The Daily Briefing Monday, August 9, 2021

Some big contracts over the weekend – QB JOSH ALLEN of Bills, LB DARIUS LEONARD of the Colts – and a re-structure of Dolphins CB XAVIEN HOWARD.

NFC NORTH

DETROIT

The Lions have what Calvin Johnson thinks is HIS money.  Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com:

As expected, Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson didn’t thank the Lions organization during his induction speech. Before the event, Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp was asked about the likely diss.

“We love Calvin, the organization loves Calvin, my family loves Calvin and we are hoping we can work this all out with him,” Hamp told Jennifer Hammond of Fox 2 in Detroit. “We think he’s terrific and we’re so excited for him.”

The Lions made Johnson the second overall pick in the 2007 draft. He became a rare bright spot on a team that struggled for relevance, going winless in his second season. In 2012, when Johnson generated a league-record 1,964 receiving yards, the Lions won only four games.

But Johnson signed a long-term big-money deal to stay in Detroit, and he never tried to force his way out. Indeed, most of his rancor seems to come not from anything that occurred during his career but from the franchise’s misguided decision to insist on the partial repayment of unearned signing bonus money at a time when it actually helped the Lions from a cap standpoint for Johnson to walk away. And then the Lions squatted on his rights, preventing him from continuing his truncated career with another team.

Johnson at all times has seemed like a fair and reasonable person. The fact that he’s so upset with the Lions suggests that the Lions did something to earn his ire. Given that he refused a job offer that would have paid him $500,000 per year for 28 hours of work shows how bad things are.

Johnson himself has said what it will take to make things right — the team needs to give back his money. The fact that the Lions haven’t done so more than five years after his retirement suggests that it’s not going to happen, and that the Lions will continue to be estranged from one of the greatest players in franchise history.

GREEN BAY

Will Blackmon, a former teammate of QB AARON RODGERS, has an easy choice, a Big Easy choice, for his 2022 destination.  This from TMZ.com:

“Next year,” Blackmon said, “Aaron Rodgers will be a New Orleans Saint.”

Blackmon’s prediction is a bold one … but it’s not necessarily uninformed — you’ll recall, the former NFL defensive back was teammates with Aaron in Green Bay from 2006 through 2009.

And, Will tells us he still has a good relationship with Aaron … and it wouldn’t surprise him if the Green Bay signal-caller ended up under center for Sean Payton in 2022, given all of the drama Rodgers has gone through with the Packers this offseason.

“I can see Aaron Rodgers being a New Orleans Saint next year,” Blackmon said.

Of course, Jameis Winston is N.O.’s starter this year … but Blackmon doesn’t appear to be sure the former #1 overall draft pick will do enough to prove he should get a second year in that role.

Blackmon says cutting down the interceptions — particularly with a depleted wide receiver group in New Orleans — might be just too difficult for Jameis … opening the door for a run at Rodgers.

NFC EAST

DALLAS

QB DAK PRESCOTT has a shoulder issue and here is an update.  Jeremy Bergman ofNFL.com:

The Dallas Cowboys are loosening the constraints on Dak Prescott and his strained shoulder.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Saturday that the star quarterback did some “light throwing” Saturday. It’s the first time Prescott has thrown with his right shoulder since he strained it on July 28.

“We’ll see how his progression goes,” McCarthy said, per ESPN. “He’s doing some things as far as throwing and everything is on a rep count, so…”

Prescott did not play in or even travel to the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday night, which the Cowboys lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-3.

“Definitely him staying back, he was able to get some extra treatment, do some extra things,” McCarthy added. “Once again, this is more us than him. This is us being cautious, so I feel really good about where he is.”

McCarthy and Co. have been open at being more “conservative” with Prescott’s shoulder in camp. While the highly paid QB has said he would like to see some preseason reps this summer, potentially his first live action since his season-ending ankle injury last October, Dallas is likely to be smart with Prescott’s return.

This weekend’s development is a step, albeit a very small one, in the direction of Prescott, fully healthy, playing in Dallas’ season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 9,

WASHINGTON

Ron Rivera is old school (compared to Sean McVay of the Rams, anyway) in that he thinks starting players should play some in preseason.  Michael David Smith ofProFootballTalk.com:

Some NFL head coaches have decided that the risks of injury simply aren’t worth playing starters in the preseason. Washington’s Ron Rivera is not one of those coaches.

Rivera said today that starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and other starters will play when the Football Team opens its preseason against the Patriots on Thursday night.

“We’re gonna play our guys on Thursday,” Rivera said. “I’ll tell you that right now. I mean, it’s a great opportunity. It’s against a very good football team. Well coached. So, I’m excited about that potential. I think that having the three games and then having a two-week prep period for the first game, it’s going to behoove us to play the guys a little bit more, at least that’s my opinion.”

Rivera didn’t say specifically how much Fitzpatrick will play, other than that he’ll play “enough.”

“What you’re looking for is the command, the command of the offense, command of what’s going on on the field and I think the respect of his teammates when he’s on the field,” Rivera said. “So, that’s what we’re really looking for. We want some success obviously, but the truth of the matter is, those things all come with time. This will be our first exposure, his first exposure as our first quarterback out there right now.”

The preseason has become increasingly uninteresting for fans as starting quarterbacks have played increasingly less. Seeing Fitzpatrick in a Washington uniform will be one reason to watch preseason football this week.

NFC SOUTH

NEW ORLEANS

Jeff Duncan of NoLa.com provides some answers to the riddle of the much-delayed surgery for WR MICHAEL THOMAS:

The answer is complicated. But in the end, the blame falls squarely on Thomas. Plain and simple, the most talented receiver in Saints history dropped the ball.

