THE DAILY BRIEFING
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CORRECTION – Yesterday, we asserted that the NFL was headquartered at 410 Park Avenue in New York, but a knowledgeable reader reminded us that they have been at 345 Park Avenue (52nd Street) since 2010. And, we should assert, they were at 280 Park Avenue (49th Street) from 1997 to 2010. But before that, they were indeed at 410 Park Avenue (55th Street).
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Jeff Duncan of ESPN tweets out his research and thoughts on the state of Sean Payton:
@JeffDuncan_
Latest update on Sean Payton: He completed his interview with CAR on Monday in Charlotte and will meet with ARI officials Thursday, as previously reported. His second meeting with DEN has been delayed.
IMO, the longer this goes, the likelihood of Payton staying at Fox increases.
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The NFL has announced finalists for all the AP awards, including MVP with the announcement of the winners on February 9.
The finalists were determined through the AP’s new voting system, which asks voters to rank their top five picks for MVP and top three for the other awards. The winners will be announced at the 12th annual NFL Honors ceremony on Feb. 9, 2023, which will air live on NBC, Peacock and NFL Network.
Follow along to see who’s in contention (names are listed in alphabetical order, DB vote (if we had one) in green):
AP Most Valuable Player
Josh Allen, Bills QB
Joe Burrow, Bengals QB
Jalen Hurts, Eagles QB
Justin Jefferson, Vikings WR
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs QB
AP Defensive Player of the Year
Nick Bosa, 49ers DE
Chris Jones, Chiefs DT
Micah Parsons, Cowboys LB
AP Offensive Player of the Year
Tyreek Hill, Dolphins WR
Jalen Hurts, Eagles QB
Justin Jefferson, Vikings WR
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs QB
AP Offensive Rookie of the Year
Brock Purdy, 49ers QB
Kenneth Walker III, Seahawks RB
Garrett Wilson, Jets WR
AP Defensive Rookie of the Year
Sauce Gardner, Jets CB
Aidan Hutchinson, Lions DE
Tariq Woolen, Seahawks CB
AP Comeback Player of the Year
Saquon Barkley, Giants RB
Christian McCaffrey, 49ers RB
Geno Smith, Seahawks QB
AP Coach of the Year
Brian Daboll, Giants
Sean McDermott, Bills
Doug Pederson, Jaguars
Kyle Shanahan, 49ers
Nick Sirianni, Eagles
AP Assistant Coach of the Year
Ben Johnson, Lions OC
DeMeco Ryans, 49ers DC
Shane Steichen, Eagles OC
Other than McDermott, we could have voted for any of the Coach of the Year candidates.
And we weren’t sure if a half-season wonder like Purdy deserved a full-season vote, but he’s in the conference championship game.
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NFC NORTH
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GREEN BAY
The headline at The Spun says “Packers Make Big Decision on Aaron Rodgers.” Did they?
This offseason, there is reportedly a “real possibility” that the Green Bay Packers trade Aaron Rodgers.
If they do deal the four-time MVP, apparently they want to get him out of the conference.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, via NFL Twitter aggregator Dov Kleiman, Green Bay will not trade Rodgers within the NFC. They will, however, “explore” the idea of moving him to an AFC team.
Rodgers has a massive cap hit for 2023, and his cap hit for the next two seasons is more than $48 million combined. The Packers can save more than $15 million by trading him post-June 1.
Among AFC teams, the Jets, Raiders and Titans are among those that jump out as quarterback-needy. NBC Sports’ Peter King suggested that Jets owner Woody Johnson would “happily pay” two first-round picks for Rodgers, if that’s what Green Bay is looking for in return.
“The Woody Johnson Jets, desperate for a star QB almost since the Broadway Joe days, would happily pay that freight, I’d guess,” King wrote. “But would Rodgers accept a deal to the Jets? We shall see.”
Rodgers said last week he had not yet decided what he wanted to do in 2023, but did make it clear that he does not wish to be part of a rebuild with the Packers, if that’s the direction the franchise chooses to go in.
