AROUND THE NFL
Daily Briefing
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We just realized we never put If The Season Ended Today up for the AFC on Tuesday. Since Thursday night was an NFC game, this is still good on Friday – with the Bills only 3rd in the current hierarchy and the biggest brands – Chiefs, Patriots and Steelers – all on the outside looking in:
W-L Div Rank Conf Rec
LA Chargers West 4-1 1 3-0
Baltimore North 4-1 1 3-1
Buffalo East 4-1 1 3-1
Tennessee South 3-2 1 2-1
Cincinnati WC1 3-2 2 2-0
Denver WC2 3-2 2 2-2
Las Vegas WC3 3-2 3 3-1
Cleveland 3-2 3 1-2
New England 2-3 2 2-1
Pittsburgh 2-3 4 2-2
Kansas City 2-3 4 1-3
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NFC NORTH
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CHICAGO
A sign of the NFL’s pervasiveness – last night, the DB’s daughter looks at her phone and says, “Oh no, Damien Williams, has COVID.” Williams is on her undefeated, but injury and COVID ravaged Fantasy team.
We now know he plays for the Bears. Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com:
The Chicago Bears placed veteran running back Damien Williams on the reserve/COVID-19 list Thursday.
The Bears (3-2) host the Green Bay Packers (4-1) in a key NFC North divisional showdown on Sunday.
Williams was placed on the list after testing positive, a source told ESPN, confirming multiple reports. If he is asymptomatic and is vaccinated, he would be able to return once he produces two negative tests 24 hours apart. If he is vaccinated and develops symptoms, he would be able to return once he produces two negative tests 24 hours apart and is asymptomatic for 48 hours.
If he is unvaccinated, he would have to quarantine for a minimum of 10 days.
The timing of Williams going on the reserve/COVID-19 list is problematic because the Bears are already without their top running back, David Montgomery, who is on injured reserve with a sprained knee.
Still, the Bears thrived on the ground — even without Montgomery — in last week’s 20-9 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders as Williams rushed for 64 yards and one touchdown and rookie Khalil Herbert ran for 75 yards on a game-high 18 attempts.
Look for Herbert, Chicago’s sixth-round draft pick out of Virginia Tech, to have an even larger role on offense versus Green Bay if Williams is unavailable Sunday. Herbert began the year as a return man on special teams but has since transitioned to offense in light of Montgomery’s injury.
The Bears also have veteran running back Ryan Nall on the active roster and Artavis Pierce on the practice squad.
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NFC EAST
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PHILADELPHIA
They are saying the Eagles taunting penalty was controversial, but, based on the rule as now emphasized, the DB thought it was kind of obvious. Bryan DeArdo ofCBSSports.com:
Down 28-7, the Philadelphia Eagles had all the momentum after scoring 15 unanswered points in their Thursday night game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With 5:54 left and two timeouts still in coach Nick Sirianni’s back pocket, it looked as if the Eagles would get a chance to complete the comeback as long as their defense could come up with a third-down stop.
The Eagles’ defense appeared to limit Leonard Fournette to a 2-yard gain on first down. But the officials deemed that defensive end Genard Avery taunted Fournette after he and cornerback Steven Nelson forced him out of bounds. Avery went face to face with Fournette before the two players exchanged light contact with each other as both players came back onto the field of play. The 15-yard penalty moved the ball to the Buccaneers’ 42-yard line. Brady then proceeded to complete passes of 10 and 27 yards to Antonio Brown before his sneak produced the game-clinching first down.
The penalty drew the ire of Eagles fans, as the ones inside Lincoln Financial Field made their feelings known shortly after the flag was thrown. Former quarterback and Fox play-by-play announcer Troy Aikman was also caught off guard by the penalty.
“I know that’s a point of emphasis and everyone’s been talking about it, but that’s a penalty?” Aikman asked his audience.
While the penalty didn’t help, it wasn’t the primary reason why the Eagles fell short of an upset. The Eagles’ defense never found an answer for Brown, who finished the night with 93 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions. They also had no answer for Fournette, who tallied 127 total yards and two touchdowns. Philadelphia’s offense continued to steer away from running back Miles Sanders, who had just 11 touches. The Eagles also missed a field goal at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Eagles played gamely against the defending champions, but they ultimately lost and are still in search of their first home win of the 2021 season.
