AROUND THE NFL

Daily Briefing

Mike Florio offers this scary thought.

As the reality of life amid the coronavirus pandemic continues to sink in, the NFL needs to be sinking its teeth into the reality that a normal football season won’t happen this year.

Given the predictions and projections for the ongoing spread of the virus, and in light of the reality that different NFL cities will experience the brunt of the outbreak at different times, it’s not ridiculous to envision all 2020 games being played in empty stadiums.

But even if no fans are present, how will teams be able to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread through a given locker room? It’s inevitable that multiple players will test positive, and that others will end up being exposed to the virus before the players who test positive are quarantined. Entire teams could be knocked out of action if the virus starts jumping from player to player.

So even if the season proceeds without fans in attendance, we’ll have to be ready for a given player or coach or whoever to be out of action for at least a couple of weeks, without warning.

There’s another way to have football. It’s an extreme idea, one that was floated to a G.M. earlier this week and mentioned in the Sunday mailbag and repeated during a visit with WFAN on Sunday afternoon: The NFL takes all teams to a location free from coronavirus, tests everyone on the way in, and then sequesters the entire league for the full duration of the season.

The Premier League reportedly is considering this approach as a way to finish its 2019-20 season. The NFL needs to be considering the feasibility of this approach as a way to play (and televise) the 256 regular-season games and 13 postseason games of the 2020 season.

One possibility would be to find a place literally in the middle of nowhere and build enough fields to play the various games on a given Sunday (and Saturday, if college football doesn’t happen in 2020) and enough rooms to house the players, coaches, trainers, broadcasters, etc. for 17 weeks of football and four weeks of the postseason. Another possibility would be to add to the football facility at the Greenbrier in West Virginia, which currently has 710 rooms.

More rooms would have to be built, and built quickly. More fields would have to be built, and built quickly. Still, if/when the NFL decides that a normal season is an impossibility, this is the kind of approach that could preserve the TV money — and potentially add to it, if college football can’t be played and if the NFL takes over each and every weekend from the weekend after Labor Day through the Super Bowl.

Would it be better if games can be played in the existing stadiums? Sure. Would it be even better if there’s a way to play the games with fans present? Absolutely. Until that becomes a probability/certainty, the NFL needs to be thinking about other alternatives for getting the games played — and for getting them televised.

This sounds horrible, but here is Clay Travis on what could be a near reality for the NBA.

As sports leagues across the country wait out the coronavirus and contemplate what a return to league play might look like, there’s a perfect solution that could allow the NBA, uniquely among the major team sports leagues, to finish its season without requiring teams to travel around the country and risk infection by flying from one basketball gym to another.

Rather than try to play around the country or pick a few neutral sites to host games, the NBA should relocate the entire league to Las Vegas, put every team inside hotels the league exclusively controls, and play out the remainder of the season in gyms there. (This isn’t as easy of an option for the NHL given the need for multiple ice rinks, but the NHL could consider something similar, relocating to a place, Canada maybe, where there are multiple ice rinks in close proximity and they could set up a similar hockey bubble to protect everyone in the league. Major League Baseball and the MLS, since both are played outdoors, may have a bevy of options so long as they are willing to play without fans present. Overseas, the English Premier League is reportedly considering a soccer “bubble” in June and July to finish its season.)

But the NBA, thanks to the prevalence of basketball courts, has a tremendous opportunity to play its games in Las Vegas, broadcasting them around the world from sin city courts.

I know, I know, it sounds crazy to talk about finishing the NBA season in a location like Las Vegas, but there’s a tremendous amount of logic to the idea when you work through the thought experiment.

In fact, the league may already be considering it, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst recently floated the idea that the NBA was contemplating a college campus, Las Vegas, and an island in the Bahamas as options to finish out its season.

@WindhorstESPN

To restart the NBA is probably going to have to build a bubble. That’s what the Chinese league has been trying for weeks. The struggles there show how hard it may be to play basketball here: https://es.pn/2UocjJU

What the NBA can learn from China’s attempt to restart basketball during the coronavirus pandemic

The Chinese Basketball Association’s season was the first major sports league stopped by the coronavirus. As it attempts to resume its season, the NBA will be paying attention to see what is succes…

Let’s dive in and discuss the idea.

First, the NBA is familiar with Las Vegas already, playing the popular summer league on Vegas courts. Second, all Las Vegas casinos are presently shut down for a month. That means no one in any substantial numbers will be in the hotels until mid-April at the earliest, effectively killing any virus that might exist in these locations. Third, there’s no guarantee the casinos will open back up in a month, meaning the Vegas casinos are likely to love the idea of anyone willing to stay there and take over the venues. Fourth, the casinos have ample suites and high end accommodations for players accustomed to the best lodging. Fifth, it’s probably unlikely the general public would be allowed into these casinos and hotels until late April at the earliest, meaning the leagues could potentially have a couple of months of solo occupancy in the hotels. When, or if, the casinos open back up to paying customers, the hotels could be blocked off from the casinos, not allowing anyone access to the rooms. Sixth, Las Vegas is a blue collar town and many of the workers presently unemployed as a result of the shutdown, would be ecstatic at the chance to take care of the league inside these basketball bubbles.

