This from Peter King:

There’s only one starting quarterback in the league 36 or older: Aaron Rodgers, who turns 40 in December.

Which got the DB to wondering, who is 35?

Well, first, is COLT McCOY the “starter” in Arizona?  He’s 37.

But the next oldest regular starter is MATTHEW STAFFORD, 35 in February.

RYAN TANNEHILL turned 35 in July.  KIRK COUSINS just celebrated his 35^th birthday on Saturday. RUSSELL WILSON will be 35 in November.

CHICAGO

Peter King expounds on the addition of WR D.J. MOORE:

Moore is the player this franchise needed for the care and development of the young quarterback, (Justin) Fields. Even though I think the Bears would have been partial to acquiring either of two untouchable Panthers in the trade-down (pass-rusher Brian Burns or defensive tackle Derrick Brown), on this morning a month before the season, it’s apparent no one here wants a do-over on the trade that netted Chicago one of the game’s top 20 wide receivers.

“Very happy with it,” GM Ryan Poles told me, smiling, when I asked how he felt about the trade now. “Very happy.”

Those who’ve watched the Bears this summer say the biggest difference in Fields is he trusts his receivers more. This is a rare second straight year in the same offense for the young QB, and smart money says he gives his routes longer to develop and will hang in the pocket more than last year. In other words, don’t look for Fields to run it 10.1 times per game, as he did in 2022. This summer, the ball gets out a little quicker, and when it doesn’t, he’s comfortable waiting a tick longer; the decisions are surer.

“The offense is electrifying—it’s electric,” said Moore.

When is the last time anyone said that about the Chicago Bears, by the way? And for that to be true, Fields needs to remember his rushing is a premier weapon. But Moore needs to be a big factor, and immediately. That’s the plan here.

“Justin’s young. He’s a sponge. He’ll throw deep, intermediate, short—just wants to make the best choice on every play,” Moore said.

Moore was the 24th pick in 2018, the top wideout chosen in a weak draft for them. He’s justified the pick, averaging 73 catches and 14.3 yards per catch in his five pro seasons. Moore is average size (6-0, 210) with slightly above-average speed (4.42-second 40-). But he’s competitive, he wins battles for the ball, and he’s there every Sunday (two missed games in five years). Not much not to like.

The Bears, so far, have gotten a poor return in dealing the first pick in the 2023 second round to Pittsburgh for Claypool. Poles, and this offense, need Moore to be everything he’s looked like so far in camp.

GREEN BAY

There is a move afoot across the NFL, led by analytics people, to limit joint practices to one day.  The Jets got the Buccaneers to New Jersey last week, then shut the jam down with one day in the books.  Packers coach Matt LaFleur is also having second thoughts that are endorsed by Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

After the preseason shrunk from four games to three, some coaches decided that the best way to replace those live reps would be to engage in more joint practices with other teams. Now, some coaches are realizing that joint practices, combined with a game on the back end of the practices, can do more harm than good.

Jets coach Robert Saleh recently explained his preference for one day, not two, of joint practices. After Saturday night’s preseason game between the Patriots and Packers, Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur was asked about the possibility of rethinking two days of joint practices.

“Potentially. I’ve got a long time to kind of mull that over, but I see some benefit to only having one,” LaFleur said, via Ryan Wood of USA Today. “I thought we had really good work with Cincinnati when we did that. We’ve had two practices with teams in the past and haven’t had, like when the Jets were here, we didn’t have any problems. I don’t believe we had many problems last year with New Orleans. So I think you can, it’s just all circumstantial in this situation. So we’ll have plenty of time to think about that moving forward.”

LaFleur’s comments mesh with Saleh’s concern that the second day can lead to extra chippy play, after the team that got the short end of the stick gets ripped by its coaches (in the way, as shown on Hard Knocks, Saleh ripped the Jets after the first — and ultimately only — day of joint practices with the Panthers).

“I think it just depends on the situation, but I do agree that two days of practice, obviously after the first day tensions might be there,” LaFleur said. “Then you go back and watch the film, come back the second day and, yeah, day two for us, the tensions were high. And it started right at the beginning of practice. So for us, it’s a way to find out how you can reset, just focus on yourself and kind of not get distracted by those things. But, yeah, tensions were high day two. I don’t think I’ve had a two-day practice — or, I think we had one with the Saints last year, but, obviously compared to the Cincy practice, I think day two practices get a little chippy.”

And then, after the two days of practices, the two teams play a game. Hard feelings could linger. Players could be looking for legitimate (or not) ways to take a shot at an opponent.

It’s why the league is so obsessed with taunting. The opponent who was taunted might then look for a way to give the one who taunted a little something extra later in the game. That’s no different from the animosity that can emerge after two days of padded practices.

So, yes, Saleh and LaFleur are on the right track. One day, fine. Two days? Too much.

It’s something the teams, the league, and the NFL Players Association (which seems to still be in hibernation after electing a new executive director) should be exploring, and then implementing across the board.

NFC EAST

Some NFC East notes from Peter King:

1. Wide open: There hasn’t been a repeat division winner for 19 years, since the Eagles won three straight East titles ending in 2004.

2. Tell your team this, Ron Rivera: In the last 11 seasons, the last-place team in the division won the East the following season six times.

3. Giant drought: Since 2006, the Giants have won the division as often as they’ve won the Super Bowl—twice. Last division title: 2011.

4. “Rivalry” shoved down throats: The NFL scheduled Cowboys-Giants in week one this season for the seventh time in the last 11 years.

5. Etc.: In the last two seasons, Dallas is 10-2 in division games, New York 2-10-1 (including a playoff loss to Philly last year) … Dak Prescott is 27-7 all-time in division games … Since taking over the starting Eagles QB job in December 2020, Jalen Hurts has started three games against Dallas: 20-point loss, 20-point loss, nine-point win.

DALLAS

Jerry Jones tells Peter King, as expected, that he believes in QB DAK PRESCOTT:

The 80-year-old owner of the Dallas Cowboys stood outside their locker room Saturday evening before their preseason game against Seattle. Blue suit, light blue shirt, black dress shoes, Cowboy pin in the lapel. Classic Jerry Jones. The game has aged Jones, but his zeal for the game, even after 27 years of never reaching the NFC title game, never mind winning a fourth Super Bowl, is precisely the same as it’s been since he bought the franchise in 1989. He wants it, wants it bad, and thinks this team, after two straight 12-win seasons, is fit to win it all.

But he thinks that every year.

The difference, maybe, with Jerry Jones, is he’s unwilling to call a 12-5 season a failure.

“I know how hard it is to win one of those (a Super Bowl),” Jones said, straining a bit to be heard over the cacophonous music and the Cowboys fans shouting for him in the southeast end zone. “You shouldn’t give up the ghost because you fall short in a highly competitive league. Just because we haven’t won it in so long doesn’t make what we’ve done meaningless. And I think this year we’re in better position to win it than we have been in years. We have the team, and we have the quarterback.”