Avery went right into Fournette’s grill, after the tackle and unnecessarily.
Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com disagrees:
A controversial taunting call, right as the Eagles were getting back in the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, overshadowed an exciting fourth quarter. The Buccaneers held on to win 28-22, and the key play was an unnecessary penalty.
In the fourth quarter, after the Eagles cut the Buccaneers’ lead to six points, Eagles defensive end Genard Avery tackled Leeonard Fournette, then got up and said something to him. It was fairly innocuous. Football is a passionate sport. Nobody at home was offended. Fournette likely wasn’t either.
Flag. Fifteen yards. All momentum gone. The game changed. Football fans wondering why they didn’t instead tune into the MLB playoff game.
Good work, NFL.
Right before that taunting call, the Eagles were turning a blowout into an interesting game.
The Buccaneers led 28-7 as their defense stifled the Eagles. The Eagles scored on their first possession. After that, they had drives of 7, 5, 15, 5, 6 and 4 yards. It really was that ugly.
Then the Eagles offense made a game of it. A drive and a touchdown with 5:54 left cut the Buccaneers’ lead to 28-20. Then Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni did the analytical thing and went for the two-point conversion. The Eagles got it and it was 28-22.
At that point, the Eagles had all the momentum. The Eagles stopped Fournette for a 2-yard gain on first down. Then came the flag on Avery, and the Buccaneers started moving it again.
One call doesn’t win or lose a 60-minute game. The Eagles could have played better offense, especially in the first 40 minutes when they handed off two times and the Buccaneers teed off on their predictable offense. They could have stopped the Bucs after the penalty.
But what a bad call it was.
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WASHINGTON
Those with control of the 650,000 emails are continuing the slow leak. Next target, NFL VP Jeff Pash.
NFL general counsel Jeff Pash and former Washington Football Team executive Bruce Allen had a close relationship, according to emails collected during the NFL’s workplace misconduct investigation of the Washington franchise, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.
The correspondence is among 650,000 emails collected in the NFL’s investigation.
That trove of emails helped lead to Jon Gruden’s resignation as Las Vegas Raiders coach earlier this week after reports from the Times and Journal showed he used misogynistic and anti-gay language and also used a racist comment to refer to NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith. Gruden was employed by ESPN at the time as the lead analyst for Monday Night Football when he sent the emails over a seven-year period.
Earlier this week, the NFLPA said it planned to request that the NFL release the remainder of the 650,000 emails reviewed as part of the investigation.
The emails between Pash and Allen show Pash reassuring Allen on controversies involving the Washington franchise and discussing league issues and other topics, including politics.
Pash, in one email exchange in 2013, told Allen that his franchise would not have to pay a $15,000 fine for manipulating their injury report, according to the New York Times. Allen’s appeal was initially denied only to be overruled by Pash, who wrote to Allen that the franchise did not have to pay the fine “or any other amount with respect to this matter and you should consider the fine to be rescinded in its entirety.”
In another exchange, according to the Times, Allen contacted Pash after the Washington franchise was entangled in sexual harassment allegations involving its cheerleaders. Pash responded to Allen that, “I know that you are on it and would not condone something untoward.”
Emails between Gruden and Allen and other men, however, included photos of women wearing only bikini bottoms, including one photo of two Washington team cheerleaders.
In another exchange from 2016, according to the reports, Allen complained to Pash when Jocelyn Moore, who is Black, was hired as the NFL’s top lobbyist after she had worked for several Democratic senators.
“Curious — is there a rule against hiring Libertarians, Independents or even a Republican?” Allen wrote in the email, to which Pash replied: “No, but it can sometimes look that way!”
Allen referred to the NFL’s rule that requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and general manager candidates in his response: “We have the Rooney rule …. So I’m going to propose a Lincoln Rule at the next meeting.”
The NFL, via NFL executive vice president of communications Jeff Miller, on Thursday denied there was any wrongdoing in the emails between Pash and Allen, who was fired as team president by the Washington franchise in 2019.
“Communication between league office employees and club executives occurs on a daily basis,” Miller said in a statement issued to both the Times and Journal. “Jeff Pash is a respected and high-character NFL executive. Any effort to portray these emails as inappropriate is either misleading or patently false.”
