to come as prepared as ever to lead that running back room the way I need to -- and be who I need to be for this offense and this team."

During a 2018 run to an NFC North title and the promise of becoming an NFL heavyweight, the Bears offense ranked ninth overall in total points.

In 2019, a free fall in every offensive aspect saw the Bears end a fruitless campaign at 29th in total points. The team's 1,458 yards rushing were 27th in the NFL and the worst output for the Bears since 2014. Marked by just eight rushing scores (28th) and 3.7 yards per attempt (29th), Bears running backs found roads to nowhere and the team suffered as a whole.

Preceded by ample hype and excitement ahead of his rookie season, Montgomery's paltry 3.7 yards per attempt matched the team's average struggles. He finished with 889 yards and six touchdowns -- each team highs and likewise emblematic of the running game's tribulations.

There will be a new offensive coordinator (Bill Lazor) and new hope. More than that, though, Montgomery believes having a season under his belt will bode well as it relates to the better play he's pledged to put forth.


"An entire year of me being in an offense," Montgomery said when asked why he believes a jump in his play is forthcoming. "Me not being solely a complete rookie and me going in with the unknown that, 'I don't know any of the offense,' or me going in with the unknown that I don't know if I'll play or not. [Or] me going with the unknown of not knowing if I will get carries or not, or worrying about all the small stuff that doesn't even matter anymore.

"No, I can really get to playing football now because I'm a year in and I'm a lot more confident. I'm ready to go have fun now."

Montgomery's media call came as he and defensive tackle Nick Williams were recognized as the team's annual Brian Piccolo Award winners, which is bestowed upon Bears who "best exemplify the courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and sense of humor of Brian Piccolo." Piccolo died of embryonal cell carcinoma 50 years ago Tuesday. He was only 26, but his heartbreaking story became a tear-jerking classic (Brian's Song, starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams) and is also part of a long and storied history involving Chicago running backs.

2019 was hardly the continuance of any gloried history of Bears runners, but it's also in the rear view as far as Montgomery is concerned.

"Whatever happened, happened," he said. "I can't go back and change anything. You just take it for what it is and just try to get better, be the best you, you can be every day. And put your best foot forward and just get better."

NFL.com

 

Darren Waller believes Raiders can have top-five offense



The Raiders drafted three offensive skill position players in the first three rounds in April and they signed tight end Jason Witten, running back Devontae Booker and wide receiver Nelson Agholor in free agency, so there’s little question about their desire to improve on that side of the ball.

Last year saw the Raiders move the ball well enough to finish 11th in the league in yards, but they were only able to turn those gains into 313 points. That ranked 24th in the league, but tight end Darren Waller thinks the offseason addition mixed with him, quarterback Derek Carr, wide receiver Tyrell Williams and running back Josh Jacobs sets the stage for a big difference on the scoreboard.

“If you look at things across the board, starting with the offensive line and the quarterback, with improvement at the receiver positions and the tight ends trying to be consistent, I think our offense has a chance to do a lot of great things and put up a lot of great numbers,” Waller said on SiriusXM NFL Radio, via NBCSportsBayArea.com. “The big thing for us is finishing in the red zone this year. I know that we’re doing everything in our power to improve upon that. I don’t feel like having a top-five offense is out of the picture. We have that much talent. We have guys who are buying in. We have a balanced system. I have high expectations, and I think everyone on the offense would say the same thing.”

Waller posted 90 catches for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns last year. The increased talent around him may mean the first two numbers go down, but the Raiders should be better off if the trips to the end zone go up in 2020.

NBC

 

Rodney Harrison: Patriots will be motivated to prove they can win without Tom Brady



Can Tom Brady win without Bill Belichick? Can Belichick win without Brady?

Those two questions will hover over the 2020 football season. And they will be used as fuel in New England.

Take it from a guy who was there long enough to know how the buttons get pushed.