What’s more, presently Nevada is one of the least impacted states by the coronavirus in the country, with under a thousand cases overall. Las Vegas is also super hot in late spring and summer and right now experts on virology believe the coronavirus will transmit much less well once it becomes warm across the country. If that’s true, the hundred degree weather of Las Vegas would seem to be a perfect location for the NBA to center its league.

How would it work?

Here’s one possibility:

1. Have each player enter into a two week quarantine in a team hotel.

When each player arrives at the team hotel he would be tested for the coronavirus and to see if he has a temperature, if he has either the coronavirus or a temperature, he’s not allowed in the team hotel. If he does not have the coronavirus or a temperature, he begins his two week quarantine. Each day during the quarantine he’s tested for the coronavirus and for a temperature. (There are now five minute test machines available so this testing wouldn’t be difficult or time consuming.)

Additionally, each player’s blood would be tested for coronavirus antibodies to see if he may have already had the coronavirus, in which case the hope is he would be unable to contract the virus again. (This would be an interesting addition to public health knowledge to see what percentage of players have coronavirus antibodies. We know at least ten players would since ten out of the 120 players tested in the league have already tested positive for the coronavirus.)

If players would like to travel with their immediate families, those immediate family members could quarantine with them. If not, they’d need to be prepared to go (up to) a few months without being in direct contact with their families.

If some players didn’t want to finish out the season, they could elect not to finish the season and wait until the next season to play. The league wouldn’t force anyone to play or penalize anyone who neglected to complete the season. (Indeed, if a substantial percentage of players didn’t want to play, especially if they were big stars, then the NBA would probably be unable to play regardless. So this entire process would be predicated on the majority of the league’s players wanting to come back and play).

2. Once the players arrive in the Las Vegas hotels, having passed their quarantine, their temperatures are taken each day as they leave their hotel rooms to attend team meetings, practice or games.

If they have a temperature, they are sent back to their hotel rooms to receive medical treatment until they no longer have temperatures.

The hotels themselves are sealed such that only necessary league personnel and casino workers arrive and exit the hotel. And each person who enters the hotel has his or her temperature taken. Guests are not allowed. (Groupies trying to sneak into the team hotels would make a great reality show).

3. If a player tests positive for the coronavirus, the entire team and league doesn’t have to shut down.

This is significant.

A player might test positive for the coronavirus when the NBA returns. Indeed, this is the biggest fear of many when the return of sports is discussed.

“BUT WHAT IF A PLAYER GETS SICK AGAIN,” THEY WAIL?! (In fact, there will be a bevy of social media responses arguing this when I Tweet out this story, just go look if you want to be entertained. The number of people who feel compelled to Tweet responses to articles without ever reading the article is an absolute epidemic online.)

But here’s the deal: the data pretty soundly reflects that young, healthy athletes are in greater danger from the flu than they are from the coronavirus. That is, the flu kills far more people 35 and under world wide than the coronavirus has.

And what happens when a player gets the flu during the NBA season? We don’t shut down the league to ensure that no one else gets the flu, we just send the player with the flu out of the locker room to get healthy. (And often in the past, we haven’t even bothered to do that; we’ve allowed players to compete even with the flu. Remember the Jordan flu game?)

The hope would be that no player would test positive for the coronavirus because of the precautions undertaken, but if a player did test positive we’d simply pull them from the games, provide them with the best medical care imaginable, and treat them until they no longer tested positive for the virus. We’d also step up all testing of players on his team to ensure that it didn’t spread to other players.

Yes, it would stink if one or two of your best players fell ill and had to miss games, but every playoff season we deal with player injuries causing missed games.

While we’d hope there were no players who got sick, we couldn’t guarantee it. In fact, no league can ever guarantee that players won’t get sick. Indeed, every year it’s fairly common for multiple players, regardless of sport, to come down with illnesses.

But given what we know about the risk to young, healthy players from the coronavirus, we don’t need to shut down the league for one positive test.

4. There are at least four courts that could easily handle the practice and game schedules.

Those courts, among others, are the MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, the T-Mobile Arena and the Thomas & Mack Center.

All of these arenas seat 12,000 fans are more, but the capacity of the arenas wouldn’t matter because the plan would be for no fans to be present. The games would be played primarily for a television audience, but each of these venues would have NBA quality courts and sight lines.

The only people necessary for the games to take place would be the players, the coaches, the trainers, health care workers, and officials.

The televised games could be called remotely by broadcasters from a live closed-circuit viewing feed, as happens already for many sporting events.

Games would start at nine in the morning and go all day long. The NBA would essentially turn into its own version of the NCAA tournament.

5. The NBA would have several options on how to finish the season.

You could play ten final regular season games and then eliminate the 14 teams that didn’t make the playoffs.

You could put all 30 teams into the playoffs, giving the top teams in the east and the west an automatic bye into the second round and having the other 28 teams play to advance 14 teams to meet the two teams with a bye in the second round, for a second round of 16 teams. If you didn’t want to have any byes you could eliminate the bottom two teams, the worst teams in the east and the west and let the remaining 28 all compete in the playoffs. (This opening round could be best three out of five to help get the teams back into playoff shape).

The point is, there are many different ways you could finish the season, all have advantages and disadvantages.

