NFL News

[Futureshock]

David Irving: I hated going to work for the Cowboys

Posted by Myles Simmons on February 22, 2021, 12:27 PM EST

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David Irving re-signed with the Raiders last week, keeping him with the franchise that brought him back to the league.

Irving had been suspended indefinitely in March 2019 for repeated violations of the league’s old substance abuse policy. But he was reinstated in October and signed with Las Vegas soon after.

In an interview with Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com, Irving made it clear that he likes playing for head coach Jon Gruden and General Manger Mike Mayock, saying they’ve made him feel comfortable. And then he also mentioned his feelings on his former employer.

“I hated going to work for the Cowboys,” Irving said. “A Cowboy is all ‘hardy har har’ and all this America’s Team stuff. I belong in Las Vegas with the Raiders.”

Those aren’t just words. Back before his indefinite suspension, Irving reportedly rarely showed up at the Cowboys’ practice facility following an ankle injury during the 2018 season.

Irving was on the Cowboys for four seasons from 2015-2018, recording 12.5 sacks in 39 games. He appeared in two contests for the Raiders in 2020, playing a total of 40 defensive snaps.

[jaadam4]

Cam Newton: There aren’t 32 quarterbacks better than me

Posted by Myles Simmons on February 22, 2021, 8:47 AM EST

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It seems more likely than not that the Patriots will have a different starting quarterback in 2021 than they did in 2020.

But Cam Newton isn’t planning on retiring.

During an appearance on Brandon Marshall’s podcast, the quarterback was fairly emphatic when asked about the possibility that he could stop playing.

“Hell no! I can’t go out like that. I hear all of that talk. My pride won’t allow me to do it,” Newton said, via Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald. “There aren’t 32 guys better than me.”

Patriots coaches praised Newton throughout the season as the club finished 7-9 in 2020. But he was one of the league’s least effective passers, throwing for just 2,657 yards with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 592 yards with 12 touchdowns and even caught a pair of passes for 35 yards with a TD.

Newton is set to be a free agent when the new league year begins on March 17. It’s unclear what his market will be, though his former head coach Ron Rivera kept the door open for a possible reunion in Washington earlier this month.

Cam looked pretty terrible last year. I totally think the complete lack of offseason screwed players changing teams and rookies but Cam looked terrible passing the ball.

[Futureshock]

NFL moves toward 17 regular-season games, three preseason games

Posted by Mike Florio on February 23, 2021, 6:31 AM EST

USA TODAY Sports

Last year, the NFL secured the ability to expand the regular season to 17 games. The league is moving closer to officially implementing a 17-game schedule for 2021.

Via Mark Maske of the Washington Post, expansion of the regular season is “not yet certain,” but it’s currently believed that the league will adjust the annual 20-game slate from 16 regular-season games and four preseason games to 17 and three.

Owners previously had been debating whether to move the preseason to three or to two games. Last year, the NFL had no preseason games, due to the pandemic. This year, the pandemic once again could limit or eliminate the slate of exhibition games.

As one source with knowledge of the dynamics recently explained it to PFT, the push to complete new TV deals has more to do with officially expanding the regular season to 17 games and less to do with potentially borrowing against future revenues to increase the 2021 salary cap.

The NFL has staged a total of 20-game preseason/regular season for decades. Before the regular season moved to 16 games in 1978, the NFL played 14 regular-season games and six preseason games. Keeping the preseason at three games keeps the total slate at 20.

Perhaps more importantly, a 17-and-three approach also ensures that teams will host 10 total games per year. The 17-game regular season will result in half of the teams having nine home games and the other half having eight. In turn, the half that has nine regular-season home games will have one preseason home game. The half that has eight regular-season homes games will have two preseason home games.

It’s also impossible to completely rule out what would be a sudden and largely unexpected push for 18 regular-season games and two preseason games. The league could, in theory, make that request to the NFL Players Association as part of the negotiations that will culminate in the setting of the 2021 salary cap. Likewise, the union could suggest a move to 18 in order to capture enhanced revenues, in 2021 and beyond.

[Futureshock]

Report: Teams believe three first-rounders the base for a Russell Wilson trade

Posted by Josh Alper on February 22, 2021, 3:38 PM EST

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When Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson went public with his desire to have a voice in personnel decisions and his frustration with getting hit too much earlier this month, word was that the Seahawks were unhappy about it and that led some to wonder if it was the first step toward a departure from the team.

