AROUND THE NFL
Daily Briefing
|
If The Season Ended Today – the Patriots rule the roost:
New England East 9-4 1 7-1
Tennessee South 8-4 1 5-3
Baltimore North 8-4 1 5-4
Kansas City West 8-4 1 3-4
LA Chargers WC1 7-5 2 5-3
Cincinnati WC2 7-5 2 5-3
Buffalo WC3 7-5 2 5-5
Pittsburgh 6-5-1 3 4-4
Indianapolis 7-6 2 6-3
Las Vegas 6-6 3 4-3
Cleveland 6-6 4 3-5
Denver 6-6 4 3-5
Miami 6-7 3 4-5
|
|
NFC EAST
|
|
DALLAS
The newest trend in the NFL seems to be using six offensive linemen. The Patriots did it last night and the Cowboys owner says it is coming for Dallas. Josh Alper ofProFootballTalk.com:
The Cowboys should be getting Terence Steele off of the COVID-19 reserve list in time for him to play against Washington this weekend and that creates a question about who will start at right tackle.
Steele was starting there when La’el Collins was out of the lineup and he did a good job, but Collins has returned from his suspension to start three of the last four games for Dallas. During an appearance on 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that he’s not concerned about which player starts because “both of them will play a lot” as the Cowboys will be using one or the other in place of a tight end in hopes of giving a jolt to the running game.
“I think it’s the best we’ve been all year,” Jones said, via Mark Lane of WFAA. “You’ve got an improved Collins. You got a Steele that we know and are very confident he can play at the right tackle — just play well there. And, so, in doing so, we will use the fact that we got Collins at his best this year. We got Steele. We’ll use that as one of the, or a way, to help our running game. We will do that. What that lets us do relative to any other formations that we use, we’ll have a big guy in that you would normally have a tight end. That will help us out.”
Washington has been grinding out wins in close games in recent weeks and they’re likely going to try to follow the same formula this weekend. A rushing attack that can eat up time and yards would help Dallas counter anything their divisional rivals want to throw their way.
|
|
WASHINGTON
Hold on! TE LOGAN THOMAS may not be done for the year. John Keim of ESPN.com:
@john_keim
Ron Rivera said they received better than expected news on TE Logan Thomas. Said the tests this morning DID NOT confirm their worst fear, which was a torn ACL. he will have further evaluation to further confirm. But don’t know true extent yet
|
|
NFC SOUTH
|
|
CAROLINA
Coach Matt Rhule takes questions about the sudden departure of OC Joe Brady. David Newton of ESPN.com:
Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule said the decision to fire offensive coordinator Joe Brady on Sunday was “purely football.”
He made it clear there were no regrets in his 2020 decision to hire Brady, who at the time was a 30-year-old passing game coordinator for national champion LSU with no experience calling plays in the NFL or at any other level.
“When I took the job, I decided to be bold and step outside my comfort zone,” Rhule said on Monday. “I certainly don’t look at that as a mistake.”
Rhule didn’t specify what led to his decision, but he has consistently said the past month that the Panthers needed to be more committed to the run and be better coming out of halftime.
The Panthers (5-7) had only a combined 39 rushes the past two games combined, including 18 in a loss to the Miami Dolphins before the bye week. Rhule said after an Oct. 17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings he wanted 30 to 33 rushes per game.
Brady also wasn’t effective at halftime adjustments. Carolina is averaging only 2.1 points in the third quarter to rank 31st in the NFL, with only Houston, at 1.8 points, worse.
Overall, the team ranks 29th in offense after ranking 21st a year ago in Brady’s first season as a playcaller.
Rhule called Brady’s replacement, running backs coach Jeff Nixon, a “calming, steadying influence.”
Nixon was Rhule’s co-offensive coordinator at Baylor in 2019. That team averaged 36 rushes a game.
“He’s done a lot to get us moving in the right direction,” Rhule said of Brady, 32. “But this was something I felt from a football perspective had to be done.”
