We begin our breakdowns of each NFL team schedule today with the NFC North.

But first, Peter King gets some inside scoop from the schedule makers:

The 13th iteration of the 2021 NFL schedule was perfectly playable. It had been put through all the checks of the 70-game Key Games Chart and rest-disparity metric and the strategic placement of the asterisked Green Bay games and the early Brady-Belichick mega-game. But when the league’s six-person schedule team met by Zoom on Friday, May 7—every meeting of the team over the 17-week construction of the new slate was over Zoom—Senior VP of broadcasting Howard Katz told the group: “We got the weekend. Let’s take one more shot.”

The deadline: Monday morning, May 10. That’s when commissioner Roger Goodell would have to sign off on the final schedule for the Wednesday day-long leaking and prime-time release of the 272 games.

On Friday evening, league director of broadcasting Charlotte Carey, working from her New Jersey home, asked the league’s array of computers to fix several minor problems. Minnesota was due to open the season at San Francisco and at Arizona; two long trips, and Katz wanted one of them shorter, for fairness. The league hates to give teams three-game road trips, and this slate had only three of them. But Cincinnati’s three-gamer on the Friday schedule had the Bengals at Las Vegas, at Baltimore, at the Jets in succession, and Katz wanted a shorter trip than Vegas to start. Tennessee had trips to Seattle and the Rams in Weeks 8 and 9. Could one of those long trips be moved?

And one more: Katz wanted to avoid Denver making two East Coast trips to start the season—at the Giants, at Jacksonville.

The object, of course, was to fix those four little problems without creating bigger ones. And by the time the computer spat out new possibilities Saturday morning, Carey found several possibilities that fixed some or all of the Minnesota, Cincinnati, Tennessee and Denver issues. She emailed them to the team—Katz in New Jersey; Mike North in Westchester County north of New York; and Onnie Bose, Blake Jones and rookie Nick Cooney in New York City. By 8:30 Saturday evening, they began a 2-hour, 35-minute Zoom to pick apart the new slates.

There was one that kept Tampa Bay-New England in Week 4 and Green Bay-Kansas City in Week 9, kept the Key Games Chart intact, fixed the Vikings/Bengals/Titans issues, and didn’t exacerbate rest disparity. It wasn’t perfect, as you’ll see, but it was better than Friday’s.

On Saturday at 11:05 p.m., 36 hours before they’d go to Goodell for the okay, Katz and team settled on the schedule spit out by one of the NFL computers: the 102,844th schedule they considered over 124 days of planning.

In a Zoom call Thursday (fitting), Katz and VP of NFL Broadcast Planning Mike North explained how they arrived at Schedule 102,844.

“We throw away a lot of perfectly good schedules,” Katz said. “That’s just indicative of how far we’ve come in this process. A dozen years ago, we wouldn’t have thought twice about it—we would’ve played those schedules. That makes us feel good, that we’re doing a much better job not just for our television partners but across all 32 teams for trying to come up with what are fair schedules. No schedule’s perfect. And everybody’s got some gripe. But they were minimal this year.”

– – –

“This year,” Katz said, “was a little tricky because we weren’t sure when we began the process whether we were going to play a 16-game, 17-week schedule or 17-game, 18-week schedule. We decided we would start by building the 17-game schedule, because it was new and . . . we wanted to see what the pitfalls were. Right around the Super Bowl, we meet with all our broadcast partners. CBS and FOX basically tell us the games that they most want to keep on their [Sunday afternoon] schedule and NBC and ESPN give us the games that they would like to see on their [Sunday night and Monday night] schedule. Generally, those lists are pretty similar. Our challenge is really how we split the baby and how we allocate all of the top games . . . And then we just start running simulations and running over and over and over again.

“The definition of insanity’s doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? That’s exactly what we do. Every day, Mike creates new seeds based on what we’ve seen and want to see. Then he puts those into the computer. The computer runs, spits things out. What the computer’s trying to do is solve our puzzle with the framework that we give it.”

What helped: Once the 17th game per team was official in late March, it added 16 games to be spread wherever the NFL wanted to put them. Instead of, say, FOX owning the games because they were all games with NFC teams as visitors, the NFL told broadcast partners that every game was a free agent. Thus, for example, Dallas at New England went to CBS, Green Bay at Kansas City stayed with FOX, Seattle at Pittsburgh went to NBC. That addition of some good extra matchups beefed up the Key Games Chart, the collection of all Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday games, special games (Thanksgiving Day, Christmas doubleheader) and CBS and FOX doubleheader games.

The major mileposts on the road to Schedule 102,844:

• The Green Bay dilemma. Once Adam Schefter reported April 29 on Aaron Rodgers’ desire to play elsewhere, the schedule team had 13 days to determine whether to wean the league off any of Green Bay’s five prime-time games, and several more as key doubleheaders games for FOX and CBS. “That got us a little nervous,” Katz told me. Katz asked around for inside info, but the story was so cloudy. No one knows Rodgers’ fate. I doubt even he does. When I saw the schedule, among everything, this jumped out at me:

Week 1: Green Bay at New Orleans, Sunday, FOX doubleheader.

Week 2: Detroit at Green Bay, Monday, ESPN.

Week 3: Green Bay at San Francisco, Sunday night, NBC.

Week 4: Pittsburgh at Green Bay, Sunday, CBS doubleheader.

Week 14: Chicago at Green Bay, Sunday night, NBC.

Week 17: Minnesota at Green Bay, Sunday night, NBC.