Wilson said the question of whether he’s available in a trade is for the Seahawks to answer and teams have reportedly been asking. Michael Silver of NFL Media reports that one-third of the league has called the team about the possibility of a Wilson trade.

Silver adds that those teams have come away with the belief that the starting point for any serious conversations would be three first-round picks. That’s a bit different than word earlier this month that there was no chance that the team would trade Wilson, although it’s unclear if anyone has conveyed a willingness to move that number of assets to Seattle in a trade.

Trading Wilson would require the Seahawks to take $39 million of dead money onto their cap, although waiting to process a trade until after June 1 would allow them to push $26 million of it into the 2022 season. Silver also reported that the Seahawks got Wilson’s message and that there is an opportunity to alleviate his concerns before any trade would be on the table.

[chemiclord]

NFL moves toward 17 regular-season games, three preseason games

Posted by Mike Florio on February 23, 2021, 6:31 AM EST

USA TODAY Sports

Last year, the NFL secured the ability to expand the regular season to 17 games. The league is moving closer to officially implementing a 17-game schedule for 2021.

Via Mark Maske of the Washington Post, expansion of the regular season is “not yet certain,” but it’s currently believed that the league will adjust the annual 20-game slate from 16 regular-season games and four preseason games to 17 and three.

Owners previously had been debating whether to move the preseason to three or to two games. Last year, the NFL had no preseason games, due to the pandemic. This year, the pandemic once again could limit or eliminate the slate of exhibition games.

As one source with knowledge of the dynamics recently explained it to PFT, the push to complete new TV deals has more to do with officially expanding the regular season to 17 games and less to do with potentially borrowing against future revenues to increase the 2021 salary cap.

The NFL has staged a total of 20-game preseason/regular season for decades. Before the regular season moved to 16 games in 1978, the NFL played 14 regular-season games and six preseason games. Keeping the preseason at three games keeps the total slate at 20.

Perhaps more importantly, a 17-and-three approach also ensures that teams will host 10 total games per year. The 17-game regular season will result in half of the teams having nine home games and the other half having eight. In turn, the half that has nine regular-season home games will have one preseason home game. The half that has eight regular-season homes games will have two preseason home games.

It’s also impossible to completely rule out what would be a sudden and largely unexpected push for 18 regular-season games and two preseason games. The league could, in theory, make that request to the NFL Players Association as part of the negotiations that will culminate in the setting of the 2021 salary cap. Likewise, the union could suggest a move to 18 in order to capture enhanced revenues, in 2021 and beyond.

It seems to me the reason for a 17 game season is 8 home/8 away/1 neutral or international site, but the pandemic is obviously screwing with those plans.

[Cody_Russell]

Relating to the Russell Wilson article... A lot of chatter about the Panthers clearing way for a big QB move.
- Clearing a ton of cap space.
- Teddy Bridgewater removing his association with the Panthers on social media.
- Reports of the Panthers owner wanting to acquire a top tier QB.

Wonder what it will take to trade for Deshaun Watson...
Maybe 🤔 ...

Panthers receive:
- Deshaun Watson, QB.

Texans receive:
- 2021 1st RD pick (8th overall).
- 2021 2nd RD pick (39th overall).
- 2022 1st RD pick.
- 2023 1st RD pick.
- Christian McCaffrey, RB. ... (note: can swap McCaffrey for Burns, Brown, ... etc)

Deal?

[jaadam4]

I can’t see Carolina giving Christian McCaffrey and all of those picks.

[Cody_Russell]

Perhaps to tack on CMac is too much.

Spitballing an idea that is more than the Cutler to Chicago trade. Broncos received two 1sts, one 3rd, and Kyle Orton for Cutler.
I’ve heard people say it will take FOUR 1st RD picks and possibly a player in a trade for Watson.

[Futureshock]

Northwestern opts out of rebooted EA Sports college football game, pending NIL rules

Posted by Mike Florio on February 25, 2021, 9:29 AM EST

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Notre Dame has some company.

Northwestern, according to Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times, has doubled the number of FBS schools that won’t participate in the resurrected EA Sports college football franchise unless and until rules are created that allow players to receive money for their names, images, performances histories, etc.

