The Daily Briefing Monday, August 30, 2021

The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame today released a list of 3,284 student-athletes who have already earned their undergraduate degrees and will be playing college football this fall while pursuing second diplomas. This season marks the fourth year the NFF has compiled the list of graduated players

Just four years ago, the total number was under 1,000. Nearly 2,000 of them are among the 100+ schools of the FBS.  Illinois had 29, Baylor has 28.

DETROIT

WR BRESHARD PERRIMAN leaves Detroit with $2 million in Ford Firestone cash and no games played.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

Despite the Detroit Lions owning the thinnest receiver corps in the NFL, Breshad Perriman couldn’t make it through final cuts.

The Lions released Perriman on Monday as the team gets down to its final 53-man roster ahead of Tuesday’s deadline, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reports, per a source informed of the decision.

ESPN first reported the news. The team later confirmed Perriman’s release, along with nine other cuts.

It marks the first big swing-and-miss for new Lions GM Brad Holmes, who guaranteed $2 million of Perriman’s $2.5 million contract. While it’s a miss on the market, at least Detroit’s new brass didn’t compound the mistake by hanging on to a player who clearly wasn’t one of the best 53 simply because of the deal. With plenty of cap space, the Lions will eat the $2 million and move on.

Perriman struggled to separate himself in the NFL’s worst receiver corps. His two ugly drops in the preseason finale — when he was playing for a roster spot while most starters sat — sealed his fate.

The former first-round pick has struggled throughout his career. Aside from a 645-yard season in 2019 with Tampa Bay, it’s been a string of disappointments since being selected No. 26 overall by Baltimore in 2015. Perriman has speed to burn, but drops and poor route running have plagued him throughout his career.

Perriman is the son of former Lions receiver Brett Perriman, who compiled 5,244 yards and 25 TDs with the club in the 1990s (including back-to-back 1,000-plus-yard campaigns in ’95-’96). Detroit hoped it could recapture that magic by signing Breshad. Alas, it didn’t work out.

NEW YORK GIANTS

Spurned as the Giants GM, Louis Riddick of ESPN takes a shot at GM Dave Gettleman that is perhaps deserved (as noted by Peter King):

“The offensive line has been mismanaged in epic proportions. They had their pick of every single offensive lineman in the draft last year, and they picked Andrew Thomas, who was by far the worst one.”

—Monday Night Football analyst Louis Riddick, on ESPN. Riddick was interviewed for the job Dave Gettleman got as Giants’ GM, and Gettleman’s the man who picked Thomas.

To refresh your memory, here are the four “great” offensive tackle prospects of the 2020 draft and where they went:

4        New York Giants        Andrew Thomas         OT       Georgia

10        Cleveland                    Jedrick Wills                OT       Alabama

11        New York Jets            Mekhi Becton              OT       Louisville

13        Tampa Bay                 Tristan Wirfs                OT       Iowa

The DB has been thinking about this recently.  Buccaneers GM Jason Licht looks like a genius for taking Wirfs who was exceptional in 2020.  But, we don’t know what Licht would have done if he was picking at 4 and had to choose from the 4 like Gettleman did.

The DB’s sources say Licht really did like Wirfs as much, maybe more, than the other three.  But as a practical matter, all he did was let the other three teams choose for him.

We know that Thomas is a profound disappointment.

What about Wills?  This was a 2020 review from Chad Porto of Factory of Sadness:

First Round: Jedrick Wills

Grade: C

Jedrick Wills was not a top-10 draft pick this year. Maybe he played like a first-rounder, but there were at least four linemen who were drafted after him that played better than him. So it’s hard to say he played above average. He’s an absolute upgrade over Greg Robinson, absolutely but anyone who’s paying attention would admit that he played average football as a rookie. That doesn’t mean the Browns should replace him. That doesn’t mean he can’t get better. It just means that as a rookie, he did not play up to the expectations of a Top-10 NFL Draft pick. Something made even worse by how well Tristan Wirfs played in Tampa Bay.

All that criticism aside, he has shown to be capable in all the facets of the game, so he’s not a bust by any means. He just has to do better next year to really justify his draft stock. After all, Ezra Cleveland had a better season and he didn’t get drafted until the second round.

As for Becton – this from Paul A Esden, Jr. of Heavy.com:

The first choice of the Joe Douglas era as the New York Jets general manager was Mekhi Becton No. 11 overall in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft.

He immediately stepped in and was inserted as the blindside protector. The raw power, talent, and size were evident from day one.

Becton played in 14 games as a rookie, starting 13 of them, but there were several games that he was in and then was later knocked out of due to a variety of injuries.

Despite the missed time, the 22-year old was still featured among the top 10 offensive tackles heading into 2021 according to a panel of over 50 league executives, scouts, and coaches.

The talented former first-rounder isn’t resting on his laurels, he’s trying to take his game to another level.

Becton works with highly regarded offensive line guru Duke Manyweather of OL Masterminds. They first started working together back in December of 2019.

It would be easy for Becton to just say screw it, I’m bigger than everyone else and I’ll lean on that. Instead, he has continued to grind on top of his God-given ability.

“I’ve been working with him every day Monday through Friday,” Becton on working with Manyweather. “Duke is going to work you to death but he’s going to love you at the same time.”