Here’s how it went down, according to multiple people familiar with the situation:

After the 2020 season, the Saints medical staff examined Thomas’ injured left ankle and advised him to undergo surgery to repair ligament damage in the joint.

Thomas, though, wanted a second opinion, a common step in such high-profile cases. The second doctor suggested a conservative approach that would allow the injury to heal on its own through rehab and therapy.

In March, Thomas elected to take the conservative approach and bypass surgery, a decision the Saints supported. A rehabilitation plan was collectively agreed upon, and Thomas was given progressive benchmarks to hit over the next three months of his recovery while training at his offseason home in California.

This is where things inexplicably went awry.

For unknown reasons, Thomas fell out of communication with the Saints. He did not return multiple calls over the next three months. Then-Saints trainer Beau Lowery, wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson and head coach Sean Payton all tried to reach Thomas. None of their calls were taken or returned.

When Thomas returned to the team in June, it was discovered that his ankle was still not right, and he was forced to undergo surgery to repair the damaged ligaments in the joint. The 10-to-12-week rehabilitation is expected to sideline him for the start of the regular season.

So the DB’s question is – who was called?  Just Thomas?  What about his agent?  Was Thomas not taking his agent’s calls?

TAMPA BAY

David Perdum of ESPN.com finds bettors who think the Buccaneers are headed to 17-0.

Two big bets on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to make history this year were placed last week and highlight an offseason filled with betting support for the defending champions.

Caesars Sportsbook reported taking two big bets on the Buccaneers to go 17-0 in the regular season. The first, $10,000 at +5,000, would pay a net $500,000, and the second, $28,200 at +3,000, would pay a net $846,000. Both bets were placed last week in New Jersey. The sportsbook declined to say if they were from the same customer.

The Bucs are now +2,500 at Caesars to finish the first 17-game regular season undefeated.

At BetMGM sportsbooks, more money has been bet on the Bucs to win the Super Bowl than any other team, including the two largest Super Bowl wagers the book has taken so far: $30,000 at 7-1 and $25,000 at 8-1. The Bucs’ Super Bowl odds have improved from 12-1 to 7-1 at BetMGM and are down to 6-1 at some books.

The action has been lopsided on the over on the Bucs’ season-win total of 12 at Caesars, with 78% of the bets and 82% of the handle on the over.

NFC WEST

ARIZONA

How times have changed.  Not only can you bet on the Cardinals, you will be able to do so at the stadium while they are playing.

Sportsbook operator BetMGM announced a partnership Monday with the Arizona Cardinals and Gila River Hotels & Casinos that will give the company access to the state’s online sports betting market, which is scheduled to launch by the start of the 2021 NFL season.

The partnership includes building a retail sportsbook at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, home of the Cardinals.

The Cardinals are the first NFL team to announce plans to add a retail sportsbook, which is slated to open before the 2022 season, to their stadium, according to a release about the new partnership.

Arizona, Illinois and the District of Columbia are among the places where professional sports venues are allowed to offer sports betting. Earlier this year, the Phoenix Suns, through their partnership with FanDuel, said they would be putting a retail sportsbook in their arena. Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., home of the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals and Washington Mystics, opened a retail sportsbook in 2020.

Wrigley Field, home to the Chicago Cubs, also recently received approval to build a two-story sportsbook on the premises.

The Cardinals’ announcement continues the NFL’s pivot toward sports betting. The league opposed legal sports betting for decades and fought a nearly six-year court battle with the state of New Jersey in an attempt to prevent regulated betting from expanding outside of Nevada.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

This from Peter King:

I think my favorite story of the week comes from Seattle safety Quandre Diggs, the former teammate of Matthew Stafford in Detroit. Diggs loves Stafford, and vice versa. Now that they’re in the same division, the NFC West, the old friends will see each other twice a season. Seems that last winter, the day that the Stafford trade to the Rams was announced, Diggs’ phone buzzed. FaceTime request from Stafford. Diggs answered it. He looked at his screen. It was Stafford and Rams coach Sean McVay, together in Cabo, calling him. Stafford said to Diggs: “Man, better back up! We’re throwing deep!”

SEATTLE

Peter King from Seahawks camp with QB RUSSELL WILSON and on the subject of S JAMAL ADAMS:

Watching practice one afternoon last week, here’s what I saw:

Wilson looked like he was coaching more on the field and taking charge. With new offensive coordinator and Sean McVay disciple Shane Waldron upping the football modernity on offense from dismissed OC Brian Schottenheimer, Wilson seems to feel more open to telling receivers, for instance, exactly where they should be on a given route. It’s a little like the way Tom Brady felt free to be a coach on the field in Tampa Bay last season. Two things I’ve heard about Wilson: He views this as a new beginning. In the off-season, he imported a mostly new team of trainers/nutritionists to his San Diego home—down the street from Drew Brees—and made a barn on his property into a strength and conditioning area, and turned his large yard into a practice field. And he spent a long session with Pete Carroll post-Patrick trying to iron out their issues in the off-season. Both told me it was a great discussion. But we’ll see. I’m not convinced this is one big happy family, though Wilson did tell me here he “absolutely” wants to finish his career with the Seahawks.

He has an incredible memory. “Nine years ago, I met you here,” he told me, reminding me of a meeting in August 2012 when he was the only one who thought he’d win the starting job to open his rookie year. “I think everyone was questioning me. ‘Can he do it, can he do it?’ I think they still wonder. I don’t wonder. I didn’t wonder back then. I don’t wonder now. When you want to win it all every year and you don’t, you get frustrated.”

