Today, we break down the AFC North schedules.

NFC NORTH

DETROIT

We don’t know yet if Dan Campbell can coach at the head coach level, but he sure is a quote machine.  Eric Woodyard of ESPN.com:

If bringing a Super Bowl to Detroit required losing an arm than new Lions head coach Dan Campbell says he would be armless. Although Campbell has yet to coach an actual game in Motown, the first-year sideline leader is already making an early case as one of the most entertaining coaches in the league with his off-the-cuff style.

On Sunday, Campbell made a guest appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast on which he shared an idea that he actually presented to Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp about having a pet lion around the team’s practice facility.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to do it, but I would love to literally just have a pet lion. Just a legit pet lion on a chain, a big-ass chain, and he really is my pet,” Campbell said on the podcast. “We just walk around the building, we go out to practice, we’re at 7-on-7, we’re behind the kicker when he’s kicking. There we are.”

Campbell further imagined that the lion would be “on command.” Campbell joked that if a position group wasn’t performing well, he could have the lion relieve itself in front of the group.

“I mean, think about it,” he said. “That would be outstanding.”

Campbell also made national headlines during his introductory news conference in January, notably with his impromptu answers that included his vision for the team being tough enough to “bite a kneecap off.” The lion reference was just the latest example, although he doubts it’ll ever happen.

“The problem is I don’t know if PETA’s going to allow that, though. It’s gonna be hard,” Campbell said. “Believe me, though, we would take great care of it. It would be fed well, it would be petted, it would be manicured. I might end up losing an arm because of it, but that would be even better because it would validate what, this is a freaking, this is a creature now. This is an animal. This thing, this is from the wild.”

NFC EAST

WASHINGTON

T MORGAN MOSES who has toiled in anonymity for the Washington Football Team for many years is being allowed to seek greener pastures, while freeing up some green for WFT.  John Keim of ESPN.com:

The Washington Football Team has granted longtime starting right tackle Morgan Moses permission to seek a trade, a source confirmed.

Washington would save $7.75 million in salary-cap space whether it trades or releases Moses, no matter if it’s before or after June 1. He would count $1.9 million in dead cap room.

Washington signed left tackle Charles Leno Jr. earlier this month and drafted tackle Samuel Cosmi in the second round. Leno made 93 consecutive starts at left tackle for Chicago before being released following the draft. Washington coach Ron Rivera said Cosmi could play left or right tackle — he worked at both spots during last weekend’s minicamp — but they clearly didn’t select him to have him sit all season.

Rivera said he wanted to strengthen the offensive line this offseason. They also traded for guard Ereck Flowers and are high on second-year guard Saahdiq Charles, who was limited to two games last season because of a dislocated kneecap.

Moses has started every game for Washington since 2015, almost exclusively at right tackle though he had to start one game on the left side in 2020. He often played through various injuries and over the years developed into a mentor for younger players. He’s close to right guard Brandon Scherff, who is on the franchise tag for the second consecutive season.

Moses, a 2014 third-round pick, just turned 30 years old and has two years left on his contract.

Washington also has tackles Cornelius Lucas, Geron Christian, David Sharpe, Rick Leonard and David Steinmetz.

Washington can use the freed-up cap room to try to extend other players. The team is expected to have talks with defensive lineman Jonathan Allen, who will play on his fifth-year option this season, about a new deal. Also, tight end Logan Thomas is entering the final year of his contract and could be in line for an extension.

NFC SOUTH

ATLANTA

Another year, another offense for QB MATT RYAN.  Charean Williams ofProFootballTalk.com:

After 13 seasons and 205 games, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is a rookie all over again.

The team changed head coaches in the offseason, with Arthur Smith the third head coach for whom Ryan now has played. Ryan is getting to know his new play caller and the new coaching staff as well as learning a new offense.

“It’s been going well,” Ryan said Tuesday, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think obviously, transition requires a lot of effort and a lot of work to learn the new system to make sure that you’re as comfortable as you can possibly be with the terminology.

“There are always nuances in different schemes and how coaches like certain things. I’ve been working really hard to try to get on the same page with them. I’ve been excited that we are able to start and get out on the field this week.”

The Falcons went 18-30 the past three seasons and have not made the playoffs since 2017. It cost Dan Quinn his job.

Ryan did not know Smith before the Falcons hired him from Tennessee. Smith runs a West Coast scheme, with which Ryan has some familiarity.

“From a language standpoint, I’ve played in a number of different systems now,” Ryan said. “It’s like a combination of a couple of them. I’ll go back and the formations are really similar to West Coast formations, which I’ve played in for a number of years. The protections are very similar. The concepts are similar as well.”