Obviously, Becton is ridiculously talented, but these coaches are working with him from the ground up:

Hips

Core strength

Stability

In addition to this special care, Becton has also committed to physical therapy, something he didn’t believe in much during his collegiate career.

That killer instinct mentality is displayed throughout his collegiate tape at Louisville and it’s especially apparent throughout his rookie season. Normally when you’re talking about offensive linemen on SportsCenter it’s a bad thing, but in Becton’s case, he kept creating unique highlight reels we have never seen before.

Over the last few months, the former first-rounder has dealt with a variety of injuries including plantar fasciitis and most recently a concussion.

The fasciitis was taken care of well ahead of training camp and he was a full participant. While this past week Becton had a helmet-to-helmet hit which caused some dizziness and vomiting which ultimately took him out of the final practice of training camp vs the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.

Becton put out on Thursday morning via Instagram, “I’ll be good and ready to go” likely for Week 1 vs the Carolina Panthers.

The big man is big-time excited to play for first-year Jets head coach Robert Saleh saying “he brings energy to this building and that’s something we really needed.”

In terms of his goals for 2021, Becton has his eyes set on superstardom:

“I want to get All-Pro everything, Pro Bowl, get my quarterback Zach Wilson Rookie of the Year. He’s a great quarterback man, Wilson does things that make you say, how did he just do that? I just can’t wait for the world to see it honestly. I’m excited for him.”

Although his expectations for himself pail in comparison to Duke Manyweather’s expectations for Becton:

“Mekhi’s main motivation is proving the doubters wrong. Becton is a special player and in terms of his trajectory over the next four to five years I really want to see him become the most dominant linemen in the NFL. That’s truly up to Mekhi because he definitely has the potential to be the best ever.”

So, if there were a draft do-over just 16 months later, the order would be exactly reversed based on 2020 results – Wirfs, Becton (2^nd due to durability concerns), Wills and Thomas.

We’ve been thinking about this because of the five rookie quarterbacks with Bill Belichick sitting there and settling for the last MAC JONES.

TREVOR LAWRENCE, Jaguars

ZACH WILSON, Jets

TREY LANCE, 49ers

JUSTIN FIELDS, Bears

MAC JONES, Patriots

That’s how they came off the board.  What will their prospects look like a year from now?  Five years from now.  We would note that Lance and Fields should have asterisks as they cost the teams that drafted them a significant haul to move up.  The 49ers could have also had Fields or Jones without trading up.  The Bears could probably have had Jones if they stood pat.  Lance and Fields have to be better than Jones.

WASHINGTON

Fresh off a thumping from the Ravens, QB RYAN FITZPATRICK is named by a member of the national media, as expected, as the Week One starter.  Bryan Manning of USA TODAY:

Well, it’s finally official—sort of. On Sunday, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Ryan Fitzpatrick would be the starting quarterback for the Washington Football Team in 2021.

@RapSheet

One important QB note: The Washington Football Team will start QB Ryan Fitzpatrick in Week 1 and going forward, I’m told. This has been obvious by the way the WFT preseason played out, though it was never announced. But it will be Fitz under center.

This is obviously no surprise. But don’t expect head coach Ron Rivera to make an official announcement anytime soon.

Fitzpatrick signed a one-year contract in March to compete for the starting job with Taylor Heinicke. While Heinicke received plenty of reps throughout training camp, it was always clear this was Fitzpatrick’s team in 2021.

Washington just completed its preseason with a 37-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday. Rivera chose to sit all of his starters in the game to avoid injuries.

Fitzpatrick played in two preseason games, playing around two full quarters of play.  He completed 12 of 21 passes for 151 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

Washington’s first-team offense did not score a touchdown in its brief time on the field together in the preseason. However, in both of his starts, Fitzpatrick appeared to already have a solid rapport with tight end Logan Thomas and wide receivers Terry McLaurin and Adam Humphries.

Washington is set to open the regular season on Sept. 12 against the Los Angeles Chargers at FedEx Field.

So if Ian Rapoport tweets it, it is as good as “official.”

NEW ORLEANS

The Saints are safely in Dallas – but their stadium is still in New Orleans, condition unknown after Hurricane Ida passed nearby.  Peter King checks the options for September 12 with the Packers:

When Katrina hit 16 years ago, the Superdome was damaged and the Saints had to spend the season on the road, playing in Baton Rouge and San Antonio. New Orleans has but two home games before Halloween this year—Sept. 12 against Green Bay, Oct. 3 against the Giants. If the team has to play away from home because of the effects of Ida, the league makes sure there are alternate sites for every game in case of emergency. A couple of points to make on this: The NFL wouldn’t move the Sept. 12 game to Lambeau Field for competitive reasons, giving the Pack home-field advantage in such a significant game. And with prospective sites like Indianapolis, Detroit, Houston and Atlanta all unavailable because those teams are home on the 12th, the vacancy at AT&T Stadium in Texas that day might make it the best alternative sight. It’s too early to seriously consider Packers-Saints at Jerryworld in Week 1, but it’s certainly in the back of minds at the NFL this morning.

