Daily Briefing

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% –…

AROUND THE NFL Today’s Briefing has the rest of the schedule analysis. The quick impressions include look for San Francisco and New England to increase their win totals, both overall and relative to the other teams in the division. And, even if they improve as a team, the Giants schedule is so brutal they should be able…

AROUND THE NFL Mike Sando of The Athletic has his favorite move for every NFL team here.  We least some of them with the appropriate team.- – -Congratulations to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com who has had the distinction/obligation/misfortune of covering the Browns for more than 30 years.  She’s the 2025 winner of the Bill Nunn Award. …

AROUND THE NFL NFC NORTH  CHICAGO Mon, Sep 8                      Minnesota                       8:15 PM EDT                   ABCSun, Sep 14                    @ Detroit                          1:00 PM EDT                   FOXSun, Sep 21                    Dallas                                 4:25 PM EDT                   FOXSun, Sep 28                    @ Las Vegas                   4:25 PM EDT                   CBSBye        Mon, Oct 13                    @ Washington              8:15 PM EDT                   ABCSun, Oct 19                     New Orleans                  1:00 PM EDT                   FOXSun, Oct…

AROUND THE NFL We have spent the weekend starting our team-by-team schedule analysis.  The AFC and NFC East are on tap today with the other divisions heading your way soon (except the Jets, coming tomorrow). One thing is clear, the Giants and Patriots could play at the same abstract level in 2025 and the Patriots would…