NFL News

[chemiclord]

Ouch, that sucks for Dobbins.

Less important related subject. It acts as a reminder to never have a fantasy draft before preseason ends. Happy that my league holds the draft a couple days before the regular season every year.

If FF leagues didn't learn that lesson after Andrew Luck, they aren't gonna.

[JGSpartan]

There is no family, only FF. I kid of course.

[Cody_Russell]

Can the Lions give KeeSean Johnson a look? He was buried behind the ridiculous depth at WR on the Cardinals roster.

[Futureshock]

Yeah that’s the preferable way to run things but Future has a loved one with a birthday on every weekend day from the end of August until mid Sept. It always made things fun to schedule

Well, I can at least maintain cell phone service so I trump you there.

[Futureshock]

BTW, ON my daughter's birth day, one week from the season opener, I lost my #2 pick the first year of playing with the FFF. No excuses but I'm not drafting that far out again.

I will do a bunch of year longs Sunday in FanDuel.

[Cody_Russell]

Fantasy drafts should be held in the next 8 days. That's the perfect time frame.
I roll my eyes reading about people bitching when it comes to Dobbins and Etienne's injury. Yes, Andrew Luck from a few years ago.
It happens every year.

...

Lions, hop on that.

[Futureshock]

Big TE with a wide frame

[Futureshock]

Thoughts?

Trent Dilfer coaching video sparks strong reactions, on each side

Posted by Mike Florio on August 31, 2021, 6:20 AM EDT

Getty Images

In today’s America, every incident sparks a reaction on both sides. Even when it shouldn’t.

The video of Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer, now a high school football coach, grabbing the son of former NFL kicker Phil Dawson and pushing the boy backward before shoving him away has prompted both criticism and support. If, as the Dilfer defenders are arguing, the moment was sparked by Beau Dawson being disrespectful to Dilfer, the reaction was proper.

The reaction was not proper, regardless of what caused it.

Long gone are the days when adults can lay hands on minors as a gesture of anger or an act of discipline. This isn’t a matter of dispute or “both sides.” It’s a bright line that should not be crossed.

Some of us (like me) grew up at a time when, for example, laziness on the practice field prompted a cleat in the ass from the coach. Being out of position resulted in the grabbing of the facemask and the forceful yanking of the player into the right spot.

And God forbid if a player had a chance during a special-teams drill to block a punt but recoiled from the ball or the leg. I still can picture the moment from the eighth grade in October 1978 when a teammate pulled up after breaking free toward the punter. The coach ordered the player to run multiple times toward the coach as he kicked the ball directly into his head and face and body, repeatedly.

(At least the kid had the protection of a flimsy, ill-fitting helmet with a single bar across the bottom of his face.)

Those days are gone. Period. Full stop. That’s it. No debate. Coaches don’t touch players. It’s clear. It’s indisputable. Even if people are somehow coming up with ways to try to dispute it.

This also isn’t a question of whether Dilfer should be “canceled.” (Quick question: Canceled from what?) It’s a question of fitness to have the health and safety of youth football players entrusted to him. If you can’t control your anger when a player sasses you back or whatever, you shouldn’t be coaching children. And if pushing and shoving is one of your devices for inflicting discipline, you definitely shouldn’t be coaching children.

I’ll admit (although I’m a bit ashamed to do so) that part of me is a little conflicted about the subject of physicality in youth football coaching. To this day, I don’t stand still for very long because of all the times I was kicked in the ass by the coach and/or jerked around by my facemask. It has kept me from ever doing anything that could be characterized in any way, shape, or form as lazy or half-assed.

The fact that I still can vividly recall those moments means that it worked a little too well, however. It probably amounted to a series of small emotional scars. And it probably has contributed to what ultimately has become at times an unhealthy obsession with working and working and working, so that I never stop long enough to get kicked in the ass.

Obviously, there has to be a better way to teach kids about work and effort and respect and responsibility and everything else that football coaches at their best can impart to their players. The easiest way to move in that direction is to realize that it’s the 21st century and that coaches should never be pushing or shoving or kicking youth football players, at any time and for any reason.

