THE DAILY BRIEFING
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Leaking to Adam Schefter, the NFL doesn’t quite back the calls of referees Jerome Boger and Carl Cheffers, but they do not say they were in error either:
@AdamSchefter
A league source said today that “there is no backing down on enforcing rules that are in place to protect the health and safety of players, including quarterbacks, who by rule are considered defenseless players when they are in a passing posture.”
Through Week 5, roughing the passer calls actually are down 45 percent compared to a year ago. There were 51 at this time of the season in 2021, 28 this season.
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NFC NORTH
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CHICAGO
The Bears are getting WR N’KEAL HARRY back. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:
When the Patriots traded wide receiver N’Keal Harry to the Bears in July, he talked about looking forward to a fresh start after he failed to impress during his time in New England.
That fresh start was delayed by a high-ankle sprain in August that forced Harry off the field and into surgery. He spent the first five weeks of the season on injured reserve, but was activated this week and he does not have an injury designation for Thursday night’s game against the Commanders.
Head coach Matt Eberflus wouldn’t guarantee Harry will be in the lineup, but the wideout said he’s feeling happy about the steps he’s taken toward his Bears debut.
“It’s been hard just sitting here watching, especially once I started going to the games and standing on the sidelines,” Harry said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com. “It just brings you so much closer to the actual game. So I’m excited. I’m ecstatic.”
The Bears passing game is coming off its best game of the season and plenty of other people will be ecstatic if Harry’s presence can continue pushing things in the right direction.
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NFC EAST
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WASHINGTON
ESPN.com’s top team for insider NFL scoop – Dan Van Natta, Jr. and Seth Wickersham – are joined by Tisha Thompson on the latest attempt to trash Dan Snyder. The big takeaway is that Snyder is counting on mutual assured destruction (the damaging info he could release on other NFL figures) to protect him from the ultimate sanctions (we have edited it for space, the whole thing is here):
DAN SNYDER DOES this thing when he feels cornered, say those who know him well. He paces in a hotel suite, or on his superyacht, or at River View, his $48 million Virginia estate. Cradling a drink in one hand, he tells members of his inner circle about the dirt he has accumulated on fellow owners, coaches, executives, even his own employees — all the stuff he’s learned from other sources, including private investigative firms. He never says exactly what he knows, only that in his 23 years as owner of the Washington Commanders, he knows a lot. And that in the zero-sum world of billionaires, this is how you survive. Snyder recently told a close associate that he has gathered enough secrets to “blow up” several NFL owners, the league office and even commissioner Roger Goodell.
“They can’t f— with me,” he has said privately.
Senior team executives and confidants have heard him say it since he was considered merely one of the worst owners in sports. Now that he’s facing investigations on multiple fronts and running out of high-powered allies, he alludes more than ever to the dirty work. Snyder, now 57 years old, has told associates he will not lose his beloved franchise without a fight that would end with multiple casualties.
“The NFL is a mafia,” he recently told an associate. “All the owners hate each other.”
“That’s not true,” one veteran owner says. “All the owners hate Dan.”
Something has to give, possibly as soon as the NFL league meetings in New York on Tuesday. Many owners and top league executives tell ESPN they would like to see Snyder removed as owner. It would clean the slate for a storied team and a cherished fan base and reignite the pursuit for a desperately needed stadium.
But there would be a price.
WHY IS DAN Snyder still an NFL team owner? And how has he managed to survive allegations of a toxic club culture, sexual harassment, accounting misdeeds and the bungling of a new stadium proposal that once seemed inevitable and is now met with hard resistance by the public and officials in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.? Those questions have bewildered fans, league and team executives and some fellow owners, and the lawyers for former Commanders employees who say they were victims of the team’s culture of sexual harassment and abuse. “Our clients and the public at large deserve transparency,” said Lisa Banks, attorney for nearly a dozen former team employees and cheerleaders who publicly revealed the team’s toxic culture in 2020 and are still calling for the NFL to make public its investigative report on Snyder. “If not,” Banks said in a statement last year, “the NFL and Roger Goodell must explain why they appear intent on protecting” the team and “Dan Snyder at all costs.”
According to more than 30 owners, league and team executives, lawyers and current and former Commanders employees interviewed by ESPN, the fear of reprisal that Snyder has instilled in his franchise, poisoning it on the field and off, has expanded to some of his fellow owners. Multiple owners and league and team sources say they’ve been told that Snyder instructed his law firms to hire private investigators to look into other owners — and Goodell.
League sources say the NFL is aware that Snyder has claimed to be tracking owners. But none of the owners or sources would reveal how they learned of Snyder’s alleged effort to use private investigators. It’s also unclear how many owners are said to have been targeted, though sources say they believe it’s at least six. One owner was told by Snyder directly that he “has dirt on Jerry Jones,” a team source told ESPN, though the nature of the information was unclear. Another source confirmed that Snyder has told a confidant that he has “a file” on Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner who has served as Snyder’s friend, mentor and longtime firewall of support.
The Commanders declined to make team officials, including Dan Snyder and his wife, Tanya, available for interviews but issued a statement attributed to a group including team employees and law firms. A Commanders spokesperson and outside lawyers denied that Snyder has hired or authorized private investigators to track another team’s owner and league office executives, including Goodell. “This is categorically false,” said John Brownlee and Stuart Nash, partners at Holland & Knight. “He has no ‘dossiers’ compiled on any owners.”
A team spokesperson called it “simply ridiculous and utterly false” that Snyder ever said that he could blow up the league, or that the league “can’t f—” with him, or that “the NFL is a mafia” or “all owners hate each other.”
To the contrary, the spokesperson said, “Owners have a shared love of the game, mutual respect for each other and our organizations, and a strong working relationship.”
ESPN’s reporting “cannot change the team’s great transformation or the Snyders’ commitment to making this transformation permanent,” Brownlee and Nash said in the statement.
Most sources declined to go on the record for this story; Goodell has warned owners that they could be fined millions of dollars for leaking to reporters. Snyder “thinks he has enough on all of them,” says a former longtime senior Commanders executive. “He thinks he’s got stuff on Roger.” Another former Commanders executive routinely called Snyder “the most powerful owner in the NFL” because of what he knows, a source says.
Several owners say that they see the threats about damaging dossiers as a desperate tactic intended to scare owners from voting to remove Snyder. “He’s backed into a corner,” says a veteran owner who says he’s aware Snyder has gathered dirt on some owners. “He’s behaving like a mad dog cornered.”
