Category: NFL News

Time is running out for NFL teams to sign long-term players who were given franchise designations. The deadline for franchise players to sign multi-year contracts is Monday, July 17 at 4 p.m. ET. After this deadline passes, players with franchise tags are prohibited from signing long-term deals until the end of the regular season on Jan. 7, 2023.

Six players received franchise player designations this year. Two have signed long term.

The Commanders didn’t waste any time in locking up defensive tackle Daron Payne, who had been given an $18.937 million franchise tag. Payne signed a four-year, $90 million contract to become the NFL’s second-highest paid interior defensive lineman at $22.5 million per year on March 14, a day before the 2023 league year started. The deal has $60.02 million in guarantees, of which $46.01 million was fully guaranteed at signing.

The Ravens took a calculated risk by giving a non-exclusive franchise designation to quarterback Lamar Jackson for $32.416 million, which allowed him to solicit offers from other NFL teams. Surprisingly, some quarterback-needy teams where Jackson would have been a significant upgrade were quick to publicly state there wouldn’t be any interest in him.

The 2019 NFL MVP received a contract, which was agreed to shortly before the start of the NFL Draft on April 27, making him the league’s highest-paid player. The NFL world had been closely monitoring Jackson’s contract situation because he represented himself.

Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million deal, averaging $52 million per year. There are $185 million of overall guarantees in the contract where $135 million is fully guaranteed. The $135 million fully guaranteed at signing includes an NFL record $72.5 million signing bonus.

Jackson has a no-trade clause. There’s also a provision preventing the Ravens from designating Jackson as a franchise or transition player when the deal…

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Lions receiver Jameson Williams played only six games last season as he worked his way back from a torn ACL. He will miss the first six games of this season while serving a suspension for violating the NFL’s gambling policy.

The Lions aren’t concerned about Williams’ on-field play.

Lions receivers coach Antwaan Randle El, though, has become a mentor for Williams as the young receiver navigates adversity off the field.

“I don’t have to motivate him much when it comes to ball. He loves the game and wants to be better and works at it,” Randle El told Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News. “But the encouragement part, with all that’s going on, . . . it’s just, ‘Hey, keep doing what you’re doing; stay at it, in terms of working hard. This is just another stumbling block that, again, you’ll come out stronger on the other side.’

“Those types of things, just encouraging him from that standpoint. He gets it; he understands it; and it will be [good] for him once we do get back and get going, as it relates into the season and the preseason.”

The Lions traded up to select the former Alabama star with the 12th overall pick in 2022. He finished his rookie season with only one catch for a 41-yard touchdown, playing 78 offensive snaps and one on special teams.

Williams’ rookie season mainly entailed ” a lot of mental reps.” He will get to practice with the team in training camp and play in the preseason before his suspension begins in Week 1 of the regular season.

“It’s just a matter of him being on the field over and over again,” Randle El said. “Man, that’s part of having that offseason, and that’s why you always want a young guy to have the offseason to just be able to get ready for the season. . . . Training camp is coming up. Again, another opportunity on the field, being with the quarterbacks, hearing the calls, all those different things that need to take place over and over again. You can see he’s getting it.”

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As most people following the NFL know by now, this is a passing league. For the most part, teams’ fortunes rise and fall on the strength of the quarterback play, and the best teams tend to be led by the best quarterbacks. 

Because that’s the case, it’s important to put those players in as good a position as possible to succeed. A couple weeks ago, we examined the impact that having an offensive- or defensive-leaning head coach can have on a young quarterback. Today, we’re going to take a look at the timing of when the player actually steps into the lineup. 

Between 2000 and 2019, there were been 91 quarterbacks that entered the league and become a team’s full-time starter at some point. (That’s an average of around 4.5 per year.) It may have happened right away, or it may have happened a few weeks or even years down the line. It may have happened with the team that drafted them or it may have happened with another team entirely. But at one point or another, they all got a shot to prove themselves. 

But how much does it matter exactly when that shot came? That’s what we set out to determine. 

Of the aforementioned 91 quarterbacks, just 29 of them started under center in Week 1 of their rookie season. An additional 21 took over the reins at some point within the first eight games of that season, while 14 more grabbed them in the back half of their rookie year. That’s 64 of the 91 passers who became the full-time starter during their initial season. Of the remaining 27 players, 16 took the job at some point in Year 2, three took it in Year 3, and eight had to wait until Year 4 of their career or later. 

Here’s the breakdown: 

Now, the circumstances these players stepped into ranged wildly. In some cases, the way they assumed the starting job was not actually the plan their team had for them. 

Dak Prescott, for example, was drafted as a developmental quarterback behind Tony Romo. He…

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Of all the big moves the Pittsburgh Steelers made this offseason, the move to retain offensive coordinator Matt Canada has to be one of the most shocking. Now the offense and all those young playmakers are in the hands of a guy who hasn’t shown he is capable of putting together an NFL-caliber game plan.

Last season the Steelers were No. 23 in the NFL in scoring offense which was abysmal. Pittsburgh only scored 30 or more points once last season. It goes without saying that this stat must improve and one way they can do it is by improving red-zone touchdown efficiency.