I told him I saw the cameras focus on him at the Super Bowl, where he accepted the NFL Man of the Year award, and he looked absolutely miserable watching another team not call the Seahawks win the Super Bowl for the seventh straight year.

“I was thinking we’ve been to two [Super Bowls], and we need to be at more.”

Perhaps that’s really what he was thinking.

The Jamal Adams situation is, well, disquieting. I watched a fairly spirited Adams rooting his defense on in a long practice, occasionally huddle with safety running mate Quandre Diggs. Playing together, Adams-Diggs is the best safety combination in football. But they’re not playing together now. Adams, while a new contract is being negotiated, isn’t practicing, and the Seahawks are not pushing the issue.

Here’s the problem: Seattle’s got a few vets (Adams and left tackle Duane Brown most notably) who are under contract but who want new contracts. I hear the Seahawks have stretched themselves quite a bit for Adams, but he’s still not happy with the offer, and if you know Seattle’s negotiating stance, it’s not likely the offer’s going to change much now. Seattle is the perfect spot for him, as one of two leaders (with Bobby Wagner) of a Super Bowl contender on defense, with a coach who treats veterans like treasure. So we’ll see if Adams takes the deal. But the larger issue for Seattle and how it can pay players is that the cap went up, beginning in 2014, $10 million, $10 million, $12 million, $12 million, $10 million, $11 million and $10 million … before dropping by $16 million per team, to $182.5 million this year. So vet-heavy teams like Seattle are getting squeezed. It’s great to get high-performing vets, even those who cost two first and one second-round pick like Adams. But if they don’t figure a way to keep Adams, and keep him happy, that trade will be a disaster.

And this key addition:

Seattle: Gerald Everett, tight end

After averaging 32 catches a year in his four seasons with the Rams, Everett hit an uncertain market. Seattle showed some faith in him, giving him a one-year, $6-million guaranteed deal. He spent time in the summer working out with Russell Wilson, and the Seahawks think they might finally have an heir to Jimmy Graham as an offensive force off the line. “We loved him with the Rams, and he’s got us really excited so far here,” said Pete Carroll.

AFC WEST

DENVER

First-year GM George Paton explains to Peter King why he passed on QBs JUSTIN FIELDS and MAC JONES to take a cornerback.

The NFL has some simple truths. The biggest: If you don’t have a quarterback, you won’t win. Jobs will be lost (Gary Kubiak and Vance Joseph and staffs couldn’t survive, and Fangio, at 13-19 two years in, knows he’s got to win more), fans will turn sour, hope will be fleeting. Denver’s gone from being a relatively sure playoff thing to being in the franchise’s worst dry spell in a half-century. You can look it up: Since the AFL-NFL merger, no Denver team has had four straight losing seasons, until now.

Following the weekend Peyton Manning entered Canton, it seems an apt time to take the temperature of the men who have tried to replace him. It’s an ugly scene. Denver is 32-48 since Manning left, and the Broncos’ 79.0 composite passer rating over the past five seasons (per profootballreference.com) is better than only one team—the Jets. Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemien, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco and Lock have all had the chance to be the heir to Manning since he retired six years ago. None could do it. Maybe Lock will. The clock’s ticking.

Paton gets knocked for not choosing Justin Fields or Mac Jones with his first first-round pick ever last April (he took Alabama cornerback Pat Surtain), and he’ll have to live with the results. But he wasn’t convinced Fields or Jones would be a franchise quarterback; had he been, he probably would have taken one. He’d been watching Surtain in college for three years, and he was sure that the son of the former NFL cornerback could be a combination cover/physical corner in a league hungry for versatile cover players. Finally, he felt a duty to the franchise to give Lock a legitimate shot to be the long-term guy after predecessor John Elway picked him 42nd overall two years ago. So, he could have taken the plunge for a quarterback he liked but didn’t love, and chose to pick a surer thing at a lesser position—but an important position nonetheless.

“Plus—and this is not why we did it [draft Surtain]—but quarterbacks are available more than franchise corners every year, at least the last couple of years,” said Paton. And everyone knows there could be a pretty big quarterback market next year. Aaron Rodgers would be a great fit in lots of places. He’d be a perfect fit in Denver, which has enough draft/player capital to trade for him if it comes to that.

KANSAS CITY

This from Peter King:

Patrick Mahomes, with a throbbing turf toe on his left foot and assorted bruises from the beating he’d just taken from the Bucs, was dispirited walking off the field after the 31-9 Super Bowl loss six months ago. For the first time in 54 NFL starts, Mahomes hadn’t led his team to a single touchdown. On this night, the biggest factor wasn’t Mahomes stinking it up—it was a cobbled-together offensive line that leaked enough to get Mahomes hit or significantly pressured 29 times, likely the biggest beatdown of a quarterback in Super Bowl history.

One of the first people Mahomes saw post-game was GM Brett Veach.

“Trust me,” Veach told him. “We’re gonna get this line right.”

It’s a strange time in the NFL, with angry quarterbacks in Green Bay, Philadelphia and Houston trying to force their way off teams—and another in Seattle possibly on simmer. Tom Brady did the power play, politely, a year ago, and it worked wonders for him. Power to the Quarterbacks!

I thought of all that watching Mahomes and his Kansas City mates practice Thursday and Friday mornings at Western Missouri State University. I looked down from the media perch up a hill from the toasty practice field, and this is the first-unit offensive line I saw shielding Mahomes:

Left tackle: Orlando Brown, acquired in trade from Baltimore on April 23.

Left guard: Joe Thuney, the best guard on the free-agent market, signed March 18.

