NFL News

[Futureshock]

Had NFL been more accepting of marijuana, Ricky Williams believes he would be in Canton

Posted by Charean Williams on July 6, 2021, 3:50 PM EDT

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At The University of Texas, Ricky Williams became one of the best running backs in college football history with 7,206 yards from scrimmage and 75 touchdowns. In 1998, he set 21 NCAA records, rushed for 2,124 yards and 27 touchdowns and won the Heisman Trophy with the greatest percentage of first-place votes in history.

Williams said he began smoking marijuana his senior season after breaking up with a girlfriend who began dating a quarterback on the team.

“I wouldn’t have won the Heisman without [marijuana],” Williams told Greg Bishop of SI.com.

But Williams, 44, isn’t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of his marijuana use.

The NFL suspended Williams five times in his NFL career for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. He missed two full seasons.

As it was, Williams finished his 11-year NFL career with 10,009 rushing yards and 74 total touchdowns.

Williams told Bishop he believes he would have earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame had pro sports been more accepting and more understanding of marijuana. “But he rejects the notion that he should have sought only money and celebrity,” Bishop writes. “To him, a bust in Canton without the rest of what he calls ‘my path’ would have been an unfulfilled life. He says he would have ‘hated myself.’”

Williams has become an advocate of marijuana usage for professional athletes, recently defending track star Sha’Carri Richardson, who was suspended after testing positive for marijuana at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

He is working on his own strain of cannabis called “Highsmith.”

[Futureshock]

Miami gym offers every Hurricanes football player $500 a month endorsement deal

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 6, 2021, 1:00 PM EDT

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Now that college football players can use their names, images and likenesses to earn endorsement money, recruits will begin assessing where they’re likely to get the best deals. And one business in Miami wants every current and prospective Hurricanes player to know there’s money to be made.

That business is American Top Team, a South Florida gym best known for training mixed martial arts fighters. The gym announced today that it will offer every Hurricanes player $500 a month to endorse the gym. If all 90 scholarship players accept the deal, that would come out to $540,000 a year — which American Top Team sees as a solid deal to be the gym that’s endorsed by the entire Miami football team.

“The NIL legislation is an amazing opportunity for businesses and fans to directly impact the lives of these players and the national reputation of our team,” American Top Team founder Dan Lambert told CaneSport.com. “I originally planned to just enter into deals with a few players and then it hit me that there is a way bigger play here. With the right contacts, effort and financial commitment, we can reach every player and get this city firmly behind this team where it should be.”

Huge endorsement deals may be reserved for Heisman Trophy candidates, but it likely won’t be long before every player at every big-time football program has offers like this on the table.

[Futureshock]

This is THE way...

Chris Ballard: Colts would rather build roster patiently than pay B players A+ money

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 6, 2021, 4:45 AM EDT

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Colts General Manager Chris Ballard says the path to success in building an NFL roster is through patience, not a free agent spending spree.

Ballard said on The Athletic Football Show with Robert Mays that he would rather save cap space for the future than overpay a player just because he happens to be the best available at a given position in a given year.

“We’ve got good players out of free agency, and we’ve been successful,” Ballard said, via Jonathan X. Simmons of the Indianapolis Star. “We’re just not the biggest fans of right out the gate free agency where you’re paying B players A-plus money, which is gonna affect down the line. . . . There’s a cost to that.”

Ballard would rather have cap space available to sign players he drafted to second contracts.

“Our players know we want to keep them,” Ballard said. “We’ve done a pretty good job so far of keeping the players we wanted to keep in-house. We feel like we have a really good . . . I know culture gets thrown around, but we do. I think we have a really good culture. It’s one of accountability. One where they care about each other, and one where they want to win and do special things.”

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, the Colts are slated to have the most cap space in the NFL. So Ballard will have plenty he can spend next year. But that doesn’t mean he will.

[Futureshock]

I guess it's different when you trade for a B player...

[Futureshock]

And he is undoubtedly throwing shade at BB. But BB has rings. Ballard? Not so much.

[Futureshock]

This is THE way...

