Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

The NFL announced this week that the schedule for the 2020 season will be officially unveiled at 8 p.m. ET, but no teams will have to wait to spill the beans about their slates.

Some teams have posted on social media that their own schedules will be released at 7:30 p.m. ET and NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed that they are doing so with the approval of the league.

“For the first time ever, each club may release its own game schedule on its owned and operated media platforms at 7:30 p.m. ET, 30 minutes before the NFL Network Schedule Release show begins at 8:00 p.m.,” McCarthy told TheBigLead.com. “Clubs can choose to release their schedule in any appropriate way they choose, while prominently promoting the national NFL Network Schedule Release show to follow, during which the full schedule will be released, analyzed and discussed.”

Teams were creative about unofficially announcing free agent moves on social media in March and they’ve done some fun things with schedules on different platforms in the past, so it should be a chance for teams to have some fun as we look ahead to a 2020 season we hope will be played in full.

And this bombshell from John Clayton – all of the interconference games will be scheduled for the first four weeks.  Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com:

The NFL’s contingency plan for the 2020 regular-season schedule might be getting a bit clearer.

We knew there would be some plans in place, and one in particular seems to make sense.

Veteran NFL reporter John Clayton told 93.7 The Fan that the NFL schedule, which will be released on Thursday, will have all NFC vs. AFC games for the first four weeks. If that’s the case, the first game of the NFL season will be either the Carolina Panthers or Atlanta Falcons at the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night, Sept. 10.

That would be quite unusual, but everything in the sports world is unusual this year due to coronavirus. And front-loading the non-conference games makes sense.

What will NFL do for contingency plans?

The NFL needs an easy way to shorten the schedule, in case opening day is pushed back.

Non-conference games would be easiest to dump, so front-loading them makes sense. If the start of the season takes place in October, it wouldn’t complicate the rest of the schedule to eliminate the first four weeks. We had already heard that the NFL could have one week in which all teams face an opponent with the same bye week. That would allow the NFL to seamlessly eliminate bye weeks if need be. The league reportedly wants its Super Bowl to happen no later than the end of February.

Or that Thursday opener could be Kansas City at Tampa Bay or Kansas City at New Orleans.

More on the Clayton interview from Dave Bryan of Steelers Depot:

Assuming teams play their four inter-conference games first to open the 2020 NFL regular season, Clayton then speculates that schedules will then have the non-common games next.

 “Then after that you go into your non-common games,” Clayton said. “That’ll be like Week 5 and 6. And so, again, remember these are all home and away, so just kind of circling around like that.”

The Steelers two non-common games this year are against the Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills with the former being at home and the latter on the road.

“Then you’ll get the division games for about three weeks,” Clayton said. “You know, home and away.”

If Clayton is correct, that means the Steelers would play the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals right around the middle of the season. Two of those games would likely be at home or away with the third one being the opposite.

“And then they’ll go into the next phase, which will be the conference games,” Clayton said.

The Steelers four conference games in 2020 are scheduled to be against the AFC South division. They’ll play the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans on the road and the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts at home. That slate of games would likely begin in Week 10 at the earliest, according to what Clayton was communicating on Wednesday.

Finally, Clayton expects the 2020 NFL schedule to include all teams playing their final three games within their own division. That means in some sort of order that the Steelers would again play the Ravens, Browns and Bengals in their final three regular season games. Once again, two of those contests would more than likely be either home or away with the third one being the opposite of the majority.

“So I think that’s the pattern they can go because then what they have to do, if they have to start shortening games, you wipe out the inter-conference games and you preserve the 10 games within conference, which of course are important for seeding,” Clayton said.

Clayton’s explanation on what he thinks the 2020 NFL regular season schedule will look like Thursday night sure makes a lot of sense. He also offered a few thoughts on what the season could look like if weeks wind up getting eliminated due to the coronavirus pandemic.

