NFL News

[Forsh]

It is a 100 percent all.risk no reward lateral move. The best case scenario is he does well in a bad situation in Washington so he can prove the leopards can't change their spots. He is better off joining the Flores suit or file a new one. Unfortunately, the only way to combat this is through the courts. The owners are.petrified of discovery.

If he does well in Washington, it will dispel opinions that KC's offensive success was due relatively solely to Reid

[froot loops]

But why did that not matter for the other Reid assistants hired for head coaching jobs?

[jaadam4]

Already making excuses for Bieniemy for not having Andy Reid and MaHomes to lean on. I guess all those other guys taking new gigs are stepping into power house teams

Everyone drink!

[jaadam4]

That poor poor man. Making millions of dollars to coach in the NFL. When will the oppression stop?

[Futureshock]

If he does well in Washington, it will dispel opinions that KC's offensive success was due relatively solely to Reid

Just in time for another excu... reason to not hire him to pop up. The Sleep Syndicate is always woke to new word play and mental manipulative games.

Drink!

[froot loops]

Already making excuses for Bieniemy for not having Andy Reid and MaHomes to lean on. I guess all those other guys taking new gigs are stepping into power house teams

Everyone drink!

Always making excuses for NFL owners.

[Futureshock]

Careful. He's gonna say, "woke mob" again...

[Futureshock]

Jonathan Gannon: We’re not going to put Kyler Murray in shotgun all the time

Posted by Josh Alper on February 20, 2023, 10:29 AM EST

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In Jonathan Gannon’s first press conference after being hired as the Cardinals head coach, he called Kyler Murray an elite quarterback and said “everything we do will be structured around the quarterback position to maximize his skillset.”

The Cardinals have settled on Drew Petzing as their offensive coordinator and Gannon revealed some of the team’s plans for Murray during a conversation with Peter King for Football Morning in America. Murray has played almost exclusively out of shotgun since entering the NFL — per NFL Research, under three percent of his snaps have come from under center in the last three seasons — but Gannon envisions a different approach now that he’s calling the shots in Arizona.

“If Kyler Murray isn’t here, I don’t take this job. I think this offense will look much different,” Gannon said. “This guy does things that it completely handcuffs you how you play defense – at times. I think we can take him to another level and unleash his full skill set. We’re not gonna put him in gun all the time, I’ll tell you that. We’ll have two significant offenses with his skill set: one being under center and one being in the gun. Then obviously we’re gonna do what’s comfortable with him. The way to take pressure off the quarterback and the O-line is to put him under center at times. That’s the missing piece I thought they had with Kyler. They were in gun all the time. When you’re in gun all the time, you don’t make the defense defend certain play types. Now, when you get him under center, the defense has to defend a lot more type of play types. So there’s really two offenses I see us using.”

Murray played out of a lot of shotgun looks in college as well, so mixing in more snaps from under center would mark a big change for him as he moves into his fifth NFL season, but it will be a welcome one if it leads to more success than the Cardinals experienced in 2022.

[Futureshock]

With Daniel Jones likely getting tagged, Saquon Barkley could be headed to open market

Posted by Mike Florio on February 20, 2023, 10:01 AM EST

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With Giants quarterback Daniel Jones changing agents in an effort to change the terms the team is offering, he’s now on track for the franchise tag.

The big winner in that move could be running back Saquon Barkley.

The Giants, like all teams, have one tag to use each year. The thinking was that the Giants would sign Jones to a long-term deal and then tag Barkley, if they can’t work out a deal with him, too.

Now, the focus will likely shift to getting Barkley signed.

The rampant tampering at the Scouting Combine will help the effort. Barkley will know what it, and isn’t, out there before making a final decision on whatever the Giants offer. Which would result in Barkley potentially re-signing before the two-day negotiating window opens, or maybe during it.

Or maybe he leaves. Which would make it harder for Jones to duplicate his performance in 2022, given that Barkley had a very strong season, forcing defenses to focus a little more on him — and a little less on Jones.

It’s unclear what the market for Barkley would be. He has five years of NFL wear and tear, and he plays a position that results in plenty of impacts that can result in plenty of injuries. A long-term investment would come with enhanced risk for the team that provides it.

If tagged, Barkley would receive a one-year, $10.091 million tender. That will only happen at this point if Jones and the Giants can work out a long-term contract. Which now seems unlikely given that negotiations to date have prompted Jones to fire his agents and hire new ones.

[Futureshock]

Report: Steelers hire Aaron Curry as linebackers coach

Posted by Charean Williams on February 19, 2023, 8:42 PM EST

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The Steelers are hiring Aaron Curry from the Seahawks’ staff as the linebackers coach, Matt Zenitz of On3Sports reports.

