NFL News

[Futureshock]

Are the Eagles the favorite to land Deshaun Watson, eventually?

Posted by Mike Florio on July 23, 2021, 9:07 AM EDT

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Whenever mentioning the possibility/inevitably that the Texans will trade quarterback Deshaun Watson, we’ve mentioned three teams: the Broncos, Dolphins, and Eagles. On Thursday, the sideline reporter for the Eagles’ official radio broadcasts applied a percentage to the possibility of Watson landing in Philadelphia.

Appearing on WIP radio in Philadelphia, Howard Eskin said this (based on a quote provided by WIP afternoon host Jon Marks): “Based on the information that I’ve got, when Deshaun Watson is traded, I think there’s a 90 percent chance that he will be with the Philadelphia Eagles. And just based on all the information that I’ve gotten, that’s what I’ve come down with.”

I’m important to understand what Eskin said, along with what he didn’t say. Eskin didn’t say Watson will be traded in the immediate future. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Texans currently aren’t talking to the Eagles or anyone else about a potential Watson trade.

Eskin’s information points to the notion that, if/when the Texans start the bidding (and if the circumstances are conducive to trading for Watson), the Eagles will be the favorite to get him.

That makes sense, if Watson is traded this year. But that will require a settlement of the 22 pending legal cases or a clear indication from the league that, absent a settlement, he won’t be placed on paid leave.

It’s unknown whether the league has told Watson that he will or won’t be placed on paid leave. If a settlement of the 22 lawsuits is going to happen before the Texans report to training camp, time is running out.

[Futureshock]

Sad news...

Jets passing game coach Greg Knapp dies from bicycle accident injuries

Posted by Charean Williams on July 22, 2021, 6:10 PM EDT
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Jets passing game coordinator Greg Knapp died Thursday, his alma mater, Sacramento State, announced in a news release. Knapp’s agent, Jeff Sperbeck, confirmed the terrible news.

“Today at 11:32 a.m. PT, Greg Knapp (aka Knapper) was called back home to heaven, where he will be reunited with his dad,” Sperbeck told Mike Klis of 9News. “On Saturday, July 17, Greg was struck by a car while riding his bicycle, and was rendered unconscious immediately. Greg never regained consciousness. He was surrounded by his mom, wife, three daughters and brother.”

Knapp was 58.

The accident remains under investigation.

“We are heartbroken over the loss of Greg Knapp,” Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor said in a statement. “Greg was not only a great former Hornet player and coach, but one of the kindest and most generous people that I’ve ever known. His success and humility have been an inspiration to all of us here at Sacramento State. We will continue to carry on his legacy within our football program and wish his family and friends peace and comfort through this difficult loss.”

Knapp spent 23 years in the NFL coaching for seven franchises. Jets coach Robert Saleh hired Knapp this offseason after Knapp spent the previous three seasons as the quarterbacks coach with the Falcons. Knapp also has served as an offensive coordinator for the 49ers, Falcons, Raiders, Seahawks and Texans.

He was quarterbacks coach with the Broncos for four seasons, including for their most recent Super Bowl victory to end the 2015 season.

Knapp played quarterback at Sacramento State, winning the starting job in 1984, and he still is ranked eighth in school history in career passing yards (3,806) and touchdowns (32), 10th in career completions (279), tied for 10th in career pass efficiency (124.1) and 11th in career attempts (524).

[Fraquar]

Sad news...

Jets passing game coach Greg Knapp dies from bicycle accident injuries

Posted by Charean Williams on July 22, 2021, 6:10 PM EDT
Getty Images

Jets passing game coordinator Greg Knapp died Thursday, his alma mater, Sacramento State, announced in a news release. Knapp’s agent, Jeff Sperbeck, confirmed the terrible news.

“Today at 11:32 a.m. PT, Greg Knapp (aka Knapper) was called back home to heaven, where he will be reunited with his dad,” Sperbeck told Mike Klis of 9News. “On Saturday, July 17, Greg was struck by a car while riding his bicycle, and was rendered unconscious immediately. Greg never regained consciousness. He was surrounded by his mom, wife, three daughters and brother.”