The NFL completed its investigation into Washington’s workplace culture in July, fining the franchise $10 million. In addition, Tanya Snyder, who was named the team’s co-CEO in June, took over the day-to-day duties of the franchise from her husband, Dan. All senior executives, including the Snyders, were ordered to take part in workplace conduct training.
That investigation, which began in 2020, was conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson. Pash’s counsel was sought in the investigation, league officials told the Journal.
Count Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com among those outraged:
While the exchange contained none of the sexist, racist, transphobic, and/or homophobic content found in former Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s emails with Allen, the Allen-Pash interactions depict a relationship that a high-level league executive shouldn’t have with an executive of any specific team. For reasons inherently and entirely competitive, the league should (in theory) keep all teams no closer or farther than arm’s length.
“Communication between league office employees and club executives occurs on a daily basis,” NFL Executive V.P. of Communications Jeff Miller told the Times in a statement. “Jeff Pash is a respected and high-character N.F.L. executive. Any effort to portray these emails as inappropriate is either misleading or patently false.”
Rumors of Allen and Pash having an e-penpal relationship had swept through the league in recent days. Its existence possibly explains the league’s decision to bury the evidence of the Washington Football Team investigation, and to persistently refuse to release any of the 650,000 emails collected during the probe.
Other than, you know, the Gruden emails and now the Pash emails.
The issues from the Allen-Pash relationship are more subtle and nuanced than the Gruden flamethrowers. Pash seemed to be helping Allen in ways that a neutral league office arguably shouldn’t, from rescinding fines to downplaying other issues for which other teams (like, say, the Patriots) would have received no extra consideration or deference.
As to players who are looking at the release of these emails and wondering whether and to what extent they expose the true and authentic attitudes held toward them by high-level members of the NFL, look no farther than Pash’s flippant response to an email from Allen in which he said he’s “trying to lower a player’s salary at the moment.”
Said Pash: “The Lord’s work.”
Consider that one for a second. The top lawyer for the NFL believes it’s honorable and just and appropriate for a team to exercise leverage against any given player in order to get him to take less money. While not as gross or blatant as the things Gruden said, some may find Pash’s words to be nearly as troubling.
So if you hated Bruce Allen and Jeff Pash, and you had eight years of emails, this is the worst you can do?
This from Jason LaCanfora of CBSSports.com, an ardent Democrat:
@JasonLaCanfora
Bruce Allen was reviled by many well-minded people everywhere he worked. The reasons for that is becoming more clear by the day. Those who were close to him are worried about what comes out next. For good reason
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com thinks it is unfair that the leakers are using willing media participants to try to target and destroy specific individuals. He wants all the emails out, so that everyone involved with the WFT, even tangentially like Jon Gruden and Jeff Pash, can be destroyed equally:
It’s unclear who has access to the 650,000 emails from the WFT investigation that supposedly would be kept secret and safe. It is clear that one or more people have failed to kept these emails secret, or safe.
Joining Jon Gruden on the selective-leak hit list is Jeff Pash, the NFL’s general counsel who may or may not be facing jeopardy after his emails with former Washington president Bruce Allen were leaked and reported both by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on Thursday night.
Although Pash’s comments land nowhere near the poisonous ballpark in which multiple Gruden emails resided, Pash has been a lawyer for decades. He should be able to understand the very clear connection between reducing words to writing and having those writings show up later. At a minimum, his emails show a too-cozy relationship with Allen, the kind of relationship that could undermine the competitive integrity of the league.
Setting aside for now (but not for long) whether decisions about concealing the emails were aimed at protecting Pash, the problem remains that the documents are not fully concealed. They’ve become weaponized, and the weapon has been used twice in less than a week.
Someone wanted Gruden out. They got their wish. Someone wanted to at least discredit and at most destroy Pash. The former has happened; the latter still could.
Although releasing all of the emails would create consequences for any others who have sent problematic emails to Allen (or whose emails otherwise were included in the broader probe), it would obliterate the ability to selectively target people for embarrassment and/or unemployment.
Gruden got what he deserved, but he has been treated unfairly. Both can be true. And it likewise would be unfair for others to have to worry about whether they’ll eventually say or do something to land on someone’s enemies list to the point where their past emails will be used against them.