Pittsburgh lost linebackers coach Brian Flores to the Vikings after he accepted the defensive coordinator job.

Curry served last season as assistant defensive line/defensive ends coach in Seattle. He joined the Seahawks in 2019 as a coaching assistant before being promoted to a defensive assistant the following season.

He began his coaching career under his own former position coach, Bill Lambert, at the University of Charlotte. Curry worked as a graduate assistant in 2014 before becoming the defensive line coach in 2015.

Curry was a standout college player at Wake Forest, winning the 2008 Butkus Award.

The Seahawks drafted Curry fourth overall in 2009, but traded him to the Raiders during the 2011 season. He played 48 games with 39 starts and made 203 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 12 pass breakups in his four-year career.

[Futureshock]

Paxton Lynch benched in XFL debut

Posted by Mike Florio on February 19, 2023, 10:44 AM EST

USA TODAY Sports

During the 2016 draft, the one that saw the Cowboys take a flier on a quarterback named Dakota in round four.

It worked out pretty well. But Dallas had a far different Plan A.

Jerry Jones and company coveted Paxton Lynch. They tried to trade up to get the Memphis quarterback, but the Broncos beat them to the punch, fortunately.

Nearly seven years later, Lynch is still trying to find his footing in pro football. He got the start in his XFL debut, with the Orlando Guardians. He didn’t get the finish, however.

Despite an opening drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Lynch to former NFL receiver Cody Latimer, things went the other way for Lynch. In the third quarter, down 21-6, Lynch was benched for Quentin Dormady.

Lynch’s 21st pass of the day was his last one, an interception.

Dormady didn’t do much better, throwing two picks while trying to dig the Guardians out of a hole that kept getting deeper. The Houston Roughnecks prevailed, 33-12.

It’s unclear whether Lynch will be back under center next weekend, when the Guardians play again. Despite his struggles, his perseverance is impressive. He has kept at it despite failures with the Broncos, the Steelers, the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL, and the Michigan Panthers of the USFL.

[froot loops]

Good luck putting Murray under center. That's not something anyone just picks up.

[Futureshock]

XFL provides full transparency on replay reviews

Posted by Michael David Smith on February 18, 2023, 4:05 PM EST

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The latest edition of the XFL kicked off its season this afternoon, and while the quality of play is nowhere close to the NFL, the quality of the replay review process is an improvement.

Former NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino is the XFL’s head of officiating, and on the broadcast the cameras show Blandino in the replay booth, reviewing the replays and communicating to the referee on the field what the correct call is.

On the first replay, a review of a pass that was ruled incomplete on the field but was actually complete, Blandino quickly fixed the mistake on the field, and the fans watching at home could hear Blandino telling the referee that the pass was complete, where to spot the ball, and when to start the clock.

The process was fast and effective, and letting the fans watch it was a great innovation. The NFL has never provided that kind of transparency.

[Futureshock]

Greg Hardy knocked out in bare knuckle fight

Posted by Michael David Smith on February 18, 2023, 4:49 AM EST

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Greg Hardy, the former Pro Bowl defensive end whose NFL career ended because of a domestic violence accusation, has taken up a second career as a pro fighter. His latest fight did not go well.

Hardy has signed with an organization called Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, which promotes boxing without gloves. In his first fight on Friday night, he was knocked cold by Josh Watson, a mediocre fighter he was handed as his first bare knuckle opponent in an attempt to give him an easy win.

A left hook from Watson in the second round sent Hardy flat on his back, and Hardy was still trying to get up when the referee counted to 10.

Hardy signed with the UFC in 2018 and won some fights, but he was cut by that organization a year ago after suffering three consecutive knockout losses. His knockout loss on Friday night may indicate that the 34-year-old Hardy needs to find something else to do for a living.

A 2010 sixth-round draft pick of the Panthers, Hardy was a Pro Bowler in 2013 but spent all but one game of the 2014 season on the commissioner’s exempt list over a domestic violence charge. The Cowboys signed him in 2015, but after that no NFL team wanted him, and so he found fighting as his second career.

[Futureshock]

Bears are releasing Al-Quadin Muhammad

Posted by Charean Williams on February 17, 2023, 9:42 PM EST

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The Bears are releasing defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

Muhammad will become a free agent when the Bears make it official. He was not on the NFL’s personnel notice for Friday.

His release will clear $3.964 million in cap space, with only $500,000 in dead money.

The Saints made Muhammad a sixth-round choice in 2017, and he played four games as a rookie. He joined the Colts in 2018 and found a home, seeing action in 65 games with 25 starts over four seasons.

The Bears signed Muhammad a two-year, $10 million contract with the Bears in the offseason, but he made only 29 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in 16 games.

He played 608 defensive snaps and 42 on special teams.