Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love became much wealthier individuals on Friday. The Miami Dolphins locked their quarterback to a four-year, $212.4 million deal, while Love and the Green Bay Packers agreed to a four-year, $220 million deal,

The quarterbacks have joined the short list of quarterbacks who are making $50 million annually. That list also includes Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow ($55 million), Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence ($55 million), Detroit’s Jared Goff ($53 million), L.A.’s Justin Herbert ($52 million), Baltimore’s Jamar Jackson ($52 million), and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts ($51 million).

Tagovailoa getting $167 million guaranteed makes him only the eighth quarterback ever to receive a guarantee over $160 million, joining Cleveland — Herbert ($218.7 million guaranteed), Burrow ($219.01 million guaranteed), Lawrence ($200 million guaranteed), Jackson ($185 million guaranteed), Hurts ($179.4 million guaranteed) and Goff ($170.6 million guaranteed).

Does having a well compensated quarterback equate to championships? Well, just one player inside the newly etched top 10 highest-paid quarterbacks in the league has hoisted a Lombardi Trophy — Patrick Mahomes, who is tied for 10th in average per year with new Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins. Here’s a rundown of the highest-paid signal-callers in the league and a comparative chart of how they stack up against one another on the field.

Note: APY denotes average per-year earnings (via Spotrac).

QB                                  TEAM               APY     STARTS           RECORD         

Trevor Lawrence          Jaguars           $55M      50                      20-30 

Joe Burrow                   Bengals           $55M      52                    29-22-1

Jordan Love                  Packers            $55M      18                     35-14  

Tua Tagovailoa            Dolphins          $53.1M   51                      32-19 

Jared Goff                     Lions                 $53M     117                  66-50-1

Justin Herbert              Chargers           $52.5M    62                      30-32

Lamar Jackson            Ravens            $52M      77                       58-19           

Jalen Hurts                     Eagles            $51M       51                      34-17                       

Kyler Murray                  Cardinals         $46.1M   65                     28-36-1          

Deshaun Watson           Browns           $46M      65                     36-29 

Kirk Cousins                   Falcons          $45M      145                   76-67-2           

Patrick Mahomes           Chiefs              $45M       96                     74-22 

On top of Mahomes being the only quarterback within this top 11 to actually win a Super Bowl, just three others have been to the big game: Jared Goff, Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow.

JOSH ALLEN is 13^th at $43 million APY

MATTHEW STAFFORD, DANIEL JONES (?!?!) and DAK PRESCOTT are all at $40 million APY, with AARON RODGERS at $37.5

What an advantage the Texans and 49ers have, getting top flight QB play from C.J. STROUD ($9 million APY for next 3 years) and BROCK PURDY ($934,000 APY).

Among the QBs with a higher APY than Purdy are Logan Woodside, Jake Haener and Bailey Zappe.

DETROIT

How do the Lions keep finding the cash?  T TAYLOR DECKER is the latest to strike it rich.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Left tackle Taylor Decker said last week that he was hopeful about signing an extension with the Lions and he had good reason to think that something might be happening on that front.

During a Monday appearance on 97.1 The Ticket, Lions General Manager Brad Holmes said that Decker is signing a three-year extension with the club. Decker’s agent Jonathan Feinsod confirmed the news and announced that the deal is worth $60 million with $31.83 million in guaranteed money.

Decker joined the Lions as a 2016 first-round pick, so the new deal sets him up to extend his stay in Detroit to 12 years. He has started all 116 games — regular season and playoffs — that he has played for Detroit.

The Lions also signed right tackle Penei Sewell to an extension this offseason, so they are set on both ends of the offensive line for the near future.

MINNESOTA

Alec Lewis of The Athletic looks at the upbringing of QB J.J. McCARTHY:

The father of the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback of the future slides over, swipes at his phone and leans over to offer up a picture.

“How great is this?” Jim McCarthy asks.

The image shows a kid with shaggy blond hair wearing an oversized Iowa State football jersey. He might have been 85 pounds soaking wet. Frankly, J.J. looks like a pipsqueak.

“Wild, right?”

What’s actually wild is how normal this all feels. The family’s fluffy dogs, Hubert and Blue, are fenced off in the kitchen and barking. J.J.’s mother, Megan, a project manager for a staffing firm, is downstairs taking work calls on her laptop. It’s a mid-July morning about 15 miles from downtown Chicago. NFL training camps are approaching. And if it weren’t for Jim’s gray hoodie with tiny purple and gold print, you’d have no idea a member of this household played high school football, much less was the Vikings’ first-round pick.

There are no framed jerseys adorning the walls. No football photos lining the entryway. There is a kitchen table and a living room and this cluttered screened-in deck. And that’s where Jim, who is in sales for a waste management company, is slouching comfortably like he’s drinking beers with his buddies.

He’s replaying the night that led to the Iowa State picture when the phone buzzes with a Twitter notification:

I show Jim my phone.

“What’s this?” He asks, leaning in to take a look. “Oh! OK.”

“Did you know this was happening?”

“Not at all. Great!”

“You … didn’t … even … know?”

“Had zero idea!”

A few minutes later, Megan slides open the door to the screened-in deck and says she’s going to run some errands.

“Did you see J signed?” Jim asks.

“Huh?” Megan replies.

“J signed his contract,” Jim says.

“Seriously?” Megan asks. “He doesn’t give us a heads up on anything!”

Jim laughs, then shrugs and says: “That’s how we are.”

The family did not fly to Minnesota for J.J.’s introductory news conference. Jim has yet to meet Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell. When asked what he thinks about J.J. potentially sitting behind veteran Sam Darnold to start the season, the father talks like his son works in finance.

“If you want a promotion in life, do something to earn it,” Jim says. “It’s a career. At the end of the day, it’s a job where you have to perform in order to get promotions. So guess what? Go f—ing perform, or find another job.”

All of this might sound like the McCarthy parents are a tad removed from their son’s success. But it’s actually the opposite. As a family, they decided a long time ago that space and normalcy would allow their kid to be … well, a kid.