DALLAS

QB ANDY DALTON says he is not in Dallas to stage a coup.  Charean Williams ofProFootballTalk.com:

Andy Dalton’s only interaction with Dak Prescott came after a regular-season game in 2016 and a preseason game in 2018.

But one of the first things Dalton did after signing with the Cowboys earlier this week was to text Prescott. Dalton told Prescott he was available to help in any way, and Prescott texted back his appreciation.

The Cowboys see Dalton as their Nick Foles, a veteran insurance policy.

It’s not a role Dalton has played much, starting 133 of a possible 144 games after the Bengals drafted him out of TCU, but one he’s ready for in Dallas.

“My mindset is, I’m going try to be the biggest asset to this team, try to help out this offense, help out Dak, help out everybody as much as I can,” Dalton said on a conference call with beat reporters, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “It’s a different perspective for me since I’ve been a starter the last nine years, but I understand the position I’m coming into and the role I’m going to play.”

Dalton, 32, has more starts, more wins, more playoff games, more everything (other than playoff wins) than Prescott does. Still, Dalton understands it’s not a Ryan Tannehill–Marcus Mariota situation.

He will see the field only if Prescott is injured.

“Dak has played really well,” Dalton said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “I knew the situation I was coming into. . . . Dak is the starter on this team. If for some reason he was to go down, I will be able to step in and help this team.”

SAN FRANCISCO

Kyle Shanahan developed his philosophy of team building playing Madden® in high school.  Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com:

San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan established his team-building philosophy long before he had a say in the real NFL draft.

As far back as 1997, Shanahan recalls drafting teams with his friends on the Madden video game. As his buddies picked offensive weapons such as Randy Moss, Shanahan preferred to load up early on pass-rushers.

“I’m always down to go defensive lineman if the right guy is there,” Shanahan, 40, said. “I can promise you, ask my high school friends when we did Madden and we drafted our own guys, my first pick was always [Hall of Fame defensive end Michael] Strahan. … I always wanted to do D-line.”

Finding guys to get after the quarterback has become a Shanahan hallmark since he and general manager John Lynch took over the 49ers in 2017. The 49ers have taken a defensive lineman with their first pick in three of the four drafts led by Shanahan and Lynch, and this year’s proceedings erased any doubt about their continued focus.

Even with intriguing options such as offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs and receivers CeeDee Lamb and Jerry Jeudy on the board, the 49ers moved down a spot via the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. Minutes after the Bucs selected Wirfs, the Niners turned in their selection for defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw.

Kinlaw joins Solomon Thomas and Nick Bosa as first-round defensive lineman taken by the current regime, but it goes further than that. When you account for Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner, the 49ers have drafted a defensive lineman in the first round five of the past six years.

Only Thomas — taken No. 3 overall in 2017 — could be considered a disappointment relative to draft position, which means the Niners aren’t drafting defensive linemen to cover up for previous mistakes. They’re doing it because it’s at the heart of how they want to build their team.

“You go back to when we first built this thing, Kyle and I came together, one of the things that we really believed in is that that’s an equalizer in a football league where everything’s set up for offenses to be successful,” Lynch said. “One of the ways you can equalize the equation is to get after and knock down the passer. We built a pretty good unit there, and we wanted to keep that strong. We thought [Kinlaw] was a great fit for that.”

SEATTLE

GM John Schneider taps the breaks on talk that RB MARSHAWN LYNCH will return to the Seahawks in 2020.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Marshawn Lynch said this week that his agent has spoken to the Seahawks about a return to the team this year, but Seahawks General Manager John Schneider didn’t make it sound like things have gotten too far on Wednesday.

Schneider made an appearance on 105.7 The Fan and said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, that Lynch knows the team “wouldn’t say no to anything” without talking it through first. He added that “we would discuss” that with Lynch and his representatives, which makes it seem that any talks have been quite preliminary.

Lynch said to “expect the unexpected” while discussing his potential return to Seattle and that he’s “lookin’ good” whether or not it happens.