I said to Katz and North this looked pretty well-designed. Each network gets a piece of the Packers in the first four weeks, when they’re a fascinating story, with or without Rodgers. And those last two games—NBC has flex scheduling from Weeks 11 to 17. If the Packers are 4-8 with struggling Jordan Love at QB when that Bears game come up, the league could switch to Buffalo at Tampa, or Baltimore at Cleveland. Ditto Week 17, when Vegas-Indy or Miami-Tennessee could be plugged in.

After the Rodgers report, Katz said, “The Green Bay Packers are still the Green Bay Packers, with or without Aaron Rodgers. They’re a great team and a great brand. We started to think about some of the permutations of the schedule. Ultimately, when he didn’t get traded, we couldn’t solve for something we didn’t know. It was pretty deliberate the way we maxed out the Packers early in the season. You’re right that each of the networks has their bite at the Packers in the first month. That was deliberate.”

• “Aaron Rodgers” at Patrick Mahomes. The second-best matchup of the regular season might be the 72nd-best matchup if it’s Jordan Love or Blake Bortles at Mahomes. But the NFL is gambling, and FOX is praying, that the Pack and Rodgers do not get divorced. For a while in the scheduling process, this game was nestled as a FOX doubleheader game on Christmas weekend (Sunday, Dec. 26). But Katz thought it was too late. What if either team had clinched a playoff spot and might not play its full team for the full game? What if either team was out of contention by then? So it got moved to Week 9, the FOX doubleheader game on Nov. 7.

• The TomBill Bowl. NBC got the Week 4 mega-game—Bucs at Patriots in Tom Brady’s return to New England on Sunday night, Oct. 3. This was the game every network wanted badly, and NBC won it. “The only one we’ve ever done that I could compare it to was our first game—the Manning Bowl,” said Fred Gaudelli, the executive producer of Sunday Night Football on NBC since its inception in 2006. In Week 1 2006, NBC debuted its Sunday night package with Peyton’s Colts versus Eli’s Giants. “Such tremendous interest in that game. And this year, Tampa Bay-New England will be a story that transcends sports for the week before the game. It’s the game of the year, certainly. It might be the game of many, many years.”

I was interested in how early it’s falling. I thought the league might want the buildup to last for weeks into the season. But I get why they did it. Brady turns 44 in August, and he’s coming off off-season knee surgery, and at some point, isn’t it logical to think that a man of a certain football age won’t last a full 17 games? Plus, it’s logical to wonder if the Patriots’ 2020 struggles continue into this year. Playing it early is a hedge against the Patriots’ record, and a hedge against an old quarterback’s health.

“Each network lobbied for that game,” Katz said. “They lobbied hard. We played with that game at various stages of our schedule in different places. That game was not always on the Sunday night schedule . . . I would say by the latter part of April, we were pretty locked on the general format for the schedule and that game on Sunday night and the Green Bay-Kansas City game being as a FOX doubleheader.”

North said putting the game in Week 4 “is less about whether these teams are fighting for division races, playoff implications, less likely to have an injury, less likely to have weather. The story can be about Brady’s return. It would be different if Tom’s standing on the 50-yard line watching a tribute video in November in six inches of snow. Or, the later in the season we go, the more likely somebody’s injured. Getting in early, having that story told, made some sense.”

• Fixing some road issues. In 2017, the schedule had seven teams with three-game road trips; this year, there are three. In 2017, five teams followed road Monday games with road Sunday games; this year, there’s one (Miami, Weeks 16, 17: at New Orleans on Monday, at Tennessee on Sunday). Back to what got fixed in travel disparity in Schedule 102,844.

Instead of Minnesota traveling to San Francisco and Arizona in Weeks 1 and 2, the league shifted Week 1 to Cincinnati, saving the Vikings three hours of travel time round-trip in the first week.

Instead of the Las Vegas-Baltimore-New Jersey road trip for Cincinnati, the league subbed Detroit for Vegas, and moved Cincinnati’s trip to Nevada to Week 11. That saves the Bengals five hours, total, of travel time in the first weekend of the three.

Instead of the Titans playing at Seattle and at the Rams in Weeks 8 and 9, now it’s Indianapolis and Los Angeles trips back to back. Nashville to Indy: 55 minutes of flight time. Nashville to L.A.: four hours, 15 minutes.

But fixing the Denver issue of two long trips to start the season couldn’t be fixed without creating bigger problems. Who knows? If Carey gave the computers more time, it’s possible a shorter trip could have been subbed for one of these. But this crew, collectively, has more than 70 years of schedule-making experience, and they doubted they’d be able to find a Denver solution. In the end, the league could fix most things, but not everything.

• A weird bye story. Four teams play in London this year—Jets-Atlanta Oct. 10, Miami-Jacksonville Oct. 17, both at 9:30 a.m. ET. The Jets, Falcons and Jags have byes following the games. The Dolphins don’t. They return from London to play a 1 p.m. home game with Atlanta the next week.

Turns out Miami asked to not have its bye the week following the London game. The Dolphins wanted a later bye … and though the Week 14 bye means they play their first 13 games without a break, I still think it’s better to have the bye much later than Week 7. Plus there’s this: It’s likely, barring travel snafus, that the Dolphins will get back from the London game by about 1:15 a.m. Monday. Miami plays at Las Vegas in Week 3, a 4:05 p.m. ET game. Barring travel snafus there too, the Dolphins should return to south Florida about 1:45 a.m. So Miami’s reasoning, I’m sure, was, Let’s not blow our bye early, especially when the London game is just like coming home from a West Coast game.

“Philly was in the mix to go with Atlanta to London,” North said. “They were more than willing to take a home game after London. Most of these teams now have been to London. Everybody’s really kind of figured it out.”

