NFC NORTH

DETROIT

Coach Dan Campbell believes that RB JAHMYR GIBBS will be good to go for most, if not all, of the regular season.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell updated the status of several injured players on Wednesday and the news was positive across the board.

Running back Jahmyr Gibbs left Monday’s practice with a hamstring injury, but it does not sound like the team is going to be without him for an extended period of time.

“I think we’re going to be fine,” Campbell said on 97.1 The Ticket, via multiple reporters.

Rookie cornerbacks Terrion Arnold (pectoral) and Ennis Rakestraw (ankle) also left the session. Word on Tuesday was that Arnold will be ready for the regular season and Campbell said both corners were in the same category as Gibbs.

Quarterback Hendon Hooker suffered a concussion in the team’s preseason opener and Campbell said he’s trending the right way to play against the Chiefs this weekend.

MINNESOTA

Good thing the Vikings were planning to role with QB SAM DARNOLD to start 2024.  Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com:

– The status of J.J. McCarthy is in question after tests revealed the Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback has a tear in the meniscus of his right knee, with a final determination to be made once he undergoes surgery this week.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed the injury Tuesday, saying it occurred during Saturday’s 24-23 preseason victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. McCarthy threw the second of his two touchdown passes on his final play and left only after he played the 30 snaps O’Connell planned for him to take.

McCarthy did not mention any pain or soreness until reporting it Monday to team medical officials. In a post on X, McCarthy said: “Love you Viking nation. I’ll be back in no time. Amor fati,” referencing the belief that one should appreciate all experiences in life regardless of whether they are pleasant.

Doctors will decide during surgery whether McCarthy needs a trim of the meniscus — which could allow him to return this season — or a full repair that could sideline him until 2025.

“That’s totally, totally a medical decision,” O’Connell said. “Certainly, what’s best for the long-term health of J.J. McCarthy will be the priority. I don’t have that answer and really won’t be a part of determining that answer. … I have total complete trust in our medical staff and also the people that will be performing the procedure.”

The news of McCarthy’s injury only further ensures that veteran Sam Darnold, who signed a one-year contract worth $10 million in March after spending 2023 as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers, will be the Vikings’ starting quarterback in Week 1 and likely beyond.

Darnold has taken all but two of the Vikings’ first-team offensive snaps during training camp and also started Saturday’s game. McCarthy’s performance Saturday likely meant he would begin to take more first-team snaps in practice, but there was no indication that O’Connell was considering the former Michigan star as a viable option for Week 1.

Darnold, who has looked increasingly sharp as training camp has progressed, completed four of eight passes Saturday for 59 yards. The other two quarterbacks on the team’s roster are 2023 holdovers Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall.

“Sam’s had a really good camp and my confidence level in Sam is very, very high at this point,” O’Connell said, “and looking forward to seeing him continue his progression that we’ve had for him throughout the early part of camp into that first preseason game. … I’m really looking forward to Sam’s continued growth and success in the offense, and I know his teammates and the rest of the coaching staff have been really enthused by what Sam’s done.”

The Vikings selected McCarthy with the No. 10 overall draft pick this year after parting ways with incumbent Kirk Cousins, who joined the Atlanta Falcons in free agency.

McCarthy had made progress since an uneven performance in spring OTAs and minicamp, and he remained in Minnesota during the early part of the summer to refine a set of adjusted footwork and other mechanical changes the team had recommended.

McCarthy maintained a steady approach throughout training camp over to his preseason debut, when he replaced Darnold after one series against the Raiders. The game began inauspiciously when McCarthy threw an interception to end his first series, but he rallied to throw touchdown passes of 45 and 33 yards in the third quarter, finishing with 11 completions in 17 attempts for 188 yards.

Mike Florio sees opportunity for Darnold.

As college football season approached seven years ago, Sam Darnold was widely regarded as the sure-fire first overall pick in the 2018 draft. By April, he slipped two spots.

By 2020, he slipped off the roster of the team that drafted him.

With Vikings first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy possibly missing all of 2024, Darnold could be getting his best chance to thrive in the NFL. For a variety of reasons.

When quarterbacks bust, not enough attention is placed on the players around the quarterback. Or the coaches. Or the front office. Or the owners. The Jets have a long and distinguished history of wrecking young quarterbacks. If Darnold hadn’t been picked by them, who knows what he might have been?

His second stop doesn’t reveal much about the player, either. He landed with a Panthers franchise that was on the Slip-‘N’-Slide of dysfunction, with Matt Rhule literally out of his coaching league.

Last year, Darnold wasn’t needed in San Francisco; he eventually started a late-season game, after the 49ers secured the No. 1 seed in the NFC. This year, he goes from being a placeholder to the actual wire-to-wire starter, if McCarthy’s knee injury knocks him out for all of 2024.

That’s the other benefit to Darnold. If McCarthy ends up on the shelf for 2024, there won’t be any question of when McCarthy will start. It will be Darnold, all year long.

With receiver Justin Jefferson, a very good offensive line, a coach who knows how to scheme receivers open, and a running back in Aaron Jones who has gas in the tank, Darnold could finally put it together. And he’s not raw. While only 27, he has started 57 regular-season games.

Fifty-eight seems like a given. By January, he could be up to 73. With 17 of them in the best circumstances he’s ever seen in his entire career.

NFC EAST

DALLAS

Mike Florio says that whatever you think the value of the Cowboys might be – you are way too low if they were ever to be put up for sale.

From time to time, media outlets attempt to apply specific values to sports teams. It’s better than nothing, but these efforts to approximate worth are largely worthless.

On Tuesday, Sportico.com made waves by declaring that the Cowboys are the first NFL team to surpass a valuation of $10 billion.

Ultimately, any business is worth whatever someone will pay for it. And it’s very safe to say that, if the Cowboys were for sale, they’d sell for much more than $10 billion.

Of course, they’re not for sale. Owner Jerry Jones has made that clear, over and over again. Assuming enough money has been set aside to address the estate tax burden when that time comes, and assuming Jerry’s kids don’t want to sell, external attempts to guess the value will continue to not matter.

Several years ago, a source with extensive knowledge of the operation of NFL franchises predicted that the average, random team would soon be sold for $8 billion to $10 billion. Two years ago, the Broncos set a record with a sale price of $4.65 billion. The Commanders shattered that last year, with a price tag of $6.05 billion.

