NFL News

[Futureshock]

Travis Kelce: Browns are contenders, neck and neck with Chiefs in the AFC

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 13, 2021, 6:16 AM EDT

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The Chiefs have been the class of the AFC the last couple years, but now Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce thinks the Browns are right there with the Chiefs in 2021.

Kelce, who was born and raised in Cleveland, attended Browns receiver Jarvis Landry‘s charity softball game and said the Browns are playoff contenders.

“They’re definitely a contender, without a doubt,” Kelce said of the Browns, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “It’s definitely there. Baker [Mayfield] and the gang have upped the ante, made this team an unbelievable team and a team you have to prepare for and take serious. I think that moving forward without a doubt, I can see a lot more playoff games between us, and I’ll just take it one day at a time and hope for it. I think the Browns and Chiefs are definitely neck and neck.”

After many years of being laughingstocks of the league, the Browns are now making other teams take notice.

“It’s impressive to see where they’ve come from and where they are now because it’s a legit contender,” Kelce said, “and every team’s going to have to bring it.”

The Browns’ 2020 season ended with a loss at Kansas City in the divisional round of the playoffs, and the Browns’ 2021 season opens at Kansas City in Week One.

[Futureshock]

Hey, we haven't heard from Tag-a-booty in awhile:


Paul Tagliabue worries about possible point-shaving in the NFL

Posted by Mike Florio on June 15, 2021, 8:16 PM EDT

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The NFL did a billion-dollar about-face on gambling, once the Supreme Court threw open the floodgates to legalized wagering in 2018. The man who previously ran the NFL remains unnerved about what it could mean to pro football.

“I still worry about some young guy . . . and someone says to him, ‘Take the money,'” former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told Jarrett Bell of USA Today.

Tagliabue said that he played in a college basketball game that was fixed, when Georgetown beat NYU in 1961.

“I played in a college basketball game that was fixed,” Tagliabue told Bell. “We beat the hell out of NYU. It was the biggest victory in my three years of basketball at Georgetown. Turns out that guys at NYU were taking money to shave points.”

Tagliabue thinks there’s less of a risk of point shaving in football, unless gamblers get to one specific person.

“Football, if you get the quarterback in football, presumably you can affect the outcome of the game,” Tagliabue said. “But if it’s not the quarterback and you get one or two guys, it may not affect the outcome of the game, which is why people explain there’s [been] point-shaving in basketball but not football.”

He’s right. There hasn’t been. Which perhaps means it remains unlikely going forward. From the NYU example to Henry Hill (yes, the same Henry Hill) and Boston College to Tim Donagy, basketball has had multiple gambling scandals. Football hasn’t. The legalization of gambling doesn’t introduce the possibility. Potentially, it magnifies it.

The NFL definitely should be worried. In a world of widespread legalized gambling, the wrong scandal at the wrong time could spark federal regulation and/or potentially prosecution. When gambling is illegal, Congress won’t care about people who get burned by it. When it’s legal, everything changes. Hard-earned money is being wagered. The powers-that-be will insist on a higher degree of integrity.

Tagliabue’s instincts are right. Now, it’s up to his successor to ensure that the league applies the kind of imagination and creativity needed to anticipate gambling controversies and to prevent them from happening.

[Futureshock]

To his point? This is where the tremendous $ that QBs are making helps. A lot less susceptible to being bribed.

[Futureshock]

Jadeveon Clowney looked 100 percent in first practice with Browns

Posted by Charean Williams on June 15, 2021, 7:38 PM EDT

USA TODAY Sports

Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney practiced with his new teammates for the first time, which was his first practice since surgery to repair a torn meniscus that kept him out of eight games in 2020.

Clowney looked 100 percent, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports.

“Jadeveon and Takk [McKinley], they were meeting some guys for the first time today,’’ Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “I thought it was really good for those guys to be around each other. We got a lot done just in terms of team building, strengthening relationships and meeting new players, particularly the defensive line. I think it’s a competitive group. [Defensive line] coach [Chris] Kiffin and [assistant defensive line] coach [Jeremy] Garrett push them, and I think you see in their individual drills they are having fun. It’s a high-energy group.”