Knapp was 58.

The accident remains under investigation.

“We are heartbroken over the loss of Greg Knapp,” Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor said in a statement. “Greg was not only a great former Hornet player and coach, but one of the kindest and most generous people that I’ve ever known. His success and humility have been an inspiration to all of us here at Sacramento State. We will continue to carry on his legacy within our football program and wish his family and friends peace and comfort through this difficult loss.”

Knapp spent 23 years in the NFL coaching for seven franchises. Jets coach Robert Saleh hired Knapp this offseason after Knapp spent the previous three seasons as the quarterbacks coach with the Falcons. Knapp also has served as an offensive coordinator for the 49ers, Falcons, Raiders, Seahawks and Texans.

He was quarterbacks coach with the Broncos for four seasons, including for their most recent Super Bowl victory to end the 2015 season.

Knapp played quarterback at Sacramento State, winning the starting job in 1984, and he still is ranked eighth in school history in career passing yards (3,806) and touchdowns (32), 10th in career completions (279), tied for 10th in career pass efficiency (124.1) and 11th in career attempts (524).

I'll be 58 in the next month or so.
What I've learned from nearly 30 years of cycling (commuter, every day ride).
1) Ignore the norm......i.e. if it's Green, it's really Red - be prepared to stop and check anyway.
2) Nobody, and I mean NOBODY knows you are on the road. You are the exception, not the rule.
3) If I have to cross a busy intersection - I WALK. That gives both me and the motorist that is texting on his cell phone as he blows through the intersection time to react.
4) I usually DON'T cross at intersection. Arrest my for jaywalking in you must, but the reality is most accidents happen AT INTERSECTIONS.

Sad day. I had a co-worker who spent nearly a year in the hospital for the same reason - he survived but will never be the same again. Only thing that saved him was his helmet - and sadly the helmet manufacturer wouldn't have the common decency to replace the one he lost - which saved his life. Yeah, you - fucking GIRO...... He thought that vehicle traffic obeyed the traffic laws - and that he was just a part of the flow of traffic. That is NOT the case.

[Cody_Russell]

Texans NOW willing to trade Watson when his stock is at an all-time low. Not before the offseason troubling news for Watson, but NOW.
Good job, Texans.

[Futureshock]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/07/25/buffalo-cleveland-nfl-vaccines-fmia-peter-king/

FMIA: Finally, Football Is Back With Unprecedented Optimism In Buffalo, Cleveland; And All Eyes On Vaccines


There are three teams, at least, in the NFL as of this morning that are in the upper 90s in percent of players vaccinated, with zero unvaccinated coaches and key team staff members. In this day and age, that seems incredible, to have maybe one to four holdouts on a 90-man roster, given where we are with vaccines in this country. But the reason is not hard to figure out.

As an executive with one of the mostly vaxxed teams told me: “The league has made it clear that the unvaccinated are second-class citizens.”

It’s worse for coaches, which is why if the Vikings terminate unvaccinated (as of Friday) line coach and run-game coordinator Rick Dennison, it’s not draconian—it’s necessary. An unvaccinated coach this year can’t travel with the team, can’t conduct in-person meetings of any kind, and can coach only outdoors. An unvaccinated assistant coach would have to run position meetings virtually while his players would sit together in a meeting room. One other problem: Say a team with an unvaccinated coach played a Sunday night road game. That coach would have to charter a plane home, or have one chartered for him, to be available for Monday morning meetings and possible light Monday practice. It’s all just too hard.

Last year, the NFL and the players union empathized with the hardships and never mentioned the F word. Forfeit. This year, the gloves are off. There’s a vaccine, and if you’re not going to take it, your football life will either be much harder than the 80-plus percent of vaxxed players, or it will be extinct. And the teams with COVID-positive players that cause potential forfeits would be docked millions, per the NFL’s fairly stark Thursday memo to teams. Imagine taking a forfeited loss . . . and paying the team with the walkover win as much as $5 million for not playing. In 2021, that’s reality.