No byes till Week 6. That’s the first time since the league started giving byes that the weeks off have started that late. Teams just hate the early byes. “Don’t forget,” North said. “Tampa had a Week 13 bye last year. Everybody got healthy. They didn’t lose again.”

Katz and Company may love the schedule, but John Breech of CBSSports.com says it sure doesn’t mean there aren’t some oddities:

There are always some crazy quirks when it comes to the NFL schedule and this year is no different. Although the league office does its best to make all 32 teams happy, the fact of the matter is that making everyone happy just isn’t possible when you’re putting together a schedule that consists of 272 games.

Some teams will be happy about the quirks on their schedule while plenty of other teams won’t be.

So who got the craziest quirks? Let’s find out.

The Cleveland Browns arguably have the most interesting quirk on the schedule and that’s because they’ll be doing something that no NFL team has done in 30 years: They get to play back-to-back games against the same opponent.

After playing in Baltimore in Week 12, the Browns will have a Week 13 bye before playing host to the Ravens in Week 14. This marks the first time since 1991 that an NFL team has played back-to-back regular-season games against the same opponent. Thirty years ago, it was the Chargers and Seahawks who played each other back-to-back. 

The Jets and Dolphins were actually scheduled to play each other in back-to-back games last year, but that didn’t happen because their schedules got re-arranged due to the pandemic. For Cleveland, the two-game stretch against the Ravens will mark first time since 1957 that the Browns have played back-to-back games against a single team.

On the other hand, the Ravens won’t be playing back-to-back games against the Browns. Baltimore got dealt a tougher hand and will have to play the Steelers in Week 13 while the Browns are on their bye.

Speaking of the Ravens, we’re going to start with them as we take a look at nine other quirks on the schedule.

Home sweet home. The Ravens will be playing four straight home games in 2021, marking just the seventh time that’s happened over the past 30 years (2020 Steelers, 2016 Raiders, Dolphins, Packers, 2015 Titans, 2008 Texans). Of the previous six teams to play four straight home games, five of them went either 4-0 or 3-1 during their home-stand. The 2015 Titans are the only team that didn’t finish above .500 (0-4).

Bear down. The Bears don’t have to play consecutive road games at any point this season. This marks just the fourth time since 2010 that’s happened. The good news for the Bears is that in the three previous instances (2019 Ravens, 2013 Packers, 2012 Falcons), all three teams ended up winning their division.

Washington’s wild finish. The Football Team will close the season with five straight games against division opponents. To put that in perspective, only three other teams will even play four division opponents over the final five weeks (Cowboys, Eagles, Panthers). This marks the first time since 1995 that a team will have to close the season with five straight division games (The 1995 Buccaneers went 1-4 over their five-game divisional stretch and fell out of the playoff race).

Rough road to start the season. There are only four teams in the NFL who will have to play their first TWO games on the road and those teams are: The Cowboys, Broncos, Vikings and 49ers.

Rough road to end the season. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are only two teams that close the season with two straight road games and those two teams are the Chiefs and Panthers.

Bye, bye, bye. The Patriots are facing three teams that will be coming off a bye this year, which is the most in the NFL. That’s not ideal since teams will be getting extra rest and preparation time prior to playing New England. On the flip side, the Panthers will be facing zero teams coming off a bye.

Monday shut out. The Broncos weren’t given a Monday night game this year, marking the first time since 1991 that that’s happened. Heading into 2021, the Broncos had the longest active streak of consecutive seasons with a Monday game.

Fly Eagles Fly. Not only do the Eagles have the easiest strength of schedule this year, but they don’t have to play a single road game this season against a team that had a winning record last year. As a matter of fact, of the Eagles’ 17 opponents in 2021, only three of them had a winning record in 2020. Also, the Eagles won’t be flying much as they won’t have to get on a plane for the rest of the season following their Nov. 14 game (Week 10) at Denver.

Thirsty Thursday. It’s starting to seem like the NFL is trying to permanently move every Cowboys game to a Thursday. Through the first 13 weeks of the season, the Cowboys will be playing three Thursday games. The three Thursday games is tied for the most any team has played in a season since 2000 (2019 Bears and 2000 Lions also played three Thursday games).

Even though we’ve reach our 10 quirk limit, we’ve decided to throw in a BONUS QUIRK and it has to do with bye weeks.

Week 14 bye. The Colts, Dolphins, Eagles, Patriots all landed a Week 14 bye, which is notable for two reasons. First, it’s the latest scheduled bye any team has been given since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002. Second, the Buccaneers had the latest bye week last year and they went on to win the Super Bowl, which could be good news for the one of the four teams here. Also, if the crazy bye week trend below holds, that means that either the Colts, Dolphins, Eagles or Patriots will be winning Super Bowl LVI.

There are also several other scheduling notes that aren’t really quirks, but are probably worth mentioning. Starting in Week 2, the Cowboys play eight straight games against teams that finished under .500 last year. The Steelers and Panthers both close the season with four straight games against teams that made the playoffs last year. For Pittsburgh, that means games against the Titans, Chiefs, Browns and Ravens. For Carolina, that means games against the Bills, Saints and Buccaneers twice.

Also, when the Chargers face Washington in Week 1, it will mark just the fourth-time ever that the reigning offensive rookie of the year (Justin Herbert) has played against the reigning defensive rookie of the year (Chase Young) in a season-opener.

Breech doesn’t mention it, but we will throw in the fact that the Buccaneers and Panthers don’t meet for the first time until after a holiday – not after Thanksgiving, but after Christmas with the first meeting in Week 16 on December 26.  We would presume that is the first time that has happened.