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NFC EAST
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DALLAS
Is it something that the normally talkative Jerry and Stephen Jones have gone, literally, radio silent? Longtime Cowboys observer Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.comobserves:
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones rarely misses a chance to hold court. He met with the media as usual after the Cowboys’ 19-12 loss to the 49ers on Sunday.
But he did not do his radio show today.
105.3 The Fan reports that Jones did not make a Tuesday appearance, a day after Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones skipped a Monday appearance.
Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones both have two appearances on the team’s flagship station every week during the season. Jerry appears on Tuesdays and Fridays and Stephen on Mondays and Fridays.
A year ago, Jerry Jones did not have a Tuesday appearance after the playoff loss while trying to keep defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who was drawing interest for head coaching jobs.
Quinn again has interest teams looking for a head coach as does offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
The Cowboys are conducting exit interviews this week, too, which could explain Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones’ radio silence. But it wasn’t the loss to the 49ers that had them off air early this week.
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What is “tightrope surgery”? Todd Archer of ESPN.com with this report on RB TONY POLLARD:
Running back Tony Pollard underwent surgery Tuesday to repair ligaments from a high ankle sprain he suffered in the Dallas Cowboys’ divisional round playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, according to a source.
Pollard suffered the injury with 1:24 left in the first half when 49ers defensive back Jimmie Ward landed on his ankle while making the tackle. Pollard was carted to the X-ray room with an air cast on his leg. The Cowboys had only 21 yards rushing in the second half without Pollard.
Pollard underwent a “tightrope” procedure instead of a surgery that required screws into the tibia and fibula for a repair. In this procedure, a braided polyethylene cord, rather than a rigid surgical screw, is applied to restore the original position of the bones and to allow for proper healing.
Pollard should be at full strength well before training camp. Tua Tagovailoa underwent a similar surgery while at Alabama, and Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill also had the procedure recently. Pollard also suffered a fractured fibula but that will heal with time.
The timing of the injury hurts Pollard, who is set to be a free agent in March and is coming off a Pro Bowl season in which he had a career-high 1,007 yards and scored 12 touchdowns, one more than he had in his first three seasons combined. The Cowboys could place the franchise tag on Pollard to keep him off the open market but would like to work out a long-term deal if possible.
The NFL announced Tuesday that Pollard will be replaced in the Pro Bowl Games by Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook.
The Cowboys could have a decision to make on Pollard’s running mate, Ezekiel Elliott, who is scheduled to make $10.9 million in 2023. There is no more guaranteed money in Elliott’s contract, which makes him a candidate for a pay cut or release. After the loss to the Niners, Elliott said he wants to remain with the Cowboys.
If the Cowboys release Elliott, they would save $4.86 million in cap space. If they designate him a post-June 1 release, Elliott would count $5.82 million against the cap in 2023 and $6.04 million against the cap in 2024.
In Pollard’s case, the Cowboys have shown a willingness to pay their own players coming off injuries. In 2021, they signed Dak Prescott to a four-year, $160 million deal after he suffered a dislocation and fracture of his right ankle. Last year, they signed wide receiver Michael Gallup to a five-year, $57.5 million deal after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the second-to-last game of the regular season.
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Do the Cowboys need to move on from QB DAK PRESCOTT because he is only good – and not great? Quite a few media types are opining based on that formulation. Dan Wetzel of YahooSports.com:
Dak Prescott is a good quarterback. So was Tony Romo before him.
The Dallas Cowboys need a great one, though. You can reach, not to mention win, a Super Bowl with a Joe Flacco or even a Nick Foles. But it’s a whole lot easier to do so with a Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or Peyton Manning.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn’t shy away from a singular goal: winning it all. He isn’t here for fruitless trips to the divisional round, even though that’s all Dallas has managed the past 27 years. Sunday’s bitter 19-12 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers was the latest.
“We’re sick,” Jones said after. “We’re sick.”
So what’s the cure?
Prescott isn’t the only reason Dallas lost Sunday. Coaching, mismanagement, injuries and the play of the Niners’ defense, of course, all had a hand in it.