For example, what if former Washington assistant Sean McVay, who now coaches the Rams, says or does something to sufficiently piss off someone with access to those 650,000 emails? What if that person (or persons) then dips into the 650,000 emails to see if there’s anything that remotely could be used against McVay?
This doesn’t mean McVay has anything to worry about. However, anyone who sent or received emails on a WFT server in the decade or so preceding the investigation now has to worry about whether they have something to worry about.
It’s a great way, frankly, to keep a wide swath of people in line. Even if there’s nothing in the emails sent by any one person that would cause problems, anyone whose emails are in that 650,000-document stack has a reason to not tug on Superman’s cape. To not say or do anything that would motivate whoever has access to those emails to take a fresh look and to see if that person can be silenced in the same way that Gruden was.
That’s why EVERYTHING should be on the table. And that’s why media and fans should keep clamoring. Ultimately, it’s why someone in Congress should convene a hearing on this matter and demand that all of the emails be released.
Does Congress have better things to do? Yes. But Congress can do many things at once. The NFL has become a key part of our shared public life. Most of the teams rely on public money for their stadiums. The Washington Football Team had a sufficiently toxic work environment to justify a full-blown investigation. Now, the results of an investigation into serious wrongdoing is being used to (wait for it) potentially commit unrelated serious wrongdoing.
It needs to end, and the only way to do it is to release all of the documents.
Why should you be destroyed only if you wrote emails the media doesn’t like to WFT, emails that have nothing to do with the bad culture of the team? Shouldn’t every NFL email be acquired and released? And, by the same reasoning, shouldn’t every email sent by NFL media, like Florio, be acquired and released?
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NFC SOUTH
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TAMPA BAY
Tampa Bay questions after the 28-22 win over the Eagles on Thursday.
Where does WR ANTONIO BROWN now sit in the Buccaneers hierarchy of receivers? Greg Auman of The Athletic:
Is Antonio Brown the Bucs’ new No. 1 WR?
Greg Auman, Buccaneers beat writer: It isn’t as simple as numbering the receivers, but when the Bucs absolutely needed a catch to put the game away Thursday night, Brady found it with Brown, who got a 27-yard catch in traffic as they worked to salt away the final minutes of the 28-22 win over the Eagles.
Brown finished with team highs — nine catches for 93 yards — and the Bucs basically forgot about Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in the second half. Godwin had zero targets after halftime, and Evans had just one, a 5-yard catch.
Whatever the Eagles did to take those two away, they couldn’t do it with Brown with the game on the line.
How bad is the hamstring injury to CB RICHARD SHERMAN? Jenna Laine ofESPN.com:
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ secondary — already ravaged by injuries and missing three starters — was dealt another tough blow Thursday night, with cornerback Richard Sherman sustaining a hamstring injury early in the first quarter of the 28-22 win over the Eagles and ruled out for the remainder of the game.
“He pulled a hamstring,” Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said afterwards, adding that he wasn’t clear on how severe the pull was.
The injury happened on the seventh play of the Eagles’ first possession, when Jalen Hurts connected with Quez Watkins for a 23-yard reception. Sherman tried to race over to Watkins but pulled up.
He was replaced by Dee Delaney.
Counting Thursday night, Bucs defensive backs have missed a combined 11 games this season. Sherman’s signing was supposed to give them relief. To make matters worse, the Bucs played against the Eagles without inside linebacker Lavonte David, their best linebacker in coverage.
The Bucs lost starting cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, who also serves as their nickelback, in Week 1 to an elbow dislocation. Then in Week 3, they lost No. 3 cornerback Jamel Dean (who has since returned) to a knee injury. In Week 4, they lost top cornerback Carlton Davis to a quad injury. Then with two drives left against the New England Patriots in Week 4, safety Antoine Winfield Jr. sustained a concussion. Both Murphy-Bunting and Davis are on injured reserve with no timetable for a return.
“That was most definitely a hard hit for us,” outside linebacker Shaq Barrett said of Sherman’s injury. “It put us in a tougher situation, but we have a lot of guys who were ready to step up. They came and did their thing and held it down, but we most definitely missed the presence of every guy who’s hurting, injured and hasn’t been able to play. We miss those guys for sure.”
Arians said he doesn’t believe the Bucs will have to sign more players in their secondary.
“We’ll just keep playing with the guys we’ve got, and see what happens,” Arians said. “See how long of an injury it is. And next man up.”