Center: Creed Humphrey, rookie, drafted 63rd overall on April 30.

Right guard: Trey Smith, rookie, drafted 226th overall on May 1.

Right tackle: Lucas Niang, in his first NFL camp, a COVID opt-out last year as a third-round rookie. (Mike Remmers, out with a back injury, could take this job when healthy.)

Five for five, for now. All new. I don’t recall in my 37 years covering the NFL ever seeing a prime Super Bowl contender with a brand-new offensive line—or any major position group with every starter a new import. We’ll see if those five guys start five weeks from now in the opener against Cleveland, or if maybe one or two other newbies—Austin Blythe or Kyle Long—win jobs up front.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

Peter King with a deep dive into Coach Brandon Staley and his Chargers:

Just after 7 a.m. last Monday, Brandon Staley, the 38-year-old head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, walked through the hallway of the team’s training facility when he passed and fist-bumped veteran cornerback Chris Harris. Walking away, Staley said, “He’s such a G.”

G. Gangster. [I will attempt to explain: A “G” is someone great at his job, usually spoken by people under 40. It’s a respectful term.]

“We got Coach talking the lingo!” safety Derwin James said.

Meeting his players on their terms is part of Staley’s deal. His rise to be a head coach is one of the most amazing stories in the league right now. Five years ago today, he was preparing to coach the 2016 John Carroll Blue Streaks. But not as head coach—as defensive coordinator of the Division III school in the Cleveland ‘burbs. He was not a normal Division III assistant coach. He used his connections, for instance, to wrangle a week to learn inside New Orleans Saints camp in 2009. A football-nerdy notebook with drawn plays from that week sits on his desk in Orange County today. “God bless my wife,” Staley said. “I spent every last dime we had to make that trip. I soaked in everything.”

In 2017, he interviewed for a job coaching linebackers coach with the Bears under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and got the gig. He followed Fangio to Denver in 2019, won the defensive coordinator job with the Rams in 2020 (by force of personality and verve), and got the Chargers’ gig 24 hours after the Rams’ season ended last January.

“My path doesn’t make a lot of sense to people,” he told me, sitting in his office. “I was just hoping to make it to the NFL within five years. But this? No.

“Something I vividly remember from my interview here: I told them, ‘I don’t know it all, guys. But I promise there won’t be anyone who will figure it out and learn it faster. That’s who I am—teacher, leader, competitor.’ I didn’t want to come across as a know-it-all, savant, wizard-type.”

Staley didn’t come across that way, GM Tom Telesco said. He came across as a communicator who knew all three phases of football well. “The business has changed a lot,” Telesco told me. “Gosh, he was coaching Division III five years ago, but we thought if you can connect with players, and you really know football, does it matter how old you are?”

The Chargers hope Staley is the defensive Sean McVay. Both are young, extremely exuberant, bursting with ideas, and incredibly self-assured. Both took over Los Angeles football franchises with no head-coaching experience. McVay head-coached in a Super Bowl at 33, though. There’s the difference. Staley’s got a lot to prove, and a league-full of eyes will be on him.

It’s not like the Chargers made a David Culley pick, though—picking a coach out of left field. Lots of teams loved Staley after his lone year as defensive coordinator with the Rams, when they finished first in the league in yards and points allowed. “He’s the best defensive coordinator I’ve had in the NFL for sure,” said all-pro Rams corner Jalen Ramsey, who spent just one season with Staley. The man who hired him to coach linebackers in Chicago out of John Carroll in 2017, Broncos coach Vic Fangio, told me: “Some players, some coaches, see the game through a straw. They see how the game affects them, or their group. They’ve got tunnel vision. Brandon sees how it affects all 11, all 22.”

Staley fit the Mike Tomlin/McVay profile. I remember asking Dan Rooney about hiring Tomlin at 34 when he was a first-year coordinator for the Vikings. “If we didn’t hire him now, we’d never have had the chance,” Rooney told me. NFL teams like to pluck the next hot coach, and Staley was going to get a job soon. The Eagles might have picked him to succeed Doug Pederson; Staley was due to spend a full day with Philadelphia owner Jeffrey Lurie and GM Howie Roseman before the Chargers cut them off by hiring him the day before that scheduled meeting.

– – –

I think the 2021 Chargers are the most fascinating team in football, the only team with a prayer to seriously challenge Kansas City in the AFC West. They have:

Justin Herbert, the rising-star quarterback who looks like a franchise player at 23, piloting a very young team.

Staley, the kid head coach.

Derwin James, the quarterback of the defense who’s had two straight years wrecked with injuries (broken foot, torn meniscus, COVID) after being a first-team all-pro safety as a 2018 rookie. He’s healthy and motivated to show he’s not injury-prone.

A skeptical league staring at them. The Chargers, who didn’t have a strong Los Angeles fan base when they left San Diego, surprised locals last week by saying they’d exceeded 45,000 season tickets in their first year with fans at new SoFi Stadium. The big question: Will those fans be Chargers’ partisans, or will they be lovers of the teams on an attractive home slate—New England, the Giants, Dallas, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Kansas City—who buy from brokers and make this a stadium with road-team advantage. “I think SoFi will be StubHub on steroids,” said one L.A. sports market expert I know. The Chargers took steps to not sell a load of tickets to brokers. Now we’ll see if their attempts to make SoFi a place with a majority of Charger partisans can work.

A potential Defensive Player of the Year in Joey Bosa, another cornerstone player who’s been hurt more than his share too, with six missed starts last year. His pass-rush ability for 17 games is vital.