But the point is nearly half the league would be in Las Vegas for a month or less, free to depart as their teams were eliminated and the playoffs truly got rolling.

Then as playoff teams are eliminated, it’s would be like NBA survivor, they pack up their bags at the hotel and depart Las Vegas.

This means most players wouldn’t be kept from their families that long and you’d constantly be lessening the number of players left to compete for a title.

As the playoffs progress, moreover, the overall coronavirus threat in the country may well diminish substantially, which would allow restrictions on player hotels and visitors to be lessened.

Ideally by July the worst of the coronavirus outbreak will have passed, which would mean fans could even be considered for later playoff rounds in Las Vegas.

…

I know, it all sounds a bit crazy, but when you actually think about the particular details, it kind of sounds, dare I say, downright possible, doesn’t it?

And if this could end up happening, NBA action, at least in a sports starved nation craving a return to some semblance of normalcy, could once again be fantastic.

Could golf do the same thing? 

NFC SOUTH

CAROLINA

Terez Paylor of YahooSports.com on why everyone in New Orleans loves QB TEDDY BRIDGEWATER.

Every Tuesday during the 2019 season, the New Orleans Saints’ defensive backs gathered in a room at the team’s training facility and watched their upcoming opponent’s first- and second-down offensive tape for about 90 minutes. This may sound like standard practice, but multiple Saints insisted it isn’t.

Tuesdays, you see, are the players’ mandated days off during the regular season, often the only one they get during the week. So if players want to come in and work, they have to do it of their own volition.

To the backfield members of the Saints’ 11th-ranked defense, the extra time investment was always worth it.

“You see the formation, and you’re able to get a beat on the play before it happens,” cornerback Eli Apple told Yahoo Sports late last season.

There was a secret ingredient to this. Turns out that in these Tuesday get-togethers, the defensive backs had an unofficial member — Teddy Bridgewater, the Saints’ 27-year-old No. 2 quarterback.

Bridgewater, teammates said, regularly popped his head into these meetings and served as both a sounding board and football professor of sorts, someone who regularly helped the Saints’ corners and safeties by explaining exactly what the quarterback was trying to accomplish on each play.

“I’d say, ‘Teddy, come in here with us — what is the progression of the quarterback right here? OK, we’re in this coverage — where is he going to go next?’ And he’d just break down the whole offense,” safety Vonn Bell, one of the leaders of the Tuesday get-togethers, told Yahoo Sports last season. “He’d show us where the quarterback is looking, how to break down defenses. He helped the safeties by saying what [the quarterback] is looking at.”

This willingness to help the first-string defense isn’t normal in the NFL, teammates said. Consider the fact that Bridgewater, who not very long ago was fighting for his professional life, stood to impress the coaching staff by shredding the defense on the scout team.

“It’s monumental to have that, because not every quarterback is willing to have that conversation with the defense,” Apple said. “He was very unselfish from the jump.”

So if you’re looking for a reason why the Saints rallied around Bridgewater last fall, when he went 5-0 as the starter while future Hall of Famer Drew Brees sat with a thumb injury, that unselfishness is as good a place as any to start.

Bridgewater goes from ‘Completion Thursday’ to big payday

Bridgewater’s extreme competitiveness often bubbled to the surface during those practices against the Saints’ first-string defense. While some backup quarterbacks are content to throw where they’re supposed to, giving the defense a cursory look during the week that allows for easy interceptions, Bridgewater was far too competitive for that. He used to openly tease his defensive teammates by calling Thursday, the day of the week the Saints’ first-string defense got most of the work in practice, “Completion Thursdays.”

“Just the way he attacks practice … I mean, he comes in and makes it fun going against the ones,” defensive end Cam Jordan told Yahoo Sports. “He’s like, ‘Hey, I call it ‘Completion Thursday’ or ‘Toast ’em Friday.’ He brings a competitive edge so we were ready for it.”

Bridgewater never let it interfere with his desire to help his teammates off the field, earning him kudos in the Saints’ locker room.

“He’s a solid dude, man — he’s been helping us for real,” Bell said. “We appreciate him … he shows a passion for this game and it’s real. It’s not fake. He’s gonna let you know how he feels.”

Bridgewater says he’d also eat chicken wings and watch Thursday Night Football with the defensive line after practice and do competition drills with the linebackers on Saturdays. Long ago, he learned the importance of leading from the front as a quarterback, and to him, that meant ingratiating himself to every position group as much as possible.

“It’s just who I am, man,” said Bridgewater, who spoke to Yahoo Sports at the Super Bowl while attending a skills clinic sponsored by Panini at a Miami high school. “I believe in treating everyone the same, from the guy who’s cleaning the cafeteria tables to Lionel, the guy who is vacuuming the locker room floor. I feel like at the end of the day, we’re all gifted with the same 24 hours and we all bleed the same, so no one man is bigger than the next. So why not treat everyone the same and bond with everyone and show everyone that it’s all love, and have it be genuine?”

And that’s why, when Bridgewater killed it during his starting run in 2019 — completing nearly 68 percent of his passes for 1,384 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions — his teammates couldn’t have been happier.

“It felt like a real close family member doing good, when you see him out there doing what he was doing,” Apple said.