The Falcons drafted tight end Kyle Pitts with their first choice and have Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley returning as their starting wideouts. They are working on fixing their backfield and offensive line problems.

“I’m excited for the guys that we have in the building for sure,” Ryan said. “I feel like there are guys that are highly competitive that want to win football games. I’m excited about things from that standpoint, but we have a long way to go.”

TAMPA BAY

QB TOM BRADY in primetime on FOX? Peter White at Deadline.com:

An hour into its upfront presentation, Fox threw a hail mary.

The network teased that it was working with Super Bowl champion Tom Brady on an unscripted series.

Charlie Collier, CEO of Fox Entertainment revealed that it was working with Brady but didn’t give any more details. “We also have an unscripted project with Tom Brady, yes, that Tom Brady,” he said.

We’re hearing that the project might be produced by Love Is Blind and Married At First Sight producer Kinetic Content.

The show will likely be produced by Brady’s own production company 199 Productions, which Deadline revealed in March 2020.

It comes on the back of Brady’s latest Super Bowl win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his seventh win.

Could Brady be joining a remake of a British panel show like his Tampa Bay colleague Rob Gronkowski did with CBS’ Game On! or following in the footsteps of the Watt brothers hosting a competition format for Fox like Ultimate Tag?

AFC WEST

DENVER

Kelly Kleine joins the Broncos as Director of Football Operations – and would now seem to be the highest-ranking, non-member of ownership, on an NFL team.  Mike Klis of9News.com:

The Denver Broncos have hired Kelly Kleine for their newly-created position of executive director of football operations/special assistant to the general manager.

It is believed Kleine is now the highest-ranking woman football team executive in the NFL.

Kleine and Broncos general manager George Paton worked the previous nine seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.

“Kelly is a rising star in the NFL, and we’re fortunate to add someone of her caliber to the Denver Broncos,’’ Paton said in a statement. “Having worked with her for nine years in Minnesota, Kelly has a strong understanding of all aspects of football operations and player evaluation, along with outstanding leadership qualities.’’

With the Broncos, Kleine will oversee the Broncos’ video and equipment departments while also serving as a primary liaison for the Broncos’ football operations. She will be involved in college and pro scouting. A 2013 University of Minnesota graduate with a degree in sports management, Kleine was a three-sport athlete (golf, basketball, softball) at Sheboygan North High School in Wisconsin.

The Broncos have yet to replace Matt Russell as director of pro personnel. Russell, long John Elway’s right-hand man atop the Broncos’ football personnel department, retired after the 2020 season.     

Kleine, who would seem to be about 30, started out as an intern in the public relations department.  Other NFLers who started out as p.r. interns include Coach Brian Billick and Jeff Diamond (who rose within the Vikings to GM).

Dane Mizutani of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press wanted you to get to know Kleine back in April.

Name the cliche and Kelly Kleine was living it out in real time during her first couple of years with the Vikings. She was a salmon swimming upstream, pushing a boulder up a hill, while drinking through a fire hose.

As hard as she worked to earn respect as an intern in the scouting department, and as much as she loved the job, Kleine admitted she started to get discouraged shortly after being hired on full time.

“It was really, really frustrating,” she said. “I’d just be there like, ‘God, why isn’t this coming easy to me?’ It seemed so natural to everyone else. There were definitely times I was like, ‘Should I do this? Should I not do this?’ ”

But she put her head down and kept going. She learned as much as she could every day she walked into the team facility, continued to make a name for herself along the way, and a moment of clarity finally came on a random day of training camp.

“It was like six years ago or something and I submitted a report, and they read it in a meeting and were like, ‘Oh yeah,  I agree with Kelly,’ ” Kleine remembered. “Something like that was like, ‘OK, I’m on the right track.’ That gave me some confidence to keep going, and here I am now.”

Her official title these days is manager of player personnel and college scout. She splits her time between TCO Performance Center in Eagan, and various states across the Midwest scouting college players in advance of the NFL draft.

“We are really busy right now with the draft coming up,” she said. “We’ve been in draft meetings pretty much the whole month of April.”

Naturally, general manager Rick Spielman runs those draft meetings, and he was quick to praise Kleine when asked about her this week. He noted that director of college scouting Jamaal Stephenson lives out of town, so Kleine plays a big role in making sure everything is in order.

“She’s a critical part of everything we do,” Spielman said. “Everything revolves around her in the office on the college side. She makes sure everything is ready for our meetings. She runs the draft board. She does a lot of things and directs a lot of traffic. We probably couldn’t function without her in the room.”

‘SHE EARNED HER RESPECT’

This isn’t a path Kleine envisioned for herself. Especially working for the Vikings, of all teams.