Rhule said he “anticipates” Cam Newton being his starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. He also didn’t rule out mixing in PJ Walker, reminding that the former XFL star is 2-0 as a starter in the NFL.
Rhule said he had some “feelings” a change needed to be made at offensive coordinator coming off the Miami loss. He spent the week evaluating film not only of games but also practice.
He made the decision to fire Brady late last week. The two had a meeting scheduled for Saturday, but that was pushed to Sunday because Brady had a conflict.
Rhule made it clear the decision to move on from Brady was his and not a request from owner David Tepper. He said the meeting with Brady ended in a handshake and a hug.
“I hope this is the right move,” Rhule said. “It was purely football. This is in the best interest of us moving forward.”
Bryan DeArdo of CBSSports.com offers reasons for hope:
Instead of waiting until the offseason, Panthers coach Matt Rhule decided to relieve Joe Brady of his duties on Sunday as Carolina’s offensive coordinator. The role will temporarily be filled by Jeff Nixon, a longtime friend of Rhule’s who served as Rhule’s offensive coordinator at Baylor.
So, what will the change mean for the Panthers’ offense? We’re glad you asked.
Game management
Panthers fans can expect several changes with Brady as offensive coordinator. The offense’s halftime adjustments and game management — two facets that came under fire during Brady’s short time in Carolina — will certainly improve. Those adjustments will likely help improve an offense that is currently 28th in third down efficiency and 23rd in red zone efficiency.
A specific example of the Panthers’ lack of offensive adjustment under Brady took place during the team’s Week 5 loss to the Eagles. Carolina receiver Robby Anderson was upset with the Panthers’ limited route tree once it became clear that Philadelphia knew what was coming. Given Nixon’s more extensive background as an offensive coach, it’s safe to expect that he is more equipped to make those types of adjustments.
As far as what he brings to the table, Nixon has as extensive background as a running backs coach, but he’s likely to use the run to set up more downfield shots. The Panthers are a decent running team (especially when Christian McCaffrey is healthy), but they need to stretch the field more during the final five games of the season. Carolina has the weapons to make this happen, led by McCaffrey and receivers Anderson and D.J. Moore.
More success downfield would likely help the Panthers win more close games, something that has been an issue throughout Rhule’s time in Carolina. With just 16 plays of 25 yards or longer this season, defenses are stacking the box without any fear of giving up a big play. If Nixon can improve the Panthers’ vertical attack, that should create significantly more headaches for opposing defenses, especially on third down.
Personnel moves
It can’t come at the expense of winning, but Nixon and Rhule would also be wise to give more opportunities to rookie wideout Terrace Marshall Jr. In nine games, the former second-round pick has just 14 receptions for 116 yards. Helping Marshall have success during the season’s final five games could do wonders for Marshall and the Panthers’ offense for 2022 and beyond.
One would expect Rhule and Nixon to make a decision on who is the team’s starting quarterback moving forward. Rhule himself said on Monday that having three quarterbacks is not a recipe for success. Cam Newton will likely get the start this Sunday, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he will remain the Panthers’ starter for the remainder of the season. Sunday’s game will largely help determine what the Panthers do with their quarterback position moving forward. Which quarterback can do the best job stretching the field while also avoiding turnovers will probably be the Panthers’ starting quarterback beyond this weekend.
At 5-7, the Panthers are still within striking distance of the seventh and final playoff spot. That is probably why Rhule made the coaching change now rather than wait until after the season. And while the Panthers’ offense will not morph into a juggernaut overnight, the unit should be noticeably better with Nixon as offensive coordinator.
Jeff Nixon, for those keeping count, is a person of color.
We’re not sure why his background as a running backs coach would make him more adept at fashioning deep pass patterns to appease Anderson.
We do think that this is a sign that Rhule, an OC and QB coach by trade, will have a more direct role in implementing the offense.
Dean Jones of CatCrave.com:
Everyone associated with the organization was sitting down for some stress-free football in Week 13. No sooner had they done this, the Panthers dropped another bombshell by announcing offensive coordinator Joe Brady had been relieved of his duties by head coach Matt Rhule.