Lynch came out of retirement to help an injury-ravaged Seahawks backfield late last season. He ran 12 times for 34 yards and a touchdown in one regular season game and 18 times for 33 yards and three touchdowns in two postseason outings.

– – –

And another return, that of EDGE JADEVEON CLOWNEY, is said to be unlikely per Brady Henderson of ESPN.com:

While Jadeveon Clowney remains open to re-signing with the Seattle Seahawks, the defensive end would have to take significantly less money than what the team previously offered him in order for a reunion to happen, a league source told ESPN.

The Seahawks have not shut the door on re-signing Clowney, but it’s not considered likely in part because of their financial situation and the amount of money the free-agent defensive end has been seeking.

General manager John Schneider has hinted at that unlikeliness in recent public comments, in which he’s spoken in the past tense about the Seahawks’ efforts to re-sign Clowney.

“We took a good run at it,” Schneider told KJR-AM last week. “It didn’t happen. He’s a great guy. He fit in great in the locker room, did a really nice job for us, but we need to be conducting business, and he just was not in a position to make a move. So we gave it a run and now you’ve got to keep going, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Clowney was seeking a deal averaging $21 million per season at the start of free agency, according to a source. He dropped his asking price to around $17 million to $18 million per season last month, a source told ESPN’s Dianna Russini.

The Seahawks don’t currently have an offer on the table to Clowney after he rejected their latest one.

The Seahawks have roughly $21 million in cap space, according to OverTheCap.com, but that doesn’t count Bruce Irvin’s deal, and it doesn’t reflect other cap and cash expenses that limit the team’s remaining spending power.

After their initial attempts to re-sign Clowney stalled, the Seahawks signed Irvin and Benson Mayowa to boost what was one of the NFL’s least effective pass rushes in 2019. Mayowa’s one-year, $3.05 million deal came together on April 1 after the Seahawks determined they could no longer afford to wait on Clowney at the risk of losing out on other free agents.

Irvin recorded a career-best 8.5 sacks last season in a starting role with the Carolina Panthers, and Mayowa set a career high with seven sacks as a rotational pass-rusher with the Raiders. Clowney had three sacks for Seattle, and no Seahawks defender had more than four as the team finished the regular season with 28 sacks, tied for second fewest in the league.

L.J. Collier, last year’s 29th overall pick, is among the Seahawks’ young returning edge rushers. He contributed little last season and was a healthy scratch several times after missing most of training camp and the regular-season opener because of a sprained ankle. The Seahawks also re-signed defensive tackle Jarran Reed to a two-year, $23 million deal and then drafted Tennessee’s Darrell Taylor (second round) and Syracuse’s Alton Robinson (fifth round).

When asked in his KJR-AM interview about the possibility of adding another defensive lineman before the season, Schneider gave the impression that any addition would have to be inexpensive.

“The draft is really about 70% of what we concentrate on,” Schneider said. “We have to be careful with our budget and our salary cap because as you guys have seen, we take pride in our ability to work with the coaches and try to build our team throughout the season. This thing doesn’t stop when you get to 53. It doesn’t stop after the draft. There will be cap casualty guys out there throughout the offseason.

“What you don’t want to do is bring yourself right to the point where you’re not able to add players that are all of a sudden available on the market that you didn’t see coming. So I’m sure at some point we’ll see some changes in there. … We’re excited where we’re at.”

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that some around the league believe the Cleveland Browns got closer to a deal with Clowney than other suitors. Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson told reporters on the day of Russini’s report that the team had been in touch with Bus Cook, Clowney’s agent.

CINCINNATI

Back in January an NFL insider scoffed at the DB’s suggestion that the Bengals would trade the first overall pick (we were thinking about the Panthers with QB JOE BURROW’s college coach Joe Brady on the staff) saying Cincinnati would use the picks the league gave them.

That certainly proved to be the case with Burrow as the prize.  Charean Williams ofProFootballTalk.com:

We don’t know if anyone made a serious offer to the Bengals for the No. 1 overall choice. Or what the best offer was that Cincinnati received.

