NFL News

[Futureshock]

Report: Raiders have received no trade offers for Hunter Renfrow

Posted by Charean Williams on June 8, 2023, 6:35 PM EDT

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Raiders receiver Hunter Renfrow returned to practice Thursday, participating in the final minicamp session after leaving early Wednesday.

Renfrow missed seven games last season with concussion and oblique injuries.

The 2021 Pro Bowler remains with the Raiders despite trade rumors this offseason. Those rumors amped up after the team drafted receiver Tre Tucker in the third round in April.

Tashan Reed of TheAthletic.com reports the Raiders have received no trade offers for Renfrow. That, of course, doesn’t mean the Raiders haven’t received calls about Renfrow’s availability.

Interest in Renfrow also could change between now and the trade deadline in late October.

Renfrow will count $13.1 million against the cap this season and $13.7 million in 2024. He has no guaranteed money left in 2024.

So, Renfrow faces an important season in 2023, needing to show he can remain healthy and regain his form of 2021 when he caught 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns.

[Futureshock]

Garett Bolles: I’m ready for Russell Wilson’s critics to “eat crow” this year

Posted by Josh Alper on June 8, 2023, 6:04 PM EDT

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Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles is charged with protecting quarterback Russell Wilson during the regular season and he’s standing up for Wilson during the offseason as well.

It has not been hard to find criticism of Wilson over the last year given his subpar play with the Broncos and reports about things like Wilson having an office at the team facility and which teammates were invited to his birthday party. Bolles said on Thursday that he was angry “with what came out” about a player he called “phenomenal” and said that he expects “one of the greatest quarterbacks in the game the last 10 years” to find his groove this time around.

“He’s a great dude, he’s the same guy every single day, he works his butt off,” Bolles said, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. “And I’m ready for that stuff to go away and when it goes, everyone’s going to eat crow.”

Given the price paid in the trade for Wilson, he’ll need to have a massive rebound in order for all of the narratives about the decision to deal for him to change. Something smaller than that could still mean more wins for the Broncos, however, and the team will likely settle for that after such a rough 2022.

[Futureshock]

Tyreek Hill aims to break NFL’s single-season receiving yards record

Posted by Charean Williams on June 8, 2023, 5:55 PM EDT

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Tyreek Hill broke the Dolphins’ single-season receiving yards record in his first season in Miami. His 119 catches were also a team record, and he went for 1,710 yards to break Mark Clayton’s 38-year-old team record for yards.

Hill wants more this season.

His goal is 2,000 yards, which would set the NFL record.

“Oh yeah, for sure [it’s a realistic goal],” Hill said, via Adam Beasley of profootballnetwork.com. “I think the added [17th] game gives me quite the advantage, so yeah.”

Hill still would have to average 117.6 in 17 games to reach 2,000 yards. He averaged a career-best 100.6 last season.

Calvin Johnson set the record of 1,964 yards in 16 games in 2012, nine years before the NFL went to 17 games.

“For me, not getting injured [is the key], coming in each and every day wanting to get better, wanting to be coached,” Hill said, “and I feel like I’ve got the right tools around me. I’ve got obviously the most accurate quarterback in the NFL. I’ve got one of the best head coaches in the NFL, and also my position coach is a monster. So, just having those three things and me just keeping the same mindset each and every day that I want to get better and I want to break the record, and I do want to break the record. So, I feel like this is one of those years that I can achieve it.”

The health of Tua Tagovailoa will play a big part in Hill’s chances of reaching 2,000 yards. The quarterback missed four games in 2022 with concussions, and Hill had three of his least productive games when Tagovailoa was sidelined.

The two are expected to continue their work on their own this offseason.

“I’m really hoping that Tua wants to go back to Hawaii because that way, I can sneak a vacation in with the family and also get some work in,” Hill said.

[Futureshock]

Julian Edelman tees off on NFL for turf fields

Posted by Mike Florio on June 8, 2023, 4:42 PM EDT

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Former NFL receiver Julian Edelman has weighed in on the grass vs. turf debate. Then again, from the perspective of the men who play the game, it’s not much of a debate.