Dak Prescott’s become a bit of a lightning rod entering his eighth year. The last two have ended with Prescott falling short in huge moments down the stretch of playoff losses. First the ill-fated Prescott scramble as the clock ran out to lose to the Niners two seasons ago. Then the terrible 48-second series in the final three minutes at San Francisco last year: the dropped Dre Greenlaw interception on first down, the misfire incompletion from Prescott to Michael Gallup on second down, a frustrating sack on third down, punt. Three plays, zero yards. Season over.

I told Jones what I wrote after the game: “Those are 48 seconds of Jerry Jones’ life he’ll never get back.”

“I can live with those circumstances,” Jones said. “Those 48 seconds … I truly believe if we won that day we could have won the Super Bowl.”

“Still trust Dak to win the Super Bowl here?”

“Very much. Very much. We’re relying on him, and I feel very good about that. His preparation, his presence, how the team responds to him. I believe he will get us there.

Odd, the Cowboys have the most wins in the NFC in the last two seasons, but they don’t get the most current respect:

Wins, 2021-22

1          Chiefs                    26

2          Cowboys              24 

3          Bills                       24

4          49ers                     23

5          Eagles                   23

This from King on and with Prescott:

There are few people in football I admire more than Dak Prescott. His speech after winning the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award last year, crediting his late mother for all the good in his life, was the best and most sincere Payton speech I’ve heard. He’s the guy you want leading your team, and his regular-season performance mirrors his impact: a 97.8 career rating, 67-percent accuracy, just 36 losses in 97 starts.

But to join the Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman on the pantheon of great America’s Team quarterbacks, and to win the first Dallas Super Bowl since 1995, Prescott has to play better in the biggest moments.

I asked him about that drive against San Francisco, those 48 seconds. The Cowboys won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure that drive was the capper for the decision to dump offensive coordinator Kellen Moore so head coach Mike McCarthy could take play-calling and full gameplan duties. Jones told me when he hired McCarthy that he wanted to be game-planner and play-caller.

“I think you have to use your scars in that sense,” Prescott told me. “To say I’m continuing to relive it, it’s past me at this point. But a lot of the offseason was about that. With Mike taking over the play-calling we went into details and sometimes there’s those three plays—there’s a lot of details in that that allowed those three plays to not be successful. That’s what we really focused on this training camp and this spring, cleaning that up and making sure receivers are on the same page, linemen are on the same page with my [pass] drops and receivers understand where they’ve gotta be and when—so the operation just goes a whole lot smoother. We’re using the things that hurt us last year. That’ll be our strength this year.”

The Dallas offense could try to run faster this year, so Prescott can put more pressure on defenses; the acquisition of deep threat Brandin Cooks should help that. But the Cowboys were not a plodding team in 2022. Their 65.5 average offensive snaps per game were more than offensive powerhouses Kansas City (64.4), Cincinnati (61.9) and Buffalo (61.0). McCarthy’s going to have enduring faith in Prescott to play up-tempo, given Dallas’ clear desire to cut down on Prescott’s 15 picks in 2022.

Dallas is 5-12 in the postseason since the last Super Bowl win 28 years ago. Prescott wears a piece of that—he’s 2-4 in the postseason—and as he enters the first season of his thirties, he knows the focus is on those two playoff wins in seven years.

“Yeah,” he said. “A thousand percent. I want to win the Super Bowl. The only way to do that is to win playoff games. Those two wins aren’t going to be enough. It’s about stringing three or four together to make sure that we’re playing in the Super Bowl and winning what we hold as our expectations and what all these fans have as our expectations. That’s the standard when you wear this star. It’s a high standard but we love it. We embrace it.”

But it can be suffocating too. You don’t have a lot of chances like Prescott has now, entering a season as one of three NFC teams (with the Eagles and 49ers) with the best chance to make the Super Bowl. The chances are fleeting.

PHILADELPHIA

Eagles passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo is a golf dad.  Bo Wulf of The Athletichas a long takeout on and his daughter Lauren, part of which is below:

The second practice of training camp hasn’t even started yet, but Kevin Patullo is more nervous than he was during the Super Bowl.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ passing game coordinator walks onto the practice field and pauses a few times to have a version of the same conversation with a handful of different people. The topic is no surprise to anyone who knows Patullo. His daughter, Lauren, just might be the coolest athlete on the team.

Patullo’s audience nods along and smiles as he holds his hands about 3 feet apart, demonstrating the distance of a few missed putts. Had those gone in, Lauren might have shot a 68. See, she’s down in Pinehurst, N.C., playing in the U.S. Kids Golf World Teen Championship, a three-day tournament for girls 15-18. After firing a 1-under 71, Lauren is one stroke off the lead and one of only four players under par.

She turned 15 only a month ago.

For the rest of the day, when he’s not watching Jalen Hurts throw to A.J. Brown or shuffling through practice film or sitting in meetings, Patullo will be anxiously awaiting shot-by-shot text message updates from his wife. Welcome back to football-season fatherhood.

A week earlier, father and daughter arrive at their country club in South Jersey for another day of practice. As has become customary, they’re wearing matching outfits, with Lauren in a light blue skirt and black top and Kevin in black shorts with a light blue polo.

Lauren is fresh off a third-place finish in a tournament outside Philadelphia, but there are some things to clean up before the trip down to North Carolina. Primarily, they’re here to work on her swing path, to make sure her takeaway isn’t too far to the inside. On the range, she begins by hitting a few wedges to warm up. Then Kevin hands her a practice tool — a plastic mat with three color-coded lines designed to help cross-check the takeaway. Lauren places ball after ball on a dimple in the middle of the mat and thwacks away. Behind her, Kevin watches intently, occasionally recording video of her swing.

“That was perfect. Yeah, here, come look. Down the yellow, down the yellow, perfect. Your legs were pretty quiet, but we’re not really worried about legs right now. Look how much you dropped it underneath. Hit one more with a quieter leg. But we’re just working on path. Can’t work on two things at once. Just work on one thing. Now your path is OK, so now try your legs.”

There are a few different versions of the Lauren-as-golf-phenom origin story. Kevin’s a very good golfer in his own right, with about a five handicap honed over the course of a coaching career working for golf nuts like Mike Stoops, Herm Edwards and Chan Gailey. Lauren had always been a good athlete, standing out in basketball as a 6-year-old, then playing as the only girl in the flag football league when the Patullos lived in Texas. When Kevin landed a job as the wide receivers coach for the Colts, they moved into a golf community outside Indianapolis. Lauren went to golf camp that summer as a way to make friends, and the instructors politely suggested she might be a natural.

The inciting incident in Lauren’s memory was going to an LPGA event nearby, where Mariajo Uribe gifted Lauren her golf bag.

Either way, Lauren and Kevin agree her game really jumped during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when they had nothing better to do than spend the day on the golf course together. She enrolled in a few tournaments once things began to open up and performed well enough that Kevin and his wife, Nichole, realized that golf was about to become the thing they organized their lives around. So ingrained was that understanding that when Nick Sirianni brought Patullo with him on the flight from Indianapolis to Philadelphia after he was hired as the Eagles’ head coach in February 2021, Nichole called to say she had already found a house on a golf course.

