NFL News

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[Futureshock]

Dalvin Cook will hold out without a new contract

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 8, 2020, 5:54 PM EDT

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Vikings running back Dalvin Cook is planning his holdout.

Cook has decided not to participate in any team activities until he gets a new contract.

“He’s out. Without a reasonable extension, he will not be showing up for camp or beyond,” a source told Adam Schefter of ESPN.

The question now will be whether the Vikings cave to Cook’s demands. Last year two high-profile running backs engaged in holdouts, with very different results.

Melvin Gordon was making similar threats about not reporting a year ago when he started his holdout with the Chargers. But the Chargers didn’t budge and Gordon eventually reported in Week Five of the regular season. This year he settled for a two-year, $16 million contract with the Broncos in free agency.

Ezekiel Elliott, however, was also holding out a year ago, and in his case it was the team that caved: The Cowboys gave Elliott a six-year, $90 million contract.

Will the Vikings hold the line like the Chargers? Or will Cook get a big new contract like Elliott’s? That now becomes one of the most interesting questions of this summer in the NFL.

[Futureshock]

Matt Ryan audibles out of crowd noise question

Posted by Darin Gantt on June 10, 2020, 7:54 AM EDT

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NFL teams still don’t know whether they’ll be playing in front of fans when they begin their seasons.

But Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan knows he’s not the guy to ask about playing in quiet environments.

Via Atlanta writer Jason Butt (formerly of TheAthletic.com), Ryan was asked about the possibility of playing in empty buildings, and pumping in crowd noise.

“I’m not sure our organization should be talking about pumping in crowd noise,” Ryan replied.

Of course, the Falcons were found guilty of exactly that in 2013 and 2014, and were hit with a range of penalties.

They were fined $350,000 and lost a 2016 fifth-round pick, and team president Rich McKay was briefly suspended as chairman of the league’s competition committee.

It was a solid moment of #selfawareness for Ryan, who has been on a bit of a hot streak lately, deserving cheers of the organic variety for his donations to support Atlanta’s black community.

[Futureshock]

Excuses, excuses....



Tarik Cohen “really slacked” on physical fitness last year

Posted by Josh Alper on June 16, 2020, 6:44 AM EDT

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While discussing the downturn of the Bears Offense in 2019, running back Tarik Cohen said last week that the unit was too predictable and made things hard on themselves as a result.

That would address the shortcomings of the offense as a whole, but it may not tell the entire story of Cohen’s own slide from the heights of 2018. Cohen was less productive as a runner and a receiver, which might have been at least partly due to his self-admitted lack of attention to his own physical fitness.

“I’ve been doing yoga now, stretching more often and just like the small training room — in-house things you do to keep your body durable,” Cohen said, via NBCSportsChicago.com. “And to keep the wear-and-tear of the season off of you longer. I really slacked on that. I always had older guys that would keep me on that, keep me in line.”

It’s a big year for several Bears players as they try to bounce back from a down year. With free agency looming in 2021, Cohen’s at the top of that list.

[Futureshock]

J.J. Watt makes his position on kneeling and the flag crystal clear




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The argument that kneeling during the national anthem constitutes disrespect of the flag is crumbling quickly.

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, in response to a Twitter user who predicted that Watt won’t be taking a knee during the anthem, made two comments. First, he said “don’t speak for me.” Second, Watt said “if you still think it’s about disrespecting the flag or our military, you clearly haven’t been listening.”

For as obvious as the point is becoming, there are still people (including those in high public office) who conflate kneeling with disrespect. Plenty of them have chimed in with responses to Watt’s tweet. Still, the more those people hear that kneeling isn’t disrespect (especially from prominent white players), the more likely it will be that they will change their thinking.

It will be impossible to get 100 percent of the country to agree on anything. At some point, the NFL, its teams, its owners, its coaches, and its players need to ignore misguided voices of dissent that will be remembered unfavorably by history.

[Futureshock]

2021 Pro Bowl heading to Las Vegas

Posted by Darin Gantt on June 16, 2020, 2:43 PM EDT
Las Vegas lost its chance to host the 2020 NFL Draft to the coronavirus, so now they’ll get to have an event for people who have already proven to be good at football.

The NFL announced that the 2021 Pro Bowl would be played in Las Vegas.

The game will be played Jan. 31, 2021 at Allegiant Stadium.

“We look forward to partnering with the Raiders and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to bring the excitement of Pro Bowl week to our Las Vegas fans and community for the first time” NFL executive vice president of club business and league events said in a release. “We thank the city of Orlando for its outstanding partnership in helping us to grow and evolve the Pro Bowl over the last four years. To our partners at Florida Citrus Sports, Camping World Stadium, ESPN Wide World of Sports, and Visit Orlando, we appreciate your tremendous efforts over the years and look forward to creating more memorable moments together in the future.”