It’s unclear whether the game will return before the so-called NIL rules are finalized. A national approach is needed, and federal legislation would be the best solution.

EA Sports dumped the college football game due to litigation issues arising from the use of players in the game who aren’t officially in the game. The know-it-when-you-see-it similarity between supposedly generic video-game figures and actual humans becomes a very real problem for EA Sports. Without those similarities, however, the game becomes far less realistic.

Hopefully, the potential return of the EA Sports college football game will push the NIL process toward a conclusion, getting rules in place that allow players to get paid for being in the video game.

Then, maybe, college football players will start getting paid for being in the real thing.

[Futureshock]

Roger Goodell: Virtual meetings here to stay

Posted by Charean Williams on February 24, 2021, 8:30 PM EST

USA TODAY Sports

Without the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL never would have done many of the things it did in 2020. Some of the changes made out of necessity will become permanent, commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday.

“Virtual meetings have now become standard in the NFL; we are not going to have as much [in-person] meetings when we get back,” Goodell said at the NFL Women’s Careers in Football Forum, via Barry Wilner of the Associated Press. “I think technology is something we have embraced and will make us better.”

The NFL was the nation’s only major pro sport to have a complete and full season without a major interruption. It did so by leaning on technology.

The draft last April was the league’s first major event affected by the coronavirus. Many inside the league wanted a postponement. Goodell pushed ahead, and the league’s draft was widely praised as a success.

Bill Belichick’s dog, CeeDee Lamb‘s girlfriend and Mike Vrabel’s son and his friend had unexpected starring roles.

“When I told the teams what we were planning to do, to say there was outcry would be an understatement,” Goodell said. “That had not been done before. They had to adapt, to use technology properly.

“It also gave us a chance to go inside people’s homes. The number of notes I got about being at home with their families and having them experience it [with the players]. . . . And there was not one complaint from a club, which is almost impossible to do. They didn’t feel they were unprepared for the draft.”

Offseason meetings and workout programs went virtual last offseason, and Zoom meetings became standard practice during the season. Much of that is expected to remain into this season and potentially beyond.

“One of the things we talked about throughout the last year was how do we learn from what we are going through?” Goodell said. “What are we going to take forward? It also gave us opportunities to find new ways of doing things that actually are quite popular.”

[Futureshock]

J.J. Watt suitors could be waiting to see who else will be available (and for how much)

Posted by Mike Florio on February 24, 2021, 8:22 PM EST

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Nearly two weeks into this 33-day head start on free agency, J.J. Watt has yet to sign with a new team. No reports have emerged regarding specific offers he has received from the various franchises that have expressed interest.

Although the lack of a specific cap number could be a factor (the expected range has narrowed to $180 million to $182 million, or so), there’s another reason for teams to bide their time a bit. They currently don’t know whether and to what extent other players will be available to be signed, based on veterans who are cut or free agents who don’t get franchise tagged and don’t quickly sign a contract.

The tampering process, untempered by the lack of a Scouting Combine, could provide some clarity. But that applies only to players whose contracts will be expiring. For veterans under contract who are going to be cut, the move could come at any time between now and March 17. So if a team commits to Watt, there’s a chance that some other player in whom the team would have been more interested and/or could have signed for less money will become available.

That’s part of the broader balance that teams need to strike in a year that will feature a reduced salary cap and an increased flood of available players. It will require Watt to continue to be patient, biding his time by sharing scientific facts on social media.

[Futureshock]

ESPN: Matthew Judon’s “personal attacks” on Jamison Hensley were “completely uncalled for”

Posted by Mike Florio on February 25, 2021, 4:16 PM EST

USA TODAY Sports

Ravens linebacker Matthew Judon reacted to a report that he didn’t appreciate with an over-the-top threat to release photos of the reporter in a strip club. Judon’s agent has declined to comment on the matter. On Thursday afternoon, ESPN issued a statement.

“We stand by Jamison Hensley’s reporting, and Hensley added Matt Judon’s perspective within the story,” an ESPN spokesperson told PFT via email. “Regardless, the since-deleted personal attacks toward him were completely uncalled for.”