The Cowboys, if for sale, would easily go for twice that amount. Maybe $15 billion.

Again, it’s irrelevant. The Cowboys aren’t for sale. And any efforts to put hypothetical numbers on teams that aren’t for sale aren’t relevant, either. If/when teams are for sale, they’ll keep going for more. And more. And more.

That’s the key word. More. Whenever Forbe or Sportico or any other publication tries to put a dollar value on an NFL team, tell yourself that.

More.

NFC SOUTH

CAROLINA

Per NFL.com, QB ANDY DALTON has returned to practice after missing two weeks with a quad injury.

NEW ORLEANS

DE CAMERON JORDAN was used to going to the playoffs every year.  Now, the Saints have been three years without qualifying, and he has noticed.  Michael David Smith ofProFootballTalk.com:

Saints defensive lineman Cameron Jordan has been in New Orleans a long time. He was their first-round pick in 2011 and has been with them since, playing in 209 regular-season games and 11 postseason games with the team. Only Drew Brees has played more games for the Saints in franchise history.

But the Saints have missed the playoffs three straight seasons, and Jordan says that should let everyone know it’s time for a change.

“The name of the game is whatever we’ve been doing has not been enough, so we have to be able to do more. If you’re not willing to embrace that, beat it,” Jordan said, via the Saints’ website.

For Jordan, doing more meant losing 14 pounds this offseason, going from 290 at the end of last season to 276 now.

“I slimmed down for me,” he said. “At some point, I feel like I faced mortality last year with the injury. I was like, let’s be the best version of me and so I came in how I came in. Conditioning has never been an issue for me, being able to play 17 games hasn’t been an issue and so now I just want to be the best version of me. So, whatever that takes. It’s a season of more. Whatever it takes to give more.”

At age 35, Jordan doesn’t have many training camps left in his career. He’s putting his all into this one.

NFC WEST

LOS ANGELES RAMS

With QB JIMMY GAROPPOLO set to serve a two-week suspension at the start of the regular season, QB STETSON BENNETT was penciled in to be the backup.  Then, he threw five interceptions (four that counted) in the opener.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

Rams backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will miss the first two weeks of the regular season, due to a suspension under the PED policy. That leaves Stetson Bennett as the primary backup for Week 1 at Detroit and Week 2 at Arizona.

Does coach Sean McVay feel confident Bennett can be the backup to Matthew Stafford for the first two games that count?

“Yeah, I think we still have to be able to see some more body of work,” McVay told reporters on Tuesday. “What I did like was what I mentioned to you . . . to be able to stay together. That’s a tough deal when you have the ball [and] when you turn it over a handful of times. It was [a tough situation]. He kind of mentioned it in the postgame [interviews] to you guys where he thought he was seeing some things and then the mistakes ended up being pretty costly but he just kept playing. He kept fighting. The guys kept believing around him. I was really impressed with the resilience that he demonstrated. We do need to take better care of the football. That’s a very important thing. All of those are very correctable and really in a lot of them, it’s not necessarily with the exception . . . well, a couple of them were bad decisions and then a couple of them were just missed the way that you want to throw . . . make the type of layered throw. But you’re going to the right spot. [These are] all things that we can learn from. He has to continue to improve and we’re still in evaluation mode.”

Bennett overcame fourth interceptions (and a fifth on the final drive that was wiped out by a defensive penalty) to throw a last-second touchdown pass for the win.

There are two more preseason games for Bennett to add to his initial preseason performance of the year. If McVay decides based on this Saturday against the Chargers and next Saturday against the Texans that Bennett can’t get it done, the only other in-house option is Dresser Winn.

The DB would note that QB JOHN WOLFORD, well-schooled in McVay and his system, looked pretty darn good for the Buccaneers last Saturday.  He seems ticketed to be TB’s number three QB.  Is there a deal to be made there?

SAN FRANCISCO

Some reports are not as optimistic as this, but Mike Garofolo of NFL Network thinks the 49ers are close to a long-term deal that will keep WR BRANDON AIYUK with the Niners.  Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com:

Earlier Tuesday came news that the Steelers and 49ers have a deal in place for a Brandon Aiyuk trade. So, why hasn’t it happened yet?

Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports the 49ers haven’t pulled the trigger on a trade because they aren’t that far apart on a deal to keep Aiyuk in San Francisco long term.

“What I’ve been told is that Brandon Aiyuk would prefer to stay with the 49ers, and has always preferred to stay with the 49ers, all things being equal,” Garafolo said. “Now, they haven’t been equal, but they did make that offer. In fact, both sides sent proposals within the last, I don’t know, couple days, week or so, and the 49ers’ number has gotten better than what it was previously.”

The 49ers would prefer to keep Aiyuk than trade him, which is why they restarted talks last week.

He caught 153 passes for 2,357 yards and 15 touchdowns the past two seasons.

Aiyuk, 26, has been staging a hold-in with the 49ers throughout training camp as he seeks a new contract. The No. 25 overall pick of the 2020 draft, Aiyuk is currently set to earn $14.124 million in guaranteed base salary on his fifth-year option in 2024.

Ben Solak of ESPN.com makes the case that Aiyuk is better than you think, truly elite:

Here’s my read on what Aiyuk means for the team he’s trying to depart, and the team that might acquire him, as this saga continues:

Just how good is Aiyuk?

Contextualizing the greatness of an NFL receiver presents a much bigger challenge than you might expect. The position is oversaturated with talent, which warps our perspective.

Here’s an example: The 15^th-best quarterback in the league is someone like Kirk Cousins or Jared Goff; the 15^th-best pass rusher is someone like Alex Highsmith or Rashan Gary. But the 15^th-best wide receiver is closer to Mike Evans, who has produced 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, or Amari Cooper, who just had 1,250 receiving yards on the Browns’ quarterback carousel last season. That’s how good the position is. When Jeremy Fowler surveyed league personnel for their ranking of the top 10 wide receivers, a total of 29 names got at least one vote cast their way. The cream of the receiver crop has never been richer.

In Fowler’s survey, Aiyuk debuted at 10^th on the back of his best professional season: 1,342 yards on 75 catches with seven scores. That might not look stellar at first brush – Tyreek Hill had 1,800 receiving yards last season – but it’s not the raw output that’s impressive. It’s the efficiency.

