The Daily Briefing Monday, June 6, 2022

NFC SOUTH

CAROLINA

The Panthers are anxious to add QB JIMMY GAROPPOLO to their roster.  Darrelle Lincoln of Total Pro Sports:

When the 49ers’ 2021 NFL season ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game, not many expected quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to remain on San Francisco’s roster in mid-May.

But as the quarterback carousel unwinded in a busy offseason around the league, no team answered the 49ers’ calls for a Garoppolo trade.

One of those teams that appeared to be a natural landing spot for the veteran quarterback was the Carolina Panthers, who entered the 2022 NFL Draft with Sam Darnold as their top quarterback on the roster.

The Panthers were a team rumored to want his services, but there is a big obstacle in the way.

According to a report from the Charlotte Observer, the Panthers “want no part” of Garoppolo’s $26.9 million salary.

“But Garoppolo’s recent shoulder surgery, as well as his injury history, is a far greater concern for some within the organization. The Panthers want no part of his $26.9 million salary, and the 49ers haven’t shown a willingness to take to carry those payments in a trade.”

Darnold, owed $18.9 million in 2022, is entering the last season of his contract.

As Garoppolo continues rehabbing his shoulder following surgery in March, the 49ers certainly seem to be running out of options when it comes to trading their longtime starter.

TAMPA BAY

Word emanating from One Buccaneer Place the 2^nd is that the Buccaneers think TE ROB GRONKOWSKI will be back for another year.  Rick Stroud of the Tampa BayTimes:

The “Summer of Gronk” will continue, uninterrupted by the Bucs’ mandatory minicamp.

Tight end Rob Gronkowski remains unsigned and won’t be part of the team’s full squad workouts June 7-9.

Officially, he’s undecided about this NFL future. Unofficially, the Bucs are optimistic he will re-sign with the team sometime before it reports to training camp in late July.

A couple of weeks ago, Tom Brady posted video of Gronkowski, 33, shagging fly balls while Brady took batting practice at the New York Yankees training facility off Himes Avenue in Tampa. He likely caught footballs from the quarterback, too.

The Bucs are giving Gronkowski all the space he needs this offseason to decide about whether to continue his career. He’s a free agent, but with Brady unretiring for “unfinished business,” it seems highly unlikely Gronkowski would play with another quarterback.

There also is the matter of negotiating a contract once/if Gronkowski decides to play.

Gronkowski earned base salaries of $9.25 million and $8 million with the Bucs the past two seasons. He also reached $1 million in performance incentives last year. But based on his production and skyrocketing salaries at his position, he could certainly ask for more.

Geroge Kittle is the highest-paid tight end in the NFL, averaging $15 million per year. He’s followed by Travis Kelce ($14.3 million), Dallas Goedert ($14.25 million) and Mark Andrews ($14 million). Even though Gronkowski has earned more than $70.6 million on the field during his 11 NFL seasons, fair value is fair value.

There are several signs that the Bucs are doing more than keeping the door open for his return.

In addition of re-signing most of their significant free agents, they’ve used voidable years in recent signings to enable them to go for it in what could be Brady’s final year in Tampa Bay in 2022. Bears defensive lineman Akiem Hicks’ signed a one-year deal worth about $6.5 million that could increase to $10 million based on incentives.

Hicks’ deal includes four voidable years, allowing the Bucs to lower his 2022 salary-cap value to $2.39 million.

According to Overthecap.com, the Bucs have $12.167 million in salary-cap space for 2022. That includes the $5 million in dead cap money for Gronkowski as part of his deferred signing bonus.

Another reason for optimism is that the Bucs haven’t added a veteran tight end this season. They selected two in the draft: Washington’s Cade Otton and Minnesota’s Ko Kieft. Cam Brate is primarily a receiving tight end but not likely to fill Gronkowski’s shoes as an every-down player.

Nobody could begrudge Gronkowski from getting on with his post-football life. He retired once and has had multiple back surgeries, a torn ACL/MCL, a broken left forearm, a chest/lung contusion, four fractured ribs and a punctured lung.

But Brady can be very persuasive. Until he announces a decision, Bucs fans have to be patient and content with watching the shirtless tight end at the Gronk Beach Las Vegas NFL draft party or on the talk show circuits.

You won’t see him at the Bucs’ minicamp. His synergy with Brady is well documented, and they’ve spent time together this offseason.

The “Summer of Gronk” rolls on until he decides to become one of the “Boys of Fall.”

NFC WEST

SAN FRANCISCO

This from Peter King:

“I’d be a fool to trade him. Deebo will be part of the 49ers this season.”

—49ers GM John Lynch on the future of disgruntled wide receiver Deebo Samuel.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

Here is another story saying that Sean McVay’s coaching career will not be a long one.  Gary Klein of the LA Times:

It already has been quite a year for Sean McVay.

In February, the Rams coach completed a boom-or-bust season by guiding the team to victory in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium — and then turned down broadcasting overtures that reportedly would have paid him $10 million annually.

A few weeks later, in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he began navigating with fiancé Veronika Khomyn the challenges faced by her family members in her war-torn home country.

In April, McVay purchased and moved into a $14 million home in Hidden Hills. In May, he donned Aviator shades and starred in a commercial for the Tom Cruise sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick.”

On Saturday, McVay, 36, will experience another personal milestone when he marries Khomyn.

What’s easier for McVay: putting together a Super Bowl game plan? Or whittling down a wedding invite list?

“Definitely the first one,” McVay said after practice Wednesday. “Because I have a boss that can override me on the second one.”

But for how long will McVay, only 30 when he was hired in 2017, be wed to the Rams?

Before a new season starts in September, the Rams are expected to announce McVay has signed an extension that will make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the NFL.

McVay is believed to have earned about $8.5 million last season. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick reportedly earned more than $12 million, but he also serves as general manager. Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll reportedly earned $11 million.

McVay’s regular-season record is 55-26, and twice in his five seasons the Rams reached the Super Bowl.

Former Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula is the NFL’s all-time leader in victories. He amassed 328 regular-season wins and won two Super Bowls in 33 seasons before retiring at age 65 after the 1995 season, according to profootballreference.com.

George Halas won 318 games and six NFL championships in 40 seasons with the Chicago Bears. He retired in 1967 at age 72. Belichick, 70, has 290 victories and six Super Bowl titles in 27 seasons, including his first five with the Cleveland Browns.

Former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry won 250 games and two Super Bowls in 29 seasons before retiring after the 1988 season at age 64. Andy Reid, 64, has won 233 games and a Super Bowl in 23 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs.

Carroll, 70, has won 152 games in 15 seasons with the New York Jets, Patriots and Seahawks. He coached USC for nine seasons before joining the Seahawks in 2010 and leading them to a Super Bowl title in the 2013 season.

