NEW YORK GIANTS

It appears that EDGE KEYVON THIBODEAUX needs some hard coaching – and he’s getting it from Wink Martindale.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux said recently that he gets “a little cringe feeling” while thinking about his rookie season and that he sees it as a platform to continue to grow as a player.

Thibodeaux’s feelings about having room to grow appear to be shared by defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. During a Tuesday press conference, Martindale said that he expects Thibodeaux “to be at the top of everything” as he heads into his second season and that includes the way he prepares for games.

“I’ve talked to him about his practice,” Martindale said, via a transcript from the team. “I think that he heard me clearly. I talked to him in front of the entire defense.”

Martindale noted that Thibodeaux caused and recovered two fumbles during last week’s joint practices with the Lions before saying that his conversation with Thibodeaux wasn’t an indication that he thinks the 2022 first-round pick has not been intense enough.

“No. I do a ‘keep it real’ with everybody on where they’re at and why they’re there, because the last thing I want as a coach is for a player to drive in this parking lot and not know where they stand, especially this time of year,” Martindale said. “Because I think that we build our relationships, we build our foundation on trust and honesty. I tell them what I think and where they stand, and where the competition is, where the line is. I talk about all that. So, like I said, we had a great week in Detroit. I’m sure you haven’t heard that quote very often. But it was it was a great week, and I’m excited to take this next step.”

The Giants’ trip to the playoffs took many by surprise last season and it means they won’t be able to take anyone by surprise this time around. A step forward from Thibodeaux would be one way to make sure the team can succeed without being overlooked by their opponents.

NEW ORLEANS

The Saints believe that WR MIKE THOMAS is back.  Mike Triplett of The Athletic:

Sidelined again and recovering from yet another injury and surgery, Michael Thomas had to take the wins where he could get them last fall and winter.

It had been three years since the New Orleans Saints wide receiver’s last full NFL season, in 2019. Ankle, hamstring and toe injuries — and subsequent surgeries — robbed him of 40 games across three seasons, bringing with them all levels of pain and frustration.

But instead of focusing on all of the games and winning opportunities he had missed, Thomas — with the help of his personal trainer — shifted his focus to chalking up small victories away from the football field.

The wins initially came in the weight room, because it’s not like Thomas could run. He was still recovering from the toe injury and surgery that cost him 14 games in 2022 and limited his production to just 16 catches for 171 yards and three touchdowns. Thomas could only watch helplessly as the Saints suffered through a 7-10 campaign marked by offensive inconsistencies behind quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton.

Instead, the 30-year-old Thomas came to relish Mondays (his max-effort day for lower-body workouts) and Wednesdays (his upper-body max day).

“It’s really where I found my competitive edge,” Thomas said.

On this early August afternoon, Thomas sits perched on an exercise bike inside the Saints’ indoor training facility, safe from the sweltering heat and having emerged from yet another practice unscathed.

He is back in his original sanctuary, yet remains guarded, refusing to make bold declarations or predictions. He’s not focused on target dates. Only this day mattered.

Thomas learned this lesson during those intense lifting sessions with his trainer during his recovery.

“Every day was just like we were challenging ourselves,” Smith said. “I challenged him to push me and he challenged me to go — just keep taking steps forward. And he’s the guy that takes notes on everything: every lift, everything I’ve done since Day 1 and tracked it. We knew we would eventually get back out here, but we also knew we had to win the day in front of us.

“I got to prove to myself that I could have a PR (personal record) every Monday and a PR every Wednesday, so I loved hitting a number, and hitting the higher number — just digging deeper and just proving to myself that there’s always ways to get better, no matter what.”

The training sessions helped heal and strengthen the body of a player once regarded as the most dangerous wide receiver in the game. Thomas led the NFL in receptions in 2018 and 2019, setting the single-season mark of 149 in 2019. He also led the league with 1,725 receiving yards in 2019. But the gym work also fortified Thomas’ mind.

Thomas became hyper-focused on winning the day and striving for perfection in even some of the most mundane areas: rehab, sleep, diet. The approach kept him hungry, while also helping him remain patient.

Reflecting on the journey that involved the recovery from the ankle injury and surgery that cost him most of the 2020 season and all of 2021, the hamstring injury that slowed him following summer and the toe injury and surgery that robbed him of all but three games in 2022, Thomas feels wiser and more resilient.

“You get knocked down, always get back up,” he said. “That’s a saying that’s always brought up and used. But I really take it to heart and get back up. You know, trust the process. Take it one day at a time. You have to really be honest with yourself.

“You go through a lot of emotional things, just because you would rather be out there just playing football, catching the ball from the quarterback, working with the team,” Thomas added. “But it’s a different situation. You’ve got to pause and appreciate the little things and take the small victories that build up to be the big.”

At last, Thomas appears poised to make his return in full force.

The Saints have brought him along gradually. The coaches and medical team managed his workload during offseason practices and have built rest days into the training camp schedule to help Thomas avoid setbacks.

And he looks good.

Thomas is back to creating separation either with his speed or his 6-foot-3, 212-pound frame. He has frequently gone toe-to-toe with his Pro Bowl cornerback teammate Marshon Lattimore with success, although Thomas’ fellow Ohio State product has notched his share of wins as well.

DENVER

RB JAVONTE WILLIAMS will play this week.

– Just over 10 months since he suffered the knee injury that ended his 2022 season, Denver Broncos running back Javonte Williams is set to take a significant step in his recovery this weekend and play in a game.

Broncos coach Sean Payton confirmed after Tuesday’s training camp practice what Williams has been hoping to hear, that Williams will play at least some in the Broncos’ preseason game Saturday night against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif.

“He’s doing well, we’ll have a plan — I plan on playing him,” Payton said. “We’ll see pitch count-wise towards the end of the week. We’ll be smart, but I do see him playing.”

