STATE OF ATTENDANCE

The Cowboys have become the 4^th NFL team, joining Miami, Jacksonville and Kansas City, to say there will be some fans in attendance for all home games in 2020 as the Covid-19 virus recedes across the country.

The two Ohio teams seem hopeful that they can soon get clearance from the State of Ohio where high school football is thriving and Ohio State is fuming at the Big Ten.

Florida’s other team, the Buccaneers, have yet to make a declaration, although Raymond James Stadium co-tenant USF has punted fans from its first game, scheduled for the week prior to the Buccaneers home opener.

Most other teams seem leery of early season fans, either due to governmental edict or their own caution, with the Las Vegas Raiders the only team that seems to have crossed a Big Ten Rubicon with a season-long no fans decision that is incapable of being re-visited.

STATE OF SOUND

Peter King:

On TV, fanless games will sound just like you’re watching games with a packed house. How? Through using four years of audio curated by NFL Films from every venue in the league. “Texans-Colts, CBS, Lucas Oil Stadium—we’ll have authentic audio from Lucas Oil from the last four seasons to plug in,” said NFL director of broadcasting Onnie Bose. Inside the venue? Still a work in progress.

How the game will sound. Teams doing scrimmages this weekend—the Rams, Eagles, others—experimented with different volumes in-stadium. The Competition Committee will have to determine the decibel levels that can be used while games are being played, but rest assured that there will be some sort of low hum consistently inside the venues. The league doesn’t want to make it easy for teams to find patterns’ in opponents verbal signals and cadences. “There’s got to be an audible hum of some sort,” one GM told me. “There can’t be silence. There’s too much teams can learn from each other if there’s no noise and you hear everything they’re saying.”

On TV, as Onnie Bose told about the NFL Films curated sound, the goal is to make Lions-Packers at Lambeau Field in 2020 in Week 2 sound similar to Lions-Packers at Lambeau in Week 6 last year. “We’ve hired an audio engineer in every market,” Bose said. “Of course, it’s one of those things you never expect to have to do, but the pandemic has forced us to innovate. And NFL Films is not only great at the pictures—they’re great at collecting authentic audio.” In each venue, the audio engineers will make the sound available to TV crews. A first down by the home team may generate a modest cheer, a takeaway a bigger cheer, and a touchdown a bigger one than either—and a turnover a groan, or whatever a groan sounds like. The audio will be taken from actual plays in that stadium from the last four seasons.

It’s still being determined what, if any, added sound will be used on TV or in-stadium for venues that are allowing fans.

STATE OF PROTEST

Peter King indicates the NFL players have watched their brothers and sisters in the NBA, NHL, MLB and WNBA and think they need to activate in the same manner:

About an in-season work stoppage. . . Still too early to tell if the NFL players will follow the NBA or MLB and cause some games to be postponed, though Detroit safety Duron Harmon tells me: “Nothing is off the table.” Imagine the impact on the season of players saying one week, for instance, that they’re not playing because of police tactics with Black people.

This report on the mindset of the Cardinals from Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com:

Quarterback Russell Wilson said earlier Friday the Seahawks wouldn’t have played this weekend if there were games scheduled. Cardinals nose tackle Corey Peters acknowledged later in the day his team has not ruled out boycotting the season opener.

The Cardinals are scheduled to play at San Francisco on Sept. 13.

“Just in some of our private conversations, there’s been a variety of things that come up, some more extreme than others,” Peters said, via Howard Balzer of SI.com. “But we’ve talked about a wide variety of ways to protest and a boycott in Week One, obviously, that’s something that has been discussed. But I think as far as the next steps, I don’t think we’re there yet. We’re still trying to talk with some of the leaders on the team and trying to figure out what’s the best way to make the biggest impact.

“One thing that I think some guys are concerned about, and I am as well, is I think this is an excellent platform. Look at me right here, sitting here talking to you guys right now about these issues. And I don’t want us to give away our platform to continue to try to fight for change. So I think everything has to be weighed equally. And hopefully we will figure out a solution that is in everybody’s best interest.”

Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries preached patience, cautioning against reacting when emotions are raw.

The NBA has postponed a total of nine games since Wednesday when the Milwaukee Bucks became the first team opting not to play in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer in Wisconsin on Sunday. The NBA will resume play Saturday after the league and its players agreed to work together on several initiatives to promote voting access, combat social injustice and racial inequality and advocate for police reform.

Since Blake’s shooting, though, NFL players have gone from discussing kneeling during the national anthem to sitting out games.

“There’s so many options, and it’s such an emotional time right now that the group of guys that we got in the locker room, we want to make sure that we make a well thought-out choice on whatever we decide to do,” Humphries said. “And show our solidarity as a unit. We don’t want to just jump out there all emotional and have to worry about what comes with it and what we’re not prepared for.

“And then whatever we come out with, we want to be able to be organized and have a plan and something to stick to and understand. (We need) everybody to be on the same page and understand what we’re fighting for so we can continue to move forward and have progress.”