“[Belichick] might bring up a couple articles,” Patriots Hall of Famer Rodney Harrison told Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald, “everybody saying it’s over, Brady this, Brady that. Of course he’ll say something about that. But at the end of the day, whether he makes the point or not, he knows the team will be motivated to prove they can win without Tom.”

Finding motivation is very real for the Patriots, because it helps the players, coaches, and staff members find the will to do all of the things that need to be done in order to have the best team possible.

“It’s not just talk, not with the Patriots,” Harrison said. “It’s a chip you carry in the weight room, you carry in the film room, in the dining room, you carry at home watching extra film, it’s a chip that motivates you. It’s motivating for people to say you can’t win without Brady. I know I would be pissed. . . . So these guys are going to be motivated, pumped up and ready to go. . . . You gotta take it personal. You gotta let it motivate you.”

If it wasn’t Brady, it would be something else. Belichick realizes that he needs to always find that extra thing that gets all employees to give and do the extra that’s needed in order to win.

NBC

 

Some teams may take fewer than 90 players to camp



The roster limit for NFL teams in training camp is 90. It’s not a minimum; however, they can bring fewer than 90. And some may do just that.

Per a league source, some teams are considering taking 80 or 75 players to camp in order to make it easier to comply with physical distancing guidelines and other requirements aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

The question then becomes which players will be cut? Draft picks surely will be there. Will undrafted free agents be jettisoned, or will teams worried about cutting costs in a season that possibly will unfold without fans jettison members of the middle class? If young replacements don’t or can’t step up, the team could then bring back a more expensive player, at a lower rate.

Regardless, there could be smaller rosters during training camp, in order to better ensure that the virus will be out of the building.

NBC

 

Why not simply place players who test positive for Covid-19 on IR (non-football related) ? Obviously, the league would need to increase the number of players on IR that are designated for return - but that's a relatively easy temporary fix.

 

Alex Van Pelt: It would be crazy not to use Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt at same time



Running back Kareem Hunt said last week that he’s ready to do anything the Browns ask him to do on offense during the 2020 season.

Hunt played the last eight games of the season after opening the season with an eight-game suspension and wound up as the team’s leading receiver out of the backfield. He didn’t take too much of a bite out of Nick Chubb‘s work on the ground, but the team did find ways to use both backs at the same time.

On Wednesday, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said that the team would continue to do that as they look for ways to get their best players on the field as often as possible.

“I think you’d be crazy not to have your most talented guys on the field,” Van Pelt said, via Keith Britton of 92.3 The Fan. “Whatever package that is. We would be crazy not to put those guys on the field at the same time. Both dynamic as runners, pass catchers, protectors”

Van Pelt called it exciting to look at the talent available to the Browns on offense because you “have to do it in different ways each week” in order to win games. Having a pair of talented backs provides the team with some of those paths.

NBC

 

I think the league should expand rosters this season to 75 per team to help insure teams can overcome any virus related problems. Only the game day actives should travel with the team.

 

Expansion of practice squads from 12 to 16 is under consideration



As the NFL further processes the challenges of playing 269 total games that count amid an ongoing pandemic, the NFL is beginning to realize that more players than usual will likely be needed.

NFL Media reports that conversations are occurring regarding the possibility of expanding the practice squads from 12 to 16 per team. While that’s helpful, that probably won’t be nearly enough to have players ready in the event that a team experiences a coronavirus outbreak.

The XFL had an entire team of players who were kept ready to go, in the event that any of the eight teams needed to call someone up. The NFL should consider an approach like this, with multiple extra rosters that are kept away from any of the NFL’s 32 teams and that are ready to supply players as needed. Maybe four teams need to be maintained in game shape in the event a given NFL team needs to replace not one or two players on short notice but as many as 10 or 15.

Will that affect the quality of play? Absolutely. But a bad game is better than no game. If the league was willing to bring in 28 teams of replacements for any-pizza-is-good-pizza football during the 1987 strike, the league needs to be ready to move quickly to replace players in a pandemic. Four extra practice-squad players per team won’t cut it. Four extra entire teams that are kept game ready and away from the 32 NFL franchises might.