Aiyuk averaged 3.3 yards per route run, which is the fourth-best number for a wide receiver since 2010. Yards per route run is a stable metric that rewards a receiver for several things: earning a lot of targets on the routes he runs, catching a lot of those targets and getting a lot of yards out of those catches. Aiyuk was especially good at the last one. A whopping 37.3% of his catches were explosive plays, receptions that went for at least a 20-yard gain. That’s the best explosive play rate for a high-volume receiver (more than 100 targets) since Allen Robinson in 2015.

Perhaps more critically, Aiyuk was not just a shot-play artist. While he’s a blistering deep threat with game-breaking speed, he was not used as a field-stretching WR2 riding sidecar to the high-volume stick-moving WR1. He led the 49ers in targets and receptions, and his catch rate is just as meaningful as his explosive play rate. He hauled in 72.1% of his targets. (The league-average wideout caught 63 of his targets in 2023.)

Think about that for a second. A receiver with a high percentage of explosive receptions is usually getting risky downfield targets that predict a low catch rate, but Aiyuk easily bucked that trend.

We just saw one of the most effective receiver seasons … ever. By the numbers, an Aiyuk route last season was more dangerous than any Calvin Johnson route, any Julio Jones route, any Davante Adams route.

That simply doesn’t pass the sniff test, however. Aiyuk’s numbers might have been historic, but the league ranked him as the 10^th-best receiver right now. His talent pops off the screen, sure. But only as excellent – not as exceptional.

Aiyuk has benefitted from huge inflation in the production achievable at the position. Of the five best single seasons by yards per route run, three came from 2023, and one of the remaining two came from 2022. Efficiency is climbing even as raw volume is climbing: We know that the league is passing the football more than ever, and doing so more successfully. There were 27 1,000-yard receivers last season, which is the most the league has ever produced.

Aiyuk was also historically explosive and efficient … on a historically explosive and efficient offense. Since 2010, only the 2013 Eagles had a better explosive pass rate than the 2023 49ers. While plenty of that credit certainly belongs to Aiyuk, it’s tough to ignore George Kittle once again leading tight ends in explosive catch rate (27.7%) or Deebo Samuel’s 25% explosive catch rate, an astonishing number, considering his targets were so much shallower (6.78 air yards per target) than Aiyuk’s (13.95).

This is a chicken-and-egg problem. Aiyuk’s talent is the rising tide, and it lifts the boats of Kittle and Samuel, who are not bona fide WR1s like Aiyuk. Samuel is a gadget player made perfect in Kyle Shanahan’s offense, but he is at his best on shallow targets or designed screens – Shanahan couldn’t give him Aiyuk’s menu of downfield routes and expect him to dominate. When he is paired with Aiyuk, he gets touches more curated for his skill set, as does Kittle.

The farthest Samuel ever went downfield in a single season was 2021, when he averaged 8.75 air yards per target – still, more than half of his yardage came after the catch, and only 30% of his receptions were explosives. That’s a great season, but not comparable to what Aiyuk did in 2023, or how Aiyuk was used. The best comparison – though we don’t have a ton of route-specific data to emphasize it – is the 2016 season Julio Jones delivered under Kyle Shanahan in Atlanta. It wasn’t Jones’ best season for volume, but for efficiency and explosiveness, it was Aiyuk-esque. (And, not for nothing, it was another Super Bowl year for Shanahan’s team. Don’t ask what happened next.)

So Aiyuk likely unlocks an echelon of the 49ers’ offense for everyone – Samuel, Kittle, and even quarterback Brock Purdy (as we’ll see below) – that they otherwise would not reach. But by the same token, it’s almost certain Aiyuk would not set nearly as historically significant numbers if he were on a remarkably worse offense. That’s important, considering he very well may end up on a remarkably worse offense by the time the week is out.

Why is Aiyuk’s contract situation so contentious?

In a wide receiver market so saturated with talent and ballooning production, many young wideouts can argue that they’re a top guy – and top guys are getting paid. That’s why the position saw a market-topping extension for Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions), which was immediately leapfrogged by a market-topping extension for A.J. Brown (Eagles), which was then leapfrogged by a market-topping extension for Justin Jefferson (Vikings).

It’s why Tee Higgins (Bengals) requested a trade before succumbing to the franchise tag, and why teammate Ja’Marr Chase is holding in (and, lately, holding out) for a contract extension of his own. It’s why Hill (Dolphins) and Cooper (Browns) and Courtland Sutton (Broncos) all got their existing contracts buffed during training camp – the top of the market has grown so fast that deals signed just two offseasons ago are going stale.

As the market explodes, 49ers general manager John Lynch has been painted into a corner. The 49ers can’t argue they can only carry one top-of-market wide receiver deal, because the Eagles have two massive contracts in Brown and DeVonta Smith, and the Dolphins have the same with Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Waddle and Smith were both drafted in 2021, a year after Aiyuk, so San Francisco can’t really contend that Aiyuk should wait out his fifth-year option, either. It is reasonable that he wants to be paid now, even with Samuel’s $28.6 million cap hit sitting on the books.

And considering Aiyuk’s towering 2023 production, crafting the argument for him to become the league’s top-paid receiver isn’t very hard. He has gotten better in each of his four seasons as a pro. He was the most explosive receiver and one of the three most efficient wideouts in football last season. If we really strap on our agent hat, we can even claim he is the reason Purdy has been so successful. Since Purdy took over as the 49ers’ starter in 2022, Aiyuk has been his most valuable target. Among all of San Francisco’s terrifying weapons, Aiyuk is the best at turning a Purdy target into a successful play, a first down or an explosive play:

This is far from an airtight argument. The simplest explanation for Purdy’s explosion coinciding with Aiyuk’s emergence is just that: coincidence. Just as Aiyuk was entering his physical prime and escaping Shanahan’s doghouse, where he spent much of the 2021 season, Purdy stumbled into the starting job and brought downfield aggressiveness that incumbent QB Jimmy Garoppolo lacked. This is another chicken-and-egg problem that makes discerning just how valuable Aiyuk is to the 49ers very, very challenging.

In that spirit, let’s cast aside our agent hat and replace it with a general manager one. If I was in John Lynch’s seat, negotiating with Aiyuk and his agent, I wouldn’t bring up the Purdy stats. Instead, I’d bring up those of Texans WR Nico Collins.