She grew up in Sheboygan, Wis., about an hour south of Lambeau Field, so she gravitated toward the Packers in her early years. She has a particular affinity for hall of fame quarterback Brett Favre and the way he played the game.

“I never actually played football, though, so I never thought this is what I would be doing,” Kleine said. “I always thought my route would be golf or something. I actually worked for the PGA for a summer. I thought that would kind of be my route. This opportunity came out of nowhere.”

As a student at the University of Minnesota about a decade ago — she graduated from the U in 2013 — Kleine had to interview someone working in sports for a class assignment. She got in contact with Jeff Anderson, vice president of strategic and corporate communications for the Vikings, and interviewed him at Winter Park in Eden Prairie.

“We ended up talking about their gameday internship,” Kleine said. “I interviewed for that and got it. That’s how I got my start with the Vikings.”

She parlayed that into another internship in the public relations department, and then a couple of months before the 2013 NFL Draft, an intern in the scouting department left for another job. That opened another door for Kleine, and she jumped at the opportunity to learn something new.

It wasn’t glamorous work. She remembers taking reports written by the college scouts and manually typing the information into the system. Though it seemed a thankless job on the surface, Spielman said her attention to detail and willingness to learn impressed everyone in the front office.

“She came in toward the end of the draft process and had to hit the ground running because we were already in full gear in our preparation,” Spielman said. “Most people would get overwhelmed. Especially if they weren’t on that side of the business previously. She was not overwhelmed at all. In fact, she wanted more, and the more we gave her, the more she wanted to take on. She earned her respect.”

After the draft, Kleine was hired on as a season-long intern. She excelled in that role, and eventually accepted a full-time position in the scouting department.

“I never thought this is what I’d be doing,” she said. “I remember Rick Spielman called me into his office and he believed in me from Day 1. He’s honestly believed in me sometimes more than I’ve believed in myself. I owe it to him and everyone else that put a word in for me.”

As for her family of Packers fans?

“It’s still a sore subject for my family,” she said with a laugh. “My mom is definitely converted. My boyfriend is pretty close. My sister is pretty good. My brother is OK. My brother-in-law will never. It’s funny. No, they all support me. They just won’t cheer for us.”

‘SHE’S GOING TO EXCEL’

As much as Kleine loved the work, she knew she had a lot to learn. She had what she described as a “basic knowledge” of the game when she started with the Vikings.

“I wasn’t necessarily starting from scratch,” Kleine said. “I just didn’t know as much as some people who grew up playing the game. Like, I knew what a defensive tackle was when I started. But I didn’t know the difference between a nose tackle and a three technique.”

There were so many people that helped Kleine learn the ropes. She gushed over Scott Studwell, who spent 14 years with the Vikings as a player, then another 30 years with the organization as a member of the front office before he retired in 2019.

“He trained me, and he’s like a father figure to me,” Kleine said. “It’s pretty cool to say I got to learn from an NFL legend like that. He’s also an incredible person. I owe a ton to him. We still talk all the time.”

When she wasn’t learning from Studwell, she was grinding over film with pro scouts like Ryan Monnens and Reed Burckhardt, among others. She also soaked up as much as she could from Stephenson, as well as George Paton, who is now the general manager of the Denver Broncos.

“She has found a niche, not only in our organization, but in the league as a whole,” Studwell said. “We talk a lot about about what kind of career trajectory she wants. It’s more a question of where she wants to take it and how far she wants to take it. Whatever she decides to do, she’s going to excel. That’s the type of person she is.”

As time has progressed, Kleine has taken on additional responsibility in the front office. She currently spearheads college scouting in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, and continues to prove she’s ready for more.

“We have steadily increased her role, and the way she continues to grow, I can’t imagine not increasing her role as she moves along in her career,” Spielman said. “She’s always had that type of career trajectory.”

Maybe the most promising thing for Kleine at this point is she’s still only scratching the surface.

“I still don’t know football as well as these guys who have been in it for all these years,” Kleine said. “And that’s OK. I’m still learning. But I like to look to the other side of it when I’m on the road. I like to look at the character side of it and dig more into that. I feel like I’m pretty good at reading people and connecting with people. I like getting to know these players on a deeper level so I can really understand them. That’s a strength for me.”

‘SHE’S SORT OF A PIONEER’

Though it’s no secret that an NFL front office has long been a male-dominated field, Kleine said she actually didn’t think much about that when she started with the Vikings.

“I didn’t know any better,” she said. “I truly had no clue, and I guess maybe that was a good thing because I just jumped right in. It was like, ‘Why can’t I do this?’ ”

That’s been her mentality throughout her career, and while she still doesn’t feel completely comfortable being the center of attention, Kleine said she takes a lot of pride in being a female in her current role.