– – –

If there is a problem Patullo is navigating with Lauren these days, it’s trying to figure out when to be what. There are so many parallels between the way he works with Lauren and the way he works with stars like Hurts and Brown. Quizzing her on how the ball is likely to come out of a rake line is no different than testing Hurts on what he’s supposed to do when play X is called and the defensive coverage is Y. But Patullo never has to worry about also being Hurts’ father.

“He’s so good at being a coach and he’s a great dad too,” Nichole says, “but when you jell the two together, when do you take on that coaching role and when do you switch it up? And so he’s learning how to read her. … Does she want your advice on something or does she just want you to listen, to be able to vent?”

Once football season starts again, he won’t get to be as much of either.

“Right away when you meet Lauren, she is just like, not shy, not timid,” says Jason Kelce, himself the father of three young daughters. “She has this outgoing personality. It’s infectious. She’s such a genuine joy to be around.”

Nichole chuckles when she explains having been blessed with two extroverts for children, with Lauren’s younger brother Logan cut from the same cloth. But the Pattulos’ lifestyle has also made social bravery a necessity. In her 15 years, Lauren has lived in Kansas City, Mo.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Nashville, Tenn.; Northern New Jersey; College Station, Texas; Indianapolis and now outside Philadelphia.

“Whether she was born this way or just because of moving so much, she has been able to go into any room, be around any grown-up, little kid, kids her age, and adapt to any environment she’s put into,” Nichole says. “She’s just kind of like, ‘I’m Lauren and I’m here. Oh, you’re a professional athlete? Cool. I’m going to speak to you and carry a conversation and find something to talk to you about.’”

Few are as smitten with Lauren as Mike Quick, the former Pro Bowl wide receiver who has been the Eagles’ radio analyst for over 25 years and is among the more golf-obsessed people around the team.

“I love that kid,” he says one day laughing. “Here’s what I love about her: When she walks on the golf course, she thinks she’s the best. She’s got the swag. And she already has the mindset, I believe, of a professional.”

NEW ORLEANS

Dennis Allen disrespects QBs DESMOND RIDDER, BRYCE YOUNG and BAKER MAYFIELD/KYLE TRASK.  Peter King:

Derek Carr is the rising tide lifting all boats. Sometimes a change is best for everyone. Carr leaving the Raiders was good for Vegas; the Raiders lost faith him as a player and leader. Signing with the Saints was great for needy New Orleans, which needed a quarterback the coaches could trust more than the Winston/Dalton combo of 2022. And the move was great for Carr, who needed a new start the way Aaron Rodgers did. But wait before you see this as total nirvana for New Orleans. Remember the shady end to Carr’s tenure in Las Vegas. He never threw for 310 yards in any of his 15 starts under Josh McDaniels, got benched for the last two weeks, mysteriously disappeared from the team—and his sub, Jarrett Stidham, debuted with a 365-yard passing day against one of the best D’s in football, the Niners.

To be fair to Carr, last year was an uncharacteristic season. He’s always been seen as a solid player and good leader. Now he’s back with his first head coach in football, Dennis Allen, who has total faith him. Sometimes that’s the best medicine for a wounded career. Carr spent the offseason in the first workout group every morning at 6:30, leading the Derek Jeter way—by example, not by volume. He’s leading an offense that practices fast, that tries to put pressure on the defense, that is aiming to play as fast as the quarterback processes information. The vibe at practice against the Chargers Friday was palpably pro-Carr.

“I love my team,” Allen said. “I love my quarterback. We’ve got the best quarterback in our division. Our team believes in our quarterback. You can feel it at practice.”

– – –

TE JIMMY GRAHAM was “detained” by Newport Beach, CA police on Friday night.  Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com:

New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham was arrested in Newport Beach, California, on Friday night on suspicion of being under the influence of narcotics and obstructing a police officer, according to police.

The Saints said team doctors believe Graham, 36, had a seizure that resulted in him becoming disoriented. Graham was found wandering in traffic, according to TMZ, when police responded at 7:39 p.m.

“New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham experienced a medical episode last evening, which resulted in him becoming disoriented,” the team said in a statement Saturday. “He was taken into custody by local authorities and transported to a local hospital for evaluation for what Dr. John Amoss believes to be a likely seizure and spent the night under medical supervision and testing. Amoss [team doctor for the Saints] met Graham at the hospital and is overseeing his care at this time. He was released this morning and is with the team as they continue preparations for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.”

The Saints were in California in preparation for Sunday’s preseason game and had been conducting joint practices with the Chargers at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex in Costa Mesa, California.

Graham was a full participant in Friday morning’s practice as normal and spoke to local reporters afterward.

He did not play Sunday night against the Chargers, with coach Dennis Allen saying after the game that “he’s healthy, he’ll have some more testing to go on, but look, he’s a little shook up, but overall, he’s doing OK.”

SAN FRANCISCO

With three weeks to go before the season opener, QB BROCK PURDY returned to game action on Saturday night.  Kirk Larrabee of 49ersWebZone.com:

Saturday night’s preseason game against the Denver Broncos checked another important box for 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who continues to make his way back from the elbow injury that kept him sidelined throughout the offseason.

Purdy was given the start for the 49ers in their 21-20 win over the Broncos on Saturday, marking the first time he’s seen game action since undergoing surgery to repair an injury to the UCL in his right elbow that he sustained against the Philadelphia Eagles in last season’s NFC Championship game. Purdy told reporters Saturday night that he experienced a bit of typical nervousness heading into the game but was able to shake it off and complete 4-of-5 passes for 65 yards on his lone possession of the contest.

“It felt really good just to be out there with the guys in a game environment,” said Purdy, who opened things up with two short passes for big gains to wide receiver Deebo Samuel before his drive eventually ended in a field goal. “Obviously, just (getting) the nerves out a little bit, just the build-up to a game and everything, and then being able to get an early completion to Deebo and get things rolling. So it felt really good to be able to get out there and drive and honestly just be in a game environment.”

For Purdy, Saturday night was more than just a chance to throw some passes in an actual game. It also gave him the opportunity to experience some contact, which he admitted was an important step given the circumstances.

“Honestly, it was good to be able to drive and then be able to take some hits and get right up and run a play again after that,” Purdy said. “It’s part of the game, and honestly, it helps me sort of settle into the game, and so I thought it was pretty good to be able to go through that.”

The 49ers looked similar on offense Saturday night to where they were last year with Purdy at quarterback, even if they weren’t able to get the ball into the end zone. A sack inside the 10-yard line might have been the only thing that kept the 49ers from finishing Purdy’s drive with a touchdown.

“I thought he did real good,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Saturday. “All the plays that he had, he made, and I don’t think he had a bad one. And that sack, we busted a protection, and we’ll see if he could have done anything about it and got rid of it. You always try your hardest to get rid of it because once you get sacked there, it’s tough to score. But it didn’t look like there was much you could do live.”

What’s next for Purdy? He’ll be getting another start next week when the 49ers bring their preseason schedule to an end against the Los Angeles Chargers (Friday, 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT). In the meantime, Purdy will continue to work on improving during practice and shaking off any rust that remains from being away from football for several months.