Yet Prescott is the quarterback, and the great ones find ways to make up for deficiencies elsewhere and deliver victories. They certainly don’t set the team back.
Instead, Prescott threw two picks Sunday, which was hardly a surprise considering that his 15 in the regular season led the league despite his playing 12 games. He completed 23 of his 37 passes for only 207 yards. He had a touchdown and also a sack. He missed open receivers, misread open routes and never elevated his game when it mattered. He also doesn’t run like he used to, either by design or due to past injuries or both.
Prescott had two chances to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, only to go three-and-out and then oversee a drive that appeared as organized as a Jackson Pollock painting. That marked the second consecutive year the Cowboys’ season ended in comedic fashion.
Again, it wasn’t all Prescott’s fault, but that’s when the great ones go win the game. In last year’s playoffs, Mahomes led Kansas City to a game-tying field goal in 13 seconds flat. Dallas is lucky to snap the ball that quickly.
“Guys played their asses off, defense gave us an opportunity to win this game, played hard against a really, really good offense,” Prescott said. “For us to put up the points we did, that’s unacceptable. And that starts with me. I’ve got to be better.”
This is the undeniably great part of Prescott. He’s a leader, a standup superstar. He shoulders the blame even when play-calling and wide receiver effort (not to mention talent) could be used as scapegoats.
He’s everything you want in a Dallas Cowboys quarterback. Well, except the “great” part. He’s now 2-4 in playoff games, the same record as Romo.
Dallas is married to Prescott for now. He has two years left on a contract that averages $40 million. And while Jones noted that turnovers were the difference against the 49ers, he is still an owner/general manager who has long shown he will run this team with his heart.
And he still loves Dak Prescott.
“I would like to be right back here [next year] with the same hand, the same opportunity, with Prescott as the quarterback, and go get it,” Jones said. “ … if we’ve got him at quarterback, I’ll take my chances.”
Prescott is one of the Cowboys’ best stories. A fourth-round draft pick out of Mississippi State, he seized the job from Romo, himself an unlikely star out of Eastern Illinois. Prescott was offensive Rookie of the Year in 2016 and a Pro Bowler that year and in 2018. He was an instantly likable figure.
He has put together some impressive seasons, including avoiding interceptions — just four as a rookie. Yet he has been erratic at times, and turnovers have become a huge problem.
He’ll turn 30 this offseason, and thanks to age and the broken leg that cut his 2020 season short, he isn’t the bulldozing runner he once was. His first three years in the league, he ran for six touchdowns per season. He has had just two total since the injury.
What you expect from a quarterback in the middle of what should be the prime of his career — no longer young but not yet old — is a better appreciation of how to play the position and avoid mistakes to win games, if not make the plays that get it done.
That, more than anything, is what Prescott is missing. A 3.8 interception percentage, or a 23-15 TD to INT ratio, isn’t going to cut it. Not this past year. Not any year.
The Dallas defense was good enough to still be playing. It didn’t need a lot. Instead, it was San Francisco that rode that formula with rookie Brock Purdy to the NFC championship game on Sunday in Philadelphia.
Prescott could only vow to do better in the future. And Dallas could only hope it’s true — or else the divisional round might be the ceiling for this club.
The Cowboys have their franchise quarterback, but they’ve been waiting for him to show that he is great, not just good.
And so far, he has been only so good.
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NFC WEST
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SAN FRANCISCO
An anonymous coach helps Bruce Feldman of The Athletic understand why QB BROCK PURDY was unwanted by many NFL teams:
On the NFL team scouting report, the most eye-catching information of all the categories was in the box listed for final grade. It simply read two words in all caps.
NO INTEREST
This was the write-up for one NFL team last spring when it evaluated Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy. In fairness, that NFL organization probably shouldn’t feel too bad in its evaluation. Purdy almost went undrafted in 2022, lasting until the final pick in the draft, No. 262 overall. Yet the former Iowa State star is now just one game away from leading the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. This weekend he will become only the fifth rookie quarterback to start a conference title game, and none of the previous four were able to help their team make it to the Super Bowl.