The Bengals aren’t telling, either.

“We don’t talk publicly about offers. We really weren’t interested in trading it anyway,” Duke Tobin, the Bengals’ director of player personnel, told Geoff Hobson of the team website.

Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier confirmed his team spoke to the Bengals about the top choice. But Mike Potts, the Bengals director of college scouting, said a trade was never an option for Cincinnati.

“We weren’t moving off that first pick,” Potts said. “I could have told you that a long time ago.”

In truth, every draft choice (and every player) has a price. The Bengals likely just didn’t get a good enough offer to move down, knowing if they did, Joe Burrow wouldn’t be there for them.

“We felt good about sitting there and taking him and that was the most important thing to us, more so than what any team might want,” Tobin said.

Burrow returns to his home state after finishing his college career at LSU by winning the Heisman and the national championship. His arrival has provided Bengals fans with as much excitement — and hope — as they have had in a while.

Burrow will sell tickets. Now, can he win games?

“We all felt great about him and the fit for us and for him being here,” Tobin said. “It was, in our opinion, a good year to have the pick if you have to have it. To have a player like Joe is valuable to us. We feel great about it. Now, we have to guide the new players through the offseason.”

PITTSBURGH

Steelers GM Kevin Colbert explains why he drafted WR CHASE CLAYPOOL.

The Steelers didn’t have a first-round pick in 2020, but they got a guy in round two who in other years quite possibly would have been taken in round one.

Notre Dame receiver Chase Claypool remained on the board at No. 49, and the Steelers pounced.

“We’ve been watching Chase for two seasons because as a junior there was a chance that maybe he’d come out a year early and there was some talk about that,” Colbert recently told the #PFTPM podcast. “He decided to stay. We had, I believe, three reports on him as a junior. We had more reports this year. Same thing, he had improved. We had good grades going into the Senior Bowl. When we got down to the Senior Bowl and Coach Tomlin and I got up close on the practice field and watched his physicality and blocking drills, his physicality and special-teams drills, it really stood out.

“Plus he’s a 6’4”, 230-pound receiver that can get deep, and quite honestly we didn’t have that threat last year. We didn’t have that tall receiver that can just outrun coverage. We’ve always had that in the past with Nate Washington, Mike Wallace, or Martavis Bryant. Again, that was very attractive to us in the long term. In the short term we know Chase will be a special-teams contributor right out of the gate.”

The Steelers tried to make JuJu Smith-Schuster into a No. 1 receiver last year, but he struggled with stretching the field — a key attribute of being a true top option. So the Steelers need that presence, someone who can attract extra coverage and open the rest of the offense. Claypool eventually could be that guy.

NEW YORK JETS

RB FRANK GORE is thrilled to be back with Adam Gase.  Josh Alper ofProFootballTalk.com:

Adam Gase first coached Frank Gore when he was an assistant with the 49ers, did so again as the Dolphins head coach in 2018 and he’ll get a third chance to work with the NFL’s third leading rusher with the Jets this year.

Gase’s presence helped sway Gore when it came time to make a decision about where to go for his 16th NFL season. Gore told Jim Trotter of NFL.com that he also had an offer from the Raiders, but chose the Jets so he could rekindle his relationship with Gase.

“I got an opportunity to get back with a good friend and a guy I respect, and I’m happy that he wanted me to be on his team,” Gore said. “And I’m happy to be around a guy who has done some great things in this league in Le’Veon Bell. That can motivate me. And I can help out the young kid that they just drafted, La’Mical Perine.”

Gore could set a new record for a 37-year-old running back if he runs for more than 505 yards for the Jets this season. He told Trotter that his start to last season gives him confidence that he can still do the job and Gase will give him the chance to prove it.

Who is this La’Mical Perine, drafted in the 4^th round?