• You might also wonder whether the league might try to reschedule the game to later in the season through the juggling of bye weeks. That’s highly unlikely. The NFL worked hard to make the Week 1 schedule very strong, to kick off the season with strong ratings. On Sept. 9, Dallas-Tampa leads the season and should do huge numbers. On Sept. 12, Pittsburgh-Buffalo is the marquee 1 p.m. game, Green Bay-New Orleans (FOX) and Cleveland-Kansas City (CBS) strong late-window games, with the Bears-Rams Sunday night and Ravens-Raiders Monday night good draws. The last thing the NFL would do is take Packers-Saints off FOX, barring unforeseen events.

– – –

Peter King:

When Sean Payton married Skylene Montgomery in Mexico in June, the officiant was former NBA guard and coach and friend-of-the-groom Avery Johnson.

This seems to be old news, but here is more info from back in June:

Montgomery hails from West Virginia and is a former Miss West Virginia winner, having won the competition in 2008. Per nola.com, Saints owner Gayle Benson was in on the surprise marriage proposal, and even helped Payton by staging the private party as Montgomery’s 35th birthday party. Payton and Montgomery currently live together in the Uptown area of New Orleans, Louisiana, in a beautiful 6,000-square foot mansion.

Montgomery earned a nursing degree from West Virginia University and moved to New Orleans in 2013, where she began working at Ochsner Medical Center. Payton and Montgomery first met at a Saints game, when the team traveled to face the Panthers while Montgomery was living in Charlotte. Things kicked off and the couple is due to be wed in March of 2021.

TAMPA BAY

The DB will be interested in seeing what happens with RB LEONARD FOURNETTE.

Fournette was good in the postseason, but an unproductive pain to the coaches for much of the regular season.  RB RONALD JONES played, and played well, with the regulars during the dress rehearsal part of the Week 3 preseason game.  Fournette was nowhere to be seen, which is what you do with a savvy vet who might see the end is near and an injury would be helpful.

RB GIOVANI BERNARD was brought in to take snaps away from the holdovers as a third down back.  Second year man KE’SHAWN VAUGHN was given every chance to impress in the preseason, but did not (35 carries, 74 yards, 2.1 average, long of 7).

So Vaughn, Fournette or door number 3 (a cut from another team)?

SAN FRANCISCO

Here is how Matthew Berry of ESPN.com reads the 49ers backfield:

49ers RB Raheem Mostert played all ten snaps on the first drive with the starters before Trey Sermon eventually took over. I still like selecting both Mostert and Sermon in drafts because of Sermon’s late season surge potential and how much this offense will run, but Mostert will be the lead out of the gate.

As for quarterback, will TREY LANCE be an uber-Taysom Hill in 2021.  Peter King thinks so:

I think now we can see Kyle Shanahan’s plan for the 49er quarterback brigade early. Looks like he’s going to do something everyone in the NFL says can’t work—regularly shuffle quarterbacks in and out of the game. The only coach who’s done it recently is Sean Payton, and the use of Taysom Hill as a change-of-pace QB in New Orleans was largely successful. The Saints will continue to go with that—I think—with Jameis Winston the starter and Hill making cameos to play with the defense. Jimmy Garoppolo looks like he’ll start, with Trey Lance coming in and not just to do the kind of athletic things you’d expect of a different style quarterback. Shanahan has to think that a defense will have some issues preparing for two quarterbacks. “You could tell it’s tough on them,” Garoppolo said after the Niners beat the Raiders using both quarterbacks Sunday. “That’s what we were trying to do.” It’ll be fun watching that in real time at Detroit in the 49ers’ season opener.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

This is the stuff Peter King is good at – recreating the sudden debut of rookie QB JUSTIN HERBERT.  As you may remember, the Chargers medical staff punctured the lung of the intended Week 2 starter TYROD TAYLOR just a few minutes prior to kickoff with the Chiefs:

“It was maybe 15 to 20 seconds before kickoff,” Herbert told me. “I said, ‘All right.’ I didn’t have to worry about anything. You just go out there. We were about to receive the kickoff. I needed to get the plan [for the first series]. I needed to get my helmet. There were things that needed to happen really quickly. It kind of started spreading throughout the sideline. I remember Joey came up to me—Joey Bosa—slapping me on the shoulder. He said, ‘All right, it’s time to go. It’s up to you now.’ I remember thinking like, ‘Oh, it’s my turn. I get to go out there and play football now.’

“When I got to the huddle, I don’t think any of [the offensive players] knew what was going on. [Tight end] Hunter Henry, when he saw me out there, he gave me a look and almost said, ‘What are you doing out here?’ I just called the play and I said, ‘We’re gonna run the play. I’m gonna hand it off and we’re gonna get five yards.’ That’s kind of how it went down.”

Austin Ekeler got nine. On the next, another Ekeler run, and another gain of nine. Then a pass, incomplete, to Keenan Allen.

 “I remember my first pass was to Keenen and I sailed it over his head. I was so excited I threw it probably 10 feet above his head. He came back to the huddle and he said, ‘Okay, calm down now. You got it out of your system.’ We come back and ended up completing a protection little check release to Josh Kelley for about 40 or 50 yards. I flipped the protection [to the left] and that’s kind of when I was like, Calm down, figure it out. It’s football. Maybe we can do this thing.