Especially after everything Bridgewater has been through in his career. The former Louisville star was a first-round pick of the Vikings in 2014, earning a Pro Bowl appearance and leading Minnesota to an NFC North crown in 2015. But in 2016, he suffered a career-threatening non-contact knee injury that sidelined him nearly two years and ultimately led to his release in Minnesota. After a brief pit stop with the New York Jets, he was dealt to the Saints in 2018, where teammates say they’ve enjoyed watching him regain his old form.

“I wouldn’t say he was 100 percent healthy when he first got here, and we watched the work he put in,” Jordan said. “So it’s overly admirable, and that’s why he’s so respected.”

So much so that a funny thing started happening during his five-game starting run in 2019: Bridgewater says his teammates weren’t the only ones who seemed to be happy for him. Opposing defensive backs would warn him not to throw their way, but in the same vein, also tell him to keep being who he is and wish him the best.

“Man, there was a ton of support and it surprises me sometimes,” Bridgewater said. “When I was out there during that five-game stretch, guys on the opposite side of the ball were talking to me, having conversations, as if they’re not trying to take my head off and as if I’m not trying to beat those guys. It’s so cool man, the bond, the fraternity we have in this league. This year really opened my eyes.”

Much in the same way that Bridgewater’s stellar play opened up eyes around the league, setting up the significant payday he just received this offseason from Carolina.

Still love for New Orleans, even at an NFC South rival

Nearly four years after the devastating knee injury that almost derailed his career, Bridgewater agreed to a three-year, $63 million deal with the Panthers. He’ll be the starting quarterback for Carolina under new head coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Joe Brady. It’s the ultimate blessing for a man who never stopped believing he was an NFL starter, though the odds were stacked against him.

“That’s without a doubt — I didn’t go into one game last year telling myself I was a backup,” Bridgewater said. “My mindset [is], I’m a starter. I came into this as a starter, I’m going out of this league as a starter. I can’t allow myself to think that I’m a backup or anything.”

Bridgewater knew back in January that his career might take him elsewhere this offseason, especially if the opportunity for a starting job appeared. He insisted such a move would not affect his love for New Orleans or the Saints, the city and organization that helped him revive his career.

“Man, I love that place — that place ignited my passion for the game again,” Bridgewater said. “That place has a special place in my heart because I feel like my story is similar to the city of New Orleans’ story, a city that has been through a lot, just like I have in my career.

“I went through an injury and you talk about resurrecting your life, resurrecting your career, I think that’s what I’ve been able to do, and that’s what that city has been able to do by living through the Saints. These past two years have been the best two years of my football career.”

Now, Bridgewater must turn his attention to the future. He has rebuilt his football value, and reclaimed a starting job in the league. Even in January, he insisted his story is still being written.

“We just scratched the surface a little [this year],” Bridgewater said. “We’re still tapping in … that’s why all my posts, you see me say, ‘Tap in,’ at the end of it. Because it’s time to.”

NEW ORLEANS

When Clay Travis hasn’t been providing hope about the Coronavirus amidst the gloom of most media, he was breaking a scoop.  This on the future of QB DREW BREES:

As ESPN attempts to remake their Monday Night Football booth, they’ve courted two former NFL quarterbacks for their top analyst job, Tony Romo and Peyton Manning.

So far ESPN has missed on both former quarterback targets.

Just before his contract hit the open market, Romo signed a deal worth $18 million a year to stay with CBS. Romo’s contract came shortly after Outkick reported that Romo’s yearly salary demands had pushed past $15 million a year. After missing out on a chance for Romo, ESPN pivoted and chased Peyton Manning, who, according to a report in the New York Post, ultimately turned down an eight figure deal from the network to enter the Monday Night Football booth.

The double rejections have left ESPN uncertain what to do with their Monday Night Football booth of the future.

So who is ESPN’s latest target?

Another top quarterback, only this one is still playing.

Outkick has learned ESPN has made an eight figure offer to current New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees to become the network’s Monday Night Football lead analyst. Brees’s ascendance to the Monday Night Football booth would begin as soon as he retires from the NFL.

The 41 year old quarterback debated retirement this off-season before electing to return for at least one more year. Brees, who presently makes $25 million a year this year and is also on track to make $25 million next year, recently donated $5 million to Louisiana charities. He’s a beloved figure in the NFL and there is a nearly universal belief among television executives that he would be fantastic in the broadcast booth.

While he has at least one year remaining on the field, an agreement between Brees and ESPN would solidify ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth for the future. In seeking to lock up Brees ESPN is attempting to avoid a potential bidding war with NBC, which might be interested in Brees as well.

While the two sides have not agreed to terms yet, the plan would be for a deal between Brees and ESPN to remain quiet until Brees officially retires. That’s because there is some trepidation inside Disney about announcing an eight figure yearly deal in the midst of the coronavirus shut down of the company’s sports properties, which could soon lead to layoffs. Not to mention the awkwardness of a player who is still currently playing already having agreed to a post-playing career job in the media.

Since Brees has at least one year left on the field, this would leave ESPN with a decision to make about what to do with its broadcast booth for the 2020 season as well. Do they stick with Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland for another season? Bring in a new crew for one season before making way for Brees? That’s still to be determined.