McVay has averaged 11 victories per season. At that rate, he would need to coach 25 more seasons to match Shula’s record.

“If you said, ‘Do I have a desire to try to chase like Belichick or Don Shula in wins?’ — I really don’t,” McVay said in an interview after the NFL owners meetings in March.

What about potentially being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

“Hell yeah,” McVay said, adding, “But if you said, ‘Who is the best of all time, or the most successful of all time in terms of longevity … that hasn’t ever been something that really has been appealing to me.”

Questions about McVay’s potential longevity as an NFL coach began in February, a few days before the Super Bowl, when McVay hinted he might not be in it for the long haul.

During a news conference, he went back and forth when asked if he could see himself coaching into his 60s, a la Belichick.

“No chance,” he said initially. “I love this. But if I’m doing it till 60, I won’t make it.”

A reporter followed by asking if McVay, an acknowledged football junkie, really could put aside rallying players and coaches?

“I love this so much, that it’s such a passion,” he said. “But I also know that what I’ve seen from some of my closest friends, whether it’s coaches or even some of our players.”

It’s a balancing act, he acknowledged.

“I’m going to be married this summer,” he said. “Want to have a family.”

Speculation about McVay’s future ramped up immediately after the Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, a win that helped McVay erase the sting felt after Belichick schooled him in Super Bowl LIII.

Asked the next morning by Times columnist Dylan Hernandez whether he would return to coach the Rams this season, McVay was noncommittal.

“We’ll see,” he said.

Amid the celebration of the Rams’ victory parade two days later, McVay and star defensive lineman Aaron Donald attempted to quell rumors that they might not return to the Rams.

 “There was a part of me that’s like, ‘Man, there’s never going to be a better time to step away,’ ” McVay said after the owners meetings a month later. “But when you really think about like all the people that came as a result of it, I wouldn’t have had the stomach to leave behind a lot of people that I love and care about, even if there was a [lot of] financial rewards and good things that would have come with that.”

Carroll understood.

“It’s a real grind and the stress of it and the opportunity to leave on top is so intoxicating,” he said. “I know that real well. It can wear you out, wear you down, so I totally understand that.”

McVay was flattered by the possibility of transitioning to broadcasting — and did not rule it out in the future. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported after the Super Bowl that ESPN, Fox and Amazon Prime Video were interested in McVay.

McVay watched mentor Jon Gruden transition from coaching to broadcasting, with phenomenal success.

After Gruden was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 2008 season — McVay’s first in the NFL — the then-45-year-old Gruden began a nine-year run as an analyst on “Monday Night Football” and became a crossover entertainment personality.

Gruden, who had coached 11 seasons in the NFL with the Raiders and Buccaneers, returned to the league as the Raiders coach in 2018, reportedly signing a 10-year, $100-million contract, at the time the NFL’s richest.

Now, former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton is reportedly set to join Fox as a studio analyst, though it is regarded as a holding pattern until he returns to coaching. Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy are other Super Bowl champion coaches who work in broadcasting. And analysts such as Tony Romo and Troy Aikman are beneficiaries of skyrocketing compensation for top analyst talent.

McVay has enjoyed his limited TV work.

“It’s not like I’m just doing it to stay engaged — I’m genuinely interested in doing that,” he said. “Now, I also know that the things I love the most are the things that you would miss in coaching. But there’s lot of [stuff] that I won’t miss.”

McVay does not want to miss out on starting and enjoying a family.

During the last few months, he has repeatedly lauded Khomyn for the grace and strength with which she has dealt with the situation in Ukraine.

McVay said before the Super Bowl that he “always had a dream about being able to be a father” and wanted to be able to spend time with his wife and children.

Finding a balance is the challenge for a coach who said his “safe space” is when he is on the field or in meeting rooms with players and coaches.

“I’ve reflected enough about it to know myself — like this balance thing in the season, that just will never happen for me,” he said after the owners meetings. “I feel like I’d be cheating the game and cheating the way that I know that I have the work capacity. … And so, it’s a love/hate thing.”

Bengals coach Zac Taylor, 39, worked under McVay with the Rams for two seasons. Taylor, married and the father of four, said that as an NFL coach, “for seven months you disappear, and then as my wife likes to call it, you have the reentry phase.”

But Taylor said the “work-life balance” with family can be navigated so that coaches don’t “miss on those moments” with children.

“Fortunately, in Cincinnati,” he said, “I’m 12 minutes from my house.”

Reid, after nearly a quarter century as a head coach, said that a secret to coaching longevity in the NFL is working with good players, coaches and ownership.

“Ownership I’ve worked for, both of them, have been phenomenal, so they’ve made it as easy on me as they can,” he said. “So, I do what I love to do.”

Carroll said that McVay — whom he described as “a great ball coach” — is entering a phase that he called “the best life yet” off the field, though it is starting “in the middle of everything” as an NFL coach.

“But it’s always in the middle of everything,” Carroll said. “So, I wish him the best.”

Then he paused.

“If he wants to step down,” the NFC West rival added with a laugh, “that’s OK with me.”

AFC NORTH

CLEVELAND

Another civil lawsuit against QB DESHAUN WATSON.  Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com:

The 24th lawsuit filed against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson opens with general allegations regarding Watson’s alleged habit of securing massages via Instagram. One specific excerpt from the first page of the complaint stands out.

“Defendant Deshaun Watson has a disturbing pattern of conduct,” the complaint contends. “Each of the cases against him is strikingly similar, evidencing a habit or custom: Watson seeks out random strangers on Instagram, as he has done more than a hundred times.”

More than a hundred times. Presumably, there’s evidence to support that claim. Evidence that likely comes from efforts to develop relevant facts in the other cases.

If it’s true that Watson has used social media to secure “more than a hundred” massages from “random strangers,” that’s a dynamic about which the league office clearly should be concerned. Regardless of the specific allegations and defenses in each of the various cases, these circumstances — combined with the recent efforts of attorney Rusty Hardin to normalize the practice of receiving and/or seeking “happy endings” — paint a troubling picture. One that tends to support if not confirm the general notion that Watson combined his immense fame with the relative anonymity of social media to create a system for seeking not legitimate massages but sexual encounters.

It’s a “know it when you see it” situation. Hardin can pick nits and/or quibble over details. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Watson had a well-established habit of seeking out massages from strangers. Now, 24 of those strangers have sued him for the things he said and did during those massage sessions.

The league continues to investigate. To ponder. To weigh the appropriate punishment to recommend, a decision that will spark an independent disciplinary process.

In late March, the Commissioner took paid leave off the table, even though some in the league office believe Watson should be sidelined with pay until the various civil cases are resolved. Based on recent developments (specifically, the two new lawsuits and the comments made on Friday by Hardin), perhaps it’s time for the Commissioner to reconsider his position on leave with pay.