NBC

 

Kenyan Drake: Cardinals are going to 'take the league by storm'

Just one year ago, the Arizona Cardinals were preparing to embark on their first season under first-time head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who was armed with a No. 1 overall pick at quarterback.

Those Cardinals finished 5-10-1. At least one of their key players is talking as if they're about to reverse that record -- and then some.

"I feel like the hype is warranted, to be honest," running back Kenyan Drake said during an appearance on Good Morning Football on Thursday. "When you add arguably the best receiver in the league in DeAndre Hopkins, the most electric quarterback in the league in Kyler Murray, you add me to the fold, you add a couple more pieces to the O-line, on defense, you draft a (Swiss Army) knife in Isaiah Simmons, shore up the D-line and bring in other people to build a great puzzle... (That's) what we have in Arizona. I feel like we're going to go out there and really take the league by storm, especially our division."

The last part of Drake's quote might be the most surprising -- even more than the disregard for the existence of Lamar Jackson, whose 2019 MVP would point to him, not Murray, as the NFL's most electric at his position. The Cardinals currently reside in one of the tougher divisions in the NFL, a four-team group that features the reigning NFC champions and another legitimate contender in Seattle. It's not exactly child's play in the NFC West.

These kids are up for the task, though, according to Drake.

"This year we have another year under our belt," Drake explained. "Kyler continued to get better, game in, game out, and now he has another year under his belt. Kliff has a year under his belt as well. I mean, it was just so much inexperience. Now coming in with another year of that experience, we just really gonna do what we have to do and let our talent speak for itself."

These Cardinals are all about speed. Murray won Offensive Rookie of the Year by using his rare talents to post a completion percentage of 64.4, a 20-12 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a passer rating of 87.4. His 62 rushes in which he reached 15-plus mph were the most in the NFL (minimum 50 rushes), according to Next Gen Stats. That combination is a nightmare for opposing defenses.


Drake's top-end speed that made him a coveted recruit at Alabama shined once he was traded from Miami to Arizona last season. Drake reached 15-plus mph on 26.8 percent of his rushes with the Cardinals, as opposed to hitting that speed threshold on just 14.9 percent of his carries with the Dolphins in the same season. His 33 rushes of 15-plus mph were the second-most in the entire NFL from Weeks 9-17 in 2019.

But wait, there's more. Running back Chase Edmonds owns a deserving place in the Next Gen spreadsheet. His 20 rushes of 15-plus mph on just 59 rushes resulted in the highest percentage of what we'd deem explosive runs (minimum 50 rushes) in the entire NFL.

There's room for growth for Murray, too, as evidenced by Murray's -1.5 completion percentage under expectation, according to Next Gen Stats.

One area of improvement for Murray is his play when under duress. The mobile quarterback wasn't pressured often, but when he was, he was among the league's worst in advanced metrics. Murray posted a -19 completion percentage under expectation when pressured and a passer rating of just 42.3 in such situations. An important detail lingers, though: Murray only attempted 29 passes under pressure in 2019, leaving little room for error but also revealing an area in which he can get better.

If the Cardinals can check all of these boxes, we might look back on June 18, 2020, as the day Kenyan Drake predicted the future. At the bare minimum, it's reason for optimism, and we could all use some of that right about now.

NFL.com

 

The way this is sounding, is like the team who can avoid a virus outbreak on the team is going to get the prize. I don’t know if they will play a whole season or not. How do you keep players from getting the virus? You would have to isolate everyone that is associated with the team away from outside people including family. Otherwise players will get compromised and whole teams could have to shut down.

 

Its not looking good and you make valid points. DR. Fauci even said the players would have to be in a bubble in order for this to work.

I think the idea is to at least try and im hoping between now and then, which i hope isnt long, they develope a legit vaccine, because as it stands right now, i dont see this working at all. I had high hope a few weeks ago, but the damn virus is on the upswing in a bunch of places.