The swing pass to Kelley, also playing his first NFL game, gained 35. Man, nothing to this game. Easy stuff.

“No one on the Chiefs said anything,” Herbert said. “It was really quiet, especially with no fans out there, either.”

Under pressure, Herbert made a precocious back-shoulder throw to Ekeler, getting the Chargers inside the 5-yard line. Then, from the KC 4 on third-and-goal, the call from offensive coordinator Shane Steichen came into his helmet. First option, a pass to Kelley in the right flat. Second option, a pass to tight end Anderson in the back of the end zone. Both covered. With KC defensive end Mike Danna in traffic with Kelley to the right and no other defender in sight, Herbert took off. “It wasn’t supposed to be scripted up like that,” Herbert said. “[Danna] sunk, so I just took it in.”

Herbert’s a modest kid. He mostly stays off social media, figuring it can’t help him in any way. When he thinks back to that September day in the SoFi echo chamber, the memories are good, despite the overtime loss. Herbert: 311 passing yards, 94.4 rating. Patrick Mahomes: 302 yards, 90.9 rating. He understands pretty well that he’ll have a good story to tell his kids one day.

“It was a pretty weird introduction to the NFL,” Herbert said.

No one in the stands back in good old 2020.

BALTIMORE

Peter King on the injury to RB JK DOBBINS and the culture of the Ravens:

Worst-case scenario.

The worst case was realized after an MRI on Sunday. J.K. Dobbins tore his ACL on Saturday night when his left knee hyperextended inward; per Mike Garofolo of NFL Network, the damage might be more than just the ACL. Dobbins is gone for the year. It’s likely no contending team suffered a bigger injury in August than the Ravens did in losing Dobbins for the year, and it left GM Eric DeCosta perusing the running-back market (Houston’s Phillip Lindsay? Indy’s Nyheim Hines?) or thinking the Ravens can survive with roster-depth powerback Gus Edwards and youngsters Ty’Son Williams and Justice Hill. The Ravens were deep in personnel meetings Sunday trying to figure it all out. And DeCosta, the wearer of ANALYZE MORE NEVER GUESS, was likely leaning in part on his burgeoning analytics team to help him decide. My guess: Baltimore will stand pat, because of its faith in Edwards, and because Williams has opened eyes throughout camp.

Crucial players disappear. That’s life in the NFL. My story out of Baltimore was going to be how the Ravens always seem to figure it out. They’re never bad. They went 5-11 in 2015; that’s John Harbaugh’s only losing season out of 13. They have to be good every year to compete with the Steelers, who are just as impressive. (Regular-season and playoff wins from 2011-20: Baltimore 104, Pittsburgh 104.)

Now it’s up to DeCosta (the Ravens are 26-9 since he took the GM reins from Ozzie Newsome two years ago) and Harbaugh to be sure the Dobbins injury doesn’t derail their hopes for the season.

Every year I’ve been at Ravens’ camp, the drill is similar. I look out on the field and see two or three vet free-agents, or vets acquired in trade, dropped out of the sky onto a contending team. This year, there are four newbies: right tackle Alejandro Villanueva, right guard Kevin Zeitler, wide receiver Sammy Watkins and pass-rusher Justin Houston. As a class, that’s a pretty impressive foursome. Near the end of my time with Harbaugh, he nodded to a trio of players walking off the field behind me: Houston and two young front-seven players.

“Justin’s teaching ‘em,” Harbaugh said. “How great is that?”

Houston’s agent, Joel Segal, called DeCosta a couple of times after Houston’s time in Indianapolis ended last winter. DeCosta told Segal the Ravens just didn’t have the cap money to go after Houston. Make an offer, Segal said. I don’t want to insult a guy who will be a Hall of Fame candidate one day, DeCosta said. Meanwhile, cornerback Marcus Peters, one of Houston’s good friends, texted DeCosta in all-caps one day: JUSTIN HOUSTON. Finally, DeCosta told Segal he’d make an offer. One year, $2 million. DeCosta felt almost embarrassed, and for a player coming off a two-year, $18-million deal in Indy, the offer was a major comedown. Houston settled for a year and $2.075 million. He just wanted to play for the Ravens.

That’s one benefit for Harbaugh and this team: Even when the money’s relatively low, vets with something left still want to come. “I always try to make sure guys understand, Hey, this is what you’re getting into. These are our standards. This is what we believe in. This is our world view,” Harbaugh said. “These guys tell us they know, they’ve talked to our guys and they know. That makes me feel good, that our guys are saying good things about our program.”

Harbaugh credits Bisciotti for setting the stage; Bisciotti watches tape of draft prospects so when he sits in on draft discussions he can understand why DeCosta is high and low on various players. It’s hard to give a Cliff’s Notes explanation of the Ravens’ pursuit of excellence, but Harbaugh tried:

“I think it’s just a relentless persistence in everything you do, all the time, to be as good as you can be. Whether it’s scheme—we’re never satisfied with our scheme—or how we teach our scheme to make sure our players understand what we’re trying to get accomplished.