While there might be awkwardness there, the deal would send a powerful message to the NFL about ESPN’s commitment to the league in the years ahead, which is the driving force behind the negotiations. Presently ESPN’s Monday Night Football deal expires at the end of the 2021 season, but with the NFL CBA having been ratified all the television networks are preparing for the NFL bidding process going forward. Having Brees locked up would allow ESPN to provide a road map for what their future Monday Night Football booth would look like to the NFL, potentially allowing ESPN to increase the quality of their Monday Night Football games, lock in more playoff games in an expanded NFL playoff field, and maybe even expand their broadcast partnership with the NFL overall.

Locking in Brees for eight figures a year would also continue the salary escalation for top talent in the broadcast booth, particularly for quarterbacks with hall of fame caliber resumes.

Everyone wants their own version of Tony Romo in the years ahead and ESPN believes Drew Brees could be theirs.

As a result, they’re willing to pay up in a big way to keep him from going anywhere else.

No attribution, so we are sure there will be those denouncing Travis for this report.

TAMPA BAY

ESPN’s Bob McClellan comes from a family that was in Tampa Bay’s Class of ’76 season ticketholders.  He does a nice appreciation on what QB TOM BRADY’s decision to sign with the Buccaneers means:

The GOAT chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He wasn’t traded there. It wasn’t for lack of options. Yet Tom Brady signed a two-year deal.

You can’t understand how much the New England Patriots quarterback coming to Tampa Bay means to a Bucs fan.

And by Bucs fan, I’m speaking to those of us who’ve had season tickets in our families since the franchise started in 1976. (We started in the west stands, about the goal line, six seats, six rows up on the aisle. Baseball Hall of Famer Al Lopez and his family were in the row in front of us. A quiet, sweet man.)

The Bucs haven’t fared well chasing big names. They were snubbed by Hall of Fame coaches Bill Parcells (twice) and Bill Cowher. A 2008 trade for Brett Favre fell through at the last minute. And for years players have wanted to do whatever they could to get out of Tampa. Bo Jackson famously never came, even after the Bucs chose him No. 1 overall.

The defense has had great players. Three of them — Lee Roy Selmon, Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks — are already in Canton.

But the offense … my God, the offense. How best to explain the futility we have seen under center? Try this on:

Brady has been to 10 more Pro Bowls than all other Bucs quarterbacks. In the 44 seasons of the franchise.

Brady has been named to the Pro Bowl 14 times. Bucs quarterbacks have been named four times — one each for Jameis Winston, Trent Dilfer, Jeff Garcia and Brad Johnson.

Let’s have some more fun with numbers.

The four quarterbacks who have started the most games in Bucs history are Dilfer (76 starts), Vinny Testaverde (72), Winston (70) and Doug Williams (67). They made 284 starts. Brady has made 283.

TB12 has won 219. QBucs4 won 123 (Dilfer 38-38; Williams 33-33-1; Winston 28-42; Testaverde 24-48). Brady’s winning percentage is .774. The Bucs’ quartet was .433.

Brady has 541 touchdown passes and 179 interceptions. The QBucs4 (Williams, 73-73; Dilfer, 70-80; Testaverde, 77-112; Winston, 121-88) had 341 touchdown passes and 353 interceptions.

I had to read that a few times myself just to digest it without throwing up on my Derrick Brooks jersey. Tom Brady has 200 more touchdown passes in one fewer game than the QBucs4.

And you thought Winston threw interceptions at an alarming rate. He has the best TD-INT ratio of the QBucs4 by a country mile.

The first NFL game I went to was at Tampa Stadium. Steve Spurrier was the quarterback. The Bucs went on to go 0-14. Spurrier made 12 starts and had seven touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. It was the start of an alarming trend.

Brady has been in the league for 20 years. He never has had more interceptions than touchdown passes in a season. Never even close. In Tampa, we celebrated when a QB had more TDs than picks.

Here is a list of guys I saw play QB in person in Tampa, all of whom started games. You are totally forgiven if you don’t recall any. I wish I didn’t.

Randy Hedberg

Jeb Blount

Parnell Dickinson

Jack Thompson

Gary Huff

Mike Rae

Jerry Golsteyn

Without checking with ESPN’s Stats & Information group, I’m pretty sure the Bucs are the only team to start a Parnell and a Jeb at QB.

Williams was the quarterback I saw in person the most. Absolute cannon for an arm. Didn’t always know where it was going. Tough as nails. I was upset when the Bucs let him go.

Brady is the fifth Bucs quarterback who has won a Super Bowl in his career and the third who was the MVP in a Super Bowl. Only one — Johnson — won a championship while with the Bucs. Williams was a Super Bowl MVP for the Washington Redskins, and Steve Young was a Super Bowl MVP with the San Francisco 49ers. Dilfer was the starting QB for the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.

The success quarterbacks had once they had departed Tampa used to be a running joke. “Well, wonder how long before he wins a Super Bowl.”

The Bucs haven’t had the best track record in signing free agents, which possibly is tied to the franchise’s futility. They’ve had 26 double-digit losing seasons, including a streak of 12 in a row.