Players strongly prefer grass to turf. If not unanimously.

“I tore my ACL on a shitty turf in Detroit which was absolutely ridiculous,” Edelman said in an appearance on No Chill with Gilbert Arenas on Fubo Sports.. “I broke my foot on a shitty turf field in New York. This is a multi-billion dollar corporation and we can’t get grass?”

He explained the difference between the two surfaces.

“With turf there is nowhere for the energy to disperse,” Edelman said. “So, when you cut, everything is going straight into your knee and ankle. When you’re a younger player its awesome because you can cheat a cut. You can cut off your inside foot and still make the cut, whereas on grass you’ll slip. But there is no give. When you get to about 27 or 28, you go out and you have to practice on a turf field and your back locks up, your knees get hurt for the next three days, your ankles are sore for three days. There’s just nowhere for the energy to go, but through your body. And these are full grown men who are cutting on this.”

So why won’t the NFL switch to grass fields?

“It’s money,” Edelman said. “You can put a turf field in that $1.5 million for the year. If you have grass, you have to water it, upkeep it, redo it. There is a lot of maintenance. You have to have a field crew that is always on. We’re counting pennies when it comes to what they are actually making and you would think that the league would want to protect their investments in the players. The horses that race in the race, you’ve got to take care of the horse.”

Amen to that. As we’ve said many times, even if the owners don’t think of the players as people (and plenty likely don’t), they should still be protecting their investments. Those with turf surfaces refuse to see it that way.

But they still cling to notions of player safety, regarding plays like the kickoff.

“It’s kind of a bullshit rule that they put in with the whole [kickoff] fair catch thing because it’s a scapegoat,” Edelman said. “We talk about player safety but we don’t have mandatory grass, which is absolute bullshit. Guys are tearing their shit . . . feet, ankles, knees, non-contact [injuries] all the time because of these turfs and we haven’t changed that.”

Of course, when required to ditch turf for grass — like when it’s needed to lure a FIFA World Cup event — the owners won’t think twice.

“It’s crazy,” Edelman said. “Whenever there is an international soccer game, if you have a turf stadium they will bring in grass for the international teams to play because they have a rule for their players that they have to play on grass. But we can’t do it for our league and our investment in players.”

More and more players, current and former, need to keep making these points. The chorus needs to become a din that forces the teams that don’t have grass to spend the money necessary to switch to it.

Until every stadium has grass, no one connected to the sport can credibly claim that the NFL truly cares about player health and safety.

[Topweasel]

Chicago is terrible. I don’t care what they did in the off season, they still suck

I agree. I don't see what people see in Fields, but still, there defense isn't bad and they can get some pressure. I just need Love to get nocked around a bit. Not for Chicago to even win.

[SnowMeiser]

Julian Edelman tees off on NFL for turf fields

Posted by Mike Florio on June 8, 2023, 4:42 PM EDT

Getty Images

Former NFL receiver Julian Edelman has weighed in on the grass vs. turf debate. Then again, from the perspective of the men who play the game, it’s not much of a debate.

Players strongly prefer grass to turf. If not unanimously.

“I tore my ACL on a shitty turf in Detroit which was absolutely ridiculous,” Edelman said in an appearance on No Chill with Gilbert Arenas on Fubo Sports.. “I broke my foot on a shitty turf field in New York. This is a multi-billion dollar corporation and we can’t get grass?”

He explained the difference between the two surfaces.

“With turf there is nowhere for the energy to disperse,” Edelman said. “So, when you cut, everything is going straight into your knee and ankle. When you’re a younger player its awesome because you can cheat a cut. You can cut off your inside foot and still make the cut, whereas on grass you’ll slip. But there is no give. When you get to about 27 or 28, you go out and you have to practice on a turf field and your back locks up, your knees get hurt for the next three days, your ankles are sore for three days. There’s just nowhere for the energy to go, but through your body. And these are full grown men who are cutting on this.”