J.J. McCarthy’s first private quarterbacks coach stands up from his seat atop some metal bleachers to mimic a throw.

“So, he moves like this,” Greg Holcomb says, reenacting a rollout to the left.

He flips his hips and simulates a sidearm sling.

“And we were, like, ‘What?!’” Holcomb says incredulously. “That was right here. When he was still so young.”

“Right here” is a ho-hum turf field at Doerhoefer Park about 10 miles from the McCarthys’ home. This is where, after one of their first sessions, with the sun setting, and Megan waiting at the car, Holcomb told J.J.: “Dude, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a seventh-grader throw the football as smoothly and naturally and effortlessly as you.”

Time blurred from there. Jim took J.J. to a camp at North Central College in Naperville, Ill.; J.J. threw; Iowa State coaches approached J.J.; Jim texted Holcomb what was happening; Holcomb replied excitedly; the Iowa State coaches invited J.J. to a camp; Holcomb told Jim that they’d offer him; Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell watched J.J. throw the next week, then offered him; J.J. called Holcomb to tell him; and Holcomb responded: “You got an offer didn’t you; I f—ing knew it.” That’s when they took the picture that Jim still has.

The offer, and an ensuing growth spurt, pushed J.J.’s recruitment into hyperdrive. Holcomb’s business boomed because local parents knew he was J.J.’s coach. While Holcomb managed the influx of trainees, he wondered how J.J. was navigating the notoriety. One weekend, Urban Meyer was walking around Ohio Stadium with his arm around J.J. to sell him on Ohio State. The next, Joe Burrow was calling to pitch J.J. on LSU. Social media feeds were filled with support and hatred from so many different fan bases. Mailboxes filled with hand-written letters. A phone call from a coach here, a text to respond to there.

All at once, J.J. was trying to win games for Nazareth Academy on Friday nights, impress college coaches on Saturdays, do homework on Sundays and be a kid during the week. Jim, Megan, J.J.’s sisters, Caitlin and Morgan, and his now fiancée, Katya Kuropas, tried to help him manage it. Once new Ohio State coach Ryan Day shocked the family during an in-person meeting when he said the school did not have the offer that Meyer once promised, Megan urged J.J. to visit Michigan. Though J.J.’s appreciation for Iowa State’s initial belief remained — Jim even says, “We still love Matt Campbell” — there was something about Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh’s belief in the young quarterback that made J.J. fall in love.

It was there, during J.J.’s freshman season in Ann Arbor, that J.J. decided he needed his parents not in a management role but as support.

“I just want you guys,” he told his parents then, “to be Mom and Dad.”

Jim and Megan McCarthy with son J.J. after he helped lead Michigan to victory in the national championship game against Washington. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

Jim McCarthy is still on the screened-in deck in the backyard and he’s showing different pictures.

He finds a photo of what J.J. calls his “GOAT book,” a journal where J.J. jots down inspirational messages.

“Look at this: Brady, the mindset of a champion … Michael Jordan’s 10 rules of success … Kobe Bryant … This was all in high school. This is how he thinks … Muhammad Ali.”

He scrolls again through the photos on his phone.

“Here’s something a lot of people don’t know about him …”

When J.J. was still just a junior in high school, Megan installed a massive whiteboard in his room. Each week, he filled it with dry-erase marker ink, breaking down his opponents. He jotted down the defense’s primary coverages. He singled out defenders he could attack.

Jim showed the image of J.J.’s whiteboard ahead of the 2019 state championship game against Mount Carmel. Notes were scribbled all over the board: On trips, that corner takes the receiver vertical … Easily their worst cover corner … Call McDaniels.

“That was (a reminder) for him to call Ben McDaniels (the former quarterbacks coach at Michigan), who recruited him,” Jim says.

“So what happened in that game? We lost,” Jim says. “It was hailing sideways. All right, so he comes home and obviously, he’s pissed. The next morning, he wakes up and goes, ‘I’ve got to go for a run.’ It’s 6 a.m. He leaves. I go into his room. The whole whiteboard has changed.”

Jim swipes the phone and shows an image straight out of “A Beautiful Mind.” An NFL logo is drawn beautifully in the middle of the whiteboard. At the top, in bold, is the score of the game: 37-13. There are phrases and quotes everywhere.

This s— is not easy … What are you willing to do? … Dreams would not be dreams if they were easy … Overrated … Don’t bounce around in the pocket … Two hands on the ball … How bad do you want it?

The next photo in Jim’s phone is another telling image. Written in scraggly handwriting on a sheet of loose-leaf paper is the message: One goal: Be the greatest f—ing quarterback to ever come through here.

J.J. taped that on the wall of his freshman dorm room in Ann Arbor. As for Tom Brady?

“We always talked, like, if your friends aren’t laughing at your goals, you never set them high enough,” Jim says.

J.J. went on to become one of the most accomplished Michigan quarterbacks ever. He beat Day’s Ohio State team three times, putting away his usual eye black so Day could see him directly. As Michigan tore its way toward a national championship, Jim and Megan mostly kept out of the spotlight. The only responsibility Jim assumed — at J.J.’s directive — was dropping off checks at local children’s hospitals in the city of each team Michigan played.

This all sounds so advanced, so beyond his years — almost a professional mindset at such an early age. How do parents instill in a child that type of big-picture view? What parenting strategies inspire this type of awareness? What is it like to see a child so committed to achieving his goals?

In a roundabout way, I asked this of Jim.

“His life has been on fast-forward,” Jim says, “and he’s managed it well. But he’s still a young kid. I want him to make mistakes. There’s still so much for him to learn. He’s still a 21-year-old kid.”

Years ago, before the fame came, Holcomb asked J.J. to babysit his son Sam.

J.J. jumped at the opportunity. He showed up with Katya, and together they shouldered the responsibility. J.J.’s best work? Whipping up some grilled cheese sandwiches.

“Sam thought they were the best he’d ever had,” Holcomb says, “just because J.J. made them.”