“It’s cool to see the next generation coming up now and I’m kind of like the old fart now,” she said. “There are so many impressive young females now, and it’s really cool to see. It makes me proud to see that the NFL has grown so much and is going in a positive direction.

“If I’ve had any effect in that, then that’s extremely special to me. But I don’t really think about it that way during the day to day, if that makes sense. I’m just here to put my head down every day and help this team win a Super Bowl.”

In hindsight, Studwell said he’s proud of Kleine for putting herself out there about a decade ago.

“If we go all the way back to when she started, it was a tremendous leap of faith on her part,” Studwell said. “That side of the business is predominantly male. She’s sort of a pioneer in that sense. Just the fact that she’s on the scouting side and learning and continuing to improve on her craft makes me really proud. We’ll see where it goes.”

As for where Kleine sees herself in the future, she said, like anybody working in the scouting department, running her own team at some point is the ultimate goal. Not that she’s looking too far ahead.

“I’ve got a long ways to go if I’m ever going to get to that point,” Kleine said. “I just want to keep growing and keep learning and see where this path takes me.”

If that’s what she wants to do down the road, though, it’s hard to doubt her at this point.

“The sky is the limit for Kelly,” Spielman said. “She doesn’t have a ceiling. She’s nowhere near where she’s probably going to end up down the road here in this business.”

LAS VEGAS

The DB has always thought that the Raiders would be a tough ticket in Vegas.  Early signs point to that being the case.  Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com:

“It was more difficult to get a ticket to the UNLV basketball game than it was to the Frank Sinatra show.” — coach Jerry Tarkanian, on HBO’s “Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV.”

Yeah, this used to be the Rebels’ playground. Imagine what the late Tark the Shark would have said about the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders invading Sin City last year.

And when it comes to tickets, what would Tarkanian have thought of it being more expensive to watch the Silver and Black at the corner of Al Davis Way and Dean Martin Drive than to check out Ol’ Blue Eyes on the Strip?

Or did you miss that tidbit about secondary-market ducats bubbling up with last week’s NFL schedule release? After Tom Brady’s return to New England, Las Vegas has five of the next six most in-demand games based on average ticket price and six of the next eight, per Vivid Seats.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Patriots on Oct. 3 had an average price of $1,376 per ticket on Monday, with the Raiders’ season-opening Monday Night Football game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 13 averaging $944.

The Raiders playing host to the Kansas City Chiefs ($823) on Nov. 14 was next, followed by the Raiders vs. the Philadelphia Eagles ($673) on Oct. 24, and the Raiders vs. the Chicago Bears ($654) on Oct. 10.

The Patriots hosting the Cowboys ($602) on Oct. 17 ranked sixth, with the Raiders’ home game against the Miami Dolphins ($600) on Sept. 26 right behind that. Brady and the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers then make another appearance with a home game against the Cowboys ($567) in the Thursday night season opener on Sept. 9.

Las Vegas hosting the Los Angeles Chargers ($503) in the season finale on Jan. 9 was ninth and the New Orleans Saints playing host to the Cowboys ($485) on Dec. 2 was 10th.

Of course, this is all contingent upon the pandemic waning and fans being allowed into stadiums. Currently in Las Vegas, attendance for indoor events is capped at 50%, with spacing regulations, but is expected to rise to 100%, perhaps as soon as June 1. And as restrictions are lifted, trips to Las Vegas will resume and the demand for the Raiders, who played in front of 65,000 empty seats at Allegiant Stadium last season, will be what the league imagined when it agreed to move the team from Oakland.

“What this means to me is we’ve got to win games if we want them to keep coming back,” Raiders owner Mark Davis told ESPN.com. “We’re in the sports and entertainment capital of the world. It’s our inaugural season 2.0 and we have a beautiful stadium that is also a draw.

“It’s exciting as hell. We want to do everything safe so we’re taking our cues from the health officials — local, league, state and national. But to think of 65,000 fans in the stadium, that’s what we came here for. I’m excited for that.”

Davis did not attend any home games last season as a show of unity with fans who were shut out of Allegiant Stadium. He said he hopes to join fans this year.

Personal Seat Licenses were sold out almost a year before Allegiant Stadium opened and as such, the team is not expected to have many tickets under its own control, with a lot of the expected inventory going to the league and visiting teams.

The Raiders also made news last week with the announcement of Wynn Resorts becoming the “official nightlife partner” of the team and stadium and sponsoring the field-level club on the other side of the north end zone, a near-11,000-foot space that features couches, bottle service, 42 TVs, a 9-foot-by-35-foot LED screen, two DJ booths and a 45,000-watt sound system (Wynn will control tickets and access to the club at a later date).

No word yet, though, on if the DJs will play any Sinatra.