“We try not to live in a world of gray. We live in a world of black and white when we teach. We tell players, This is what we want you to do. This is what we want it to look like. Crystal clear. Every play we run, every defense we call, every special-teams rep we take. What stems from that is a real clear vision in terms of what type of players you have, what the roles are. And you try to get the type of players that fit those roles. Then the other piece is the type of personality, character, work ethic that fits what’s gonna be expected. It’s gonna be a lot of work. You come here, you know you’re gonna work. It’s gonna be football-based. We get guys who embrace that.”

The other part of the Ravens I’ve always thought was important is this: Most teams get apoplectic when big-money players reach free agency and it looks like they might leave. The Ravens almost welcome it. Huge contracts elsewhere for players like C.J. Mosley, Za’Darius Smith, Matthew Judon and Yannick Ngakoue mean savings for the Ravens cap, plus Compensatory Draft Picks. The Ravens lead the league in those extra draft choices over the past 20 years. Harbaugh, Newsome and DeCosta have thick skin, and they can take the sky-is-falling fan sentiment when big vets leave; they know it’s part of a smart circle of life in the NFL.

That doesn’t make days like Sunday any better for earnest people like Dobbins, who provided a huge boost for the offense last year as his workload increased. The Ravens have been worn down this summer by soft-tissue injuries to key offensive weapons Marquise Brown, Sammy Watkins, Miles Boykin and Rashod Bateman. Now the biggest injury of them all. Days before his season ended at FedEx Field, Dobbins was smiling about his professional fate. “Coming here was God’s way of calming me down and letting me know I’m in the right place,” Dobbins said.

There will be time to consider everything else with this story, particularly what erasing a potential hugely productive season will do for a back scheduled to earn $870,000 in the second year of a four-year second-round deal. But a bright prospect with a starry season ahead of him on a likely playoff team is done in August, and it stinks. Just another reminder how unforgiving the NFL can be.

HOUSTON

The Texans need to be sharp to make up for the disastrous decisions of the Bill O’Brien Era.  But his successors aren’t off to a good start.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

At a time when the Texans are trying to drive a hard bargain for quarterback Deshaun Watson, they definitely did not do that for defensive end Shaq Lawson.

After trading for Lawson in March (he came from the Dolphins for linebacker Bernardrick McKinney), the Texans restructured Lawson’s contract, converting more than $7 million in 2021 compensation to a signing bonus. They ultimately got a sixth-round pick for their trouble.

The $7 million write-off for a sixth-round pick comes at a time when the Texans must choose between taking what they can get for Watson now or paying him $10.54 million this year in the hopes of getting more in the offseason. Whatever happens with Watson, the fact that the Texans gave Lawson $7 million in March and then dumped him for a sixth-round pick only five months later underscores that they erred in trading for him and, more importantly, in paying him.

That said, it’s always better for a team to admit a mistake. Doubling down in the hopes of concealing a blunder never makes things any better. But it definitely was a blunder. Draft picks are valuable, but $7 million is a lot to pay in 2021 for what became a sixth-round pick in 2022.

Here’s the question — with $7 million already burned up on a player who won’t be on the team in 2021, will that make the Texans less inclined to pay Watson $10.54 million to not play? If so, that points toward a deal getting done for less than three first-round picks and two second-round picks.

JACKSONVILLE

Here is how Matthew Berry of ESPN.com reads the Jaguars backfield:

In the Jags backfield, James Robinson (10 snaps) and Carlos Hyde (8 snaps) split playing time with Lawrence and the starters. If you’re aggressively drafting Robinson post Travis Etienne-injury you are going to find yourself screaming at Hyde on your television a lot this fall.

Hyde, we remind ourselves, played successfully for Urban Meyer at The Ohio State.

BUFFALO

Peter King misses the big story with this report on Bills WR ISAIAH McKENZIE:

“They got me! @NFL you win!” That was the Tweet from Buffalo receiver Isaiah McKenzie, posting the letter he received from the NFL, informing him he would be fined for not wearing a mask at the Buffalo training facility. As an unvaccinated player (according to the NFL’s letter), McKenzie must wear a mask at all times while in the facility. The fine schedule, per league Covid rules, means McKenzie will be out $14,650.

McKenzie’s 2021 compensation: $990,000.

Interesting how (apparently) cavalier a person can be for losing 1.5 percent of his total compensation for the season, just for not wearing a mask. If you knew you’d be getting fined $14K for not wearing one, and you weren’t raking in $15 million a year, wouldn’t you just wear the mask?

What King missed is that McKenzie has now abandoned his beliefs in the face of the economic pressure imposed and, literally, taken one for the team.  Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com:

Two days after being fined by the NFL for violating its COVID-19 protocol, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie received his first vaccine shot.

McKenzie shared a photo of his vaccine card Saturday on an Instagram story prior to the Bills’ 19-0 win over the Green Bay Packers in both teams’ final preseason game. He was fined $14,650 on Thursday for repeatedly not wearing a mask in the team facility, as is required for unvaccinated players.

His short video showing his vaccination card was captioned, “For the greater good.”

MIAMI

Charles Robinson of YahooSports.com has floated a rumor that the Dolphins are seeking QB DESHAUN WATSON:

@CharlesRobinson

Thread. Sources tell @yahoosports the #Dolphins have emerged as the frontrunner in trade discussions with the #Texans for QB Deshaun Watson. The Texans are seeking 3 first-round picks and 2 second-round picks in negotiations, according to a team that dropped out of trade talks.