Years later, Sam is now in seventh grade. And, funnily enough, not only does he play quarterback, but he is considered the best in the country at his age.

Michigan became the first school to offer him about a month ago. Jim informed J.J. of the news, and J.J. immediately sent Sam a direct message.

Holcomb has a screenshot of it.

“Congrats, fam,” Holcomb says, reading J.J.’s words aloud. “Well deserved because of all the work that you already put in. But I’m here to tell you that you’re not even getting started yet and haven’t even scratched the surface of your potential. I’ll love you for life, but please, if you can promise me one thing, continue to work your balls off until you hang the cleats up. Let me know if you ever need anything.

“Just the beginning.”

Buried in that last phrase is a message for Holcomb, too. It’s the beginning of a well-trodden parenting arc.

Jim is one of the few who can relate to Holcomb’s situation, so Holcomb has begun to ask for advice. The overall theme in Jim’s responses? Be a dad, not an overbearing manager or coach. And if the kid loves this — like, really loves it — there’s no telling what he might be able to accomplish.

DALLAS

The injuries that really hurt are the season enders in training camp, before even the first preseason game.  The Cowboys had one with DE SAM WILLIAMS.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Cowboys defensive end Sam Williams needed to be carted off the practice field when he was injured at training camp on Sunday and initial word is that he suffered a severe injury.

NFL Media reports that Williams is believed to have a torn ACL. Further tests will be done to confirm that diagnosis and Williams’ season will be over if that confirmation arrives.

Williams joined the Cowboys as a second-round pick in 2022 and he spent his first two seasons as a rotational player behind DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons. He was set to play the same role in 2024 and had 8.5 sacks over his first two seasons in Dallas.

TAMPA BAY

Will T TRISTAN WIRFS be the next big OT to sign a new contract?  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Buccaneers left tackle Tristan Wirfs sounds confident that he’ll have a new contract soon.

Wirfs said on Monday morning that he hoped to have an agreement before training camp but is happy with how close they’re getting.

“It would’ve been nice for it to have been done already, but that’s part of the business,” Wirfs said. “I was here all offseason training. Everyone knows I like it here. We’re working on getting it done. It’s been good.”

Wirfs said he wants to be cautious and not injure himself in training camp, but that holding out altogether is not something he would do. Wirfs indicated that he and head coach Todd Bowles are on the same page about him getting a reduced workload while he tries to stay healthy ahead of an anticipated contract agreement.

“I talked to Coach Bowles about it,” Wirfs said. “I’ve got to be out here. It’s just not in my DNA.”

Wirfs said they’re getting closer and working on the last details of a long-term agreement.

“It’s all been good. We’re just trying to work out some little things. I think we’re moving, the past couple days have been really, really good,” Wirfs said.

Bucs G.M. Jason Licht said Friday that he’s optimistic a Wirfs deal will be done soon, and with Wirfs saying something similar today, there’s every reason to believe a long-term contract will get done.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

A name to know in your Fantasy Draft?  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Rams drafted running back Blake Corum with the idea that he’ll be an immediate contributor as the backup to Kyren Williams. Early in training camp, they’re liking what they’re seeing.

Ras running backs coach Ron Gould says Corum is getting a lot of reps with the starters in camp because he deserves them.

“This is something that is earned,” Gould told theRams.com. “And I think he’s done a fabulous job of coming in, learning the system, and when we’re asking him to go in, he’s ready to go. He’s been a pro’s pro. He’s a young man that is very passionate about the game. He cares, he studies it, he rewrites his notes, he’s asking a lot of a lot of great questions. So these are the things that I’ve seen. And then he’s got in in practice, and he’s executed at a very high level.”

Corum said his time between Organized Team Activities and training camp was spent primarily on studying the Rams’ offense.

“I had about 40 days off, so I was just studying my plays,” Corum said. “So right now I’m just going out there more confident. I’m not really thinking as much as I was during OTAs, [when I was] brand new in the playbook. I kind of understand the playbook now, and so I’m able to play fast and do what I do.”

The 23-year-old Williams had a breakout season last year, leading the NFL with an average of 95.3 rushing yards per game. If Corum is as effective as the Rams expect him to be, the Rams will have the best young 1-2 punch at running back of any offense in the NFL.

DENVER

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com checks in on Denver’s three-headed QB battle, with rookie BO NIX seeming to emerge:

The NFL’s most intriguing quarterback battle was on full display, with Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson trading shots all day. Rarely do teams involve three quarterbacks splitting reps evenly in a true battle, and this one covers three career stages — first-round rookie (Nix), incumbent looking to shed journeyman status (Stidham) and former early pick looking for a lifeline (Wilson).

People I’ve talked to with the team aren’t shying away from the notion that Denver feels like it has something in Nix. Sometimes with rookies you get lines like, “He’s coming along” or “Rookies need time.” Not in this case. The line is a variation of “He’s impressive.” The Broncos have been very happy with his ability to process information, his quick release, his accuracy and the poise you’d expect from a 61-game collegiate starter. That manifested Saturday, when Nix rebounded from his first interception of camp with three touchdown passes, including a nifty wheel route score to running back Javonte Williams.

The Broncos aren’t naive that Nix will have his freshman moments in camp when the pads come on. But this is a quarterback crafted in the image of coach Sean Payton, who is betting big on his ability to develop passers. While the battle is decidedly open, Nix is making his case.

“He’s done great, very confident, a lot of experience under his belt,” said cornerback Pat Surtain II of Nix. “Bright early start to his career. I can tell he’s very poised and confident.”

Stidham and Wilson can’t be discounted, though. Stidham might be the steadiest option of the three right now. Payton always has been a big fan, and in a ball-control offense, Stidham can operate efficiently. Payton has called him “real decisive” in his Year 2 approach dating to the spring. Stidham probably takes fewer chances than the other two as far as stretching the ball downfield, but he has been consistent.