AFC NORTH

BALTIMORE

2021 SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

Mon Sep 13    at Las Vegas                      8:15pm ET      ESPN/ABC

Sun Sep 19     Kansas City                        8:20pm ET      NBC

Sun Sep 26     at Detroit                            1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Oct 3        at Denver                           4:25pm ET      CBS

Mon Oct 11     Indianapolis                        8:15pm ET      ESPN

Sun Oct 17      Los Angeles Chargers       1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Oct 24     Cincinnati                            1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Oct 31     BYE

Sun Nov 7       Minnesota                           1:00pm ET      FOX

Thur Nov 11    at Miami                              8:20pm ET      FOX

Sun Nov 21     at Chicago                          1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Nov 28     Cleveland                           8:20pm ET      NBC

Sun Dec 5       at Pittsburgh                       4:25pm ET      CBS

Sun Dec 12     at Cleveland                       1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Dec 19     Green Bay                          1:00pm ET      FOX

Sun Dec 26     at Cincinnati                       1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Jan 2        Los Angeles Rams             4:25pm ET      FOX

Sun Jan 9        Pittsburgh                          1:00pm ET       CBS

The Ravens get one of the NFL’s strangest schedules for 2021…They only have one NFC North game in the first 10, while meeting the four AFC West teams within the first 6…That means five of the last seven are division games, including both meetings with Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the two big rivals…Starting on December 5 they visit all three division rivals in the space of four weeks…The Cleveland games are just 14 days apart, with at Pittsburgh inbetween…Five primetime games, plus three games in the 4:25 doubleheader slot – although Aaron Rodgers location will have a lot to do with how far Baltimore at Denver goes on October 3…Three of the first four are on the road, and so are four of five starting at Miami on November 11…On the other hand, Baltimore is home for four straight on either side of its Halloween bye.

CINCINNATI

Sun Sep 12     Minnesota                          1:00pm ET       FOX

Sun Sep 19     at Chicago                         1:00pm ET       FOX

Sun Sep 26     at Pittsburgh                      1:00pm ET       CBS

Thur Sep 30    Jacksonville                       8:20pm ET       NFLN

Sun Oct 10      Green Bay                         1:00pm ET       FOX

Sun Oct 17      at Detroit                            1:00pm ET       FOX

Sun Oct 24      at Baltimore                        1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Oct 31      at NY Jets                           1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Nov 7       Cleveland                           1:00pm ET      CBS

Sun Nov 14     BYE

Sun Nov 21     at Las Vegas                       4:05pm ET     CBS

Sun Nov 28     Pittsburgh                            1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Dec 5       Los Angeles Chargers         1:00pm ET     FOX

Sun Dec 12     San Francisco                      1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Dec 19     at Denver                             4:05pm ET     CBS

Sun Dec 26      Baltimore                            1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Jan 2        Kansas City                         1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Jan 9        at Cleveland                        1:00pm ET      CBS

The Bengals will be in the NFC North to start the year with four of the first six (and with two Flexes, all four are on FOX)…The only primetime game is a Week 4 visit from the Jaguars (the two most recent number ones, Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence make it interesting)… Everything else is at 1 in the East, except two games in the West…The Bengals have three in a row on the road in October, but five of six at home starting on November 28, beginning with a three-game homestand.

– – –

And we get word on Tuesday that QB JOE BURROW should be good to go when the Vikings come to town on September 12.  Adam Schefter of ESPN.com:

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who underwent reconstructive left knee surgery in December, is “all systems go” for the Sept. 12 regular-season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, according to Dr. Neal ElAttrache of Kerlan-Jobe in Los Angeles.

“He’s on track for full go for start of the season,” ElAttrache, who operated on Burrow in December, wrote in a text. “He’s doing all the work. He’s worked his tail off and been an amazingly mature participant in his recovery. He’s focused and great to work with.”

Burrow had told “The Cris Collinsworth Podcast” that he expected to be there for the first snap in 2021. But now ElAttrache is working with the Bengals’ medical staff on Burrow’s rehabilitation, and they believe that goal is well within reach.

Doctors do not want any contact until nine months, which could lead to Burrow sitting out the preseason. But the goal, now well within reach, is to be ready for the start of the regular season.

“We are very happy with his recovery to say the least,” ElAttrache said. “Notwithstanding the nature of his injury and extent of his reconstruction, his knee is performing perfectly.

“We just had him tested out here with a high-tech video and biomechanical evaluation and he was ahead of where we anticipated and well into the return to performance phase of his recovery. With him already performing this way, it’s ‘all systems go’ for the start of the season.”

From what we know about Burrow, we are not “amazed” that he has been a model patient.