He’s a Florida Gator, but he’s not from Gore’s South Florida haunts, having grown up in Mobile (where he turned down Nick Saban to go to Gainesville).  Although he never rushed for 1,000 yards in any one of his four seasons at UF, he topped the 400-yard mark in each of them and finished with 2,465 rushing yards.  His biggest game may have been his last, an MVP performance as Florida beat UVa in the Orange Bowl.  He is a cousin of Samaje Perine, now of the Redskins, who went to Oklahoma.

THIS AND THAT

FAVRE

Discovered to have received $1.1 million for doing nothing, Brett Favre at least will give the money back to the state of Mississippi.  The AP:

Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre is repaying $1.1 million in welfare money that he received for multiple speeches where he did not show up, the Mississippi state auditor said Wednesday.

Auditor Shad White said his office received $500,000 from Favre on Wednesday, plus a commitment that Favre will repay the other $600,000 in installments over the next few months.

Favre’s effort to repay the money came two days after White released an audit of spending by the Mississippi Department of Human Services that showed Favre had been paid by the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit group whose former leader has been indicted in a welfare embezzlement scheme.

Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the United States, and the Community Education Center had contracts with Human Services to spend money through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, also known as TANF.

“I want to applaud Mr. Favre for his good faith effort to make this right and make the taxpayers and TANF families whole,” White said in a statement Wednesday. “To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid.”

The audit released Monday said the center paid Favre Enterprises $500,000 in December 2017 and $600,000 in June 2018, and he was supposed to make speeches for at least three events.

“Upon a cursory review of those dates, auditors were able to determine that the individual contracted did not speak nor was he present for those events,” the auditor’s report said.

Favre, who lives in Mississippi, faces no criminal charges. The audit report lists the payments to him as “questioned” costs, which White said means “auditors either saw clear misspending or could not verify the money had been lawfully spent.”

White said the money being repaid by Favre will be sent to the Department of Human Services.

Favre has not returned multiple text messages sent to him by The Associated Press since Monday. His manager, Bus Cook, told AP on Wednesday: “We’ve got nothing to say.”

The audit identified $94 million in questionable spending by the agency, including payments for sports activities with no clear connection to helping needy people.

We’re not sure we understand this on the terms presented.  He gets paid for an event, let’s say $300,000 (which strikes us as a lot, even for Favre) and he doesn’t show up.  So they say, no problem, keep the money and let’s book you for another event you don’t have to show up for?

Muddling things further is this statement from Favre.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

Sometimes, it’s better to say nothing at all.

On the same day the Mississippi State Auditor announced that Hall of Fame quarterback (and Mississippi native) Brett Favre will pay back $1.1 million in allegedly misappropriated welfare funds for services that an audit determined he never provided, Favre issued a statement that contradicts the notion that Favre received money for nothing.

“My agent is often approached by different products and brands for me to appear in one way or another,” Favre said on Twitter. “This request was no different, and I did numerous ads for Families First. I have never received monies for obligations I didn’t meet. To reiterate Auditors [sic] White’s statement, I was unaware that the money being dispersed was paid for out of funds not intended for that purpose, and because of that I am refunding the full amount back to Mississippi.

“I have spent my entire career helping children through Favre 4 Hope donating nearly $10 million to underserved and underprivileged children in Mississippi and Wisconsin. It has brought a ton of joy to my life, and I would certainly never do anything to take away from the children I have fought to help! I love Mississippi and I would never knowingly do anything to take away from those that need it most.”

The most important sentence in Favre’s statement is the highlighted one: “I have never received monies for obligations I didn’t meet.” Favre is basically saying that, despite the findings of the audit, he did indeed perform the services contemplated by the $1.1 million payment. So why then did he pay the money back?

The way Favre tells it, he received payment for services to be rendered, he rendered the services, and he paid the money back only after it came to light where the money came from. That will do nothing to reduce the zeal of state (less likely) or federal (more likely) prosecutors who will see the potential to catch a big fish and, in turn, to send a powerful message of deterrence from sea to shining sea to anyone who would be inclined to embezzle funds or to indirectly realize the fruits of misappropriation.