Chris Ballard: Colts would rather build roster patiently than pay B players A+ money

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 6, 2021, 4:45 AM EDT

Getty Images

Colts General Manager Chris Ballard says the path to success in building an NFL roster is through patience, not a free agent spending spree.

Ballard said on The Athletic Football Show with Robert Mays that he would rather save cap space for the future than overpay a player just because he happens to be the best available at a given position in a given year.

“We’ve got good players out of free agency, and we’ve been successful,” Ballard said, via Jonathan X. Simmons of the Indianapolis Star. “We’re just not the biggest fans of right out the gate free agency where you’re paying B players A-plus money, which is gonna affect down the line. . . . There’s a cost to that.”

Ballard would rather have cap space available to sign players he drafted to second contracts.

“Our players know we want to keep them,” Ballard said. “We’ve done a pretty good job so far of keeping the players we wanted to keep in-house. We feel like we have a really good . . . I know culture gets thrown around, but we do. I think we have a really good culture. It’s one of accountability. One where they care about each other, and one where they want to win and do special things.”

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, the Colts are slated to have the most cap space in the NFL. So Ballard will have plenty he can spend next year. But that doesn’t mean he will.

hawkkiller says:
July 6, 2021 at 9:27 am
He just brought in a B-/C+ QB in Carson Wentz who he is paying an astronomical amount of money and draft picks for. He just signed Eric Fisher, a B tackle with a history of injuries. I could go on and on. And what has Ballards method of roster building won? Last I checked nothing, not even a division title. Ballard is a good GM but for him to act like he doesn’t pay guys who are less than A+ caliber players as if he’s above it all is ludicrous. You have to pay those guys aren’t their enough blue chip players to go around.
Ballard can try to throw shade at Bill B and the Patriots all he wants but he just looks like an unserious person and an absolute clown every time he does because last time I checked Billy B’s method of roster building has won more Super Bowls, Division titles and conference championships than any other coach or GM in the history of the game. Ballard’s method hasn’t won anything yet, not the AFC-South heck not even a playoff game. Hey Chris why don’t you build a roster than wins at least the AFC Championship first before running your mouth and sending verbal jabs Billy B’s way??… Until then pipe down Ballard as you just look small and envious when you run your mouth without accomplishing…. anything really.

[Futureshock]

49ers considering a red helmet worn in 1955 as a second helmet for 2022

Posted by Charean Williams on July 5, 2021, 7:46 PM EDT

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The 49ers announced last week they will wear red throwback uniforms from 1994 for four home games this season. In 2022, the league will allow teams to wear an alternative helmet as well.

The 49ers could take advantage of the two-helmet rule for the 2022 season with a helmet worn by the team more than 60 years ago.

“There’s really two options for us,” 49ers chief marketing officer Alex Chang told Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports. “Stick with the ’94 helmet, which we’re already using today and we love that look — or a 1955 helmet which was a red helmet with a silver stripe and face mask. We’re looking at both.”

The 49ers will have to submit their intent to the league by July 31 in order to wear a second helmet in 2022.

Chang said the 49ers will use an alternate helmet logo when they wear the ’94 throwback uniforms. They put an oval helmet decal on the side and a “saloon font” helmet front they wore during the 1994 championship season.

Because it’s only a change in decal, and not the actual helmet, the team does not require league approval. They would have to submit their two-helmet proposal only if they go with the 1955 red helmet.

The 49ers’ gold helmets, of course, have become synonymous with the franchise.

[Futureshock]

So was G...

Jimbo Fisher laughed at NFL teams letting Dalvin Cook fall to the second round

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 5, 2021, 12:37 PM EDT

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First-round running backs have become a rare breed in recent years, but Jimbo Fisher thinks one running back who lasted until the second round absolutely should have gone in the first.

Dalvin Cook played for Fisher at Florida State before the Vikings selected him with the 41st overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft, and Fisher told Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press that teams made a big mistake letting Cook last that long.

“The Vikings got the steal of the draft in that one, I promise you,” Fisher said. “All the ones who didn’t think he was first round, I never understood that, and I used to laugh at that in that somebody’s going to regret that one day.”