THE POTENTIAL FOR mutually assured destruction might help explain why Snyder has survived years of scandals. Or it might merely reveal that Snyder is running out of options. He is under attack from multiple fronts: His team, his employees and his own conduct have been investigated by Congress, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the league office twice. At least 24 owners are required to force Snyder to sell his team, a fate that he has told multiple sources he will never accept. An associate who has met with Snyder multiple times recently says Snyder has become “paranoid” about owners and league office executives, and about former employees breaking their non-disclosure agreements and telling investigators and reporters what they know. Snyder sees “evil lurking in every shadow and around every corner,” the associate says. “Someone is always out to get them.”
Snyder’s fears might not be totally unfounded. Jerry Jones recently told confidants that he “might not be able” to protect Snyder any longer. Snyder has also “badmouthed” Jones, telling an owner recently, “he’s only out to get in your pocket. He’ll sell you down the river. You can’t trust him,” a senior executive close to the owner said. “Snyder’s already lost Jerry,” the source added.
In the Commanders’ statement, lawyers denied that Snyder’s relationship with Jones has soured, saying he and Tanya “have a close and strong relationship with Jerry Jones and his entire family” and “great respect and admiration for one another.” “We also understand that certain people believe their own interests will be advanced by convincing news outlets like ESPN to print false information about the Snyders and Joneses,” the Holland & Knight lawyers wrote.
Jones declined to comment for this story, said Jim Wilkinson, a Cowboys spokesman who also declined to comment.
There is a growing consensus around the league that, despite news releases to the contrary, the Commanders have struggled to establish a more inclusive culture. And sources told ESPN they wonder if Jason Wright, the team’s president and the first Black man in NFL history to hold that title, has true authority to fix the team. Current and former team executives say Snyder is still far more involved running the club than most realize, imploring football decision-makers last March to trade for quarterback Carson Wentz — despite a deal he made with Goodell in July 2021, when he was also fined $10 million, to give up day-to-day management to his wife, Tanya.
With Snyder backed into a corner, some owners are now considering creative ways of pushing him aside, including refusing to let him borrow money for a new stadium.
In a bid to shore up support, Snyder has visited a handful of owners around the country, sources say, and he has told associates that he is confident that he won’t be voted out. “As a longtime owner, Dan has the support of many of his peers,” the team spokesperson said. If any such vote about Snyder’s fate is held, it won’t likely be because the commissioner has pushed for one. Goodell has made clear that Snyder’s permanent status is an ownership decision, and he has avoided mentioning Snyder at closed-door meetings. Sources say Goodell is clearly more comfortable challenging owners on issues related to the integrity of the game than the culture of their businesses. Indeed, it galls some owners and league and team executives that the NFL has been in lockstep with Washington on many fronts, “propping up” the franchise, in the words of one owner, by burying attorney Beth Wilkinson’s report about the team’s toxic workplace last year, and by helping the Commanders avoid penalties for repeated violations of the Rooney Rule. It’s clear, one owner says, that Goodell “doesn’t want to touch this.”
“This is what happens when you get into business with bad people,” the owner says about Snyder. “They know he’ll burn their houses down.”
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Snyder cycled through football regimes but kept certain lieutenants around as forced companions as much as trusted advisers, summoning them at all hours to his estate. In the view of several former Washington executives, he was a lonely man seemingly devoid of true friends. Snyder seemed to value former football operations executive Vinny Cerrato as a gofer, a weightlifting partner and a drinking buddy, but often ripped him in plain view of others and belittled his football intelligence. When Bruce Allen arrived as a team executive in 2009, Snyder appeared to aides and others around the league as jealous of him. Unlike Snyder, Allen was popular among owners, someone they would seek out at league meetings for dinner or drinks. In 2018, Snyder hired Brian Lafemina, a well-liked executive from the league office, to run the business operation. Lafemina testified in his congressional deposition that he felt as if Snyder was jealous of him, too. Lafemina was alarmed by the club’s cultural issues and says he tried to fix them — and lasted only six months before Snyder fired him.
For years, it seemed that Snyder’s biggest off-the-field problem was his stubborn refusal to rename his team. That changed in 2020, when a Washington Post report on the team’s culture included numerous allegations of chronic sexual harassment and multiple incidents of misconduct, including some made by former team cheerleaders who accused team executives of creating videos of them partially nude, making disparaging sexual remarks, asking for dates and telling female employees to flirt with suiteholders.
Snyder dismissed the report as “a hit job.” The team hired Beth Wilkinson, a veteran Washington, D.C., lawyer, to investigate the claims in July 2020. But Snyder was “actively interfering” with the Wilkinson inquiry by using private investigators to “harass and intimidate witnesses,” congressional investigators found. Goodell and the league took over the investigation in August 2020.
The congressional inquiry would later uncover internal documents showing how the league and Snyder’s legal team had secretly struck a deal, known as a “common interest agreement,” that meant both had to sign off before any information was released. This effectively gave Snyder veto power over the release of negative information, as well as “direct access” to influence the Wilkinson investigation, a June 2022 report from the committee said.
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Documents released by the congressional committee in February show Wilkinson initially signed a retainer promising to deliver “a complete written report,” but Goodell requested she brief him orally. Rather than delivering a written report, Wilkinson ended up reading from notes detailing the findings of her inquiry, according to people with firsthand knowledge.
The NFL still has not made Wilkinson’s findings public despite repeated calls for their release by more than 40 former team employees and a growing list of state and federal lawmakers.
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SNYDER’S AFFECTION FOR using private eyes was shown during the congressional investigation, when one of his law firms, Reed Smith, was found to have hired “private investigators to harass and intimidate” dozens of former team employees during the Wilkinson inquiry. Former team employees told investigators that “Mr. Snyder’s use of private investigators intimidated them and discouraged them from participating in the Wilkinson investigation.” The resulting product was a 100-slide presentation made to Wilkinson and the league, dated Nov. 23, 2020, according to the report. The presentation “appears to be based on private text messages, emails, phone logs and call transcripts, and social media posts from nearly 50 individuals.”
Reed Smith is known to deploy every legal weapon on behalf of clients. Multiple sources with firsthand knowledge say that when Reed Smith represented Alex Rodriguez in his lawsuit against Major League Baseball, a private investigator was hired to track commissioner Rob Manfred. Reed Smith partner Jordan Siev told ESPN in a statement that the firm is “not aware of any investigator having been engaged to investigate” Manfred, and he said he had “no knowledge of any efforts to investigate or compile information” on NFL owners, executives or Goodell. Siev did not respond to questions about whether Reed Smith commissioned investigations of former Commanders employees.
In recent months, Snyder has told close confidants that his private investigators dug up incriminating information about Goodell, other unnamed league office executives and an unknown number of owners. League and ownership sources say there’s lots of gossip and speculation about what investigators could have unearthed, but some wonder whether Snyder actually has anything at all and is bluffing as a scare tactic.
