I still follow advice I read years ago for auction drafts: When it's your turn to nominate a player, always nominate a kicker for $1. If nobody bids (and they shouldn't) you get your preferred kicker. If someone outbids you, you just made someone pay more than $1 for a kicker. Win-win.
Feels like a lot more clutch kicking opportunities in NFL with competitive games, 2 min warning, etc. More chances to tie or take the lead late. So not sure how you could find out a college kicker's clutch rating before drafting anyway.
I assume Tucker is 99 clutch in Madden, if there is such a stat anymore.
What round pick would Aguayo be worth based on WAR?
The Panthers are reportedly shopping Sam Darnold for a trade.
Carolina shot down that rumor within minutes of it popping up on Twitter.
It makes perfect sense to try to unload him, which is why the Panthers won't do it.
What round pick would Aguayo be worth based on WAR?
Last pick of the UFL draft, with full knowledge the UFL no longer exists.
*Legion* wrote:The Panthers are reportedly shopping Sam Darnold for a trade.
Carolina shot down that rumor within minutes of it popping up on Twitter.
Carolina:
iaintgotnopants wrote:What round pick would Aguayo be worth based on WAR?
Last pick of the UFL draft, with full knowledge the UFL no longer exists.
I will never tire of the "mortar kickoffs" bit.
His one year of kickoffs, the team had the 8th most touchbacks (oops, aren't these mortars supposed to stay out of the endzone?), and on the kickoffs that were fielded for return, they gave up the 7th highest average return yardage.
Man, was the preseason hype on mortar kickoffs great:
The massive impact of Roberto Aguayo's mortar kicks
Tampa did not trade up for Aguayo's kicking proficiency. They traded up to secure a major deficiency in their special teams department as well as get ahead of everyone else when the touchbacks now come out the 25 yard line. Agauyo has direct impact of reducing the opposition from scoring. The front office improved all three aspects of Bucs football: offense (past two drafts), defense (during FA and the draft), and special teams (with Aguayo along with speedsters Bell and Ryan Smith). Field position matters and the Bucs made sure to get a leg up on it in the 2016 NFL draft for a relative cheap price to move up and secure such a specialist... such a king "pin".
Tampa actually did have a "kicker" that helped field position battles that year, but it was punter Bryan Anger. His 5.3 yards per return was 4th lowest, and it wasn't from kicking short punts, as he had the 12th best gross punt average too.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Two weeks into training camp and the Carolina Panthers’ quarterback situation remains unsettled.Coach Matt Rhule said both Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold have had good days, but he’s not ready to declare a starter. ...
Rhule said the Panthers haven’t wanted to rush the decision, saying “the important thing is finding the right guy.”
“I don’t want to start one guy and then realize after two games we made the wrong decision and go back to the other guy,” Rhule said.
I can't even.
"Wrong Decision" is Sam Darnold's Native American name.
Carolina waited as long as possible before trading for Baker, so he wasn't around for any offseason activities. Now, with the limited preparation time he has, he's being bounced back and forth between the 1st and 2nd teams.
Ouch. Absolutely nothing surrounding Burks has been good so far. Though some people surrounding the Titans have offered rebuttal to this characterization of Burks' progress. But for someone for whom effort was always in the question marks section of his draft scouting reports, and who showed up to minicamps with less than sufficient conditioning (not even counting the asthma stuff), it's a little discouraging that his camp performance has still left room for doubt.
Mekhi Becton's knee injury worse than previously thought, may be out for some time.
And given his injury history to this point, he may be getting close to "injury washout" status.
The team wisely spent a 4th round pick on tackle Max Mitchell, and they're talking with Duane Brown.
Mekhi Becton's knee injury worse than previously thought, may be out for some time.
Now expected to miss the season.
Joe Douglas was apparently on the radio saying "the wheels are moving" for Duane Brown.
Apparently, Zach Wilson was sacked on 4 of his first 5 dropbacks in practice today.
*Legion* wrote:Mekhi Becton's knee injury worse than previously thought, may be out for some time.
Now expected to miss the season.
Joe Douglas was apparently on the radio saying "the wheels are moving" for Duane Brown.
Apparently, Zach Wilson was sacked on 4 of his first 5 dropbacks in practice today.
Man, Zach hasn't been on his back like this since his last weekend with his mom's best friend.
Washington fires DL coach Sam Mills III. Pretty odd to be firing positional coaches in the middle of training camp.