If they do play, the NFL’s position on the issue of policing in America in 2020 will be crystal clear.  Peter King again on the NFL’s conviction there is only one side to the issue:

Looking at a few of the things you probably don’t know headed into the season:

Watching on TV. The game will look different:

• Nike has made a T-shirt that players can wear in pre-game warmups. It’s optional. It’s the brainchild of Saints wideout Michael Thomas. Front: “Injustice against one of us is injustice against all of us.” Back: “End racism.”

• End zones will have “It Takes All Of Us” on one end line, “End Racism” on the other

• Coaches and game officials will be able to wear patches on their cap with the name of a Black victim, or with one of four messages: “It takes all of us,” “Black lives matter,” “End racism,” “Stop hate.”

• Each week the NFL will select one victim’s name and tell the story of that person in and around the games

• As for the helmets, players can choose either a Black name or one of the four preferred phrases offered: “Stop hate,” “It takes all of us,” “End racism,” “Black lives matter.”

• Far and away, expect to see “BREONNA TAYLOR” as the most common victim’s name on the back of helmets.

“So we were at home during the pandemic,” explained NFL senior VP of corporate communications Traci Otey Blunt, “and we saw 8 minutes and 46 seconds of George Floyd dying on TV. We saw Ahmaud Arbery killed on TV. So many of the other Black deaths involving police—Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Walter Scott—we saw but we think, Oh that’s terrible, but now we’ve got another meeting and then we went on to live our busy lives. This year, we haven’t had that option. The pandemic stopped us and made everyone focus on what’s going on in our country.

“The NFL is America’s most-watched sport. We’ve got 77 percent of our players who are African-American. We provide an opportunity for people to get away, but at the same time, this is a human issue. And we think it’s very hard to not support what we’re doing.”

NFC NORTH

MINNESOTA

DE YANNICK NGAKOUE took a drastic paycut to force his way out of JAX.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

Yes, Yannick Ngakoue really, truly, badly wanted out of Jacksonville.

Per multiple reports, the final number of the salary Ngakoue will earn from the Vikings in 2020 comes in at $12 million. That’s a $5.788 million reduction, nearly a third of what he would have made this year if he’d stayed with the Jaguars. (Meanwhile, he wouldn’t have paid state income taxes for his eight home games; he’ll pay 9.85 percent for his eight homes games now. That’s another $591,000.)

Despite the pay cut, the Vikings retain the ability to tag Ngakoue in 2021. He’d either get the base franchise tag for defensive ends, which will drop from $17.788 million if the cap drops, down to a minimum of a 20-percent raise over $12 million, or $14.4 million. That 2021 tag also would become the starting point for a long-term deal.

Coincidentally, or not, Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter currently makes $14.4 million per year. Thus, the Ngakoue haircut will make Hunter less inclined to potentially want more money.

If the deal isn’t officially official, it’s possible that someone will realize that, in return for the $5.788 million haircut, Ngakoue should have greater protection under the franchise tag. If it isn’t officially official, it’s also possible that Ngakoue will realize that, for $5.788 million plus the absence of state income taxes for his home games, he should suck it up for one more year in Jacksonville and then become an unrestricted free agent in little more than six months.

NFC EAST

PHILADELPHIA

It probably isn’t much, but then again it’s QB CARSON WENTZ.  Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philadelphia:

Two weeks before opening day, Carson Wentz missed practice with a lower-body injury.

The Eagles list him as day-to-day.

The Eagles were practicing at the Linc Sunday afternoon, and Wentz was on the sideline watching while Nate Sudfeld and Jalen Hurts took reps at quarterback.

Word around the team as practice went on is that it’s a soft tissue injury, that the Eagles aren’t concerned with Wentz missing any significant amount of time or not being ready for the opener and they’re just being cautious.

But considering Wentz’s injury history, it’s definitely concerning.

Wentz missed a chunk of his rookie training camp with a rib injury he suffered in the first preseason game, but he played all 16 games that year.

He missed the stretch run and postseason in 2017 with a torn ACL and then missed the first two games of 2018 while still recovering from that injury and the last three regular-season games and postseason with a back injury.

He left last year’s playoff game against the Seahawks after suffering a concussion in the first quarter.

When the Eagles did scrimmage they lost their first round draft pick for at least the first game.  Tim McManus of ESPN.com:

Eagles rookie wide receiver Jalen Reagor is expected to miss three to four weeks with a small tear in his shoulder, a league source confirmed.

The injury does not require surgery, the source added, though Reagor is seeking a second opinion.

He was hurt during Sunday’s scrimmage at Lincoln Financial Field, which marked the end of training camp. Reagor’s left arm was extended backward as he tried to tackle safety Will Parks following an interception. He was taken inside after being examined by athletic trainers on the sideline and then underwent an MRI, which revealed the small tear.

And if JASON PETERS is going to protect Wentz at left tackle, he wants more money.  Gary Sheffield, Jr. of Outkick.com:

Like most people, Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive lineman Jason Peters wants compensation for the job he’s preparing to do. He did just that when he reportedly asked his front office for a raise to move to left tackle.

As The Office’s Stanley Hudson would say: Money.

Plenty of Eagles fans are going to be pissed off, but too bad. The frustration is understandable when most people in our country are struggling to stave off a furlough but Peters is not out of line. From his perspective, he’s being asked to move to the most important position on the offensive line and wants credit for the transition.