Johnson and Garcia are among their best free-agent signings. They hit big on defensive end Simeon Rice and wide receiver Vincent Jackson, for sure, but the most recent signing of those four was Jackson, and that was eight years ago. And Rice came when the Bucs already had one of the best defenses in the league, so that move made sense.

I can’t blame free agents for ignoring Tampa Bay. It has been mostly synonymous with futility. Money usually trumps everything, but given that, how do you not sign a difference-maker since 2012?

Now, the most successful postseason QB of all time is going to suit up in red and pewter. It’s really not something I gave much thought. I know the Bucs expressed interest, but the Bucs have expressed interest in a lot of guys over the years who chose other places. Feels like almost all of them, to be honest. It just seemed implausible.

I understood Brady to the Chargers. He grew up in California. And plenty of journalists were on the bandwagon for him to go to the West Coast.

I thought Tennessee made the most sense. It was the team that eliminated his from the playoffs in 2019. It has a run game the likes of which Brady has never seen, and a rookie wide receiver who had a 1,000-yard season. Moreover, it has a coach who was a longtime teammate of his and remains a friend in Mike Vrabel.

Brady has no ties of which I’m aware to Bucs coach Bruce Arians or offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. He doesn’t know receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin or tight ends O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. He never has spent significant time in Florida.

But here he is. TB in TB.

Welcome to your new pasture, GOAT. And thanks for coming.

NFC WEST

SAN FRANCISCO

GM John Lynch is embracing the unusual circumstances of the draft.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

Some teams will embrace the unusual circumstances of the 2020 draft as a way to make excuses if/when their picks become busts. 49ers G.M. John Lynch will not be using the coronavirus as CYA.

“This draft is absolutely huge for us, so there’s no excuses, no explanations,” Lynch said in a recent video he posted to Twitter, via Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group. “We’ve got to get our work done, albeit from home. We’ve been killing the Zoom meetings. I should have bought stock in Zoom.”

(Others have been buying, to the point that the SEC recently stopped the trading of Zoom Technologies stock, due to confusion with Zoom Video Communications, which is the right stock to be buying.)

Lynch also spent time encouraging those who may be feeling discouraged by current circumstances to hang in there, and to periodically call loved ones who may be feeling lonely.

“Be strong, stay at home, stay safe, and a saying that we have in the Niners building is: ‘I’ve got your back.’ At this time, never has that been more important, to have everybody else’s back,” Lynch said.

Amen to that. Do what you have to do to take care of your own physical and mental health, but also think about what you can do to help someone else’s. A text message or a phone call can go a long way toward helping a friend or a family member or a neighbor who feels trapped in their own house (or trapped in an essential job that requires them to leave the house) and terrified about how this slow-moving nightmare with no apparent resolution in sight will end.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

Changing players in 2020 was all part of the Rams plan says COO Kevin Demhoff.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Rams spent the last couple years making win-now moves, trading first-round draft picks and paying players expensive contracts. This is the year the bill comes due.

Rams Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff says the team understood all along that the 2020 offseason would be a year in which they’d have to say goodbye to some key players.

“Each year, your players change, your team changes and we knew walking into this season there would be tough choices,” Demoff told ESPN. “It’s going to be a different-looking team than the one that left the field in 2019, but I think everybody knew that was going to be the case.”

Among the departures this offseason were Todd Gurley, Clay Matthews and Nickell Robey-Coleman, all of whom were released to save cap space, as well as Dante Fowler, Cory Littleton and Greg Zuerlein, who left in free agency to sign with teams that had more money to offer. Also gone is Eric Weddle, who retired.

The best way to replace departing veterans is the draft, but the Rams are short on draft capital. They’ve traded away this year’s first-round pick and fifth-round pick, and they’ve already traded away next year’s first-round pick, fourth-round pick and fifth-round pick. They also traded away their first-round picks in 2017, 2018 and 2019, so they haven’t had an influx of high-end young talent.

Still, Demoff says anyone who thinks the Rams’ roster won’t be competitive in 2020 is underestimating what General Manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay can do.

“It’s always interesting how we are only a few days into the new league year and people think this is the team that you are going to field come September,” Demoff said. “Not only do we have the draft and the rest of the offseason, I think Les and Sean have always proven they’ll be aggressive fillings holes through trades and other avenues, and this is just the start of what the 2020 Rams will look like.”

This year’s Rams will look a lot different than the team that was in the Super Bowl 13 months ago.

AFC WEST

KANSAS CITY

The Chiefs are keeping WR DEMARCUS ROBINSON for another year.  Adam Teicher of ESPN.com:

The Kansas City Chiefs are re-signing wide receiver Demarcus Robinson to a one-year contract, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Robinson’s production increased each season after cracking the Chiefs’ receiving rotation, going from 21 catches and 212 yards in 2017 to 32 and 449 in 2019. He started 23 games over three seasons, mostly when the Chiefs opened in three- or four-receiver formations.

Robinson, who turns 26 in September, was a fourth-round draft pick in 2016 and played mostly on special teams as a rookie.

His big game with the Chiefs came in Week 2 of last season. With Tyreek Hill out with an injury, Robinson made the most of the opportunity with six catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Raiders.

The NFL Network first reported that Robinson was returning to the Chiefs.