It was Sherman’s third game in 12 days, after signing with the Buccaneers on Sept. 29 after not playing or practicing in 288 days. He played all but one snap in his first game at the Patriots, but admittedly said he wasn’t in full football shape.
“We really need this rest and hopefully we’ll see who we can get back, if anybody,” Arians said. “But the ones who have been playing, they definitely need a timeout.”
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NFC WEST
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ARIZONA
The Cardinals are one positive test away from the dreaded “Intensive protocols.” Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com:
The Arizona Cardinals have had three positive COVID-19 tests this week, a source told ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano on Thursday, putting the team one positive test away from going into intensive protocols.
That would mean more testing for several players and personnel.
The positive tests include one player and two members of the staff, according to a source.
Cardinals linebacker Chandler Jones was put on the reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday because of a positive test. On Wednesday, coach Kliff Kingsbury said Jones was symptomatic.
Since he’s vaccinated, in order for Jones to return to the Cardinals, he needs to have two negative tests 24 hours apart and be asymptomatic for 48 hours.
“Guys just try to mask up and we have the test to make sure that guys are good to go,” right tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “We just try to do everything to make sure we’re safe. It’s unfortunate to have somebody of his caliber test positive at this junction in the season, having the type of season that he’s having, but as a team we’ve just got to find a way to stay safe and make sure that we don’t have any spreading going on in the locker room and in the building.”
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THIS AND THAT
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OPT OUTS
The DB might have been inclined to downgrade “opt outs” from the 2020 college season if making 2021 draft selections. Stephen Holder of The Athletic says the early evidence is that would have been a mistake:
It seems almost counterintuitive at first.
In an effort to solidify his future in the game that he loves, Ja’Marr Chase thought it prudent to … press pause on playing the game he loves?
After a record-breaking 2019 season at LSU, the Biletnikoff Award-winning wide receiver believed he had little left to prove before graduating to the NFL. But with a year left before becoming eligible for the draft, the NFL was not yet an option.
That’s when Chase became one of the most prominent college players in the country to opt out during the 2020 pandemic-impacted college football season.
Now, more than a year later, with Chase among the early contenders for Offensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL, the Bengals rookie reflects on the second-guessing that followed his decision and laughs.
“The only con for me was leaving LSU,” Chase said. “That was really it. It was definitely hard watching them lose games that I think they should have won. It might have been a different outcome if I was there.”
As for the fears of rust and a lack of readiness for the NFL prompted by his long layoff and preseason flurry of dropped passes, well, pfft. Chase ranks in the top 10 in receiving yards (423), touchdown receptions (five) and yards per catch (19.8).
“I feel like I’m back to myself,” he said. “I still have room to improve, of course, but I feel confident and it feels natural. I’m feeling really good.”
Chase is hardly the only rookie coming off an opt-out year who is shining in his first pro season.
There are players like Rashawn Slater of the Chargers, the team’s starting left tackle who did not allow a sack in his first four games (176 pass-blocking snaps). There’s Buffalo’s Greg Rousseau, who leads the team in sacks (three), has four tackles for loss and nine quarterback pressures. And there are others like Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, who leads Dallas in sacks (2.5) and pressures (20) and Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo (two interceptions, five starts), to name just a few.
None of them played a single snap of college football in 2020, yet it hasn’t impacted their ability to make a smooth transition to the NFL. But here’s the thing: That didn’t just happen by accident.
“I think some people maybe got the idea that guys who opted out were at home chilling,” Slater said of his decision to leave Northwestern. “At least for me, that was a very serious decision. And I knew in order for it to pay off, I had to treat it just like I was still on a team.”
For the first time in years, the opt-out players found themselves not on a team and without all the regimented structure that comes with being on a roster. And for those who pulled the trigger heading into the 2020 college season (others opted out after playing some games), they were left with eight or nine months on their hands before the draft.
Most followed the usual approach, hiring trainers to prepare them for the NFL. Still, the onus ultimately fell on the individual.
“It’s a more difficult life structure,” said Adebo, a third-round choice who opted out of his final season at Stanford. “You have to take a lot more responsibility for yourself and your actions. There’s nobody there to hold your hand and say, ‘Hey, you weren’t at practice or you weren’t at workouts,’ or whatever. It’s more on you. You kind of get a glimpse of being a professional. So, that was probably a good thing that I took from it.”