– – –

Kyle Shanahan professes to Peter King that his top priority is defense:

“Year after year, all these quarterbacks. All these bad injuries. The one thing we believed in was having a great defense. That keeps games close, then you just figure a way sometimes on offense. Why’d we go after Javon Hargrave this year? Defense. Make it hard to score on us.”

He brought up the Super Bowl champ Bucs, with Brad Johnson at quarterback. And the Ravens, winning the title with Trent Dilfer. The defenses were so good those teams didn’t need a tremendous quarterback.

And this is the biggest surprise of the 35 minutes I spent with Shanahan. He’s more laser-focused on building a defense and a kicking game, with GM John Lynch and personnel czar Adam Peters, than he is on building a team that leads the league in scoring every year. It was just 19 months ago that the Niners had zero going for them on offense, trailed Green Bay 10-3 with five minutes left, and won on a zero-degree wind-chill night with a blocked punt and long field goal at the end. Thus spending big on Hargrave this year. If they live in quarterback hell again this year—not likely, but in San Francisco, who knows?—they’ll always have a chance.

“That’s kind of been a view of how to build a team for me forever,” he said. “Hoping you can always have that quarterback, but if you can build that defense that way and play the right way, you do have a chance.”

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

MLB bailed from Southern California before Sunday’s arrival of Hurricane Hilary.  But the Saints and Chargers stared her down.

Some in the media demanded cancellation, but apparently (because there are no stories on the web to the contrary) it happened without incident.

CINCINNATI

RB JOE MIXON has taken names for what he believes is unfair coverage.  Ben Baby of ESPN.com:

Bengals running back Joe Mixon declined to speak to reporters in his first practice after he was found not guilty in an aggravated menacing case.

After Sunday’s practice, Mixon declined to speak to reporters. He then announced he would be boycotting questions from specific reporters who represent the following outlets: Sports Illustrated, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Pro Football Network and ESPN.

“It’s not happening,” Mixon said, citing behavior he deemed disrespectful.

When asked to elaborate on how things have been disrespectful, Mixon responded by saying “you know how” as he retreated into the team’s training room. He returned to one of the team’s pingpong tables a few minutes later.

Mixon has not spoken to reporters during the team’s scheduled media access since the end of the 2022 season.

The seventh-year player out of Oklahoma has been mired in off-field issues in 2023. In April, Mixon was charged with misdemeanor aggravated menacing after police claim he pointed a gun at a woman and said he should shoot her. Last week, Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Gwen Bender ruled Mixon not guilty, saying city prosecutors failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Bengals running back is also facing a lawsuit after a teenager who was formerly his next-door neighbor was shot in the foot while playing with Nerf guns. Mixon was not a suspect in the criminal investigation. Others have been charged, including one individual with a count of felony assault.

Update – it’s not the outlets, it is four specific reporters as Mike Florio breaks down the perceived offenders who include Baby:

Bengals running back Joe Mixon decided not to speak to reporters on Sunday, his first availability after being cleared of menacing charges on Thursday. He also made it clear that there are four reporters to whom he will not speak, regardless of affiliation.

Although Ben Baby of ESPN.com listed four specific outlets — ESPN.com, the Cincinnati Enquirer, Sports Illustrated, and Pro Football Network — Mixon tells PFT that he’s not boycotting any outlet. His problems are with four specific reporters, regardless of where they work.

Mixon listed the four reporters for PFT: Ben Baby, Kelsey Conway, James Rapien, and Jay Morrison.

The bulk of Mixon’s frustration seems to be directed at Baby. In response to Baby’s tweet explaining that Mixon said reporters had been “disrespectful” but that Mixon didn’t elaborate on the reasons for his assertion, Mixon’s agent, Peter Schaffer, tweeted this: “You know exactly why we don’t talk to you. You consistently look for the negative and always are putting the players down. We have given you ample chances to correct the situation and you refuse. You made your bed now sleep in it. Don’t tweet to people that you don’t know why.”

Schaffer, speaking to PFT, pointed out that Baby already seems to be retaliating, by concluding his latest article with this gratuitous swipe at Mixon: “After reaching his first Pro Bowl in 2021, Mixon’s success rate was 41.0% in 2022, which was slightly below the league average of 41.7% among players with 150 or more carries, per NFL Next Gen Stats data.” [Editor’s note: What does that even mean?]

Mixon intends to cooperate with reporters generally. But he does not intend to answer questions from those four specific reporters, regardless of which outlet they’re affiliated with.

INDIANAPOLIS

Peyton Manning believes a young QB, like possibly QB ANTHONY RICHARDSON, should play before he might be ready:

Nobody ever told me, ‘Peyton, it’s going to be a bad year, you’re going to win three games and you’re going to throw 28 picks.’ Nobody conceded that or wanted that, especially me, but they kept me in there every game, every snap. There were some games, honestly, when I probably needed to come out. And they kept me in. I remember a game against New England [a 29-6 loss], I’d already thrown three picks and I remember we drove down and scored on the last drive of the game. Maybe you figure something out on that last drive. They’ve called off the dogs, they’re just trying to get the game over with. But all those reps helped.

–Peyton Manning, to Bob Kravitz for his Substack “Musings of an Old Sportswriter,” on his belief that a young quarterback like Anthony Richardson should play early.

Peter King begs to differ:

I think, of course, I’m not there every day and the Colts know their business. But I’m not crazy about the decision to name Anthony Richardson the starting QB after an in-and-out training camp, and after just one year as a college starter. I know he needs the experience, but what’s the rush, with Gardner Minshew a solid option to start the season?

NEW ENGLAND

They stopped Saturday night’s game in Green Bay after an injury to CB ISAIAH BOLDEN, but he returned home with the team.  Although it sounds like the team wasn’t planning on returning home:

There was more good news on Sunday morning about Patriots rookie cornerback Isaiah Bolden.

Bolden has been released from a Green Bay hospital and will travel home with the team.  Here is a statement from the Patriots spokesman Stacey James:

“After undergoing a series of evaluations and being held for overnight observations, Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden has been released from the Aurora Bay Medical Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was transported to after sustaining an on-field injury in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s preseason game between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers. Isaiah will travel with the team today. We thank the medical staff at Aurora Bay Medical Center for their overnight evaluations, as well as the Patriots and Packers medical staffs for their immediate on-field response and care in transporting Isaiah to a nearby hospital. Due to the circumstances surrounding the abrupt and unexpected ending to last night’s game, the Patriots will return to Foxborough today.  The joint practices that were scheduled with the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday and Wednesday are cancelled. The team will train in Foxborough this week and fly to Nashville on Thursday for Friday night’s game.”

NEW YORK JETS

From a Fantasy perspective, Eric Karabell of ESPN.com thinks that QB AARON RODGERS is actually undervalued:

Perhaps you heard the news, but future Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers is no longer a member of the Green Bay Packers. He joined the New York Jets this offseason. It wasn’t really in the news much, so it is quite understandable if you missed it. Some fantasy football managers may have, since Rodgers is not among the first 10 quarterbacks or 100 picks in ESPN average live drafts. OK, so Rodgers wasn’t his normally awesome statistical self during last season, but he was far from bad. Rodgers was the No. 13 QB in PPR leagues!