NFC NORTH

CHICAGO

Sun Sep 12     at Los Angeles Rams                  8:20pm ET          NBC

Sun Sep 19     Cincinnati                                   1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Sep 26     at Cleveland                               1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Oct 3       Detroit                                         1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct 10      at Las Vegas                               4:05pm ET         CBS

Sun Oct 17     Green Bay                                   1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct 24     at Tampa Bay                              4:25pm ET         CBS

Sun Oct 31     San Francisco                             1:00pm ET         FOX

Mon Nov 8      at Pittsburgh                                8:15pm ET        ESPN

Sun Nov 14     BYE

Sun Nov 21     Baltimore                                    1:00pm ET         CBS

Thur Nov 25    at Detroit                                     12:30pm ET      FOX

Sun Dec 5       Arizona                                        1:00pm ET        FOX

Sun Dec 12     at Green Bay                               8:20pm ET         NBC

Mon Dec 20    Minnesota                                    8:15pm ET        ESPN

Sun Dec 26     at Seattle                                     4:05pm ET        FOX

Sun Jan 2       New York Giants                         1:00pm ET         CBS

Sun Jan 9       at Minnesota                               1:00pm ET         FOX

SCHEDULE NOTES

The NFL treated the Bears like a full-fledged power team with four primetime games plus a visiting role on Thanksgiving…If things go South for either the Packers or Bears they can be flexted out of December 12 with the Packers, but as things stand now, Chicago will get four national exposures in a six-game span starting November 8 in Pittsburgh…The Bears are done with their other division foes before the Vikings are faced for the first time on December 20 (Week 15)…Here is an oddity, the Bears alternate road and home games for all 17 contests…The Bears show up on CBS four times, but only one (Baltimore) is a traditional cross primary network home game…Games at Las Vegas, at Tampa Bay and home with the Giants would be on FOX in the old formula…The game at Vegas is the “17^th game.”

DETROIT

Sun Sep 12     San Francisco                            1:00pm ET         FOX

Mon Sep 20     at Green Bay                             8:15pm ET         ESPN

Sun Sep 26     Baltimore                                    1:00pm ET         CBS

Sun Oct 3        at Chicago                                  1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct 10      at Minnesota                              1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct. 17     Cincinnati                                   1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct 24      at Los Angeles Rams                  4:05pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct 31      Philadelphia                                 1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Nov 7       BYE

Sun Nov 14     at Pittsburgh                                1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Nov 21     at Cleveland                                 1:00pm ET        FOX

Thur Nov 25    Chicago                                      12:30pm ET        FOX

Sun Dec 5       Minnesota                                    1:00pm ET         CBS

Sun Dec 12     at Denver                                     4:05pm ET         FOX

Sun Dec 19     Arizona                                        1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Dec 26     at Atlanta                                      1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Jan 2        at Seattle                                     4:25pm ET         FOX

Sun Jan 9       Green Bay                                   1:00pm ET         FOX

SCHEDULE NOTES

The Lions only Thursday game is on Thanksgiving – and their only primetime event is Monday in Week 2 at Green Bay…They don’t see the Packers again until Week 17…13 of the last 14 games are on FOX, the exception being a CBS Flex with the Vikings in Week 12…in Weeks 4-5 the Lions go to Chicago, then Minnesota; in Weeks 12-13, the Lions host the same two teams in that order.

GREEN BAY

Sun Sep 12     at New Orleans                           4:25pm ET          FOX

Mon Sep 20    Detroit                                         8:15pm ET          ESPN

Sun Sep 26      at San Francisco                         8:20pm ET         NBC

Sun Oct 3         Pittsburgh                                   4:25pm ET          CBS

Sun Oct 10       at Cincinnati                               1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Oct 17      at Chicago                                  1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Oct 24      Washington                                 1:00pm ET          FOX

Thurs Oct 28   at Arizona                                    8:20pm ET          FOX

Sun Nov 7        at Kansas City                             4:25pm ET          FOX

Sun Nov 14       Seattle                                        4:25pm ET          CBS

Sun Nov 21       at Minnesota                               1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Nov 28        Los Angeles Rams                      4:25pm ET          FOX

Sun Dec 5          BYE

Sun Dec 12        Chicago                                      8:20pm ET          NBC

Sun Dec 19        at Baltimore                                1:00pm ET          FOX

Sat  Dec 25       Cleveland                                    4:30pm ET          FOX

Sun Jan 2          Minnesota                                   8:20pm ET          NBC

Sun Jan 9          at Detroit                                     1:00pm ET          FOX

SCHEDULE NOTES

As has been discussed before, the NFL gave Green Bay an “Aaron Rodgers” schedule with 5 primetime games, plus a big one with Cleveland on Christmas and 5 other doubleheader late games against prime foes…But if Rodgers does go to Denver, the Broncos have quite a few “shadow” games such as 4:25 on FOX in Week 1 at New York Giants…Starting November 28, there is a run of four out of five at home with two primetime, Christmas Day, a 4:25 at Lambeau (and the non-feature game is a pretty good one – Packers at Ravens)…Starting October 10, there is a run of 4 of 5 on the road.