Jeff Nixon – a long-time Rhule loyalist – will be tasked with calling the plays over Carolina’s remaining five games, which appears to be an audition to secure the job long-term.
As for Brady, he won’t be out of work long. Coaches with his upside and reputation across the league and the college ranks seldom wait for another opportunity.
The news comes after the Panthers lost two important games against the Washington Football Team and Miami Dolphins just before the bye week. Although after results on Sunday, they are somehow still within touching distance regarding a playoff spot.
Whether this played a role in Brady’s dismissal or not is up for debate. However, it was a sign that things are getting a little bit uncomfortable for Rhule in just his second season in Carolina.
It’s absolutely textbook. When things aren’t going according to plan, the coordinators go first.
If that doesn’t work, then the head coach follows soon after.
Brady should have done better at certain points. There appears little doubt about that and this obviously played a role in his eventual demise.
But personnel decisions, a continuous quarterback carousel, no consistent protection from the offensive line, and no real plan without Christian McCaffrey didn’t exactly put Brady in the best possible position to succeed.
.
This might be the last roll of the dice for Rhule, who won’t exactly be firing defensive coordinator Phil Snow anytime soon given their close relationship.
Going back to the Baylor connection and Nixon is the only way Rhule knows how to operate. But he should be all too aware by now that this isn’t college and much more is needed.
Who knows, this might inspire the Panthers to do bigger and better things. And considering how stagnant things became on offense, Brady was probably going to leave this offseason, anyway.
However, the Panthers have a daunting run of games down the stretch and there is a very real prospect of things getting worse before they get better.
If things continue trending on a downward curve, then team owner David Tepper has a big decision to make.
Wiping the slate clean after just two seasons under Rhule is a drastic measure – especially when Year 3 is the time his college programs showed real growth. But with multiple key veterans out of contract, no Day 2 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and big-time questions about the stability at quarterback, there is a lot of work to be done.
This might be Rhule’s final card to play. Firing Brady and implementing a power-running game without McCaffrey, relying on Ameer Abdullah, rookie Chuba Hubbard, and Cam Newton to get the job done.
|
|
AFC WEST
|
|
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
Is he actually sick or merely a positive symptomless test or a close contact? Is he vaxxed or an unbeliever? Those questions hover around WR KEENAN ALLEN as the final week of Fantasy Football looms in many leagues.
This ESPN report with Coach Brandon Staley’s optimism makes it sound like he is jabbed.
Los Angeles Chargers leading receiver Keenan Allen was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday, putting his availability for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants in doubt.
Allen was one of 11 players placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by NFL teams on Monday. All of the moves were the result of positive tests, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Coach Brandon Staley said that Allen’s status “is day-to-day right now, and hopefully we’ll have some good news on him in the next few days.”
Allen, who has been selected to the Pro Bowl each of the past four seasons, leads the Chargers with 86 receptions and 929 receiving yards this season and has four touchdown receptions.
If Allen is vaccinated, he will need two negative tests 24 hours apart and to be asymptomatic for 48 hours before he can return. If he is unvaccinated, Allen will have to stay away from the team for a minimum of 10 days.
The Chargers improved to 7-5 with their 41-22 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, a game in which Allen had two touchdown receptions and threw a pass to quarterback Justin Herbert for a 2-point conversion.
Los Angeles is currently in second place in the AFC West standings and in possession of the AFC’s second wild-card spot.
|
|
AFC NORTH
|
|
BALTIMORE
Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com on Baltimore’s use of the “intentional offside” as a means of preserving clock:
The Ravens employed a little-used strategy in Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, having safety Chuck Clark intentionally jump offside late in the game. But Ravens coach John Harbaugh didn’t want to talk about it.
“I don’t need to get into the strategy of it all,” Harbaugh said. “But sometimes, it is, [and] sometimes, it isn’t.”