Moreover, for those that will say “he signed the contract” …. he took that contract because he was being asked to move inside to guard — from tackle — and is now being asked to go back.

He might not get what you ask for, but passing up a raise seems foolish. If any worker has more on their plate than the original job description, asking for a bump in compensation is common sense.

Jason Peters has given everything to the Philadelphia Eagles since they traded for him in April of 2009. He deserves a bump from the $3 million he’s making now to accommodate for the absence of Andre Dillard. He has a few bonuses in his contract like $400,000 for 75% playing time or $1 million for a Super Bowl victory with 90% PT+ First-Team All selection.

It’s not completely clear what Peters wants, but turning some of those bonuses into guarantees is a start. The 38-year-old knows he’s their best option at left tackle and if they want his services to protect a brittle Carson Wentz, pay up.

NFC WEST

SEATTLE

Seahawks DE BRANDEN JACKSON has a season-ending and career-threatening spinal injury.  Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com:

Seahawks defensive end Branden Jackson will not play this season after being knocked unconscious last week. The team placed Jackson on injured reserve Sunday.

Seattle signed defensive end Pita Taumoepenu in a corresponding move.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll explained that doctors recommended Jackson not play this season after discovering a spinal condition with “possibly dangerous” long-term effects. It is unknown what that means for Jackson’s career after this season.

Carroll said Jackson’s situation is similar, if not quite the same, as Kam Chancellor’s and Cliff Avril’s, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times reports. Avril and Chancellor did not play again.

Jackson was knocked unconscious after banging helmets with offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi in an Aug. 22 scrimmage. The mock game ended after Jackson was transported to a local hospital by ambulance.

Jackson, 27, played 36 games with four starts for Seattle the past three seasons. He spent 2016 with the Raiders.

– – –

This from Peter King:

Russell Wilson wants to play football till Pete Carroll is 83. That’s what he tells Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated. Presumably, Carroll will be retired when he’s 83, in 2034, but you never know.

AFC WEST

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

Not good news for the Chargers and their legion of fans.  Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com:

Derwin James began last season on injured reserve with a stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his foot. He returned in Week 13 and started the final five games of the season.

A different injury will start his 2020 season in similar fashion.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports James is “likely to miss significant time” with a meniscus injury to his right knee. He was injured during Sunday’s practice.

James will undergo further medical evaluation, but according to Rapoport, James faces either a meniscus trim, which would sideline him four weeks or so, or a full repair, which would keep him out several months.

As a sophomore at Florida State in 2016, James played only two games while dealing with a torn meniscus and cartilage damage in his knee.

Earl Thomas remains a free agent if the Chargers want to look outside the organization for help. Thomas played in the same system as the Seahawks under defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.

More on the injury from Dr. David Chou of Outkick.com:

Chargers safety Derwin James has suffered a significant preseason injury for the second year in a row. He and his surgeon have a significant decision to make, and one that will affect this season and potentially his career.

After initial speculation of a hamstring injury was proven incorrect, James is said to have a meniscus tear that needs surgery. His return will depend on whether the arthroscopic surgery is a menisectomy (trim) or repair (sewing).

Last year he had a re-fracture of a 5th metatarsal which cost him most of his sophomore season. His delayed return was the exact timeline that was predicted upon injury.

This year has much more variance and it could be significantly better or worse.

If the meniscus is trimmed, James could be back by October. If the cartilage is repaired, he might miss most if not all of this season. The difference relates to healing time to sew the meniscus versus a trim. This is a huge medical distinction, one that media and lay people often confuse. Sometimes it is reported that a meniscus is “fixed” or “repaired” with surgery but the reality is that it was not sewn.

When one mows the lawn (trim), one can play football on the grass very quickly. When one lays new sod (repair), there is healing involved and a longer delay for return to play. Given that a meniscus has little blood flow (a lawn that is not well watered), that makes healing time for a repair longer like grass roots taking longer to grow in on a dry field.

Most players choose trimming for this quick return but that may not be best for him in the long run due to increased risk of arthritis. Sometimes there is not much choice as the tear may not be amenable to sewing. The type of surgery performed will determine the return timeline.

Adrian Peterson is hailed for his fantastic 2012 recovery from ACL surgery where he gained over 2000 yards. However, few remember his tougher 2016 meniscus repair surgery return. After playing the first two games, Peterson had surgery where he missed three months and returned to one game with only six carries. This is reflective of the long road back for a meniscus repair procedure.

AFC SOUTH

HOUSTON

Big money for LB ZACH CUNNINGHAM.  Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle:

The Texans have hammered out a four-year, $58 million contract extension for Pro Bowl alternate inside linebacker Zach Cunningham that averages $14.5 million annually, according to league sources not authorized to speak publicly.

The deal includes $23.5 million fully guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap with $32.5 million guaranteed for injury only.

The Texans rewarded Cunningham with a deal that makes him one of the highest paid inside linebackers in the game after exchanging multiple contract proposals.

Cunningham is represented by Athletes First’s Kyle McCarthy.

Cunningham was entering the four-year, $4.47 million rookie contract that includes $2.06 million guaranteed.