Anything that came out would likely be in the form of a leak to The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, because, multiple league and team sources say, Snyder hates The Washington Post.
Jon Gruden’s emails containing racist, misogynistic and anti-gay language were leaked to The Wall Street Journal in early October 2021. A few days later, Bruce Allen’s emails were leaked to The New York Times, and Gruden resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
There has been no proof that a person linked to Snyder was behind those leaks. Congress’ report found that, in an attempt to deflect blame onto Allen, Snyder’s attorneys gave the NFL 400,000 emails from an account used by Allen, whom Snyder fired in December 2019. During the Wilkinson inquiry, Snyder and his attorneys identified specific “inappropriate” emails within the set of 400,000 that “they purportedly believed demonstrated that Mr. Allen should have been the main target of the Wilkinson investigation,” the congressional report said, adding that the NFL also confirmed that Snyder’s lawyers were arguing that Allen “had created a toxic environment at the Washington Commanders.” Allen declined to comment through an associate, while Gruden declined to comment through his attorney.
Half a dozen owners and league executives say they believe that the leaks occurred on Snyder’s order or with his blessing. Last fall, some of Reed Smith lawyers told colleagues about how they sorted Allen’s emails into categories, including one for possible public relations use, the colleagues said. Siev of Reed Smith denied the firm sorted the emails or played any role in a leak, “nor to the best of our knowledge has any representative of the Commanders or the Snyder family.” Gruden has filed a lawsuit against Goodell and the league in Nevada, alleging that Goodell ordered the leak that ended his coaching career — even though the commissioner denied in an owners-only session last year that the league leaked them.
Sources say the notion of Snyder claiming to possess damaging information — and threats he might use it — has outraged some owners, but only to a point. Before league meetings in Atlanta in May, owners were “counting votes” to oust Snyder, USA Today reported. One owner says now that a meeting was being planned then to discuss Snyder’s fate. But when the spring sessions began, no Snyder meeting was convened and no vote was considered, much less taken. Some sources blame the inaction on the fact that Tanya Snyder missed the May league meeting, and they felt it would be inappropriate to debate Washington’s ownership without anyone from the club present. Other owners say her presence at subsequent meetings made it impossible to have an honest discussion.
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Owners and league executives have repeatedly bemoaned the business woes in Washington, which was once one of the league’s best markets. Some owners seem more bothered by Snyder’s poor financial showing than they are by the sexual misconduct allegations, while acknowledging, as one owner said, that the toxic workplace issues are “not a good look for the league.”
“His gate is the lowest in the league, his revenues are significantly low and trending lower,” a veteran owner says. “He is costing his fellow owners significant money.” Under Snyder’s watch, FedEx Field has reduced capacity from more than 90,000 seats to around 64,000 this year. Although the team spokesperson said the team’s business prospects have turned around, including a doubling of season-ticket holders and a 30% increase in sponsorships, owners said they haven’t seen evidence of improvement.
Multiple ownership and team sources complain that ticket sales for about half those remaining seats are controlled by ticket brokers, the highest ratio in the NFL. “He’s a partner — and he’s not pulling his end of the partnership,” a senior executive of a rival team says.
“Some owners aren’t liked in their cities because their team is losing,” the veteran owner explains. “That goes with the territory. Snyder isn’t liked because of what he has done to that franchise, with all its history. The stadium is falling apart. The team is underperforming. He can’t get a new stadium. There’s no way out. … He may have passed the point of no return.”
When asked whether his fellow owners would forgive Snyder for the team’s financial woes and the toxic culture scandal if Snyder could build a new stadium, the owner quickly replied, “Yes.”
Asked if Snyder is aware of that, the owner said, “Yes.”
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ON JUNE 22, Goodell testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Goodell later told associates in colorful language that he couldn’t believe that he had to testify as Snyder was on his yacht, dodging Congress. Snyder’s 305-foot yacht Lady S, which rents at $1.4 million per week with a 33-person crew, was off the French coast near Cannes that day, according to navigational data. During the hearing, Rep. Rashida Tlaib asked Goodell point-blank about Snyder’s fate: “Will you remove him?”
“I don’t have the authority to remove him, Congresswoman,” Goodell replied, displaying irritation.
But under the NFL Constitution, Goodell has the authority to recommend the removal of an owner to the other 31 owners. He later testified that he was “not aware” of any option for Snyder’s removal being discussed among owners.
Goodell has shown little initiative to play any role in kicking out Snyder, despite the sentiment of league staff, many of whom are furious about allegations of the Commanders’ toxic environment and Snyder’s own behavior, both alleged and confirmed. They are disgusted at having to work on behalf of Snyder and the likes of Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who rewarded Deshaun Watson with a $230 million fully guaranteed contract a year after he was accused of improper sexual behavior by more than two dozen massage therapists. But as another executive familiar with Goodell’s thinking says: “When it’s an owner in the crosshairs, the rules are different.”
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Snyder’s strategy is to “run out the clock” on the congressional and league investigations, betting that Democrats will lose control of the House in January, ending the committee’s interest in his franchise, a person close to Snyder says. Entering October’s league meetings in New York, Snyder told an associate that he’s cautiously optimistic that he’ll survive the ongoing league inquiry by Mary Jo White, now entering its ninth month. It’s not clear when she will complete her inquiry. A looming factor is the question of what White finds around Snyder’s alleged sexual assault of the woman on his plane in April 2009.
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When people close to Snyder are asked why he won’t just move on with the multibillion-dollar fortune he’d earn from a sale, the answer is elemental: “It’s his identity,” a source says. He’s in an elite club, full of glass houses. And Snyder not only has no shame, the source says, he simply doesn’t care that he’s hated. In fact, he revels in it. A senior executive who knows Snyder says, “I keep wondering: Why is he still doing this? Why isn’t he selling the team? There is no way out. There’s no end game. … That’s his character flaw — he can’t look in the mirror and see what everybody else sees.”
Snyder has for years told people close to him that both a new stadium and a true franchise quarterback are silver bullets. “All my problems will be solved if I can just get a marquee quarterback,” he told an associate last winter. This past March, Washington traded second-, third-, and conditional third-round picks to the Colts for Carson Wentz, a quarterback who in 2017 appeared to be on the verge of being a superstar but whose fortunes have since sunk. It was a stiff price for a soft-market quarterback — all familiar marks of Snyder’s penchant for overpaying and negotiating against only himself. Sources familiar with the deal say that it was Snyder who pushed for Wentz — and Commanders football staffers have told people around the league as much. “It was 100% a Dan move,” says a source with knowledge of the inner workings of the deal. But in the team’s statement to ESPN, Rivera insisted that he had brought the idea of acquiring Wentz to Dan and Tanya, who supported it. “They love this game and this team,” Rivera said.