Purdy’s rise from being selected as “Mr. Irrelevant” has been one of the most remarkable stories of the NFL season. The Athletic reviewed a pre-draft scouting report from an NFL team to explore why the four-year college starting quarterback lasted so long in the draft, then spoke to the coach who wrote that report and asked, on the condition of anonymity for competitive reasons, what he sees in Purdy now, what other teams might have overlooked and why the 23-year-old has been such an ideal fit for the 49ers.
The book on Purdy last spring was of a prospect with less-than-ideal size, at 6-0 1/2 and 212 pounds. His hand size also less than ideal: 9 1/4 inches. The athleticism he displayed at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine also didn’t impress. He ran a 4.84 40 and vertical jumped 27 inches. In his report, the coach wrote, “Did not test well, limited athlete that has a maxed out body. Very mature and experienced. Threw it ok.”
The strengths for Purdy were that he was “VERY” experienced with 48 college starts and that he manages the game well, making the routine plays consistently. He was creative as the play extends and “works through his progressions very well.”
The weaknesses: “sawed off … not a very good athlete … limited arm, both in strength and throw repertoire.”
It took a series of injuries for Purdy to get his opportunity this season in San Francisco. In Week 2, the 49ers lost starter Trey Lance to a broken ankle. Then, in early December, Jimmy Garoppolo injured his foot and San Francisco turned to Purdy. He has been terrific, posting a 13-to-4 TD-INT ratio, while completing 67 percent of his passes for a 107.3 rating, which is almost two points higher than any QB in the NFL who had enough attempts to qualify. More impressively, Purdy is now 7-0 as the 49ers’ starting quarterback.
The NFL coach who wrote the scouting report said Monday, “The biggest thing that stood out differently than from his college film, and (49ers GM) John Lynch actually said it a few weeks ago, is his athleticism. I don’t remember him moving like that at Iowa State, and he didn’t test well. He jumped 27 inches, which is terrible. He ran a 4.85 (4.84). He’s got short arms, like really short, and he’s got small hands. He’s 6-1, and his arm is OK. The twitchiness just wasn’t really there. His short shuttle was OK —4.45 — that’s not outstanding.
“There feels like there’s two or three of those guys every year, who’ve played a ton in college. They produced and know the playbook in and out but are just physically limited. They play so much and so you get a really good look at what they can’t do, where sometimes it helps guys that don’t play that much because their warts don’t show up as much.”
Evaluating college quarterbacks has always been particularly vexing for the NFL. One school of thought, the coach said, is if you’re going to take a QB in the first round, he needs to be elite at one thing. “That was the whole debate with Mac Jones,” he said. “What’s his one thing that he’s really great at? Well, he processes very well, and he’s really accurate, which is hard to see physically. That was a thing with Joe Burrow (when he was coming out of LSU) until everyone ended up coming around on him. Joe’s fast but not really fast. His arm’s good, not great. But it was, Hey, he’s just a baller. The guy is really, really good at quarterback. When it comes to that ‘it factor,’ It’s just oozing out him.”
Purdy had been an effective runner at Iowa State, rushing for 19 touchdowns and almost 1,200 yards in his career, but there was a lot of concern about how well his wheels would translate at the next level. “The requirement to juke people and outrun people in college is a lot lower than it is in the NFL,” the NFL coach said. “You saw that with Zach Wilson, Johnny Manziel, Tim Tebow — guys that looked fast in college, but they’re just not fast enough in the NFL. In college, they might be able to outrun that D-end or pull away from that linebacker, but they got hawked down in the NFL. But Purdy has kinda maintained that and almost surpassed his level of agility in the NFL. I wonder what he did in the offseason (to get ready for the NFL).”
The coach said Purdy’s offense at Iowa State features a lot of runs, Q-reads and RPOs, but there wasn’t a lot of true drop-back passing like what scouts saw from Burrow or Jones. In the 49ers’ games against Tampa Bay, Washington and Seattle in particular, the coach said, Purdy displayed some wiggle, lateral quickness and agility that he had not seen before he made it to the NFL. The Cowboys, who are really athletic up front on defense, corralled Purdy the best that anybody has so far in the NFL, he said.