Collins enjoyed a 2023 breakout much like Aiyuk, perhaps one even more surprising. But Collins is just one year younger than Aiyuk and fills a very similar role. Under Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who came from San Francisco and runs an offense reminiscent of Shanahan’s, Collins is the same primary receiver that Aiyuk is for the 49ers. Let’s compare the production of the two young players:

Brandon Aiyuk’s 2023 Season vs. Nico Collins’ 2023 Season

Stat                          Brandon Aiyuk        Nico Collins

Targets                        104 (31^st)               108 (25^th)

Catches                        75 (24^th)              80 (17^th)

Yards                          1,342 (7^th)              1,297 (8^th)

Catch Rate                  72.1% (7^th)           74.1% (5^th)

Yards per route             3.26 (3^rd)            3.30 (2^nd)

Yards per target             12.9 (1^st)            12.0 (2^nd)

Explosive play rate        37.3% (3^rd)        31.3% (6^th)

Air yards per target        13.95 (12^th)       10.69 (44^th)

Yards after catch %       27% (55^th)         42.3 (18^th)

It’s worth noting the differences: Collins got shallower targets and produced more yards after the catch, while Aiyuk got targets further downfield with less YAC. But there will always be differences between two receivers, even in similar roles in similar offenses. The connective tissue here is as strong as it gets in the NFL.

Of course, in a vacuum, this isn’t really an issue. Collins being very, very good doesn’t change the fact that Aiyuk is also very, very good. Both should get big fat contracts to reflect their recent excellence and rosy futures.

The issue is Collins just signed a contract extension. With one year left on his previous deal, he signed a three-year, $72.75 million extension in May, an average of only $24.25 million per year. And if the words “only $24.25 million per year” seem absolutely preposterous to you, I get it, but Collins took less than Smith got on his extension in April. That $24.25 million average ranked seventh among receivers at the time it was signed, and has only been kicked further down the list by more recent extensions. It’s this contract that would give me pause before handing Aiyuk a blank check.

I don’t know exactly what contract Aiyuk is pursuing from the 49ers, but ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported that the Patriots were willing to pay Aiyuk $32 million per year should he accept a trade to the Patriots (Aiyuk declined). That’s top-three WR money, and it’s reasonable to expect the 49ers and Aiyuk are negotiating somewhere in that range.

Again, it makes sense that Aiyuk wants that money. All the other young receivers around him are getting paid, or are holding out to get it done. But the riddle for Lynch to solve is this: What percentage of Aiyuk’s production belongs to his individual excellence, his talent level? What percentage of it is the result of playing on an elite offense with so many other weapons to account for? And what percentage of it is the result of playing for perhaps the preeminent offensive mind of this generation?

The success of Collins is a cautionary tale. Maybe it’s much easier to be a highly efficient and explosive receiver in this role than it appears. Maybe succeeding in this position warrants $24 million per year, not $34 million – top-10 wide receiver money, not top-three.

Even against an ever-rising cap ceiling, that $10 million is not an insignificant amount for San Francisco. The impending Purdy extension looms over their checkbooks. Because Purdy was not a first-round pick, he has no fifth-year option attached to his contract; his four-year deal is up after the 2025 season, and he’s eligible for an extension in March.

Just as the wide receiver market is booming, so too is the quarterback market. Tua Tagovailoa just got $53.1 million per year for aptly quarterbacking a high-octane Shanahan-inspired offense in Miami. Jordan Love got $55 million per year for one season of starting. You think Purdy, who has been to two conference championship games and one Super Bowl, is taking anything less than those colossal figures? With another playoff run and a potential Dak Prescott free agent campaign inflating the market further, Purdy might be a $60 million man by this time next year.

It isn’t impossible to work around the massive quarterback extension. Once again, those pesky Eagles found room in the books, extending Jalen Hurts alongside Brown and Smith. The Dolphins have Tagovailoa with Waddle and Hill. But it requires financial finagling. Teams have to borrow from future years with clever structures. And eventually, they’ll reach critical mass. The 49ers can’t have a top tackle contract (Trent Williams) and top pass rusher contract (Nick Bosa) and top defensive tackle contract (Javon Hargrave) and top linebacker contract (Fred Warner) and top running back contract (Christian McCaffrey) and top tight end contract (Kittle) when they want to carry a top quarterback contract and two top wide receiver contracts. Something’s gotta give.

Should the 49ers trade Aiyuk?

Probably not. He’s a great young player who could still be getting even better, has obvious chemistry with Purdy and is great in the offense. Obviously, as the 49ers get tight against the cap, they should investigate every opportunity to get cheaper and accumulate premier draft capital. I have no doubt that, even if Aiyuk were happily practicing and willing to play on his fifth-year option, they would have been tossing around the idea of trading him, just to see the market.

What I can say with certainty is this: San Francisco should not trade him under these conditions. It is the middle of August, for heaven’s sake. The 49ers, who would still very much love to win the Super Bowl that has maddeningly eluded Shanahan for many years, are the favorites to represent the NFC once again. To trade away their most productive offensive weapon from 2023, their quarterback’s favorite target, would be silly at any time – but especially so this close to this season, when there is little time to onboard replacement receivers or adjust the offense to Aiyuk’s absence.

Aiyuk is also using the leverage of his training camp hold in to maneuver a trade to the Steelers, which is damaging to the 49ers’ leverage in trade negotiations. Again, this is well within his rights: He is not compelled to cheerily hop, skip and jump to whatever franchise the Lynch and Shanahan choose to toss him to, which is why he axed the deal with the Patriots.

Aiyuk has displayed clear interest in two teams: the Steelers and the Commanders. The Commanders make sense, as he played with rookie QB Jayden Daniels at Arizona State. (You read that right: Aiyuk, who is entering his fifth season as a pro, played with Daniels, who is a rookie.) But the Steelers … don’t really make much sense. Their quarterback room is a rather depressing battle between declining veteran Russell Wilson and first-round disappointment Justin Fields. Even if the quarterback play were passable, Mike Tomlin’s Steelers tend to favor a run-heavy offensive philosophy: grind the defense down, eat some clock, control the ball and trust the defense to finish the job. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is cut from a similar cloth. While there are some schematic similarities between the Shanahan offense and the projected Pittsburgh offense, there is a huge difference in philosophy and also in, uh, goodness.

Why would Aiyuk want to go to Pittsburgh so fervently that all other suitors have fallen away? Yes, that includes the Commanders, who have apparently removed themselves from the Aiyuk sweepstakes. I’m really not sure. Respect for Tomlin, a beloved players coach? A faint memory of the Russ who cooked in the mid-2010s?

