NFL News

[Futureshock]

Urban Meyer subpoenaed in lawsuit surrounding ex-Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 15, 2021, 5:41 AM EDT

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When Jaguars coach Urban Meyer abruptly changed his mind about hiring embattled strength coach Chris Doyle, Meyer explained that he didn’t need the distraction of hiring Doyle, who is accused of making racist statements to players during his time as strength coach at Iowa. But Doyle may prove to be a distraction for Meyer anyway.

Meyer and the Jaguars have been issued subpoenas for information related to the hiring and resignation of Doyle as part of the racial discrimination lawsuit that eight former Iowa players brought, according to Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union. The players say Iowa “was a racially hostile environment” because of Doyle’s conduct.

The Jaguars say they will comply with the subpoena but do not believe they have any information relevant to the Iowa players’ lawsuit.

“We respect and will cooperate with the legal process as required,” the statement said. “However, the Jaguars have no information that would be relevant to the lawsuit between student-athletes and the University of Iowa.”

Iowa fired Doyle on June 15, 2020, amid a firestorm of controversy regarding the players’ allegations. Meyer hired Doyle shortly after becoming the Jaguars’ head coach, was promptly criticized given the allegations against Doyle, and then quickly accepted Doyle’s resignation.

[Futureshock]

Everyone will laugh at the kid, but dam dude. Like I would say about anyone, why get yourself into that? My goodness...


Reports: Dwayne Haskins injured in domestic violence incident by wife

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on July 15, 2021, 1:06 AM EDT

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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins was injured in an altercation perpetrated by his wife, Kalabrya Gondrezick-Haskins, at a Las Vegas hotel earlier this month, according to multiple reports.

The story was first reported by 8 News Now in Las Vegas.

Gondrezick-Haskins has been charged with battery and domestic violence resulting in bodily harm, a felony charge, stemming from the incident that occurred on July 3 at The Cosmopolitan.

Via the report, Gondrezick-Haskins allegedly punched Haskins in the face with police finding part of a tooth in the hotel room after the incident. It described Haskins’ injuries as “substantial in nature,” including a split lip and a missing tooth. He would be taken to a hospital due to his facial injuries.

Haskins posted video of his proposal to Gondrezick-Haskins on his instagram earlier this week. Despite the engagement post, Gondrezick-Haskins told police they got married in March.

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She is definitely a pretty lady, but putting hands on each other isn't going to end well for that kid.

[froot loops]

Have you watched the Rock's show: Young Rock

Awesome!

Does a bear shit in the woods?

[Futureshock]

Wait Simba? No wonder she's blowing his grill out. She's a LION!

[Futureshock]

Does a bear shit in the woods?

It is so underated. I think I'll binge it this weekend. The behind the scenes stories about Andre and the Flying Samoans, and the Shiek, etc... Man that show is awesome.

[Futureshock]

It’s deadline day for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term deals

Posted by Josh Alper on July 15, 2021, 9:03 AM EDT

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Thursday afternoon marks a deadline for the seven players who are currently set to play out the season under the franchise tag.

If no long-term deal is agreed to ahead of the 4 p.m. ET deadline, those players will move forward under the tag and will not be able to sign multi-year pacts with their current teams until after the 2021 season. Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin, Jets safety Marcus Maye, Panthers tackle Taylor Moton, Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson, Jaguars tackle Cam Robinson, Washignton guard Brandon Scherff, and Saints safety Marcus Williams make up that group.

Reports in recent days have suggested that none of those players will be signing extensions ahead of the deadline. All seven have signed their tags, so they are set to move forward without any holdouts at training camp.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, Broncos safety Justin Simmons and Giants defensive lineman Leonard Williams all signed extensions that took their tags off the table early in the offseason.

[Futureshock]

Brian Burns planning “sack competition” with Haason Reddick

Posted by Josh Alper on July 14, 2021, 5:00 PM EDT

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Panthers defensive end Brian Burns talked about the team’s big offseason moves on both sides of the ball during a Wednesday visit with NFL Network.