In 2022, Pittsburgh was ranked No. 22 in the NFL in red-zone efficiency, touchdowns only. The team scored a touchdown 51.92 percent of the time in the red zone. By comparison, the top team in the NFL in this category is the Kansas City Chiefs who scored a touchdown 71.43 percent of the time.

Pittsburgh has a pair of very good targets in tight end Pat Freiermuth and George Pickens who are the type of players who can make the life of a young quarterback easier.

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Story originally appeared on Steelers Wire

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Quarterbacks are always the talk of the NFL. And some teams are more privileged than others when it comes to possessing star talent under center. Finding, developing and retaining a franchise signal-caller is tough business. Just ask half the NFL, which has cycled through an average of almost one new starter per year over the last decade.

We all know, going into 2023, which teams top the charts when it comes to QB power. Think Kansas City, or Cincinnati, or Philadelphia, where there are no questions about the MVP potential of veterans like Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts. But what about the teams desperate for some continuity at the position, let alone annual accolades?

In an effort to identify the teams hungriest for long-term stability under center, we’ve ranked all 32 clubs according to how much QB turnover they’ve endured since the 2013 season, or the last 10 seasons. The teams with the most starting QBs during that span rank highest, signifying the revolving door they’ve had at the position. Note: We counted a QB if he started at least four (4) games in a single season, or roughly a quarter of the current regular-season schedule.

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Keep in mind that while some teams rank…

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Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle DJ Reader was back in Houston for the Ultimate Dopest Charity Dodgeball Challenge, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, and commented on the offseason so far.

Reader said he feels the Bengals are looking good this offseason and he feels confident going into this year.

“We’re just working hard,” Reader said. “I feel like we have all the right pieces. It’s all about everyone putting it together. You have to go out there and execute every year, that’s how the game goes.”

While Reader said he does miss Houston since it’s where his roots are, he still believes he made a great decision signing with the Bengals.

The Bengals likely feel the same way since he has been able to help them along to back-to-back AFC Championship appearances.

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Story originally appeared on Bengals Wire

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It looks like the controversy involving the field conditions at Super Bowl LVII isn’t quite over yet. The NFL hasn’t had much to say about the slippery conditions at the game, but privately, the league has apparently been saying a lot. 

According to Pro Football Talk, owners have been asking the league why the playing surface was so slippery, and the NFL has responded by pinning the blame on players from the Chiefs and Eagles for not wearing the right cleats in the game.  

It’s an interesting stance for the league to take, especially since both teams felt that the field conditions were horrible. As a matter of fact, the field was so bad that Eagles pass-rusher Haason Reddick called it the “worst” surface that he’s ever played on. 

“I’m not going to lie, it was the worst field that I’ve ever played on,” Reddick said after the game. “It was very disappointing. It’s the NFL. You would think it would be better so we could get some better play, but it is what it is. I don’t know, maybe the league will look at it and tell Arizona they got to step their stuff up.”

In the video below, you can see multiple instances of players slipping on the field: 

The field conditions during the Chiefs’ 38-35 win also got a big thumbs down from George Toma. The man known as “The Sodfather,” who has worked all 57 Super Bowls as either a groundskeeper or consultant, pinned the blame on NFL field director Ed Mangan for overwatering the field and not sanding it enough. After seeing the final product, Toma noted that the field had a “rotten smell.”

After slipping and sliding all over the field in the first half, several Eagles players actually changed their cleats at halftime, but that didn’t seem to help much. If the new cleats were just as bad as the old cleats, that would seem to point to the field as being the primary reason for the slipping. 

Not to mention, the Eagles and Chiefs both played…

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Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor is hoping to put the 2022 season far behind him as he looks to regain his superstar form in what could be a crucial campaign upcoming.

Currently in the final year of his rookie contract, Taylor has three consecutive seasons with over 1,000 scrimmage yards. However, the 2022 season was the first time he failed to reach 1,000 rushing yards, which was due mostly to a nagging ankle injury that forced him to miss essentially seven games (including the Vikings game).

But that wasn’t enough to boot Taylor from NFL.com’s Superstar Club, who enters his second season featured amongst the group. Here’s a snippet of what Dan Hanzus had to say about it:

As for Taylor, I thought long and hard about revoking his membership on the grounds of the one-year probationary period for all new superstars in the club. But, like a forgiving mob capo, I ultimately opted to give Taylor a pass. Playing on a dreadful Colts team that was in constant tumult, Taylor still managed over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and 4.5 yards per carry on one good ankle. This is still the same guy who stacked nearly 2,200 total yards and 20 TDs in 2021. Treat him right, Shane Steichen.

Only three other running backs joined Taylor on this list. They are Nick Chubb, Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey.

This will be a crucial campaign for Taylor, who has yet to sign a contract extension. The hope is that the addition of a dual-threat quarterback like Anthony Richardson will open up the rushing lanes for Taylor, who can use his breakaway speed and excellent vision to provide chunk plays.

The 24-year-old is a massive part of the Colts offense, and they’ll need him to return to form if there’s any hope of exceeding expectations.

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Story originally appeared on Colts Wire

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