CLEVELAND

Sun Sep 12       at Kansas City                    4:25pm ET      CBS

Sun Sep 19       Houston                              1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Sep 26       Chicago                              1:00pm ET     FOX

Sun Oct 3          at Minnesota                       1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Oct 10        at Los Angeles Chargers      4:05pm ET    CBS

Sun Oct 17        Arizona                                4:05pm ET     FOX

Thur Oct 21       Denver                                8:20pm ET     FOX

Sun Oct 31         Pittsburgh                           1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Nov 7          at Cincinnati                        1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Nov 14        at New England                  1:00pm ET     CBS

Sun Nov 21        Detroit                                 1:00pm ET     FOX

Sun Nov 28        at Baltimore                         8:20pm ET    NBC

Sun Dec 5          BYE

Sun Dec 12        Baltimore                             1:00pm ET     CBS

Dec 18            /19          Las Vegas                            TBD

Sat Dec 25         at Green Bay                        4:30pm ET   FOX

Mon Jan 3          at Pittsburgh                         8:15pm ET   ESPN

Sun Jan 9          Cincinnati                              1:00pm ET   CBS

The Browns get plenty of national love from the schedulemakers (but not the max)…Cleveland is in primetime three times (including Aaron Rodgers and the Broncos?) with big, late in the year divisional games with Baltimore and Pittsburgh…And if Rodgers isn’t in Denver, they should see him in Green Bay at 4:30 on Christmas Saturday…There is a three-game homestand starting in mid-October.

PITTSBURGH

Sun Sep 12       at Buffalo                               1:00pm ET   CBS

Sun Sep 19       Las Vegas                              1:00pm ET   CBS

Sun Sep 26       Cincinnati                               1:00pm ET   CBS

Sun Oct 3          at Green Bay                          4:25pm ET   CBS

Sun Oct 10        Denver                                   1:00pm ET    FOX

Sun Oct 17        Seattle                                    8:20pm ET   NBC

Sun Oct 24        BYE

Sun Oct 31        at Cleveland                           1:00pm ET    CBS

Mon Nov 8        Chicago                                   8:15pm ET   ESPN

Sun Nov 14       Detroit                                     1:00pm ET   FOX

Sun Nov 21        at Los Angeles Chargers        8:20pm ET   NBC

Sun Nov 28       at Cincinnati                            1:00pm ET   CBS

Sun Dec 5         Baltimore                                 4:25pm ET   CBS

Thur Dec 9        at Minnesota                            8:20pm ET   FOX

Sun Dec 19       Tennessee                              1:00pm ET    CBS

Sun Dec 26       at Kansas City                         4:25pm ET    CBS

Mon Jan 3         Cleveland                                8:15pm ET    ESPN

Sun Jan 9          at Baltimore                            1:00pm ET    CBS

They may have missed the playoffs last year, but the Steelers still get the full five primetime games that their brand commands…Plus three big CBS doubleheader opportunities…The schedule starts with three early regionals on CBS, but from then on they are not early for consecutive weeks throughout the rest of the schedule.  The Steelers don’t see the Ravens for the first time until December 5 in a late CBS game…The second meeting in Week 18 has Flex (either to Saturday or Sunday night this year) written all over it.

AFC SOUTH

INDIANAPOLIS

When Coach Frank Reich looks at QB CARSON WENTZ, he does not see someone who is “broken.”  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

Like a hamster running in a cage, Colts coach Frank Reich has spent his offseason answering a persistent loop of questions about Carson Wentz, spinning on a media wheel, stuck in the cycle of the offseason. Until the former Eagles quarterback is on the field, under pressure, and delivers, the cycle will persist in Indy.

With the opening of Phase II of the offseason program, when players can hit the field with coaches for a spell, Reich was once again asked to detail why he believes Wentz, who struggled woefully last year in Philly, getting benched down the stretch, is fixable.

Reich understands the line of questioning but repudiated the suggestion that Wentz is “broken.”

“I just cringe when I hear stuff like that, not that a player shouldn’t be accountable for poor play on the field,” the coach said Monday. “Carson has to answer to that, and he has answered to it. And until you get out there and prove otherwise, that’s what you live with. But I just know that playing the position of quarterback, there are so many factors that go into it. We talked about why the poor play last year, I’m just very confident that he has a team around him. It’s just I think the culture fit. You guys know how I feel about the Eagles, how highly I feel about that organization. But sometimes in sports, this is one of those transitions I think it’s going to end up being good for both organizations, I think it’s going to be good for Carson. I think we got to be patient with it. I think it takes a little bit of time, just like it took Philip (Rivers) a minute and Jacoby (Brissett) a minute. But I’m confident that we got the right player.”