It clearly was intentional. With the Steelers facing second-and-2, Clark blatantly jumped offside because the Ravens wanted to give the Steelers a free first down without running any more time off the clock. The Ravens’ thinking was that the Steelers, needing only two yards, were probably going to gain a first down anyway within the next two plays, and that would have allowed the Steelers to run more time off the clock. By giving the Steelers a first down on a penalty, the Ravens kept the clock stopped.
The Steelers should have declined the offside penalty, but they apparently didn’t realize what the Ravens were doing. But at some point, teams are going to catch on, because the Ravens have done this before: Clark also purposely jumped offside in similar situations in 2019 against the Bills and in 2020 against the Patriots. Clark is the Ravens’ designated late-game offside-jumper, and opposing teams should recognize that the next time it happens, they should decline the penalty.
|
|
AFC SOUTH
|
|
HOUSTON
A wrist injury to QB TYROD TAYLOR has put QB DAVIS MILLS back in the lineup as the Seahawks come to town on Sunday. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com:
@RapSheet
#Texans QB Tyrod Taylor is considered week-to-week with his wrist injury, sources say, and Davis Mills is expected to start. The rookie third-rounder gets another opportunity to learn and grow.
|
|
JACKSONVILLE
The Jaguars’ running backs coach wasn’t thinking about the big picture late in Sunday’s game, which his head coach admits. Curtis Crabtree of ProFootballTalk.com:
Jacksonville Jaguars running back James Robinson hasn’t been at 100 percent for weeks as he’s been battling through injuries to his heel and knee.
Robinson played just 26 snaps in Sunday’s 37-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams and had just eight carries for 24 yards. While that in itself may not be too strange, the fact that three of those carries came in the final two minutes of the contest is a bit curious. Carlos Hyde had nine carries on the day for Jacksonville with Robinson sat down for 26 consecutive plays after losing a fumble on the second play of the game.
It’s apparently something that has even head coach Urban Meyer a bit puzzled by.
“That’s a good question,” said Meyer, via Mike DiRocco of ESPN.com, when asked about why Robinson was used that way.
Meyer then said that running backs coach Bernie Parmalee handles the running back rotations and said perhaps he wanted to see a few more carries from Robinson at that stage of the game. Given the injuries already existing for Robinson and the total lack of importance in the plays he saw, that decision would seem strange.
“I’d agree,” Meyer said.
Meyer’s seeming obliviousness to the team’s personnel decisions is odd to the say the least. He’s the head coach of the football team. If he wants someone to play, he tells them to play. If he doesn’t, he tells them to sit. Ultimately that discretion is his and his alone.
Via Demetrius Harvey of BigCatCountry.com, Meyer then did follow up and said he intended to take a more active role in those calls.
“I’m aware of it,” Meyer said of the personnel decisions. “I’m not in charge of it but I’ll watch and I’ll say, ‘what’s our thoughts here and what’s our thoughts there?’ Obviously, I didn’t do it there with James.”
“I am (going to be more involved) because I just gotta make sure to do it the way I want it done.”
We can understand Robinson slipping into the game for the first carry without the head coaches notice. But after that, can’t the head coach intervene and say, “Bernie, get him out of there?”
|
|
AFC EAST
|
|
BUFFALO
Did Brian Daboll under-perform as OC last night – or was it just a case of poor execution by his players under testing conditions? His head coach didn’t opt out to the latter. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:
Bills offensive Brian Daboll could leave the team to become a head coach, eventually. He also could leave the team for other reasons.
After Monday night’s 14-10 loss to the Patriots, coach Sean McDermott was asked a very simple and direct question about Daboll: “Is he doing a good enough job to set this offense up for success?”
McDermott didn’t say, “Yes.” And, when asked a question like that, any answer other than “yes” is “no.”
“Well, I didn’t think honestly we took advantage of opportunities tonight,” McDermott said. “I really didn’t. I mean, the ball’s at the 40 yard line. You know? We’re one for four in the red zone. So we’ve got to figure that part of it out.”