Rodgers is well-positioned to be a top-10 quarterback this season, which is why I ranked him precisely this way. The good news is this is not a popular opinion, so Rodgers slips in drafts. I choose to wait on quarterbacks anyway, and Rodgers seems to be ending up on my teams around the spot others are choosing a defense. Hey, it works for me. Last season was the first full one in which Rodgers did not finish as a top-10 fantasy QB. He is 39 years old. Some believe he is done. Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not yet.

That is what the annual “Do Draft” column is about. Click here for the far more controversial “Do Not Draft” column, in which readers tend to ignore the premise and think I hate some of the top players in the sport. Nope! This is all about value in relation to expected statistical results. Some players slip well past the point of my expectations and how I rank them, for whatever reasons, and that makes for wise investing. Rodgers was a top-five fantasy QB in 2021 and 2022, winning league MVP honors each time. He is not too old. Expect greatness again.

The Jets won seven games last season despite truly terrible quarterback play, with Zach Wilson, Joe Flacco and Mike White each starting four or more games. Someone named Chris Streveler started a game! Still, the Jets sniffed a playoff spot thanks to one of the stingiest defenses in the sport. It should be successful again and now the offense boasts a quarterback who, despite numerous obstacles in his final season in Green Bay, threw for 3,695 yards and 26 touchdowns. That was the worst full season of Rodgers’ career. He had a running game, but no receiver caught more than 60 passes or approached 1,000 receiving yards.

That changes this season, as exciting Garrett Wilson becomes a top-10 wide receiver thanks to considerably better than competent quarterback play. Wilson caught 83 passes for 1,103 yards and four touchdowns his rookie season. He saw 13 end zone targets, but caught only two of them. Not his fault. The Ohio State product is ready to emerge as a WR1 star. It is a huge upgrade for Wilson, and for Rodgers, who gets a top option to target again, like when he had Davante Adams. The Jets have a running game, with several excellent options. They can properly protect Rodgers. They are coached well, they defend well. This will be a positive situation.

THIS AND THAT

EXPLAINING BUDDY PARKER

Peter King explains how Nashville-based Hall of Fame Contributors Committee member Paul Kuharsky won the day for Buddy Parker:

As a 32-year veteran of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee, I’ve gotten used to being surprised at the decisions we make. We vote in secret, and I don’t take the temperature of fellow voters before meetings, so I really don’t know how the vote will turn out most times.

The Hall has 50 voting members. There are two subcommittees (Seniors and Contributors) with 12 voting members each that advance candidates to possible election in January. Last Tuesday, the Contributors Subcommittee, which I’m a part of, met via Zoom to whittle 12 candidates (coaches, GMs, owners, scouts, officials) for 2024 election down to one.

The Contributors list was strong: Patriots owner/league pillar Robert Kraft and John Wooten, who blocked for Jim Brown and recently has been at the forefront of football’s diversity efforts, were on the ballot, as was a slew of coaches who’d won 160 or more games—Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren and two who hadn’t won titles as head coaches, Marty Schottenheimer and Dan Reeves. Also in the mix: Buddy Parker, who’d coached the Lions to NFL championships in 1952 and ’53 and is the only coach to have Paul Brown’s number head-to-head, ever. But Parker had been eligible for election for 58 years and never gotten much traction. When in 2020 the Hall of Fame decided to enshrine 15 forgotten candidates (at least that was the idea) as part of the league’s 100-year celebration and Parker didn’t make it then, I thought it was over for him.

Voters are not allowed to divulge what happened in the meeting, so I can’t tell you specifics. I can say each case is heard, and voters are tasked with voting for their top six; when the list is cut to six, we’re asked to cut it to three, and when it gets to three, we’re asked to cut to one. When this meeting ended after nearly five hours, the last man standing was Parker.

So … two questions.

Who was Buddy Parker?

And which Hall voter (apparently persuasively) presented his case to the group to advance him past a strong field?

Parker, an acerbic Texan who died in 1982, coached the Lions to three NFL championship-game matchups against mighty Cleveland in his tenure from 1951 to 1956, winning two. The Browns played in the championship game of their league for 10 straight years beginning in 1946, winning seven. Head-to-head with the great Paul Brown of the Browns, Parker’s Lions were 4-1. He was one of the early adoptees of the nickel defense and the two-minute offense. He left the Lions weeks before the 1957 season in a reported contract dispute; the Lions won their third title of the decade that year while Parker got hired to coach the Steelers. He was 107-76-9 in 15 years (12- and 14-game seasons) as a head coach.

Paul Kuharsky, a longtime NFL writer based in Nashville, presented Parker, taking the reins from another Hall voter, Clark Judge, a longtime Parker advocate who’d presented his case previously. What’s odd—or good, depending on your point of view—about the Hall process for Contributors or Seniors is that any voter can be chosen to present any candidate; voters can request a candidate but aren’t guaranteed getting to present him. Kuharsky chose Parker.

“I was born in Cleveland, grew up in Jersey, went to college in New York, lived in Nashville since 1997—and presented a guy who coached in Detroit and Pittsburgh,” Kuharsky said. “I was upset he didn’t get in from the Centennial Committee vote, and I couldn’t figure out why. That stuck with me. As a committee, I think sometimes we lean too much on the modern candidates.”

There will be those outraged by passing over an owner with great credentials (Kraft), one innovative coach with two titles and a great current coaching tree (Shanahan), another coach with two Super Bowl wins over the powerful Patriots and who built an excellent expansion team (Coughlin), and a coach who won one title and mentored Brett Favre and took another team to a Super Bowl (Holmgren). Understandable.

But I love Parker making it. I’ve supported him wholeheartedly. We need to honor pro football history more at the Hall of Fame than we do. The game’s 104 seasons old. Too often we default to what we’ve seen, what we know—instead of opening our mind to the Buddy Parkers. I’d have been fine with Kraft, or with one of the three leading coaches (Shanahan had the slight edge over Coughlin for me). But this feels right. Parker being up for the Hall come January is justice delayed, but not denied.

“I think those other guys are going to get in, and before their 109th birthday,” said Kuharsky. Parker was born more than 109 years ago. “Buddy getting in is not a slap in the face to anyone. The game was different then, and we can’t hold it against him that there were fewer regular-season games and there weren’t levels of playoff games then.”

THE DIVISIONS – 1 THRU 8

Dan Graziano of ESPN.com ranks the divisions 1 thru 8.  Without looking, we expect the AFC East on top, and the two Souths at the bottom.

One of these years, one of the NFL’s eight divisions is going to have four playoff teams. This became possible two years ago when the league expanded the postseason field to seven teams in each conference, and it has fascinated me ever since. And since you’ve clicked on my story, sorry, you’re stuck reading about stuff that fascinates me.

It could be this season, right? I mean, it could be any year, so of course it could be this year. And if it were to happen this year, the next question is which division would it be?