Texans coach and general manager Bill O’Brien previously said that the team intended to extend Cunningham.

“We want Zach on our team,” Texans coach and general manager Bill O’Brien said. We want Zach to be a Texan for a long time, no doubt about it. He’s just a really good player. He’s very instinctive. He’s got good speed.

“He can do a lot of different things within our scheme. He plays on special teams. He’s on the punt team. Really good guy, same guy every day. We think that it would be great if he was with us for a long time.”

O’Brien isn’t exaggerating about Cunningham’s skills and athleticism.

Tall and mobile at 6-3, 235 pounds, Cunningham has run the 40-yard dash in 4.67 seconds with a 35-inch vertical leap. A former consensus All-American and All-Southeastern Conference selection, Cunningham is as fast as some running backs.

“Zach is one of the best football players and linebackers I’ve ever coached or been around,” said Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry, who coached and recruited Cunningham at Vanderbilt. “Zach is off-the-charts. The guy is special. He’s also a great person. He was a joy to coach. He made us look very smart every week. What he’s accomplished in the NFL isn’t surprising to watch. Zach is just that good and he keeps getting better.”

Cunningham led the Texans and the entire AFC last season with 142 tackles along with 10 tackles for losses.

With a hard-hitting style and crisp pursuit angles, Cunningham is a fixture on the Texans’ defense. Cunningham played 87.47 percent (942 total) of the defensive snaps last season.

“I think he’s only gotten better, more instinctive, more explosive,” said Titans coach Mike Vrabel, a former Texans defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. “He can run through you. He can run around you. You see him rarely miss tackles.”

Cunningham led all NFL players in run stop rate, according to Pro Football Focus. One of the few areas Cunningham doesn’t excel at is pass coverage despite his speed and agility.

Because of his angles and speed, though, Cunningham is often able to make up for a mistake or false step and make up lost ground rapidly. He makes a lot of splashy plays.

“He’s very athletic, very instinctive, a really good tackler,” O’Brien said. “He’s made a couple of plays on screen passes where he’s fended off the blocker and been able to push the ball carrier back inside where to where his help is coming from.

“He can play zone coverage. He can play man coverage. He’s a good blitzer. We can use him in a lot of different areas, not just at inside ‘backer. He can do a lot of different things for us. He’s a really, really good football player.”

Cunningham, from Vanderbilt, was a 2^nd round pick in 2017.

Sportrac places the new contract 3^rd among inside/middle linebackers.  Ahead of him are Bobby Wagner of the Seahawks who is worth every penny and CJ Mosley of the Jets who has been ailing or opting out since the Jets signed him.

JACKSONVILLE

Can QB TREVOR LAWRENCE begin making tee times at TPC Sawgrass?

Liz Roscher of YahooSports.com on the release of RB LEONARD FOURNETTE:

The Jacksonville Jaguars have shed their second big-name player in less than two days. On Monday morning the team announced they were releasing running back Leonard Fournette after three seasons, just two weeks before their opening game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Fournette, a first-round pick out of LSU in 2017, had a rocky tenure with the Jags. He never hesitated to criticize the organizations’s moves, and in April he openly criticized quarterback Gardner Minshew while lobbying for the team to sign Cam Newton. He also threatened a Tennessee Titans fan in the stands in 2018, though later said that the fan had shouted racial slurs at him. In April 2019 he was arrested for driving with a suspended license, the result of failing to pay a $204 speeding ticket from the previous November.

Over three seasons, Fournette rushed for 2,631 yards and 17 touchdowns. The Jaguars weren’t able to trade him, but he should get some interest on the open market — especially now that training camp injuries are starting to pile up.

Fournette was set to make just over $4 million this season, the final year of his rookie deal. All of that is fully guaranteed, but according to Ian Rapoport, the Jaguars are attempting to void that part of his contract. Fournette has filed a grievance.

He has a pretty good record in grievances against the Jags, though. In December he got back a $99,000 fine given to him by former head coach Tom Coughlin, who fined him for his conduct while sitting on the bench while inactive during the final game of the 2018 season. The NFLPA also won another grievance against the Jaguars around that time, so at least history is on Fournette’s side

This from Ian Rapoport:

@RapSheet

Got a text from another coach this AM on the #Jaguars: “Doug is trying to clean up the place.” With the up-and-down history with RB Leonard Fournette, Jax moves on. He was due $4M in salary after the team declined his fifth-year option.

Joe Kinsey of Outkick.com puts together a list of possible destinations for Fournette:

So where does Fournette land? Here are five possible landing spots:

Washington Football team: the headline this weekend in the Washington Post read “Questions remain at running back as Washington’s training camp winds down.” Need more proof Washington could be in the market? Adrian Peterson led the team in rushing last year and he’s back. He’s also 35.

Pittsburgh Steelers: James Conner had injury problems (shoulder, knee & thigh) in 2019 and Steelers management. Big Ben’s 38 and coming off elbow surgery. Fournette pounding the football, play defense and take the pressure off Ben standing back there taking shots could be the gameplan running through Mike Tomlin’s head right now.