Meanwhile, consider Wilson a Bill Parcells-inspired acquisition. Payton, one of Parcells’ top disciples, preached to his coaches that getting a former high pick at a low price can sometimes pay off because of the pedigree. That’s the case with Wilson, who is in a positive environment after three turbulent years with the Jets. Even if Wilson doesn’t win the starting job, the Broncos will have a plan for him. It’s important to keep three quarterbacks now with the new game-day rules for emergency quarterbacks. And they worked the Wilson trade with the Jets for weeks. They won’t want to throw that away.

The Broncos will soon formulate a plan for narrowing the quarterback focus. The sense here is that two of the three will start to get a heavier workload in practices soon. Monday is the team’s first day in pads, which could influence some decision-making. But for now, the Broncos like how all three are put in challenging situations with the quick rotations. One more thing the Broncos like about their QB battle: All three signal-callers are mobile.

More from Zac Stevens at DNVR.com:

Payton’s initial evaluation of the quarterback room is they are “doing well,” but declined to report a standings for Stidham, Wilson and Nix after four practices.

“Those guys are working hard and they’re competing,” he added. “I’m not going to give updates, daily updates or weekly updates. There will be a time when you’ll see the rotation begin to change in a certain way. At some point, it’ll clear itself up, but nothing to report right now.”

All of this comes on the heels of Nix’s best day of training camp. After a disappointing start to Saturday’s practice, including a disastrous interception where Nix threw the ball directly to Levi Wallace, the rookie completely flipped his day around.

Nix had not one, not two, but three touchdowns to finish practice. Two of them — one to Greg Dulcich and the other to Javonte Williams — were excellent throws to the end zone.

“You’re going to [make] a mistake and you’re going to have a minus play. The key is learning from it,” Payton said after practice. “We’ll look at the film and then bouncing back.”

As the Broncos’ quarterback rotation and competition settles into a rhythm, a change could be on the horizon as the second week of training camp kicks off on Monday.

KANSAS CITY

As he slides out of the top 10 in APY, QB PATRICK MAHOMES shows wisdom.

No, Patrick Mahomes is not suddenly in a panic over his paycheck.

He knows. Emerging quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love struck deals last Friday for massive new contracts that place them in the top five in the NFL for average salary.

Tagovailoa, who led the NFL in passing yards last season, signed a four-year, $212.4 million extension with the iami Dolphins that averages $53.1 million. The Green Bay Packers signed Love to a four-year, $220 million pact with an average of $55 million.

“It’s awesome for the game of football,” Mahomes told USA TODAY Sports during an exclusive interview following the Kansas City Chiefs training camp practice on Sunday.

“It’s awesome for the quarterback position, but I think all positions. I know every time a contract comes up, everybody looks at my APY (average per year) and everything like that. I’m doing pretty well myself. For me, it’s just about going out there trying to win football games, trying to make money for my family at the end of the day. I feel like I’m doing a great job of that.”

Still, when considering that APY alongside Mahomes’ three Super Bowl MVPs, something seems off. The star quarterback, who has led the Chiefs to three title triumphs in five years, averages $45 million on the 10-year, $450 million deal he signed in 2020.

By at least that APY measure, Mahomes, 28, is grossly underpaid.

I mean, if these guys are averaging well over $50 million – and according to Spotrac.com, there are actually 10 quarterbacks, including Joe Burrow ($55 million), Trevor Lawrence ($55 million) and Jared Goff ($53 million) averaging more than the NFL’s best player – what is Mahomes really worth?

You could say the brilliance and Super Bowl rings justify that the eighth-year veteran should average at least $200 million per year. And maybe you’d still come up short. I mean, by whatever measure, Mahomes – who has never led the Chiefs to anything less than an AFC title game appearance since becoming a starter in 2018, his second year as a pro – has outplayed the contract that was done way back during the pandemic.

Mahomes, though, hardly feels slighted when weighing another essential element of contract value: cash flow. For all of the fluidity with the rankings of average salaries that has come with the new deals on the market, Mahomes still tops the charts when it comes to cash over four years.

According to figures reported by Pro Football Talk, Mahomes’ cash payment for the four-year period extending through the 2027 season will be $215.6 million, followed by Burrow’s $213.9 million. For the period from 2023-26, Mahomes’ number is $210.6, followed by Lamar Jackson’s $208 million.

That’s why Mahomes is not poised to round up his agents, Chris Cabott and Leigh Steinberg, and storm the office of Chiefs owner Clark Hunt while seeking a new deal.

His record-breaking contract is a reminder that total cash and guaranteed money are the best barometers of a contract’s value, given that players – especially non-quarterbacks – oftentimes don’t collect every penny of the contracts that make headlines.

But doesn’t Mahomes feel just a bit underpaid? After all, in chasing a three-peat he is the face of a league that many estimate generates more than $20 billion per year in revenues.

“Not necessarily,” Mahomes said, alluding to a big-picture approach that another multiple-time Super Bowl MVP winner, Tom Brady, maintained during his heyday.

“I think we do a great job of managing my money, to be able to pay me a lot of money and keep a good team around me. I know we’ve kind of restructured it a couple of times and got the cash flow up in certain spots and certain years. It’s about having a good dialogue, good communication with the front office, with ownership. We’ve done that here. And as we’ve been able to allow me to be a highly-paid guy while at the same time build a great team around me.”

Mahomes, who spoke more candidly about money matters than most players, clearly gets it while speaking contractual peace. His flexibility in re-working his contract has not only bolstered the guaranteed money, but it has also provided the Chiefs the ability to secure long-term deals with other pillars.

In March, the Chiefs signed Chris Jones to a five-year extension worth $158.75 million that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive tackle, averaging $31.75 million with $95 million guaranteed. And Travis Kelce, who signed a two-year, $34.25 million extension in April, has the highest average salary among NFL tight ends at $17.125 million.

When Mahomes signed his deal in 2020, it guaranteed more than $141 million. With multiple revisions in form of a restructure or other maneuvers, he not only allowed the Chiefs to clear in the neighborhood of $50 million in cap room, the guarantees increased to more than $208 million, according to Spotrac. With a restructure in Sept. 2023, more than $43 million was converted into his payout for the 2023-2026 league years.

