NFL - NEWS & NOTES

ahhhhhh, Jets doing Jets things. a kid that has yet to take a snap alienating an entire city. i love when karma strikes back.

 

Chiefs announce reduced-capacity seating for at least the “first few games” of 2020



In two months and two days, the Chiefs will launch the defense of their first Super Bowl title in 50 years. If fans are present, the stadium will not be full.

The Chiefs announced on Wednesday that they will “move forward with a reduced-capacity plan” in 2020. Team president Mark Donovan explained in a statement that the approach will adhere to “local guidelines and expert recommendations.”

As a result of the decision, the team will issue refunds for all single-game ticket purchases for 2020. As to season-ticket holders, their payments for 2020 will be retained, and they will be able to purchase via the accrued credit single-game tickets for seats available under the new configuration. Season-ticket holders may alternatively choose to receive a full refund for 2020, opting out of the ability to purchase any 2020 game tickets while retaining their rights and tenure for 2021.

The Chiefs have not specified the number of tickets that will available. The team said it is “likely” that the initial wave of single-game ticket sales will apply only to the preseason (if there is one) and the “first few games” of the regular season.

“As the season progresses, the club will follow the guidance of local officials and public health experts, with the goal being that local regulations will allow for an increased capacity later in the season,” the team explained in a statement. “Any change that increases capacity throughout the season would provide more fans the ability to purchase single-game tickets in more areas.”

This isn’t a guarantee that any fans will be present for the first few games of the regular season. But it likely means that, whatever happens between now and October, there won’t be a full stadium in Kansas City in the early weeks of the 2020 season.

NBC

 

Ravens will limit attendance to less than 14,000 people at home games



The Ravens don’t know if fans will be in the building when they host the Browns in Week One of the 2020 regular season, but they do know they won’t be at full capacity if fans are allowed in M&T Bank Stadium.

The team sent an email to season ticket holders on Wednesday informing them that they are limiting attendance to less than 14,000 people due to safety protocols put in place to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The stadium has a capacity of just over 71,000 fans.

“To offer a proper level of safety for fans who want to attend games, a reduction in capacity is necessary,” Ravens president Dick Cass said in a statement. “We are disappointed that this will be a disruption for many ticket buyers, but we have an obligation to our fans and our community to keep M&T Bank Stadium as safe as possible.”

Senior vice president of ticket sales and operations Baker Koppelman said that there’s “no equitable way to accommodate” every season ticket holder as more than 62,000 have already been sold. Season ticket holders will get priority access to buy tickets to individual games and money they’ve already been paid can be put towards this year’s games or their renewal at the same seat location for next year.

NBC

 

The Tennessee Titans remain one team rumored to still be in the running to sign pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

Titans general manager Jon Robinson told Paul Kuharsky on Tuesday night, during a video conversation to help benefit local Save Haven Family Shelter, that he'd hope to see Clowney in person before making any move.

"What I've seen on Twitter, him rushing off the edge and hitting that bag," he said, via PaulKuharsky.com. "Anytime you are dealing with whatever the contract is going to command, you want to make sure that the player is healthy, that you are able to allow your doctors to see him, to look at it, to make sure everything is going to be good."

Last month, Robinson noted he hadn't had recent conversations with Clowney. Presumably, the Cleveland Browns, who restructured edge rusher Olivier Vernon's deal on Tuesday, are likely out of the running for Clowney, lessening the potential landing spots.

Coming off core muscle surgery, the current restrictions on player physicals have slowed Clowney's market. Teams don't seem willing to meet his contract demands -- reportedly upwards of $20-plus-million per year -- without at least having their own doctors check him out.

It's possible Clowney must wait well into training camp for teams to bring him in for a physical. It also appears likely that he won't get the long-term deal he seeks this offseason. A one-year prove-it deal might be what the athletic pass-rusher is forced to sign, given the realities of a pandemic-strained offseason.

Robinson did give himself a brief moment to vocalize what Clowney could bring to the Titans defense if signed -- hypothetically, of course.


"You've got (Harold) Landry, you've got (Vic) Beasley, you've got Clowney -- hypothetically, to your point -- you've got Jeffery Simmons, you've got DaQuan (Jones), who's got some power rush, you've got (Kamalei) Correa who goes 100 miles an hour, you've got a lot of different pieces that you can move around," he told Kuharsky "And you've got athleticism with Landry, with Beasley, with Correa, you can drop those guys into coverage and send David Long, Rashaan Evans, Jayon Brown or whoever it might be. It just gives you a lot of chess pieces in that game."

Until Tennessee, or any other club, can bring in Clowney for a physical and workout, all Robinson can do is daydream about adding such a chess piece to his board.

NFL.com

 

The NFL announced today that they will only allow alcoholics at the games this season because they will be able to make up a lot of the lost profits from beer sales.

 

I heard week 1 only.

 

Yea, I heard it wrong. It is for week 1 only.

 

Bills WR Stefon Diggs: Not 'comfortable starting back up'

With three weeks until players are scheduled to report to training camp, a lot of questions remain unanswered as to how returning to work for NFL players will look amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The uncertainty is not lost on players.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, new Buffalo Bills receiver Stefon Diggs highlighted the question many are asking as we barrel toward a year of football that promises to be unlike any other.

"I miss football..." Diggs wrote. "I love football... with all of me. But there's so many unanswered questions with this upcoming season. I'd be lying if I said I was comfortable starting back up."

"I've been training my butt off just trying to stay ready and prepared," Diggs added.

One of the many uncertainties is whether NFL fans will be allowed to attend games this season. Many teams have already reached out to season-ticket holders to note that capacity will likely be heavily curtailed at the very least.