AFC NORTH

BALTIMORE

DE DEREK WOLFE is the second choice after DE MICHAEL BROCKERS.  ESPN.com:

Former Denver Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe has reached an agreement on a one-year deal worth up to $6 million with the Baltimore Ravens.

The deal includes $3 million guaranteed, with $3 million in incentives.

The addition of Wolfe comes one day after the Ravens were unable to finalize a deal with Michael Brockers. There was an issue with Brockers’ injured ankle, and the sides couldn’t agree on a revised deal, a source said.

Baltimore has made it a priority to reshape its defensive front. The Ravens acquired defensive end Calais Campbell from the Jacksonville Jaguars, traded defensive end Chris Wormley to the Pittsburgh Steelers and watched defensive tackle Michael Pierce sign with the Minnesota Vikings in free agency.

Wolfe should help improve the pass rush for the Ravens. Baltimore’s defensive linemen totaled four sacks in 2019, the fewest by any team.

Wolfe finished his eighth season with the Broncos in 2019 and was one of the longest-tenured players on the team’s defense; only cornerback Chris Harris Jr. and linebacker Von Miller had played on the defense longer. Harris recently agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Chargers, leaving Miller as the only defensive starter from Super Bowl 50 still with the Broncos.

Coach Vic Fangio’s defensive scheme turned out to be perfect for Wolfe, as he had one of his best all-around years in 2019, with 34 tackles and a career-best seven sacks. Wolfe has 33 sacks in his career.

Wolfe’s high-motor play has been a key part of the defensive front, and Miller credits Wolfe for many of his sacks “because of what Wolfe does next to me. He’s a beast.”

That intensity has come at a physical price at times, as Wolfe has battled through some injuries throughout his career, including neck surgery. He has played 16 games three times and went to injured reserve this past season after 12 games with a dislocated left elbow.

Wolfe, who turned 30 in February, was a second-round pick by the Broncos in 2012 — the team had traded out of the first round that year — and he immediately started 16 games as a rookie for a team that won the AFC West. He started every game he played in for the Broncos, 108 in all.

CINCINNATI

A correspondent who was himself a Panther in college, is among those pointing out that the anticipated new QB of the Bengals is positioned for one of two excellent nicknames.

Joe Burrow’s nickname has to be the Tiger King now right? With the LSU Tigers and Cincinnati Bengals? Or does he go by Joe Exotic?

This, of course, in reference to Netflix’s crazy documentary “Tiger King.”

It was too much to hope for a trifecta for Burrow.  We looked and at Athens High School in Ohio, he was merely a Bulldog.

AFC EAST

MIAMI

RB JORDAN HOWARD says he is no longer damaged.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Running back Jordan Howard signed with the Dolphins this month and his first offensive touch with his new team will be his first in a long while.

Howard did not carry the ball or catch a pass after Week Nine last season and missed all but one of the Eagles’ games over the remainder of the campaign with a shoulder injury. He only played one snap in the one game he did play over that span, so it’s little surprise that he faced a question about his condition when he met with the media this week.

“I’m back to 100 percent now,” Howard said, via the Palm Beach Post. “It took a while, but I’m finally back to being 100 percent.”

Howard ran for 4.4 yards per carry when he was healthy last year, which is more than a yard per attempt more than the Dolphins managed as a team in 2019. He may get some company in the backfield via the draft, but similar production should keep him active as long as he’s healthy.

NEW ENGLAND

Will Bill Belichick has the last laugh with QB JARRETT STIDHAM.  A hint from CB STEPHON GILMORE relayed by Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

Tom Brady left the Patriots for the Buccaneers. Many were surprised. Patriots cornerback Stephen Gilmore was not among them.

“Not surprised,” Gilmore told Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. “A player like him, playing somewhere that long, you never can see it, but it shows you that in the National Football League it can be anyone going somewhere. It’s a business, and that’s how you have to look at it.”

The business now goes on, with Jarrett Stidham in line to become the starter. So what did Gilmore see from the fourth-round pick last season?

“He came in and worked hard and got better and better as the year went on,” Gilmore said of Stidham. “He has a strong arm. He makes some tough throws. Definitely made it hard on me in practice each and every week, going against whoever I was covering, making some great throws. It allowed me to get better in practice to prepare for the games.”

This echoes remarks made by defensive captain Devin McCourty in the aftermath of Brady’s departure. But what a guy does in practice and what he does in games, obviously, is different. Still, we’re starting to hear why the Patriots organization believes in Stidham.

It could be one of the reasons why coach Bill Belichick didn’t do more to keep Brady around for a 21st season.

THIS AND THAT

FREE AGENCY WINNERS

Jordan Dejani of CBSSports.com identifies five teams he says “won” the recent free agency period.  The Buccaneers are not one of them:

The 2020 NFL offseason has been a wild one. Tom Brady left the New England Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Arizona Cardinals won one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory and the Carolina Panthers kicked out almost every player the fans cared about.

While we can all agree there have been some clear losers in free agency, identifying “winners” is somewhat subjective. We don’t necessarily know how certain players are going to fit in with different teams, we don’t know which contracts will end up being bargains or if a team overpaid for someone.