The Colts decided to take a swing on Wentz, which included trading away a potential first-round pick if the QB plays a certain amount of reps. The club determined the castoff QB was the best route for a playoff-caliber club, given the options on the open market and where they stood in the draft.

In response to questions about Wentz this offseason, the Indy brass has ad nauseam said the relationship between Reich and Wentz is the main reason they have faith the marriage can work. With his full faith in Wentz, Reich knows the pressure is on to make it work and get the QB back to his 2017 MVP-caliber self.

“Absolutely. I think it’s a collaborative effort that we work with Carson,” Reich said, affirming he’s aware of the self-induced pressure created by standing behind Wentz. “But yeah, you stick your neck out for players as a head coach or a GM or a scout or coach — we all do it. As a head coach, sometimes you have a bit more say in it than maybe a position coach. But that’s what you love about it. I love sticking my neck out for people I believe in. I’m willing to put it on the line for players that you believe in. I believe in this team, I believe in Carson. I feel good about it. I do know that his play will reflect the work that he does, the work that our team does, the work that our staff does, all the preparation. But I don’t mind being the point person on that.”

JACKSONVILLE

Dan Wetzel of YahooSports.com usually buys into arguments from the Woke, but he can’t get worked up about TE TIM TEbow getting another chance.

There are athletes who generate outlandish reactions that are disproportionate to their actual abilities.

In other words, have you heard of Tim Tebow?

Let there be no doubt, a lot of people love them some Tim Tebow.

This is easy to understand. He was a big star at the University of Florida, where he won a Heisman Trophy and was part of two national titles. He played a physical, exciting style. He wasn’t a great NFL QB, but he won a playoff game.

Mostly though, he’s a nice guy, a charity-based guy, a do-something guy. Last week he and his foundation partnered with the state of Tennessee to fight human trafficking. Who could oppose that?

He’s a motivational speaker, doing it in an uber-positive, you-can-do-it kind of way. And, of course, he’s very public about his faith, which is hardly unique among pro athletes, but is appealing to those who share it.

Other fans don’t like him, but in a reasonable fashion. Maybe they hated the Gators. Maybe they didn’t like the hype he got. Maybe they are part of the “stick to sports” crowd and weren’t fans of the Bible verses on the eyeblack back in college. Of course, “stick to sports” is usually a sliding scale of hypocrisy.

All of this is mostly fair. Sports are about heroes and heels and each fan gets to choose who is who. When Tebow lasted just three seasons — and just 14 starts at QB — in the NFL, his critics got what they wanted.

There is another segment though who all but lost it when word broke that Tebow, now 33, had recently worked out for Jacksonville. The Jags, led now by Tebow’s old college coach Urban Meyer, are considering offering him a one-year deal (which is really nothing more than a camp invite) even though he hasn’t appeared in a game since 2013 and hasn’t been in camp since 2015.

Why did this anger so many people? We can only theorize, and will later. But first: Should it have?

No. It’s not like Meyer gave him $150 million and said he was the Week 1 starter at quarterback. We’re talking about one of the 90 camp invites for a 1-15 team led by a rookie head coach. The Jags’ tight ends combined to catch two touchdown passes last year. How many of the angry masses can name one of them, let alone the position depth chart?

This is a low-risk gamble.

Besides, it’s not unusual for coaches to bring along veterans they are comfortable with — and Meyer certainly is with Tebow. It’s not unusual for veterans to get signed for their leadership or attitude — 38-year-old running back Frank Gore was with the New York Jets, after all, last season.

The NBA is a different sport, but the Miami Heat have kept veteran good guy Udonis Haslem around the last few years because of what he means in a locker room. The 40-year-old isn’t really a player anymore — he appeared in one game, the regular-season finale, this year. So what? Miami thinks he’s worth it.

Besides, wilder stuff has happened in the NFL.

In 2015, Seattle brought in Nate Boyer, a 34-year-old Army Green Beret and decorated war hero in a long-shot attempt to make it as an undersized long snapper. Boyer was mostly there for who he was, not whether he’d actually play in the NFL.

In 2004, Minnesota spent a camp invite on WWE sensation Brock Lesnar even though he hadn’t played football since high school. In 2019, the New York Giants had Austin Droogsma, a massive shot putter at their rookie minicamp.

In 2013, Indianapolis made a run at a giant Icelander who’d never played football named Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson — you might know him as “Thor” from the “World’s Strongest Man” competitions or “The Mountain” from the show “Game of Thrones.”

Whatever. It’s all fun.

Tebow is a big, strong athlete. Maybe he can be useful. His years of playing minor league baseball mean he hasn’t taken the punishment of a normal NFL veteran his age. Tight end is partially a macro skill position, so time off isn’t necessarily disqualifying.