“We do a great job,” Mahomes said, referring to his agents and the Chiefs front office. “When I restructured, kind of moving money around the last time, we talked about a certain year when we were going to go back and do it again.

“It’s about having that plan, that constant communication. And we have that here. I’m happy to see guys going out and getting as much money as possible. That’s awesome for the sport. But here we have a great communication system where I feel like we’ve done the best with what we can do.”

In other words, another monster deal looms for Mahomes, but now is not the time.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

Charles Robinson of YahooSports.com tries out the idea that Jim Harbaugh and his GM Joe Hortiz will be to the Chargers what another college coach, Pete Carroll, and NFL-bred first-time GM John Schneider were to the Seahawks:

Before the first training camp practice preceding the next chapter of the Los Angeles Chargers’ destiny, Jim Harbaugh was cutting across the field in his cleats when his eyesight caught the path of All-Pro safety Derwin James. Ever the one to engage a team leader and impart one of his Harbaugh-isms, the head coach called out.

“Hey … gliiide,” Harbaugh said, pushing his right hand into the air, as if to simulate a plane lifting off. “Glide today. We’ll be at 30,000 feet before you know it. Let’s glide a little.”

James reached out and slapped Harbaugh’s hand.

“I got you,” he said.

If you wanted a snapshot of the Harbaugh dogma, this is it. Teach. Enthuse. Educate. Connect. Repeat with color and vigor. And above all else, never spare the zany analogies. None more vintage than what he shared with the media after that first practice, comparing the start of a football season with … childbirth.

“It feels like coming out of the womb, you know?” Harbaugh said earlier this week. “It’s like, you’re in there and it’s comfortable and safe and now — poof! You’re out, you’re born. The lights are on, it’s bright. You’ve got chaos, people looking at you, people talking at you. It just feels good to have it happen.”

That story wasn’t just for the media’s enjoyment, either. He imparted that one to his players, too. Including James, who had never quite heard his profession described that way.

“Nah, never,” James said with a laugh. “He’s his own guy. I love him. We love him.”

Whether or not that will translate into these Chargers finally breaking through to meet or exceed expectations remains to be seen. But the way the operation is set up — and some of the aggressive change that has already taken place — certainly sends a signal. Like some of the more successful regimes in recent years, there’s not a lot of waiting happening inside the walls of this franchise when it comes to attacking a roster. Any inclination to be paralyzed by assessment or fearing movement went out the window when Harbaugh was hired and paired with general manager Joe Hortiz, who comes from a Baltimore Ravens operation that cranks out personnel talent the way Harvard stocks White-shoe law firms.

The decisive nature of that duo may never be more evident than their first offseason together, when they moved on from a boatload of veteran talent. Half salary purge and half culture churn, the moves including trading a starting wideout who had become an institution in the uniform (Keenan Allen), letting another young-but-oft-injured starting receiver leave in free agency (Mike Williams), and then declining to re-sign a handful of other veterans who will be key starters or rotational players elsewhere (running back Austin Ekeler, linebacker Kenneth Murray and tight end Gerald Everett, among others).

Those moves were part of what should be a micro-rebuild rather than a full-blown retooling, putting the Chargers onto a path that will eventually look similar to how sustained programs have long been established by franchises like the Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers. The goal: to build a sturdy team through drafting, teaching and culture molding, then conservatively using free agency and trades to improve the weak spots. All while carefully trying to cultivate underrated tools like the pursuit of compensatory draft picks to fatten up draft classes.

This is what Hortiz believes in as a builder. It’s what he learned in Baltimore from guys like Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta over the course of 26 years. And now that he’s paired with Harbaugh — who has always been a consummate leader/teacher/philosopher at head coach — the pair feel like a software update to some classic tandems. One that comes to mind? The Pete Carroll and John Schneider-era Seattle Seahawks. In that regime, you had Carroll, the energy head coach/teacher, making his NFL return off a national championship with USC, paired with Schneider, the started-at-the-bottom general manager whose “build from inside” fundamentals were shaped by Ron Wolfe and Ted Thompson.

Eventually, the matrix of Carroll and Schneider delivered two Super Bowl appearances and one Super Bowl win (which really should have been two). Seahawks mistakes aside, that’s not a bad aim for a Chargers franchise that hasn’t been to the Super Bowl since the 1994 season, particularly given the decades of squandering elite talent and repeatedly falling short of expectations.

What the team is selling now is something a little different: A proven winner at all levels of football, who does things his own (sometimes unconventional) way — but who is often true to what he believes and says. When he tells you he might draft an offensive lineman with the No. 5 overall pick, because he believes in building outward from a team’s line, then he might do just that. And when everyone assumes he has to take a wide receiver at that very spot, he and Hortiz select Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt. When critics say the NFL is no longer conquered by being run-dominant, Harbaugh and Hortiz lean into laying a run-balanced foundation.

“When you get a guy like coach Harbaugh that has been there and won at a bunch of places, you know that he’s not testing it out for the first time,” defensive end Joey Bosa said. “He has a strategy that he knows that works. It’s easy to buy in when you have a guy like that. Winning a national championship, going to the Super Bowl, you know, wherever he’s been, he’s been really successful. So to have a guy that comes in, he lays the plan out for you, and there’s no guessing. It feels nice.”

That’s the faith and buy-in Harbaugh and Hortiz are in Los Angeles to create. Thoughtfully and methodically, something fans should keep in mind during a 2024 season that is going to be about more roster measurement and getting the right pieces around quarterback Justin Herbert to sustain him for the next decade and beyond. It’s something that Harbaugh could have been alluding to when he described the team’s ramp up toward the regular season.

“Analogy would be a plane taking off a runway,” Harbaugh said. “You know, it goes from a dead start and it starts to build up speed, and it gets so much speed that it just has to get off the ground. And then it takes off and it’s not too long until you’re about 30,000 feet. Just making sure that we don’t have any mishaps while we’re in that, I call it ‘glide’. We’re in the glide time.”