If, as alleged in the latest lawsuit, Watson has used social media to arrange more than 100 massages with “random strangers” and if, as Hardin seems to suggest, Watson’s defense will include the position that there’s nothing wrong with receiving or pursuing sex during a massage, the most prudent course for the NFL could be to place Watson on the Commissioner Exempt list until each of the pending lawsuits are resolved, with formal discipline to happen thereafter.

Plaintiff’s attorney Tony Buzbee sounds like he would like to call Watson’s attorney Rusty Hardin as a witness.  More from Florio:

Rusty Hardin’s effort to legitimize “happy endings” will reverberate through each of the 23 pending lawsuits against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents the plaintiffs, told John Barr of ESPN.com that Hardin “may have single-handedly lost his client’s case because I’m absolutely going to use that comment because I think it speaks volumes to how he, his team and his client think about the massage industry.”

Added Buzbee: “If you’re in the massage industry, according to Rusty Hardin, that’s to be expected. And apparently that’s what his client expected. I promise you that’s not what any of these women expected.”

Hardin said in a Houston radio appearance that “happy endings” aren’t illegal unless extra money is paid or them. Hardin also said that it’s not a crime to do or say things that make someone else uncomfortable.

Those comments arguably go to the heart of the claims against Watson. The plaintiffs will argue that Watson wanted massages to turn sexual, and that he tried to make that happen. They’ll argue that his efforts crossed the line into civil liability.

And Buzbee is absolutely right on one key point. The comments Hardin made on the radio, along with his effort to clean things up with a statement issued late Friday afternoon, convey an attitude that men should expect massages to sometimes become sexual. That’s obviously not what massages are supposed to be.

As a result of that attitude, men (like Watson, arguably) line up massages and hope that they will take a turn from massage to something else. Watson arguably tried to make those things happen. The nonchalance with with this admission was made will make Buzbee’s cases a little bit easier to prove.

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND

The former defensive coordinator of the Patriots could be calling the offensive plays for New England.  Or it could be the former special teams coach.  Jeff Howe of The Athletic:

The offensive play calling was in focus during the pair of open practices during organized team activities, with Matt Patricia, Joe Judge and Bill Belichick taking charge during various team periods. There might be some clarity forming on the matter.

As Belichick and his staff ironed out their practice plans each day, the coaches predetermined who would lead each period, according to sources. It had been speculated — with Patricia taking charge of the run-based periods and Judge in control of the pass-based periods — there might be a run-game coordinator and pass-game coordinator this season. However, that hasn’t been the case so far, according to a source.

Belichick has not yet decided who will call the plays during the season, but it’s trending in Patricia’s direction, according to a source. Patricia and Judge are each preparing for the possibility of calling plays, but Patricia’s workload this spring has suggested he’s the early favorite to handle that responsibility.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Kendrick Bourne spoke to NESN and ESPN last week and noted the Patriots were running a new system without Josh McDaniels in charge. A source clarified to The Athletic that the system isn’t changing, but the terminology is being simplified.

McDaniels was the Patriots offensive coordinator for the past 10 years, including eight with Tom Brady at quarterback, so it became an extremely difficult system to learn for veteran additions and rookies alike. The revamped terminology should be easier to learn — think word association rather than memorization. This should help younger players and new additions pick up the offense much quicker.

THIS AND THAT

USFL RECAP

With the USFL season winding down, Chris Burke and xxxx of The Athletic bring us up-to-date on how it is going and who might be moving on to the NFL:

The inaugural campaign of the relaunched USFL is in its stretch drive with three weeks remaining in the regular season. The top two teams in each division (there are eight total clubs) will advance to a playoff round June 25. The championship game is slated for July 3 (7:30 p.m., Fox). Both the playoff round and the title game will be held in Canton, Ohio. The entire regular season will continue to be played in Birmingham, Ala.

Once the championship game is over, players are free to sign with NFL teams ahead of training camps. As we noted in February, the USFL is filled with names you may remember — and many you might not — who continue to live on the fringe of NFL rosters. So, as we did this winter, let’s take a quick run through the league after seven weeks, highlighting the best players, coaches and teams to date.

North Division

New Jersey Generals (6-1)

Best player: Offensive line

Specifically, right tackle Calvin Ashley (6-6, 310; Florida Atlantic) and right guard Garrett McGhin (6-5, 320; East Carolina), the first two linemen picked by New Jersey, and center Jake Lacina (6-4, 300; Augustana). Lacina was the first center picked in the draft. The Generals lead the league in rushing through seven games (165.9 yards per game, 13 TDs) and have done it the smart way: by building a good line and spreading the wealth behind it.

Ashley was a midseason All-Star, but both McGhin and Lacina have held up well as durable run blockers in a league where quarterback play has been a roller-coaster ride at best. Terry Poole, Robert Myers and Evan Heim have also made contributions here. It’s no coincidence the Generals are 6-1 as a result.

Is this team any good? Yes. With a plan so simple it just might work, Mike Riley’s team has produced the league’s top offense via an efficient run game built by offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Steven Smith. Smith is a 45-year-old ex-college fullback who has coaching experience in NFL Europe, the Arena League, Division II and the most recent incarnation of the XFL. The Generals’ top two backs (Darius Victor and Trey Williams) rank No. 4 and 6 in the league in rushing and quarterback De’Andre Johnson has rushed 55 times for 273 yards and four TDs.

The Generals arguably have the league’s best offensive line and are capable of hurting defenses through a variety of low-risk rushing options that fit this league very well. Defensively, ex-Washington State safety Shalom Luani has four interceptions and 6-1 former Pittsburg State cornerback De’Vante Bausby leads the league with 11 pass breakups.

Philadelphia Stars (4-3)

Best player: Channing Stribling, CB

Not that there was much doubt about Stribling’s impact after he started the year with four interceptions in four games, but when he missed Week 5 — a matchup with Birmingham — the Stars didn’t really have any way to cover that absence. Stallions quarterback J’Mar Smith completed 17 of 22 passes in that matchup.

Stribling has since returned to the lineup, and added a league-best fifth interception. He’s as close to a lock-down corner as the USFL has.

He’s also put in the work to have this opportunity. Undrafted in 2017, Stribling spent time on five different NFL rosters before spells in the AAF, XFL and CFL. He might be able to parlay this USFL performance into another cup of coffee in an NFL camp, though.

Is the team any good? Slightly above average, based both on the record (4-3) and the fact that those three losses came against the USFL’s other likely playoff teams (New Orleans, Birmingham and New Jersey). The Stars can clinch their own berth this week.