Atlanta Falcons: Todd Gurley came over from the Rams, but what’s left there after the injuries piled up? Ito Smith spent time on injured reserve in 2019. The Falcons were third-worst in the NFL with 85 yards per game on the ground. Adding Fournette would take the pressure off Gurley, who’s on a one-year, $6 million contract, to have a monster season.

Chicago Bears: David Montgomery suffered a groin injury last week that Outkick’s Dr. Chao addressed and said he doesn’t anticipate it would require surgery. Chao guesses Montgomery would be back sometime in September.

New England Patriots: Would it be shocking for Bill Belichick to sniff around the scrapyard this time of year? Of course not it’s 2020. Buy low, get huge production, keep a stranglehold on the AFC East. Damien Harris, Rex Burkhead and Sony Michel (offseason foot surgery) are already there, but the minute you think Bill’s set is the minute Hoodie swoops in and makes a move your team should’ve made. By now you should just expect it.

As we go to this, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com on the possibility that the Jaguars could still get something for Fournette:

The Jaguars have tried and tried and tried some more to trade running back Leonard Fournette. And they still have more time to try to trade him.

Even though the Jaguars have announced that Fournette, the fourth overall pick in the 2017 draft, has been waived, the move doesn’t become official until 4:00 p.m. ET. The Jaguars can trade him before officially waiving him.

Although coach Doug Marrone has bemoaned the inability of the Jaguars to get anything for Fournette, the news of his release will prompt interested teams to look at the waiver priority and wonder whether they’ll get him, if they make a claim.

Making a waivers claim means paying Fournette $4.167 million for 2020, guaranteed for skill, injury, and cap and with no offset language (the Jaguars and Rams routinely remove offset language from top-10 draft pick contracts). If, as the day unfolds, a team with a need at the position and an interest in Fournette (who had over 1,600 yards from scrimmage last year) decides to make a waivers claim, that team may get nervous about a team higher in the pecking order making a claim, and snagging Fournette.

The easy way to keep that from happening would be to call the Jaguars and offer something/anything. Conditional sixth-round pick. Conditional seventh-round pick. Whatever. It’s more than what Jacksonville will get for waiving him, and it ensures that a team that decides on Monday that it wants Fournette will get him.

It’s happened several times before. A team leaks or announces that a player will be released, and then the team trades the player. It could happen today, as coaches, General Managers, and/or owners begin to take a closer look at Fournette’s body of work, and possibly to conclude that they want him badly enough to offer a late-round pick from a 2021 crapshoot that will be much more crap than shoot.

We are reminded that it has only been 31 months since the Jaguars held a 14-3 lead over the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game with a roster brimming with young talent.

Now – CB JALEN RAMSEY, RB LEONARD FOURNETTE, EDGE DEXTER FOWLER, QB BLAKE BORTLES, DE YANNICK NGGAKOUE, DE CALAIS CAMPBELL and CB A.J. BOUYE and both starting receivers are gone.  Just 12 players remain from that team.

Demetrius Harvey of BigCatCountry.com wrote this prior to Fournette being waived:

Unlike the deal Jadeveon Clowney agreed to in order to facilitate a trade between the Houston Texans and the Seattle Seahawks last season, Ngakoue will reportedly not be granted the promise of being allowed to enter free agency next year, the Vikings will still be able to franchise tag him if they cannot come to a multi-year extension following the season.

A fractured relationship turned ugly, the Jaguars and Ngakoue were never going to come to an agreement, and now he will be for a new team, a new chapter, as he stated in his thoughtful goodbye to the organization.

“It’s evident that my time in Jacksonville is up,” Ngakoue tweeted Sunday. “But I want to say thank you to the organization for making it a home for myself for 4 years, and that I’ll never forget . That chapter is over with now. Nothing lasts forever. But I’m truly excited to start this new chapter! SKOL!”

As for the Jaguars, they will save $17.8M on this year’s salary cap once the trade is made official, which, according to OverTheCap.com, will bring the team’s salary cap space for this season to ~$33,863,012, more than enough to facilitate any deal the team would want to make this year if there is one to be made.

In acquiring a second-round selection from the Vikings for the 2021 NFL Draft, the Jaguars will now have 10 picks to play with next year, including four in the first two rounds.

Below is a breakdown of the Jaguars’ 2021 draft picks:

Two first-round picks (JAX, LAR (via trade, Jalen Ramsey))

Two second-round picks (JAX, MIN (via trade, Yannick Ngakoue))

One third-round pick (JAX)

Two fourth-round picks (JAX, LAR (via trade, Jalen Ramsey))

One fifth-round pick (JAX)

One sixth-round pick (JAX)

One seventh-round pick (JAX)

Since the 2020 NFL Draft, if the Jaguars retain and use all 10 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, the team will have selected 21 players across two years, a clear sign of a rebuilding team. This rebuild has come only just under three years following the team’s AFC Championship game run in 2017.

If Lawrence comes to JAX, who will coach him?  Joe Kinsey of Outkick.com:

Is Dabo Swinney to the Jacksonville Jaguars with Trevor Lawrence in a package deal a possibility in 2021? It’s not out of the question, according to former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum who, speaking today on “Get Up,” said Jacksonville would be a great place to dip his toes in the NFL with everything lining up.