Williams, a second-round draft pick by the Broncos in 2021 and an All-Rookie team member that season, suffered a torn ACL and LCL in his right knee in the Broncos’ Oct. 2 loss to the Raiders. He said he was initially given a timetable of 12-to-18 months to return to the field.

Williams has worked furiously throughout the offseason to try and be ready for the regular-season opener — Sept. 10 against the Raiders, in Denver — and had made so much progress through spring and early summer that he was not placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to start camp and has participated fully since.

Williams was held out of the Broncos’ preseason opener this past Friday night in Arizona.

At the start of training camp, Williams said he was more confident than ever he could make the opener.

“It was hard at first … but each week my confidence got bigger and bigger,” Williams said then. “Now that I’m back on the field, I think this is the highest that [my confidence] has ever been.”

During the team’s offseason program, Payton consistently offered an optimistic outlook about Williams’ return.

The Broncos also showed plenty of confidence in Williams’ return throughout the offseason given that they did not use one of their five picks on a deep running back class in the April draft and eschewed a long list of veteran backs available in free agency to sign Samaje Perine, who hasn’t had more than 95 carries in a season since he was a rookie in 2017

Williams’ powerful, bowl-the-defender-over style made him one of the team’s most popular young players on the way to 903 rushing yards in 2021. He had rushed for 204 yards in three and a half games last season before his injury.

LAS VEGAS

Availability can be just as valuable as ability – case in point OL BRANDON PARKER who goes to IR for the 2^nd straight year.

Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com:

The Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday placed offensive lineman Brandon Parker, a third-round draft pick in 2018 who started 12 games at right tackle as a rookie and 13 games there in 2021, on injured reserve for the second straight year while in training camp, thus potentially ending his season before it starts. His injury this year was not disclosed.

Parker, who did not play in the Raiders’ preseason opener Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, suffered a pectoral injury in the 2022 Hall of Fame Game, an exhibition he started.

The Raiders re-signed Parker to a one-year, $1.5 million contract with $375,000 guaranteed and roster bonuses of $15,000 per game active on March 10.

Parker, 27, could potentially play for the Raiders this season should Las Vegas waive him with an injury settlement, he clears waivers and then re-signs with the Raiders.

He had been in competition for the starting right tackle spot in camp with incumbent Jermaine Eluemunor and second-year player Thayer Munford, Jr. and was also listed as the backup left tackle to Kolton Miller on the Raiders’ initial depth chart of the preseason.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

Lindsay Thiry of ESPN.com on the hopes that this is the year that the Chargers get over the hump:

TIAA BANK STADIUM in Jacksonville, Florida, erupted in celebration, but the visitors sideline froze in disbelief.

An anguished look flashed across coach Brandon Staley’s face, as quarterback Justin Herbert stared blankly into the night. Owner Dean Spanos, from a stadium suite, couldn’t believe his eyes.

The Los Angeles Chargers could only watch as Jaguars kicker Riley Patterson drilled a 36-yard field goal to mount the third largest come-from-behind victory in NFL playoff history as time expired in a wild-card playoff on Jan. 14.

Jubilation rang out amid Jags players who stormed the field as the Chargers retreated to the locker room, their season coming to an abrupt end after surrendering a 27-point lead to lose 31-30 on the last-second kick.

“That’s not a bad memory,” Spanos said as he recalled feelings from that chilly January night. “That’s a nightmare.”

Consider it a recurring nightmare the 63-year-old franchise can’t seem to wake up from, a feat that’s spawned its own adverb: “Chargering.”

“I would define that as choking a game away,” Staley said of the term. “Where you collapsed. You crumbled.”

It’s missed kicks at inopportune times. It’s blown leads and getting blown out. It’s botched kneel downs. It’s injuries at the most critical moments. It’s mental mistakes that cause forced turnovers into opponent’s big gains. It’s underachieving.

“It was kind of one of those heartbreaking things where in the last seconds you lose a game that you thought for sure the whole entire game you had won,” said Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who could be referring to any number of games, including the wild-card loss, but was actually referencing a 2006 playoff disaster.

“Chargering” lives in an organization that, despite boasting many talent-rich rosters, has won one AFC Championship that led to a single Super Bowl appearance and zero world championships.

The Chargers aren’t alone in never hoisting a Lombardi Trophy; 11 other NFL organizations have yet to win a title. And they’re far from the only team to blow games. That happens every Sunday. But it’s how they lose that’s become synonymous with their brand and that’s created a new term.

“At the end of the day, we’ve had a history of things not falling our way,” former All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates said. “And in the sports world, you get a stigma and it’s up to you to overcome it at one point…

“It’s like a guy who misses free throws in the clutch all the time. Until you start making them, people are going to say that’s the guy that chokes.”

A day after the loss to Jacksonville, edge rusher Joey Bosa didn’t name what he felt, but his description sure seemed a form of “Chargering” — a pending sense something bad was about to happen.

It first crept into Bosa’s mind when up 27-0 and he saw teammates waving goodbye to Jaguars fans. To him, that shouldn’t have been the team’s mindset. There was too much game to be played, more than a half, and too many things could happen. He’s seen enough of it in his seven seasons, during which they’ve surrendered a fourth-quarter lead 21 times — second over that span to the Indianapolis Colts (24).

“When I played at Ohio State, it was a mentality that we can’t lose,” Bosa said. “It’s a culture and mindset that we really need to get. That when something goes wrong, we can’t let that snowball, because it seems that’s what we let happen if things are going well. One bad play happens, then we get that kind of collective sense like ‘Oh gosh, what’s happening?’ Me included. I have it ingrained in my head a little bit because it’s happened to us a million times.”

But, arguably, there’s no instance more painful than the game last January.