Whatever the source, the 49ers have been forced into a one-team market for Aiyuk, and that makes it nearly impossible to get a fair price on a trade. A first-round pick was the centerpiece of the 2022 deals that sent A.J. Brown from Tennessee to Philadelphia and Marquise Brown from Baltimore to Arizona, two players on rookie deals and in need of big extensions, as Aiyuk is. I’m confident Aiyuk is a far better player than Marquise Brown was then, and he might be at the level A.J. Brown was before Brown took another step with the Eagles.

There hasn’t been any firm reporting on the trade package Pittsburgh has submitted. I don’t see how the 49ers could have cajoled a first-rounder out of the Steelers, who are notoriously shy traders, given their lack of leverage throughout this entire process. If this deal gets done, I bet you the Steelers made out like bandits.

But this deal might not get done! The 49ers don’t want to trade Aiyuk. The two sides are still negotiating a long-term extension. Could the 49ers really keep Aiyuk after all this drama?

It’s less preposterous than you might think. Remember, before Samuel got his extension from the 49ers in 2022, he demanded a trade and froze contract talks with the team, much as Aiyuk did this summer. The nature of the divide was a little different: Samuel was taking running back snaps and running back hits, and he was appropriately worried about his career longevity if his usage in the offense didn’t change. The wide receiver environment was a little different, too – this was a time when top receivers made only $25 million per year, and we had little cords that connected our phones to the wall, and gas was 5 cents a gallon, etc. But eventually, the deal got done.

Funnily enough, if Aiyuk actually does stay with San Francisco on an enormous extension, Samuel likely becomes a trade candidate. Both were rumored to be on the trade market during the NFL draft in April, so if the 49ers commit to Aiyuk in the long term, they’ll be looking for opportunities to offload Samuel for some cap relief. They wouldn’t jump at the first offer – Samuel is still only 28, is uniquely suited to a Shanahan offense, and with $52.8 million in cap hits over the next two seasons, is pretty good value in the WR market — but they’d have to pick up the phone if someone came calling.

AFC WEST

LAS VEGAS

WR DAVANTE ADAMS is back after two weeks of self-declared paternity leave.  Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com:

Davante Adams returned to the Las Vegas Raiders after being away from the team for nearly two weeks for the birth of his son.

And while the three-time first-team All-Pro receiver practiced Tuesday night for the first time since July 31 and said he was excited to rejoin a team not only still installing a new offense but also in the final days of a quarterback competition, Adams added, “if I’m choosing, I’m not playing” in either of the Raiders’ final two preseason games.

“Obviously, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do when it comes to family and, obviously, your children, but anytime you have to miss some time during camp at this point in the year, it’s not the most comfortable feeling,” said Adams, who was with the Raiders for their first six practices in Costa Mesa, California, before missing the final five and their preseason opener at Minnesota.

“But you’ve got to get back to work and, obviously, having some familiarity with the scheme, it helps me, eases my mind knowing I’ve done it all before. Still, being able to get those reps so we go hit it hard, [will help] make sure we make up for any lost time.”

The Raiders played all of their starters on both sides of the ball in Saturday’s 24-23 preseason opener loss at the Minnesota Vikings, a game Las Vegas led at halftime 20-7.

Aidan O’Connell started at quarterback and had one series, with Gardner Minshew playing four series in the second quarter. Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said he anticipated naming a starter sometime after Saturday’s preseason game at Allegiant Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys.

Adams was a fan and a scout watching at home.

“I mean, they both balled out,” Adams said. “They both did their thing and Gardner came in and picked up where Aidan left off.

“You can see we’ve got two quarterbacks that are not necessarily the same … the O-line was doing a good job keeping both of those guys clean, as much as possible. I’ve seen a lot of good so, hopefully, we keep doing that and it’s going to make it hard on AP to figure out. But I’m praying for nothing but success for both of them.”

Receiver Tre Tucker said the Raiders were more than happy for Adams’ return.

“The offense runs through him and the receiver room does as well,” Turner said. “He’s a leader. Having him is just like, I always say, a confidence booster because he’s one of the best [receivers in the league], if not the best. So just having him alongside of all of us and kind of just how he teaches us, critiquing and all that type of stuff, it’s very good to have.”

Adams, who played in new Raiders offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s system with the Green Bay Packers, acknowledged he was in a different headspace than he was before leaving the team.

“I got my healthy baby boy at home and the rest of the kids there,” Adams said. “So, we got a full house and a lot of help and support around us to make sure I can lock in when we’re in the [Raiders] building, too.”

AFC NORTH

CINCINNATI

WR Ja’MARR CHASE’s “hold in” may have devolved into a hold out.  Jason Marcum ofCincyJungle.com:

Ja’Marr Chase has yet to practice for the Cincinnati Bengals as he awaits a contract extension.

It’s not ideal, but at the very least, Chase has been present for every practice and done some light work while also coaching up other players.

That changed on Tuesday, as Chase was not present at all for the first time since training camp began in late July.

Following practice, head coach Zac Taylor gave a brief update on Chase, who is now considered day-to-day but would not elaborate further.

Taylor also gave an update on backup quarterback Jake Browning, who missed practice today with a rib injury and will miss some time because of it.

Chase, who is entering his fourth NFL season, was staging a hold-in prior to today, effectively a holdout while remaining with the team. With contract talks seemingly not progressing, perhaps he/his agent thought it was time for this to turn into a holdout in which Chase will be away from the team, but that’s merely speculation for now.

As for Browning, this certainly puts the Bengals in a quandary at quarterback for this week’s game vs. the Chicago Bears. Joe Burrow and most of the starters are sitting out, so if Browning is also out, that means the Bengals are down to Logan Woodside and Rocky Lombardi. After Woodside had a promising outing in the first preseason game, he may now be a legitimate threat to make the 53-man roster as a third quarterback.

CLEVELAND

The NFL.com headline is – No JOK: Browns LB signing 3-yr, $39M extension  This from Erik Edholm:

The Cleveland Browns have agreed to terms on a contract extension with linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, one of their best young defenders.

Owusu-Koramoah is signing a three-year, $39 million deal, which includes $25 million guaranteed, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Wednesday, per sources.