Hearing that Snyder hopes a marquee quarterback will chase away all his problems, an owner laughed: “Carson Wentz?”
Mike Florio comments on the tale:
That meshed with something I’ve said and written on multiple occasions. They are afraid of Snyder. They’re afraid of what he knows, and of what he will do with that knowledge. Some believe that Snyder, one of the few people in possession of the notorious Jon Gruden emails, leaked those items to the media. If that’s true, Snyder quite possibly intended it to be a warning to anyone else who would try, in his words, to fuck with him.
The report comes at a time when a Congressional probe apparently is moving toward its conclusion, and when the NFL has commissioned another investigation of Snyder. The letter his lawyer sent last week to the House Oversight Committee shows that Snyder is girding for a fight. If he will indeed fight dirty, that’s reason for the league to press pause before trying to gather the 24 votes needed to activate the eject button.
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NFC WEST
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LOS ANGELES RAMS
More challenges for the Rams on the injury front. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:
The 2-3 Rams got lucky this week, becoming the first team to face the post-Rhule Panthers face. But the Rams so far are unlucky this week when it comes to injuries.
Two of the team’s most important players — defensive tackle Aaron Donald and receiver Cooper Kupp — missed practice on Wednesday due to injury. Donald and Kupp each have foot injuries.
Also missing practice due to injury on Wednesday were center Brian Allen (knee), tight end Tyler Higbee (ankle), and receiver Brandon Powell (hip). Safety Taylor Rapp (ribs), cornerback Cobie Durant (hamstring), and defensive back Davi Lon (groin) were limited in practice.
Absent from the injury report is quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has taken a beating and seems to be banged up.
“I feel pretty good,” Stafford told reporters on Wednesday. “Yep, I feel good.”
Stafford is the kind of guy who keeps things to himself. Even if he is banged up, he quite possibly won’t tell anyone — including his own team.
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WR ODELL BECKHAM, Jr. signals his unhappiness with a low-ball offer from the Rams and opens himself up for the highest bidder. Cameron DaSilva of USA TODAY:
Odell Beckham Jr. is the top free agent on the market and he’s taking his time picking his next team. He can do that because he’s recovering from a torn ACL, which he suffered in the Super Bowl in February.
Beckham is expected to be ready to play by mid-November or December, so it’s now just a question of where he’ll be playing the rest of the year. All signs have pointed to Beckham returning to the Rams, but that may not be so likely now.
On Wednesday, Beckham shared an update on his talks with the Rams and it’s not one fans will enjoy reading. He says the team didn’t offer him a contract reflective of his worth, which makes it “tough to say that I can come on back.”
He thought he had found a home in Los Angeles last season, too.
Structuring a contract for Beckham will be challenging because of his limited availability this year. Anyone who signs him will likely want to make it a multi-year deal, knowing he’ll only play a few months this season.
The Rams also don’t have a ton of cap space and just gave Allen Robinson a $46.5 million contract this past offseason, so allocating another big contract to a wide receiver may not be something they want to do. Thus, an offer lower than Beckham’s asking price.
David Carr at NFL.com identifies three other teams plus the Rams who could be in the market for Beckham’s services:
Here are the four best team fits for Beckham as I see them:
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams seem to have been pining for OBJ to return for months now. As of early September, they were keeping his locker (and nameplate) open in their Thousand Oaks, California, facility. Multiple voices in the organization — including chief operating officer Kevin Demoff, coach Sean McVay, receiver Cooper Kupp, you name it — were clear about wanting him back over the summer. OBJ knows this team and was on his way to revitalizing his career with the Rams in 2021, logging 48 catches, 593 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns in 12 games with L.A. (including the playoffs).
Had Beckham not been injured, it’s easy to envision him having signed a multi-year extension to stay with the Rams, in which case the team would be rolling right now. Instead, the Rams sit at 2-3 and rank 29th in the NFL in scoring, 26th in total yards, 18th in passing yards and dead last in rushing yards. The Rams have scored only 80 points this season, the fifth-fewest by a reigning Super Bowl champion in the first five games of a season.
Offseason signee Allen Robinson hasn’t had the impact on this offense we all expected, logging just 23 targets, 12 catches and 107 receiving yards in five games. Kupp’s production (64 targets, 49 catches, 527 receiving yards, four scoring grab) dwarfs that of all other Rams receivers this season. As we saw in 2021, OBJ’s skill set makes him the perfect complement to Kupp. Bringing him back would give McVay another real downfield option to open up the pass game and take significant pressure off a struggling Matthew Stafford.
Buffalo Bills
The Bills already boast the league’s No. 1 total offense, so imagine if Von Miller was actually right when he said last month that his former Rams teammate told him he was “going to go” join the winner of this season’s kickoff game between the Bills and Rams. In case you forgot, Buffalo won that game. Miller, who also joined the Rams last season before signing with Buffalo this offseason, proceeded to say on Richard Sherman’s podcast just last week that he knows where Beckham will land.
Teaming up with MVP front-runner Josh Allen alongside Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis and Isaiah McKenzie, Beckham would feast on second- and third-tier defenders — much like he did with the Rams in 2021. If I was Odell, signing with Buffalo would be a no-brainer.
Green Bay Packers
Through five weeks of the season, we still don’t have a real answer as to who might replace Davante Adams as the Packers’ No. 1 receiver following Adams’ offseason trade to Las Vegas. Three wide receivers each have registered at least 25 targets, but none has more than 29. The lack of a big-time playmaker has this unit, which is led by a generational quarterback, stuck in a dink-and-dunk approach. Beckham would instantly gain the confidence of Aaron Rodgers, given his skill set and experience, immediately becoming Rodgers’ top target. With Green Bay sitting at its worst record through five games since 2018 and its offense sputtering early in the season, it is in the most desperate spot of these four teams to make a move for Beckham. The Packers must make this happen.
Baltimore Ravens
Beckham landing in Baltimore feels a little like a pipe dream compared to the rest of the teams here, but after Sunday night’s win over Cincinnati, the Ravens sure seem like a good spot for the free agent. Rashod Bateman, the Ravens’ top receiver and deep threat this season, did not play with a foot injury, and the leading wide receiver was Devin Duvernay with 54 yards. Beckham would add some much-needed depth at the position and give Lamar Jackson a reliable weapon in the deep passing game (an area where he struggled without Bateman on Sunday).