Part of the problem, frankly, is that the Bills waited too long to trust Josh Allen to throw the ball in the wind. In the first half, Buffalo dialed up only 10 passes. In the second half, they threw it twice as many times. The sense of urgency that fueled the final two drives, both of which petered out in the red zone, should have shown up earlier — because it was obvious Allen could deliver consistently and effectively.
Indeed, the success that they had throwing the ball later in the game shows that they should have been throwing it earlier. And that’s where the discussions behind the curtain become highly relevant. What was the game plan before the wind became an issue? Who decided to de-emphasize the pass early? Who decided to go heaving with passing the ball later? To the extent there was push and pull between McDermott and Daboll, who pushed and who pulled?
Frankly, it doesn’t matter. Unless the offense improves down the stretch, Daboll could end up being pushed out the door, based on the response McDermott provided after the fourth loss in seven games.
We have rarely, if ever, seen QB sneaks changed as to the line to gain, especially when the crush of bodies denies a good camera angle. Plus, we never saw the knee of QB MAC JONES hit the ground as he surged forward, so the final spot, while maybe a couple of inches to the good of the Patriots, wasn’t clearly wrong.
Yet McDermott fired off a futile challenge that cost him a timeout that could have come in handy at the end.
McDermott is 5-22 (23%) on challenges in his career. We would say he has to figure that part out.
|
|
NEW ENGLAND
After beating the Bills with two completed passes, Bill Belichick says don’t count on a similar game plan for the re-match. Tyler Sullivan of CBSSports.com:
Bill Belichick turned back the clock on the offensive side of the ball on Monday night. In the Patriots win over the Buffalo Bills, Belichick’s team passed just three times which is the fewest pass attempts in a game in franchise history and the fewest by any team since 1974. While Mac Jones was essentially given the night off, New England ran the ball on 46 of its 49 plays on offense with Damien Harris (10 carries) and Rhamondre Stevenson (24 carries) seeing the bulk of the work.
A main reason why the Patriots kept the game on the ground was due to the severe weather up in Buffalo where the winds were gusting at around 55 mph, making the passing game a bit more unpredictable with the ball sailing in the air.
“Again, I think if it had been a different type of game and we would have needed to throw there in the fourth quarter then we would have thrown,” Bill Belichick told WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Tuesday morning. “We were able to manage the game the way we did and that worked out all right for us.”
A big reason why New England didn’t need to start opening up the passing game in the fourth quarter was thanks to some clutch play by the defense. Buffalo reached the red zone in each of its two fourth quarter possessions and the Patriots were able to hold them to zero points.
This win had major implications for the current playoff picture in the AFC. New England maintains its spot as the No. 1 seed in the conference and now has a 1.5 game advantage over Buffalo in the AFC East. These two teams will meet again in Foxborough in Week 16, and because they were able to keep the passing game closed for the night, Belichick did note that the Patriots have an interesting edge heading into that matchup.
“We were talking about that last night. We can use our whole passing game. All the pass plays we have, they haven’t seen,” he said.
Belichick added: “I think anytime you play a team almost in succession like we do here, twice in three weeks, or whatever it is, you just have to be careful and realize that even though it’s the same two teams, it’s not the same game. There will be players who play in the next game who didn’t play in this one and probably vise-versa. The game will take a different course and the conditions will probably be different too, so [that will probably have] something to do with it. We’re starting all over at that point and when we get to them, we get to them. It’s Indy first, but we can’t assume that things are going to go like they did last night. It will be a completely different game.”
After this win in Buffalo, the Patriots now enter their Week 14 bye.
Dan Wetzel of YahooSports.com was enthralled.
One day, at least presumably, Bill Belichick will retire as head coach of the New England Patriots. It’ll offer the man, who is currently 69 years old, plenty of long afternoons to kick back at his home on Nantucket and allow the sound of breaking waves to draw his memory to his great triumphs from the past. Super Bowls. Playoff games. Comebacks. Snowstorms.