[Futureshock]

AGG is worth a look:

Washington cuts Peyton Barber, Antonio Gandy-Golden

Posted by Myles Simmons on August 31, 2021, 9:40 AM EDT

Getty Images

There are another two offensive contributors in Washington who are part of the roster reduction to 53 players.

According to multiple reports, the Football Team has released Peyton Barber and waived receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden.

Barber has been with Washington since last year, taking 94 carries for 258 yards with four touchdowns for the team in 2020. He also played 30 percent of the club’s special team snaps.

Beginning his career as an undrafted free agent with the Buccaneers in 2016, Barber has 2,245 yards rushing with 19 touchdowns in 79 games. He’s also caught 61 passes for 361 yards with a pair of TDs.

Gandy-Golden was a fourth-round pick out of Liberty last year, but missed much of his rookie season due to injury. He appeared in six games, but caught just one pass for three yards while taking a carry for 22 yards. He played a total of 124 offensive snaps.

In the 2021 preseason, Gandy-Golden caught seven passes for 77 yards.

[Futureshock]

Saints release Devonta Freeman

Posted by Josh Alper on August 31, 2021, 9:14 AM EDT

USA TODAY Sports

Running back Devonta Freeman won’t be on the initial 53-man roster in New Orleans.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports and PFT has confirmed that the Saints have released Freeman on Tuesday.

Freeman signed with the Saints at the start of training camp and head coach Sean Payton cited his versatility as the reason why he landed with the team. He had 13 carries for 24 yards and five catches for 18 yards in the preseason.

Latavius Murray, Dwayne Washington, and Tony Jones Jr. were the other backs vying for spots behind Alvin Kamara on the Saints’ depth chart this summer. Freeman’s departure should help at least two of them make the cut to 53 players.

[Futureshock]

Report: Dolphins releasing Benardrick McKinney

Posted by Charean Williams on August 30, 2021, 7:37 PM EDT

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The Shaq Lawson–Benardrick McKinney trade did not work out for either the Texans or the Dolphins.

The teams swapped linebackers, as well as a swap of late-round picks, on March 14. The Texans traded Lawson to the Jets on Sunday, getting a sixth-round choice in return.

The Dolphins cut McKinney on Monday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.

McKinney is coming off a 2020 season cut to four games due to shoulder surgery. The Texans made the inside linebacker a second-round choice in 2015.

In six seasons in Houston, McKinney started 77 games, totaled three 100-tackle seasons and made the Pro Bowl in 2018.

[Futureshock]

Marvin Wilson, undrafted rookie given $192,000 guarantee, waived by Browns

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 30, 2021, 5:09 PM EDT

USA Today

When former Florida State defensive tackle Marvin Wilson went undrafted in April, several teams were interested in signing him as an undrafted free agent, and he cashed in by signing with the Browns and getting a $30,000 signing bonus plus $162,000 of his base salary guaranteed.

But that didn’t guarantee him a roster spot. And Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports that Wilson has been waived by the Browns.

The Browns would like Wilson back on their practice squad, but first he would have to pass through waivers, and it’s possible that one of the other teams that was interested in signing him after the draft will claim him. It’s also possible that Wilson could choose to sign with another team’s practice squad if he passes through waivers.

Wilson was a great high school player and one of the top recruits in the country when he chose Florida State, and if he had entered the 2020 NFL draft he surely would have been selected, perhaps in the first round. But he didn’t play as well in 2020 as he had in 2019, and his draft stock tanked. He also didn’t perform well enough in training camp to earn a Browns roster spot. Now he’ll try to get his career back on track, either in Cleveland or elsewhere.

[Futureshock]

If they really believed in Tua, they wouldn't be playing footsy with the Creep (err, alleged creep)...
You don't see LAC thinking about him at all.