To that end, we present our annual effort to rank all eight NFL divisions from best to worst. We do this with the help of ESPN’s Football Power Index rankings, which rate all 32 teams’ true strength on a net points scale, with an overall expected points margin against an average opponent on a neutral field. FPI projects the strength of every team’s offense, defense and special teams and combines those for an overall rating. As great as FPI is, though, there are factors it doesn’t consider, so I reserve the right to stray from the strict formula as necessary.

This is an exercise that undoubtedly will produce nothing but universal agreement and provoke no argument whatsoever. Let’s start with the division at the top:

1. AFC EAST

FPI ratings (12.1 overall):

Buffalo Bills: 5.6 (2nd in NFL)

New York Jets: 3.2 (6th)

Miami Dolphins: 3.0 (9th)

New England Patriots: 0.3 (16th)

This feels like a slam dunk. It’s the only division in which every team has a positive FPI rating. According to FPI’s projections, the three-time defending champion Bills rank second in the league in offense (3.8) and sixth in defense (1.4). Maybe it’s Buffalo fatigue, but all of the attention the Jets and Dolphins are getting this offseason has made it feel as if people are overlooking the quality of the Bills’ roster.

Miami’s offense ranks sixth in the league (2.6), and the Dolphins are hoping new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will help fix their issues on the other side of the ball. The Jets have the No. 1 defense in the league (2.4), and obviously the addition of Aaron Rodgers at quarterback is expected to move them up on offense. The range of potential outcomes for the Dolphins and the Jets is extremely wide. Tua Tagovailoa’s health and the state of the Jets’ offensive line loom as unanswerable questions with answers on which those teams’ seasons could ride or fall. But the upside for both is high.

The Patriots rank fourth in the league on defense (1.6), per FPI’s ratings. The offense does not appear, on paper, to be in the class of the other teams in the AFC East, but at the very least New England is likely to have an elite defense that keeps it in games.

On paper, just looking at the caliber of the teams themselves, it would be easy to say this is the division most likely to land four teams in the postseason. The problem is, all four of its teams rank in the top five in the league in FPI’s toughest strength of schedule rankings. When all is said and done, the win-loss records might not reflect the idea that this division was the one most loaded with contender candidates. As of now, in the middle of August, before anyone has won or lost anything, that’s what it is.

2. AFC NORTH

FPI ratings (6.4 overall):

Cincinnati Bengals: 4.6 (4th in NFL)

Baltimore Ravens: 2.0 (10th)

Cleveland Browns: 0.2 (17th)

Pittsburgh Steelers: minus-0.4 (19th)

Here’s my first divergence from FPI, which ranks this division fourth. This is one of four divisions (along with the AFC East, the NFC East and the AFC West) in which at least three teams have positive FPI rankings. It just feels more balanced top to bottom. Frankly, this one and the AFC East are the only two from which I could imagine all four teams qualifying for the postseason.

Two-time defending division champ Cincinnati ranks at the top, sporting the league’s No. 5 offense (3.0) and No. 8 defense (1.4), according to FPI’s projections. The Bengals look to have one of the NFL’s best rosters, and they have proved they know how to finish on top. Assuming quarterback Joe Burrow recovers from his calf injury in time to start the season, they have the right to consider themselves legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

The Ravens have a middle-of-the-pack offense (0.6), according to FPI, and that feels right, since they have all kinds of question marks at receiver and running back and they’re learning a new offense this offseason. They were a thorn in Cincinnati’s side last season, and they’re well-coached. So if Odell Beckham Jr. and Rashod Bateman and J.K. Dobbins and — oh, yeah — Lamar Jackson can stay healthy, Baltimore’s upside is high.

Cleveland and Pittsburgh are mysteries. Will Deshaun Watson play better than he did in six games last season? Will new coordinator Jim Schwartz fix the Browns’ defense? Can Kenny Pickett and a passing offense that was one of the league’s worst in 2022 make a leap? Is this the year Mike Tomlin finally finishes a season with a losing record?

For me, the back-end teams in this division (again, on paper) are better than the worst-looking teams in the AFC West and the NFC East, which is why I ranked this division higher.

3. AFC WEST

FPI ratings (9.7 overall):

Kansas City Chiefs: 6.4 (1st in NFL)

Los Angeles Chargers: 3.0 (7th)

Denver Broncos: 0.9 (13th)

Las Vegas Raiders: minus-0.6 (20th)

The defending Super Bowl champs are the reason this division ranks so high. The Chiefs’ overall FPI is the same as that of the entire AFC North and is higher than those of five other entire divisions. Their offense (6.7) is the best in the league by a mile — Buffalo is second at 3.8. They are middle of the pack on defense (minus-0.2), and that would take a hit if the Chris Jones holdout wears on into the season. The Chiefs are favored to repeat as Super Bowl champs for good reason, and the rest of the division is chasing them.

If there’s an on-paper team that looks good enough to challenge Kansas City, it is the loaded Chargers, who rank fourth on offense (3.3) and right there with the Chiefs on defense (minus-0.2), according to FPI. Of course, they are the annual on-paper champs. Something always seems to go wrong there. But this is a summer exercise, looking at rosters and projecting what they’re capable of, and L.A. has stars all over the field.

Denver’s positive FPI is all because of its defense (2.3), which ranks second in the league behind the Jets. The questions in Denver are with the Broncos’ 21st-ranked offense (minus-1.2), which would have to improve drastically over its 2022 performance to finish that high this season. Can Sean Payton rescue Russell Wilson and put enough points on the board for the defense to carry the team?

As for the Raiders, I’m having a hard time seeing where they’re good. FPI has them 15th in offense (0.7) and 29th in defense (minus-1.4), but FPI doesn’t take into account the inevitable and puzzling Josh McDaniels tinkering sure to come. If you’re looking for a reason the AFC North ranks ahead of the West in these rankings, I’d refer you to the coaching résumés of the guys in charge of the No. 4-ranked teams in each division.

4. NFC EAST

FPI ratings (7.1 overall):

Philadelphia Eagles: 5.0 (3rd in NFL)

Dallas Cowboys: 3.0 (8th)

New York Giants: 0.5 (14th)

Washington Commanders: minus-1.4 (21st)

The Eagles and the Cowboys rank third and eighth, respectively, in FPI’s overall projections. The Eagles are third in offense (3.5) and seventh (1.4) in defense. The Cowboys are ninth in both offense (1.7) and defense (1.3), the latter of which surprised me based on their offseason improvements.

Philadelphia is trying to buck a significant trend and become the first repeat NFC East champion since 2004, when they did it. They’re deserving favorites, and if they have an Achilles’ heel it’s likely how young they look on defense all of a sudden. (Of course, the same could have been said for the Chiefs last season, and that worked out fine.) Dallas’ roster is solid, but there are legitimate questions about what effect the change at offensive playcaller from Kellen Moore to Mike McCarthy will have on an offense that scored the second-most points in the league over the past four seasons.

The Giants made the playoffs a year ago, earning Coach of the Year honors for first-year head coach Brian Daboll. Can he work his magic again with a team that looks improved-but-maybe-still-not-all-the-way-there on offense? Can Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley stay healthy all season again? New York ranks smack in the middle of the league in both offense (0.9) and defense (minus-0.5), and that likely is right for a team that finished 9-7-1.