It will certainly include Monday’s victory over Buffalo, 14-10, a game that may be the most quintessential Belichickian of all time. It was a run-heavy, defense-rich, situational-strategy fest that was equal parts blunt force and disciplined thinking.
Yet there stands a chance, maybe a good one even, that as sweet as this was, including propelling the Pats to first place in the AFC, there will be a tinge of regret.
Not that New England attempted just three passes – while running it 46 times — but rather that the Patriots attempted even a single one.
“Played kind of the way we felt we needed to get the win,” Belichick said, in a classic mumble. “In the end [we] scored enough points.”
They did, but none of them were because Mac Jones went 2-for-3 for 19 yards through the air. None of those completions mattered much. The conditions were so windy and New England’s blocking schemes and hard-charging backs were so in control of the game, that passing wasn’t needed. Jones had just one attempt heading into the fourth quarter.
Perfection, true perfection, would have been to not try it at all. The concept of playing an entire NFL game without employing the forward pass would have spoken to Belichick, who values the history of the game like few others.
Had New England done it, Belichick would have been able to enter his team into a six-way tie for the fewest attempts ever in an NFL game – zero – all set by teams in games held between 1933 and 1950. (It does happen with some regularity in college, as recently as Nov. 26, when Air Force defeated UNLV 48-14 courtesy of 69 rushes and zero passes.
Not that three passes is very many. It was the fewest in the NFL since the Bills tossed it just twice in 1974. Still, three isn’t zero. In this case, nothing would have been everything.
“I’ve been playing football since I was 6 years old,” said center David Andrews. “[At] 6 years old we threw the ball more than three times.”
Basically, here in 2021, the Pats won with an offense out of 1921.
“Just hats off to the offense, really,” said linebacker Matthew Judon, before smiling. “Everybody, probably besides Mac. He really didn’t do anything besides hand the ball off.”
Yeah, there was a lot of laughter by the Patriots postgame and who can blame them? Now 9-4, they sit atop the AFC and carry a seven-game win streak into their bye week. Moreover, they had found a new way to torture the Bills, their AFC East punching bag of the past couple decades.
From 2001-2019, Belichick’s teams went 34-4 against Buffalo and one of those Bills victories (2014) came when he rested many of his starters for the playoffs.
Then Tom Brady left for Tampa Bay and Buffalo won both meetings last year en route to an AFC championship game appearance. New England fell to just 7-9.
The Foxborough overhaul, though, was quick. Excellent drafts, terrific free agent work and the development of Jones as the next franchise quarterback meant this game would determine first in the division and conference. And that’s when Belichick’s discipline would shine.
The way to win this game, he figured, was to control the ball and the clock, avoid turnovers and ride the defense. The Pats would be aggressive only at key moments – such as going for two rather than risk kicking into the wind after the first touchdown, a conversion that put the Bills on their heels throughout.
The Bills were 7-4 coming into the game, but they had struggled to run the ball and stop the run. They are a glamour team, not built for harsh conditions. They are at their best when quarterback Josh Allen is scrambling and making plays.
So Belichick sought to snuff all of that out in the most boring way possible. Run. Run. Run. At one point, facing third-and-5, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel had Jones run a quarterback sneak, which gained 4 yards. Then, on fourth-and-1, he had him run another quarterback sneak? You don’t see that everyday.
Yet unlike a lot of places, no one on that offense pouted or complained. Wide receivers chipped in with block after block. Tight ends were essentially extra tackles. And Jones just cheerily turned and handed it off. This was a nightmare for fantasy sports players, but heaven for the Patriots.
“I’m just trying to win,” Jones said. “It doesn’t matter how many times you run it or throw it, if you win everyone is going to be happy.”
Belichick and McDaniels dared Buffalo to stop them, dared them to make them put the ball in the hands of a first-year quarterback who grew up in Florida, played college ball at Alabama and as recently as 2015 said on social media he’d never seen snow before.