“That was one of the worst possible ways to lose a game,” Spanos said. “It was devastating. And not just for me, for everybody.”

HALL OF FAME quarterback Dan Fouts sighed and rolled his eyes. Yes, he’s heard of the term “Chargering.”

“I’m responsible for some of it,” said Fouts, who led the Bolts to four playoff appearances but never advanced to the Super Bowl in 15 seasons.

Under Hall of Fame coach Don Coryell, whose offensive scheme, “Air Coryell,” remains a staple throughout the NFL, the Chargers lost two divisional and two conference championship games.

Fouts turned in several stellar performances, including one in a playoff win over the Miami Dolphins that’s known as the “Epic in Miami,” but otherwise couldn’t find the same consistency in the playoffs as the regular season.

Although Fouts says he bears some responsibility for “Chargering,” he’s hardly responsible for all of it.

The Chargers’ lone Super Bowl appearance in 1994, with Stan Humphries at quarterback, resulted in San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young and wide receiver Jerry Rice dismantling the then-San Diego team 49-26.

A decade later, kicker Nate Kaeding missed a 40-yard field goal in overtime as the New York Jets prevailed 20-17 to advance to the divisional round. After five seasons passed, Kaeding struck again as he missed three field goals against the Jets, despite leading the NFL with 32 conversions all season, in a three-point loss in the divisional round.

There’s former quarterback Philip Rivers fumbling a kneel down in 2011 which led to a Kansas City Chiefs overtime victory. And there’s “Hey, Diddle, Diddle, Ray Rice up the middle,” as Rice proclaimed, after he turned a short pass into a fourth-and-29 conversion to set up a Baltimore Ravens overtime win in 2012.

But perhaps the most painful defeat lives with Marty Schottenheimer’s 2006 team.

“I just remember going to the Pro Bowl and our whole team was over there,” Gates said. “I just remember just saying to myself, ‘It’s 11 guys over here, why are we not Super Bowl champions?'”

After a 14-2 season, the Chargers cruised to the No. 1 seed in the AFC, but mismanaged what could have been a game-sealing play in the fourth quarter of a divisional matchup against the New England Patriots.

With a 21-13 lead and 6:25 remaining, Chargers safety Marlon McCree intercepted a pass by quarterback Tom Brady. McCree returned the ball 3 yards before Patriots receiver Troy Brown stripped it and receiver Reche Caldwell recovered.

McCree’s mistake proved costly. He should have taken a knee to give the Chargers, with three timeouts remaining, an opportunity to drain the clock.

“I remember being in complete control the whole game. We were really the better team,” said Tomlinson, who was named league MVP that season, becoming the most recent non-quarterback to earn the honor. “But you have to finish the game and we didn’t finish the game.”

The Patriots scored a touchdown, completed a 2-point conversion, forced a three-and-out, then drove to kick a 31-yard go-ahead field goal to take a 24-21 lead. The Chargers missed a 54-yard field goal on the ensuing drive, with eight seconds remaining, and lost.

“I just remember having that moment of feeling like a champion,” Gates said. “And sometimes you don’t always become that champion.”

AFTER A HEADLINE-GRABBING offseason that included trading for edge rusher Khalil Mack and signing cornerback J.C. Jackson in free agency, the expectation was a deep playoff run, if not a Super Bowl appearance for the 2022 Chargers.

Then Herbert fractured his ribs. Left tackle Rashawn Slater ruptured a biceps tendon and was sidelined for the season. Bosa tore his groin and joined Slater on injured reserve for 12 weeks. Receiver Keenan Allen nursed a hamstring injury and receiver Mike Williams suffered a high-ankle sprain. Jackson blew out his knee and ended up on injured reserve. The Chargers finished a Week 10 loss to the 49ers with exactly three available defensive linemen.

Nevertheless, they were 6-6, with ESPN’s Football Power Index metric giving them a 50% chance to make the playoffs. At a crossroads with a decimated roster, they had many reasons to look ahead to 2023, but instead proved resilient.

“Our team really rose to the occasion,” Staley said.

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Chargers clinched their first playoff bid in four seasons, with several players, including Allen, back in the lineup.

Despite a Week 18 debacle highlighted by Williams fracturing his back, the Bolts remained optimistic about going on a deep playoff run.

That optimism became reality with a fast start against the Jaguars as they intercepted quarterback Trevor Lawrence four times and jumped to a 27-0 lead with 4:25 remaining in the first half.

“I was thinking like, ‘Man, they’re … they’re going to blow them out,'” Tomlinson said. “Because we started out so well and then everything was going our way. But it tells you the momentum can change, especially in a playoff game, and it’s weird how it happens.”

The Jaguars scored with 24 seconds remaining in the first half and went into the break trailing 27-7. The Chargers opened the half with the ball, but were forced to punt. The Jags scored again, making it 27-14.

Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker booted a 50-yard field goal to go up 30-14, but the Chargers wouldn’t score again.

The Jags scored on the ensuing drive but failed on the subsequent 2-point conversion to pull within 30-20. In the fourth quarter, after Dicker missed a 40-yard field goal, the Jaguars scored again, completing a 2-point play and trailing 30-28 with 5:25 remaining.

The Chargers went three-and-out on their ensuing possession.

“It was like a bad dream,” Mack said. “Like a nightmare.”

As time expired, the Jaguars kicked the 36-yard field goal to win, becoming the first team in playoff history to win a game despite losing the turnover battle 5-0.

“We lost because we f—ing blew it in the second half, pretty simple,” Bosa said a day later.

“Any playoff loss is painful, but losing in the first round is difficult,” general manager Tom Telesco said. “Then, the manner in which we lost, just stings a little bit more.”

“The first half I felt pretty good. I’ve never seen a better half,” Spanos said. “But it was a tale of two halves and obviously that second one was tough.