So why won’t the NFL switch to grass fields?

“It’s money,” Edelman said. “You can put a turf field in that $1.5 million for the year. If you have grass, you have to water it, upkeep it, redo it. There is a lot of maintenance. You have to have a field crew that is always on. We’re counting pennies when it comes to what they are actually making and you would think that the league would want to protect their investments in the players. The horses that race in the race, you’ve got to take care of the horse.”

Amen to that. As we’ve said many times, even if the owners don’t think of the players as people (and plenty likely don’t), they should still be protecting their investments. Those with turf surfaces refuse to see it that way.

But they still cling to notions of player safety, regarding plays like the kickoff.

“It’s kind of a bullshit rule that they put in with the whole [kickoff] fair catch thing because it’s a scapegoat,” Edelman said. “We talk about player safety but we don’t have mandatory grass, which is absolute bullshit. Guys are tearing their shit . . . feet, ankles, knees, non-contact [injuries] all the time because of these turfs and we haven’t changed that.”

Of course, when required to ditch turf for grass — like when it’s needed to lure a FIFA World Cup event — the owners won’t think twice.

“It’s crazy,” Edelman said. “Whenever there is an international soccer game, if you have a turf stadium they will bring in grass for the international teams to play because they have a rule for their players that they have to play on grass. But we can’t do it for our league and our investment in players.”

More and more players, current and former, need to keep making these points. The chorus needs to become a din that forces the teams that don’t have grass to spend the money necessary to switch to it.

Until every stadium has grass, no one connected to the sport can credibly claim that the NFL truly cares about player health and safety.

Maybe technology has evolved since then and it wouldn't be so bad in the later half of the season, but I remember this at the time for the World Cup..........

Soccer returned to the Silverdome in 1994, with the help of Faulkner, when most unexpectedly the stadium became an official venue for the World Cup finals. In the height of the summer, conditions in the indoor facility were unbearable for both players and fans alike. The Silverdome staged four group matches, including the United States’ opener against Switzerland. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8f579...5&dpr=1&s=none The Detroit Lions play in front of a packed hours during the Silverdome’s heyday. Photograph: Getty Images
“It was a very hot summer and Detroit was extremely humid,” recalled former USA midfielder Paul Caligiuiri. “The Silverdome was built for turf, they brought grass in these big octagons and they had to water it. It added to the humidity and the texture of the grass, it was too soft ... The combination of hot weather — 90 degrees with 90% humidity in an unventilated dome with grass that shouldn’t be there that was watered, it made for severe conditions.” Fellow midfielder Thomas Dooley bluntly added: “It was the worst place I have ever played.”

Detroit should have really went with a retractable roof. Oh well.

[jaadam4]

I agree. I don't see what people see in Fields, but still, there defense isn't bad and they can get some pressure. I just need Love to get nocked around a bit. Not for Chicago to even win.

I agree about Fields. He’s an Ohio Qb that will end up switching to WR before it’s over. He’s not a good QB. Have fun sucking Chi town

[Futureshock]

Justin Fields and DJ Moore developing rapport, looking like best friends

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 9, 2023, 1:47 PM EDT

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When the Bears traded down from the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, they insisted that the Panthers include wide receiver DJ Moore in the deal. And Bears quarterback Justin Fields is very glad they did.

That’s the word from Bears safety Jaquan Brisker, who said Fields and Moore looked during Organized Team Activities like they had been teammates for years.

“It look like they got that chemistry going very fast, earlier than I expected,” Brisker said of Moore and Fields, via NBCSportsChicago.com. “They look good, though. They look like they best friends. Justin’s definitely throwing him the ball. Two’s getting the ball, no doubt. Justin looks good, though. He’s going through his progressions. He’s looking very smooth, making good decisions out there, and looking like the best quarterback in the NFL. I thought that last year, but this year it’s different. One look different and him and two . . . you gonna see. You will see.”