MINNESOTA

Sun Sep 12         at Cincinnati                               1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Sep 19         at Arizona                                   4:05pm ET          FOX

Sun Sep 26         Seattle                                        4:25pm ET          FOX

Sun Oct 3            Cleveland                                   1:00pm ET          CBS

Sun Oct 10          Detroit                                         1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct 17          at Carolina                                  1:00pm ET         FOX

Sun Oct 24          BYE

Sun Oct 31          Dallas                                         8:20pm ET           NBC

Sun Nov 7           at Baltimore                                1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Nov 14         at Los Angeles Chargers            4:05pm ET          FOX

Sun Nov 21         Green Bay                                  1:00pm ET          FOX

Sun Nov 28         at San Francisco                        4:25pm ET          FOX

Sun Dec 5           at Detroit                                     1:00pm ET         CBS

Thur Dec 9          Pittsburgh                                    8:20pm ET         FOX

Mon Dec 20         at Chicago                                   8:15pm ET        ESPN

Sun Dec 26          Los Angeles Rams                       1:00pm ET        FOX

Sun Jan 2            at Green Bay                               8:20pm ET         NBC

Sun Jan. 9           Chicago                                       1:00pm ET         FOX

The schedulemakers think the Vikings will be relevant late in the season with three primetime games after Thanksgiving…the Vikings have an early three-game homestand after opening with the first two on the road…Then there is a run of 4 of 5 on the road starting on November 7

AFC WEST

DENVER

The NFLPA told T Ja’WUAN JAMES it was okay to work out away from Denver’s camp.  Now, a legal fight is brewing as the union attempts to get him the $10 million that the Broncos say he lost by working remotely.

The Broncos released tackle Ja’Wuan James after he suffered a torn Achilles tendon away from the practice facility. The team’s effort to circumvent a $10 million salary guaranteed for skill, injury, and salary cap will surely lead to litigation. The rest of the league’s players will be paying close attention to the James situation and others like it that may arise.

“You’re tasked with working out year-round,” NFL Players Association president and Browns center JC Tretter told Albert Breer of SI.com. “And guys have always felt teams have their back when they’re training, working out for the season. So players are watching this closely to see which teams aren’t going to have players’ backs. And doing this also disincentivizes guys working out. If you’re going to hold this over my head, and I don’t want to get hurt, well, then I’ll play myself into shape, and protect myself and money.”

Embedded in that quote from Tretter is a thinly-veiled threat. Teams that don’t have their players’ backs when they’re training for the season may have a harder time attracting free agents.

And while Tretter has a point, it’s one thing to cover a player who suffers an injury while working out beyond the confines of the offseason program, such as during the six weeks between the end of OTAs and the start of training camp. It’s quite another to cover a player who deliberately avoids working out at the team facility during the offseason program, especially when the player chooses to work out away from the workplace as part of an on-the-fly effort to secure concessions that could have been sought during formal collective bargaining.

“You really just want to feel like your team would have your back in that situation,” Tretter told Breer. “And then on top of that, you read this memo where it sounds like the league is basically pushing teams to throw injured guys under the bus.”

That’s precisely what the league did, and the league sent that message before James suffered his injury. James, given his social-media reaction to his Friday release, apparently didn’t realize the full extent of the risk he was taking by not working out at the team facility.

Some think James may pursue recovery of his $10 million salary not only from the Broncos but also from the NFLPA. The union possibly would then point a finger at the player’s NFLPA-certified agent, arguing (clumsily) that the agent should have told James not to do what the NFLPA told him to do.

For players who are watching the James case closely, they should also closely consider their own circumstances. Some players can suffer a serious injury at Planet Fitness and not lose a penny. Others will end up being treated like James. It’s critical for every player to assess where he lands in that analysis before deciding whether to continue to assume the full financial risk of an off-site injury.

“I think it’s coming down to control,” Tretter told Breer. “You’ll do what we tell you to do, when we tell you to do it, how we tell you to do it. They haven’t really heard players tell them no before. And now they have had the vast majority tell them no, and I’m sure it grinds some gears on their side. This is about getting to the status quo for them, even though I think we could all realize there’s a better way.”

Embedded in that quote is everything the players need to know about their current circumstances. This effort, which has resulted (per the union) in only 38 percent of players showing up for offseason workouts, constitutes the giving of a middle finger to the league. It therefore exposes the other 62 percent to the possibility of getting a middle finger in return.

Could James ultimately get some or all of his money from the league, the union, and/or his agent? Sure. But he’d get 100 percent of it without a fight if his injury had happened at work.

LAS VEGAS

Jon Gruden with some kind words for his QB DEREK CARR.  Myles Simmons ofProFootballTalk.com:

Derek Carr has played his way into the Raiders record books by being the team’s starter since 2014.

He’s piloted the club to just one winning season and postseason appearance, but wasn’t able to start the playoff game after suffering a broken leg in the penultimate week of the 2016 season.

It seems like the Raiders flirt with the quarterback market every offseason, but head coach Jon Gruden and General Manager Mike Mayock have not made any moves to unseat Carr as QB1.

In a recent interview with the Raiders’ in-house TV show, Gruden praised Carr for the way he’s performed in the team’s offense.

“Derek is very underestimated. He doesn’t get much credit for how good he’s playing, but he completes a lot of passes. He changes plays at the line of scrimmage. He’s starting to make more and more plays with his legs now,” Gruden said. “W’ve put some pretty good players around Derek. I think it shows.”

Carr set a new career high with 4,103 yards passing in 2020, tossing 27 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also rushed for a career high 140 yards with three TDs, recording 16 first downs with his legs. That more than doubled his output in 2019, when he rushed for just seven first downs.

With the Raiders finishing 30th in points allowed and 25th in yards allowed last year, Carr was not the problem with Las Vegas. But the 2020 season was still only the second time the Raiders have finished with a record at or above .500 in Carr’s seven seasons as a starter. Whether or not the QB is underestimated, the team as a whole needs to improve in 2021.