“Losing is terrible. But the way you lose sometimes is even worse.”

IT WAS A spring day inside Chargers headquarters, where coaches and players buzzed with renewed energy during the offseason program, and where a television inside the cafeteria was tuned to the NFL Network.

Until a replay of the game came on.

A staff member swiftly retrieved the remote and changed the channel as a colleague commended the move.

Many don’t want to be reminded.

Defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day doesn’t live in that category. He isn’t concerned about letting the loss to the Jaguars get to him.

“It does consume me,” Joseph-Day said. “I think that’s the part about it. I think that if you’re a competitor and you want to be great — I’m not speaking for anyone else, I’m speaking for me, like that consumes me. The way that we lost, I’ve never lost like that before.”

Since taking over as coach in 2021, Staley has emphasized adding the correct people and players to the organization — those who know what it takes to succeed.

“The people that you have in your building that have been with you from the beginning that you want to build with, you bring that all together and you’re going to have something special,” Staley said. “That’s what is happening here. Again, it’s something that does take some time. As long as you’re doing it with the right people, which is what we have here, I know that won’t be the case.”

Staley heard Bosa’s comment on the culture, how it needs to be more like Ohio State and feature a winning mentality. So did Telesco, who is entering his 11th season.

“Ohio State wasn’t always that way,” Staley said. “I’m from Ohio. Things take time to build.”

Said Telesco: “I didn’t feel that [the culture issue]. I didn’t feel it during the season. I didn’t even feel that during the [playoff] game.”

Whose job is it exactly to ensure that the sense of impending doom disappears, if it exists at all?

“It’s everybody’s job. I don’t think one single person is going to be in charge of 100 people’s minds on the sideline. I think it’s something you work and talk about all year, and practice all year,” Bosa said. “It’s something that we’re going to have to talk about throughout the year and be mentally prepared for.”

The Chargers look ahead to 2023 inspired to put their embarrassment behind them and inspired that this is the year with the players they need.

There are high hopes that new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore can help Justin Herbert and the franchise get beyond the “Chargering” era. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and his ultra-conservative playcalling are out; Kellen Moore, along with his playcalling that emphasizes getting the offense downfield, is in.

Herbert, after surpassing former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck for the most passing yards through their first three NFL seasons, returns for Year 4.

At his disposal are receivers Allen, Williams, Joshua Palmer — who led the group with 72 receptions last season — first-round pick Quentin Johnston and running back Austin Ekeler, who led the NFL with 18 touchdowns last season.

Defensively, Bosa and Mack will get another shot at becoming a top pass-rushing duo, star safety Derwin James Jr. returns, and optimism surrounds the recovery of Jackson.

“We’re going to be hard to beat,” Spanos said.

NOT EVERYONE SUBSCRIBES to “Chargering.”

Staley is familiar with the term. He’s raised it in conversation. He can define it, but his vow is to not let it define his era of Chargers football and he certainly won’t say that’s what happened last January.

“I resent the term. I reject it,” Staley said. “None of us who are here are built like that. I don’t bring anyone else in here who represents anything like that. When you look at all the strategic moves that we’ve been [part of] since I’ve been the head coach, it’s the exact opposite. Now, you have to have a breakthrough together, for sure.”

“Chargering,” Staley says, pertains to issues of the past, which he says aren’t issues for the current team.

Allen, the longest-tenured Charger entering Year 11, says he’s unfamiliar with the term and doesn’t even agree with the premise.

“When you look at not winning the Super Bowl, yeah,” Allen said when asked if they’re “Chargering.” “But that means 31 teams are ‘Chargering’ if that’s the case. If you’re not Tom Brady or Pat Mahomes, you’re ‘Chargering.'”

What must happen for the Chargers to get over the hump and realize their potential?

“It’s going to take a little luck and a lot of hard work,” Fouts said. “If they can get through the season, through that division into the playoffs, they’ll be battle hardened and that’ll help them in the playoffs, because the playoffs are a different story.”

The Chargers must face in 2023 a gauntlet of a schedule that includes two trips to the Eastern time zone, a November date in Green Bay with the Packers, and twice playing the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who have won seven straight division titles, tied for the second-longest streak in NFL history.

ESPN’s FPI gives the Chargers a 50% chance to earn a playoff bid.

“When you have an elite quarterback, you have a chance every game and then you start putting the pieces around him, which the Chargers are starting to do right now, and the luck will go our way,” Tomlinson said. “I believe that the luck is going to start to go our way.”

BALTIMORE

The news in Baltimore is that QB LAMAR JACKSON is a co-author of the 2023 Baltimore offense.  Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com:

When Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson throws a touchdown pass this season, there’s a chance it will come on a route that he suggested.

One of the biggest changes in the Ravens’ first season under new offensive coordinator Todd Monken is more freedom and input for Jackson. In addition to giving Jackson the leeway to audible, Baltimore is using plays that Jackson has sent to the coaching staff.

“I was just on social media, and I saw a couple of routes, and I sent it to [quarterbacks] Coach Tee [Martin] and he was like, ‘I’m going to relay the message to Coach [Todd] Monken,'” Jackson said after Tuesday’s joint practice with the Washington Commanders. “Coach Monken liked the play, so he put it in practice. We didn’t show it today, but I feel like it will be good for us.”

Ahead of this season, Jackson received a sizable new contract (five years, $260 million) and three new wide receivers (Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Flowers and Nelson Agholor). He has repeatedly expressed excitement about the potential of the passing game this year, even suggesting he could throw for 6,000 yards because of all the new weapons.

Now, teammates see Jackson putting his stamp on a revamped offense that is looking to bounce back from averaging 20.6 points per game, the Ravens’ fewest since 2015.