The Commanders, who will be led by untested quarterback Sam Howell, bring up the rear here, but they’re far from a run-of-the-mill last-place team. Washington’s defense (1.8) is the third-best in the league behind the Jets and Broncos. Its offense (minus-3.0) is better than only four teams — Arizona, Indianapolis, Tampa Bay and Houston. If Howell is better than we expect, there’s a chance this could be one of 2023’s surprise teams.

5. NFC WEST

FPI ratings (minus-4.5 overall):

San Francisco 49ers: 3.6 (5th in NFL)

Seattle Seahawks: 0.1 (18th)

Los Angeles Rams: minus-2.4 (23rd)

Arizona Cardinals: minus-5.8 (31st)

Here’s another spot where I’m going to depart from FPI, as the NFC North has a higher overall rating than does the West. I think more highly of the Seahawks (and maybe a little less highly of the Lions and the Vikings) than FPI does, but we’ll get to that in a second. The 49ers look like the class of this division. FPI rates them fifth on defense (1.5) and eighth on offense (2.3). The prospect of Christian McCaffrey in Kyle Shanahan’s offense for an entire season is exciting. If the coach were anyone other than Shanahan, the quarterback situation would be a red flag, but we tend to have faith in his ability to win with whoever’s back there. Brock Purdy did nothing but win last season until he got hurt in the NFC Championship Game.

I was surprised by FPI’s middling rating of Seattle. The Seahawks are 23rd in defense (minus-0.8), but although they couldn’t stop the run last season, they believe a lot of that had to do with players transitioning to a new scheme, which won’t be an issue now. As for their 13th-ranked offense (0.9), I have to believe that’s rooted in skepticism about Geno Smith’s ability to deliver a second straight top-seven QBR season. I’m a little more optimistic about Smith than most, and they added players around him this offseason who will only help. Personally, I believe the Seahawks belong in the conversation — along with the 49ers and Cowboys — about which teams can knock off the Eagles in the NFC.

The Rams and Cardinals look bound for Rebuild City. Their rosters are stuffed with young, unproven players at key positions, and the rankings reflect that. I give the Rams a little bit of a bump because they won the Super Bowl 18 months ago and they still have Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald. But it could be a rough one out there. The Cardinals? Well, they have two first-round picks next year …

6. NFC NORTH

FPI ratings (minus-3.3 overall):

Detroit Lions: 1.4 (11th in NFL)

Minnesota Vikings: 0.5 (15th)

Chicago Bears: minus-2.4 (24th)

Green Bay Packers: minus-2.8 (25th)

This is the first division we’ve listed that doesn’t have a single team in the top 10 in the league in FPI’s overall ranking. The Lions are just outside, at No. 11, but they’re unbalanced — they rank seventh on offense (2.5) and 27th (minus-1.3) on defense. FPI appears unimpressed with the work they did to fix the secondary in the offseason. The offense should score points, although if you’re skeptical about Geno Smith repeating last year’s performance, why wouldn’t you be skeptical about Jared Goff doing the same? Detroit is an awfully popular division favorite for a team that hasn’t won a division since the 1993 NFC Central. No, that’s not a misprint.

Talk about disrespect! The Vikings went 13-4 last season and won this division, right? Of course, they also gave up more points than they allowed, which makes that 13-4 record look like an all-time outlier. Minnesota’s offseason had more notable subtractions than additions, and you wonder whether the organization is thinking about spinning into rebuild mode. But there are still options there on offense that make the Vikings dangerous, and new coordinator Brian Flores should get the defense into shape. If the Lions aren’t what we think they are, Minnesota stands in a decent position to repeat as division champ.

The Bears did a lot of work this offseason to improve around Justin Fields, but they’re probably still at least a year away. And the Packers … you tell me if you can predict with any confidence what Jordan Love is going to be in his first year as a starter. I don’t think it’d be a major surprise if Green Bay contended in the division, but it also wouldn’t be a surprise if its young offense needed some time to come together.

7. AFC SOUTH

FPI ratings (minus-13.8 overall):

Jacksonville Jaguars: 0.9 (12th in NFL)

Tennessee Titans: minus-3.5 (28th)

Indianapolis Colts: minus-5.1 (29th)

Houston Texans: minus-6.1 (32nd)

Here’s where it starts to get pretty grim. FPI ranks these last two divisions fairly similarly overall, but I’m putting the AFC South ahead of the NFC South because this is the division more likely to produce at least one very good team. That team is Jacksonville, which won the division with a late-season surge last season and is favored to repeat. With a Super Bowl-winning coach in Doug Pederson, a highly-thought-of quarterback in Trevor Lawrence and a second year for everyone together and in the same system, the arrow is pointing up for the Jaguars.

The Titans looked like a rebuilding team for much of the offseason, but they didn’t move on from Ryan Tannehill even after taking Will Levis high in the second round. And late in the offseason, they added veteran wideout DeAndre Hopkins, signaling that coach Mike Vrabel isn’t interested in rebuilding. The Titans intend to contend, but after last season’s second-half fade, it’s fair to wonder whether they have enough. FPI projects them to have the No. 26 offense (minus-2.7) and No. 24 defense (minus-0.9).

The Colts and Texans are breaking in rookie quarterbacks. Indianapolis has a lot of veterans who underachieved last season, and if they bounce back, the team could surprise. Anthony Richardson is loaded with ability; maybe he’ll develop quickly and this will be a surprise team. The Texans built what they believe to be a strong offensive line in front of rookie C.J. Stroud, and they’re likely to play solid defense for new coach DeMeco Ryans, but they look a little short in terms of offensive playmakers.

8. NFC SOUTH

FPI ratings (minus-13.9 overall):

New Orleans Saints: minus-1.8 (22nd in NFL)

Atlanta Falcons: minus-3.2 (26th)

Carolina Panthers: minus-3.4 (27th)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: minus-5.5 (30th)

This is the only division without a single team with a positive overall FPI. The Saints lead the way, likely thanks to their veteran defense and the fact Derek Carr is the most proven quarterback in the division. Atlanta is loaded with exciting young skill position players, but their signal-caller is Desmond Ridder, who’s very much an unknown, and FPI rates the Falcons 31st in the league in defense (minus-1.6).

Carolina is rolling with No. 1 pick Bryce Young and an experienced coaching staff that believes it can contend right away. But FPI is unimpressed, rating the Panthers’ offense 27th (minus-3.0).

The Buccaneers will go with Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask as the replacement for retired Tom Brady as they take it on the chin with dead-money salary cap charges this year and look ahead to what they hope is a brighter future.

All of that said, don’t be surprised if these teams finish with better records than you expect. FPI projects the Saints to have the easiest schedule in the entire league and the Falcons to have the second-easiest. Carolina’s schedule rates as the fourth-easiest, and Tampa Bay’s ranks as the eighth-easiest. Remember, the Bucs won this division last season with a sub-.500 record, so they’re stuck playing the other first-place teams in the NFC.