Per PFT:
Rivera told reporters that the firing was the result of a difference in philosophy and that he believed a change was needed based on what he’s seen during training camp. The Commanders have four first-round picks on a defensive line that underwhelmed last season, but Rivera said that the firing was not based on anything other than the present.
The Mills the 3rd firing makes no sense. He was on Ron Rivera's staff in Charlotte and followed him to DC. Why now?
Speaking of the Panthers, OC Ben McAdooooo is apparently dreaming of eating one of his QBs. When he was asked about the sham of a QB competition, he replied: "As long as we don't resort to cannibalism, I think we have a chance to get out of this pretty good."
It's going to be a long, weird season in Carolina.
Alright, question for everyone: who is your team's interesting roster bubble player? The late round/UDFA/cheap free agent journeyman guy that Hard Knocks would highlight if they were doing your team?
For the 49ers, the answer is easy: Jason Poe. Poe is a tweener, but he's between two positions that one player usually doesn't fit both of: offensive guard and fullback. He's 6'1, 300 lbs, and he runs the 40 in only 4.89 seconds. He's this freakishly athletic big guy, described as a bowling ball shot out of a cannon, whose body doesn't fit the shape of any one position. I mean, when's the last time you saw an offensive guard prospect working on pass receiving like this during his draft process:
The Niners have him working full time at guard. The big concern is that his lack of height, as well as shorter arms, could make him a liability in pass protection, which is ultimately what landed Poe in UDFA land. However, he's shown himself to hold up better than expected, and has already surprised everyone and elevated himself up from 3rd team to 2nd team. If he were to make the roster, he would almost certainly sneak into Shanahan game plans as an extra FB/TE/H-Back blocker (and surprise pass receiver?) on the move, which is where he's most intriguing (and probably why he caught Shanny's attention). But he has to cut the mustard well enough at his primary position to justify the roster spot first.
For the Jaguars, I'm going with Ryan Santoso, the kicker version of Jared Lorenzen. He's 6'5" and 270 lbs of former Minnesota Golden Gopher. The Jags have a free-for-all at the kicker spot, looking for the successor to Josh Lambo, the Urbanslayer. Santoso has been hanging around the outskirts of pro football, making brief appearances on rosters for various NFL and CFL teams. He's appeared in 7 NFL games, going 4-of-5 on field goals in that span. This opportunity with the Jags is his best shot so far at landing a full-time starting job. He missed just a little right on a 60-yard attempt in the Hall of Fame Game, but had the distance for it. His competition in Jacksonville is other guys who have similarly little NFL experience, but who he's really competing with are the guys that will become available as other teams make their cutdowns. Still, a kicker with the frame of a classic Buccaneers QB, that has to be the guy to cheer for.
I'll help Enix out and do the Panthers too. It's edge rusher (maybe?) Arron Mosby. There's not a lot of guys who end up on the defensive line after starting their college careers at safety, but Mosby made his way from the defensive backfield to linebacker down to the defensive line across his highly productive FRESNO STATE career. Matt Rhule singled him out as a guy that flashed at rookie minicamp, and suggested they now see him as an option across multiple linebacker positions. He's got speed and playmaking ability, but is in search of a position to call home. There's plenty of roster spots up for grabs at the bottom of both the edge rusher and LB positions on the Panthers depth chart, so the opportunity is there.
Goodell on Watson: "there were multiple violations here, and they were egregious and it was predatory behavior. Those are things that we always felt were important for us to address in a way that’s responsible"
It sounds like, while Sue Robinson assigned punishment as if everything fell into a single violation, the league is pushing for those four cases to be considered separate violations. Per PFT:
Goodell confirmed that the league believes Watson committed four different violations of the Personal Conduct Policy, since the facts pointed to four different massage therapists against whom Watson committed (as Judge Robinson put it) “non-violent sexual assault.”
Still seems ridiculous that we're talking about four instances and not 30, but at any rate, it seems like the league is going to use that "these are four different violations" idea as their argument point for assigning a much higher penalty than 6 games.
Alright, question for everyone: who is your team's interesting roster bubble player? The late round/UDFA/cheap free agent journeyman guy that Hard Knocks would highlight if they were doing your team?
Chase Garbers* beats out Derek Carr for QB1 on the Raiders 
*had to check to make sure he hasn't been cut yet before posting this
I'll help Enix out and do the Panthers too. It's edge rusher (maybe?) Arron Mosby.