AFC NORTH

CINCINNATI

Paul Dehner of The Athletic gets some insight on how the Bengals processed their pickof WR Ja’MARR CHASE:

Bengals director of college scouting Mike Potts first caught the 2019 LSU offense and what would be the team’s next two first-round picks when the Tigers played at Vanderbilt that September. Not only was Burrow’s star on the rise, but Chase ascended that day breaking tackles, taking the top off the defense and finishing with 10 receptions for 229 yards and four touchdowns.

“Last year was the best wide receiver class I can ever remember, I have been doing this 10 years now,” Potts said. “But I left that Vanderbilt game thinking to myself and talking to other scouts that were there, there’s a ton of really good receivers in the country, but the best one is right here at LSU and he can’t even enter this year’s draft.”

The conversation this year became how many years back you’d have to go to find a receiver rated this well coming out.

“You look at the two aliens in A.J. Green and Julio Jones as guys who come to mind,” said Christian Sarkisian, Bengals area scout. “I’d say those are probably the two guys. He’s better than any of the guys last year … I guess an argument could be made about Amari (Cooper). That’s 2015.”

Part of what put Chase over the top came on March 22 with director of player personnel Duke Tobin in attendance. The LSU receiver put up a combination of freaky pro day numbers only replicated a receiver by Seattle’s DK Metcalf since 2000.

“It meant a ton,” Potts said, as the staff searched for opinions on how Chase handled his opt-out year. “I’ve got a couple coaches down there that I trust that said, if you had any hesitation on us telling you how much this guy loves football and how much drive he has to him he obviously answered those questions and gave you the proof there with how well he did at the pro day. He blew it up.”

Those texts came into Potts while he was one state over at the Florida pro day along with Taylor and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons.

They were almost simultaneously witnessing Pitts showing off one of most absurd displays of athleticism imaginable as he ripped off a 4.46 40-yard dash and 39-inch vertical leap at 246 pounds.

“Unreal,” Potts said of Pitts. “We don’t like to throw around the word ‘rare’ too often because I feel that needs to be reserved for unique, high-end players. But he’s about as unique as it gets.”

The looks exchanged between those in attendance made it clear. The Bengals had their hands full with this one.

“The hard part is any of those top, premier guys would have been great fits and you could make arguments for any one of them,” said Steven Radicevic, Bengals director of pro personnel. “It makes it difficult. You hate passing on a guy that is an elite player. You always kind of wonder.”

Inevitably, the Bengals were saved by the Falcons from ever having to say they passed on Pitts. The Florida tight end had his supporters in the Bengals draft room. As did Sewell, for all the reasons as obvious as Burrow’s scar and why the Lions selected him with the seventh pick.

When it came down to decision time, the team had to look at the totality of a draft with several quality offensive linemen expected to be available. But the ideal fit for the team that didn’t get enough out of Green’s position in 2020 and could potentially replace his largely ineffective 104 targets last year with production expected of Chase, particularly over the top where Burrow struggled dramatically, helped clinch it.

“We think Ja’Marr can transcend our offense,” Potts said.

The benefit of taking a position group as valuable as receiver from very good to elite is it changes the dynamic of the entire team. A defense that ranks as average and an offensive line that ranks as average with league-best passing attack is how many modern-day title contenders are calibrated.

“In my opinion, it’s the best receiver room in the league,” Sarkisian said. “But I don’t think you can make an argument against it being a top three in the league right now.”

And a lot to count on. While not the primary part of the equation, the Burrow factor was real here in creating the highest probability of success. A quarterback who created a relationship spawning that type of success at LSU helps predict work ethic and quickly getting the most out of that immense talent.

“I don’t think Ja’Marr is going to want to let Joe down,” Potts said.

You end up back at Callahan’s breakthrough moment. Playmakers can change the dynamic of big games in high-leverage situations. You don’t need a cast of first-round picks up front to allow them to do so, partially because receivers who win fast paired with a quarterback already among the quickest decision-makers in the league can do almost as much to offset pressure as adding Sewell.

“I think what you see around the league is that it’s hard to hold the ball,” Callahan said. “That’s every team across the league. There’s nobody that sits back and drops back and hangs onto the ball for a long time, because those guys on the other side are freak shows … and when you get a chance to get guys who can win on the outside — and we feel really good about the guys we have that can go win matchups and catch balls — it helps when they win fast. You can dictate a little bit of a coverage structure, too, and you have some big plays and some explosiveness. Now all of a sudden you get soft boxes for the run game, and all these things fit together.”

What fit together more than thinking about second-round linemen or the puzzle of the roster was the Bengals adding a game-changer to a team desperately needing more of them.

“Everybody was happy with the result and understands what this guy is going to do for us,” Taylor said. “We take Ja’Marr Chase because you think he’s going to be one of the all-time great receivers here over the next 10-15 years. You don’t want to be influenced by, ‘Is there a lineman there in the second round?’ if you think this guy is as good as we think he is. We just need to get him on the football team. This year, consequently, just happened we knew there would be a good group of linemen there in the second round we knew we could get. If you knew this player would turn out to be A.J. Green, what would make you pass on him? If you look back on his career and say he’s going to have the same impact and career that A.J. Green had, what makes you say let’s pass on him and go get this other guy because there’s not a lineman you like in the second round — knowing what you know about A.J. Green. To me, that weighs into it a little bit, this is the impact we think this guy is going to have on us.”

A few basic truths emerged inside the first meetings about attacking the offensive line problem back in January. The free-agent class would be thin, the draft would not and the Bengals needed to be more equipped inside to handle the powerful AFC North defensive lines, in particular.

That’s where even back then Jackson Carman entered the conversation.

“We put in the same amount of work on Jackson Carman as we did on Joe Burrow, in terms of talking to as many people as we can and really having a lot of big group conversations about it,” Sarkisian said.