Clowney, 28, chose the Titans over the Browns in 2020. He chose to play for the Browns in 2021. Clowney, who has played a full, 16-game schedule only once in his career, will start opposite Myles Garrett.

Clowney has never had double-digit sacks and has never made All-Pro. He did make three Pro Bowls while in Houston and said after signing with the Browns that his best is yet to come.

[The King]

I honestly thought Taglibue was dead.

[jaadam4]

I honestly thought Taglibue was dead.

Me too

[edindetroit]

Me three. In fact I had forgotten all about him.

[Futureshock]

Me 4

[Futureshock]

Trent Brown thinks Patriots can have one of the league’s best offensive lines

Posted by Myles Simmons on June 16, 2021, 5:03 PM EDT

USA TODAY Sports

After a pair of lackluster seasons with the Raiders, Trent Brown is back with the Patriots. New England acquired him for a fifth-round pick in March, as Las Vegas overhauled its offensive line.

Brown played left tackle for the Patriots during their 2018 Super Bowl championship season, but he’s likely to play on the right side in 2021. But now that Brown is back in a more comfortable environment, he has high expectations for New England’s five up front in the upcoming year.

“Whichever side I end up playing on, it really doesn’t even matter to me,” Brown said Wednesday, via Doug Kyed of NESN. “I think we have two great guards, and of course, I feel like we have one of the best centers in the league. And then whichever side me and Isaiah play, we have two of the best tackles in the league.

“I think we’ll get back in the saddle and have one of the best O-lines in the league, if not the best O-line. We just have to keep continuing to put the work in, work on the fundamentals and get back to the basics, and we’ll be all right. We’ll be just fine.”

At this point, the Patriots’ offensive line appears to be — from left to right — Isaiah Wynn, Michael Onwenu, David Andrews, Shaq Mason, and Brown. The club also brought back Ted Karras in free agency, and he can serve as a backup interior lineman.

[Futureshock]

ANDY DALTONQB, CHICAGO BEARS
Bears coach Matt Nagy insisted that Andy Dalton would be the Bears' starting quarterback for Week 1.


When Chris Collinsworth asked Nagy if there was any way that Justin Fields would start Week 1, Nagy replied "No....Andy is our starter." Nagy has been unrelenting in supporting Dalton as the starter ever since Chicago traded up to select Fields with the No. 11 overall pick. Fields looks like the complete package as a prospect but may have to wait a few weeks before seeing any action. Dalton has 142 starts under his belt but his most recent reps were lackluster at best. He threw 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions while starting in place of Dak Prescott last year. Given the glut of weapons he was working with, those numbers are wildly underwhelming. Dalton will start in Week 1 barring a change of heart from Nagy but his tenure is unlikely to last long. Once the Bears string together a few losses in a row, expect Nagy to pull the ripcord and insert Fields into the lineup.

... See More
RELATED:

• Justin Fields

SOURCE: Chris Collinsworth on Twitter
Jun 15, 2021, 3:42 PM

[jaadam4]

It’s because Fields sucks

[Cody_Russell]

Going to enjoy Andy Dalton as the Bears QB being destroyed by Aaron Donald and company week 1 on SNF. Disaster waiting to happen.

[jaadam4]

Dalton will last like Ty Detmer did for the Lions. Fields will be starting by game 3-4.

[chemiclord]

It’s because Fields sucks

More like Nagy, like most NFL coaches, defers to experience over all else, especially at the QB position, and especially when they are trying to "win now."

[Cody_Russell]

It varies.

All jokes aside, no different than:
- Dolphins saying Fitzmagic will start over Tua in 2020.
- Chargers saying Tyrod will start over Herbert in 2020.
- WFT saying Keenum will start over Haskins in 2019.
- Browns saying Tyrod will start over Mayfield in 2018.
- Bears saying the "ginger giraffe" will start over Trubisky in 2017.
Etc

Several different outcomes when it comes to the future success of those rookie QBs.