I had never heard of this guy until 5 minutes ago when I read your post. There's zero buzz about this guy that I can tell. The Panthers just released their depth chart, and he's a third-string outside linebacker behind a guy who impressed a lot of folks last year (Frankie Luvu) and their fourth-round pick this year (Brandon Smith).
Panthers Twitter seems to have geeked out over CJ Saunders, an UDFA out of Ohio State. This Wes Welker clone (ie short white slot receiver) was on Carolina's practice squad last year and played in Week 18.
Assuming Carolina keeps 6 WRs, four slots are probably already claimed, the fifth is for a KR/PR and the sixth is between someone who played a bunch last year (Brandon Zylstra), this year's sixth-round pick (Shi Smith) and a guy who played for Rhule at Temple (Keith Kirkwood).
The fact that Panthers Twitter is all agog about a dude who will probably end up on the practice squad says a lot about where the team's fanbase is at the moment.
Ha, no not cut, but pretty firmly QB4 in a race that's likely only going to earn two roster spots.
Carr and Jarrett Stidham seem the only QBs likely to make the roster. Stidham's time with McDaniels in New England is working heavily in his favor to take the QB2 job by some margin.
Nick Mullens has an outside shot of getting the Raiders to use 3 roster spots at QB. If not, he could be a veteran practice squad member, making it a battle between him and Garbers to be that practice squad QB (not sure if they would use 2 PS spots on QBs)
Alright, question for everyone: who is your team's interesting roster bubble player? The late round/UDFA/cheap free agent journeyman guy that Hard Knocks would highlight if they were doing your team?
I'm gonna go with Bill Murray. First, because his name is Bill Murray. But also, he came as an UDFA in 2020 as a DL and has been in the PS for two whole years but has not been promoted to the active roster once. Most notably, he just got switched form DL to OL and while the Pats have five clear starters, OL depth was a bit of a question mark for the whole of last year and still is. Oh, did I mention he played Lacrosse in high school? Plus, look at that stache.
Honorable mention to LaBryan Ray, a 24-year old rookie UDFA DL from Alabama who was a top prospect but spent most of his college career injured.
Interior D-line is gonna be a tough spot to make the roster in New England. They've got some good rotational players in place. I wonder if they end up having someone get waiver claimed that they try to stash on the practice squad.
FYI, the roster cutdown schedule:
Aug. 16: From the current 90 players to 85
Aug. 23: 5 more cuts to get to 80
Aug. 30: BLOODBATH DAY: Rosters have to be down to 53 players by 4 p.m.
First game is Sept 8 (Bills-Rams on Thurs night).
Oh, and preseason games start Thursday in case anyone needs a football fix now.
It's weird how small the early cuts are now. It used to be 90 to 75 to 53. Having two separate cuts to get down to 80 seems unnecessarily gradual.
Oh, and preseason games start Thursday
Hall of Fame Game:
Goodell is making a lot of noise about a year-long suspension for Watson. I can't imagine him saying that publicly and then having his appeal guy come back with a punishment that's less than that. So if he's out there saying that to the press, then I have to believe that the statements are essentially prepping the union (and everyone else) for the year-long punishment.
Make it happen, Roger.
EDIT: Speculation is high that a decision will be announced before the Browns' preseason opener (in Jacksonville) on Friday, removing Watson from preseason participation as well.
How about 6 games per 4 victims the NFL brought forward?
24 games for a season and a half?
How about 6 games per 4 victims the NFL brought forward?
24 games for a season and a half?
I like the extra games, but overall I think the NFL's approach of an "indefinite suspension" with the requirement to petition for reinstatement is probably the right one. It kicks him out of training camp and preseason right now, instead of letting him finish both. Petitioning for reinstatement can only happen after a whole calendar year, meaning it would be midway into next August before Watson could conceivably return to the Browns facility, disrupting next year's preparation. (Players who are suspended X number of games are still allowed to partake in off-season and preseason activities.)
Also, as we saw with Josh Gordon, reinstatement is hardly an automatic rubber-stamp process. If the league isn't feeling satisfied a year from now, they can drag things out. It's a lot easier to deny reinstatement than it is to impose a new punishment, so if something new comes out over the next 12 months, it's better to have him be on the "indefinite" suspension vs. the X number of games sort.
Granted, you could argue, "well just make the reinstatement period be after 14 months instead of 12", but there's no precedent for that. The league is already playing a bit of hardball with the player's union on what they're seemingly about to do, so I can't begrudge them for not pushing it even further.
If things go the way I believe Goodell is signaling they'll go, I'll be about as happy as I can be with an player punishment.
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