---

As we approach pro football’s 102nd season—and I approach my 38th covering this game—I’m going to do my best to cover everything about it. This morning, that means we’ll have a heavy dose of COVID-related stuff, but since you want to read about football and I want to write about it, and since I’ve been gone for six weeks, we’ve got a lot to do. Including:

• I do not remember a time when Lake Erie football was this anticipated, coming off the combined Buffalo-Cleveland record of 27-10 last year, coming off playoff victories for both. Did you know the last time the Bills and Browns entered training camp coming off playoff seasons was in 1990? Did you know the last time the Bills and Browns won a playoff game in the same season was in 1964?

• I don’t know what will happen with Aaron Rodgers, but I do have a few scenarios.

• I don’t know what will happen with Deshaun Watson, but I am from the Schefter school on this: The Eagles are likely to be in play when Houston trades him, assuming Houston does sometime before draft day 2022.

• One star shocks his family by getting vaxxed. Another star tells me why he’s shocked that teammates (but only a few) are not getting the shot.

• Tom Brady turns 44 in eight days. What do you give the man who has everything? An eighth Super Bowl ring.

• RIP, Greg Knapp. Man, Zach Wilson will really miss him.

• The worst teams in the last four years have something in common: a stadium.

The Lead: Bills-Browns


The Cowboys and Steelers reported to camp last week (they play the first preseason game a week before the other 30 teams), and everyone else will be in camp by midweek. It’s been 24 weeks since the last NFL game, and with the Rodgers-, Watson- and COVID-related events of the offseason, it seems like 24 years.

I start with Cleveland/Buffalo. It occurred to me this spring that never in my life covering football had the Bills and Browns been really good at the same time. So I looked it up. Before January, when the Bills beat the Colts and Ravens and the Browns beat the Steelers, the last time they won playoff games in the same season happened a day apart, 57 years ago:

Saturday, Dec. 26, 1964, AFL Championship Game, at Buffalo: Bills 20, Chargers 7.
Sunday, Dec. 27, 1964, NFL Championship Game, at Cleveland: Browns 27, Colts 0.

When I ranked teams 1 to 32 after all the spring movement, I had the Bills three and Browns four. Crazy to think a 10-win season with an early playoff out would be disappointing, but that’s where these teams are. They’re not better than the best team in the AFC, Kansas City, but they’re close.

“Fairly incredible,” veteran Browns guard Joel Bitonio told me. “It wasn’t that long ago that I went three years without winning a football game.”

Let’s see. With Bitonio starting at guard on Oct. 11, 2015, Cleveland beat Baltimore. In the next 26 games he played over 2015, 2016 and 2017, he never played in a winning game. Zero and 26. In his last 26 games, Bitonio is 15-11. “Football should be fun,” Bitonio said, “and even though it’s your job and you’re making good money, losing every week isn’t what sports should be like. The NFL is built for parity, and now it feels like we’ve got the coaches and front office who have a plan behind every move they make.”
Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. (Getty Images)
Like this one: Last year, Browns GM Andrew Berry had a need for offensive line depth and plucked neophyte Blake Hance off the Jets’ practice squad. Pressed into action in both Browns’ playoff games, Hance, who’d never played in an NFL game, gave Cleveland 47 snaps without allowing a sack or significant pressure. “Imagine playing against [Steeler] Cam Heyward and the edge guys on the AFC champs in Kansas City in two of the biggest games for the Browns in years,” Bitonio said. “That tends to give players trust in the front office.”

“It’s always cool when you have rabid fans and franchises with rich traditions turning it around,” Berry said. “It’s good for the league.”

One player, safety Jordan Poyer, has been a part of both. A Brown from 2013 to 2016, he signed with Buffalo in free agency in 2017—and has missed one game since. “Both places live and breathe football,” Poyer told me. “Buffalo’s a little crazier. I mean, you got people tailgating all weekend, jumping on tables on Saturday with the game 24 hours away. You really don’t understand till you get here. These people are NUTS.”

In the spring, Bills coach Sean McDermott had Poyer talk to the Buffalo rookies. He said he told them: “You guys don’t realize how blessed you are to be here right now. This league’s got so many guys with egos, selfish guys. Not here. Guys fit in or they’re not here.”