Players were motivated to opt out for a variety of reasons. In the case of former Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Rousseau, he was influenced by his mother’s long days working in the ICU unit of a South Florida hospital, where patients suffering from COVID-19 were overwhelming the staff. Similarly, Memphis running back Kenneth Gainwell, a fifth-round pick of the Eagles, made his choice after watching his fourth family member die of COVID-19.
But many players arrived at their decisions for reasons directly related to football. For players who opted out before the college season, some were caught in limbo as their respective conferences struggled to decide how to proceed amid a pandemic. The Big Ten, for example, initially canceled its season before later agreeing to play a shortened slate of games.
Slater was directly impacted by the conference’s initial announcement. He found himself trying to decide between continuing to practice with his team in hopes of a spring football schedule or parting ways and focusing exclusively on his pro career. He chose the latter and doesn’t regret it.
But NFL teams, in their never-ending quest to find flaws in draft prospects, were not going to merely gloss over these decisions. Think of it as a job candidate with a gap on their resume. The question is guaranteed to be asked. Having a satisfactory answer is always the key.
“I think most teams understood why I opted out,” said Slater, the 13th overall selection. “It was more a question of were they going to ask me about it to try and get a response out of me. I had a couple of teams who tried to make it a question of whether or not I loved the game. And to that, all I really had to say is that you can tell I love the game from my film and from asking anyone I’ve been around.”
The answers were met with a range of responses.
“I mean, if you don’t play a year of football, that’s going to worry some people,” Adebo said. “There’s probably nothing you can say to them if they’re really worried about it.”
Not every rookie who opted out in 2020 has found immediate success. For instance, Jaguars offensive tackle Walker Little hasn’t played a snap this season. The second-round pick was inactive for Weeks 1 and 2 and was on the COVID-19 reserve list for Weeks 3 and 4. But draft results are never a sure thing even under the most normal circumstances.
Further, these players admit that missing a season of football has real ramifications. It’s not so much missing the games, it’s the practices, where skills are honed and habits are formed, that they missed most. While most who opted out received high-level training in the fall, there are still some aspects of the game that can’t be replicated without actually playing.
“For me, I would say it was catching,” Chase said. “That’s something you do every day when you’re playing football. But me sitting out for a whole year, there were days I would work out but not catch a football. That was really different.”
Chase admits to rust in training camp stemming from this. When his preseason drops are juxtaposed against his drop rate of less than 5 percent at LSU, his explanation makes sense. Chase has been proven right in the weeks since the preseason, with just two drops in 35 targets during the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus.
For Slater, “the biggest thing was that I spent all that time working on my footwork, but there’s nothing that can replace the physicality of the game. So, stuff like hand placement and my timing, that’s the stuff that really suffered.”
Said Adebo: “Not playing football is a setback no matter what.”
Now, though, they’re all back to playing the game and playing it well. Their once seemingly counterintuitive decisions, in retrospect, now make a whole lot of sense.
Add JOE TRYON of the Buccaneers to the list, for reasons similar to those expressed by Slater in the uncertain at the time Pac-12.
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ON THE BLOCK?
Hall of Famer Gil Brandt has nine guys who could/should be moving before the trade deadline.
With the 2021 NFL trade deadline on the horizon — it’s set for Tuesday, Nov. 2, at 4 p.m. ET — it’s time to start thinking about which players should be dangled as pieces in potential deals.
I’ve identified nine players who should be on the trade block, presented essentially in alphabetical order below. That’s not to say I expect all of these players to be traded — that depends on how the market shakes out, and whether the best deal can be struck. I’m simply saying the teams that hold the rights to these players should be thinking about whether they can get good value back.
Odell Beckham
Cleveland Browns · WR
Cleveland could theoretically use Beckham’s help at receiver, even with go-to option Jarvis Landry nearing his return from injured reserve. The trouble is, Beckham hasn’t really produced yet in three games this season after missing much of 2020 with a torn ACL. Beckham posted solid — if unspectacular — numbers in 2019, logging 1,035 receiving yards and four touchdowns while finishing behind Landry in targets. But Beckham and Baker Mayfield have had a difficult time establishing a reliable connection in their time together. If they’re not able to get on the same page in the immediate future, the Browns would be better off getting what they can for a player who should still attract plenty of interest, with a contract that is set to run through 2023. Cleveland’s competitive window is wide open now, and further upgrading its improved defense could potentially help the team more than continuing to wait for Beckham and Mayfield to jell.