“[Lamar Jackson]’s got a good eye,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. “If anybody ever asks him, or you just pick his mind about plays and where he sees the game and that sort of thing … And now that he’s getting that input, it’s been great. Yes, he sees the game really well.”

Earlier this month, Monken said he’s a firm believer that you need “to empower” your quarterback for him to play his best. He mentioned that Jackson has become even more diligent and wants to be “elite.”

“He’s a guy [who] thinks about football a lot — it’s on his mind — and I think he always had his ideas,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday. “He had a couple good ones; I can tell you that.”

JACKSONVILLE

Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com checks in on WR CALVIN RIDLEY, back on the field after two seasons that were largely lost:

It didn’t take Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Calvin Ridley long to prove a point. Less than 20 minutes into the team’s first training camp practice, actually.

The throw from Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence in a 7-on-7 was a little high and maybe a tad behind, so Ridley went up and got it. Full extension, twisting, grabbing and pulling the ball into his body to protect it before landing on the ground.

He sat up, crossed his arms, jogged toward the end zone, and pointed at the 2,000 fans cheering the acrobatic catch. It was a pretty emphatic way for Ridley to assure everyone that he’s back on the field.

As he prepares for his first NFL regular-season game in nearly two years, he feels good physically and mentally. His skills haven’t diminished despite time away from the game while focusing on bettering his mental health and serving a one-year suspension for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. He’s not rusty, and, frankly, he’s getting tired of people asking.

“Everybody wants me to be rusty, right?” Ridley said. “Why? Why do you want me to be rusty? I can play football. I’m never going to think I’m going to be rusty.

“If I drop a pass, that doesn’t mean I’m rusty. I just dropped it.”

The past three years have been tough on Ridley. This past spring, Ridley wrote in The Players’ Tribune that he played the entire 2020 season for the Atlanta Falcons with what he was told was a bone bruise. When it didn’t get better in the offseason, he sought out a specialist who told Ridley he had a broken foot.

Ridley had surgery and reported to training camp that summer, but said he felt mentally drained — he said he needed painkillers to play and was anxious and depressed.

Ridley wrote that his anxiety got worse when his family returned home following the Falcons’ 2021 season opener and learned “five or six armed men” had broken into his house.

As a result, he didn’t want to leave his family and travel overseas for the Falcons’ game in London on Oct. 10, so he stayed in Atlanta. On Oct. 31, Ridley announced he was stepping away from the game to focus on his mental well-being and didn’t play for the rest of the 2021 season.

Fast-forward to March 7, 2022, when the NFL announced that Ridley would be suspended for at least the 2022 season after an investigation found that he bet on NFL games over a five-day stretch in November 2021. Ridley said in The Players’ Tribune that gambling on NFL games was the “worst mistake of his life.”

While he was serving the suspension in November, the Jaguars traded for Ridley — sending the Falcons a 2023 fifth-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2024 that could rise as high as a second-round pick if the Jaguars sign Ridley to an extension.

On March 6, 2023, he was reinstated from the gambling suspension and began to participate in the Jaguars’ offseason programs.

Ridley, 28, believes he’s the same player he was in 2020 — when he caught 90 passes for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns — but it’s legitimate to ask after a tumultuous three years: What should we realistically expect from Ridley in his return?

PLAYERS MISS SEASONS for various reasons — commonly due to injury — and return the following season playing at the same level. But Ridley will have missed 28 consecutive games spanning 686 days between Oct. 24, 2021, and the Jaguars’ season opener on Sept. 10. That’s a long layoff.

Comparatively, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson missed 28 consecutive games spanning 700 days after an NFL investigation into sexual misconduct allegations led to an 11-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after he was accused by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage sessions.

In 2020, Watson set career highs in touchdown passes (33) and passing yards (4,823, which led the NFL) and had a career-low seven interceptions. When Watson returned to the field on Dec. 4, 2022, he struggled over the final six games of the season. He surpassed 200 yards passing twice and completed 58.2% of his passes for 1,102 yards and seven touchdowns with five interceptions.

There is a track record of pass-catchers returning from a layoff to have productive seasons. Six players since 2010 had 65 or more catches in a season after playing in five or fewer games in their previous two seasons combined (not including rookies).

Giants tight end Darren Waller went 700 days in between NFL game appearances. Waller was suspended for the 2017 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. In November of 2018, the Raiders signed Waller off the Ravens’ practice squad and he played in four games that season. In 2019 and 2020, Waller put up career numbers, surpassing 1,000 yards receiving and 90 catches each season.

Terrelle Pryor (77 in 2016), Mike Williams (65 in 2010), Josh Gordon (41 in 2018) and Plaxico Burress (45 in 2011) are the last four receivers to have at least 40 receptions in a season after playing five or fewer games in the previous two seasons combined.

Ridley should have no trouble joining that list, especially since he’s now playing with a quarterback in Lawrence who threw the third-most touchdown passes (23, behind only Josh Allen’s 26 and Joe Burrow’s 28) to a wide receiver last season, including playoffs.

“There’s no concern [about Ridley being rusty] on my end,” said Jaguars receivers coach Chad Hall.

“It’s like riding a bike. He’s done it at a high level already in this league, so he’s just got to get back on the bike.”

RIDLEY HAS BEEN the star of Jaguars training camp so far. Teammates, including Lawrence, have raved about him.

“Just watching him [and] the way he runs, there are not many guys like that, especially in and out of his breaks,” Lawrence said. “He’s just really crafty [and] has great ball skills.”

Ridley is a year behind in learning coach Doug Pederson’s offense, but Pederson said he sees no signs that Ridley can’t be an elite player again.

“Ridley on offense, just the way he practices is just a different speed and a different level,” Pederson said. “It’s encouraging to me as a coach because it feeds to the rest of the guys, particularly the young guys. He’s one that’s really stood out there.”

