NFL News

[Futureshock]

NFL preseason should have started tonight

Posted by Charean Williams on August 6, 2020, 9:14 PM EDT

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It’s quiet in Canton, Ohio, tonight.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Cowboys and Steelers were supposed to kickoff the preseason Thursday in the Hall of Fame Game, the first event in Enshrinement Weekend.

While it saves us from watching a glorified scrimmage, the Hall of Fame Game also always signals the beginning of football season.

Instead, we’re left to wonder whether the regular season will start on time and finish on time.

In June, the Pro Football Hall of Fame postponed the Cowboys-Steelers preseason game and the inductions of the Centennial Class of 2020 until 2021. The NFL later scrapped all of the exhibition season.

All 20 of the inductees into the Centennial Class of 2020 tentatively are set to be enshrined Aug. 7, 2021, with the still-to-be-determined Class of 2021 inducted the following day.

Enshrinement Weekend is just something else COVID-19 has changed, canceled, postponed or otherwise affected.

[Futureshock]

This means the Lions Lambeau Field will be empty for first two games, Packers will re-evaluate after that

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 6, 2020, 6:02 PM EDT

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The Packers will play at least their first two home games in an empty stadium.

Lambeau Field will not host fans during first two home games this season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Packers announced today.

The Packers’ third home game is on November 1 against the Vikings, and the Packers say they will decide during the season whether they’re ready to host fans by then, after consulting with public health officials.

“Lambeau Field will not be the same without our fans’ energetic support in the stands,” Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement. “Given the extraordinary circumstances this year and the additional protocols in place, though, we determined it was best to take incremental steps to start the regular season. These two games will allow us to focus our attention on safely conducting games inside the stadium with all necessary participants. We are hopeful that we will be able to host fans for games later in the season, should conditions allow.”

America’s failure to get the virus under control has had a profound effect on the entire country, and the NFL is no different. Football will not be the same, but at this point most fans are just hoping there’s any football to watch at all.

Lions will play them there in week 2.

[Futureshock]

Strange

Report: Vic Beasley doesn’t report, doesn’t opt out

Posted by Charean Williams on August 6, 2020, 4:38 PM EDT

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The Titans signed Vic Beasley as a free agent in the offseason. They have yet to see him in their building.

The linebacker did not opt out of the 2020 season, according to Paul Kuharsky of paulkuharsky.com, as the deadline for opting out passed at 4 p.m. ET Thursday. But Beasley also didn’t report to training camp.

He has amassed $500,000 in fines for not reporting — daily fines are $50,000 for unexcused absences from camp — and Beasley risks a portion of his $6 million signing bonus.

Titans General Manager Jon Robinson released a statement a week ago saying the team had placed Beasley on the reserve/did not report list and that Beasley was expected to report “in the near future.”

Beasley, a first-round choice of the Falcons in 2015, has 37.5 career sacks.

[TheLondonLion]

Guice released. Didn’t people want him here?

[edindetroit]

Derrius Guice arrested on domestic violence charges, released by Washington’s NFL team

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...uice-arrested/

Guice faces charges that include one count of strangulation, a felony, according to a spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. The other charges are three counts of assault and battery as well as one count of destruction of property.

[jaadam4]

Guice released. Didn’t people want him here?

Yup. He was one of my favorite players in that draft.

[Fraquar]

This means the Lions Lambeau Field will be empty for first two games, Packers will re-evaluate after that

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 6, 2020, 6:02 PM EDT

Getty Images

The Packers will play at least their first two home games in an empty stadium.

Lambeau Field will not host fans during first two home games this season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Packers announced today.

The Packers’ third home game is on November 1 against the Vikings, and the Packers say they will decide during the season whether they’re ready to host fans by then, after consulting with public health officials.

“Lambeau Field will not be the same without our fans’ energetic support in the stands,” Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement. “Given the extraordinary circumstances this year and the additional protocols in place, though, we determined it was best to take incremental steps to start the regular season. These two games will allow us to focus our attention on safely conducting games inside the stadium with all necessary participants. We are hopeful that we will be able to host fans for games later in the season, should conditions allow.”