At an average of $13 million per year, Owusu-Koramoah will become the NFL’s sixth-highest paid linebacker in terms of average salary per year, just behind the Steelers’ Patrick Queen at roughly $13.7 million APY, according to Over The Cap.

PITTSBURGH

Mike Tomlin is old school when it comes to running a training camp.  Mike DeFabo inThe Athletic:

No air conditioning in the dorm rooms. Horsehair-stuffed mattresses. Two padded practices per day, seven days a week, full of live hitting.

For 66-year-old former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Craig Wolfley, training camp at Saint Vincent College was a “totally different environment” when he suited up in the 1980s under legendary coach Chuck Noll. Every day, twice a day, the Steelers practiced in pads — first with a morning session to work on the running game and later in the afternoon to focus on the passing game.

“They didn’t even dry off your pants and jerseys (between practices),” Wolfley recalled. “It was just sweated up until finally you put (five bucks) in the ball boys’ hands and they would throw it in the dryer for a few minutes before practice.”

Wolfley, now a Steelers radio analyst, joked that he could have a degree from Saint Vincent after all the grueling, six-week camps he attended as a player. But even he heard the old-timers like Andy Russell talk about the marathon, nine-week camps that bruised their bodies and tested their will in the 1960s and ’70s.

“You came together as a team because it was blood, sweat and tears the whole training camp,” Wolfley said. “Chuck Noll training camp was never about making the team. It was about always surviving the moment.”

For generations of football players — from Pee Wee to high school to college and into the pros — long, physical days full of hitting were the norm. The more you hit, the tougher you became. At least that was the thinking.

But times change, and so too has the way teams prepare for the season.

Because athletes are now working out year-round, there’s less need to work them into shape in the preseason. At the same time, rules under the 2011 CBA eliminated two-a-day practices. The physicality has also been dialed back dramatically. Today, in many NFL training camps, if you see a ball carrier or a receiver tackled to the ground, it’s usually an accident.

“I don’t know how many NFL teams are full-on tackling,” Steelers quarterback Justin Fields said. “It’s got other be under three, if they are.”

Fields’ observation got us thinking. How many teams engage in live tackling during camp? In an informal poll conducted by The Athletic, 24 of 32 beat writers (75 percent of the league) said the team they cover very rarely or never tackles players to the ground. Four teams tackle in practice sometimes, but typically for short periods with second- or third-team players on the roster’s fringe. Three teams tackle often, including Andy Reid’s Chiefs, Mike McDaniel’s Dolphins and Dan Campbell’s Lions.

Mike Tomlin’s Steelers are in many ways an outlier. When veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts arrived in Latrobe last season for a three-week destination camp, he was, like Fields, initially taken aback.

“I was kind of like, dang, we’re really tackling in camp,” said Roberts, who spent four years with the Patriots and three with the Dolphins before joining the Steelers. “I was cool with it, but I wasn’t expecting it.”

On a typical day in pads, it’s common to see the Steelers engage in periods of full, live tackling. Each practice begins with a drill called “Seven Shots” — seven chances from the 2-yard line — that are often full-tilt with starters like Najee Harris or key rotation players like Jaylen Warren being tackled to the ground. In many other 11-on-11 settings, the Steelers still see the value in live tackling, including short-yardage and goal-line drills. Additionally, twice this training camp, the Steelers staged spirited backs on ’backers drills, where high-speed collisions simulate live pass protection situations.

Now, as the Steelers pack up and move out of their dorm rooms at Saint Vincent on Wednesday, they’ve completed what is likely the most physical training camp in the league.

“You can’t box without sparring,” Tomlin said. “We play an intense game, competitive game, and I’m not doing these guys justice if I don’t create an environment that is reflective of what’s waiting on us.”

In 2007, when  Tomlin became the NFL’s youngest head coach at 34 years old, he inherited a veteran-laden team full of many players who hoisted the Lombardi Trophy alongside Bill Cowher in 2005.

During his first training camp in Latrobe, Tomlin set the tone and — in a sense — made a statement that there was a new sheriff in town. This wasn’t Cowher’s team anymore.

“He came in and he wanted to set an example and establish his own toughness,” said former Steelers lineman Max Starks, who played three seasons for Cowher and six years under Tomlin. “He didn’t want anybody to seek comfort. We hit every day we could possibly hit, all the way until Week 13 of the regular season, which was unheard of.”

But over a long season, more is not always better. On a team full of veterans, the pounding took its toll. After starting 9-3, the Steelers fizzled down the stretch, dropping three of their final four regular-season games before bowing out of the playoffs in the wild-card round against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“He got the appropriate result,” Starks said. “We’re out in the first round of the playoffs, because he had to learn the veteran-ness of this team and understand that we can we can go light in the week and go kill it on the weekends at games.”

Throughout his time with Tomlin, Starks saw the coach learn from the experience and tweak his approach. While the Steelers still hit often in camp, Tomlin tempered it and learned to take care of veterans with days off. Sure enough, in Tomlin’s second season, the Steelers surged down the stretch, winning six of their final seven to finish 12-4. They rode that momentum to the team’s sixth Lombardi Trophy.

“He’s not too prideful with taking a step back or (saying), ‘Hey, you know, I can get better at this,’” Starks said. “And that’s why you see the sustained success model that he’s created. It was too hard in the beginning. OK, now pull it back.”

Now in his 17^th season and at 52 years old, Tomlin has gone from the youngest head coach in the league to the NFL’s longest-tenured. His first training camp in Latrobe feels like a lifetime ago.

“Man, that was a different time,” Tomlin said. “That was medieval times.”

Even the oldest players on the Steelers’ current roster — Russell Wilson and Cameron Heyward, both 35 — never participated in two-a-days at the NFL level. The approach was banned under the new CBA in 2011, Heyward’s first year in the league and one year before Wilson was drafted. (The NCAA eventually followed suit and ended two-a-day practices with contact in 2017.)

There’s no question Tomlin’s philosophy has evolved, to a degree. In adherence with the CBA, padded practices have been scaled back considerably during the season. Often, if Tomlin makes the Steelers wear pads during the season, it’s to make a point that physicality is lacking on Sundays. Even early in camp, Tomlin will hold out veterans like T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Heyward to protect them from themselves.

Tomlin also used to intentionally schedule training camp practices during the hottest time of the day to manufacture adversity. He has since changed his approach with a new strength and conditioning staff to practice earlier in the morning when it’s cooler.

At the same time, the coach still very much sees the value in creating game-like situations in Latrobe — and so do the players.