Ultimately, Favre may be entirely clean on this. For now, there’s no specific reason to think he isn’t. The circumstances, however, continue to cry out for further examination. With Favre now suggesting that he actually earned the seven-figure payment that he’ll be refunding, a full investigation becomes even more appropriate, if not necessary.

So it sounds like Favre did some broadcast PSAs (so at least he did something) but $1.1 mil is still a lot of money for such a noble purpose, so easy to fulfill, so the TANF people said there also were some speeches involved…

UNLOCKING THE LOCKDOWN

The Commish sends out a memo setting the terms by which NFL teams can start coming out of hibernation.  Grant Gordon of NFL.com:

A route to reopening team facilities has been laid out to all 32 NFL teams.

Commissioner Roger Goodell sent out a memo Wednesday laying out protocols on how facilities may reopen, which includes consent from state government officials, establishment of a club infection response team, social distancing and other measures, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported.

All club facilities have been closed since March 25 to further efforts of combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the NFL has outlined protocols and procedures on the path toward opening them back up.

“The protocols are intended to allow for a safe and phased reopening,” Goodell wrote. “The first phase would involve a number of non-player personnel. … No players would be permitted in the facility except to continue a course of therapy and rehabilitation that was underway when facilities were initially closed.

“Clubs should take steps to have these protocols in place by Friday, May 15 in anticipation of being advised when club facilities will formally reopen.”

Among the protocols are wearing a cloth face covering or medical-style mask, and daily screening of employees and visitors who must have their temperature taken and answer questions.

In addition, Goodell noted that the NFL is actively working with the NFL Players Association on the protocols that would enable player access and expected to have what that entails “fairly soon.”

Also in the memo, Goodell discouraged public comments from club officials concerning hypotheticals in regard to the 2020 season.

“It is impossible to project what the next few months will bring,” Goodell stated.

But there are now protocols and a path set forth for reopening.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com says the memo also told teams not to speculate on what might happen.

The NFL doesn’t know how the pandemic will affect plans for the 2020 season. And the Commissioner wants teams to refrain from discussing the subject.

In a memo sent Wednesday to all teams, a copy of which PFT has obtained, Roger Goodell instructs all teams, via their chief executives and presidents, to zip it when it comes to comments about the coming season.

“The past few months have been among the most uncertain times that any of us has experienced,” Goodell writes. “It is impossible to project what the next few months will bring. Uninformed commentary that speculates on how individual clubs or the league will address a range of hypothetical contingencies serves no constructive purpose and instead confuses our fans and business partners, complicates the operations of other clubs, and distracts from the careful planning that is needed right now. We will continue to work in a deliberate and thoughtful way to plan for the 2020 season, including with tomorrow’s schedule release, and we will be prepared to address any contingencies as they arise.Clubs should continue to direct questions and concerns to our office and not comment or speculate publicly.”

There’s a fine line between projected a united message and heavy-handedness, but this message makes more sense than the late March directive that anyone who questions the plans to proceed with the draft will be disciplined. With so many potential questions and possibilities and permutations, it makes no sense for mixed messages to come from the league office and one or more of the league’s 32 franchises.

The mere fact that the league office sent this message to all teams underscores the fact that, even though the NFL plans to proceed with the season, at this point no one knows how things will play out over the next few months.

Plans quite possibly will change, and the league office wants to be the sole source of information regarding any and all possibilities in this regard.

Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic time travels to October:

Here’s a vision of what one early-season game might look like.

Oct.  11

It’s Week 5 for the Cardinals, but in a way, it is the season opener for me, and the 15,000 fans allowed in to watch the game against the Lions.

That number is not an indication of fan interest. Thousands more wanted to attend, but it’s the first time this season the NFL is allowing fans into stadiums, and it’s limiting attendance to 25 percent of a stadium’s capacity.

With State Farm Stadium, that’s 15,000. And those people are to be spaced throughout the stadium.

