Category: NFL News

In Roob’s Observations: Figuring out the Eagles’ cornerback room originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Figuring out how the Eagles’ huge stash of cornerbacks fits together, a look back at Sean Desai getting fired and five things to like and not like about the Eagles’ 2024 schedule.

That’s just a taste of what lies in store for those who dare reading all 10 of this week’s Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations.

1. With Shon Stephens in the mix, the Eagles now have 14 cornerbacks on the roster, which is nuts but shows just how serious they are about fixing their broken secondary. On my projected 53-man roster I kept seven – Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Isaiah Rodgers, Avonte Maddox, Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks. I could see three corners on the practice squad – Stephens, Zech McPhearson, Josh Jobe, Tyler Hall and Mario Goodrich are good candidates. It’s tough to cut Jobe because he’s one of the Eagles’ better special teamers, and I expect him to be around. And I’m keeping Mekhi Garner but moving him from corner to safety, where he’ll have a better chance to stick. I like the idea of getting DeJean some work in the slot from the jump to get him on the field, and if Ricks or McPhearson show they can handle backup slot I could see Maddox being expendable, even if he’s able to stay healthy. No matter how I draw it up I don’t see how James Bradberry is on the roster. Keeping him would mean losing a promising young corner and I just don’t see Howie Roseman doing that, no matter what the cap hit is. My guess is the Eagles go into training camp with Bradberry on the roster and then trade him to a team desperate for veteran help. No reason to cut him now. However you draw it up, the Eagles will have more talent at the position than last year. Way more. It’s going to be fascinating to see how it all shakes out.

2. The Eagles had 11 defensive players 28 or older play at least 100 snaps last year, and eight of those 11…

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The Houston Texans were the NFL’s most pleasant surprise last season, wildly exceeding expectations. They were led first and foremost by their star rookies, C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson, whom the Texans landed with the Nos. 2 and 3 overall picks in the 2023 NFL Draft.

But they were also not the only impact players Houston drafted ahead of last season. Wide receiver Tank Dell landed with the Texans in the third round, and he quickly emerged as one of Stroud’s top targets before suffering a season-ending injury in December.

Earlier this month, though, Dell sustained a minor injury in a shooting incident in Sanford, Florida. He was an innocent bystander in the shooting, and according to KPRC, the local NBC affiliate in Houston, the gunshot wound went through his leg cleanly and out the other side. 

“It looks like Tank will make a full recovery,” Texans owner Cal McNair said at the time, via ESPN. “We saw him in the office the other day and he looked good, in good spirits. But he’ll have to rehab and get back to where he was.”

If Dell’s social media activity is any indication, he is well on the road to recovery and the rehab process is taking. Dell posted a pair of Instagram videos on Saturday that showed him running routes at full speed, catching passes, and going through other receiver drills.

It’s a great sign to see that Dell is apparently on the mend from both injuries. He caught 47 passes for 709 yards and seven touchdowns across 11 games before his season ended with a fractured led suffered while blocking for a goal-line rushing score. In each of his final four healthy games, Dell caught at least 5 passes for at least 50 yards and at least one touchdown, averaging 6.2 catches for 92.3 yards per game in those contests.

The Texans added even more help in the…

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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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Linebacker Ty Summers’s search for a place to play this season is taking him back to one of his former employers.

Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette reports that Summers is working out for the Jaguars on Wednesday. Summers, who tried out for the Broncos at their rookie minicamp, played in three games for the Jags in 2022.

Summers was claimed off of waivers by the Jaguars and had four tackles in his brief time with the team. The Saints wound up signing him off of Jacksonville’s practice squad in December and Summers remained with the Saints through the 2023 season.

Summers played three years with the Packers before moving on to the Jaguars and special teams work has been his primary focus in each stop.

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Patrick Mahomes is a three-time Super Bowl champion, a three-time Super Bowl MVP, a two-time NFL MVP, already holds multiple records at 28 years old and is among the top quarterbacks to ever play the game. Players like No. 15 do not come around often, but some, including his tight end, are saying a rookie QB has a similar qualities to the future Hall of Famer.

Travis Kelce is joining the train of people who say No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams is a lot like Mahomes. Many said this about the Chicago Bears first-year quarterback, but coming from someone who has played alongside Mahomes for years holds more weight.

Kelce said Mahomes’ college highlights at Texas Tech and Williams’ college highlights at USC have a lot in common.

“It was a lot of feel, a lot of just trust throwing that thing downfield and letting his guys go make plays,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast. “He has that game-changer mentality where at any moment he can kill you with his arm, and he can do some things with his legs and run the ball – a lot of QBs can’t, that throw it that well.”

The tight end then gave a prediction on how the Bears, who went 7-10 and missed the playoffs last year, will fare with Williams leading the offense.

“I thought he was an absolute stud,” said Kelce. “I think Caleb goes in there and makes them a better football team, I really do.”

Williams proved himself enough in the short time following the draft that he has already been named QB1 in Chicago, which came as no surprise. 

Let’s take a look at how Williams and Mahomes stack up in their college career by the numbers:

STATS

MAHOMES

WILLIAMS

ADVANTAGE

Completion percentage

63.5

66.9

Williams

Passing yards

11,252

10,082

Mahomes

Passing touchdowns

93

93

Tied

Interceptions

29

14

Williams

Rushing yards

845

966

Williams

Rushing touchdowns

22

27

Williams

Williams has already accomplished something in his career that Mahomes never will, going first overall…

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