Ridley knows he still has it — physically and mentally. In the spring, he said he no longer worries about his mental well-being now that his suspension is over and he’s back to doing what he loves.

When asked about whether he got over the rust he admittedly felt in the spring, he responded with only two words: “I’m him.”

A few days later, he explained what he meant.

“I’m a good receiver. I’m one of the better receivers in the league, that’s what I’ve been saying since I was a rookie,” he said. “I noticed that right when I got into the league. [I’m] trying to be humble but everyone has doubted me. I’m trying to fight back respectfully at the same time.

“… I’m just trying to show I got respect for myself, and I work hard. … I’m trying to play well for the Jacksonville Jaguars.”

Last weekend’s preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys was Ridley’s first game action since 2021. Ridley caught two passes for 21 yards in 12 offensive snaps — a small step forward before the Jaguars’ season opener.

THE JAGUARS RANKED 10th in scoring and total offense in 2022, thanks largely to the development of Lawrence and career years from receivers Zay Jones and Christian Kirk and tight end Evan Engram. Adding Ridley to that group of playmakers — which also includes running back Travis Etienne Jr. — could elevate the offense into the top five in both categories this season.

Ridley gives the Jaguars a legitimate No. 1 receiver, and it’s expected that opposing defenses will make limiting him a top priority, which should loosen things up for everyone else. With that many playmakers for Pederson and Lawrence, it’s hard to project what kind of numbers Ridley will post in 2023.

Ridley believes he is a 1,400-yard-type of player — meaning he has the playmaking ability and skills of an elite receiver. The Jaguars are going to give him every chance to show it.

“He just wants to prove that he belongs at the top of this group of receivers across the league,” offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. “I think that’s important to him. For us, we welcome him with open arms. We want to do whatever it takes to make him feel comfortable to understand that he’s another key piece of this offense that we intend to utilize.”

Without any rust.

THIS AND THAT

BLINDSIDED 2

The Tuohy Family’s legal representation responds vigorously to the suit in Shelby County court and the vague aspersions that accompanied it.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.comfeels their response is at odds with itself:

The Tuohy family claims to still love Michael Oher like a son. We’d hate to see what their lawyer would be saying if they didn’t love him.

Attorney Martin Singer issued a blistering statement to TMZ on Tuesday, accusing Oher of a “shakedown” of the Tuohy family.

The legal claims Oher made on Monday are called “outlandish,” “hurtful,” and “absurd.” The Tuohy lawyer says the claim that the family tried to profit from Oher is “offensive” and “ridiculous,” and that the allegation “defies belief.”

Singer claims on behalf of the Tuohys that Oher threatened to “plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million,” and that Oher “has actually attempted to run this play several times before — but it seems that numerous other lawyers stopped representing him once they saw the evidence and learned the truth.”

Singer also takes a shot at Oher’s lawyer, calling the attorney a “willing enabler,” before accusing Oher of filing “this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour.”

Singer still claims that the Tuohys “care deeply” for Oher. Frankly, they have a strange way of showing it.

Even if they intend, as they should, to exercise their right to defend themselves against the allegations, there’s a proper procedure for doing it. Issuing a strongly-worded statement making personal attacks on Oher and his lawyer are not part of the usual protocol.

The whole thing is sad. Regardless of how the legal issues work out, something has happened to fracture the relationship. If any true and genuine emotion remains among them, they should find a way to work this out before it becomes any uglier with public sniping.

Jason Whitlock went back to the source material – the movie, the Michael Lewis book and the book that appeared under Michael Oher’s name.  It couldn’t be more clear that no “adoption” was intender or even legal.

The 2009 movie “The Blind Side” does not state or imply that the Tuohy family adopted Michael Oher. Neither does Michael Lewis’ 2006 book that inspired the film that won Sandra Bullock an Oscar.

In 2011, when Michael Oher published his first memoir, “I Beat the Odds,” he stated directly that the Tuohys secured a conservatorship when he was a senior in high school. He wrote that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy insisted that he maintain a relationship with his biological mother and 11 siblings. Oher wrote that his mother participated in the procedures necessary for the Tuohys to become conservators.

Why on earth is Michael Oher pretending he only recently discovered that the Tuohy family didn’t adopt him? Why are members of the media going along with Oher’s effort to shake down the Tuohy family for cash under the pretense that they lied to him and exploited him for profit?

Yesterday, Oher, a former NFL offensive lineman, filed a petition in a Tennessee court arguing that the Tuohys earned millions of dollars from “The Blind Side” and the false belief that they “adopted” him. He claims that he earned nothing from the movie and that the Tuohys owe him millions. This made headlines across corporate and social media. Twitter feeds overflowed with allegations that the Tuohys had profited from Hollywood’s love affair with the “white savior trope.”

None of this made any sense. So here’s what I did: 1) I read Oher’s 2011 book, “I Beat the Odds.” 2) I rewatched the movie “The Blind Side.”

I wanted to know what was being said a decade ago, long before social media had made it wildly popular to decide all conflicts based on racial dynamics.

Michael Oher is black. The Tuohys are white. “The Blind Side” is a real-life, feel-good movie about a wealthy white couple providing a home for a homeless, black teenage boy in Memphis. The movie was an offshoot of Michael Lewis’ book, which was an exploration of the importance of the left tackle position in the aftermath of linebacker Lawrence Taylor’s career terrorizing quarterbacks.

Lewis, a childhood friend of Sean Tuohy, made Oher’s unusual relationship with the Tuohys a part of the book. Sensing an opportunity to make a profit, Hollywood producers zeroed in on Oher and the Tuohys and ignored Lewis’ larger narrative about Lawrence Taylor and left tackles.

It was a smart decision. “The Blind Side” rocked the box office, earning $300 million.

For the most part, the movie is accurate. It does not lie about the Tuohys adopting Oher.