Burns shared his early impressions of quarterback Sam Darnold and he also discussed a player who will be lining up with him on the team’s defensive front. Edge rusher Haason Reddick signed with Carolina after recording 12.5 sacks for the Cardinals in 2020 and Burns said that the two players will be able to compete with each other while making the Panthers Defense more potent.

“We’re going to have a little sack competition, so be ready for that,” Burns said, via the Panthers website. “I already know he’s going to push me. . . . He’s going to add a lot of versatility, honestly he can do a lot of things and so can I. But having both of us on that edge, they’re going to have to pick their poison, they can’t double team both of us, or the guys in the middle.”

Burns has posted 16.5 sacks since the Panthers took him in the first round of the 2019 draft and pushing his production even higher this season should set him up for an extended run alongside Reddick and the rest of the key defensive players for the Panthers.

[Futureshock]

Ben Roethlisberger has a pre-snap run-pass tell

Posted by Mike Florio on July 14, 2021, 8:52 AM EDT

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Ben Roethlisberger spent the offseason focused on diet and exercise. Hopefully, he spent some time watching film, too.

If he didn’t, he will now.

As pointed out by @theoashnfl on TikTok and explained by Joe Hoefling of Deadspin.com, Roethlisberger has a very basic yet very clear pre-snap tell, which gives away whether the next play will be a run or a pass.

It comes in shotgun formation, which the Steelers use for the vast majority of their offensive plays. (Via Warren Sharp, 83 percent of the team’s 2020 offensive snaps came in shotgun, third in the NFL behind the Ravens at 97 percent and the Cardinals at 92.)

It goes like this: When it’s a run, Roethlisberger stands flat-footed before the snap. When it’s a pass, he lifts his left heel off the ground before the snap. He does that even when he fakes the handoff before throwing the ball.

Anyone who has ever heard someone like Chris Spielman explain the process of breaking down film for tendencies or tells (and it’s mesmerizing) will tell you that this is precisely the kind of thing for which defensive coaches and players spend hours searching. The teams that have prepared to play the Steelers surely have seen it, and they undoubtedly have incorporated it into their planning.

Maybe that’s why the Steelers couldn’t run the ball very well last year. If the defense knows the answer to the fundamental of run or pass before the snap, it changes everything.

It also may help explain the drops by Pittsburgh’s receivers. The linebackers and defensive backs who get a look at Ben’s left foot know before the play begins that he’s going to be throwing the ball to someone who can then be targeted for a big (and clean and legal) hit. That can either jar the ball loose and/or get the receiver who is bracing for the next big (and clean and legal) hit to lose focus on catching the ball.

There’s another important point here that underscores one of the concerns that had been raised regarding the team’s offense last season. When using the run-pass option, Ben seemed to lean too heavily toward the pass. Based on his left-foot tell, he apparently made the decision before the snap, eschewing the challenge of reading the defense during the play to determine whether to hand it off or hold it and throw.

And there’s no telling how long this tell has been in place. The attached photo comes from Super Bowl XLIII, and it shows why he’s inclined to lift his back heel before the snap. His first motion once the snap starts is to lift that foot off the ground.

If the Steelers didn’t already know about it, they do now. And they need to iron it out before Week One at Buffalo.

The fact that it happened all year long makes the team’s 11-0 start even more impressive. It’s hard enough to win one game when the defense can crack the run-or-pass code on a consistent basis. It’s damn near impossible to win five, six, seven, or more.

So this is good news for the Steelers. Take away that tell, and the offense immediately becomes more unpredictable and, in turn, harder to stop. Throw in a defense that still has plenty of great players, and the Steelers could be ready to make a serious run at the top of a top-heavy conference.