@CharlesRobinson

Sources said the #Panthers, #Broncos and #Eagles were also in some element of trade consideration, but Watson’s contractual right to approve the trade destination – which was signed off on by Houston ownership in his last extension – has weighed heavily in trade opportunities.

@CharlesRobinson

Sources said teams have angled for pick protections in any trade, to mitigate a potential #NFL suspension or criminal prosecution tied to ongoing investigations by the FBI, Harris County prosecutor and Houston PD, into sexual assault allegations from multiple women.

Peter King ponders:

I think the only thing about the Deshaun Watson-might-get-traded story that makes even a little bit of sense (but not much) is that this could be the time to do it—now, as teams trims their rosters to 53 by 4 p.m. Tuesday, and the Texans really want to clear Watson off their decks to rid themselves of a headache and a player they’re sure won’t be their long-term quarterback. (Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported the Dolphins are front-runners for Watson.) But trading Watson, and trading for Watson, is not smart now, at all, unless the Texans accept a conditional trade based on the legal case Watson is going through. I doubt they would. That would be a clear sign of desperation, and they’d never get max value for Watson by putting a deadline of, say, Tuesday on it. The problems:

• For Miami, imagine dealing for Watson now and coach Brian Flores facing Tua Tagovailoa for the first time after the trade—if he faced him at all; I’m assuming Tagovailoa would be part of any trade for a quarterback. After months of the team saying “Tua’s our guy,” they’d play Week 1 of his first full season knowing Tua’s not their guy, and with whoever (Jacoby Brissett, I assume) taking the first snap while, presumably, Watson waits out his legal case. Again, a guess. It’s a total unknown what the league would do with Watson before his 22 sex-assault cases are adjudicated.

• It would be the ultimate in franchise impatience, giving up on a quarterback the team anxiously picked fifth overall just 16 months ago. The Dolphins would be held up as the example of how NOT to draft and train and play a young quarterback. Plus, assuming the pricetag would be at least three first-round picks, that would mean the Dolphins would have invested four first-round picks and probably something else for a quarterback with police investigations hanging over his head.

• I will give Flores and GM Chris Grier this little wiggle room. Say they’ve watched Tagovailoa throughout the offseason and aren’t 100-percent sold, and they know if they can withstand the storm of an ugly 2021 with a totally pissed-off quarterback and a locker room looking at them crosseyed, the pain of today (and perhaps some significant demonstrations locally) will eventually dissipate. And they’ll have a top quarterback, whenever he’s able to play. Assuming Watson continues to be a great player, the Dolphins will have paid a total ransom but finally have fixed the position that has haunted them since the retirement of Dan Marino. I don’t agree with this, but as I say, I’m not inside their offices either.

• I have no idea what the outcome of Watson’s legal morass is going to be. But the interested teams can’t know either. Can any team that would trade for Watson be absolutely sure he’s not going to prison? How? Can any team be sure they know what the possible league sanction of Watson will be? And would you trade three ones for a player if you were fairly sure he wouldn’t play for your team till 2023—and that he might be tarnished significantly whenever he puts on the uniform?

• I would far, far, far rather risk losing out on Watson than trade for him now, with so much unknown, and with the future being dangerously murky. With all that being said, desperate teams do desperate things. I doubt anything happens with Watson, but then again I’m not inside the walls of the Dolphins, Eagles, Panthers or Broncos either.

Like King, the DB keeps hearing the Texans want three first-round picks for a guy with deep legal issues that hint at a fundamental problem with his mental makeup.  Really?

Coach Brian Flores doesn’t exactly deny the Dolphins’ interest.  Josh Alper ofProFootballTalk.com:

That report was followed by another one that said the Dolphins balked at the asking price for Watson and the links with Miami led to a question for Dolphins head coach Brian Flores after Sunday’s preseason finale. Flores said “reports, speculation are not things we really get into” and that any discussions the team has about personnel will remain internal.

“I am very confident in Tua,” Flores said, via Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post. “He has done a lot of good things. He has played well. My conversations with a player are going to remain between me and that player.”

Flores was asked later in the press conference if the team has interest in Watson and said he is “interested in the players that are on our team.” Watson is not one of those players at the moment, which leaves Tagovailoa as the man leading the offense into Week One’s game against the Patriots.

THIS AND THAT

PETER KING’S TOP 10 PEOPLE (SORT OF) FROM TRAINING CAMP

From Peter King’s Training Camp Review:

Ten Most Impressive People I Saw

1. L.A. Rams QB Matthew Stafford. One week into camp, when I saw him, it was clear by how confident he was and how comfortable his mates already were with him that Stafford’s got a grip on this team.

2. Dallas LB Micah Parsons. Mike McCarthy’s not one to gush about rookies, but he gushed about Parsons to me, saying he’d made at least one impact play in every practice so far and would have a significant role in the D early.

3. Buffalo WR Jake Kumerow. Aaron Rodgers was right.

4. New Orleans QB Jameis Winston. As I always say about visiting camps, it’s ridiculous to draw a conclusion based on one practice, but the one I saw in the Superdome, capped by a Winston-to-Chris Hogan TD bomb in the two-minute drill, was an A for Winston.