Let’s take a shot at identifying five teams that have improved the most over the past couple of weeks — starting with the obvious one.

1. Arizona Cardinals

Notable additions: WR DeAndre Hopkins (trade), DT Jordan Phillips, OLB Devon Kennard, OLB De’Vondre Campbell, DT Trevon Coley

Notable losses: RB David Johnson (trade), DE Rodney Gunter, ILB Joe Walker

The Cardinals may have gone 5-10-1 last season, but they appear to have a franchise quarterback in Kyler Murray and a decent coach in Kliff Kingsbury. They now have one of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL, thanks to what can only be described as a mental lapse by Houston Texans head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien. DeAndre Hopkins was shipped to the Cardinals for running back David Johnson, a second-round pick and what was basically a swap of fourth-round picks. Johnson’s contract was burdensome for the Cardinals as well, so the fact that they rid themselves of that while picking up a true No. 1 wideout is absolutely incredible. The Cardinals also retained several offensive linemen and signed linebackers Devon Kennard and De’Vondre Campbell. They have some more work to do on defense, but the Cardinals could surprise some people this season. The Hopkins trade alone makes them a winner this offseason no matter how the draft goes.

2. Miami Dolphins

Notable additions: CB Byron Jones, LB Kyle Van Noy, DE Shaq Lawson, RB Jordan Howard, LB Elandon Roberts, OL Ereck Flowers

Notable losses: None.

The Dolphins entered the offseason with more money than any other team, and they haven’t been shy when it comes to spending it. They have made several big moves, including making Byron Jones the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. They also made some underrated signings such as Ted Karras, Shaq Lawson, Emmanuel Ogbah and Kyle Van Noy. While I probably wouldn’t pay Ereck Flowers $10 million per year, he proved he’s a starting guard while with the Washington Redskins last season. Miami has room to overpay for certain players if it truly feels they are worth it. Depending on what the Dolphins do at the quarterback position, they could experience a quick turnaround in 2020.

3. Buffalo Bills

Notable additions: WR Stefon Diggs (trade), DE Mario Addison, LB A.J. Klein, DE Vernon Butler, DE Quinton Jefferson

Notable losses: DE Shaq Lawson, DT Jordan Phillips, LB Lorenzo Alexander

Most people are going to remember the Bills’ 2019 campaign as the one where they choked in the AFC wild-card game, but that’s not fair. They improved in every way, had one of the best defenses in the NFL and went 10-6. They appear to be a team on the upswing, and they have already taken advantage of the offseason early on. The Bills traded for former Minnesota Vikings wideout Stefon Diggs — which gives quarterback Josh Allen a true No. 1 wideout for the first time in his career. The Bills’ defense also got better, as they made additions such as Quinton Jefferson, Vernon Butler and Mario Addison to the defensive front. This roster really doesn’t have any glaring holes, and they should be the favorite to win the AFC East with Brady now out of the division.

4. New Orleans Saints

Notable additions: WR Emmanuel Sanders, S Malcolm Jenkins

Notable losses: QB Teddy Bridgewater, WR Ted Ginn Jr., LB A.J. Klein, CB Eli Apple, S Vonn Bell

The Saints are all-in when it comes to 2020. They felt like they had the team to go all the way last year before they were upset at home by the Vikings — just the latest of the many postseason woes Saints fans have experienced recently. They got Drew Brees back for another go and signed an important weapon in Emmanuel Sanders. With the San Francisco 49ers, the 33-year-old experienced somewhat of a rebirth. In 10 regular-season games, Sanders caught 36 passes for 502 yards and three touchdowns. Sanders helped bolster the 49ers’ offense, as San Francisco made it all the way to Super Bowl LIV, where they fell to the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-20. The addition of Sanders should take some pressure off Michael Thomas, who broke Marvin Harrison’s record for the most receptions in a single season in 2019. Brees orchestrated the seventh-best passing offense in the NFL last year, and this unit should take another step forward with this addition. On the defensive side of the ball, the Saints may have lost Vonn Bell, but they gained Malcolm Jenkins and re-signed D.J. Swearinger. That gives New Orleans two experienced and talented safeties who are capable of captaining a defense. The Saints got better this offseason — not that they needed to. Now it just comes down to executing in the postseason.

5. Los Angeles Chargers

Notable additions: CB Chris Harris, OT Bryan Bulaga, DT Linval Joseph, LB Nick Vigil, RG Trai Turner (trade)

Notable losses: QB Philip Rivers, RB Melvin Gordon, FB Derek Watt, S Adrian Phillips, LB Thomas Davis, WR Travis Benjamin

After a disappointing 5-11 campaign, the Chargers made the decision to move on from quarterback Philip Rivers. While that will be the headline this offseason, the Chargers have actually made some important moves that could put them in contention in 2020. They re-signed dual-threat running back Austin Ekeler, let Melvin Gordon walk, franchise tagged Hunter Henry and made some important defensive additions such as Linval Joseph and Chris Harris Jr. The Chargers’ 2019 campaign was derailed due to injuries, so you should expect them to improve in 2020. Like everyone else, I do wonder if Anthony Lynn truly wants to roll with Tyrod Taylor under center next season, but either way, this defense will be able to support whoever is playing quarterback for the Chargers next year.