The biggest issue here is that the Stars can’t stop the run. They’re coughing up a league-worst 162.7 yards per game, and — in that Stribling-less loss to the Stallions — just could not get off the field. Birmingham iced that game with a 17-play, fourth-quarter drive that ate up nearly 11 minutes.

The offense has some weapons, though, including tight end Bug Howard and explosive wide receiver/return man Maurice Alexander. If quarterback Case Cookus heats up for a couple of playoff games, who knows.

Michigan Panthers (1-6)

Best player: Reggie Corbin, RB

Honorable mention here for kicker Cole Murphy, who recently nailed a 60-yard field goal and has been USFL Special Teams Player of the Week for two weeks running. He’s 7 for 8 on field goals, in all, and 5 for 5 on extra points. The Panthers probably would have at least one more win if Murphy had been their kicker all year — they lost in Week 4 on a missed 21-yard field-goal try.

Corbin, though, has emerged as the league’s leading rusher through seven games (513 yards). And he’s done it on just 81 attempts, which is 34 fewer than the USFL’s No. 2 rusher, Jordan Ellis (478 yards). If you’re doing the math on Corbin’s line, he’s popping at a ridiculous 6.3 yards-per-carry clip. An 88-yard TD run helped.

Dating back to his days at Illinois, Corbin has been a patient runner with good vision and feet. Considering how many running backs NFL teams need to get through training camp and the season, Corbin could get a look.

Is the team any good? Nope. Quarterback play has been an issue league-wide, and the Panthers simply have not been able to settle that position. They used the draft’s No. 1 pick on Shea Patterson, only to cut him after six weeks. Former NFL quarterback Paxton Lynch had a shot, too, but he suffered an ankle injury that shelved him.

The defense held up well over the season’s first three weeks, highlighted by a 24-0 shutout of Pittsburgh. It’s been more of a struggle of late, and the offense — even with weapons like Corbin and wide receivers Lance Lenoir and Devin Ross — hasn’t been able to finish off enough drives.

Pittsburgh Maulers (1-6)

Best player: Arnold “Tre” Tarpley, S

As with Stribling and Tampa Bay‘s Jordan Ta’amu — and a lot of the USFL’s players — Tarpley deserves credit for trying to keep the dream alive. He injured his knee with one game left in his Vanderbilt career, in 2017, then went the undrafted route through the AAF and The Spring League, before this season. Keep in mind that the NFL’s restricted 2020 and ‘21 offseason programs really cut into the opportunities for bottom-of-the-roster hopefuls.

Tarpley has made the most of this latest endeavor. With 43 tackles and an interception, he’s been a steadying influence on the back end, for a defense that has been up against it for most of the season.

Is the team any good? The Kirby Wilson experience has been interesting. Pittsburgh’s head coach infamously released running back De’Veon Smith when Smith asked for pizza instead of chicken salad at a team meal. Then, this past weekend, Wilson benched starting quarterback Vad Lee late in a close game after commenting — while mic’d up — about Lee’s body language.

But, no, the team is not any good. While the defense has kept it in games, the offense hasn’t been able to take full advantage of wide receivers Tre Walker and Bailey Gaither. (The Maulers have used four different QBs, which isn’t helping.) Pittsburgh has failed to score 20 points in five of its seven games.

South Division

Birmingham Stallions (7-0)

Best player: Victor Bolden, WR

We singled Bolden out as our favorite draft pick for Birmingham in February and were, perhaps, onto something.. Bolden’s 33 catches are a league-best through seven games. He’s also been targeted more times than any receiver in the USFL. Size (5-8, 178) will always be an issue for Bolden in the eyes of NFL evaluators, but no one can really doubt his ability to get open. Depending on health, don’t be surprised to see Bolden — who has also been one of the league’s top kick/punt returners — in a camp again this summer.

Runner-up here might be former Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough, a local favorite who signed with the team earlier this month and has posted back-to-back 100-yard games.

Is this team any good? The hometown Stallions are the only remaining unbeaten team in the league. This is, of course, the only team in the league with any type of home-field advantage. Which has to be worth something.

But Scarbrough’s addition to a backfield that already included ex-Coastal Carolina running back CJ Marable gives Birmingham playmaking options outside of the QB spot (which has featured both J’Mar Smith and Alex McGough). Defensively, former Ole Miss linebacker DeMarquis Gates has five sacks in seven weeks, along with two forced fumbles, an interception and two pass breakups. Head coach Skip Holtz is his own offensive coordinator (with longtime SEC assistant John Chavis running the defense) and that decision has paid off.

New Orleans Breakers (5-2)

Best player: Jonathan Adams, WR

The former Arkansas State standout has been one of the top downfield receivers in the USFL this season, with 22 catches for 317 yards and three touchdowns in seven games. Adams and teammate Johnnie Dixon (former Ohio State star) have been great for Kyle Sloter, as Dixon has chipped in with 28 catches for 300 yards and four TDs.

Adams might be the guy to watch down the road. The 6-2, 210-pounder had a fifth-/sixth-round grade from Dane Brugler ahead of the 2021 draft. The Lions gave him a shot in the summer before releasing him and Adams, eventually, received an NFL-mandated six-game suspension in September. The talent to be a competitive athlete in the air is there. Can he latch on somewhere? Davin Bellamy had three sacks in the opener and has been a presence on the edge.

Is this team good? The Breakers have the top pass attack in the USFL, which is hard to get overly excited about due to some of the inefficiency everywhere else — but don’t fault Larry Fedora and Noel Mazzone’s crew for that. Sloter leads the league with 1,499 yards and he’s had some of the top targets to throw to in Dixon, Adams and tight end Sal Cannella (Auburn).

New Orleans is 5-2. If the run game can find a way to be a bit more explosive to take some of the pressure off the pass down the stretch, the Breakers have what they need to make some noise if they can secure a playoff bid.

Tampa Bay Bandits (3-4)

Best player: Jordan Ta’amu, QB

It’s hard to say whether Ta’amu — who has had opportunities with five NFL teams, including two shots with both the Texans and Lions — will get his shot to stick at the next level. The 24-year-old former Ole Miss QB has solid size (6-3, 220), solid speed and agility. Some of the habits that dinged him coming out of college (he takes a lot of sacks) are still a work in progress but he keeps getting better. Bit by bit.

Ta’amu’s been a hard-luck player this year as the team’s had some rough losses. Among league QBs with at least 100 attempts, Ta’amu has the best YPA number (6.7) and is tied for the lead in touchdown passes (10) through seven games. He’s right behind Sloter with 1,404 yards passing. Leagues like the USFL (and XFL) give guys like Ta’amu — quality players who don’t stop working — opportunity. There’s something to root for.

Is the team any good? Tampa Bay has a one-point loss to Houston, a six-point loss to Birmingham and seven-point losses to both Philadelphia and New Jersey. This is a decent team, by league standards, that hasn’t been able to get over the hump.