“There’s a lot of speculation that Dabo Swinney, who’s been on the short list of multiple head coaching searches, could be a coach that teams want to talk about,” Tannenbaum said. “This would be the perfect storm and here’s why. He’s immensely popular in that area of the country and if he can go with Trevor Lawrence right down the road to Jacksonville, with all those picks and cap room, that’s the ideal situation. I know from talking to a number of NFL general managers, they see Dabo in the same mold as Pete Carroll. A high energy guy. Pete Carroll has been a coach in the college and the pros. If Dabo Swinney was going to do it, and that’s a big if, this would be the perfect situation…If Swinney would ever go, this would be the perfect storm to do it with, following this season.”

TENNESSEE

Peter King checks in on the Titans and QB RYAN TANNEHILL:

The Ryan Tannehill story has not gotten enough run. Everything about it is amazing.

The Arthur Smith story has not gotten enough run. Everything about it is amazing.

To acquire Tannehill 17 months ago cost Tennessee 1 percent of its 2019 salary cap and the 135th pick in the 2020 draft. He ended up leading the NFL in passer rating, helping the Titans shock the world in the AFC playoffs and supplanting Marcus Mariota as the Titans’ quarterback of the future.

Smith, Titans offensive coordinator and son of FedEx founder Fred Smith, could have excelled in the family business. But taking a quality-control job on Joe Gibbs’ last Washington staff in 2007 led him to be one of football’s most imaginative play-callers instead of a shipping magnate. “He zigs when the defense is zagging,” GM Jon Robinson said. That’s the general idea.

What do they do for an encore after the Titans, a middle-of-the-pack 4-5 team at midseason, snuck into the playoffs and dominated New England in Tom Brady’s last Patriot game, embarrassed top-seeded Baltimore by 16 points, and put a scare into Kansas City in the AFC title game?

But the vibe I got at Titans camp is this: Shut up about what we did in January. Please. Did you see how we barely made it into the playoffs as the sixth seed? Mindful of Bill Parcells’ adage of, “You never pick up one year where you left off the previous year. Never.”

“He’s right,” Smith said. “Just because we got to the AFC Championship Game, it means absolutely nothing when we kick off [in Week 1] against Denver. That to me is why it’s the greatest game in professional sports. It’s the biggest challenge.”

This year, especially. There’s the COVID-19 impact, the rigid testing and personal freedoms going out the window, the lack of any offseason program, Zoom-learning the playbook, and the impact of the George Floyd murder and other shootings of Black people that have made activists of everyman football players. Like Ryan Tannehill. Two weeks ago, he missed one practice because of being in the COVID-19 protocol (suspected to have had close contact with a COVID-positive person but not having a confirmed positive test himself). Last Thursday, he and his teammates missed a practice along with eight other teams to discuss the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wis., and plot how to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with it. Kevin Byard, Black safety, and Tannehill, white quarterback, were the team spokesmen for the cause.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in locker rooms pretty much my whole life,” Tannehill told me Friday. “There’s something special about being on a team—you realize that you’re a lot more alike than you are different. When you’re able to fight for something together, it really bonds you and brings a closeness that is tough to simulate in the outside world. If I was living in my hometown back in Texas, and never really left, I probably wouldn’t have my eyes open to the same way that I am now.”

I asked Tannehill about one of the social-justice causes the NFL is behind this season. A player, if he chooses, can have the name of a Black person wronged in a confrontation with police emblazoned on the back of his helmet. Would he do that this year?

Tannehill would.

“I picked Freddie Gray,” Tannehill said. In 2015, Baltimore police arrested Gray and charged him with possession of a knife. Gray was placed in a van, but not secured, and in the subsequent drive, Gray suffered spinal injuries and three fractured vertebrae. He died seven days later without regaining consciousness, and the city paid the Gray family $6.4 million to settle the case out of court.

“I wanted to go with someone who wasn’t as visible,” Tannehill said. “It’s really unclear what happened to him, but I wanted to try to bring a little attention to his life.”

And more on other Titans topics from King:

The Titans are one of the most interesting teams in football, even adding no one of major note in the offseason. That includes Tennessee’s pass-rush fix, free-agent Vic Beasley, who is the biggest ghost in the NFL right now. After five years in Atlanta, the Falcons let him go in free agency, and he signed a lowball one-year, $9.5-million deal in Tennessee—amid rumors in Atlanta that Beasley had fallen out of love with football. He was 10 days late reporting to the Titans for camp, costing him a non-forgiveable (by CBA rules) $500,000 in fines. He failed his physical three weeks ago, was put on the non-football injury list, and has yet to practice. After signing more than five months ago, he has yet to talk to the Nashville press, and reporters have seen him around the facility only two or three times. Titans coach Mike Vrabel has given few clues about whatever injury he might have or when he might actually, you know, play football.