Big keys for each team: Can the Bills’ good chemistry survive the adamantly anti-vax stance of a couple of players, including the outspoken Cole Beasley? And will the constant probing, inside and outside the team, poke holes into the Bills’ solidarity? In Cleveland, can Baker Mayfield take the next step and improve his 62.8-percent accuracy—the way Josh Allen became a more accurate passer to key the Bills Offense last year?

Of course, as Berry said, “The reality of it is we’re both still chasing Kansas City.” Buffalo will play Kansas City for the third time in 51 weeks on Oct. 10—and the Bills lost both meetings last year, by nine and 14 points. Cleveland played Kansas City tough in the divisional round, losing 22-17, but part of that was Patrick Mahomes getting kayoed for the fourth quarter of a tight game.

We’ll know the AFC power structure before the first pitch of the World Series—at least involving KC, Cleveland and Buffalo. Cleveland is at Kansas City in Week 1, Buffalo at KC in Week 5 . . . presumably battling a healthy Mahomes, who has been in three straight AFC title games.

News travels fast this time of year, and more came down Sunday when ESPN reported Arizona pass-rusher Chandler Jones (last four years: 50 sacks in 69 games) wants to be traded. Buffalo has a crying need for a pass-rusher, which is why the Bills reached for the green Gregory Rousseau from Miami in the first round last April. Let me stick my nose in Buffalo GM’s Brandon Beane’s business: If I were Beane, and if Jones is healthy after missing the last three months last year with a torn biceps, I’d offer Arizona GM Steve Keim my 2022 first-round pick (likely to be between 27 and 32) to get one of the game’s most disruptive players, at 31. Keim won’t be motivated to trade him and would need a big offer to do it. He wants J.J. Watt and Jones to be a disruptive duo for the next two seasons in a pass-happy division, so it’d take something good to get Jones—if Keim would even consider it.

Whatever happens, Cleveland (if Mayfield is as consistent as he was the last half of 2020) and Buffalo look built to last, with explosive offenses and solid defenses. “Players want to play for winners,” said Buffalo’s Beane. “And we’ve both got a chance to keep that going.”
News Of The Week

On Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers and his agent, David Dunn, have been good at shutting up, as (recently) have been the Packers. One friend of Rodgers told me over the weekend he didn’t know what the calculating QB will do, but that money won’t be the key to the deal. “He knows he’ll make up whatever he loses this year on the back end, in future years,” the friend said. Regarding the retirement rumors that started out of Vegas last week when the books took Green Bay’s over/under win total off the board, I called Brent Musburger, the sportscasting legend and Las Vegas-based managing editor of Vegas Stats and Information Network. “The bookmakers felt there was credibility to the report, and so they took the Packers number down, and the odds on Green Bay winning the division. When you see the books do that, they’re just protecting themselves.”

“You buy any of it?” I said.

“I think there’s a shred of truth, because there was no denial. He definitely, definitely is trying to blow his way out of Green Bay,” Musburger said.

We know that. I haven’t changed my stance in two ways. One: The smartest thing here would be a compromise—Green Bay getting one more year out of Rodgers then guaranteeing him a trade next March, Rodgers buying his freedom by working in Green Bay for six more months. Rodgers doesn’t want to do that, but if the alternative is the Pack freezing him out of football in 2021, maybe he considers it. Two: The only way I see Green Bay trading him is by getting significant 2021 value. Otherwise, why wouldn’t GM Brian Gutekunst sit on Rodgers and say he’ll play only for Green Bay this year? When I say “significant 2021 value,” I mean for example a deal like this with Denver:

Denver gets Rodgers.

Green Bay gets:

• First-round picks in 2022 and 2023.

• Quarterback Drew Lock (two years and a potential option year left on his rookie deal).

• Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy (three years and a potential option year left on his rookie deal).