Last year the Bears didn’t have a single wide receiver gain even 500 receiving yards, as tight end Cole Kmet led the team with 50 catches and 544 yards. Moore has three 1,000-yard seasons in his career, and the Bears are eager to see him develop into Fields’ favorite receiver, hopefully for many years to come.

[Futureshock]

Aaron Rodgers: Last six weeks have been most fun I’ve had in a while

Posted by Josh Alper on June 9, 2023, 1:45 PM EDT

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When the Jets first swung a trade for quarterback Aaron Rodgers this spring, there were questions about how much of the team’s offseason program he would attend.

Rodgers missed voluntary work with the Packers in recent years and he said at a press conference in April that he expected to miss some work this spring, but things played out differently. Rodgers confirmed at a Friday press conference that he attended all of the team’s OTAs and said that the calf strain he suffered during a practice contributed to the decision to stick around.

It didn’t hurt that Rodgers was enjoying himself in his new surroundings.

“The last six weeks have been about the most fun I’ve had in a while. It’s fun to come to work and be excited about what we’re doing,” Rodgers said, via SNY.

The Jets canceled their mandatory minicamp so the team will be scattering until the start of training camp, but Rodgers said he plans to organize workouts with the team’s receivers between now and their return to kick off the next stage of a highly anticipated season.

[jaadam4]

Nick Cage almost looks like he knows what he’s doing here. Still
a bit crazy but he was good in Con Air minus the accent and fighting in the rain

i wonder if the director was mad that he looked directly at the camera

[Futureshock]

[Futureshock]

AJ Dillon hopes to play free, have fun and remain with Packers beyond 2023

Posted by Josh Alper on June 12, 2023, 7:47 AM EDT

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Packers running backs coach Ben Sirmans said this offseason that running back AJ Dillon was not consistent during the 2022 season and Dillon agrees that he didn’t put his best foot forward last year.

Dillon said it “wasn’t a bad year or anything like that,” but that it was not the year he hoped to have and it was not the year he feels he’s capable of having for the Packers. Dillon said he felt he was “playing tight” because of how much he was putting on his shoulders, including the impending birth of his first child, and that he’s trying for a freer approach to this season even though it is the final one of his current contract.

“I love Green Bay,” Dillon said, via Jason Wilde of Madison.com. “Green Bay knows that. I love the Packers. The Packers know that. I’d play here until I can’t run anymore. I’ll pick up long snapper or whatever it is when I start slowing down. But there’s only so much I can control. My biggest thing is having the mindset that I’m going to come in here and keep doing my thing. And when it’s time to go play ball, I’m going to go out there and play free and have fun — how I used to back in college, high school. And how ever that happens — whether it’s 1,000 yards, 2,000 yards, 100 yards — so be it. I’m going to have fun and enjoy all the time I have here. And hopefully, we’re back here next year.”

Dillon may have hoped for the clear No. 1 role this season, but Aaron Jones took a pay cut in order to stick around for the coming season. Both men should be in line for plenty of work with Jordan Love heading into his first year as a starter and what Dillon does with those opportunities will determine where he winds up in 2024 and beyond.

[Futureshock]

All four USFL North teams are below .500, but alive for two playoff berths

Posted by Mike Florio on June 12, 2023, 6:12 AM EDT

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Eight-team football leagues can lead to all sorts of unusual outcomes. In the second year of the reconstituted USFL, for example, all teams in the USFL North are below .500 after nine games — and all four teams in the USFL South are above .500.

It sets the stage for a final week of the regular season in which the 4-5 Philadelphia Stars, the 3-6 New Jersey Generals, the 3-6 Pittsburgh Maulers, and the 3-6 Michigan Panthers will compete for two playoff berths.

On Saturday, the Generals play the Maulers in Canton. On Sunday, the Stars and Panthers face off at Ford Field in Detroit.

In the South, the 7-2 Birmingham Stallions have clinched a playoff berth. The New Orleans Breakers are 6-3, and the Houston Gamblers and Memphis Showboats are each 5-4.