“Just how we do Seven Shots, I don’t think anybody else in the country does that,” Fields said. “The parameters of how practice is ran and just the intensity out of everybody, it’s very competitive out here. And you wouldn’t want it any other way.

Beyond preparing starters for the season, the physicality of camp is an important evaluation tool. Two seasons ago, Warren arrived as an untouted and undrafted rookie running back with a junior college stop on his resume. In an early backs on ’backers drill, his pad-popping demeanor got the coaches’ attention and ultimately helped him earn a spot on the roster. Now, he’s one of the league’s best pass-protecting backs.

“I love it,” Warren said when asked about the environment Tomlin creates. “Although the days get hard, I love what it brings and what it creates.”

In this camp, especially, the word physicality has been on the tip of many players’ tongues. When the Steelers hired Arthur Smith — who is well-known for his run-heavy, tight-end friendly offenses — the new offensive coordinator made a point to say he wants to have the most physical offense in the league. That buzzword has carried over to the practice field.

“Whether that’s being part of the run game or getting yards after the catch, he wants all 11 to be physical,” wide receiver Van Jefferson said. “He wants to be a physical offense. He’s instilled that in us from Day 1.”

What will it all mean when they finally start the season? Coaches often say that coaching a football team doesn’t come with an instruction manual. And while there’s no perfect answer when it comes to how much hitting is enough (and how much is too much), the Steelers believe that through their physical approach, they have begun to establish the identity that will carry them through the season.

“Other teams, they know what it is when they play the Steelers,” Warren said. “You can see what we built here.”

AFC SOUTH

HOUSTON

Jeffri Chadiha of NFL.com gets positive vibes from his visit to the Texans:

If the Houston Texans are going to make good on all the promise hovering around them, it won’t be just because of quarterback C.J. Stroud or the contributions of various big-name veteran acquisitions. It will come down to less noticeable moments, like the days and nights they recently spent in a suburban hotel during a lengthy road trip to Ohio. That getaway was about more than creatively filling time in between a couple of preseason games. It was about players getting to know each other, to bond and to hone the chemistry that is required to win games in January.

It might have been as simple as a group of guys playing cards In somebody’s room one night. They could’ve been talking trash during spirited games of EA Sports’ College Football 25 or merely comparing notes about life with their families. The key thing was that they were filling that time together.

“Having those days off, when we’re all just breaking bread and chopping it up for hours with nothing else to do, we were just bonding,” Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said Tuesday. “It felt like college all over again.”

Al-Shaair signed with the Texans this offseason because he believed this team was ready to vault into championship contention. Those nine days the team spent in Ohio – after playing the Chicago Bears in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game in Canton, the Texans stayed in the state, practicing at University School, the alma mater of general manager Nick Caserio, near Cleveland ahead of their preseason matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers – convinced him that his instincts weren’t wrong. Al-Shaair spent the first four years of his career playing in San Francisco, reaching one Super Bowl and three NFC Championship Games with the Niners. Those experiences taught him exactly what a winning franchise needs to look like.

We all know training camp is a time when every team in the NFL is searching for the same type of chemistry the Texans covet. Some franchises spend their entire camps away from their facilities to attain it, while others – like Houston – opt to largely stay within the friendly confines of their facilities. What makes the Texans’ trip to the Cleveland area so noteworthy is how much it comes up in conversation around this team. They clearly understand how much is riding on this coming season.

Nobody saw Houston turning into what it became last year. The Texans conquered the AFC South after winning all of 11 games in the three previous seasons, while Stroud blossomed into a star, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. The good vibes continued into the offseason, as Houston added accomplished veterans like wide receiver Stefon Diggs, running back Joe Mixon and defensive end Danielle Hunter. The AFC is loaded with talented teams, but the Texans have quickly entered the conversation as a trendy threat to push the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs.

The challenge Houston now faces is handling all those weighty expectations. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who won the AFC South in 2022, were also a sexy team on the rise when last season began, and they wound up watching the playoffs from home. The Texans could easily suffer the same fate if some things don’t go right this fall. It’s the reality of operating without the last-place schedule the Texans might have been accustomed to recently – now, everybody can see you coming.

This is why veterans like Al-Shaair, who spent last year in Tennessee, are so big on the intangibles. “You can see the brotherhood,” he said. “You can feel it. You can feel it on the field and when you’re watching the tape. That’s the kind of bond we had in San Francisco, and they continue to have it there. That’s why [the 49ers] are playing for championships year after year. You can see the talent around here and the individual guys coming together, because we just needed a couple more pieces. We have everything we need right now.”

There’s no doubt the talent is there. The trade that brought Diggs over from Buffalo gives the Texans one of the most exciting receiver rooms in the league. He’ll join Nico Collins, Tank Dell and tight end Dalton Schultz as popular targets for Stroud. Mixon proved last season in Cincinnati that he’s still a difference-maker as a runner and receiver, and he’ll be a dangerous threat in this offense. The defense will be just as disruptive, as Hunter teams with edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., who won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

The most valuable component, obviously, is Stroud. He’s done his own part to build camaraderie this offseason by organizing workouts for his receivers and establishing himself as even more of a leader than he was last year. As impressive as Stroud was in 2023, when he broke several records in rookie passing categories, he’s embraced the fact that defenses now have more tape on him, and that he needs to be ready for tougher challenges. Stroud also is realizing that, as quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson said, ‘’it’s not about just doing his job but understanding what he can do to make everyone around him better.”

“One thing I love about C.J. is he’s authentic,” Johnson said Tuesday. “He leads with his authenticity. He puts in the work so he can talk the talk. He’s the hardest working guy here with the playbook. He knows the scheme and what we want to get done, and when he’s upset, he’s upset. That authenticity is what guys respond to. He knows who he is.”

The bigger question will be how well the Texans know themselves as a team by the end of this season. Head coach DeMeco Ryans has continually told his team that it’s about the work they put into this year that matters, not the outside noise that will swell with every win they enjoy. The presence of veterans like Al-Shaair (who played under Ryans when the latter was the Niners’ defensive coordinator), Mixon (who helped the Bengals capture the AFC in 2021) and Diggs (who was a foundational piece of Buffalo’s four straight AFC East championships) will make a difference, as well. All these players know that winning in the AFC is easily the toughest task in this league.