Buffalo didn’t do it. So that was that. The defense made some plays, the wind aided Allen’s inaccuracy (15 of 30 for 145 yards) and the Pats suffocated their way to first place again.
“That’s why I’ve loved playing here,” said veteran safety Devin McCourty. “This team isn’t about one person. It isn’t about egos. It isn’t about, ‘This is what we do so we are going to keep doing it.’ It’s about winning.”
Wind. Snow. Cold. Whatever.
“Good to get the win,” Belichick said.
The only regret he’ll ever have from this one? That three passing attempts were three too many.
|
|
THIS AND THAT
|
|
2022 DRAFT – KAYVON THIBODEAUX
No surprise here but Oregon DE KAYVON THIBODEAUX (whose last name is a vowel slam) will leave Eugene and move to the top part of the 2022 draft.
Star Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux said Monday night he will forgo his senior season and declare for the NFL draft.
Thibodeaux will not play in the Ducks’ bowl game, a matchup against No. 16 Oklahoma in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29, and instead will begin preparations for the draft, in which he could be selected with the top pick.
“Thank you for embracing a kid from South Central, Los Angeles and giving me the opportunity to transition into a man ready to take on the world,” Thibodeaux wrote as part of a post on social media, in which he thanked “the University of Oregon, the city of Eugene, and Duck Nation for their unwavering support.”
The 6-foot-5 Thibodeaux was the Pac-12 defensive freshman of the year in 2019 and a first-team All-Pac-12 selection last year after arriving at Oregon as the No. 1-ranked player in the class of 2019. He played 10 games this season — an ankle injury slowed him early — and finished with seven sacks and 49 total tackles.
He is a finalist for the Bednarik Award and Bronco Nagurski Trophy.
Thibodeaux was also at the forefront of players’ ability to capitalize on their name, image and likeness. He signed a handful of deals, including one with eBay, another with United Airlines and a six-figure memorabilia deal. Thibodeaux also released an NFT in partnership with Nike founder Phil Knight and sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield that sold for $100 per unit. In September, Thibodeaux launched his own cryptocurrency called $JREAM.
Why would his “cryptocurrency” be $JREAM? This from Thibodeaux in September:
@kayvont
As you May know I’ve just launched my own crypto currency, $JREAM coin, named after @thejreamfoundation . This is not an investment. Consider it a membership into exclusive community where you will have access to me as a fan or supporter. http://rally.io/creator/JREAM
He apparently “founded” the foundation, according to Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.com:
The coin shares a name with the Jream Foundation, which Thibodeaux founded to help provide more opportunities for youth in disadvantaged circumstances. Twenty percent of the initial release is expected to be allotted to the foundation.
Thibodeaux was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles and went to Dorsey H.S. there and later Oaks Christian. We can find no connection between Thibodeaux and central Florida.
The Jream Foundation website lists the following “programs”:
OUR PROGRAMS
Youth Development
Working to build and empower youth from economically disadvantaged circumstances to provide premiere educational academia and life skills.
Alternative Career Opportunities
A few of the components of this foundation will associate with having academic plans, financial literacy, SAT/ACT prep, and study abroad programs.
Community Connections
Our community is about helping the next generation. We work together providing services with community leaders to connect with youth in new ways.
No sign at the website that it has ever actually done any of those things.
There also is a Jream Foundation headquartered in Avon Park, Florida, a small town in the middle of the state best known for the nearby land that military planes practice bombing on. Apparently you can hunt and fish there between bombing runs:
The Avon Park Air Force Range is a 106,000 acre military training facility located in Polk and Highlands Counties, in south-central Florida (see our official mission statement). The Outdoor Recreation Program works in coordination with the U.S. Air Force to provide recreational opportunities to the public and military personnel.
APAFR is known as a world-class destination for hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, birding, and outdoor educational opportunities for all ages.
Back to Thibodeaux.
There are similar websites between the JReam Foundations – one isjreamfoundation.org and the other is thejreamfoundation.org. The logo, of a child reaching for the stars, is also similar, but not identical.
|
|