America’s failure to get the virus under control has had a profound effect on the entire country, and the NFL is no different. Football will not be the same, but at this point most fans are just hoping there’s any football to watch at all.

Lions will play them there in week 2.

Strange decision making here. Given their schedule, they wouldn't host their 3rd home game until week 8 - just shut it down until that 3rd week coming off the bye. By then they have all the data they'd ever need.

[JGSpartan]

Yup. He was one of my favorite players in that draft.

Yeah, think he was high on a lot of peoples lists, dodged a bullet on that one

[chemiclord]

There were people who preferred his skill set over Kerryon's.

Both have been oft-injured mercurial RBs that haven't really accomplished all that much. But hey, KJ hasn't been a complete piece of shit, so I suppose the Lions dodged the mortal bullet, and took one in the shoulder instead.

I dunno if I'd call the Lions a winner with that pick... but they could have lost worse, I suppose.

[ghandi]

Yeah, think he was high on a lot of peoples lists, dodged a bullet on that one

I remember seeing mocks with the Lions taking him in the first round.

[jaadam4]

There were people who preferred his skill set over Kerryon's.

Both have been oft-injured mercurial RBs that haven't really accomplished all that much. But hey, KJ hasn't been a complete piece of shit, so I suppose the Lions dodged the mortal bullet, and took one in the shoulder instead.

I dunno if I'd call the Lions a winner with that pick... but they could have lost worse, I suppose.

Could have dodged all the bullets if Quinn would have picked Kamara the year before in the 2nd round

[Futureshock]

Could have dodged all the bullets if Quinn would have picked Kamara the year before in the 2nd round

They would have ran him into the ground.

[Futureshock]

Ron Rivera: Cutting Derrius Guice in best interest of organization

Posted by Josh Alper on August 10, 2020, 8:30 AM EDT

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The Washington Football Team moved quickly to waive running back Derrius Guice off their roster after he was arrested on domestic violence charges last week and head coach Ron Rivera discussed that decision during a Monday video conference with reporters.

Rivera said he spoke to the team’s players about the call to cut Guice and told them that it was in the “best interest of our organization” to move on without Guice. He said the team would benefit if it was the right call and will fall on him if it wasn’t, but that he takes “full responsibility as we go forward to make sure we try to do things the right way.”

“Very difficult decision any time you have to release a talented young football player,” Rivera said. “This type of circumstance, this type of situation, we take those allegations very, very seriously.”

Linebacker Reuben Foster landed with Washington after being cut by the 49ers in the wake of a 2018 domestic violence arrest that did not lead to criminal charges. Foster was activated from the PUP list this weekend and Rivera said every circumstance would be treated differently without saying if there were other factors that led the team to move on without Guice.
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

Yeah, NOW that the organization is in the public's sh!t list. And it's a player? Sure, climb on up to that high ground.

[Futureshock]

Officials have until August 13 to opt out

Posted by Mike Florio on August 9, 2020, 1:09 PM EDT

[Futureshock]

If college football season doesn’t happen, NFL likely will play on Saturdays

Posted by Mike Florio on August 8, 2020, 5:15 PM EDT

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Bad news: There may be no college football on Saturdays this year.

Good news: There may be NFL football on Saturdays this year.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL likely will move games from Sundays to Saturday, if college football doesn’t proceed this season. It’s unclear whether the games would be broadcast, streamed, or distributed on a pay-per-view basis, but the league likely would backfill the vacant Saturday windows with NFL content.

The easiest approach would be to treat each Saturday like the late-season tripleheader the league staged in 2019, with a game at 1:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 8:15 p.m. ET. That would trim the Sunday slate by three games each week.

There’s another wrinkle that would have to be addressed, quickly. The league would need a one-year dispensation from the broadcast antitrust exemption, which allows the NFL to sell TV rights in a league-wide bundle but prevents the NFL from televising games on Friday or Saturday from Labor Day through early December.

Regardless, with college football teetering on the brink and the NFL confident that its games will be played, 2020 could result in four days of pro football every week: Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.