The 2017 draft, however, shows some of the perils of drafting running backs high. The first back chosen in that class, Leonard Fournette, was viewed at the time as an elite running back prospect, but he hasn’t had an elite career. Meanwhile, third-round running backs Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt and James Conner, fourth-round running back Tarik Cohen and fifth-round running back Aaron Jones have all been to Pro Bowls.

Fisher said he watches the Vikings regularly to see how Cook is doing.

“That’s my buddy,” Fisher said. “It doesn’t surprise me whatever he does. He’s as good as I’ve ever been around and as great of a player as he is, he’s a better person. He’s a workaholic, he’s a team guy. I love him to death. One of the all-time favorites I’ve ever coached. You talk about a competitor and a warrior, you can’t say enough great things about him.”

[Futureshock]

IDK if he will line up on that side, but, I want to see what Sewell does with Bosa. Game 1.



Andrew Whitworth: Nick Bosa “one of the most powerful kids” I’ve ever faced

Posted by Josh Alper on July 5, 2021, 10:57 AM EDT

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49ers defensive end Nick Bosa had nine regular season sacks during his rookie year, but none of them came in his two games against the Rams.

Bosa still made a strong impression on Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, however. Whitworth was a guest on Chris Long’s podcast and spent some of his appearance talking about pass rushers who have impressed him. Bosa was at the top of that list thanks to having “rare power” that Whitowrth thinks will grow in the future.

“I think he’s a special rusher,” Whitworth said, via NinerNation.com. “I think feeling him as a rookie, he’s one of the most powerful kids I’ve ever felt that young. Really in the run game, pass game, everything. He’s got some serious pop. And so I think there’s youth strength and then there’s like, man when this guy kind of hits his stride, if he’s that powerful now, wow. He’s gonna be a guy that’s gonna really be able to push the pocket. And obviously plays with an incredible motor and has the big brother to look up to who’s a hell of a player too.”

Whitworth said that Bosa “has felt more powerful” than that brother — Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa — and has a “really special” career ahead of him. Whitworth didn’t face Bosa last year because of Bosa’s torn ACL and doesn’t expect to be around for many more meetings, although not having to face Bosa multiple times a year might be one of the things he’s looking forward to in retirement.

[Futureshock]

STEPHON GILMOREDB, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS


ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reports Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore "doesn't expect to be traded."


Gilmore skipped OTAs and plans to take his holdout into training camp. Coming off an injury-shortened 2020, the Patriots don't want to trade low on Gilmore, as they're in win-now mode and don't have anyone to replace him. Fowler expects the sides to "ramp up" negotiations sometime before training camp. Gilmore, the 24th highest paid corner in the league, is set to make $7.9 million in the final season of a five-year deal.

SOURCE: ESPN
Jul 2, 2021, 6:54 P

[edindetroit]

Anybody want us to trade for Harry...

No.

[kdk2002]

No.

I asked that same question hours ago but deleted my post when I read...

A) he has struggled badly as a pro, and
B) he'll probably get released.

So, as they say... Why give up something for nothing?

[dpatnod]

Fatty Patty can coach him up!

[Futureshock]

Fatty Patty can coach him up!

Aren't they both in NE right now? He doesn't think so...

[Futureshock]

I initially read that wrong


Drew Lock unhurt after lug nut shatters his windshield

Posted by Charean Williams on July 7, 2021, 11:09 PM EDT

USA TODAY Sports

Broncos quarterback Drew Lock was uninjured when a lug nut flew across the median and plugged in his car’s windshield as he was driving through Kansas.

The Kansas Highway Patrol posted photos of Lock’s windshield: “Safe travels the rest of your way across Kansas @DrewLock23. Crazy having a (lug-nut) fly across the median striking your windshield and nearly go through it! Glad your #seatbelt was fastened. Have a safe season now and into the future.”

A car going the opposite direction on Interstate 70 lost a tire, which flew across the median in front of Lock’s car, according to Colleen Flynn of Fox 31. Lock avoided the tire, but the lug nut sent glass into the car after impaling the windshield on the driver’s side.

Lock’s car was towed after the incident.