For now, that’s what these Chargers need. Not the recent run of rocket ships — filled with talent, fuel and promise — only to blow up in an array of ways, from the launchpad to the edge of the stratosphere. Instead, what’s being built is an ascent that is dedicated to being steady, reliable and sustainable. Pointed up, to a destination that Harbaugh believes will get here before anyone knows it.

CLEVELAND

Although Kevin Stefanski will still call the plays, Ken Dorsey has landed the OC title in Cleveland.  Dan Graziano of ESPN.com:

Ken Dorsey is here as the offensive coordinator, but head coach Kevin Stefanski is still going to call the offensive plays. So why go out and land Dorsey?

“As an OC, he’s always had a top-10 offense,” Browns GM Andrew Berry told me. “He really turned Josh Allen’s career, and Cam Newton was an MVP under his tutelage. He’s a real good quarterback guy, a real good pass-game guy, and then just philosophically, we wanted to be better in the dropback game, the RPO game and really kind of expand our use of motion in our core concepts — and also increase our tempo. Those are all areas where Ken has excelled everywhere he’s been.”

So let’s start with the quarterback. Deshaun Watson enters his third season with the Browns, who somewhat famously traded the moon to the Texans for him and then signed him to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract. He was suspended for the first 11 games of the 2022 season for personal conduct policy violations stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct. Then he played in only six games last season before a shoulder injury ended his season in Week 10. Add in the fact that he was a healthy scratch for the entire 2021 season after requesting a trade from Houston, and that means he has played 12 games in the past three years.

“He needs reps, needs live action,” Dorsey told me.

So during practices, even these early non-padded walk-throughs, the Browns are trying to surround Watson with disturbances. Just people near him or tapping him with pads as he drops back, just to try to simulate game conditions.

“Just stay healthy,” Stefanski said. “I’m confident in Deshaun as a winner. That’s what he’s proven to do his entire career. He even did it for us last season, even though he wasn’t 100 percent.”

But the Browns also decided this offseason that they hadn’t been doing Watson any favors schematically. They felt Dorsey would help them modernize their offensive philosophy at a time when they badly needed to do so. The Browns believed they put Watson in too many tough third-down situations last season and that they could avoid that by working harder on first and second downs.

Example: Berry pointed out to me that the Browns threw the ball on 41% of their first downs in games started by Watson last season, but in games started by Joe Flacco, that number was 60%. (Stefanski downplayed that, pointing out that one of the Watson games was a rainy outing against Cincinnati and another was one in which he left after five throws due to injury.)

“It’s really first-down efficiency and staying out of third-down situations,” Berry said. “Because the hardest thing for an offense to do — and specifically for a quarterback to do — is operate in third-and-medium-to-long when you’re in obvious passing situations; you have to just drop back and win. Now, that’s why the guys make money, because they have to be able to convert some of those. But even the best offenses, they convert maybe just right around half.”

The Browns were 29th in the league last season in third-down conversion rate at just 31.6%. (To Berry’s point, the Bills, who had Dorsey as their offensive coordinator for the first 10 games last season, led the league with a third-down conversion rate of 49.8%.) And only three teams — the Giants, Cardinals and Jets — faced a longer average of yards to go on third down than Cleveland’s 7.5.

Meanwhile Jason Lloyd of The Athletic thinks QB DESHAUN WATSON is delusional:

I’ve tried. I’ve really tried with Deshaun Watson. I defended the Browns pursuing him because Baker Mayfield wasn’t good enough and they needed to upgrade the most important position. Despite all his legal issues, Watson was the best quarterback available at the time.

But Watson isn’t and has never been a victim in any of this.

More than two dozen women said he harassed or assaulted them during massage appointments. More than two dozen civil lawsuits against him or the Houston Texans were settled in confidential agreements.

Shortly after arriving at the Greenbrier this week for the start of training camp, Watson was asked a standard, mundane camp question about rehab from his shoulder surgery and if anything has changed with his approach. Here was his answer.

“I think, honestly, it’s really just blocking out all the bull—-,” he said. “It was tough coming in two years ago, different environment, different team, different all that. So you come in and your character’s been mentioned this way and then kind of flip on you and the biggest thing, you’re trying to get people to like you or improve. But now it’s like, at the end of the day, it’s two years in and if you don’t like me or you have your own opinions, then, yeah, it is what it is. So, I think blocking out all the noise and focusing on me and focusing on what I need to do to be the best Deshaun Watson I could be for myself, my family and my teammates.”

Blocking out the noise is fine and necessary for successful quarterback play. Playing the victim card because people question his character and pouting because people may not like him is nauseating and unnecessary. He did this to himself.

I realize last year was incredibly difficult on Watson, first with the season-ending shoulder injury and then the way the city fell hard for Joe Flacco.

Cleveland fans have never really embraced Watson, and certainly not to the level they swooned for Flacco during his incredible month of December. For Watson, that had to be tough and perhaps a bit embarrassing to endure.

But here’s the part he can control: Flacco arrived and immediately thrived in Kevin Stefanski’s play-action offense. He made it look exactly how it’s supposed to look. There were too many interceptions, yes, but Flacco ran the offense better than Watson. He had so much success in the system that he walked away with the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year based on five games.

So what did the Browns do in response? Fired the offensive coordinator and overhauled an offense that was finally thriving because it wasn’t the franchise quarterback who was making it go. It was the retired guy off the pickleball court. Can’t have that. Can’t embarrass the $230 million man like that. 

The Browns are all the way in this now. They have to do whatever it takes to appease Watson and cater to him, even if it means scrapping an offense that we finally saw for a month perform optimally when run effectively.

The problem is Watson never really looked comfortable doing it. So Ken Dorsey is here as the new offensive coordinator to bring some of the shotgun/spread concepts that made Cam Newton and Josh Allen great quarterbacks. At least Stefanski held onto play-calling duties. He is now a two-time Coach of the Year. He should be calling plays as long as he wants the job.