The postseason starts on June 24, with a pair of games that weekend. The championship game will be played on Saturday, July 1, in Canton.

[Futureshock]

Stetson Bennett has some words for the Senior Bowl’s executive director

Posted by Mike Florio on June 10, 2023, 9:52 PM EDT

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Things are slow, which means that things that wouldn’t hit the radar screen when things aren’t slow otherwise make a blip.

Here’s something that made a blip.

In response to the nonsensical “Baby Gronk” phenomenon, Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy posted a lengthy tweet aimed at making the point that preparing a kid to play pro football at a young age doesn’t matter. That at the end of the day, it’s about being big and strong and fast and willing to run full speed into other football players — and the development of this skills is irrelevant to any amount of training during childhood years.

“If you’re none of those things, good luck,” Nagy concluded. “Rarely matters when you start grooming your kids.”

Nagy’s take is relevant for some positions. For others, like quarterback, a sudden growth spurt or some fluke incident that gives the player a rocket arm overnight won’t really matter if the player has little or no experience at reading defenses, processing information before and during the play, studying playbooks and film, and/or leading other football players.

Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett opted for something more direct than that, in response to Nagy.

“’Rarely matters when you start grooming your kids,'” Bennett tweeted. “Thank you for the overarching parental advice, Jim. Perhaps parents with dreams for their kids, or kids with dreams in general, should only listen to you, master king of talent evaluation. Lol — a scout who saw an opportunity…”

There’s a history here. Bennett declined an invitation to attend the Senior Bowl. And Nagy then described Bennett as a low-round prospect.

“The only quarterbacks in the last five years since I’ve been here that we haven’t gotten in the past were Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence,” Nagy previously said, via Jonathan Williams of SI.com. “Those guys were the presumptive No. 1 overall picks. We called around before we started to reach out to Stetson’s people, and he was a sixth- or seventh-round pick, which is a lot better than he was going into the year, which was a priority free agent.”

The Rams picked Bennett in round four, even without Bennett attending the Senior Bowl.

The selection was a surprise, given that Bennett widely was regarded as a guy who would go in the later rounds. How much did Nagy’s comments influence Bennett’s perceived status? It clearly didn’t affect the Rams.

Still, Bennett seems to hold a grudge. It’s hard to fault him for that. The Senior Bowl is a business, and it relies on as many prospects as possible showing up and participating. If too many players decline to continue to practice and play football for free after not getting paid for two or three or four years, the Senior Bowl will become a junior-high production, at best.

That said, it’s Nagy’s job to get players to come. But it’s easy to see why Bennett would regard Nagy dismissing Bennett as a sixth- or seventh-round pick as sour grapes.

[Futureshock]

A year after running it back, the Vikings are tearing it down

Posted by Mike Florio on June 10, 2023, 9:26 AM EDT

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When the Vikings not-surprisingly jettisoned coach Mike Zimmer and somewhat-surprisingly dumped G.M. Rick Spielman after the 2021 season, the new regime kept around an unexpectedly high number of existing players. This year, G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell are tearing it down, a year after an unlikely 13-4 season.

Gone, to date, are running back Dalvin Cook, receiver Adam Thielen, linebacker Za'Darius Smith (whom they signed last year), linebacker Eric Kendricks, cornerback Patrick Peterson, and defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson. Next to go could be pass-rusher Danielle Hunter, given that someone leaked that the Vikings were “getting calls” for him. (Usually, that sort of call to a reporter comes from inside the house, as part of an effort to get the offer the team wants.)

So what are the Vikings doing? The retention of so many players in 2021 coupled with a memorable first season created a sense that the Vikings would hold it together if they could and try to take the next step — especially since they kept quarterback Kirk Cousins.

The deeper question is whether they were willing if not hoping to get rid of Cousins, too. Rumors flew at the Scouting Combine of a possible Cousins trade to the 49ers.