Clelin Ferrell
Las Vegas Raiders · DE
Ferrell has played in 30 NFL games — and he’s failed to log a sack in 26 of them. Unfortunately for both him and the Raiders, he’s having even less of an impact this season than he did in either of his previous two campaigns. He was a healthy scratch against Baltimore in Week 1, and while he’s played in all four games since, he has yet to participate in more than 30 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in any contest in 2021. He’s also notched just four pressures this season, per Next Gen Stats, and zero QB hits. Perhaps a change of scenery would do him good, if there is a team out there that believes it can unlock the potential that made him the fourth overall pick in 2019.
Trey Flowers
Detroit Lions · OLB
Flowers is a vestige of the Matt Patricia/Bob Quinn regime — and it’s fair to say the five-year, $90 million deal he signed back in 2019 did not exactly work out as hoped. Flowers had seven sacks in his initial season in Detroit, but has just 3.5 since, having missed much of 2020 with a fractured forearm. Still, he’s versatile enough to play outside linebacker or defensive end, and he remains solid against the run, garnering run-defense grades of 70 or better from Pro Football Focus in each of his three Detroit seasons so far. With the 0-5 Lions in clear rebuild mode, perhaps a contender could be enticed into coughing up some draft compensation in exchange for veteran help up front.
Marlon Mack
Indianapolis Colts · RB
Including Mack is a bit of a cheat, given that we learned of his availability in September. But he’s such a screamingly obvious candidate to be moved that I had to do it. Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines make him expendable in Indianapolis, but it was only two years ago that Mack racked up 247 rushing attempts, 1,091 rushing yards and eight scores as Indy’s primary ball-carrier. Any team that needs RB help should be able to pry the 25-year-old away from the Colts and give him a chance to log big-time carries again.
Marcus Maye
New York Jets · S
The Jets failed to reach an agreement on a long-term contract with Maye over the summer, and they should consider getting what they can for him now rather than risk losing him to free agency or having to tag him a second time. Though he’s been out with an ankle injury, he could be back before the deadline. Good players like Maye can always help any team in any situation, but with the Jets’ competitive window still a ways away from opening — and given that Robert Saleh’s scheme is not dependent on the presence of a top-end safety — they should move him and try to build for the future.
Andrew Norwell
Jacksonville Jaguars · OG
Cam Robinson
Jacksonville Jaguars · OT
This is a bit of a tricky proposition. Yes, it is paramount to provide rookie QB Trevor Lawrence with the friendliest environment possible, and the offensive line is a big part of that. However, it’s also important to build for the future, when Lawrence and the Jags should be more competitive, if everything goes according to plan. Robinson (who is playing on the franchise tag) and Norwell (who is turning 30 this month and is the Jags’ top-graded lineman, per Pro Football Focus) might not be part of the team’s long-term plans anyway. Rookie Walker Little has yet to play a snap, but he is theoretically waiting in the wings. Capitalizing on another team’s need for immediate help up front could be the right move.
Allen Robinson
Chicago Bears · WR
Robinson has failed to top 70 receiving yards just 25 times in his four seasons with the Chicago Bears — but five of those instances have come this season, during one of the worst starts of Robinson’s career. Excluding 2017, when he suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1, Robinson’s put up the lowest yardage total (181) in the first five games of a season since he entered the NFL. The Bears’ team-wide offensive struggles likely have something to do with this, however, and there are surely receiver-needy squads out there that would love to add a player who has otherwise managed to produce in unfavorable conditions over his NFL tenure. Like Maye and Cam Robinson, Allen Robinson is playing on the franchise tag, and the Bears should try to get value from him rather than go into the offseason facing the chance that he’ll walk.
Deshaun Watson
Houston Texans · QB
Watson trade talk is now nine months old, but I’m including him because, while the QB’s status remains murky, with no resolution yet to his serious off-field issues, one thing is clear: Houston needs talent and draft capital. If a trade partner is willing to offer up the latter, the Texans MUST pull the trigger.
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