“But,” said the coach, “what I think is really making him successful is he is processing a lot of information pre-snap because they do a lot of motion, shifts, kills, alerts in that offense. It can be hard to just snap the ball and know which way to hand the ball off. His composure late in the down — he has not made very many boneheaded mistakes — has really been impressive. He did have one (Sunday) when he threw the ball away and almost ended the half and you could see Kyle (Shanahan) MF-ing him under the call sheet for a good 10 seconds. Those plays have not shown up a lot.”
Asked where he thinks Purdy would be drafted now based on what he’s shown this year, the coach said probably second or third round.
“We undervalued his agility and probably the mental side, and San Francisco is perfect for it because they put a lot of importance on that because of their offense,” he said. “In San Francisco, he can operate and play-action and boot and screen and manage the game. It’s not like he’s playing in a system like in Buffalo where the Bills are relying on Josh Allen sitting back and just hucking the ball all over the field, where it’s like, ‘Good Lord, how are you making those throws?’”
“In San Francisco, they don’t rely on the quarterback’s production as much as most teams. It also helps that they have the best left tackle, one of the best tight ends, one of the best running backs, one of the best wide receivers and a really good defense — they are loaded around him.”
The coach is eager to see how Purdy handles facing the Eagles in the NFC Championship. “Philly does a lot to challenge you one-on-one,\ where he’s gonna have to make some tough throws — it’s a lot of five-man rush, a lot of read-trap coverages — it can make it hard on the quarterback. It’ll be interesting to see how they attack it, especially if they can’t run it the way they want to.”
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AFC WEST
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KANSAS CITY
Interesting from Field Yates:
@FieldYates
Andy Reid is the first coach in NFL history to lead two separate franchises to 10 playoff victories.
Elite.
Reid is actually only the 3rd coach to reach 20 career postseason victories (which we can tell you is necessary to have 10 wins with 2 teams). The others are Bill Belichick and Tom Landry.
They will be the only three for awhile. Among active coaches (and those likely to become active again), next are Pete Carroll, Mike McCarthy and John Harbaugh with 11.
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Reid sounds like he fully expects QB PATRICK MAHOMES to be good to go on Sunday, Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com:
There’s some good news on the injury front when it comes to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Head coach Andy Reid said in his Wednesday press conference that Mahomes participated in Kansas City’s morning walk-through and is set to practice in the afternoon.
His exact practice status — full or limited — is to be determined. But Reid noted Mahomes could be full when the injury report comes out later in the day.
“We’ll see,” Reid said. “I think he’ll do probably everything, but we’ll see.”
Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain in the first half of Saturday’s divisional-round victory over the Jaguars. While he missed some time in the second quarter, he played the entire second half. Reid and Mahomes have maintained since Saturday that Mahomes will play in the AFC Championship Game against the Bengals this week.
Reid said he’d like to see how Mahomes functions in Wednesday’s practice, though the quarterback did well in the walk-through.
“He’s had injuries before, so he can bank on that past experience that he’s had. But he’ll do fine,” Reid said. “It’s just a matter of making sure that he’s safe — as safe as you can be out there on a football field.”
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AFC NORTH
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CINCINNATI
A tweet from Albert Breer:
@AlbertBreer
Bengals’ first 52 seasons: 5 playoff wins.
Bengals in Joe Burrow’s first 3 years: 5 playoff wins.
Last year, Burrow told me over and over again that the old Bengals were dead and gone. He was right. This isn’t some underdog story anymore.
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Bills GM Brandon Beane is among those pointing out an advantage the Bengals currently hold over the Bills (and Chiefs and quite a few others for that matter). Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane says one of the reasons it’s tough to keep pace with the Bengals is that Cincinnati has its best players on inexpensive rookie contracts, while Buffalo does not.