This is why they’re encouraged by what’s been happening in this year’s camp. That time in Ohio told them plenty about what they’re becoming and, just as importantly, what they’ll need in the coming months. After all, the Texans won’t be defined as much by what happens when things are easy. The true confirmation of whether they can live up to expectations comes down to how they operate when times get hard.

AFC EAST

MIAMI

What’s up with WR ODELL BECKHAM, Jr.?  NFL.com:

WR Odell Beckham, who remains on the physically unable to perform list, is working his way back but hasn’t begun running routes yet, head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters Wednesday. McDaniel added that he isn’t concerned at this point that Beckham has yet to practice at camp.

Brian Miller of PhinPhanatic.com remains unimpressed with the Beckham signing:

If veteran wideout Odell Beckham Jr. has anything left in his pro football tank, Miami Dolphins fans haven’t seen it yet, and that continues to be a worry. OBJ is expected to remain on the Physically Unable to Perform list. There was hope he’d be back in action by now, but that’s not the case.

The Dolphins desperately needed a No. 3 wide receiver, and a veteran would absolutely help, but of all the free agents they could have tried to land, they chose the “big name” over the healthy options. Not to poke fun at Mike McDaniel, but maybe his NFL fandom got the better of him. Who could blame him, really? The thought of Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and the once intimidating Beckham was an incredible trio on paper. So far, it has only been on paper, and that isn’t going to change soon.

The talented but aging wideout isn’t close to coming back and that is problematic for a ’eam that needs to develop timing. The Dolphins could have taken a different approach and added a guy like Hunter Renfrow, who may not have the brand name that OBJ has but comes with less health issues. Regardless of a player’s pedigree, nothing trumps availability and right now, OBJ isn’t available.

By the time midseason rolls around, perhaps these words are being force-fed into my mouth, and that would be a wonderful bite of crow to eat, but it is hard to get excited over a guy who isn’t on the field, especially when you look at the roster and realize there aren’t a bunch of other options.

Miami could have signed a more reliable WR over Odell Beckham Jr.

Miami will have to rely on River Cracraft. That isn’t a bad thing. Maybe Malik Washington steps in and can hold the No. 3 spot down – that too isn’t a bad thing. If the Dolphins believe Willie Snead is that guy, that isn’t a good on-paper look, and fans will need to see much more from them in the final two weeks of the preseason.

Beckham is not the player he used to be, but his name alone would make defenders pay more attention to him. He may not be a Pro Bowl/All-Pro anymore, but he can still catch, run routes, split seams, and force defenders to account for him being on the field. That might be what Miami was hoping they were buying. Unfortunately, they bought a high-definition television without a power cord.

Beckham’s specific ailment or ailments have not been disclosed by Miami.  They were said to be “minor” when he began camp on PUP three weeks ago.

NEW ENGLAND

The best thing we’ve heard from Patriots coach Jerod Mayo. Dhani Joseph ofYahooSports.com:

Tensions have been flaring across the NFL during the ramp up to the regular season. The innate physicality of the sport has the ability to boil over after the play is whistled dead. Just ask the New York Giants and Detroit Lions who got into numerous scuffles during their joint practices last week.

The New England Patriots are next in line for a joint practice as they host the Philadelphia Eagles. Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is well aware of the potential for fights during this time, so he laid out ground rules for his team as it pertained to getting into physical altercations.

“You don’t fight in a real game. You fight in a real game, you get fined, you get kicked out,” Mayo told the media. “My message to the players: If you get in a fight out here, if you’re a starter you’re going to play the whole preseason game. If you’re not a starter, you won’t play at all.”

To also help limit the chance of a fight being started, Mayo was also in favor of limiting the joint practice to one day. Typically, these types of practices are multi-day events.

Offensively, the result of Mayo’s words seemed less than optimum.  Justin Leger ofYahooSports.com:

The New England Patriots offense faced its first major test of the summer Tuesday in a joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles. By all accounts, it was a failure for Jerod Mayo’s group.

As our Phil Perry explained in his latest Training Camp Stock Watch, the offensive line remained a glaring weakness against the Eagles’ vaunted front seven. New England had more sacks allowed (15) than passes completed (14) with Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye behind center.

Just how poor was the Pats offense’s performance? Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard shared some strong words during his Tuesday appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Felger & Mazz.

“Driving on my way in here, I was trying to figure out a way to explain it. And I guess I would equate it to driving a little bit,” Bedard said. “You ever been driving and you see this accident happen in front of you and you just barely miss it? And you sort of reconsider everything in your life? Like, what has happened? You get like a 10,000-yard stare. That’s kind of where I am. It was like, traumatic.”

The Patriots off”nse has struggled mightily in the post-Tom Brady era. The 2021 campaign was an exception as ex-Pats quarterback Mac Jones showed flashes as a rookie, but the following two seasons were disastrous.

Jones’ downfall in New England can be traced back to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge infamously taking control of the offense, replacing longtime Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Was Tuesday’s performance on par with the woeful Patricia-led group?

“I need to go back and watch the Matt Patricia offense or at least read what I wrote when they had that joint practice with the Raiders,” Bedard said. “Like, it was similar to that, but that was different. That was just, they don’t have a chance. This was more like, they can’t block anybody.

“The offense was an absolute trainwreck today, and I had a feeling that it was gonna go this way. I didn’t think it was going to be that bad, and if this doesn’t send the coaching staff and the front office back asking serious questions like, ‘What the hell are we gonna do?’ the Patriots are in real trouble this season.”

THIS AND THAT

BROADCAST NEWS

This on Friday Night Football from Brazil on Peacock.  Michael David Smith ofProFootballTalk.com:

Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will serve as the announcers for Peacock when the Packers and Eagles meet in Brazil on Friday, September 6.

The game will mark the first time the NFL has played in Brazil. The Eagles are technically the home team at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo.

Eagle, who called Olympic basketball in Paris for NBC and Peacock, has teamed with Blackledge on previous NFL games, notably last season’s Browns-Texans playoff game as well as Bengals-Steelers during last regular season. Kaylee Hartung will serve as the sideline reporter.

As usual, the NFL season will kick off on the first Thursday night of September at the home of the reigning Super Bowl champions, with the Chiefs hosting the Ravens on NBC and Peacock. The Brazil game will be the next night, a rare Friday game for the NFL, and will air exclusively on Peacock except in Green Bay and Philadelphia, where it will also be available on the local NBC stations.