[Futureshock]

XAVIEN HOWARDDB, MIAMI DOLPHINS
NFL Network's Mike Silver reports "there's a lot of trade chatter concerning" Dolphins CB Xavien Howard.


Per Silver, Howard remains unhappy with his contract and wants a new, improved deal despite having four years left on his current one after inking a five-year, $75.25 million extension two offseasons ago. Howard skipped the Dolphins' mandatory minicamp last month and isn't thrilled that he makes less than teammate CB Byron Jones after Howard led the NFL with 10 interceptions last season (Jones had two) and is widely regarded as one of the league's top cover men, in a class alongside Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey signed a five-year, $100 million extension prior to Week 1 last year as the league's highest-paid corner. At $15.05 million per year, Howard is the sixth-highest-paid player at his position, trailing Ramsey, Marlon Humphrey, Tre'Davious White, Darius Slay, and teammate Jones. According to Silver, it will take a first-round pick and more to land Howard, and "several teams" are said to be considering the move.

... See More
SOURCE: Mike Silver on Twitter
Jul 14, 2021, 4:44 PM

[Futureshock]

SMH

[chemiclord]

Ben Roethlisberger has a pre-snap run-pass tell

And there’s no telling how long this tell has been in place. The attached photo comes from Super Bowl XLIII, and it shows why he’s inclined to lift his back heel before the snap. His first motion once the snap starts is to lift that foot off the ground.

If the Steelers didn’t already know about it, they do now. And they need to iron it out before Week One at Buffalo.

Eh, I think Florio is overplaying that "tell." It depends a lot on when exactly it happens. In one part of the article, he suggests that Rothlisberger makes that tell considerably before the snap, but in another part he suggests that it happens just before or right after said snap. It matters because if it's the latter, then there's no way in hell the defense is getting that information in time for it to help. If they're waiting until that fraction of a second after the snap to know for sure, D-linemen are already on their ass and CBs are already burnt.

It seems like the much more likely reason for the drops and the poor running performance is that the Steelers' talent level has atrophied, and the talented players that propelled them are either gone or have aged to the point that they aren't as good.

[Futureshock]

The "Tell" helps for defenders, no doubt. Defensively, fraction of seconds are a lot. Any helps tremendously.

But I agree with why they have struggled. Like with most teams, they scapegoated the RBs. Namely Connor, but that OL was bad and is now even worse. If their D wasn't great they'd be in a lot of trouble. AND their WRs are full of phonies with no #1. Maybe Claypool can develop into one, but all the others do not have a shot. They're all just meh

[Fraquar]

Hehe, we are talking about teams that jump offside when they are less than 6 inches from the football...
Here's a clue, you don't move until the ball is snapped...

I'm not sure 3/4's of the league could even act on that (Big Ben's "tell") even if they knew it before hand.

[Futureshock]

Jalen Ramsey directs ire at Dave Caldwell for meeting that led to Jaguars trade request

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on July 16, 2021, 2:35 AM EDT

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The end of Jalen Ramsey‘s tenure in Jacksonville was fairly well chronicled at the time of his departure from the team n 2019.

A meeting with Jaguars’ brass irked Ramsey to the point of a trade demand that led to him being dealt to the Los Angeles Rams in October of that year.

Ramsey said at the time some “disrespectful things” were said toward him in that meeting and he called his agent to demand a trade after the interaction. While Ramsey and several members of the Jaguars weren’t particularly fond of team president Tom Coughlin at the time either, Ramsey said that it was former team General Manager Dave Caldwell who delivered the disrespectful comments.

In the Catching Fades podcast with former NFL cornerback Aqib Talib, Ramsey said the meeting involved team owner Shad Khan, Tony Khan, Coughlin and Caldwell. The meeting came after a disagreement between Ramsey and head coach Doug Marrone during a game against the Houston Texans. Ramsey said Tony Khan asked him to come to a meeting with him and his father and was caught by surprise by the attendance of Coughlin and Caldwell as well.