5. Pittsburgh TE Pat Freiermuth. What mitts on this guy, as he showed in picking two balls out of the sky from Ben Roethlisberger for TDs against Detroit.

6. The KC offensive line. (LT Orlando Brown, LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Lucas Niang.) None were on Kansas City’s 53-man roster last year and now Patrick Mahomes says, “The biggest surprise—I don’t want to say surprise—is the chemistry they’ve built quickly.”

7. Indianapolis QB Sam Ehlinger. Might have a significant knee injury now, but when I saw the sixth-round rookie from Texas, the game was absolutely not too big for him.

8. Neighboring customer at Friday’s in Terminal T, Atlanta airport. Overwhelmed wait staff, long wait for service and for food because Covid has left so many places struggling for employees . . . and this guy, totally unbothered, left a $10 tip for his $19 bill and when I remarked on his patience said, “We’re all in this together.”

9. Chicago coach Matt Nagy. He intends to play in-demand rookie quarterback Justin Fields when he’s ready and not soon, and told me, “We want this to be something that lasts 15 years, not two years.”

10. Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger. He looks 15 pounds lighter and, playing behind a brand-new offensive line, was nimble and strong-armed in the three series I saw against Detroit.

Bonus. Minnesota CB Patrick Peterson. In his first year out of the desert, he looks fluid, fast and much different after losing 10 pounds.

VERMEIL AND BRANCH

Legendary coach Dick Vermeil and Raiders WR Cliff Branch will be enshrined in Canton next summer if the full group of Hall of Fame voters approves.

Josh Dubow of The Associated Press:

Three-time All-Pro receiver Cliff Branch and Super Bowl-winning coach Dick Vermeil are finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2022.

Branch is the senior candidate and Vermeil is the nominee in the coaches category picked Tuesday by a five-person committee of Hall of Fame voters. To be elected to the Hall of Fame, Branch and Vermeil must receive 80% of the vote from the entire 49-member selection committee when it meets early next year.

Branch was one of the most dynamic receivers of his era as the speedy deep threat for the Raiders that stretched opposing defenses.

Branch played 14 seasons from 1972-85, ranking in the top five in the NFL in catches (501), yards receiving (8,685) and touchdown catches (67) over that span.

He also played a key role on three Super Bowl champions with 73 catches for 1,289 yards and five TDs in 22 playoff games. Only Jerry Rice, Julian Edelman and Michael Irvin have more yards receiving in the postseason than Branch.

Branch led the NFL in touchdowns twice and eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards twice. He was a first-team All-Pro in 1974, ’75 and ’76.

“He dreamed of this. He wanted this so bad, he could taste it,” Cliff’s sister, Elaine Anderson, said in a call with Hall of Fame President David Baker on Tuesday. “It was all he talked about — when he would go to the Hall of Fame.”

Branch died in 2019 at age 71.

Vermeil won 120 games in the regular season, leading the Philadelphia Eagles (1980) and St. Louis Rams (1999) to Super Bowl appearances. His “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams won the Super Bowl 23-16 over Tennessee.

Vermeil came to the Eagles from UCLA in 1976 and got long-struggling Philadelphia into the playoffs in his third season and Super Bowl two years after that where he lost to Branch and the Raiders 27-10.

He stepped away from coaching following the 1982 season and became a broadcaster before returning to the sideline in 1997 in St. Louis.

He once again quickly revived a downtrodden franchise and delivered the Rams their first Super Bowl title in his third season with one of the most prolific offenses led by Hall of Famers Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce.

He left the Rams after that Super Bowl and finished his coaching career with a five-year stint in Kansas City starting in 2001.

He posted double-digit wins in six of 15 seasons and had a .524 career winning percentage.

“I am overwhelmed. I’m not sure I belong there,” Vermeil said of the Hall of Fame upon hearing the news of his finalist status from Baker. He said the coach committee had his “deepest appreciation and gratitude.”

The selection committee will also consider 15 modern era finalists and one contributor, who will be named on Aug. 31.

Hall of Fame gatekeeper Peter King understands some raised eyebrows, as he responds to a fan’s question:

He thinks the Hall of Fame is lowering its standards. From Brian Sambirsky: “Does Dick Vermeil’s .524 winning percentage merit Hall of Fame consideration? Cliff Branch would be the 10th Raiders player from the 1970s to enter the Hall. How did the Raiders ever lose a game with this team? The Centennial Class seems to have lowered the bar for HOF entry. Is the Pro Football Hall of Fame in jeopardy of a name change to the Hall of Very Good?”

You’re not the only one to ask that, Brian. If Vermeil gets in, that means the last four coaches to be enshrined would be 20th (Bill Cowher), 35th (Vermeil), 44th (Tom Flores) and 63rd (Jimmy Johnson) on the all-time regular-season wins list for coaches. And though there are other aspects to their cases—Johnson as a trailblazing personnel analyst and drafter, which makes his case legitimate—there’s no question those four will make others who haven’t gotten in look more appealing by comparison. Marty Schottenheimer won 80 more games and Dan Reeves 70 more than Vermeil. Schottenheimer was 74 games above .500, Vermeil 11. Should winning one Super Bowl really put Vermeil over both of those coaches? Not to mention the fact that so many more coaches, if we are asked to select one per year, will go in just because the quota has to be filled.