The more troubling theme, beyond the scheme and on-field performance, is the way Watson spoke like a man who somehow has been wronged in all of this.

“My character was getting challenged,” Watson said. “I know who I am, and a lot of people never really knew my history. I knew who I really was, so they’re going based off other people’s opinions and whatever other people are saying. But yeah, I’m a person. I like to have people like me, and I feel like a lot of people are like that. So sometimes things are in your brain, you just gotta turn and just gotta forget it. It is what it is.”

Watson has never really shown much remorse or taken enough accountability for his alleged predatory actions.

Only once did Watson show any type of contrition, which was in a pregame interview before his first preseason game as a member of the Browns.

“I want to say that I’m truly sorry to all of the women that I have impacted in this situation,” Watson said before his debut at Jacksonville. “The decisions that I made in my life that put me in this position I would definitely like to have back, but I want to continue to move forward and grow and learn and show that I am a true person of character and I am going to keep pushing forward.”

It was a necessary and prudent first step — but unfortunately, the only time he has ever shown remorse. He walked back much of his apology at his next media availability the following week and has remained defiant and unapologetic ever since.

That lack of remorse is what Judge Sue L. Robinson noted when she initially suspended Watson for six games.

I believe Watson has gotten some really bad advice through all of this. His team, at least to my knowledge, never hired a crisis management team to begin mitigating the PR damage. He never was out front on any charity work involving women’s abuse victims.

Instead, he went to Saudi Arabia over the offseason — a country with a horrific record on human rights and specifically women’s rights — and took to social media to rave about what a good time he had there.

Watson’s involvement in numerous lawsuits certainly was a factor in what he could or couldn’t say publicly. But two years later, he still can’t understand why people may not like him? Or understand why the community has been slow to embrace him? Really?

The uncomfortable truth in all of this is that if Watson can stay healthy and return to the form he showed in Houston — if he can thrive in this new offense — many Browns fans will eventually embrace him. Winning is a deodorant, as Stefanski has often said. Even when it comes to covering up sexual misconduct.

Until then, we get gems like this from Watson: “I don’t give two f—s what other people say, to be honest.”

Then let’s be honest. Most NFL fans don’t care what he has to say, either. Until he says “I’m sorry.”

INDIANAPOLIS

Jim Irsay appears at camp in a wheelchair.  James Boyd of The Athletic:

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay made his first public appearance in months Sunday at training camp in Grand Park. As the team conducted one-on-one drills, Irsay sat on a golf cart near the practice fields and provided an update on his health before discussing the state of his team.

On Dec. 8, Irsay was found unresponsive and struggling to breathe at his Carmel, Ind., home. The police were called, and the responding officers used naloxone — a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose — on Irsay and logged the incident as a suspected overdose, though he later rebutted their report. The Colts announced Jan. 9 that Irsay was being treated for a respiratory illness and he would miss a performance with The Jim Irsay Band in Los Angeles on Jan. 11.

Irsay did not attend the NFL owners’ meetings in March, but he seemed glad to finally be back around the sights and sounds of football Sunday. Here’s what he said during his annual training camp news conference:

How is your health?

“I know sometimes what our players can go through in terms of the rehab that I did, and I’m feeling great just trying to get this left leg stronger, which it will. It’s just great to be out here, and I’m so excited for the season and really excited for the Hall of Fame (ceremonies) as well as for (inductee) Dwight (Freeney). That’s a big deal for the franchise and really deserving for him.”

Irsay recently underwent left leg surgery that has resulted in his using a wheelchair. He won’t be walking alongside Freeney, who asked Irsay to present him at the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday in Canton, Ohio. Irsay said he can still stand up and hopes to begin walking again soon, but he did not give a definitive timeline.

MIAMI

There was brave talk that the Dolphins would resist giving QB TUA TAGOVIALOA a huge, top of the market contract.  But in the end, they fell in line.  Alain Poupart of SI.com:

Maybe this was how it was going to play out with Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins all along.

General Manager Chris Grier warned early in the offseason that negotiations for a contract extension for the 2020 No. 1 pick would be complicated while indicating that the franchise wanted to continue with Tagovailoa as its starting quarterback.

That was why the expectation all along was that a deal would be worked out, though all parties probably wish it had happened a bit sooner than the third day of training camp practices and after Tagovailoa’s now-famous “the market is the market” comment during minicamp.

Where Tua Ranks In Contracts

Neither Tua nor the team revealed the exact structure of the contract as of early Saturday morning, so it’s impossible to exactly break down where the contract puts Tua in real money. The headline is the $53.1 million, which put him third among NFL quarterbacks for a little while Friday until Jordan Love topped it with his extension with the Green Bay Packers.

Tua’s annual average would place him a hair ahead of the reported figures of Jared Goff’s extension with the Detroit Lions, which came in at exactly $53 million. Goff had a slight edge in guaranteed money at $170 million.

Ultimately, the two trailed the money the Jacksonville Jaguars gave Trevor Lawrence, who got a $55 million annual average with $200 guaranteed.

This is where the debate can start about who deserved more because Tua has accomplished much more statistically so far than Lawrence, dominating him in most categories. Yes, Lawrence does have one playoff victory, but the one fact shouldn’t be the end-all, be-all difference-maker because Tua has played only one playoff game, and playing at Kansas City is a whole different ballgame than facing the Chargers at home.

Even if he didn’t wind up at the top of the QB salary hierarchy, Tua did land a contract that pretty much filled his “market is the market” mantra.

The Dolphins’ Unwavering Faith In Tua

From a team standpoint, the Dolphins most definitely put their money where their mouth was.

They essentially committed to Tagovailoa being their starting quarterback for at least the next three years, fully confident he’ll take the next steps in his evolution and help deliver playoff wins and, hopefully, a Super Bowl.

While there are questions about Tagovailoa’s NFL ceiling and whether he can carry the team to a Super Bowl, the facts are that the Dolphins are a playoff team with him running the offense, and there’s reason to be optimistic.