“I get in the office and it’s Tony, Shad, Tom Coughlin, and Dave Caldwell,” Ramsey said. “It’s four of them in there and then it’s just me and they were like standing like in a semi-circle just all looking at me. So I’m hot now, like, first of all, you told me it was just you and pops and now I’m in here [with Coughlin and Caldwell as well].

“Shad started to speak first and was very respectful. You know ‘Jalen we got a lot of respect for you, we’ve got a lot of respect for your game’ this, that whoop-de-whoop… ‘Are you and Doug going to be good? We don’t want anything going on between a key player and our head coach.’ I’m like ‘We good. It is what it is and that’s just part of the game. We’re moving on.

“Tom Coughlin didn’t say nothing the whole time. He was just sitting there staring at me, like trying to give me one of those little ‘I’m going to intimidate you’ kind of looks, but I don’t care about none of that. So I’m just sitting there staring right at him too. Tony said something, too, and was real respectful, again. Basically repeated what his dad said and kind of kept it moving like ‘Man we really think y’all should talk before anybody talks to the media. Y’all two should talk just to make sure y’all good and maybe you need to apologize to him.’

“And then I told him, I said ‘Respectfully, I’m not about to apologize to him.’ I said, ‘That’s a part of the game. Emotions get high and we might get into it. It ain’t no beef, ain’t nothing going on between us. Me and coach good. We’ve always been good. I ain’t about to apologize to him for having high emotions during the game.’ He was like ‘OK, I respect it. Just think about it.’

And that’s when the conversation went another direction altogether, per Ramsey.

“So then Dave Caldwell, who was the GM at the time, he took the total opposite — I guess they were in there playing good cop, bad cop. He took the total opposite approach,” Ramsey said. “He started cussing and started trying to cuss me out, like ‘You need to go [expletive] apologize.’

“I said ‘No, that ain’t happening.’ And then he said something else, but I forgot what he said. You know how when you’re in shock sometimes, you give like that little laugh, like ‘He’s crazy.’ So, I gave him a little grin and he’s like ‘Oh, is this funny to you?’ And I just started shaking my head, and then he was like, ‘Well, just get the [expletive] out!’ And he opened the door, and I just walked out like laughing a little bit, and he slammed the door behind me.”

That’s when Ramsey called his agent and decided it was time for him to leave.

“You [his agent] can call them and tell them or I’ll walk in tomorrow in the morning and I’ll go talk to them about it and I’ll tell them,” Ramsey said.

Approximately a month later, Ramsey was traded to the Rams.

[Futureshock]

Judge finds probable cause for four misdemeanor charges for Richard Sherman

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on July 15, 2021, 11:15 PM EDT

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While King County District Court Judge Fa’amomoi Masaniai felt comfortable releasing Richard Sherman from jail without bail on Thursday, he also felt there was probably cause for four separate misdemeanor charges to be levied against the free agent cornerback.

Via Sara Jean Green and Paige Cornwell of the Seattle Times, Masaniai found probable cause that Sherman committed misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor crimes of second-degree criminal trespass and third-degree malicious mischief when he attempted to break into the home of his in-laws. Both offenses carry domestic violence designations.

Additionally, Masaniai found probable cause that Sherman resisted arrest and drove while intoxicated.

Charges have yet to be officially filed but are expected.

Sherman is alleged to have crashed a vehicle in a construction zone, incurring significant damage to the car, before abandoning the car and continuing to the home of his in-laws. Sherman then damaged the home while having a verbal argument through a locked door with the occupants of the house. Video of the incident, via TMZ, shows Sherman throwing himself into the locked door multiple times.

Sherman then resisted arrest when officers arrived and police a K-9 unit was deployed to help bring him into custody.

Masaniai also ordered that Sherman is not have contact with his father-in-law, not to use alcohol or nonprescription drugs, and that he cannot possess a weapon.

Sherman is set to have another hearing on Friday, though he is not required to appear.