Ta’amu might be the best QB in the league. If the Bandits can get hot and start closing games out, finding a way into the postseason as a result … this is the USFL, for crying out loud. It’s not over till it’s over.

Houston Gamblers (1-6)

Best player: Chris Odom, Edge

The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Arkansas State product has been a problem for opposing offenses this season. Odom leads the league with 7 1/2 sacks — he had 2 1/2 of them in Week 6 against the Generals — and he’s also swatted five passes and blocked a pair of field goals.

Odom has bounced around with a handful of NFL teams (Atlanta, Green Bay, Washington). He then spent last season with Calgary of the CFL, so a return north of the border might be an option. But his production all season long likely has earned him another shot somewhere, especially considering how desperate teams always are to find active hybrid-edge defenders.

Is the team any good? It is not. Despite Odom’s efforts, the Gamblers have the USFL’s worst defense (368.1 yards and 25.3 points allowed per game) and an offense that has struggled to move the ball (league-low 248.3 yards per game). Houston is riding a six-game losing streak, too, although half of those setbacks have been by one point.

Odom, linebacker Donald Payne and running back Mark Thompson have been among the bright spots, but the results just haven’t been there.

2022 DRAFT

Peter King gives us his 22 Most Influential People in the NFL (plus a 23^rd, plus some honorable mentions):

Haven’t done what I’m about to do for a while, but I thought it might be fun and generate some good discussion.

Who are the 22 most influential NFL people in 2022? (I cheated. I did a bonus person, number 23.)

I tried to mix the business of the sport with the sport of the sport. They’re all in here: eight from the playing field (and a ninth player for a specific reason as the bonus person) six from the league office, two coaches, a media guru, a media kingmaker, four owners (one new, one reviled, two mega-men), 20 men, two women. There are surprises at numbers six and 10, but not surprises to me.

The landscape of the game is changing. I’m sorry that the eight players of 22 are all quarterbacks, but I tried to make an argument for Aaron Donald or Davante Adams or Tyreek Hill, but I couldn’t find it in my heart to put a Donald, say, in the 22 most significant figures of football in 2022. Quarterbacks rule. Argue with me: peterkingfmia@gmail.com will be the repository for your arguments.

Here is my list of the 22 most influential NFL people in 2022:

1. Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner

Throughout a tenure of major growth for the league—Goodell will mark 16 years in office on Sept. 1, nine months shy of predecessor Paul Tagliabue—the commissioner has survived storms, some of his own doing. He’s got three major ones coming this year: presiding over the presumed appeal of the presumed sanction to Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson; what do with the owner driving the Washington franchise into the ground, Daniel Snyder; and how to adjudicate the inter-owner brawl over who pays the $790-million bill in the settlement over the Rams relocation from St. Louis. Messes abound.

We had all assumed Goodell, 63, would be riding off into the sunset from the high-pressure gig by now. But he doesn’t really want to do anything else. Those who know him say he wants to stay in the job past the end of his current deal (March 2024). I’d expect an extension of three to four years in the not-too-distant future. But, I’m told, that extension will expire before the next CBA negotiations, so his successor, a total mystery right now, can have a couple of years to get used to the heat of the job.

2. Deshaun Watson, Cleveland quarterback

Watson will be more in the news for his legal troubles than his football exploits. It’s already happening, which was the easiest 2022 NFL prediction of this entire season to nail after Cleveland traded for him and signed him to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230-million contract. Jimmy Haslam will find that this contract—the biggest guaranteed contract in the 102-year history of professional football—may one day be the key to the Browns winning an NFL title. But for now, it’s the distraction that keeps on distracting. Two weeks ago it was a sordid HBO Real Sports story with two of the 22 women accusing him of sexual assault in civil suits. Last week, it was a 23rd woman coming forward to sue Watson, with graphic and quite disturbing charges about three encounters with the quarterback—which Watson’s lawyer denied.

It’s hard to imagine the NFL’s disciplinary process won’t result in a long suspension of Watson, or some suspension this year and perhaps more next year after the civil suits have been adjudicated. I am still amazed that Haslam showed so much faith in a man with 22 (now 23) women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Last point: Some franchises with nowhere near the Haslam family fortune (Mike Brown’s Bengals and Dean Spanos’ Chargers) have quarterbacks who are months from negotiating huge contracts with young quarterbacks who have had Watson-type impact. The Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert deals could be nightmare contracts to negotiate, thanks to Haslam’s bizarre largesse.

3. Tom Brady, Tampa Bay quarterback

Behold the power of Brady:

• FOX will pay him $375 million for 10 years as a broadcaster and ambassador when he retires, per Andrew Marchand. Including this season, per Over The Cap, Brady’s total football earnings will be $317 million in 23 seasons. Life is weird.

• The NFL chose the Bucs to play the first league game ever in Germany this year, leading one NFL wag to tell me: “Brady in Germany will be like the Beatles coming to New York City.” An exaggeration of that half-century-old event, but I do expect some mayhem in Munich when Brady and the Bucs play Seattle on Nov. 13.

• When Brady retired last winter, the Bucs were the 15th-most-likely team to win the Super Bowl, per Vegas odds. When he un-retired, the Bucs moved to second.

• Brady’s “Man in the Arena” doc won the Sports Emmy in May for Outstanding Documentary Series.

• He is not washed. Brady did benefit from a 17th regular-season game last season, of course, but at 44, he led the NFL (by 302 yards) with 5,316 passing yards, his career best.

What does he do for an encore, at 45? The number of eyes on him to answer that question is why he’s such a significant person in the NFL in 2022.  

4. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City quarterback

Surprised he’s this high, on a franchise that could have a different look without Tyreek Hill this year? Don’t be. Mahomes, in many ways, is the face of the NFL, the cool guy and electric player. My proof: Who did Amazon want for its historic debut game? Mahomes and Kansas City. What’s the Sunday night gem of the first month of NBC’s season? Mahomes at Tom Brady in Week 4. Starting in Week 1, 11 of KC’s first 13 games will be nationally televised: three on Sunday night, one on Thursday night, one on Monday night, and in late-window Sunday doubleheader games, four on CBS and two on FOX.

Obviously, even without Tyreek Hill, the NFL thinks: In Patrick We Trust. It’s a wise motto. The reports of Kansas City’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and will be as long as Mahomes plays quarterback there.

5. *Rob Walton, prospective Denver owner

*Bidding for the Broncos due this month. Walton, America’s 13th-richest person, is the favorite to win.