If nothing else, having the game in Las Vegas should reduce the number of players who come up with phantom injuries to avoid the all-star game, which has become an annual tradition.

The league has also promised the 2022 NFL Draft to Las Vegas, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to conduct this year’s selection meeting virtually.

[Futureshock]

Brian Piccolo died 50 years ago today


Posted by Mike Florio on June 16, 2020, 11:15 AM EDT

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We recently noted the 50-year anniversary of Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers’ memorable and moving speech regarding the illness that teammate Brian Piccolo was fighting. Fifty years ago today, Piccolo lost that battle.

The Bears’ website takes a look back at the life and career of Brian Piccolo.

Unselected in a 20-round draft in 1965, Piccolo joined the Bears after leading the nation in rushing and scoring at Wake Forest. At 5’11” and 195 pounds, Piccolo was regarded as too small to play fullback in the NFL.

Sayers and Piccolo became close friends and eventually roommates on the road. Their friendship was featured in Brian’s Song, a popular made-for-TV movie that debuted in 1971.

“He was so young to die, with a future that held so much for him,” Bears founder George Halas said at the time. “But Brian made the most of the brief 26 years allotted to him, and he will not be forgotten.”

A half-century later, he hasn’t been. More than $13 million has been raised for cancer research in his name. On this 50th anniversary of his passing, consider making a contribution of your own to the cause.

[Futureshock]

KYLE LONGG, UNSIGNED FREE AGENT

Unsigned G Kyle Long says he will "know with conviction" if he plans to play in 2020 or not "in the next few weeks."


"Full transparency I miss football but at what cost," Long posted on social media. "I’m most likely gonna be on golf courses instead of gridiron’s." Long made sure to note he is not retired, rather "fired" by his previous team - the Bears. That led to fans asking him to return to Chicago, to which Long responded with "I would wait for a new staff." It has been reported that Joe Douglas and the Jets are trying to pull Long back into the league, similar to what they did with Ryan Kalil last season.

SOURCE: Kyle Long on Twitter
Jun 15, 2020, 1:25 PM

[The King]

I see a lot of talk about Kap possibly getting a shot. Why would he, though? He got blackballed 4 years ago. Why would he come back to the NFL? He’s on the right side of history.

Would any of you to go back to an employer that fucked you over 4 years ago? He’s clearly a man of principal. I don’t think money matters to him. If someone offered me a deal after all he went through, I would tell them to go fuck themselves.

[JGSpartan]

Love of the game and wanting to win a superbowl? I don't think he gives that much of a crap about the money but who knows. The sport and probably the league will exist well after the current shit owners who wouldn't sign him are gone. I think it'd be a shame to let them win and steal your chance at a piece of history in the game you love.

[jaadam4]

I see a lot of talk about Kap possibly getting a shot. Why would he, though? He got blackballed 4 years ago. Why would he come back to the NFL? He’s on the right side of history.

Would any of you to go back to an employer that fucked you over 4 years ago? He’s clearly a man of principal. I don’t think money matters to him. If someone offered me a deal after all he went through, I would tell them to go fuck themselves.

Because it’s all just one big shit show. Everything is all about PR and the next big thing to make everyone look good.

I still think the Lions should have signed him last year after Stafford went down. It would have shut everyone up on whether he can still play and it would have been a positive PR move by Detroit but nope. They botched that one too

[Futureshock]

Report: ESPN will use Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit for MNF if college football season is delayed or canceled

Posted by Mike Florio on June 17, 2020, 10:39 AM EDT

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ESPN has announced that Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland won’t return to Monday Night Football. ESPN has not yet named their replacements.

Michael McCarthy of FrontOfficeSports.com reports that ESPN is biding its time because it plans to shift Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit into the NFL booth if the college football season is canceled or postponed.

This suggests that ESPN knows something that the rest of us don’t. By all indications, college football plans to proceed as scheduled, at a minimum with the biggest schools in the biggest conferences getting their games in. But with eight Alabama players testing positive in recent weeks and Houston shutting down voluntary workouts after six players tested positive, there’s a chance that the effort to play college football will collapse like a proverbial house of cards.

On one hand, there’s too much money riding on it. On the other hand, the sheer number of players and programs will make it hard to safely and effectively play games from September through December.

So even though the impression has been created that both college and NFL football will happen in 2020, there’s still a chance it will only be the NFL. If so, Fowler and Herbstreit will still be working.

[chemiclord]

I'm still not the least bit sold the NFL is going to play any games this coming season.

[TheLondonLion]

I'm still not the least bit sold the NFL is going to play any games this coming season.

I think they will. The EPL is back. Money talks, and there's too much at stake not to play.

The NFL is the second national religion.

[wcfwtf]

The US government closed the churches down so the Religion part of it ain't gonna save the NFL.
Honestly I'd say it's 50/50 right now. If cases start rising towards September those odds get worse for having a season.