In essence, Green Bay would get the value of three first-round picks and a second-rounder (Lock) for—gut feeling here—about four years of a 38-year-old (in December) reigning MVP. Denver still gets the better of the deal because Rodgers puts the Broncos in the Super Bowl conversation immediately—and Denver could sign free-agent Kenny Stills, 29, if it wanted a veteran receiver to replace Jeudy and team with Courtland Sutton and K.J. Hamler. If the Packers are convinced the divorce must happen (and I don’t think the Pack is, yet), Jeudy is insurance for the likely departure of Rodgers BFF Davante Adams.

Food for thought. Now we wait to see if Rodgers reports with the Packer veterans Tuesday. That’s when mandatory fines of $50,000 per day would start for players under control who don’t report to camp.

[Futureshock]

On Deshaun Watson. Multiple reports Sunday said Watson will report to Texans camp, evading the $50,000-a-day fine. The Texans would have the distraction-avoiding option of not having Watson on the practice field or in the public view. Welcome to head-coaching, David Culley. For the legal cases involving 22 accusations of sexual impropriety to not be adjudicated or settled by now, it figures that Watson and the accusers must both think they’ve got good cases.

Gut feeling here: It makes no sense for GM Nick Caserio to trade Watson when his value is diminished today; he needs to wait till whatever happens legally with Watson, and when the likely NFL sanction of Watson is meted out. When Watson’s fate is known, that’s when a team should trade for him. Which is why I’d guess (and that’s all it is) that Watson gets moved early in 2022, when presumably his legal issues are finished, and league discipline will be done too.

I’m sure Watson doesn’t see it this way, but this year is looking more and more like a washout for him. If it is, what would a team be trading for next winter? A quarterback who will turn 27 at the start of the ’22 season, chastened and tarnished, but coming off a 70-percent season in 2020 with a league-leading 4,823 passing yards.

Philadelphia’s the most logical target—and I’d argue that acquiring their next quarterback would be smarter next March than it is now. Maybe Jalen Hurts has a stunningly great year and the Eagles think they’ve got their quarterback of the future. Maybe the Eagles will be in position with three first-round picks to sit and take their next quarterback in the draft or trade up for him. Or maybe they’re in the best position of any team in the league to deal for Watson. So the best thing for Philadelphia here is to play the long game—and hope that Carson Wentz plays three-quarters of the snaps in Indianapolis this year, ensuring that third first-round pick 2022.

On Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. Twin pleasant injury reports to start training camp: Mahomes, coming off significant foot surgery in February, and Burrow, coming off major knee surgery last fall, both are active for camp. The AFC is deeper in young quarterbacks than it’s ever been—and that included the Marino-Elway era in the mid-nineties. Think of it: Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Watson (an AFC-er for now), Burrow and Justin Herbert are 25 or younger. Amazing. Carson Wentz (28) and Derek Carr (30) round out the AFC’s lineup of young passers. I’ve never seen anything like that young QB depth chart in a conference.

On Tom Brady: And now your Brady Moment of Zen (apologies to The Daily Show) entering his 22nd NFL camp, and second in Tampa Bay:

Variations of this have been widely noted, but if Brady averages 300 passing yards a game in his first three games, he’ll need 255 in game four—at New England, and what do you know about that—to break the NFL’s all-time passing-yardage record held by Drew Brees. Not saying it’s unbreakable, because it isn’t. But I am saying that Aaron Rodgers, for instance, enters the season 27,960 yards behind Brady. So if the record’s going to be broken, I’m guessing it’ll be by one of the very young turks in a very good offense with very good genes that allow him to play into his forties.

[Cody_Russell]

On Deshaun Watson. Multiple reports Sunday said Watson will report to Texans camp, evading the $50,000-a-day fine. The Texans would have the distraction-avoiding option of not having Watson on the practice field or in the public view. Welcome to head-coaching, David Culley. For the legal cases involving 22 accusations of sexual impropriety to not be adjudicated or settled by now, it figures that Watson and the accusers must both think they’ve got good cases.

Gut feeling here: It makes no sense for GM Nick Caserio to trade Watson when his value is diminished today; he needs to wait till whatever happens legally with Watson, and when the likely NFL sanction of Watson is meted out. When Watson’s fate is known, that’s when a team should trade for him. Which is why I’d guess (and that’s all it is) that Watson gets moved early in 2022, when presumably his legal issues are finished, and league discipline will be done too.