But whoever is declared the owner of the Broncos (likely by late August), the news will be that the projected $4.5-billion pricetag will be almost exactly double what David Tepper paid for the Carolina Panthers (an NFL-record $2.275-million) just four years ago. Even with an estimated $5-billion loss with the decline of Walton stock in the current American economic downturn, Rob Walton’s fortune is estimated by Forbes to be at least $60 billion. What makes him so attractive as an owner is not just his overall wealth but how liquid he is, meaning he’ll be able to address whatever issues come up in the running of a major sports franchise. The league could approve the winner’s bid in a special meeting before Labor Day.

Heady days for the Broncos, who have added quarterback Russell Wilson and imaginative coach Nathaniel Hackett this offseason. Could it be a rerun of the dawn of the Mike Shanahan-John Elway-Pat Bowlen era, beginning in 1995? In the first four years of that partnership, the Broncos won 47 games and two Super Bowls.

6. Marie Donoghue, Amazon VP/Global Sports Video

The thing about making a deal with a company the size of Amazon is whatever product they buy into won’t have a tight budget. Thursday night football games on Amazon, though hard to find for those (like me) of a certain age at first, will be 15 individual and well-hyped events. There will be an on-scene pre-game show every week, the premier production team in the game led by multiple-Emmy-winner Fred Gaudelli, the famous Al Michaels to legitimize the main TV team, at least one alternate broadcast team per week, and more of an emphasis on analytics than network games. “We think there’s an opportunity to innovate,” said Donoghue, who came from a big job at ESPN to lead Amazon’s world sports efforts.

And for those who wonder about Thursday night streaming games in sports bars, I’d expect a deal for the games to be in your watering holes to get made this summer, certainly in time for the Sept. 15 opener, Chargers at Kansas City. Amazon has a similar deal with sports pubs in the United Kingdom for their Premier League games.

7. Josh Allen, Buffalo quarterback

Allen’s here because he’s the quarterback on the best team in the league entering the season. The best test of a quarterback’s influence on a franchise is the TV schedule. In Allen’s rookie year, 2018, the moribund Bills played 15 games at 1 p.m. Sunday and one Monday night game. In Allen’s fifth year, 2022, the Bills have been booked for the season-opener at the Super Bowl champion Rams, two Monday night games, one Amazon Thursday game, a Thanksgiving Day game, a CBS doubleheader gem at Kansas City, and one of the best games on this year’s schedule: Green Bay at Buffalo, Sunday night, Week 8.

Allen’s out-front role with the Bills with the Buffalo supermarket shooting in May is an example of how he’s morphing from a lesser-known college player at Wyoming to a guy who’s ready for the bright lights of NFL stardom. Scoring 83 points in eight post-season quarters helps. The way the Bills ended the season was reminiscent of the Jim Kelly K-gun offense putting up 95 points in the division and conference title games in the 1990 playoffs. Now Allen will try to finish the job Kelly’s Bills never could, and we’ll be watching.

8. Sean McVay, L.A. Rams coach

It’s amazing, really, what McVay has accomplished in five years on the job in L.A. Regarded as an extremely risky hire by the Rams in 2017, he’s morphed into the front-facing guy for a team that’s gotten to two Super Bowls and won one. And at 36, he just got wooed by the networks for an analyst job before deciding to return as Rams coach. McVay’s influence goes beyond his coaching and cheerleading the team, and in tempting the networks; McVay and the Rams’ hierarchy have built this team in a different way than the traditional long-term, through-the-draft path. So they just won a Super Bowl, then didn’t have a draft pick in the top 100 of the ’22 draft. They’re fine with that.

We’ve seen boy wonders in all walks of life flame out and move on. But the Rams are going to be good to very good again, and coaches around the league will continue to look at the McVay offense. Four of his former Rams’ assistants are now head coaches in the league, and two more are offensive coordinators. McVay’s influence isn’t slowing down.

9. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay quarterback

I might have him too low here, particularly since he’s trying to become the first NFL player in a quarter-century to win a third straight MVP. (You guess right if you said predecessor Brett Favre was the last to accomplish it, in 1995-96-97.) But Rodgers has capped his 2020 and ’21 MVP seasons with highly disappointing playoff runs, both at Lambeau Field, and he will play this year without the best receiver in football, Davante Adams, who chose, essentially, to go play with old friend Derek Carr in Las Vegas instead of Rodgers. So there’s a bit of a weird vibe around Rodgers and the Packers this year.

Still, he is the league’s biggest lightning rod. I have never seen live-tweeting of a talk-show appearance happen with the intensity of Rodgers’ session with Pat McAfee after the unvaxxed Rodgers tested positive for Covid and missed a game last season. And this season, the team will rely on him more than ever to get two rookie receivers up to speed after the loss of Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Ironically, if the rookie combo of Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs produce and the Packers again win home-field in the NFC, Rodgers’ case for a third straight MVP would be strengthened.

10. Matthew Berry, fantasy football chieftain

Of course this looks like a weird name on the list. It’s not weird to me. Sources in mediaville tell me after becoming a fantasy institution at ESPN, Berry is likely to be on the market in the near future. He is the undisputed fantasy-football king in the media world, and that means even more now that legalized sports gambling puts such high value on quality tipsters like him.

Berry, if he comes free from ESPN, would be the free-agent of the year in NFL media, now that Adam Schefter has re-upped with ESPN. Berry could be used by one of the major networks for both fantasy and betting info (imagine his value on a prop bet for the over/under on Cooper Kupp receptions this year), he has a clever weekly column, and his podcast dominates the field. With 27 million downloads on his podcast last season (the most in fantasyland), he’s going to bring traffic with him wherever he goes.

Why’s he so high on the list? Because fantasy football is a huge element of the popularity of football. A 2021 poll by Morning Consult showed that 51.7 million people play season-long fantasy sports, while a Miami (Ohio) University poll shows that 96 percent of fantasy players play fantasy football. When 50 million people do something, and the most important person in that space might be available in the burgeoning sports media business, he’s an easy pick. He’ll be an interesting story to watch this summer.

11. Brian Rolapp, NFL EVP/media.

Even though the biggest deals for TV and media (11 years, $110 billion) got done last year, several big media things are on the docket this year for Rolapp. He’s got to honcho the league’s first-ever commitment on a prime-time package of games on Amazon Prime. The league is negotiating a long-term home for NFL Sunday Ticket, which is in its last year on DirecTV; Apple TV has been aggressive in the bidding, which could reach $2.5 billion per year.

Rolapp also has a bit of a headache on his hands: what to do with the NFL Media property, including NFL Network. The league, ideally, would like to keep majority ownership of NFL Media while farming out production and operation to one of the major networks that telecast the games. How much exactly is NFL Media worth? That’s the big question.

12. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati quarterback

In today’s sporting/social landscape, it’s almost as important to be groovy as it is to be good. And Joe Burrow is Joe Cool. In leading the formerly woebegone Bengals to the Super Bowl last year, Burrow not only become a top-tier quarterback but a major influencer. Or, as the New York Times said during the playoffs last February, “The Bengals quarterback has achieved a crossover appeal that has inspired Joe Namath comparisons.”