The most interesting addition might actually be third-round offensive weapon Darrynton Evans of Appalachian State. He hasn’t practiced in a week because of an unspecified injury, but if he gets right, and if put in the hands and offensive brain of Arthur Smith, Evans, the 93rd pick in the draft last April, could be one of the most interesting rookies in the NFL this year. As someone close to the Titans told me the other day: “Not ‘could be.’ It’s ‘will be.’ Darrynton Evans has a chance to be a poor man’s Alvin Kamara.” After the failed Dion Lewis experiment as an all-purpose back, the Titans hope that Evans is the changeup back not to take touches away from Derrick Henry (20.1 touches per game in the regular season) but to be used all over the formation. Like Kamara. In a Smith game plan, Evans could be dangerous.

Think about Gibbs as a coach and offensive designer. Think about winning games with lesser quarterbacks, a rock ‘em running back (as famous as John Riggins, as infamous as Timmy Smith), a stout line, some deep weapons, and imagination. Every game plan a snowflake for Gibbs. “I look back on my season with him,” said Smith, “and I realize how good he was handling the team, how he thought about the game. Thinking about John Riggins late in the year, in the playoffs, I kind of thought about that with Derrick [Henry] in the playoffs last year, and the similarities of how he thought about playoff football. That certainly had an effect on me.” In other words, ride the hot hand. Timmy Smith, a totally nondescript back (22 career regular-season games, 27 rushing yards per game), rushed for 204 yards in Super Bowl XXII.

After watching the Titans last year, I’m convinced Smith’s one of the five best play designers and playcallers in football. In the divisional game against Baltimore, Smith sent wide receiver Kalif Raymond—5-8, from Holy Cross, waived five times—on a deep seam route, and Raymond put a move on a top-10 NFL corner, Marlon Humphrey. The touchdown rainbow from Tannehill broke open that game. Weeks earlier, in a huge division game against Houston, Smith put tight end Jonnu Smith in the backfield and had Tannehill pitch it to him. Gain of 57.

AFC EAST

MIAMI

Sadness for QB RYAN FITZPATRICK.  Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com:

Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was a late scratch for Saturday’s scrimmage at Hard Rock Stadium after his mother died earlier in the morning, coach Brian Flores said.

Fitzpatrick went out to stretch with the intention of playing, but as they broke to begin individual drills, Flores approached Fitzpatrick. They had what appeared to be an intimate and emotional conversation and then Flores placed his arm around the quarterback as they walked toward the tunnel.

When the coach returned, he did so without Fitzpatrick.

“Fitz has tried to work through this. He’s always wanted to practice. He tried to go out there today,” Flores said. “… It’s a tough situation. Our hearts go out to him as a team. He’s a competitive guy. He tried to go out there. But some things are more important than football.”

Flores informed the rest of the team before the scrimmage, and they all took a knee in prayer.

“On behalf of my family, I want to thank everyone who has reached out with well wishes,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement released by the team. “It truly means a lot to us.”

Fitzpatrick missed practice last Friday for what Flores called “personal reasons.” The quarterback returned the next day and jokingly clarified he wasn’t retiring, he didn’t have the coronavirus and his wife wasn’t pregnant — three of the most common speculations for his absence at the time.

The expected Week 1 starter, Fitzpatrick has had a strong training camp during which he’s been one the team’s top leaders. It’s yet to be seen how long Fitzpatrick will be away from the team.

“He’s going to take as much time as he needs,” Flores said. “I think, as an organization, we’re going to give him his time to grieve. My thought on this, is he’s going to try to get back as quickly as he can.

“Like a lot of us, football is our sanctuary and it’s our place to get away from the tough times, pain and anguish in our lives. I know he’ll probably try to get back as soon as he can, but we’re going to give him as much time as he wants or needs.”

Flores said it’s “hard to say” whether Fitzpatrick will be back in time for their Sept. 13 opener at New England, but they have contingency plans if he isn’t.

Flores, however, said the decision hasn’t been made yet on who would step up — Tua Tagovailoa or Josh Rosen — if Fitzpatrick’s absence does extend into the season.

The scrimmage began with Tagovailoa and Rosen playing opposite each other. It was a rough day for both young quarterbacks as they combined for just 16 points (three field goals, one touchdown) over 15 drives. Each had one interception, and there were multiple other passes that could have been intercepted had they not been dropped or negated by penalties.

Rosen, whose team won 10-6, had the pass of the day — a 50-plus-yard completion to Malcolm Perry on a go route down the right sideline. He went 11 of 24 for 143 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Tagavailoa was 13 of 23 for 119 yards and an interceptions.

NEW ENGLAND

Peter King says someone named Jeff Benedict has written the definitive book on the Kraft-Belichick-Brady Patriots:

The Dynasty, by Jeff Benedict (Avid Reader Press)

It was a matter of time before the definitive story of the New England dynasty got told. This is it, quicker than I thought, just in time for football season, just in time for Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick to try to build another one post-Brady. Jeff Benedict, an outsider, has written a tremendous 578-page dissection of the prequel (including the incredible flirtation with moving to Hartford, and boy was it close), birth, adolescence, adult life and death of the 20-season run of the best sports team of this century. I don’t care if you love the Patriots, hate them, have no feeling about them or couldn’t care less about football but like to see how greatness is built and tended, to make it last when all forces work against that. This is so well done from start (the inside look at the Mo Lewis hit on Drew Bledsoe that could have killed Bledsoe) to finish (Tom Brady and Kraft, in mid-pandemic, saying goodbye). It’s almost invasively personal. Like this retelling of the last moments of Brady’s life as a Patriot, March 17, 2020, when Brady, two hours after his contract with the Patriots lapsed and he was free, texted Kraft to see if he could come to his home to discuss something. “I’m corona-free,” Brady texted, per Benedict.