THE ELITE CONFERENCE

Peter King endorses this idea from RB CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY:

I think the best idea I heard in my camp travel in the past few days came from Christian McCaffrey. He’s a Stanford man, and is chagrined by the dissolution of the Pac-12 as we knew it. His idea: Create a football conference of schools with similar emphasis on academics: Cal, Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Rice, SMU and maybe Georgia Tech (I may be missing another one). Smart. Stanford and Cal joining the ACC seems dumb.

We must admit that we see all these schools left out while each conference has some legacy teams that are doomed to an uphill struggle against the big schools.

Vanderbilt gets a lot of money from the SEC – and we wonder how long the elite schools are going to let them scarf it up for the price of giving the elite schools a patsy to beat up on.

In the name of good competition, wouldn’t it be more fun for Vandy, at least in football, to be in a conference where it had a chance.  Where the highwater mark might be Stanford, rather than Alabama/Georgia/LSU.

Would this be of interest to Purdue?  To Baylor?  To Wake Forest?  Aside from the schools mentioned above.

ELIMINATE PRESEASON GAMES?

Starters seem to be playing even less, even as a percentage of plays, with the three-game preseason, followed by a bye week.  Mike Jones of The Athletic asks if the games are even needed:

Regardless of team allegiance, no one wants to see an NFL player taken off the field on a stretcher.

It happened four times in the NFL’s Week 2 preseason games, to New England Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback John Wolford and Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland and defensive tackle Moro Ojomo. Last week, Seattle Seahawks Cade Johnson also had to leave the field on a stretcher after suffering head and neck injuries on a tackle while returning a kickoff.

Bolden’s fourth-quarter collision on Saturday night was particularly jarring, as it left him lying motionless on the ground as medical personnel tended to him, with his teammates kneeling nearby in prayer. The Patriots and Green Bay Packers mutually agreed to call off the rest of the game.

These scenes understandably renew questions about the prudence of preseason contests.

NFL officials intensify protections of quarterbacks and ramp up concussion protocol on an annual basis. Yet the league also makes contradictory player safety moves, like beefing up the “Thursday Night Football” schedule, which players loathe because of the short turnaround and reduced time to recover from injuries. So does the league care about player safety?

Preseason games per team were reduced in 2021 from four to three (the two teams in the Hall of Fame Game play a fourth preseason contest). Most prominent NFL stars already skip these games as teams look to protect their biggest investments. With increasing frequency, teams are turning to joint practices to prepare for the regular season, because they offer a controlled environment against an uncommon opponent for work and evaluation. Twenty-seven teams were scheduled for joint practices this summer, and 13 were expected to practice against two clubs.

So why not eliminate preseason games and just increase the number of joint practices for each team? Sounds simple, right?

That idea is easy for us outsiders to support. But for those who actually work, coach or play in the NFL, it’s far more complicated.

NFL owners initially opposed the idea of shortening the preseason but eventually approved the change during the last collective bargaining agreement negotiations. For them, it’s about money. Shocker. Players may not receive game checks in the preseason, but these contests do still generate a fair amount of revenue — between $3.1 million and $6.2 million per team.

But if you take away the financial aspect, is there any value to preseason games?

NFL coaches, general managers, scouts, unproven players and their agents would largely say yes.

The evaluation process of players begins the moment they arrive for the offseason program. It continues throughout training camp and extends through the preseason. Every rep, every drill and every play — made or botched — matters, GMs and coaches say.

Joint practices are nice because they allow starters to face counterparts from opposing teams, and they let coaches control the number of individual or team reps and different scenarios their charges face. These sessions operate under the agreement that foes will hit but with restraint — and no hitting the quarterbacks at all. So these practices generally cut down on the same kind of risks that come with games.

But GMs and coaches agree that joint practices don’t offer the full picture. It’s impossible to fully evaluate talent across the board — special teams, offense and defense — relying on joint practices alone, they say.

Coaches have a good idea of what they have in veterans, so joint practices afford those established players the opportunity to knock off the rust and hone their skills in competitive, yet controlled, settings. But there’s no speed like game speed, multiple league coaches and talent evaluators said this weekend when asked via text and phone conversation about the value of preseason games (they were granted anonymity so they could talk openly about their assessment of players and NFL policies). And game-speed action gives them the most accurate evaluation of how their young players stack up and how they fit into the puzzle. Also, in joint practices, there’s no real way to see how well a running back breaks tackles, or how well a linebacker wraps up, because there is no real tackling. It’s just not entirely the same.

“Games are hard to simulate,” one NFC special teams coordinator said, “so, you love the preseason for the evals and substitutions part of it.”

Meanwhile, an AFC talent evaluator said the performance-under-pressure aspect offered by preseason competition can’t be underestimated.

“The other thing to factor in is that we need to see who can handle the crowd,” he added.

Will Blackmon, a longtime NFL defensive back who’s now an analyst for FS1 and NFL Network, understands position battles well after playing 10 seasons for the Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants and Washington Commanders. He also understands the juggling act of preparing for a regular season while avoiding unnecessary injury risks during the preseason.

But Blackmon said games, more often than not, are truth-tellers for young players.

“Some guys practice well and then don’t show up in games,” he said. “And at the same time, you have guys that scare you (with their struggles) in practice but shine when the light is on.”

The younger players who manage to further elevate their games under those lights often wind up solidifying roster spots over other bubble players who fail to flash. Every year, players enter the final week of preseason competition and win or lose jobs with in-game heroics or blunders.

But what about potential injury? Necessary evil, or unnecessary risk?

They know it’s unusual to see five players in two weeks leave the field on a stretcher, but the NFL insiders interviewed for this story aren’t so sure the preseason has suddenly become more dangerous. They noted it’s important for medical teams to operate out of an abundance of caution. None of the five players who left the field on a stretcher suffered serious injuries, and the three who were subsequently transported to a hospital (Johnson, Wolford and Bolden) were released within 24 hours. The Eagles said Friday that Cleveland was diagnosed with a concussion and neck sprain, and Ojomo with a concussion.

Also: Injuries are going to happen in the NFL. It’s tackle football, a game players describe as a repeated car crash. It sounds callous, but it’s the nature of the game. NFL officials can implement stricter protocols and rules, but there’s no way to make tackle football 100 percent injury-free.

Some coaches and former players say they wonder whether lighter workloads in the form of the shortened practices and contact limitations negotiated into the collective bargaining agreement have left players less game-conditioned. But the validity of that theory is impossible to know.

Others raised the possibility that an increase in year-round football, conditioning programs and seven-on-seven camps at the youth, high school and college levels have led to players entering the NFL with more overworked bodies than previous generations. That theory is also impossible to prove or disprove.

It’s a delicate balance. NFL coaches need to adequately prepare their players for the regular season, and general managers and assistants need as accurate a picture as possible on the roster pieces they have assembled. And in such a highly competitive game often decided by inches or seconds, young players crave and need as many opportunities as possible to differentiate themselves. Their bosses also welcome every opportunity to confirm their decisions are right.

So, the preseason isn’t going anywhere. These contests may offer little in terms of star power, but they are still important for player assessment, even if the risk of injury is the cost.