Category: NFL News

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers missed the playoffs for 12 consecutive seasons from 2008-2019 before Tom Brady’s arrival in the 2020 season ended the drought and helped power them back to Super Bowl glory. Now, the organization has to rediscover how to win without Brady under center, a responsibility Pro Bowl left tackle Tristan Wirfs is shouldering personally. He’s one of four remaining offensive starters from the 2020 Super LV championship team, along with wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin as well as center Ryan Jensen. 

“We had Tom, Tom is an incredible leader,” Wirfs said on the Vikes Verified podcast. “He’s an incredible person. You could put him up there with the best leaders of all time. He was very vocal. He’d bring the whole team up and give a little speech after practice. He’d bring the whole offense up.”

Wirfs, who is 24 years old, doesn’t expect to be at Brady’s level in the 2023 season, but his accolades through just three seasons speak volumes already. The 13th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft has reached the Pro Bowl and been named an All-Pro in each of the last two seasons, a First-Team selection in 2021 and a Second-Team selection in 2022. Wirfs started all 20 of the Buccaneers’ games en route to their Super Bowl title in his rookie year in the 2020 season. 

“Obviously, I’m not even close to that level to do that now, but I want to say a couple things — how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking,” Wirfs elaborated. “Just how practice went — just little things. I’ve been trying to do that more. Trying to be somebody that the younger guys can kind of lean to or ask me questions about whatever. It is weird, I still feel young, but going into Year 4, I’ve been to the Super Bowl, been to the playoffs, been to the NFC Championship, I’ve done stuff.”

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The Kansas City Chiefs will go back on the road in Week 4 as they travel to New York to take on the Jets on “Sunday Night Football.”

Despite finishing with a losing record, the Jets improved greatly in 2022. They jumped out to an excellent 7-4 start before crumbling down the stretch and losing the rest of their games. Most of the blame can be attributed to the offense, which finished 28th in scoring. New York failed to score a single touchdown and was held under seven points in each of their final three games.

The biggest issue for the Jets’ offense was quarterback play. Zach Wilson was clearly not ready to be a starting NFL QB despite being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. This prompted New York to make one of the biggest moves of the offseason, trading for Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.

The Jets then acquired a couple of new weapons that Rodgers is familiar with in receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. They then added some speed, signing former Chief Mecole Hardman. The cupboard wasn’t bare before those additions, as NY already had the 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year, wide receiver Garrett Wilson, and speedster running back Breece Hall.

The Jets will hope that those acquisitions will be enough for the offense to catch up with the defense, which was one of the best units in the league last season and carried the team. The NY defense ranked fourth in both scoring and yards allowed, and also boasted the Defensive Rookie of the Year in cornerback Sauce Gardner.

The Jets added to an already dangerous defense by signing veteran defensive tackle Al Woods and drafting defensive end Will McDonald IV in the first round. They also added veteran safety Adrian Amos to sure up the middle of their secondary. Suddenly, it looks like the Jets could have one of the most complete rosters in the AFC as they look to end their league-leading 12-year playoff drought.

Now let’s take a look at some of the Jets’ key players and their outlooks heading into…

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Former Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook is in the process of choosing his next NFL team, and many expect him to head home. Cook is a Miami native, and has been tied to the Miami Dolphins ever since his release. 

The Dolphins do not have a massive need at the running back position. In fact, they have quite the loaded room — but not loaded enough according to fullback Alec Ingold. He’s all for his Dolphins signing the four-time Pro Bowler. 

“Man, we’ve got a plethora of backs right now, especially with our [third]-round pick, Devon [Achane],” Ingold said during a recent interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “We’ve got Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed. We got some dawgs here, so having Dalvin Cook in the mix, that competition breeds excellence. You want as much good quality backs as you can possibly have, especially in our offense when guys can really make something happen with it. You can get the ball, you can touch it a million different ways. You’ve got out of the backfield, you’ve got in the backfield, outside zone, inside zone. We’re gonna run some routes.

“More backs! Give me all the backs! Can we have 15 running backs in the training camp room? I would love it.”

Improving the ground game was surely near the top of Mike McDaniel’s offseason to-do list. Despite making his name scheming for the run with the San Francisco 49ers, Miami was tied in having the seventh-worst rushing attack in McDaniel’s first season as head coach (99.2 rushing yards per game). The Dolphins’ passing game, on the other hand, was No. 4 in the league. Imagine if Miami adds one of the best running backs in the NFL in Cook.

Cook is…

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Chicago Bears training camp is less than a month away, which means it’s time to start looking ahead at the roster the team is bringing to Lake Forest.

We’re unveiling our Bears 2023 training camp position previews, where we’re breaking down every player by position and examining the biggest question facing the group.

Up next is wide receiver, where Chicago made massive efforts to improve their  receiving corps. First, they traded a second-round pick for Chase Claypool last year and then the first overall pick for DJ Moore.

After overhauling the wide receiver room, it’s become crowded at Halas Hall, with 12 players heading into training camp. Most teams only carry five wide receivers, at most six, so most of the guys on this list won’t be on the final roster.

With new faces on the roster, what will happen to players like Darnell Mooney and Velus Jones? Here’s a closer look at the Bears’ receivers heading into training camp:

DJ Moore

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

The Bears have the best wide receiver in the NFC North, not named Justin Jefferson. By trading the first overall pick to the Panthers, Chicago found their WR1.

During his five years with the Panthers, Moore averaged 75 receptions, 1,078 yards, and 3.5 touchdowns. His career 5,201 yards would rank first all-time in Bears history – he’s the best wide receiver the team has had in a long time.

Darnell Mooney

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Mooney is returning from injury and will become a free agent in 2024, if not given an extension during the season. It’s unclear if Mooney will get extended due to his injury; Chase Claypool and Cole Kmet are also free agents, and the change in front-office staff.