Benedict’s reporting has it all down—Brady arriving, Brady telling Kraft he was gone, Brady telling Jonathan Kraft (in Aspen) by phone, then Brady telling Belichick by phone, and how all four, Brady and Robert Kraft in tears, handled it so well. When you read the book, you’ll see how emotional it was—so emotional, Benedict told me, that even he was crying as he wrote this. Actually, he said, crying while listening to Abbey Road by the Beatles to get him in the mood for the greatest team in football breaking up. The Beatles, after all, broke up soon after Abbey Road was released in 1969. And like the dissolution of the Beatles, it just seemed so logical for this to end, and for the Patriots to start over and for Brady, like John Lennon, to take one more shot elsewhere.

Robert Kraft and Brady, parting, said they loved each other, and Brady got in his car and drove away. Wrote Benedict:

Alone in the doorway, Kraft waved as Brady’s taillights disappeared in the darkness. Thirty minutes later, sitting alone in his house, Kraft texted Brady: “Love you more than you know for being so classy in everything you do. Your parents should be so proud. I love them for creating you. You are truly one of a kind.”

I know Benedict, but not well. I have great admiration for his reporting and writing. This would give you some idea why. I asked him Saturday about his first meeting with Brady, his first interview with him. Benedict said the meeting was set for the suite in Gillette Stadium where Brady’s family sat for games. He asked the Patriots if he could get in there early, just to think and polish his questions. For three hours, he sat alone, refining and re-thinking about what he’d ask Brady and how he’d ask. When Brady appeared, Benedict was ready—and the quality of his reporting and Brady’s contributions to this book show how exacting Benedict was. The book will be well worth your time.

Who is this Benedict?  He’s a 54-year-old from Connecticut:

Benedict has written 15 nonfiction books. His most recent book is a biography on Tiger Woods, co-written with Armen Keteyian and published by Simon & Schuster in 2018. In 2016, Benedict wrote the national bestseller QB: My Life Behind the Spiral, the autobiography of Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young. He also was a writer and creative consultant for “Steve Young: A Football Life” which was based on the book and aired on the NFL Network in 2016.

Benedict’s book My Name Used to be Muhammad is the biography of a fundamentalist Muslim from Nigeria who was persecuted and imprisoned for converting to Christianity. It was a Book of the Year finalist 2013. Also in 2013, he published The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football, co-written with Armen Keteyian. He is also an executive producer for the motion picture “Little Pink House,” based on his book Little Pink House which was published in 2009.

NEW YORK JETS

In the old days, players would go to their coaches when they had a problem.  Now, like RB Le’VEON BELL, they take to social media.  Rich Cimini of ESPN.com:

New York Jets coach Adam Gase met with running back Le’Veon Bell to clear the air in the wake of a Twitter rant by Bell in which he questioned his removal him from an instrasquad scrimmage.

“I was caught off guard a little bit, but we had a good talk,” Gase said Saturday. “I told him I felt like our relationship was way better than him going on social media … him being able to just come talk to me.”

The dispute happened after Wednesday’s scrimmage, when Gase told reporters he pulled Bell after two series because of hamstring tightness. He inserted Frank Gore and, later, rookie La’Mical Perine.

Minutes later, Bell went on Twitter and said “ain’t nothing wrong with my hamstrings” and “it’s tough to stay loose when you do a bunch of standing around…& I’m used to GOINGGG.”

The Gase-Bell relationship has been highly scrutinized since he signed with the Jets in March, 2019. Gase said they spoke for “a long time” after Wednesday’s dispute.

“We talked about a lot of stuff,” Gase said. “We talked about some things that maybe we can do a little different. He understood how I was going to do some things in practice. He’s a veteran player that’s been around for a while.

“When I explained some things to him, he understood what I’ve been trying to do in practice. He knows we’ve been trying to thread the needle on quite a few things with reps, making sure we’re doing a good job of getting guys in the right shape heading into Week 1.

“This is unfamiliar territory for all of us,” Gase added, alluding to how the pandemic has impacted the ramp-up to the regular season. “We’re just trying to find the best way to get ourselves ready for the first game.”

The Jets open against the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 13.

Gase said Bell “understood where I was coming from.” Bell hasn’t been made available to comment since the scrimmage.

Bell’s hamstring tightness apparently wasn’t an issue on Saturday. Not counting a two-minute drive at the end of practice, Bell got 14 first-team reps; Gore got nine. That’s a 60-40 split; they’ve maintained approximately the same ratio for the entire camp.

Gase admitted he did a “poor job” last season with Bell, overworking him early in the season. Gase said he was “grinding him to the point where he couldn’t have felt great in the back half of the season.

“(I’m) just trying to do the right thing and making sure we’re ready to go Week 1 and we can go 16-plus.”