The Daily Briefing

AROUND THE NFL You know the season is getting close when Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com does his daily countdown of all the teams with a preseason ranking from 32 to 1.  Here is what he has so far: No. 32 TitansNo. 31 SaintsNo. 30 BrownsNo. 29 PanthersNo. 28 JetsYou can hit the links for the full rationale first…

AROUND THE NFL NFC SOUTH  NEW ORLEANSAn arrest in South Carolina of a possible part owner of the Saints. Darin Gantt of ProFootballTalk.com: Rita Benson LeBlanc, the one-time presumed successor to her grandfather, Tom Benson, as principal owner of the New Orleans Saints, has been arrested in South Carolina. Via WCSC-TV, LeBlanc is accused of assaulting an officer/city…

AROUND THE NFL The sale of the Lakers has Mike Florio wondering what an NFL team might be worth: Remember when Steve Ballmer bought the L.A. Clippers for $2 billion and everyone lost their minds? Eleven years later, stay in town multiply it by five. Minority owner Mark Walter has purchased a majority stake in the L.A. Lakers…

AROUND THE NFL NFC NORTH  GREEN BAYThere is a new team president in Green Bay, and he, Ed Policy, is not ready to make a longer term commitment to GM Brian Gutekunst or Coach Matt LaFleur.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com: The Packers will not extend the contracts of head coach Matt LaFleur and General Manager Brian Gutekunst before…

AROUND THE NFL Cody Benjamin of CBSSports.com has a best case/worst case exercise for all 32 teams here.  We put some of them below.  NFC NORTH  CHICAGOCody Benjamin with his range of possibilities for the Bears: Best-case scenario: Ben Johnson meshes with Caleb Williams, unlocking the quarterback’s gunslinging gifts while keeping him in check behind a much-improved front, and…

AROUND THE NFL We’re back and while we were away we saw a car with a state license plate, an official state license plate, that showed the driver’s support for Auburn University.  That’s fine, of course – except it was a Georgia plate. Auburn is in Alabama.  The plate was from Georgia.  How is this possible? …

AROUND THE NFL NFC SOUTH  ATLANTAMike Jones of The Athletic with a question for DC Jeff Ulbrich: Atlanta Falcons: Jeff UlbrichCan he solve last year’s struggles for sacks and interceptions?]Last season’s Falcons defense struggled mightily to deliver game-changing plays. The unit ranked 31st with only 31 sacks (league leader Denver had 63) and 17th with 12 interceptions (Minnesota…

AROUND THE NFL The DB has been around for 20 years now – and when we started The Red Zone was a pioneer site for on-line links.  So sad to see this at TheRedZone.org today: This is our last day of publishingJun 5  After a quarter of a century, it’s time to cease publishing the website.  I just…

AROUND THE NFL Mike Jones of The Athletic has a piece on the challenges facing the new offensive playcallers.  They are all here. Some appear below in today’s DB.  NFC NORTH  DETROITMike Jones of The Athletic on John Morton, the new Lions OC: Detroit Lions: John MortonCan the longtime assistant pick up where Ben Johnson left off? Under Johnson, Detroit…

AROUND THE NFL Find your team on this list from Warren Sharp: % of drives ending in a punt or turnover 70% – CLE69%68%67%66%65%64%63%62% – TEN, NYG61% – CHI60%59% – CAR58% – JAX, NE57% – NO, SEA56% – IND, DAL55% – LV54% – NYJ, DEN53%52% – HOU51% – MIA50% – PIT, LAR49%48% – ARI47% – KC46% –…