Dolphins try to distance themselves from Deshaun Watson without ruling out a trade

Posted by Mike Florio on August 30, 2021, 4:17 PM EDT

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The Miami Dolphins and Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson have been linked for months. As the time approaches for the Texans to move him off the roster via trade or pay him $10.54 million to not play, two important things have not happened.

First, the Texans have not said unequivocally and unconditionally that they’ll keep him on the team this year and not pay him. (They reportedly are “prepared” to keep him on the 53-man roster, pay him, and deactivate him every week. That sounds like an effort to create leverage, not a clear statement of intent.) Second, the Dolphins have not said that they have no interest in Watson.

The tampering rules prevent teams from expressing interest in a player under contract with another team. The tampering rules do not forbid a team from saying, “We have no interest in that player.” The Dolphins, fully aware of the reports linking the team to Watson, could easily put out the fire by saying, “We have no interest in that player.”

The heat didn’t increase over the weekend regarding a possible trade because people were bored. At a time when I already was hearing chatter that a trade could happen, I reached out to a high-level source with an NFL team to obtain confirmation that, in order to put Watson on revocable IR, the Texans would have to put him on the initial 53-man roster. The response was, “Yes.” Followed by, “He’s getting traded next week,” with the Dolphins and Panthers believed to be the two finalists.

While we didn’t couch it with the same clarity that the source did in our story on the subject, that’s why we wrote what we wrote on Saturday. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports took it a step farther, reporting that the Dolphins have emerged as the frontrunners to land Watson.

Robinson applied more clarity today. “My Watson reporting is from high-level sourcing in five teams: #Dolphins, #Texans, #Broncos, #Eagles, #Panthers and inside Watson’s camp. I challenge the Dolphins to state on the record that they haven’t spoken to Houston about a Watson deal in camp.”

The question isn’t whether the Dolphins want Watson. They do, for the right price. The Texans want to unload Watson, for the right price. For now, the two circles on the Venn diagram remain separated. Soon, they’ll either move toward each other or they won’t.

The most fair outcome continues to be the simple formula expressed earlier today on PFT Live. For 2022, the Texans get a third-round pick if Watson is available to play in fewer than eight regular-season games in 2021. They get a second round pick if he’s available to play in eight to 12 regular-season games in 2021. They get a first-round pick if he’s available to play in 13 or more regular-season games in 2021. That same conditional approach would apply to the 2023 draft based on the 2022 season, and to the 2024 draft based on the 2023 season.

That would give Houston up to three first-round picks, and it would account for the inherent uncertainty created by the legal proceedings. That uncertainty remains, whether Watson stays with the Texans or gets traded. The best way to account for the potential impact of the civil cases, the criminal complaints, and the likelihood of a league-imposed suspension even if everything is resolved in his favor (Watson’s camp expects something in the range of six to eight games) is to tie the picks to availability, over multiple seasons.

If the Texans want to trade Watson and if the Dolphins want to secure his services, a compromise like this seems necessary. Whether a compromise like that happens remains to be seen.

[Futureshock]

Mac Jones is the guy in NE. Good job young man...


Cam Newton exits New England with $3.5 million guaranteed for 2021

Posted by Mike Florio on August 31, 2021, 10:23 AM EDT

Getty Images

In little more than a week, Cam Newton has gone from New England starting quarterback to man without a job.

He leaves New England with a $2 million signing bonus and a $1.5 million guaranteed salary for 2021.

The guaranteed salary will be subject to offset language. If/when Cam signs elsewhere, he’ll surely get at least $1.5 million, reducing the total obligation to $2 million.

And so the question becomes when and if he’ll land elsewhere. As a vested veteran, he instantly becomes a free agent. He can sign with any team.

In an upcoming item, we’ll take a look at his potential destinations, now that he’s once against available. Unless and until he’s vaccinated, however, he’ll have to wait five days to officially join a team that wants to sign him.

[Futureshock]

You can't convince me that he wouldn't still be the starter if he didn't open the door by not being vaccinated and getting sick and unavailable.