Judon did indeed delete the tweet containing the threat to release photos of Hensley in a strip club. Some have wondered whether the threat amounts to extortion in violation of the law. Others have shrugged at the threat, given that Hensley has every right to go to a strip club, if he wants.

The incident becomes conspicuous because such extreme reactions are rare. If that kind of threat is ever justified (and it’s hard to envision a situation in which it would be), it was much more than Hensley’s report about Judon’s supposed rejection of a long-term offer would warrant.

The Ravens have still not responded to a request for comment on the matter. They currently have to decide whether to apply the franchise tag to Judon if they can’t sign him to a long-term deal before the window for applying the tag closes on March 9.

Because the Ravens tagged Judon in 2020, his franchise tender for 2021 would be determined by applying a 20-percent raise. That would push his pay from $16.808 million last year to $20.17 million this year.

[Futureshock]

Sean McVay: We have to do a better job of creating explosive plays

Posted by Myles Simmons on February 25, 2021, 3:42 PM EST

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Sean McVay is in the same boat as Frank Reich — a coach with a new quarterback who cannot talk about his new quarterback until a trade becomes official at the start of the new league year.

And McVay also held a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Asked in general what he’d like to see from the quarterback position in 2021, McVay’s comments boiled down to wanting to see more explosive plays — without mentioning Matthew Stafford‘s name.

“I think it’s guys who can make things happen with the ball in their hands,” McVay said. “I think there’s different ways of creating explosives, but it’s a collaboration of certainly I’ve got to do a good job of giving us opportunities. And then the players are the ones that end up making it come to life. So that’s always going to be a big part of it.

“I think when you have to go 12, 15-play drives consistently, your margin for error is so small. The level of competition is just so great that you’ve got to be able to find ways to continuously create explosives, give yourself a little bit of margin for error that it’s not always taking that many plays to produce points in this league. I think any good offense, anyone that’s at the upper echelon of the league, that’s usually something that you can probably check the box on. And I think that’s something that we’ve definitely got to do a better job of, starting with me, next season.”

In terms of creating those explosive plays, Jared Goff had 47 passes of at least 20 yards in 2020 while Stafford picked up 54. But Stafford ended the season at 8.7 pass yards per attempt, ranking fifth among qualified passers. Goff was 33rd at 6.2 air yards per attempt, ranking ahead of just Drew Brees (6.1) and Alex Smith (5.1).

So if the Rams would like to create more explosive plays, they seem to have the quarterback to do just that — even if McVay can’t yet mention him by name.

[Futureshock]

Yeah. But that kid will never live up to his abilities there...


Quinnen Williams would be disappointed if he’s traded

Posted by Josh Alper on February 25, 2021, 3:18 PM EST

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When word of Deshaun Watson‘s desire to be traded first surfaced this offseason, the Jets were one of the teams mentioned as a possible bidder for his services.

Discussion of what kind of package they’d have to put together centers on their four first-round picks over the next two season, but it has also included defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Williams’ second NFL season was a clear improvement on his rookie campaign and he said on CBS Sports Radio that he’d like to continue progressing as a member of the Jets.

“Yeah, I’d be disappointed,” Williams said. “I really want to be a Jet for life. I like New York and I want to play in New York. I’d be disappointed if they traded me and didn’t tell me.”

The Jets may be moving on from Sam Darnold even if they don’t trade for Watson and Williams said that he’ll be on board with “whatever decision the head coach and the G.M. and the owners make.” As long as that decision isn’t to send him elsewhere, of course.

[Futureshock]

Report: Deshaun Watson met with David Culley, refuses to play for Texans

Posted by Michael David Smith on February 25, 2021, 3:17 PM EST

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New Houston head coach David Culley got the word directly from the source: Deshaun Watson has no intention of playing for the Texans ever again.

Watson met with Culley on Friday and told him he wants to be traded, Dan Graziano of ESPN reports.

Although Watson hasn’t made that declaration publicly, it’s been clear for weeks that that is Watson’s stance. He does not want to play for the Texans and is angling for a trade.

Texans owner Cal McNair has insisted that Watson will remain a Texan, but at some point someone has to blink. The Texans could get an enormous haul of players and draft picks if they were willing to trade Watson, and with each new report that Watson remains dug in, the chances increase that the team will eventually relent and give Watson the trade he wants.