I’m sure Watson doesn’t see it this way, but this year is looking more and more like a washout for him. If it is, what would a team be trading for next winter? A quarterback who will turn 27 at the start of the ’22 season, chastened and tarnished, but coming off a 70-percent season in 2020 with a league-leading 4,823 passing yards.

Philadelphia’s the most logical target—and I’d argue that acquiring their next quarterback would be smarter next March than it is now. Maybe Jalen Hurts has a stunningly great year and the Eagles think they’ve got their quarterback of the future. Maybe the Eagles will be in position with three first-round picks to sit and take their next quarterback in the draft or trade up for him. Or maybe they’re in the best position of any team in the league to deal for Watson. So the best thing for Philadelphia here is to play the long game—and hope that Carson Wentz plays three-quarters of the snaps in Indianapolis this year, ensuring that third first-round pick 2022.

Eagles makes sense if Watson is going to be traded soon.
They have an extra 1st RD pick that was acquired after trading back in the 2021 NFL Draft. Plus they have another 1st or 2nd RD pick depending on the Wentz situation in Indy.
I was in favor of giving Hurts a shot, but it's risky. As is Watson with the off-the-field problem.

[Futureshock]

Numbers Game


Losingest teams in recent football history?

New York, New York.

Since 2017, these teams have the worst regular-season records in the NFL:



If you wonder why Giants co-owner John Mara looks so chagrined in nearly every picture you see of him recently, consider that just maybe he’s thinking, “The Jaguars are four wins better, and the Browns six wins better, than we are over the past four years.”

[Futureshock]

Report: Chandler Jones requested a trade

Posted by Josh Alper on July 25, 2021, 2:06 PM EDT

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Chandler Jones wasn’t with the Cardinals at their minicamp in June and the edge rusher reportedly wants a permanent separation from the team.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that Jones requested a trade this offseason. The Cardinals obviously have not granted that request and Fowler adds that they expect Jones to be at training camp this week.

Jones is set to make $15.5 million in the final year of his current contract. His dissatisfaction with his contract status is given as the reason why he asked for a deal away from Arizona.

Jones was limited to five games last season by a biceps injury. He has recorded 61 sacks in 69 games with the Cardinals and the hope in the desert is that he will add to that total while playing alongside J.J. Watt this season. Jones may have different ideas, but that plan remains in place with camp set to open.

[Futureshock]

Buccaneers say they’re using red wristbands for vaccinated players, yellow for unvaccinated

Posted by Mike Florio on July 25, 2021, 12:00 PM EDT

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So much for HIPAA. (That’s sarcasm, by the way.)

The Buccaneers have informed PFT that the Super Bowl LV champions will be using two different wristbands at practice to distinguish vaccinated players from unvaccinated players. According to the team, vaccinate players will wear red wristbands and unvaccinated players will wear yellow wristbands.

As the Bucs begin practicing today, photos inevitably will emerge from the session — and many will be looking for the yellow wristbands. (It’s hard to spot them, if they’re even there, in practice videos posted by the team on social media.)

Running back Leonard Fournette surely will have one. Via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Fournette said on Sunday that he’s still deciding whether to get vaccinated.

[Futureshock]

Xavien Howard reports to Dolphins training camp

Posted by Josh Alper on July 27, 2021, 8:28 AM EDT

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Cornerback Xavien Howard would like a new contract and that desire led him to stay away from the Dolphins’ mandatory minicamp this offseason, but he isn’t holding out of training camp.

The Dolphins posted a video of Howard at their facility as players report for the start of camp on Tuesday. Howard would have been subject to daily fines of $50,000 if he opted not to join the team at camp.

Howard signed a five-year extension with the Dolphins in 2019 and head coach Brian Flores confirmed in June that the two sides were “talking about a potential renegotiation” in light of Howard’s feeling that he’s outplayed that pact.

There has not been any word of progress in talks about a deal that would be more to his liking, but Howard’s presence at camp suggests the conversations will continue with an eye on keeping him in his spot as a defensive leader in Miami.