"I've never played a game with zero fans in the stands," Diggs noted. "Even in little league we at least had parents and other family members... this will be weird if it happens."

With the NFL releasing its planned protocols to clubs for player health and safety, many more questions will need to be answered before training camp and games begin.

With some MLB players opting out of playing this season as baseball begins its return, Diggs' comments underscore the work that still must be done, and will need to continue throughout the year, to mollify player concerns and keep the game safe for those who make it happen.

NFL.com

 

Players don’t have to play, but they don’t have to be paid either.

 

I thought that was the policy all along.

 

Actually fat peoples who drink beer. That way they buy a shit load of food too. Ten beer minimum.
$17 bucks a beer. How bad do you want it?

 

D’Andre Swift ready to take on any role “full force”



The Lions signed second-round pick D'Andre Swift to his rookie deal recently and that leaves the running back able to focus on football matters with his first training camp on the horizon.

At the top of that list is a competition with Kerryon Johnson for playing time in the team’s offense. Swift said he’s “ready to compete” on a Thursday conference call, but the Lions have said they aren’t going to make a big deal about how things look on the depth chart and Swift said he’ll attack any role with the same intensity.

“I’ve been competing all my life,” Swift said, via the Detroit Free Press. “Kerryon is a great back, great player. I remember when he was at Auburn, and he was killing us. He’s still doing great in the league. I can’t even give you my role. Whatever role they have for me, I just gotta make sure I’m in the best shape and know all of the plays so I’m ready to take it on full force. But I’m not going in there looking to do anything, just doing what I’ve been doing.”

Injuries have limited Johnson to 18 games in his first two seasons and any more trouble on that front would bring an early end to any competition.

NBC

 

You're showing your age Willie. They are in the AFCN now.

 

Just checking to see if anybody reads this stuff... ya, thats it.

 

At least he didn't call it the Century Division.

 

You probably confuse the AAFC with the AFC.

 

The Central should be a very very difficult, competetive division this year.
Pittsburgh had a good enough defense last year. Any improvement makes them scarier. Had Rothlisberger been healthy all year they may have been a wild card team. QB was the only place they were lacking.
Baltimore looks like it improved its defense in FA and the draft, and it looks like the offense is intact with the exception of a hall of famer at left guard. They may be better, particularyl defensively, and they ranked #3 last year. a combination of an offense that kept the ball and a defense that was opportunistic.
Cleveland is an anomaly but not to be taken lightly. They have all the talent they need yet seem to shoot themselves in the foot year after year.
Cincinnatti can't help but be a little better, i think. Burrows has to be the real deal, AJ Green is back.

 

NFL referees are expected to wear masks on the field during games this season.

NFL Referees Association executive director Scott Green told Tom Pelissero of NFL Media that on-field officials are expected to wear some kind of face covering and gloves. Masks are one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and although players say it’s not practical to ask them to wear masks, officials should be able to do their jobs without masks on.

Officials are also looking into using handheld electronic whistles to stop plays, rather than blowing whistles.

The officials’ union is asking for the league to provide testing twice a week, once while the officials are at home and once after they’ve arrived at the game location.

The average age of officials is 53, and with concerns that older officials are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, they are negotiating the possibility of some officials opting out of the season.

NBC

 

With multiple big issues pending, NFL and NFLPA to negotiate again Monday



The clock keeps ticking toward the start of training camp, if it’s indeed going to start on July 28. Aiding that process would be an agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association on all remaining issues. There are several.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the significant sticking points are listed below.

1. Testing: The NFLPA wants daily testing. The NFL continues to resist that approach. The source says that daily testing is a “big, big issue.”

2. Acclimation period: The NFLPA wants to gradually phase players in physically, given that there was no offseason program and limited opportunities for players to work out as they normally would. In 2011, when there was no offseason program due to the lockout, injuries spiked by 25 percent.

3. Preseason: The players want none, the NFL wants two. The players believe any preseason games present an enhanced physical risk by limiting the ability to gradually get players in shape. Preseason games also entail added risk of an outbreak that could derail the season, with limited financial gain given that no fans will be present for the game.

4. Emergency protocols: The two sides need to work out procedures that would be utilized in the event of an outbreak.

5. Opt outs: The rules regarding when and how a player would choose to not play this season remain unresolved.

6. Economics: The league has raised the idea of givebacks or escrow payments in order to defray expected financial losses. The players have not been receptive to any such reductions or limitations, given that if anything they have enhanced risk in 2020.

The league and the union are schedule to convene another bargaining session on Monday, with the goal of getting a final resolution by Wednesday or Thursday. Otherwise, the launch of training camp as scheduled will be in jeopardy.

NBC

 

Ravens favored in every game this season



Point spreads are available for the entire 2020 NFL season, and the Ravens have the unique distinction of being favored in every game.

Caesars Sportsbook lists the Ravens as favored in each game, with the two closest games being 2.5-point spreads at home against the Chiefs on September 28 and at the Eagles on October 18.

“We have the Ravens and Chiefs pretty much dead even on a neutral field,” Caesars Sportsbook director of trading Jeff Davis told ESPN.

The Ravens had the best record in the NFL last year, and their 2020 opponents cumulatively had the worst 2019 record of any team’s opponents. The Ravens also have a favorable travel schedule, needing to travel just 6,310 miles this season, the fewest miles any team has traveled for its away games in four years.

None of this means the Ravens are going 16-0 this season, or even that they’re likely to match their 14 wins from last season. But on a game-by-game basis, no team’s schedule lays out more favorably than Baltimore’s.

NBC