This pairing has the potential to turn combustible, given the way receivers have been used in Baltimore lately. Since Jackson entered the NFL in 2018, the Ravens rank last in the NFL in receiver targets (1,119) and receiver catches (683); don’t forget that Marquise Brown requested a trade out of Baltimore to a system that would be friendlier to his skill set. And, of course, questions about Beckham’s usage by the Browns accompanied him on his way out of Cleveland last year. But if Beckham can deal with Baltimore’s offense running through Lamar first, it could be just the recipe needed to get the team over the hump in January. Jackson also seems to be on board.
The Athletic with their list, pouring cold water on the Bills-Beckham smoke:
Which teams are fits? The Athletic’s writers on the Ravens, Bills, Bears, Packers, Rams and Buccaneers explain why or why not those teams could be Beckham’s next employer.
Baltimore Ravens
When the Ravens traded Marquise Brown to the Arizona Cardinals during Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft, there was an expectation that general manager Eric DeCosta would replace Brown with an accomplished veteran wide receiver. He never did, and with Rashod Bateman dealing with a foot injury, the Ravens’ lack of proven receiving threats stands out.
DeCosta is known to check in on just about everything, and there’s no doubt the Ravens will at least kick the tires on Beckham. There is certainly a need. The question is how interested would Beckham be in them? He’ll have his options, and the Ravens’ offense is not one in which wide receivers typically flourish. — Jeff Zrebiec
Buffalo Bills
I’m told the Bills don’t have an iron in this fire. Most of the Beckham-to-Buffalo smoke has been manufactured to this point, with his reconstructed knee not rehabbed enough to consider. It’s uncertain if Beckham will be ready to play full-go snaps by December. The Bills also have restricted salary cap space.
Von Miller has banged the drum, playfully declaring his former teammate’s arrival in Buffalo “a done deal.” Beckham has asked Miller on social media about getting the adjoining locker stall at One Bills Drive.
Buffalo is down a couple receivers, with Jamison Crowder sidelined by a broken ankle and Jake Kumerow out with a high ankle sprain. Isaiah McKenzie missed Sunday’s game while recovering from a concussion. That said, the Bills have proven to be deep. Rookie Khalil Shakir scored his first NFL touchdown Sunday. Isaiah Hodgins signed from the practice squad and got involved early, snagging his first NFL pass in the second quarter, a 26-yard gain.
Beckham will be explored, but it appears a lot will need to fall in place (and injury issues to intensify) for the Bills to commit. — Tim Graham
Chicago Bears
The Bears’ receiving corps starts with Darnell Mooney but also consists of third-round pick Velus Jones Jr. and a handful of castoffs in Equanimeous St. Brown, Dante Pettis, Ihmir Smith-Marsette and N’Keal Harry. Slot receiver Byron Pringle is injured, too.
The Bears need help for quarterback Justin Fields in his second season, and they have money to spend. But would Odell Beckham Jr. be willing to join a team that’s clearly rebuilding at this point in his career? His best chances of playing in the postseason undoubtedly exist elsewhere. — Adam Jahns
Green Bay Packers
There’s no certainty Beckham will be ready to play this season, let alone the level the Packers would need. They certainly have the need for a deep threat, not only because Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling are gone but also because Sammy Watkins and Christian Watson — perhaps the two Packers most capable off stretching a defense vertically — have already proven to be injury prone this season.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has developed a friendship with Beckham over the years and was asked after Sunday’s game against the Giants about the possibility of adding him.
“I’m always going to be for adding anybody to our squad that can help us win,” Rodgers said. “Whether or not we need an OBJ, who knows? But I like the person, love the player and just want him to be healthy, honestly.”
This feels like déjà vu, if only because this happened last season, too. The Packers were in the mix on Beckham after the Browns waived him, only for Beckham to choose the Rams. Green Bay often is in the mix for big-name free agents and trade targets but rarely signs or acquires them. Adams said last season he had learned not to get his hopes up for potential additions like Beckham over the years because of how Green Bay operates, but he couldn’t help himself last season.
Rodgers would probably love another veteran receiver he can rely on; just look at how much he likes playing with veterans Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. And Rodgers especially likes veterans who can take the top off a defense. The deep ball has been virtually non-existent in the offense through five games. If healthy, Beckham is more dynamic than Lazard and Cobb, especially deep. But that’s a big “if.” And the Packers would need to remain in championship contention for Beckham to even consider them. After watching them for the last couple weeks, that’s no guarantee. — Matt Schneidman
Los Angeles Rams
As the Rams deal with pressing concerns such as an embattled and catastrophically banged-up offensive line and an offense that can’t score, this is a group that is likely to make more than a few changes heading into November and December.
The Rams have always had a full understanding of Beckham Jr.’s recovery timeline from the ACL he tore, then had surgery on, while a member of their team. I’ve been told multiple times that the expectation for a full return to action for Beckham — not just a November clearance to practice — would be more realistic in December. The Rams have made their intentions to eventually re-sign him clear to him from the jump and have felt reciprocated interest.
A contract offer would likely be multi-year, and heavier on play-based incentives in the front end while perhaps more flexible on the back end after the team sees how he returns. The Rams have kept a locker fully stocked, with Beckham’s nameplate on it, in their locker room at their practice facilities in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and he attended head coach Sean McVay’s wedding this summer. In any eventual race to sign Beckham, it’s pretty clear that the Rams are the frontrunners as long as they can be title contenders.
But their ties to Beckham are more than emotional. As the season has opened, the obvious caveat is that record-high pressure rates have marred everything the Rams want to do on offense. In light of the Rams’ current lack of dimension in the passing game, they have a glaring need for a versatile receiver in the “X” to reel in quarterback Matthew Stafford’s lower-probability throws and route concepts. Having Beckham, returning a healthy Van Jefferson as a speed threat and letting Allen Robinson and Cooper Kupp work the underneath stuff (where we have seen Kupp turn smaller plays into big ones) would align with the long-term vision for the offense. — Jourdan Rodrigue
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The perpetual uncertainty of Julio Jones’ injury status makes you wonder if, a month from now, the Bucs might see value in adding Beckham to their already overloaded receiving corps. Everyone saw Beckham and Tom Brady have a moment in pregame in New Orleans, but the answer to lingering injuries shouldn’t be to add another player coming off major surgery.
Unless one out of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin or Russell Gage becomes a question mark in addition to Jones, this doesn’t seem like an obvious match. — Greg Auman
Sean McVay says that the offer to Beckham wasn’t the Rams “last, best” offer. Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com:
After wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. tweeted Wednesday that the contract offer the Los Angeles Rams made to him wasn’t reflective of his worth, coach Sean McVay indicated he didn’t think that would be the team’s final offer.
– – –
“I love Odell,” McVay said. “We have constant dialogue. He also knows that certainly I don’t think that’s the last [offer] that would come from us. I’m not familiar with what it is. He knows how we feel about him. We’ve got a little bit of time.