[Futureshock]

Why is Judge and Vrabel so different then the other BB disciples?

Joe Judge not taking sides, just explaining realities to players on vaccines

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on July 27, 2021, 12:26 AM EDT

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New York Giants head coach Joe Judge is trying not to take a side in the discussions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines and whether his players do, or don’t, get vaccinated.

However, he’s also being bluntly clear that the decision not to get one of the three vaccines currently available will make life this season more challenging for his players.

“I chose to never take a side,” Judge said, via Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com. “And everybody has different opinions and beliefs and whatever they want to say. But my thing has been the entire time: I’m not going to take a side. The league and union have an agreement in terms of what the players’ choices are and it’s my job as a coach to inform everyone of all the information. When the players make their choice to enforce protocols if they choose not to be vaccinated, and that’s kinda just been it.

“We’re very honest with our players, and talk to them all the time. We just make sure they understand the reality is that it’s going to be tougher living if you’re not vaccinated.”

The Giants aren’t one of the 10 teams that have reached the 90 percent. Per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, the team’s infection control officer, Ronnie Barnes, indicated the team is “certainly shooting for relaxation of protocols” by getting to the 85 percent threshold set by the NFL.

The realities that face players that don’t get vaccinated will include the need for continued facial coverings, daily COVID-19 tests, increased travel restrictions, inability to leave team hotels on the road, and extended quarantine procedures following a positive case. Additionally, for players at the back end of the roster, it will be easier and more practical for teams to keep players that are vaccinated over ones that are not.

“You gotta be disciplined and follow all the protocols because it does affect the team and it affects the potential of what we can do,” Judge said. “So we just gotta make sure we’re disciplined and go through with it. In terms of the whole thing navigating this: To stand in a room with people of such diverse backgrounds, this isn’t a topic where I need to have a side. It’s just: You have a decision they’ve afforded you to make, here’s the information and whatever decision you make you have to live with it.”

For Judge, it’s a simple explanation to detail. One door yields one reality and the second door will bring another. The players will have to live with the consequences of whichever door they choose.

“All I can tell them is: Listen, I can tell you what day to day is going to be like and what the length of the season is going to be like and beyond that, the medical part has to stay up to the doctors,” Judge said.

[Futureshock]

No guarantee Saquon Barkley plays Week 1 as Giants take deliberate approach in his return

Posted by Charean Williams on July 26, 2021, 8:37 PM EDT

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Saquon Barkley repeatedly has refused to put a timetable on his return from a right knee injury. The Giants are doing the same thing.

Giants coach Joe Judge conducted one-on-one phone interviews with the team’s beat writers Monday. He would not guarantee Barkley would play the season opener as the Giants take a deliberate approach in the running back’s return.

“He’s doing everything we’re asking him, and he’s constantly asking, ‘How long ya think? How long ya think,’” Judge told Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. “So he wants to be back.

“We’re really just watching day by day and evaluating where he’s at and affording him the ability to come back when he’s fully ready to go, because the plan is when we get him back to keep him back. We don’t want to rush him back and do something that’s not best for him individually or best for the team, and we’re really taking a big picture and a long-term view of this.”

Barkley, 24, will begin camp on the physically unable to perform list. He surely will push the medical staff to clear him for the Sept. 12 season opener against the Broncos.

“Look, ideally we’d love to have him back as soon as possible,” Judge said, “but ultimately we’ve got to make sure when he comes back he can play 100 percent; he can play aggressive and confident; and that we have him back. So that’s the approach we’re taking.”

Barkley tore the anterior cruciate ligament, partially tore the meniscus and strained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee on Sept. 20. He underwent surgery Oct. 30.

[Futureshock]

NFL’s obsession with ending holdouts could backfire on some teams

Posted by Mike Florio on July 28, 2021, 6:44 AM EDT

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The latest labor deal makes it harder than ever for players under contract to hold out. As a result, this year’s ritual of players reporting to training camp has included, so far, not a single player under contract holding out.