The biggest question, I think, is Staley’s ability to hit the ground running with a playoff contender—and with such a thin NFL resume. When I shadowed him for a morning last week, I saw a confident coach with a meticulous plan. But will he have his players’ ears in a three-game losing streak in November, when times get tough? Everyone can be optimistic now, and everyone in this franchise is. But in August…everyone’s optimistic.

At 7:28 a.m. last Monday, Staley walked into a staff meeting at the Chargers’ facility in Costa Mesa. There were 27 coaches/coaching interns in the team meeting room. The average age looked to be about 36 or 38. As he got going, Staley didn’t have any surprises—just verities he wanted his coaches to reinforce on the practice field that morning.

“Make it a great day today, guys,” Staley said at one point. “Physical. Fierce. I want the quarterback to feel the consequences of something bad happening. Show ‘em how we practice. Keep reinforcing it with your players. Talk to them. Talk about competition all the time. Talk about playing the game the right way.”

We went to his office before practice. On the desk was a book called, “When Breath Becomes Air,” by a Stanford neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi, written while he was dying of lung cancer at age 37. It’s educational and inspirational and tragic, all at once. Staley, a survivor of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was moved by the book, by the surgeon’s search for meaning and importance, all the way to the end.

“Why ‘When Breath Becomes Air?’ I asked.

Staley opened the book, which was rife with Staley’s hand-written notes and underlined passages. “This book spoke to me,” he said. He found a passage written by Kalanithi and read it aloud: “I was compelled by neurosurgery with its unforgiving call to perfection … Neurosurgery seemed to present the most challenging and direct confrontation with meaning, identity and death.”

“I think this job, being the head coach of a football team, requires that type of skill set,” Staley said. While emphasizing that Kalanithi was trained to save lives and that’s real-worldly far different than being trained to coach football games, using all aspects of your brain and your drive felt similar to Staley.

He said: “The depth and the breadth—you’ve got to have command over a lot of things. You have to be able to deal with tough news. You have to be able to have important relationships in your job and your life. Relationships with patients, relationships with doctors, relationships with your family. A lot’s being asked of you all the time. There’s really high expectations, there’s high pressure on the outside. There’s a standard of performance that is real. That’s why I love it so much—because I think it really brings out the best in you. It requires a lot of you.”

The Chargers practice a few miles from their facility. In the 10-minute ride to practice, I asked Staley about being in charge of a team so early in his life. “I don’t care what your age is,” he said. “Whether you’re 38 or 58, it’s important to know who you’re coaching. I am going through some of the things my players—Corey Linsley, Bryan Bulaga, Derwin James, all with young kids—are going through. We’re raising three kids under 6. What I enjoy the most is staying out here, coaching and teaching and building relationships with the players. Relationships are big for us here. Relationships and competition. I feel like in order for you to push it, you gotta know these guys. A lot of people will say ‘players’ coach.’ I’m like, no, I’m just their coach. I would hope that I’m a players’ coach. I would hope that I would say that I have that type of relationship because then we can push it harder. I can ask more of them.”

On the field, Staley’s defense has a good day. Two picks of Herbert frustrate the young passer (“This defense does a great job of disguising,” Herbert said afterward), and overall, the defense won the day. Brandon Staley’s team seems happy, forward-looking, optimistic—which, of course, it should be in training camp.

“He challenges us every day,” James said after practice. “He’s a great leader too. My mom always taught me you can lead at any age. It blows me away that he was a college coordinator five years ago, but that shows me the kind of person and coach he is. It’s his time.”

AFC NORTH

PITTSBURGH

Coach Mike Tomlin says WR JAMES WASHINGTON is NOT demanding a trade, refuting a report from the “rumor monger” Adam Schefter.  Chris Harlan in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Despite a report saying James Washington was unhappy with his role and wanted to be traded, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he hasn’t heard those words from the fourth-year receiver.

“Those unnamed sources, we don’t react to or respond to,” Tomlin said after practice Saturday at Heinz Field. “James has been great here and working and having a great camp.”

Washington took part in practice and caught a touchdown from Mason Rudolph during the team’s “seven shots” drill that features seven plays from the 2-yard line.

Just a day earlier, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted that the former second-round pick had approached the Steelers about a trade because of “his limited playing time last season and so far this preseason.”

In Thursday’s preseason game against Dallas, Washington was not part of the team’s first offensive drive and garnered only two targets, both in the second quarter. Neither was completed.

Washington appears to rank no higher than fourth among the Steelers wide receivers, behind JuJu Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool. Asked Saturday about the crowded depth chart, Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said Washington has “a good role with us.”

“We’re really talented in that room right now,” Canada said. “Certain games are different matchups. Certain things happen. But James is a big part of what we do and he’ll continue to have a role with us.”

AFC SOUTH

HOUSTON

ESPN.com’s Sarah Barshop with a sighting of QB DESHAUN WATSON:

For the first time in a week, quarterback Deshaun Watson was back at practice with the Houston Texans.

Watson, who reported to camp on July 25 after requesting a trade in January, practiced for the first five days of training camp and then was not on the field for the next five days.

Less than two months after his trade request, the first of 23 lawsuits were filed against Watson. Watson currently faces 22 active lawsuits with allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior. Had Watson not shown up for training camp, he would have been fined $50,000 for each day of training camp he missed.

Texans head coach David Culley has refused to give details about Watson’s participation in practice, often saying, “nothing has changed” with the quarterback.

The Texans’ first preseason game is Saturday in Green Bay.

INDIANAPOLIS

LB DARIUS LEONARD is now the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL.  ESPN.com:

The Indianapolis Colts and linebacker Darius Leonard have agreed to an extension, the team announced Sunday.

Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter it is a five-year, $98.5 million extension that will make Leonard the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history.

Leonard passes San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner, who signed his new deal at the outset of training camp that made him the NFL’s highest-paid inside linebacker at the time.

“I’m a competitor. If you’re not first, you’re last,” Leonard said of besting Warner’s deal. “To have my name at the top, that’s something I don’t take for granted. I have to continue to go out and prove that. You’ve seen the [linebacker] rankings; I think I was sixth, I was No. 8 on Madden.”

Leonard joins offensive tackle Braden Smith as the two players the Colts have locked up to long-term extensions during training camp.

Leonard said he hopes to make his training camp debut this week after offseason ankle surgery.

The 26-year-old Leonard was a first-team All-Pro for the second time in 2020, when he had 132 tackles, three sacks, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries while helping the Colts return to the playoffs after a one-year absence. He was the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2018, when he led the NFL with 163 tackles and also recorded seven sacks.

A second-round draft selection in 2018, Leonard has 416 tackles in three seasons and also has 15 career sacks and seven interceptions.

“We all know Darius, that chip has served him well,” coach Frank Reich said. “Whatever level of disrespect he felt from all that, he’s used that as a motivator in [his] own way, but what I’ve learned to appreciate about Darius is he’s going to be motivated no matter what to be the very best. He’s going to hold himself to those standards.”

JACKSONVILLE

Is QB TREVOR LAWRENCE already damaging his receivers?  Jeremy Bergman ofNFL.com:

Trevor Lawrence’s potential top target is on the mend.

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer told reporters Sunday that wide receiver D.J. Chark had surgery on a broken finger. The fourth-year wideout is expected to be ready for Jacksonville’s Week 1 game at the Houston Texans.

Entering a contract year, Chark is expected to be one of the Jaguars’ top weapons in 2021. Chark caught 53 balls in 13 games for a team-high 706 yards and five touchdowns last season on a 1-15 Jaguars team quarterbacked by Gardner Minshew. Alongside fellow wideouts Laviska Shenault Jr. and Marvin Jones, rookie running back Travis Etienne and the aforementioned Lawrence, Chark should see those numbers increase this season if he stays healthy.

“The hype and things like that don’t really matter right now,” Chark said on Good Morning Football this week. “The one thing I can say about those two (Shenault and Jones), they make me compete. They take the level and standard up every time we’re on the field. So I can’t be the odd man out. We’re always out there, we’re competing. Once we get into game situations and it starts to show, building that chemistry with Trevor, the sky’s the limit.”

AFC EAST

BUFFALO

Peter King:

Josh Allen, by virtue of his new six-year, $258-million contract, will make $2,529,411.76 per game over the next six regular seasons.

Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com on the expectations for QB JOSH ALLEN after he agrees to his big deal.

The offseason questions about a contract extension kept coming, no matter how coy Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane was in answering or how many times quarterback Josh Allen deflected.

But even with the possibility of tabling the conversation until 2022, neither side showed signs of angst; Allen and the Bills publicly expressed their desire to get a deal done and knew it was a matter of when and not if.

As it turns out, the when came Friday afternoon.

Allen and the Bills agreed to a six-year contract extension worth $258 million with an NFL-record $150 million guaranteed, according to ESPN analyst Adam Schefter. The $43 million average annual value makes Allen the second-highest-paid player in league history, behind Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and the highest-paid player in Bills’ history.

It’s a fitting accolade for the franchise’s highest-drafted quarterback in history and will serve as one of the most notable rags-to-riches stories in sports — the unrecruited kid from a farm town in central California whose only Division I offer came when a coach from Wyoming attended a junior college game to scout one of Allen’s teammates. The same kid whose selection at No. 7 in 2018 was met with widespread criticism and whose rookie season (10 TD passes, 12 interceptions and a 52.8 completion percentage) did little to quiet that skepticism.

Allen was the third quarterback drafted in 2018, behind Baker Mayfield (Cleveland Browns, No. 1) and Carolina Panthers starter Sam Darnold, who was selected No. 3 by the New York Jets; now Allen is one of the richest players in NFL history.

But Allen in Buffalo was simply too perfect of a fit to fail.

“I personally think it was just a match that was made to work,” he said. “Me being in this great city here in Buffalo and kind of trying to embody what the city is: Blue-collar, hard-working, don’t complain, like, figure it out mentality. I’m very internally driven and I’ve always had this goal of mine to play this game for as long as I can.”

However, with the Bills’ investment comes enormous responsibility. Quarterbacks Jared Goff (the No. 1 selection, by the Los Angeles Rams) and Carson Wentz (Philadelphia Eagles) were the first two picks in the 2016 NFL draft. Both received huge contract extensions from the teams that drafted them but were traded this offseason.

Allen is now being paid like Mahomes, so anything short of winning the Super Bowl will be considered a disappointment.

The Bills are clearly confident Allen can meet expectations. His contract is a byproduct of a three-year investment. When Buffalo drafted Allen, Beane supported him in every way to ensure his success by improving the offensive line and keeping coach Sean McDermott’s staff intact to create stability.

Beane even traded for star wide receiver Stefon Diggs last season to help Allen take that next step forward.

In return, Allen turned in an MVP runner-up campaign (4,544 passing yards, 37 TD passes and a 69.2 completion percentage), setting franchise records in nearly every major statistical passing category. Beane isn’t worried about the 2020 season being an outlier. In his mind, Allen had checked the final box; he was a respected leader in the locker room and a treasured pillar in the Buffalo community.

“There’s no trepidation on our part of, ‘oh, let’s just extend it a year or two’ or anything like that — we believe in Josh,” Beane said.