At 6-foot-5, 317 pounds, Carman fit the big, powerful body the Bengals prefer when dealing with the likes of Cam Heyward, Brandon Williams and other interior game-wreckers in the division. His flexibility as the guard of today and a potential tackle of tomorrow made sense, his athleticism made him feel like the ideal fit for offensive line coach Frank Pollack’s wide-zone scheme.

But the real move up the draft board went beyond the tape.

Taylor spoke with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, as nearly every coach must do considering the wealth of talent in the South Carolina powerhouse. Except, this marked the second year in a row they would be talking about specific targets. A rave review paid off last year, in standing up for Tigers wideout Tee Higgins, who made a massive impact as a rookie in Cincinnati.

A similar refrain followed surrounding Carman this time around.

“If this guy comes back (to school), he’s a top-15 pick,” Taylor recalled what he was told about Carman. “He’s a first-round talent, day-one ready. He’s going to walk in ready to play. I don’t say that about every player I have but saying that about the two players you have — or are about to have.”

AFC SOUTH

INDIANAPOLIS

The Colts have reached an agreement with their players on a more limited offseason.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

The union’s effort to negotiate more favorable offseason terms on a case by case basis is working.

Via Stephen Holder of TheAthletic.com, the Colts have agreed to reduce their offseason program to two more weeks, with no mandatory minicamp.

Thus, they’ll be done by Memorial Day weekend, and they’ll reconvene for training camp. Per Holder, the idea had the support of G.M. Chris Ballard and coach Frank Reich.

The sessions won’t include 11-on-11 situations.

It’s a calculated risk by the Colts. With two months away from the team, the players will have more time to let themselves get out of shape. If they do, however, they’ll pay for it when training camp starts.

If they’re ready to go when the season starts, other teams may be more willing to agree to scaling back the offseason program.

JACKSONVILLE

Peter King’s thoughts on TE TIM TEbow:

I think I don’t get too bothered by Tim Tebow taking up one of 90 training-camp roster spots in Jacksonville. As to how it’s going to impact the locker room, as many have pointed out, the Jaguars are a team that likely will have more than half the roster turned over this year from opening day last year. They were 1-15. This is a new day, with a new coach, and yes, Tebow would be able to get one of 90 slots with only one coach, Urban Meyer. But seriously: Who cares?

I think Tebow probably won’t make it. But if he does, I can tell you Meyer understands the ethos of the locker room. Tebow will not make this team, if he does, as a coach’s pet. And say he bombs out and is cut this summer, and you’d say, “What if an undrafted free-agent tight end, 10 years younger and with much more experience at the position, had been given Tebow’s chance?” There’s nothing to stop Jacksonville from signing an undrafted tight end, and had they liked one enough the night of day three of the draft, they certainly would have done so.

AFC EAST

BUFFALO

WR COLE BEASLEY might not get vaccinated despite the incentives fostered by the NFL on the Bills if he does so.  Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic:

The CDC released new guidance this week that stated people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 do not need to wear masks “except where required by federal, state, local and tribal or territorial laws, including local business and workplace guidance.” Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley decided to weigh in on the news, becoming the latest Buffalo player to express hesitancy about the vaccine.

Responding to a tweet that quoted Dr. Anthony Fauci saying vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks outdoors, Beasley said, “I do that without being vaccinated. Is this illegal now?”

Beasley spent his next few tweets responding to the criticism he received from some of his 453,000 followers. “Until we all share the same opinion or belief we are considered ignorant. I don’t understand. You feel how you feel and I respect that. It doesn’t always make me wrong or a bad person cause I don’t agree with you.”

When numerous people said he should get the vaccine to protect others, he responded with, “If you get vaccinated you are good? So if I don’t I shouldn’t pass it on to you regardless, right? … That’s a serious question. I don’t really know how these things work I’m not a doctor.”

This was reminiscent of Josh Allen’s vaccine comments on Kyle Brandt’s podcast a few months ago. When asked if he wanted to get the vaccine, Allen said, “I’m a big statistics and logical guy. So if statistics show it’s the right thing for me to do, I’d do it. Again, I’d lean the other way, too, if that’s what it said.

“I haven’t been paying attention to it as much as maybe I should have. I’ve just been doing my thing and masking up when I’m going out and just staying close and hanging around family.”

Admitting you haven’t done the research (or admitting you’re not a doctor, in Beasley’s case) is usually a good place to stop, but Allen said he thinks it’s a good thing that the vaccine won’t be mandated by the NFL.

“I think everybody should have that choice to do it or not to do it,” Allen said. “You get in this tricky situation now where if you do mandate that, that’s kind of going against what our constitution says and the freedom to kind of express yourself one way or the other. I think we’re in a time where that’s getting a lot harder to do. Everybody should have that choice.”

Allen and Beasley aren’t alone in their public skepticism. Rachel Bush, the wife of Bills safety and captain Jordan Poyer, has expressed anti-vaccine sentiments on Twitter and said she thinks more than half the team won’t be vaccinated. She defended Beasley on Thursday saying, “the majority of the team feels the same on this.”

The right of Bills players to speak their minds is part of the equation. Beasley is entitled to do as he chooses and voice his opinions — but opinions do have consequences. The more prominent players who express hesitancy over the vaccine, the more this could become about the football team. On Friday, the NFL said fully vaccinated players and staff no longer need to wear masks. On WGR 550 last week, Brandon Beane said he expects the NFL to have different protocols for teams that have a certain percentage of players vaccinated, as Major League Baseball has done. The NFL has sent memos to suggest as much. Beane also said he would consider cutting an unvaccinated player at the bottom of the roster if it meant reaching the threshold.