Here’s the question: With unhappy players unwilling based on the terms of the current labor deal to draw a line in the stand and stay away, could the presence of men who aren’t happy with their current circumstances and who feel like they have no options backfire on one or more teams?

In Miami, Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard showed up when he clearly had no interest in doing so; he has since made a public trade demand. Other players who want new contracts or changes of scenery have reported. Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore showed up. Cardinals pass rusher Chandler Jones showed up. Seahawks safety Jamal Adams showed up. Packers receiver Davante Adams showed up. Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson showed up. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who supposedly didn’t care about the financial consequences of staying away, caved in and showed up.

The latest CBA increased daily fines for holding out of training camp while under contract to $50,000 per day. For players not operating under their rookie contracts, the fines no longer can be waived.

That has undoubtedly prompted some players who would have stayed away to show up. Which means that unhappy players who’d rather not be present believe they have to be there.

The term “hold in” will become more popular moving forward. It’s been a very real dynamic in the NFL for years. Players sometimes show up and, for example, have a nagging hamstring strain that keeps them from practicing. Coaches don’t like it, but what can they do? Pick a fight with someone who’s already ready to rumble?

The league’s decision to make it harder to hold out increases the chances of another Terrell Owens situation, where a player who wants a new contract and/or a trade but who doesn’t hold out shows up and creates a three-ring circus that morphs into a major distraction. Again, if you take away (as a practical matter) the ability of a disgruntled player to simply stay home, that player will look for another way to get what he wants. In some situations, it will be much better to have that guy not in the building, not around teammates, not interacting with coaches and others from management, not making things potentially worse before they can get better.

Given the number of unhappy players who showed up for 2021 training camp, it makes sense to pay close attention to how things unfold for each of the players who, in past years, would have been more inclined to stay away. The greater the unhappy players who don’t hold out, the greater the chance that there will be at least one situation that implodes.

[Futureshock]

Xavien Howard requests trade: I am just here so I don’t get fined

Posted by Charean Williams on July 27, 2021, 8:44 PM EDT

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Cornerback Xavien Howard reported to training camp with the Dolphins on Tuesday morning. He avoided daily fines of $50,000. That is the only reason Howard is in camp, he said in a social media post Tuesday night.

Howard said he has requested a trade, and he sounds as if he will “hold in” until he gets a contract to his liking or a new home.

“I’ve given my heart and soul to the Miami Dolphins franchise since they drafted me in 2016 and want to make it clear that I love my teammates. They are my family,” Howard wrote on Instagram. “But what I’ve learned is that the business side of the NFL proves organizations don’t always have a player’s best interest at heart. My experience with the Dolphins the past few seasons has taught me that. In 2018 [sic], I signed an extension that I’ll admit I didn’t completely understand or feel comfortable with. I’ve played on that deal for two seasons and didn’t complain, but everyone knows I’ve significantly outperformed that deal. I’m one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, and the tape backs up that claim. The assignments I’m given, shadowing the opposition’s best player with little help, proves my value, my worth. Yet, I’m the second highest-paid cornerback on my own team, and it’s not even close.

“I want to clear up a few misconceptions about my situation. My agent, David Canter, and I have never once asked for a completely new contract. We wanted things to work out with the Dolphins, and brought solutions to the table — like guaranteeing more money — that we felt were win-wins for both sides. These were proposals of adjustments that wouldn’t just make me feel more respected, but were also cap friendly. But the Dolphins refused everything we proposed. That is why I don’t feel the organization has dealt with me in good faith. I don’t feel valued or respected by the Dolphins. Just like they can take a business-first approach, so can I. That’s why I want to make it clear I’m not happy and have requested a trade. Until that happens, I am just here, so I don’t get fined and will handle myself like professionals do.”

Howard actually signed his five-year, $75.25 million extension with the Dolphins in 2019. He has a fully guaranteed salary of $12.075 million this season. But his $15.05 million average per season ranks sixth-highest, trailing even teammate Byron Jones‘ $16.5 million annual average.

Howard led the league with 10 interceptions in 2020 and earned first-team All-Pro for the first time.

Howard, 28, has 22 interceptions and 55 pass breakups in 56 career games.