Midway through the two-hour film, in a quest to secure then 17-year-old Oher a driver’s license, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy seek to become Oher’s legal guardians. A state social worker informs Leigh Anne that she can obtain guardianship of Oher without the permission of Oher’s biological mother. Unsatisfied, Leigh Anne hunts down the boy’s mother and visits her in the ghetto. The two chat about Michael’s father and whether Ms. Oher wants to see her son.

In the next scene, the entire Tuohy family sits with Michael at a dining room table. Sean tells Michael that they would like to become Michael’s “legal guardian.” Michael asks what that means. Leigh Anne replies: “We wanna know if you’d like to become part of this family.”

What Michael Oher is doing to the Tuohy family is despicable. He’s telling an obvious lie that he knows most of the media will be too afraid to question because of the racial dynamics. Plus, the media is lazy. It’s easier to repeat Oher’s allegations than to question and/or research the legitimacy of them.

It’s also easier just to feel sorry for Oher. He’s broken. The first 15 years of his life are a tragedy. That’s not my opinion. Read his book. His mother was addicted to crack cocaine and birthed a dozen children with a variety of men. Oher and his siblings would routinely come home and find the door locked, their mother nowhere to be found. She would disappear for days, ingesting cocaine with friends. Her kids, as young as 14 months, would be left locked out of their apartment, forced to beg for food and a couch to sleep on. This was a regular pattern.

That type of neglect causes lifelong trauma. Oher met his father but had no relationship with him. His grandmother hated him. State social workers eventually intervened. Oher moved from foster home to foster home, school to school, from one friend’s couch to the next.

At the time of his 2011 book and after being dissatisfied with his portrayal in “The Blind Side,” Oher reached the conclusion that he wasn’t getting nearly enough credit for his rags-to-NFL-riches story. In “I Beat the Odds,” Oher argued that at age 7 he watched Michael Jordan slay the Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals and he crafted a plan to become a professional athlete.

Seven-year-old Michael Oher saved Michael Oher, not the Tuohys or anyone else. The Tuohys and everyone else simply assisted Oher in executing his plan. He planned to be the next Michael Jordan. He wound up being a solid eight-year NFL lineman.

For years, he’s complained that “The Blind Side” made him look stupid, like he couldn’t read before tutors in high school taught him. He has expressed frustration that the movie suggested the Tuohys’ young son taught him football and that Leigh Anne coerced him into being aggressive.

Michael Oher wants credit. I get it. He wants to be the star and hero of his own movie. Most people do.

Oher lacks self-awareness, humility, and, quite possibly, intelligence. Making $34 million as an average professional athlete will certainly create some delusion.

At 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, Oher fancied himself as the next Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley. He had to be talked into focusing on football. He thinks hatching the scheme to be a pro athlete at age 7 was a sign of brilliance and vision. It’s a ghetto dream that 99% of the time leads to failure. Where would Oher be today had he stopped growing at 5’9″ like most American men?

Where would he be without the Tuohys? They provided the stable home where a tutor could come work with him every day so he could catch up academically. By his own admission in “I Beat the Odds,” Oher never attended school regularly until he enrolled at Briarcrest Christian School as a sophomore.

Oher is so arrogant and delusional that he believes that his natural intellect would have been developed regardless of circumstance. It’s a naive worldview.

He’s still naive. He believes this desperate attempt to shake down the family who welcomed him into their home is a good look and is going to lead to a financial windfall.

It’s not. Eventually reporters and pundits will have to deal with the truth. The Tuohys were wealthy when they took legal guardianship of Oher. They sold their family business for $200 million. They had no financial motive to exploit Oher. They exercised no control over his professional career.

The Tuohys are longtime friends of super agent Jimmy Sexton. They wanted Oher to sign with Sexton when he left Ole Miss for the NFL. Oher chose a different agent. He wrote about the decision in “I Beat the Odds.” Months later, when it became obvious that he made the wrong choice, he cut a deal with Sexton.

This whole exploitative “conservatorship” nonsense isn’t exactly Britney Spears’ parents controlling her money. The Tuohys have and always had more money than Michael Oher.

They also have more class, decency, and compassion than Oher. Sean Tuohy says he still loves Michael Oher. Tuohy knows Oher is every bit as emotionally broken as the first day the overgrown teenager slept on their couch.

This from the Daily Mail:

Oher joined Marshall Ramsey on Now You’re Talking with Michael Ramsey Monday morning, to promote his latest book; When Your Back’s Against the Wall, adding another layer of curiosity as to the timing of the filing.

The 37-year-old has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with The Blind Side film and its portrayal of him – even suggesting it affected his football career.

‘Whatever you see in the movie or books you’ve have to understand what it took for me be this 18-year-old kid when this story took shape,’ Oher told Ramsey.

‘And the things I went through, and had to do to go through to that point I went through, from 3 years old to 18, when I moved in with the Tuohy family – who I’m grateful for letting me stay my senior year there.

And Whitlock has this to say about Florio (not necessarily the opinion of the DB):

@WhitlockJason

Michael Oher accuses the Tuohys of being despicable human beings. Mike Florio is shocked the Tuohys defended themselves. If they truly loved Oher, they would allow themselves to be slandered and bullied. Got it. Florio… biggest clown and sellout in sports media history.

RB VALUATION

Running backs don’t get paid big bucks in the real NFL, but they fly off the board in Fantasy Football.  Andy Behrens of YahooSports.com:

Yahoo’s Top-12 fantasy running backs for 2023

Christian McCaffrey

Austin Ekeler

Nick Chubb

Bijan Robinson

Saquon Barkley

Tony Pollard

Derrick Henry

Jonathan Taylor

Josh Jacobs

Najee Harris

Travis Etienne Jr.