“But [I] love Odell. Nothing but good things coming from me.”
The Rams still have a nameplate in the locker room of their practice facility for Beckham. The Rams have not been quiet about their desire for Beckham’s return. In September, during a news conference, cornerback Jalen Ramsey brought up the receiver in one of his answers and then paused to say, “Odell, come back.”
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AFC EAST
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NEW ENGLAND
QB MAC JONES has yet to get an endorsement as the permanent starting QB as rookie QB BAILEY ZAPPE is playing like. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:
The refusal of Patriots coach Bill Belichick to “get into a lot of hypotheticals” regarding the quarterback situation on Monday becomes, as a practical matter, a very tangible and meaningful comment about the status of supposed starter Mac Jones.
When asked whether rookie Bailey Zappe will keep playing even when second-year first-rounder Jones is healthy, coach Bill Belichick only had to say, “Mac Jones is the starter.” Or otherwise grunt and/or roll his eyes, like he did when asked eight years ago whether Tom Brady was at risk of being benched for rookie Jimmy Garoppolo after a disastrous Monday night in Kansas City.
It really isn’t a hypothetical. Jones is either the starter when healthy, or he isn’t. Belichick’s refusal to say the job still belongs to Jones says plenty. The door is open for Zappe to play well enough to keep Mac on the bench indefinitely — and possibly to clear a path for Jones to be traded elsewhere, at some point.
Again, Belichick easily could have slammed the door on any such chatter. He didn’t. And that makes the situation very interesting and worth monitoring. Especially if Zappe can help the Patriots keep winning, continuing this weekend in Cleveland.
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THIS AND THAT
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POWER RANKINGS FROM THE ATHLETIC
Let’s see how The Athletic has them 1-32 after Week 5. Bo Wulf is the writer and he has a trade idea for each team to boot:
We’re three weeks away from the Nov. 1 NFL trade deadline, and the fireworks have already begun with a rare Sunday night trade between the Falcons and Browns. The Panthers’ firing of Matt Rhule indicates there might be more action coming over the next 21 days as the pretenders and contenders start to separate. So let’s get ahead of the action as we roll through this week’s power rankings, with trade targets for all 32 teams.
1. Buffalo Bills (4-1) (Last week: 2)
Trade idea: Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey
Would it be ideal for a team as loaded as the Bills to pay a premium for a player at a relatively fungible position after already using a second-round pick and two third-rounders on running backs in recent years? Of course not. But the Bills somehow rank 30th in rushing DVOA through five weeks, and McCaffrey could theoretically help in the slot, too, while absorbing some hits on behalf of Josh Allen.
2. Philadelphia Eagles (5-0) (Last week: 1)
Trade idea: Panthers edge rusher Brian Burns
Why would a rebuilding team trade away one of the best young pass rushers in the league? Because the Eagles could make it worth their while. Stocked with two 2023 first-round picks, the Eagles might have had those earmarked to make a move for a quarterback. But Jalen Hurts’ ascension makes that less of a concern. We know general manager Howie Roseman will always build his team through the line of scrimmage, so why not offer something like the Eagles’ 2023 first-round pick (keeping the upside of the Saints’ first-rounder in-house) and a 2024 Day 2 pick for the 24-year-old Burns? Burns has 29.5 sacks since entering the league as a first-round pick in 2019, 12th-most in the NFL.
3. Kansas City Chiefs (4-1) (Last week: 3)
Trade idea: Bears running back David Montgomery
Kansas City entered Monday night ranked 18th in rushing DVOA before Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran for 15 yards on nine carries (though Jerick McKinnon rushed for 53 yards on only eight carries). Montgomery is in the final year of his rookie deal and is being outproduced by Khalil Herbert. The Bears would have to consider any reasonable offer, one would assume. Travis Kelce’s line against the Raiders was insane, by the way. Until Monday night, there had been 41 games in NFL history in which a player had at least four receiving touchdowns. Only one of those players, Marvin Jones in 2019, had fewer than 100 receiving yards, and he had 93. Kelce had 25!
4. Baltimore Ravens (3-2) (Last week: 4)
Trade idea: Chargers safety Nasir Adderley
Adderley is in the middle of a rare in-season position battle with Alohi Gilman and played only six snaps in the Chargers’ win over the Browns. With Marcus Williams headed to injured reserve with a wrist injury and the Ravens once again injured all over the defense, maybe Adderley, the 2019 second-round pick in the final year of his rookie deal, would be a better backup option than Geno Stone for Baltimore’s 14th-ranked defense by DVOA.
5. San Francisco 49ers (3-2) (Last week: 10)
Trade idea: Colts quarterback Nick Foles
Even with another spate of injuries, this sure looks like a championship-caliber defense with an offense that doesn’t require high-level quarterback play. But after losing Trey Lance for the season, seventh-round rookie Brock Purdy is the only quarterback on the roster after Jimmy Garoppolo. So why not trade for the only available Plan C who has proven he’s capable of the playoff magic the Niners would need in a worst-case scenario?
6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2) (Last week: 7)
Trade idea: Commanders cornerback Kendall Fuller
The Bucs have been beset by injuries to the secondary, including three suffered Sunday that left fifth-round rookie Zyon McCollum in a nominal starting role. Fuller, 27, has underperformed with the Commanders this season and has no guaranteed money left on his salary, so he wouldn’t cost much. Hard to imagine a wider smile from a player who’s being informed he’s leaving a Jack Del Rio defense for a Todd Bowles one.
7. Dallas Cowboys (4-1) (Last week: 12)
Trade idea: A good Rodney Dangerfield impersonator
Because this team doesn’t get any respect, no respect at all, despite ripping off a four-game gauntlet of wins with a backup quarterback that included deposing both of last year’s Super Bowl teams. Still, they begin the week as 4.5-point underdogs for their prime-time game in Philadelphia Sunday night (what a slate of games this week with Bills-Chiefs and Eagles-Cowboys). The Cowboys lead the league in pressure rate and rank sixth in defensive DVOA. The matchup of their defensive line against the Eagles’ offensive line figures to decide the game to some degree, whether or not Dak Prescott is able to return.
8. Cincinnati Bengals (2-3) (Last week: 6)
Trade idea: Bears defensive end Robert Quinn
The 32-year-old Quinn has been thought of as a likely trade candidate since the start of the offseason, though he has started slowly, with only one sack after 18 1/2 last year. The Bengals actually rank fifth in pressure rate, per Pro Football Focus, but haven’t been able to finish their rushes. And they rank 28th in sack rate. Maybe a change of scenery to a contender would boost Quinn and the Bengals’ front.
9. Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) (Last week: 13)
Trade idea: Panthers wide receiver Robbie Anderson
The more deep speed we can give to Justin Herbert, the better for the NFL fan. Through five games, Herbert has only attempted 11 passes of 25 air yards or more, tied for 15th in the league. Constraining the offense for the quarterback with the strongest arm in the league seems a little backward. Jason La Canfora reported Monday the Panthers would be willing to eat salary in order to trade Anderson, who has 13 catches for 206 yards and a touchdown through five games.
10. Minnesota Vikings (4-1) (Last week: 14)
Trade idea: Bears wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette
Don’t Cameron Dantzler and the Vikings feel badly about what they did to their poor former teammate on the potentially game-tying drive? No doubt, Dantzler made a heck of a play when he forcibly stripped Smith-Marsette from behind, but these guys were teammates like six weeks ago! First, they released Smith-Marsette one day after the initial roster cuts to make room for Jalen Reagor, and then they pants him in the final moments of the game? Just seems mean. Trading with the Bears to get him back would at least let him know he’s loved.
11. New York Giants (4-1) (Last week: 22)
Trade idea: Bills running back Zack Moss
This is presuming our made-up McCaffrey trade goes through, leaving the Bills overflowing with running backs. They can offload Moss to his former offensive coordinator and Brian Daboll could have a backfield option to help keep Saquon Barkley fresh amid his resurgent season. The Giants’ performance in London was even more impressive than it looked on the scoreboard. They scored 27 points on just eight possessions, good for 3.4 points per drive, the seventh-best offensive performance in a game this season (No. 1 belongs to the Seahawks’ Week 4 win in Detroit).
12. Green Bay Packers (3-2) (Last week: 8)
Trade idea: Patriots wide receiver Nelson Agholor
The Packers could really use a Davante Adams-type to unlock their offense, but players of that quality become available so rarely. Instead, let’s import Agholor, who suffered a minor hamstring injury in the Patriots’ win over the Lions and dropped a pass that led to an interception. Agholor seems to be falling down the depth chart below Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton and DeVante Parker and would cost next to nothing for the Packers. On defense, the Packers are in the market for a backbone after allowing scoring drives on the Giants’ final five real possessions in their stunning London loss.
13. Cleveland Browns (2-3) (Last week: 16)
Trade idea: Panthers defensive end Marquis Haynes
The Browns already kick-started trade season with the acquisition of Deion Jones from the Falcons Sunday night in exchange for the pittance of a 2024 sixth-round pick. They needed to do something to address the league’s worst run defense by DVOA. Haynes is having a productive season for the Panthers, with four quarterback hits and an above-average rate of making a tackle on 16.7 percent of his run-defense snaps.
14. Los Angeles Rams (2-3) (Last week: 9)
Trade idea: Titans wide receiver Robert Woods
Absent new ideas on how to fix a broken Rams offense, how about an old one? Though he leads the Titans with 204 receiving yards in five games, Woods has been relatively underwhelming — just not as underwhelming as Allen Robinson. Maybe Odell Beckham Jr. is walking through that Ramily room door soon, but the league’s 26th-ranked offense by DVOA needs some kind of shot in the arm quickly. The Rams traded Woods for a sixth-round pick in March, so we’re not talking about high stakes here.
15. Miami Dolphins (3-2) (Last week: 5)
Trade idea: Lions quarterback Nate Sudfeld
Maybe Teddy Bridgewater will be able to move quickly through the concussion protocol this week in order to start for the Dolphins on Sunday, but Miami is in danger of frittering away its 3-0 start if it has to go with Skylar Thompson against the Vikings. Enter Sudfeld, who spent the 2021 season with Mike McDaniel. Because the Lions have a bye this week, it’s no skin off their backs to not have a backup quarterback. Then the Dolphins can trade Sudfeld back to the Lions next week and he can be embroiled in a brand-new competitive-balance controversy.
16. Tennessee Titans (3-2) (Last week: 19)
Trade idea: Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown
The Titans could really use an explosive wide receiver capable of making the most of a handful of targets in a run-oriented offense. Brown, meanwhile, only had three catches for 32 yards in the Eagles’ win over the Cardinals and appears to be behind Dallas Goedert and DeVonta Smith in the Eagles’ passing game pecking order. This one feels like a match made in heaven.
17. Atlanta Falcons (2-3) (Last week: 17)
Trade idea: A pillow
You know, a nice fluffy one they can place underneath opposing quarterbacks such as Tom Brady in the middle of wrestling them to the ground. According to Josh Kendall, Falcons defensive coordinator Dean Pees on the controversial call: “That’s f—ed up,” “bull—-” and “taking care of Brady.”
18. New England Patriots (2-3) (Last week: 25)
Trade idea: Bears linebacker Roquan Smith
The Bears insist Smith is there to stay after a contentious summer, but one wonders if Bill Belichick might see the potential for the kind of dominant middle linebacker his best defenses have had. After their impressive shutout of the Lions and their previously high-powered offense, the Patriots rank ninth in defensive DVOA, though only 28th against the run.
19. New York Jets (3-2) (Last week: 27)
Trade idea: Texans guard A.J. Cann
The Jets are up to 17th in overall DVOA, 20th on offense and 21st on defense, and though their wins have all been something between fluky and lucky, there’s something to a young team starting to believe in itself. If they can complete New York’s annexation of Green Bay, we’ll start to really believe. For now, let’s get them another starting-caliber offensive lineman so Alijah Vera-Tucker can stop showing off his versatility every week.
20. Arizona Cardinals (2-3) (Last week: 18)
Trade idea: Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts
If the Falcons aren’t going to use Pitts, they might as well get full value for him, right? And nobody loves “positionless” players more than the Cardinals. Just imagine the think pieces we could all write about the practice reps of one-on-ones between Pitts and Isaiah Simmons.
Marquise Brown has been as productive as the Cardinals could have possibly hoped for, though he did drop a potential 70-plus-yard touchdown Sunday in the nail-biting loss to the Eagles. But Brown might cash in this offseason, and there are no other long-term running mates for Kyler Murray on the roster. At least this is an idea for Murray to play with on Madden.
21. New Orleans Saints (2-3) (Last week: 24)
Trade idea: Commanders edge rusher Casey Toohill
The Saints have the worst pressure rate in the league, according to Pro Football Focus, and the fewest quarterback hits (27). That doesn’t say much about the best-laid plans of trading up for Marcus Davenport and letting Trey Hendrickson go, but que sera sera. They’re also cap-tight enough that any serious investment is impossible, so how about a lottery ticket? In terms of quarterback hits per pass-rush snap, Toohill is, unbelievably, the second-most productive pass rusher in the league through five games.