Everything about Allen had screamed “franchise quarterback” except one thing — his on-field production. That final question mark was answered with gusto last season.

But as Dr. Dre once told Kendrick Lamar, “anybody can get it — the hard part is keeping it.”

MIAMI

The Dolphins enable CB XAVIEN HOWARD to save face with a re-structure.  Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com:

Xavien Howard has resolved his contract dispute with the Miami Dolphins.

The All-Pro cornerback and the club agreed on a reworked contract Sunday, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported. Howard, the NFL’s interceptions leader in 2020, is staying in Miami, after all.

As part of Howard’s new contract, the CB had $1 million in Pro Bowl incentives and $2.5 million in additional incentives added to his 2021 year, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. With all minicamp fines rescinded, Howard can make upwards of $16,285,294 in 2021, which would make him the league’s highest-paid CB this upcoming season.

In addition, Howard gets $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses and $100,000 in workout bonuses moved to base salary and guaranteed money in 2022. His $12.975 million salary in 2022 is guaranteed for injury and will be fully guaranteed by the first day of league year, Rapoport added; $6.775 million of the CB’s 2022 salary is fully guaranteed at signing.

Howard also received assurances from the club that it will renegotiate a new deal in late February or early March following the 2021 season in line with market based on the cornerback’s health and 2021 performance, Rapoport reported.

Just one full season in a five-year extension signed in 2019, Howard made waves in South Beach this offseason by not reporting to mandatory minicamp and incurring over $93,000 in fines. After a year in which he led the league in picks with 10, Howard sought to be paid his worth, even more so than he already was; the longtime Dolphins corner wasn’t even the highest-paid at his position, ceding that mantle in 2020 to Byron Jones, Miami’s prized offseason acquisition.

Howard reported to training camp in late July and soon publicly requested a trade if the Dolphins did not redo his deal, writing that he wasn’t “happy” in Miami and the organization had rejected his “win-win” proposals that would guarantee him more money. At least two playoff teams were reportedly interested in acquiring Howard after his request. Still at camp, Howard had been held out of practices with what was described a minor ankle injury, but recently returned to camp action.

THIS AND THAT

FUTURE HALL OF FAME QBs?

Cody Benjamin of CBSSports.com says QB MATT RYAN is not a Hall of Famer.  The DB disagrees:

The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021 included one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Peyton Manning. During his acceptance speech Sunday night, Manning joked about the future enshrinement of a fellow all-timer in Tom Brady, who happened to be in the audience. But it got us thinking: Which of today’s QBs are actually destined for a gold jacket?

Brady could’ve retired years ago and been fitted for one (more on him below), but who else among current signal-callers stands above the pack? And not only that, but deserves a place among the game’s all-time legends? Here are the QBs we foresee cracking the Hall of Fame once they’ve hung up the cleats, as well as some who’ve flashed early glimpses of Hall of Fame talent, some who should make the Hall with another good season or two, and some who are just a bit unworthy:

Stone-cold locks

Tom Brady

TB • QB • 12

What needs to be said other than seven rings? Even if you discount his Patriots dynasty because of New England’s history of, shall we say, extra competitive advantages, you simply do not do what Brady has done — well into his 40s, by the way — without being a Hall of Fame QB. Besides the seven championships, five Super Bowl MVPs, three NFL MVPs, 14 Pro Bowl nods and four All-Pro honors, Brady ranks first in all-time passing touchdowns, second in passing yards and first in career QB wins. This one’s etched in stone.

Aaron Rodgers

GB • QB • 12

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Rodgers literally has six fewer titles than Brady, but he’s been every bit, if not more, star-caliber than his Hall of Fame Packers predecessor in Brett Favre. With plenty of football seemingly still in the tank at 37, A-Rod should have more jewelry but doesn’t need it to prove his place as a generational field general. A three-time MVP, four-time All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler, his career passer rating (No. 3 all-time), passing TD total (No. 7) and win total (No. 9) confirm his robotic arm has delivered at a historic rate.

Ben Roethlisberger

PIT • QB • 7

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Roethlisberger hasn’t necessarily aged as gracefully as Brady and Rodgers (though 2021 could tell a different story), and he’s been far more prone to both injuries and turnovers. But the Steelers have done little else but win when he’s under center; they’ve never posted a losing record during his career, and his 156 wins rank fifth among all QBs in NFL history. He’s never won MVP but has led the league in passing yards twice, while pairing seven Pro Bowls with two Super Bowl wins and a third Super Bowl appearance.

Safe bets

Russell Wilson

SEA • QB • 3

Like Rodgers, the Seahawks star should probably have more than one ring by now; multiple titles would confirm him as more of a legend than contemporary great. He’s also still just 32, with a remarkably durable history (zero missed games) considering his tendency to extend plays with his legs. Another couple years of his standard production should do the trick, while another ring would seal the deal instantly. The guy just does everything well, and like Roethlisberger, he’s never allowed a losing season.

Patrick Mahomes

KC • QB • 15

In almost any other scenario, it would be insane to safely predict a Hall of Fame induction after just four seasons, one of which included just one game appearance. Mahomes, however, is otherworldly. Not only because of his backyard style and rocket arm but historic early-career deliverance. At 25, he’s already won NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, led the league with 50 TD passes and appeared in a second Super Bowl. He’s already set a new standard for modern-day passing, and he might just be getting started.