Joe Mixon

Last year, like pretty much every other year in the history of fantasy football, a few of our game’s most valuable, championship-tilting running backs were actually waiver wire pickups. Without fail, at least one undrafted, under-hyped back produces a supernova finish each season.

Maybe you first learned this lesson from Ronald Moore in 1993 or Mike Anderson in 2000 or Jerome Harrison in 2009. Or perhaps it was Damien Williams in 2018. Or Rashaad Penny in 2021. Regardless, you surely understood the truth of it before Jerick McKinnon and Cam Akers surged in the second half of 2022. Plenty of fantasy managers won titles last season starting both of those backs down the stretch, having originally drafted neither of them.

One of the primary reasons Zero RB is an effective method of roster construction is that it recognizes the fact that this position, more than any other, can be successfully addressed in-season. It’s entirely possible to ignore running backs through the first six or seven rounds of a draft, yet still enter the money weeks with one of the better backfields in your league. Zero RB might yield an imbalanced roster in September (at least ostensibly), but an attentive manager can often resolve that issue before the calendar flips.

However, to be clear, we aren’t exactly the most hardcore Zero RB zealots around here. We’ve placed six running backs inside the overall Yahoo consensus top-12 players, so no one’s telling you to avoid the position at whatever spot you’re comfortable drafting it. When you hit on an early-round back, it’s like a free pass to the fantasy playoffs. Scoring in our game is still driven by yards and points, after all. If you scan the list of the top individual scrimmage yardage seasons in NFL history, you won’t find a non-running back until Cooper Kupp at No. 80. The all-time single-season touchdown leaderboard is similarly dominated by RBs.

The NFL itself might not value running backs the way it used to, but the most productive players at this spot have always been fantasy difference-makers. Let’s just please remember that your fantasy backfield should be considered a work in progress from August through January.

Running backs to target on draft day

Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers

Jones has been an absolute screaming value all summer. He’s basically never one of the first dozen backs selected in any draft, yet he’s finished among the RB1s in every season since 2018. Jones delivered 1,516 total yards last year while catching 59 balls and reaching the end zone seven times. He also averaged 5.3 yards per carry and 3.2 yards after contact per attempt.

Simply put, Jones is objectively great at football and he remains atop the backfield hierarchy in Green Bay. He’s a gift outside the top three rounds. You don’t have to be all-in on Jordan Love to appreciate the high floor and ceiling offered by Jones, one of the best and most versatile backs of this era.

James Cook, Buffalo Bills

If you’ve somehow missed this summer’s Cook hype, just please know it’s been breathless and relentless. He ran exclusively with the Bills starters in the team’s preseason opener, with impressive results.

He isn’t going to be an every-snap RB in all likelihood, because such creatures have nearly vanished from the Earth — only four players in the league carried more than 275 times last season. But it seems abundantly clear at this point that Cook is the head of a backfield committee for Buffalo, with Damien Harris (currently dinged) and Latavius Murray well behind him.

As a rookie, Cook played his best football in the season’s second half, averaging over 6.0 YPC in Weeks 11-18. If the Bills are actually serious about dialing down their quarterback’s rush attempts, Cook should thrive as both a receiving threat and perhaps as a goal-to-go ball-carrier. His current Yahoo ADP is 88.4.

Tank Bigsby, Jacksonville Jaguars

Travis Etienne Jr. is the clear and unrivaled top back in Jacksonville, but Bigsby is a near-perfect complement. The third-round rookie from Auburn has delivered daily camp highlights…

…and we shouldn’t sleep on his receiving ability. Bigsby can play. He’s a good bet to enter the season with a rotational role and short-yardage responsibilities for the Jaguars, which gives him a path to standalone value. If Etienne ever misses time, Bigsby is going to be a priority waiver target. He’s currently only being drafted in 6% of Yahoo leagues.

Running backs to fade at ADP

Najee Harris, Pittsburgh Steelers (27.7 ADP)

Anyone who rostered Harris last season certainly wasn’t complaining in the second half of the season, as he averaged 18.2 carries per game and scored seven touchdowns in his final nine games. Those were some quality weeks for our purposes, no question. But it’s also worth noting that his snap percentage slipped into the 60s in the closing weeks while Jaylen Warren’s playing time was on the rise. There’s no reason to think something like a 60/40 split won’t continue in 2023, given the success the Steelers enjoyed down the stretch and the relative efficiency of the two runners.

We’re not telling you to avoid Harris at any cost, but you need to recognize that Warren is something more than a pure backup. You certainly can’t draft Harris expecting 350-plus touches and a 90% snap share.

Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots (25.9 ADP)

Yeah, OK, this one could definitely look like a terrible call in a few months. Steveson is an excellent player coming off an incredibly efficient season in which he caught 69 passes and finished with 1,461 total yards. He was a yards-after-contact monster, too, averaging 3.8 per attempt. Again: Terrific back.

By Stevenson’s own admission, however, he was on fumes late in the 2022 season. New England had practically been screaming at us in recent weeks that they were interested in adding one of the veteran free agent backs. On Monday, they agreed to terms with Ezekiel Elliott, detonating your workload projection for Stevenson, whatever it was. He’s still a perfectly respectable RB2, but his previous ADP (25.9) can’t hold. Zeke is surely headed for 8-12 weekly touches with goal-line work included.

D’Andre Swift, Philadelphia Eagles (78.2 ADP)

Philadelphia’s backfield should really be viewed as a murky three-headed committee, yet early drafters have made Swift the clear favorite. He’s going roughly 16 picks ahead of Rashaad Penny in a typical Yahoo draft and about 50 picks ahead of Kenneth Gainwell, who might very well be this team’s No. 1 back. There’s a certain sort of Swift truther who can’t let the dream go, but he can’t reasonably be drafted as a fantasy starter in 10-team leagues.