The reason why I think Burrow has shot to the top of NFL Q ratings is not only his ability and his Gen-Z-appealing fashion sense, but also his attitude. He really has some Namath in him, the ability to play like the ultimate tough guy and at the same time having an I-could-care-less-what-you-think-of-me attitude. He doesn’t get nervous or tight in big moments. And if his line could have blocked Aaron Donald down the stretch of Super Bowl LVI, he would have had the time to win it. Whether he’d have made the plays necessary to win, that would have been on him. But he just didn’t have enough time.

Burrow’s 25, a total team guy, coming off a 70.4-percent completion season in his first full year as a pro. He’s made an irrelevant franchise relevant in 25 months. What’s not to like?

13. Troy Vincent, NFL EVP/football operations

As the NFL’s point person on officiating, and on getting more minorities hired as head coaches, coordinators and GMs, Vincent has some pressure on him this year. Last season was just so-so for officiating. And until a late spurt at the end of the coach-hiring cycle, the progress particularly for Black coaches was lagging so much that one of the prime candidates, Brian Flores, sued the league over it.

Vincent is so passionate about boosting the prospects of Black coaches that at times he gets teary just talking about it. It’s no secret around the league that Vincent would love to succeed Goodell as commissioner one day, and the results of officiating and minority hires are big crucibles for him.

14. Daniel Snyder, Washington owner

The fact should not be dismissed that one owner told Jarrett Bell of USA Today prior to the May league meetings that votes on the fate of Snyder as Commanders’ owner were being counted. The dissatisfaction with Snyder and how he has run one of the league’s flagship franchises into the ground should not be minimized.

It’d be one thing if Snyder was just a bad owner, which he is. But the scandalous part of his ownership in a time of #MeToo threatens to drag the league into his mire. The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform requested Snyder and Roger Goodell appear at a hearing June 22 in Washington as the committee investigates the team’s workplace for a “culture of harassment and abuse.”

As committee chair Carolyn Maloney of New York said, peevishly, in a statement: “The Committee has worked tirelessly to obtain critical information, including the findings of the internal investigation conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson, only to be met with obstruction from the Commanders and the NFL at every turn.”

Since Snyder purchased the team in 1999, the team has won a grand total of two wild-card games and nothing beyond that. Washington has won 10 games once in the last 16 seasons. If possible, the teams has been worse off the field than on, and Snyder is being called on that now.

15. Jeff Pash, NFL legal counsel

I remember when Pete Rozelle walked away from the commissioner’s job in 1989, a beaten man. He built the NFL into the most powerful sports league in the country, but it had come at a cost. The litigiousness of the NFL beat him down year after year, and he was a heavy smoker, and seven years later he was dead. I bring that up because Roger Goodell has a trusted lieutenant in Pash who has taken so much of the legal burden off his hands and off his brain and allowed him to steer clear of some of the legal headaches.

This is going to be a big season for Pash, with so much legalness in the offing for the league. Deshaun Watson; Congressional testimony for his boss; Daniel Snyder; Mark Davis; the vitriol over the $790-million settlement with St. Louis and who pays for it. Pash will be expected to be the front-man in figuring out the solutions for all. The fact that he’s been with Goodell for 16 years in such a potentially volatile job tells you how good he’s been at it.

16. Bill Belichick, New England coach

Big year for Belichick, and the Patriots. The Bills are clearly better, so they’re likely battling a top-heavy AFC (including the Dolphins in their own backyard) for one of three wild-card spots. The Patriots backsliding would be a nightmare for Belichick and his owner, Robert Kraft. Still, of all the people associated with the NFL, Roger Goodell and Belichick are the two whose pronouncements are heard by everyone and parsed for meaning.

Also: Sometime in October, Belichick will likely move into second place on the all-time coaching wins list (regular- and post-season). With four victories this year, Belichick will pass George Halas and be looking up at only one man in history, Don Shula. As of today, it’s Shula 347 with wins, Halas 324, Belichick 321. It took Shula 526 games to record his 347 wins, and it took Halas 506 to get his. Belichick, 70 and looking 55, has coached 477 games in his NFL head-coaching career.

No one expects him to quit anytime soon. Mac Jones’ ability is likely to determine how long it will take Belichick to get the 27 wins he needs to pass Shula. “He still attacks the job the same now that I saw him attack it when I first started in 2001,” said his former offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels. Difference is, now he attacks the game without Tom Brady.

17. Trey Lance, San Francisco quarterback

I fear the 24/7 nature of NFL coverage these days could stunt the growth of this sincere and earnest and talented young quarterback. You know the story: The Niners traded the farm to move up in the draft and chose Lance third overall in 2021. They let him mostly sit and observe in his rookie year as Jimmy Garoppolo quarterbacked (sometime shakily) the team to the NFC Championship Game. Now it’s likely Lance’s team.

He’s on this list, ahead of deserving impact guys like Aaron Donald and Tyreek Hill and Kyler Murray and all the filthy rich guys in NFL broadcast booths, because San Francisco has a very good defense and is coming off a 2021 Final Four appearance. I just want the football world to keep this in mind about Trey Lance: He’s 22. He threw 318 passes in his college career, at a level below the top level of college football, at North Dakota State. And he played sparingly as a rookie in San Francisco. He needs time to develop, to make mistakes, to make dumb throws, to not have judgment passed on him after a three-interception game in Week 3.

A reminder: As a rookie with the Colts in 1998, Peyton Manning threw 3, 3, 2 and 3 interceptions in his first four games. After four games, he’d thrown three touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. The world survived. Remember that, Niner fans. 

18. Robert Kraft, New England owner

Normally, Kraft would be higher, as the owner of a mega-team and the powerful head of NFL media and compensation committees. But the Patriots are trending toward good and not great, so he drops down a bit. This year, he’ll have an outsized influence on the media negotiations for Sunday Ticket and NFL Media, as I explained above in the Brian Rolapp section. And if the owners get serious about an extension for Roger Goodell, Kraft will be the key negotiator there.

One of the reasons Kraft belongs on this list almost any year is his devotion to all concepts NFL. At the Super Bowl, he was observed having dinner with and working a potential future partner, Warner Bros./Discovery CEO David Zaslav. With the bulk of the media deals having been finished months earlier, this dinner meeting was more an investment in the future as much as anything else. But it shows Kraft’s energy in looking toward the future, always the future.

19. Dasha Smith, NFL EVP/chief administration officer

Smith is the league’s point person on diversity, equality and inclusion. I asked a key league person recently about the importance of that today in the league office, and I was told there is no more important short-term issue on Roger Goodell’s to-do list. Thus the inclusion of both Troy Vincent and Smith on this list.