Premature candidates

Lamar Jackson

BAL • QB • 8

He has plenty to prove as a passer, especially in big games, but if you can’t see the path here, you’re not looking. Skeptics will cite Michael Vick and say Lamar is more electrifying than reliable, but Vick never posted 10+ wins more than once; Jackson’s already done it twice, with significantly more success through the air. If he can stay healthy, he’s bound to contend for years to come.

Deshaun Watson

HOU • QB • 4

Any discussion of Watson comes with a blatant asterisk, considering the QB is still facing 22 lawsuits and 10 criminal complaints alleging sexual assault or misconduct. It’s unclear when, or if, the former first-rounder will suit up again. But aside from a so-so win-loss record weighed down by the Texans’ dysfunction, he’s had an all-star trajectory, with 104 TDs and just 36 picks in 3.5 years.

Josh Allen

BUF • QB • 17

Things can change a lot in a year or two, so Allen still has to prove his 2020 MVP candidacy (45 total TDs) wasn’t an anomaly; he looked like a stronger-armed version of 2017 Carson Wentz during his breakout, but that name already rings much differently. Allen has the tools of a dual-threat powerhouse, but he’s still got to stay healthy, avoid relying too much on his athleticism and win big.

Justin Herbert

LAC • QB • 10

We said premature, remember! No one’s crowning Herbert a Hall of Famer, but he couldn’t have had a much better start to his career. Most QBs who posted his numbers as a rookie have ended up on legends lists. And unlike recent MVP-caliber flameouts like Wentz and Jared Goff, Herbert also possesses one of the NFL’s most lively arms. Growing pains are inevitable, but he looks the part.

On the outside looking in

Matt Ryan

ATL • QB • 2

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The statistics say Ryan deserves to be in the conversation: All-time, he’s ninth in passing yards, ninth in completions, 10th in passing TDs, 13th in passer rating and 14th in career wins. He also has an NFL MVP and five Pro Bowls under his belt. But he’s captained five losing seasons and gone 4-6 in the playoffs, including an infamous Super Bowl loss. He hasn’t done enough when it counts.

Cam Newton

NE • QB • 1

At his peak, Newton was one of the NFL’s most dangerous weapons — not so unlike Lamar Jackson, except with bulldozing power rather than lightning speed. His 2015 NFL MVP season (45 total TDs), in which he led the Panthers to the Super Bowl, teased his upside. But while his career running resume is second only to Vick, he’s largely been a mediocre passer on mediocre teams.

Matthew Stafford

LAR • QB • 9

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It’s easy to pin blame for Stafford’s lackluster record (74-90-1) on his longtime Lions supporting cast/staff, but still, an 0-3 playoff record means he needs a legit title run (or two) in Los Angeles to even warrant consideration. He was a record-breaking passer before historic aerial numbers became commonplace, and yet he’s got just one Pro Bowl and few other honors or big wins to his name.

We understand the uneasiness about QB MATT RYAN.

But, if he plays two more years (and it could be more), he will probably be 7^th in passing yards and 9^th in TD passes.

Is PHILIP RIVERS a Hall of Famer?  We think he will be.  Dan Fouts, Jim Kelly and Warren Moon are in without winning a Super Bowl, as well.

Would Ryan be in if the Falcons had won the 28-3 game with New England?  We think he would be.

And when the time comes to consider his candidacy, we think his MVP season, his generally-winning record, the fact that he played with one team for well over a decade in addition to the massive weight of his stats will deservedly put him in.  Perhaps not in the first year, but yes he will go in.

THE CLASS OF 2022

The DB breaks Hall of Fame contenders down into slam dunk first year guys, and worthy candidates who might still go in line and weight.

The 2021 class had three first-year nominees make it – Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson who were in that category and Calvin Johnson whose somewhat shortened career may have made that questionable

Looking at 2022, we see WR Andre Johnson standing above the rest of the first-timers literally.  Not as tall, but maybe as worthy, is WR Steve Smith.  Jeff Legwold breaks it down at ESPN.com:

With the largest enshrinement weekend in Pro Football Hall of Fame history in the books, an early look at the potential class of 2022 features a trio of wide receivers in their first year of eligibility.

Receivers Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith and Andre Johnson lead the list of players. Pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware and special teams ace/wide receiver Devin Hester have also been out of the league five seasons, making them eligible.

Smith is eighth in all-time receiving yards, while Johnson is 11th. Boldin is ninth all time in receptions. Ware is 13th all time in sacks, including a 20-sack season in 2008. Hester holds the record for return touchdowns with 20 (14 punt return touchdowns, five kickoff return touchdowns and one missed field goal returned for a touchdown.

The Hall’s board of selectors will choose 25 semifinalists in the coming weeks, and that list will be trimmed by early January to 15. As many as five modern-era players can be selected for enshrinement.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars tackle Tony Boselli, who has been a finalist in each of the past five years, and defensive lineman Richard Seymour, who has been a finalist three times, will have strong cases again.

LeRoy Butler, Torry Holt, Sam Mills, Zach Thomas and Reggie Wayne have each been finalists twice, including in 2021. Since 2010, the modern-era enshrinees who were finalists the most times before being selected include Russ Grimm, Cris Carter, Tim Brown and Charles Haley (six times) and Jerome Bettis and Kevin Greene (five times).

Jared Allen, Ronde Barber and Clay Matthews Jr. were also finalists last year, but Matthews is now a seniors candidate, as his modern-era eligibility has expired.

John Lynch, the former Broncos and Buccaneers safety who was enshrined Sunday in the class of 2021, had been a finalist eight times. That was the most times as a finalist for a modern-era enshrinee since Art Monk was selected for the class of 2008 in his eighth time as a finalist.

Lynn Swann was selected for the class of 2001 after being a finalist 14 times.