22. Las Vegas Raiders (1-4) (Last week: 23)
Trade idea: Broncos tight end Albert Okwuegbunam
There are no moral victories in the record book, but that was as impressive a loss as a team has had all season, as the Raiders nearly stole a win in Arrowhead and probably should have if the rule book made a little more sense. Alas, Las Vegas has to lick its wounds over the bye week knowing 11 of the 156 teams to start a season 1-4 since 1990 have gone on to make the playoffs, the most recent being Washington in 2020. The Raiders won’t have the benefit of playing in a historically weak division, but a wild-card spot doesn’t seem all that impossible given the jumbled mess of two to three teams. With Darren Waller leaving the Monday night game with a hamstring injury, maybe the Raiders could use an athlete at the tight end position. This would be a rare intra-division trade, but Okwuegbunam appears to be fourth on the Broncos’ tight end depth chart at the moment.
23. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3) (Last week: 11)
Trade idea: All 59 trade-backable Texans jerseys
This feels like the plot of a watchable heist movie. In order to reverse the curse the Jaguars are clearly under, having lost to the Texans nine straight times, they have to collect every single Texans jersey the team bizarrely announced are able to be exchanged (for 44 percent off a new jersey of the same style, of course). It’s no coincidence that list dates back to 2017, the start of the Texans’ ownership of the Jaguars. You really wanna win the Week 17 rematch in Houston, Doug Pederson? Then go find the sicko who bought a Treston Decoud jersey.
24. Seattle Seahawks (2-3) (Last week: 21)
Trade idea: Panthers cornerback C.J. Henderson
Maybe we’re going too far with the Panthers fire sale, but there are only so many obvious sellers in a league with 26 of 32 teams within one game of a nominal playoff spot. Henderson is the Panthers’ third corner behind Jaycee Horn and Donte Jackson, and Blitz knows the Seahawks could use any help they could get on defense. They rank 31st in defensive DVOA and 31st in pass defense DVOA despite the intriguing start of Tariq Woolen’s career. Henderson, the 2020 first-round pick, still has another year and a half left on his rookie deal.
25. Indianapolis Colts (2-2-1) (Last week: 26)
Trade idea: Browns offensive lineman Michael Dunn
The Colts’ offensive line has been a disaster, with Matt Ryan facing pressure on 9.5 percent of his dropbacks, the third-highest rate in the league, and the once-dominant Colts running game ranking 32nd in DVOA. Enter the best backup offensive lineman in the NFL: the versatile, well-married Dunn, who has been featured as the sixth offensive lineman throughout the early season for a Browns team that has the league’s No. 1-rated rushing offense by DVOA.
26. Denver Broncos (2-3) (Last week: 15)
Free-agent idea: Former Eagles long snapper Jon Dorenbos
Dorenbos, 42, is now a traveling professional magician after a star-making stint on “America’s Got Talent.” If anyone can distract the Broncos’ fan base from the most painfully boring team in the league, it’s Dorenbos. Just give him a little stage on the sideline and a mic so he can talk over another Russell Wilson incompletion. If there is hope for the Broncos, it’s a defense that ranks fifth in DVOA and has only allowed more than 17 points in one of five games.
27. Detroit Lions (1-4) (Last week: 20)
Trade idea: Steelers senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach Brian Flores
The 2020 Lions defense fell just 14 points shy of breaking the NFL record for points allowed in a season, held by the 1981 Baltimore Colts, who surrendered 33.3 points per game. Two years later, the Lions appear dead set on finishing the job. They’re surrendering a league-worst 34 points per game and rank 32nd in defensive DVOA (30th against the pass, 31st against the rush).
Aaron Glenn seemed like a good dude on “Hard Knocks,” but enough is enough. So let’s get crazy and send some draft-pick compensation to the Steelers for Flores and give him a shot to right the ship with the aid of a bye week. Flores’ Dolphins defenses went from 32nd in DVOA in his first year to 11th in 2020 and 10th in 2021, so he has some experience turning things around.
28. Chicago Bears (2-3) (Last week: 29)
Trade idea: Giants wide receiver Kadarius Toney
Toney can’t stay healthy and appears prepared to move permanently into a northern New Jersey doghouse. So the feel-good Giants might not sweat letting him go if the right offer comes along. For a Bears offense that lacks any dimension of explosiveness, Toney is the kind of high-upside gamble worth making, and he might welcome the opportunity to be the focal point of a (bad) passing offense. He’s also 1 1/2 years younger than Velus Jones.
29. Houston Texans (1-3-1) (Last week: 32)
Trade idea: Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence
Just saying, there should be some kind of NFL rule that you’re allowed to pick any player you want on the opposing team whenever you beat them for a ninth time in a row, which the Texans did Sunday. Have some respect for yourself, Jaguars!
30. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-4) (Last week: 28)
Trade idea: Eagles left tackle Andre Dillard
The Steelers’ season is going to be a long one that’s likely to land Mike Tomlin with a losing record, but protecting Kenny Pickett needs to be their top priority. Pickett has been preternaturally decisive for a rookie in his first two games, and his willingness to stand in the pocket before taking a big hit is admirable, but they might need to save him from himself. Dillard, the Eagles’ first-round pick in 2019, is set to return soon from a forearm injury and would provide competent play at the position. The play of Jack Driscoll at left tackle the past two weeks has probably made trading Dillard more palatable for the Eagles, with Dillard set to be a free agent this offseason.
31. Washington Commanders (1-4) (Last week: 31)
Trade idea: Bears quarterback Justin Fields
Because Ron Rivera’s throwing his quarterback under the bus anyway, let’s get him a new one. It doesn’t seem like the Bears care all that much about Fields’ development, so if the Commanders want to start from scratch and really develop a young quarterback with their impressive stable of wide receivers, why not make an offer for Fields?
Not only would Fields give them an exciting quarterback prospect to divert attention away from Rivera’s recent track record of sub-mediocre defense, but he would guarantee Carson Wentz’s snap-share dipped below 70 percent, thereby turning the 2023 pick they owe the Colts from a second-rounder to a third.
32. Carolina Panthers (1-4) (Last week: 30)
Trade idea: 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans
This is allowed, right? Ryans looks like the best head-coaching candidate on the market, and that’s not just because he’s so strikingly handsome. His Niners defense ranks No. 1 in DVOA, and Panthers owner David Tepper is fresh off seeing Ryans in action during the 37-15 Panthers loss that led to his dismissal of Matt Rhule. Would the Niners entertain such a thing? Of course not. But maybe all those draft picks the Panthers are imaginarily accruing for the likes of McCaffrey and Burns would make them think twice.
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