Author: nfltalk

Smith details pressures of being No. 1 pick with 49ers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith entered the NFL with the weight of the world on his shoulders, an experience he opened up about while addressing the crowd during Thursday’s Dwight Clark Legacy Series event at the California Theatre in San Jose.

San Francisco selected Smith No. 1 overall in the 2005 NFL Draft, with San Francisco counting on the Utah product to resurrect a once proud franchise in the midst of a rapid decline. Smith detailed how much pressure came with not only being a No. 1 overall pick, but also following in the footsteps of a pair of Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

“It was unique … there had never been a franchise to have a Joe [Montana] and Steve [Young], like that had never happened,” Smith explained. “Jeff [Garcia] set the franchise record for yards, so he had carried it on. And all of a sudden to be the No. 1 pick, and as a 20 year old those were things I never dealt with. I had one college scholarship offer. I had been flying under the radar my entire life, and now all of a sudden [there were] huge expectations put upon me.”

Smith revealed how much pressure he put on himself in an attempt to live up to the legendary quarterbacks who preceeded him in San Francisco.

“I felt like I had to be Joe Montana, Steve Young and Peyton Manning as the No. 1 pick for the San Francisco 49ers,” Smith detailed. “It was a lot. I felt like I had to be perfect. I struggled with that my first few years, walking onto a field on eggshells. Trying not to make any mistakes. I got to be perfect, it was every day at practice, in the meeting rooms, kind of became my own worst enemy.

“As anybody can imagine, you try to do anything let alone play quarterback as a rookie, that’s certainly a recipe for disaster. At the time it wasn’t something that got talked about a lot. I didn’t get to play with a veteran quarterback early on so there wasn’t necessarily that resource there. I…

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For NFL social media managers, the schedule release day is like the Super Bowl. During the offseason, teams work to come up with the most creative videos and ways to reveal the dates and times their franchise will face each opponent. Everything is an event when it comes to the NFL. and the schedule release is no exception.

Some teams take a more simple approach, others use humor, but all put it the work to make their video reveal more interesting than just a list.

With 32 teams, there are a lot of good videos to choose from, so we broke down the best, listing the top 10 from Wednesday night.

The Chargers crush it every year, and definitely had one of the more in-depth videos this offseason. Their reveal is based on the Sims game and was loaded with Easter eggs. From the Taylor Swift appearance, to a reference of “ChiefsAHolic” on trial, the references were savage. 

They put Jim and John Harbaugh having a pillow fight for their game against the Ravens, referenced the Falcons’ 28-3 blown Super Bowl lead and had a Patriots retirement home with all their former legends. The Raiders fans were depicted as clowns and Sean Payton was returning players and Kirk Cousins was shirtless at a club and the music halted when Michael Penix Jr. walked in.

The Titans could have easily taken the top spot, and rather than put them at No. 2, it should be 1A and 1B between them and the Chargers. Last season, their video was asking people on the streets of Nashville to name NFL teams based on their logos and the results were hilarious. They took a similar approach this season, bringing back someone from last year’s video and having her ask people to describe the NFL teams the Titans are set to face.

3. New England Patriots

“Good Will Hunting” is a fan favorite in Boston, so it only made sense to make a schedule release video in the theme of the movie. It stared Julian Edelman as “Jules Hunting” as he…

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6 games Caleb Williams, Bears must win to make playoff dreams reality in 2024 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The 2024 NFL schedule release came and went Wednesday, and now we have months to dissect every possible reality Caleb Williams and the 2024 Bears will travel this fall.

After a potentially transformational offseason, the Bears will enter the 2024 campaign with high expectations and a fair amount of pressure on Williams and head coach Matt Eberflus to deliver winning football.

The Bears went 7-10 last year while giving away three games in which they held double-digit fourth-quarter leads. With an upgrade at quarterback, offensive coordinator, and the skill positions, it’s reasonable to expect the Bears to contend for and make the playoffs in the weakened NFC.

But if the Bears plan to turn those postseason dreams into a reality, there are a handful of opportunities on the schedule they can’t let slip through their fingers.

Here are the six games the Bears need to win to feel good about punching their playoff ticket this fall:

Caleb Williams gets a soft launch into the NFL against a team that is rebuilding on both sides of the ball.

The Titans have some nice defensive pieces in Jeffery Simmons, L’Jarius Sneed, and Harold Landry, but their defense it shouldn’t be a unit that will give the Bears’ new-look offense a ton of issues out of the gate.

With games against the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, and Los Angeles Rams to follow, it’s vital for Williams and the Bears to get off to a clean start against a team that is expected to be among the worst in the NFL in 2024.

The Bears will open October against a Carolina Panthers team that is still in the basement of a rebuild with quarterback Bryce Young and first-year head coach Dave Canales.

Carolina’s roster got better in the offseason, but the Bears should be able to handle them on both sides of the ball. If they are going to be a serious team, this game is an easy win.

It has to be.

The Bears’ division…

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USA Today

Cameron Heyward wants to finish his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team that selected him the first round way back in 2011. Heyward also wants a new contract as his new one is set to expire at the end of the 2024 season, and he’s planning to skip OTAs in order to help his cause, according to ESPN. 

A longtime team captain, Heyward has never missed OTAs. But the veteran defensive tackle is hoping to avoid entering the 2024 season as a lame duck player. He wants an extension what will give him the ability to finish his career with the Steelers. 

Heyward, 35, is entering the final year of a four-year, $64 million extension he signed in September of 2020. Heyward’s age, however, and the fact that he is coming off an injury-marred 2023 season may be among the reasons why he and the Steelers have yet to come to terms on an extension. 

Prior to last season, Heyward was playing at a level that saw him get selected to six straight Pro Bowls. He was also a three-time All-Pro over that span while establishing himself as one of the NFL’s premier defensive players. Heyward enters the 2024 season tied with James Harrison with the second-most career sacks (80.5) in franchise history behind only teammate T.J. Watt (96.5 sacks). 

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