It’s a sharp contrast from where the Dolphins were almost a decade ago when they decided to extend Ryan Tannehill’s contract when his ceiling was in question. He also had been without Tua’s statistical success to that point.

The decision to extend Tannehill was highly dubious from the start, and that’s not the case here.

The Dolphins have put themselves in position the past two seasons to accomplish great things after starting 8-3 and 10-3, and it may be that they needed a couple of tries to finish what they started.

Tua’s Personal Journey

And the Dolphins think they’ll be doing just that, and Tua will be front and center in getting it done.

It’s a long way from where things stood two or three years ago when the Dolphins clearly had their doubts about Tagovailoa. This led to the much-too-public pursuits of Deshaun Watson and later Tom Brady, the one that helped cost the Dolphins two premium draft picks after they were found guilty of tampering.

We all remember Tua’s famous comment, “I don’t not feel wanted,” during all the Watson chatter in 2021.

Tua can now replace that comment with, “I feel wanted.”

Now, it’s up to Tua to build on his 2022 and 2023 performances, take the next step, and justify the Dolphins’ faith in him by helping the team reach its ultimate goals.

NEW ENGLAND

Blood clots for DT CHRISTIAN BARMORE.  Nick Bromberg of YahooSports.com:

Star New England Patriots defensive lineman Christian Barmore will be out indefinitely after experiencing blood clots.

The Patriots said in a statement that Barmore was diagnosed “over the weekend.” Barmore recently signed a four-year extension with the team worth up to $84 million. He also turned 25 on Sunday.

“Over the weekend, Christian Barmore was diagnosed with blood clots,” the team said. “He was appropriately treated by the doctors at Mass General Brigham, who tested, evaluated and treated Christian.”

“Our principal concern at this time is Christian’s health and wellbeing. Fortunately, Mass General Brigham provides some of the best healthcare in the world.”

“While there is no current timetable for his return, we know Christian is getting tremendous care and we look forward to his full recovery.”

Barmore had a breakout third season in 2023 after the Patriots selected him in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. The former Alabama player appeared in all 17 games and had 65 tackles with 8.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. The extension he signed with the team included over $40 million in guaranteed money.

The Patriots view him as a centerpiece of a defense that was a bright spot in an otherwise miserable 2023 season. New England allowed just 4.7 yards a play and 21.5 points a game last season but finished 4-13 because of an offense that scored fewer than 14 points per game.

New England took former North Carolina QB Drake Maye with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft this spring as it begins an overhaul of the offense under new head coach and longtime Bill Belichick assistant Jerod Mayo.

– – –

Sounds like a “hold in” for EDGE MATTHEW JUDON.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

When Patriots edge rusher Matthew Judon reported to training camp last week, he confirmed that he is unhappy with his current contract but said that he would take part in practice and play despite that dissatisfaction.

His feelings about the issue may have changed this week. Judon was not in uniform when the Patriots took the field for their first padded practice of camp on Monday.

Reporters at the session said that Judon had conversations with head coach Jerod Mayo, executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and director of player personnel Matt Groh before leaving the field.

Judon held himself out of camp practices last summer before getting a revised deal for the 2023 season. The coming days will show whether he’s taking a similar approach to the rest of this year’s camp.

THIS AND THAT

NEW IN 2024 – 12 MEN LEGALLY ON THE FIELD

John Breech of CBSSports.com with a wrinkle from the new kickoff rule:

As most NFL fans know, it’s illegal for any team to put 12 players on the field for any play during a game, but for the 2024 season, there will actually be one situation where the league WILL allow teams to have an extra man on the field.

The addition of a 12th man is one of the wrinkles that will come with the new kickoff rule that’s being implemented this year, according to NFL referee John Hussey. The veteran ref was in Kansas City on Saturday for Chiefs’ training camp, and during his trip, he broke down the new kickoff rule for the media.

During that meeting, Hussey explained the one situation where a 12th man will be legal: Teams will be allowed to use an extra player to serve as the holder for kickoffs during windy games where the ball won’t stay on the tee. The catch here is that the 12th man won’t be able to participate in the play after holding the ball for the kicker.

“They can’t do anything,” Hussey said, via Fox4KC.com.

Under the new rule, the return team will be set up with the kicker at his own 35-yard line while his 10 teammates will be lined up 25 yards away at the return team’s 40-yard line (Every member of the coverage team has to have one foot on the 40-yard line until the ball is fielded or until it hits the ground in the landing zone). The kicker isn’t even allowed to cross the 50 until the ball is in play, so that should give the 12th man/holder plenty of time to get off the field.

The new kickoff rule was approved in March, and right now, no one seems to know how it’s going to look in the NFL. Some teams, like the Chiefs, are giving serious consideration to letting a position player serve as kicker, while other teams treating it like business as usual with their normal kicker handling kickoffs.

One other wrinkle in the rule is that if a returner touches the ball while he has one foot outside the landing zone, then the ball will be considered out of bounds. Under the old rule, if a player touched the football while part of his body was out of bounds, then the ball was considered out of bounds and the return team was given the ball at the 40-yard line. You can see an example of this type of play below. 

With the landing zone starting at the return team’s 20-yard line, this means that if a returner touches the ball with one foot on the 20.5-yard line, then the ball will be considered out of bounds and the return team will get the ball at the 40.

If this all sounds confusing, let’s just say that there’s a reason the NFL needed 9.5 pages to explain the rule.

Hussey said the officials have no idea what to expect.

“Are they going to kick a line drive? Are they going to pooch the ball into the 20? Are they going to keep two receivers back? Move a 10th person up? There’s a lot we don’t know,” Hussey said, via ESPN.com.

The rule will be on display for the first time ever in just a few days when the Bears meet the Texans in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio on Thursday night. The new kickoff rule is being used on a one-year trial and if teams don’t like it, then the NFL can simply dump it after the 2024 season, but if it proves to be popular, then the NFL can permanently implement starting in 2025.