Smith was an engine behind the league’s Accelerator Program at the spring meetings two weeks ago. After talking to several owners and top club officials at the combine, she and a small group of NFL execs became convinced that one of the reasons for the poor hiring record with minority coaches—particularly Black coaches—was because most owners simply didn’t know most of the top candidates. Part of the Accelerator Program was a speed-dating-type of program, with owners getting to have conversations with multiple coach and GM candidates.

Whether that event and future ones will bear fruit in the next couple of hiring cycles will determine, in part, whether Smith has succeeded in energizing an issue that has long frustrated the league.

20. Stan Kroenke, L.A. Rams owner

The most contentious issue among NFL owners right now is who should pay how much of the NFL’s stunning-in-its-excess $790-million settlement with the city of St. Louis over the Rams’ move to Los Angeles. It has divided the owners into three groups: those who feel Kroenke committed to paying the legal fees and settlement for the relocation of his own franchise (I’d bet nearly a third of owners are adamant that he should) … those who feel Kroenke has built such a landmark stadium and a franchise fit for the enormity of Los Angeles that the other 31 owners should pitch in some smaller amount (say, $7 million to $10 million per team) to defray the costs … and those who would be fine (a small group) with Kroenke’s costs being capped because it wasn’t all his decision to settle for such a monumental amount.

Where will this land? I don’t know. I went back and forth over where Kroenke belonged on this list, or whether he belonged, because the public doesn’t care who pays when billionaires have to share a bill in the millions. It’s more of a Sports Business Journal story. But I decided Kroenke belongs because he’s the Super Bowl-winning owner, his franchise is very high profile, and the Rams, in short order, have solved a major NFL headache by making Los Angeles viable after a generation of L.A. being a dead market.

21. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore quarterback

I never draw many conclusions when players don’t go to voluntary offseason workouts. You know, on account of the English language and the meaning of “voluntary.” So where Jackson has been in the month of May doesn’t concern me. I’m also in the minority about the meaning of Jackson not engaging about a new contract; I think it’s not important, so long as he is in training camp and plays the 2022 season—and there is no indication that he intends to skip either.

If Jackson stays healthy, I believe Baltimore will challenge Cincinnati for AFC North supremacy. I also think there is still a question about how much money the team should pay him in his next contract. Jackson, through four seasons, has been a marvelous regular-season quarterback and a C-minus postseason quarterback. He’s 37-12 with an 84-to-31 TD-to-pick ration in the regular year. He’s 1-3 in the postseason, and has averaged scoring 13 points per game in those four outings. If I were Jackson, I’d want to play this season out and prove I can play well in the playoffs. If I were the Ravens, I’d want the same thing.

22. Peter O’Reilly, NFL EVP/special events

The NFL is going all-in on international games and special events, determined to own more days on the calendar, and determined to create another time slot on the TV calendar to boost viewership of NFL games. Case in point, 2022: Aaron Rodgers in London, Tom Brady in Munich, Saints-Vikings in London all at 9:30 a.m. ET (and 9:30 p.m. in Beijing).

In addition: I expect Dolphins owner Stephen Ross may push for a game in Brazil or Spain as early as 2024. I expect the Rams to continue to investigate playing a regular-season game in Australia sometime in the future. These games and opportunities to advance the NFL’s brand in foreign countries are going ahead, full steam. O’Reilly will ride herd over those. He’ll oversee the first Vegas Super Bowl, and drafts in new markets like Kansas City and Detroit. But this year, O’Reilly’s big agenda item is sending big players and big teams overseas for important marketing opportunities. And spectacles.

Bonus: Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit defensive end

One player on the list who’s not a quarterback, and I just had to get Hutchinson here. The reason is his importance—symbolically and in Xs-and-Os—to a hungry franchise. Hutchinson is a symbol of progress for a franchise that needs one in the worst way. He actually wants to play for the Lions. And the NFL, by putting the Lions on “Hard Knocks” this summer and awarding the city and the Lions the NFL Draft in 2023, is placing a bet that the Lions won’t be a laughingstock much longer.

Hutchinson is at the center of it. The most accomplished player at the highest level of college football last year, he and his family were in Vegas the night before the draft, and I told this story in my column: Hutchinson’s sister, Aria, said as the pre-draft pressure was getting to everyone in the family: “Please, please, please let him get picked by Detroit!” Think of that. When’s the last time someone has wanted a loved one to go to the Detroit Lions? Night Train Lane? Joe Schmidt? In the end, the Lions’ record will be more on Jared Goff than Aidan Hutchinson, but this franchise, and this region, needs the player and person that Hutchinson is.

Honorable Mentions

Sue L. Robinson, a retired former U.S. District Court judge who will hear the Deshaun Watson discipline case once the NFL investigation into Watson’s behavior is complete … Kevin Burkhardt, FOX number one play-by-play man … Kyler Murray, Arizona quarterback. He is miffed at not having a new contract yet, and that will dominate some of the pre-camp buzz in Arizona … Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay coach. Not many Black coaches get second chances, and ever fewer get them with legit Super Bowl contenders … Sean Payton, retired coach (for now). Payton, 59 on Dec. 29, will be the most attractive candidate in the 2023 coaching carousel … Marcus Brady, Colts offensive coordinator, and Aaron Glenn, Lions defensive coordinator, impressed at the league’s Accelerator Program to incentivize minority hiring and should get some looks at head-coach jobs next winter … Jerry Jones, Dallas owner. Just because … Mark Davis, Las Vegas owner. Talk about a succession of dark clouds over a franchise. Anyone still work in that front office? … Brian Flores, Pittsburgh assistant coach. He’ll coach the Steelers linebackers while wondering if he’ll ever get another head-coaching shot.

Those in the league office are thought to be minions of the all-powerful owners, but King includes six factotums from the NFL office (including The Commish) and only three actual current owners.  And two of the owners, Snyder and Kroenke, are chosen for the problems they have caused for the league owners.

Who else could have been included?  We think GM Howie Roseman of the Eagles, with all his wheeling and dealing that has touched so many teams would be a good choice…  Among the coaches – Kyle Shanahan is always interesting and his protégé, Mike McDaniel, is in an interesting spot as the successor to Brian Flores…Mike Tomlin, coach of the Steelers, trying to win the old-fashioned way without a top QB, is always a good choice…The DB’s interest in Katie Brown Blackburn of the Bengals, now on the Competition Committee and coming off being influential in a Super Bowl re-build, is well known, although King has rarely acknowledged her existence…We might have found room for Matthew Stafford among the QB and think Zach Wilson of the Jets is every bit as poised for mega success, but perhaps failure, as Trey Lance…And love him or hate him, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com is the media straw that stirs the NFL media every single day.