“We’re laughing, but these meetings (last season) were not as productive as before,” Beane said. “You guys saw it in the field house — sometimes we’d have three to four meetings going on, and sometimes you’re talking over each other. But it was the only way to pull it off and be socially distanced. So it would be an advantage to cut a player and fall under that umbrella.”

The NFL then reached out to Beane to tell him he cannot cut a player solely because that player is unvaccinated. But that will be a hard thing for a player, particularly one at the bottom of the roster, to prove. The NFLPA is still navigating issues surrounding return to work, and mandatory vaccinations would need to be collectively bargained with the league.

Beane and Sean McDermott will do everything for a competitive advantage, and at the onset of the pandemic, McDermott stressed to his players that the teams that handled the pandemic the best would have an edge. Last season, McDermott expressed frustration that some teams could have fans in their stadiums while others couldn’t because it gave those with crowds an advantage. Beane, McDermott and owners Terry and Kim Pegula have all been vaccinated and were unmasked in the draft room. They’re setting the example for the team, but prominent players may not be ready to fall in line.

After Beasley received backlash on Twitter, second-year receiver Gabriel Davis quote-tweeted one of his tweets and said, “You right pops! I’m with you!” Guard Jon Feliciano retweeted a few of Beasley’s tweets on Thursday.

Prominent public figures expressing these types of sentiments damage the public effort to get as many people vaccinated as possible. The country as a whole has dealt with vaccine hesitancy and frustration over changing guidelines. Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz, who has said he wants to require vaccination for attendance at Bills games this fall, said through a spokesperson that he hopes “all athletes will get vaccinated and lend their voices to supporting the effort; it keeps all of us, players, fans, and the entire community, safer.”

Beyond the public issue, this will cause questions in the locker room. What if the Bills have to have remote meetings because too many of their players aren’t vaccinated? What if a player misses multiple weeks with a symptomatic case of COVID-19? The vaccine greatly reduces an individual’s chances of contracting COVID-19 and also reduces the chances of developing severe symptoms in the rare instance of a breakthrough positive. The federal guidelines around masking also suggest the vaccine reduces the chances of spreading the virus. All of that suggests the best thing for the team would be for as many players as possible to get the vaccine.

“The overwhelming consensus among medical and public health experts is that the most effective way for someone to avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19 — and the risk of infecting others — is to be vaccinated,” the NFL said in the memo last month. “Our medical team has worked closely with the NFLPA medical advisors to develop comprehensive education material that reinforces this conclusion and addresses the safety and effectiveness of available vaccines.”

Players consistently defer to the doctors when discussing injuries, yet some are openly questioning doctors and top medical experts on this issue. NFL players also do just about anything to stay on the field. How many NFL players have been injected with Torodol or taken it in pill form to play through serious pain? Beasley played through a fractured leg in the playoffs and said after the season, “It was bad the first game I played, but after that you take a few meds and suck it up.”

On Friday, Beasley got back on Twitter to say he’s not an anti-vaxxer but he doesn’t think people should be bullied into taking the shot.

The Bills aren’t the only team with players openly questioning the vaccine. Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker said he would not get vaccinated but didn’t share his reasons because, “it’s a hot-button topic.” Broncos linebacker Alexander Johnson tweeted conspiracy theories about the pandemic. But Buffalo has become the team at the center of the issue because they have the most prominent players making the loudest statements.

If Bush is right and “the majority of the team feels the same on this,” maybe this issue won’t divide the locker room. Maybe the NFL’s protocols, once finalized, won’t present a dramatic disadvantage to those who don’t have enough players vaccinated. But this is now another variable McDermott has to consider. McDermott did not speak at rookie camp this week. He’s been effective at managing the locker room in his time as an NFL head coach. He also navigated the pandemic well in 2020, setting a strong example for his team from the outset. This is the next step in that. The Bills have Super Bowl aspirations this season, and McDermott will want every possible edge he can find. Getting players to take the shot may be one of them.

NEW ENGLAND

Peter King:

I think this was a curious find:

• For the Patriots’ October home game against the Jets, Vivid Seats is selling two upper-deck tickets in section 307, row 10, for $287 each.

• For the Patriots’ October home game against the Bucs, Vivid Seats is selling two upper-deck tickets in section 307, row 13, for $4,752 each.

Wonder why.

When the DB knew about NFL tickets there was no such thing as dynamic pricing.  A good ticket cost the same amount if you bought it from the team whether or not the opponent was a brand like Brady or the Steelers or not.  All of the pricing changes came on the secondary market which was a black market business, illegal in many jurisdictions.

All that has changed and we wonder if the Patriots have profited from the Brady game by vastly increasing their prices for the Tampa Bay game (even for season ticketholders).

We wouldn’t blame them.  Why should the sharp operators on the secondary market make all the profit?

THIS AND THAT

BABY BOY NAMES CIRCA 2000

This from Peter King on the christening process of the moms of aspiring NFL players in approximately the year 2000:

They are a-changin’. To wit:

• In the 2021 draft, there were players named Jaylen, Jaelan, Jalen, Jaelon and Jaylon.

• Players named Javonte, Javon, Jamin, and Ja’Marr, Jamar, Jermarr.

• Players named Jaycee, Joe, Jay, Jackson, Jeremiah, Josh, Joshua, Joshuah, Jacob, James, Jabril, Jordan, Janarius, Jamien, Jason, Jonathan, Jonathon, JaCoby, Jimmy, Jake and Jack.

• And one player named John: Boise State tight end John Bates, picked in the fourth round by Washington.