The question for the Vikings would have been who do they replace him with? They were drafting too low to get in position for one of the best young quarterbacks in the 2023 draft class, and the free-agency and trade options (other than Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson) would have resulted in another middle-of-the-pack, water-treading, just-good-enough-to-be-good-enough option, perhaps to give the Vikings a chance at another one-and-done playoff run. Or maybe, if they get lucky, a blowout loss in the divisional round.

Adofo-Mensah said it himself last year. He called Cousins a “good quarterback,” “but he acknowledged that “we don’t have Tom Brady . . . we don’t have Pat Mahomes.”

And as the Vikings pivot from consistency to demolition, Adofo-Mensah has one position that gives him paused when it comes to trading or cutting a player.

“I’ll be frank,” Adofo-Mensah said last year, “the one asset where you get nervous about not burning it down is quarterback.”

The QB burn pit is likely coming after the 2023 season. Even as the Vikings will try to persuade themselves and others that they’re trying to get to the Super Bowl and win it (every team says that, every year), the Vikings have a broader plan to make themselves into a consistent Super Bowl contender. It involves deliberately taking a major step back in 2023, in the hopes that it will lead to multiple steps forward in 2024 and beyond.

Whether that’s tanking or strategic rebuilding is a matter of semantics. The Vikings aren’t prioritizing winning as many games as possible in 2023, just like the Cardinals. The Vikings are thinking about the franchise’s future with a franchise quarterback — a true, year-in and year-out best-in-the-league-or-close-to-it passer and runner that they haven’t had since Fran Tarkenton.

The problem is that the Vikings don’t usually draft in position to get a franchise quarterback. Since taking Daunte Culpepper in 1999 (who was becoming a franchise quarterback until he suffered a serious knee injury in 2005), the Vikings had the seventh pick in 2007, a year when the top quarterbacks were JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn. (They took Adrian Peterson.) In 2012, they had the fourth pick, but they had used a first-rounder one year earlier on Christian Ponder. In 2014, they had the ninth overall selection in a year that featured Blake Bortles as the consensus top quarterback; they traded back into round one to get Teddy Bridgewater.

In 2017, they Vikings didn’t have a first-round pick after desperation forced them to send what became the fourteenth overall selection to the Eagles for Sam Bradford. (In an alternate universe, the Vikings dealt with the aftermath of Teddy Bridgewater’s serious knee injury by riding with Shaun Hill, and perhaps finishing high enough in the 2017 draft order to take Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson.)

In 2021, the Vikings were seriously eyeing Justin Fields, but the Bears traded up to get him — and the Vikings then traded down, for tackle Christian Darrisaw.

This year, the Vikings could secretly be hoping to finish high enough in the draft order to trade up to prime position, in order to get one of the top quarterbacks that will be entering the league in 2024. If not 2024, then 2025.

Regardless, that seems to be the goal. To get a franchise quarterback, and to let things go from there.

The league doesn’t want to find teams guilty of tanking, as evidenced by the pass that 345 Park Avenue gave to the Dolphins after former coach Brian Flores claimed that owner Stephen Ross offered $100,000 per loss in 2019. (The NFL accepted the explanation that it was a joke. We’re still waiting for the punchline.) There’s a more artful way to tank; the Browns did that with a “four-year plan” that prioritized stockpiling future draft picks and cap space over collecting the best possible players in a given year. The NFL endorsed that approach.

And, yes, Adofo-Mensah worked for the DiPodesta Moneyball Browns before getting the G.M. job in Minnesota.

So that’s what’s happening. It was always what was going to happen, from the moment Adofo-Mensah was hired. The decision to keep so many players from 2021, combined with the 13-4 record from 2022 and the decision to retain Kirk Cousins for at least one more year, began to create a different impression.

It was a mirage. This is Year Two of a broader plan.

If anything, Year One went too well for the plan’s own good. That’s the thing that has made the deliberate regression in 2023 seem confusing to those fans that continue to hope next year will be the year that the Vikings emerge from purple purgatory.

The truth seems to be that they’re willing to make a temporary visit to football hell, in the hopes of busting out of limbo for as long as their future franchise quarterback plays in Minnesota.