The veteran receiver has an estimated value of $14 million per year. Unless he returns to his 2021 form, a handful of free-agent receivers can serve as a second or third wide receiver for cheaper.

Chase Claypool

After a breakout rookie year, Claypool plateaued in his second year and has been unable to find the…

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The Houston Texans have struggled in recent years, but some offseason changes have the team optimistic for the 2023 season. Star offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil said the feeling of the team is different than in years past.

Houston has a new head coach in DeMeco Ryans and a new quarterback in C.J. Stroud. Adding Stroud was part of an aggressive draft approach, selecting Stroud at No. 2 and then trading up for Will Anderson Jr. at No. 3.

“It’s a whole new vibe, man,” Tunsil said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “[Coach] DeMeco [Ryans] came in with that energy he brought from San Fran and just changed the whole vibe around the building, and that’s something that we needed, especially since these last past three years we’ve been in a rut. So DeMeco comes in the building, he brought some new coaches, we’ve got some new players. Man, it’s just a whole new vibe that’s in that building. It feels great to be there.”

Tunsil likes what he sees so far in Stroud, and the team and the fans are hoping they found their quarterback for the future. The Texans have had eight quarterbacks start at least one game since…

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The Browns have not had a shortage of Pro Bowlers on their roster despite a subpar record a season ago. All of Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, Amari Cooper, Za’Darius Smith, Deshaun Watson, and Jack Conklin have made Pro Bowls at some point in their careers. However, could the likes of wide receiver Elijah Moore join those ranks as he looks for a fresh start?

Moore may not be the only one who could be looking at their first Pro Bowl appearance this season for the Browns. Here are three other players including Moore who could be in-line for their first trip to the Pro Bowl in 2023.

WR Elijah Moore

(AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

While his production in New York was subpar, leading to a tumultuous ending between the two sides, the film does not lie: wide receiver Elijah Moore was always open. And now as he enters an offensive system where he may just be the second option in the passing game behind Amari Cooper, Moore has a large sum of targets on the horizon.

There is no shortage of ways to get the ball into Moore’s hands, and the Browns have been active in seeking those out through minicamp. Look for Moore to take complete advantage of his fresh start in Cleveland as he continues to develop a rapport with Deshaun Watson.

CB Greg Newsome II

Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

Greg Newsome II had a dynamite rookie season for the Browns. And then he was asked to play in the nickel full-time and he did not have kind things to say about his experience. However, now he will be back on the outside on a healthy chunk of snaps as the Browns will do more matching inside instead of Newsome being the full-time nickel.

And as he transitions back outside, we should start to see the player that took the field in 2021. The Browns have a talented secondary who should be able to put seatbelts on opposing wide receivers. And Newsome may just be the biggest beneficiary of the change at defensive coordinator.

Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY…

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DeAndre Hopkins may be 31, but the former Pro Bowler has no plans to call it a career anytime soon, hinting Thursday that he’s got at least another half-decade of football in the tank. Despite buzz about the wide receiver potentially landing with the Patriots or Titans, the Chiefs remain another possibility, according to ESPN, as they remain in talks with the free agent.

“The Chiefs have kept in contact,” Jeremy Fowler reported recently, “and they have, certainly, some interest.”

The issue is money, as has been the case since Hopkins initially became available via trade early this offseason. Kansas City has just over $400,000 in current salary cap space — the least in the NFL — and Hopkins is reportedly seeking a deal in the range of the $15 million one-year pact that Odell Beckham Jr. landed with the Ravens. The Chiefs could free up money to pursue Hopkins “more aggressively” by extending star defensive tackle Chris Jones, per Fowler, but that might not happen until late in the summer.

In the meantime, the Patriots and Titans are the perceived front-runners to land the former Texans and Cardinals standout, though Houston reportedly also hosted the former All-Pro on an unofficial visit after his release from Arizona.

The Chiefs acquired former Giants first-round pick Kadarius Toney via trade during their 2022 Super Bowl season, and they also spent a second-rounder on rookie Rashee Rice. But they lost starting wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster in free agency and could arguably use another veteran to plug in opposite former Packers speedster Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

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Who has the best-looking helmet in the NFL? Who has the worst?

The players may frequently change in the NFL, but the helmets stay the same.

Well, most of them. Today’s NFL helmets are a varied crop of designs, both old and new. Here’s how we think they shake down from No. 32 to No. 1.

(Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports)

Dan Snyder did the right thing by moving on from the team’s old nickname. Now he has to do the right thing and move on from being NFL Alabama.

Poor Houston fans. The Oilers had a top-five helmet, but it was replaced by the Texans and a bull’s head on an acid trip.

The raven should look a lot scarier. This one looks like it’s waiting for you to drop your sandwich.

Switching from white to blue was an improvement, but not enough to vault it out of the bottom five. Still the worst logo in the league.

(Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports)

There’s something here, but the teal tongue screams ’90s.

The Rams tried to modernize an old-school look with their latest design and it just didn’t work. Can’t have your cake and eat it, too.

(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

It’s been decades, but we still miss the red helmets.

The Panthers’ overall presentation is supremely underrated — maybe one of the best looks of any expansion-era team — but the helmets on their own are just average.

(Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports)

Bring back Pat Patriot, you cowards!

(Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

Every other helmet ranking probably has the Cowboys in the top five, but we’re brave enough to ask what the big deal is.

If the Patriots logo were a horse.

(Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Imagine having a helmet featuring a dolphin wearing a helmet … and thinking it needed to be changed.

We should like these helmets more than we do.

(Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports)

The Niners kick off a little run here of teams with letters on their helmets. Let’s be honest. It’s hard to make those look all that cool.

(Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)

The Packers can’t do it.

Neither can the…

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