Regarding Branch, I have favored his candidacy. He was so similar to Lynn Swann as a premier deep threat, caught 165 more passes (though virtually the same per game) and earned one fewer Super Bowl ring (Swann four, Branch three). I am sensitive to all the Raiders in the Hall, but I think Branch passes the sniff test to me. What a weapon he was.

But your overall point is correct: Those who have gotten in recently make it far easier for a slew of candidates who were on the border to say they now deserve it.

We are inclined to support Vermeil’s candidacy, although having only 6 winning seasons in 15 was a surprise.

He took over two down-trodden franchises and turned them around, so some negative seasons have to be factored in.  Perhaps more troubling is his self-imposed 15-year gap in coaching in the heart of a normal career (age 46 to 61 with health concerns).

The DB is struck by a comparison with Vermeil and Tony Dungy.  We have always supported Dungy’s place in Canton, both for his record as a coach and the encompassing nature of his place in the game as an African-American with a long coaching and humanitarian legacy.

Still, Dungy did choose to end his coaching career at age 53 after 13 seasons.

Like Vermeil, Dungy also won with two dormant franchises, turning around Tampa Bay before a premature firing after a 9-7 season, then immediately making winners of the Colts.  Like Vermeil, he won a Super Bowl at his second stop.  Like Vermeil, he stayed with the game as a broadcaster when not coaching.

But Dungy had a winning record in 12 of 13 seasons, not 6 of 15.  At 139-69, he is 70 games over .500, not +11.

So we would say, if only one of them belongs in Canton – it is Dungy.

Also worthy of entry in Canton says King, is Buddy Parker – who did not go into a career in television after his retirement like Dungy, Vermeil, John Madden, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Cowher:

My problem with Vermeil’s nomination is the coach who was left out: Buddy Parker. Parker’s continued omission is a black eye for the Hall. Problem is, you don’t know who Buddy Parker is. But you know who Dick Vermeil is. Vermeil had scores of people supporting his case, and many lobbied the five-person coaches committee with entreaties and arguments in favor of his case. I asked one member of the committee how many people lobbied him about Parker. “None,” he said.

This is not a screed against Vermeil, who turned around two flagging franchises and led both to Super Bowls.

Parker turned around two flagging franchises in the fifties and early sixties, Detroit and Pittsburgh, and won two world championships, both against one of the great franchises, Cleveland, and great coaches, Paul Brown, of all time. The Centennial Committee, which was supposed to correct some of the historical injustices of the Hall in the 100th season of professional football, chose to elect two coaches from the last 30 years, which was not the founding idea of the Centennial Committee. Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson were that committee’s picks, with candidates from the first 70 years of NFL history left out.

Let’s have a look at Parker’s credentials. In 15 years coaching the Chicago Cardinals (one year), Detroit Lions (six years) and Pittsburgh Steelers (eight years), he was 104-75-9, and 3-1 in playoff games. Fairly modest compared to modern records.

My pick for the greatest coach of all time is Paul Brown. In the fifties, Brown of Cleveland and Parker of Detroit met five times. Parker was 4-1 in those meetings. Detroit beat the mighty Browns twice in NFL Championship Games. Cleveland beat Detroit once in a title game. Parker’s 4-1 record versus Brown contains one additional positive asterisk for Parker. He quit the Lions a couple of weeks before the 1957 season began, claiming the front office was meddling in his job. George Wilson took over and the Lions beat the Browns in the regular season and routed them in the title game. Like the Dallas team Barry Switzer inherited from Johnson, many in that bygone era thought Parker deserved much of the credit for the ’57 team that beat the Browns twice. Whatever, in the six seasons from 1952 to 1957, the Lions obliterated the best team in football. Detroit was 6-1 against Cleveland in those six years, including 3-1 in championship games.

Then Parker went to Pittsburgh, for the 1957 season and seven more. In the seven seasons prior to Parker’s arrival, the Steelers hadn’t had a winning year. Parker had five winning years in his eight seasons in Pittsburgh. Five years post-Parker in Pittsburgh: 14-53-3.

The Lions have won four titles in their history. Parker coached two, and set up a third in 1957, as coach. To complete the circle, Parker was the most valuable Lion the year they won the 1935 championship over the Giants, rushing for a touchdown and as a two-way player intercepting a pass as a defensive back. So Parker’s fingerprints are all over every one of the four championships the Detroit Lions have ever won.

Many things about football back in the day simply don’t match up with modern-day football. It’s impossible to think of a coach of a championship team quitting that team days before the following season began. And you wouldn’t think that Bill Belichick would be the best player on a championship team years before he became a coach. That’s why, when considering candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, you compare candidates with players and coaches from their era. It’s just sad that a man like Buddy Parker, certainly not a slam dunk for the Pro Football Hall of Fame but obviously an excellent candidate, will be on the outside, with no one knocking on the door for him, in 2022.

Dick Vermeil did a tremendous job. He turned around the moribund Eagles and the lousy Rams with the power of positive thinking, a master’s motivation, and an early bend toward analytics. He brought the Eagles to one Super Bowl and then won one in St. Louis. So, even though he had seven losing seasons in 15 years as a head coach, his career is worth debate in the Hall of Fame room.