The first month of the schedule was played in empty stadiums. The only “non-essential” people allowed to attend were media members, and they were limited to one per organization.

So I watched games from home and participated in interviews via video conference calls.

The Cardinals are 3-1, so some Twitter comedians have suggested that I continue to watch games from home.

Others joked that the Cardinals should not sell tickets since the club has done so well in empty stadiums.

Jokes aside, today is a big step for the NFL, which usually prefers others to test the water’s temperature before it jumps in. But in this case, there is no one to follow.

College football is all over the map, with some conferences limiting attendance and others conducting business as normal. The WNBA opened games to a small number of fans a week ago. Major League Baseball, which resumed in mid-June, is just now allowing a limited number of fans into games.

The NBA and NHL are watching to see if gatherings of this size result in cases of COVID-19 to spike.

The parking lots at State Farm Stadium are nearly empty three hours before the game, which isn’t a surprise given the limit on attendance.

MORE:Arizona Cardinals in playoffs? Talk grows after team’s stellar NFL draft, offseason

But it’s eerie to see the Great Lawn on the west side of the stadium taped off and empty. The eight-acre parcel of grass and trees is one of the more attractive things about a stadium that cost $400 million or so to build.

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But it’s empty today. For now, there is no tailgating. There are no shade canopies, no elaborate buffets of food and no band covering the hits of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Security remains the same with the exception that everyone entering the stadium must have their temperature taken with a forehead thermometer, which in my case, gives the person taking temps plenty of area to work with.

The press box at State Farm Stadium is in the southwest corner, above where the Cardinals enter the field via the inflatable bird-head tunnel. Minutes before kickoff, there is the usual pomp, including the guys carrying the flags, the cheerleaders, the fireworks and receiver Larry Fitzgerald being introduced last.

The cheers are muted because 15,000 people dispersed through a large stadium can make only so much noise.

THOMAS Q. JONES

The emerging 41-year-old actor known as Thomas Q. Jones played 12 seasons in the NFL.  We confess to not knowing, although we found this from 2018 at The Undefeated:

Thomas Q. Jones didn’t know that he would turn to acting after leaving the NFL, but he was ready for anything.

Jones spent 12 years in the NFL and the transition from football was hard. But he relied on the work ethic instilled in him by his parents.

“When you retire, your whole world changes,” he said. “I started playing football at 8 and retired at 33. For the majority of my life, I was playing football. From 17, when I was signed and went to the University of Virginia, to my last game in 2012, I mean, I was part of a system, the football system.”

Jones, a running back, was drafted seventh overall in the 2000 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals. He put in significant time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chicago Bears, New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. During his time with the Jets, he had the most rushing touchdowns in a single season (14). Over his last two years, with the Chiefs, he had more than 1,300 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

Now starring in both film and television, his most recent appearance is as a prison villain turned street sensation in the Netflix series Luke Cage.

He had a role as a love interest opposite Gabrielle Union in the BET series Being Mary Jane. He’s also had roles in Straight Outta Compton, Shameless, Born Again Virgin, and the independent film Runaway Island.

The Virginia native also has a technology company that launched an app two months ago called Castar Applications in which subscribers can post gigs and book talent for their productions.

Jones, who earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in three years, later established the Thomas Quinn Jones Academic Scholarship. “I put 30 students through the University of Virginia on my scholarship,” he said.

Jones plans to donate his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation (formerly known as the Sports Legacy Institute) for research to help further its study on links between sports and brain trauma.

Jones had a brother Julius Jones who went to Notre Dame and also played in the NFL, primarily with the Cowboys.  The Jones brothers grew up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia where their mother worked the overnight shift in a coal mine while helping raise seven children.  Their father encouraged the children to learn five new words per day and made them read the front page of the newspaper before they could read the sports section.

We recently spotted him acting up a storm in Amazon Prime’s “Bosch” playing a guy who was wrongly convicted of a crime (although we have the feeling it only applies to just this one crime).  Some pretty nuanced acting.