Mostly though, Tebow is being given the opportunity to humiliate himself. He’s more likely to fail than succeed. Visions of him getting blown up trying to block or dropping a pass he should have caught are very possible. He doesn’t care.

He wants to give it a try … on the worst team in football. Good for him.

So what’s the problem?

While Tebow’s possible chance is being compared to Colin Kaepernick not getting a chance, that’s a stretch. You can believe Kaepernick was unfairly treated by the NFL and see that these two situations aren’t really that comparable.

Tebow, to me, is more like Cam Newton. Not as players, since Newton is exponentially better and never quit football to try another sport. He has earned every opportunity.

Like Tebow, though, Newton often elicits outsized negative reactions despite having done relatively little that is controversial. He mostly plays really hard and really well. Yet everything from metrics to comment sections will show wild responses to him.

Neither he, nor Tebow, is perfect. They are each proud and unapologetic about who they are. Maybe that’s what creates groups of people who dislike them so much, or are uncomfortable with them.

If you drew a Venn diagram of the Tebow/Newton haters, it’s possible there is no overlap. They are two sides of the same coin.

But what’s the coin? Why does it even exist?

Each member of the Tebow hate club has their own reason. My best guess is something that plagues a lot of American society. There is an old saying that my enemy’s enemy is my friend. In this case, maybe it is “my enemy’s favorite player is my enemy.”

If you dislike, for whatever reason, the people who love Tebow, then perhaps you hate Tebow even if there is little to no reason to hate Tebow. Same with Newton.

Maybe there isn’t a single perfect answer.

Something is driving this stuff, though, because the NFL is currently overwhelmed by a possible camp invitation to a backup tight end for a lousy team. Then again, being offended by something happening somewhere by someone has become our national, bipartisan pastime. Bigger than the NFL, even.

AFC EAST

THIS AND THAT

DIVA QBs

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com sees the trend of QBs taking their career into their own hands and forcing their way to more hospitable situations as likely to continue:

Hall of Fame G.M. Ron Wolf recently decried “diva” quarterbacks who want to disregard long-term contracts and secure trades to new teams. They’re not “divas”; they’re instead recognizing the power they have, and they’re using it.

Whatever the label, the trend likely won’t be ending any time soon.

This year, NFL teams already have traded three quarterbacks despite long-term contracts. The Eagles shipped Carson Wentz, who wanted out of Philly, to Indianapolis. The Lions sent Matthew Stafford, who wanted out of Detroit, to L.A. The Rams sent Jared Goff, who didn’t really want out of L.A., to Detroit.

Wolf’s concerns relate to a trio of quarterbacks who have yet to be traded, but who reportedly would like to be: Deshaun Watson of the Texans, Russell Wilson of the Seahawks, and Aaron Rodgers of the Packers. It feels like each of them, sooner or later, will get their wish to play for new teams.

So who’s next? It’s hard to imagine there won’t be a next wave, especially as Tampa Bay’s handling of Tom Brady demonstrates the potential upside of embracing a franchise quarterback and treating him like something more than a clock-punching employee.

When young quarterbacks enter the NFL, the question becomes one of pass-fail. And if they pass, we assume they’ll stay put. Brady’s instant success in Tampa Bay will cause more franchise quarterbacks, obsessed with winning, to think about where else they can go in order to better achieve their goals.

I considered naming names, floating possibilities of young (and not-so-young) quarterbacks who may decide they’ve had enough of where they are, and who may want something more and may be willing to try to engineer it. But that effort easily could be misinterpreted as something more than wild-ass guesses, which they basically would be.

Also, I don’t really need to name names. Anyone who pays attention to the NFL needs to simply look at the teams that have good quarterback situations and ask a simple question: What would it take to make the established quarterback try to force his way out?

This year, quarterbacks from five teams — more than 15 percent of the league — wanted out. The three who want out but have yet to get what they want are among the five best quarterbacks in all of football. The others include Patrick Mahomes, who’s under contract into the next decade, and Tom Brady, who accelerated this trend by leaving the Patriots, landing in Tampa Bay, and instantly winning a Super Bowl.

Ready or not, like it or not, it’s here. The teams that realize it, and that properly handle their franchise quarterbacks, won’t have to worry about it. The teams that persist in the old-school belief that a multi-year agreement automatically means that the quarterback will bite his tongue and “honor his contract” and continue to spin his wheels despite his input being ignored will find themselves with players who want to play for a team that will take a more modern and realistic view of the relationship between franchise and franchise quarterback.

Florio says he doesn’t want to float names, but who could fall into that category?

Kyler Murray?  Baker Mayfield?  Joe Burrow in time?  Matt Ryan?

Not really feeling it, but you just don’t know.