“They right now are on the advantage of a rookie quarterback contract,” Beane said of Joe Burrow. “They had some lean years, and without getting too much into their build, I don’t want to suck bad enough to have to get Ja’Marr Chase. He’s a heck of a talent, I’d love to have him, but you got to go through some lean years to do that. They were able to get Burrow No. 1 and Chase [No. 5] and those guys are on their rookie deals. We’re paying Stefon Diggs a pretty hefty number. We’re paying Josh Allen a pretty hefty number. So there is the constraints of the cap. They have a really good team and they’ve got some good young players. We’re gonna try to get as many players as we can through the draft and through free agency, but again, our cap situation is a little different.”
Beane said the NFL has not told teams what the 2023 salary cap will be, but Beane expects the Bills to be over it heading into the offseason. That means the Bills’ first priority will be making moves to get under the cap, rather than signing expensive free agents.
“We’re going to have to get under the cap by moves, roster cuts. . . . There’s not gonna be a Von Miller signing or something like that. We’re going to have to work to get under the cap so we can operate this year,” Beane said.
Beane said there are moves that the Bills can make to reduce salary cap hits this year, but those moves end up pushing salary cap hits into future seasons, so Beane doesn’t want to make too many such moves.
“I don’t want to in two years be $100 million over the cap, like we’ve seen teams have to do. I’m not looking to do that,” Beane said.
Burrow will likely sign a lucrative contract extension this year, and Chase likely next year, so the Bengals won’t have that advantage for long. But for now, it’s an advantage that makes Beane jealous of the Bengals’ situation.
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AFC EAST
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BUFFALO
Defending the Bills:
@ScottKacsmar
Bills didn’t lose by more than 4 points in regulation in their last 26 games before Sunday.
Yet you read the takes today and people are acting like they’re a trash team.
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NEW ENGLAND
Steve Buckley in The Athletic says the arrival of Bill O’Brien means it is time for QB MAC JONES to get things done:
The best thing about Bill O’Brien returning to the Patriots is the business cards. A fresh stack of them, placed in a white box, neatly wrapped with brown paper, will be waiting on O’Brien’s desk when he arrives at Gillette Stadium to begin his new job with his old team. The words on those business cards are the first step in what the Patriots and their fans are hoping is a bright future.
Bill O’Brien
Offensive Coordinator
New England Patriots
Note the title. Offensive Coordinator. It is not vague. It is not dodgy. It is not open to interpretation. It is this: Bill O’Brien has been brought in to coordinate the offense. Says so right on the card.
What needs to happen now is for Patriots quarterback Mac Jones to get his hands on one of those business cards. And he needs to press it into that space between the wood and the glass in the lower left-hand corner of his mirror so that he can look at it each morning as he combs his hair.
Jones is coming off a giant backward step of a 2022 season with the Patriots. He had a painful injury, yes, but he was also painful to watch. He often looked uncertain, confused, out of sync with his receivers. You could look at his numbers, or you could look at his demeanor; in either case, it’d be impossible not to come away unimpressed. What a mess it all was for Jones and the 2022 Pats, who, preposterously, went into the final weekend of the season with a chance to make the playoffs — even if the most upbeat, optimistic Pats fans knew they weren’t following a true contender.
And as you settle in for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Joe Burrow-quarterbacked Cincinnati Bengals and the Patrick Mahomes-quarterbacked Kansas City Chiefs, it’s not unfair to ask: Can the Mac Jones-quarterbacked Patriots return to that stage?
In re-hiring O’Brien, the Patriots are bringing in a person who has spent most of his career working on the offensive side of the ball. It’s what he did when he was with the Patriots from 2007 to 2011, including one season as offensive coordinator before he headed off for his adventures with Penn State, the Houston Texans and Alabama. Now that he’s back with the Patriots, it means Jones has someone who speaks his language — as in two guys who speak offense.
This is not to suggest Jones is blameless for his horrible 2022 season. For bookkeeping purposes, it makes sense to begin there: Mac Jones did not step up in 2022. That’s it right there. And if watching the 2022 version of Jones has guided you to the belief that he’s not the quarterback who’ll be taking the Patriots to their next Super Bowl, that’s a justifiable opinion.
But ask yourself this question: Did the Patriots do everything in their power for Jones to succeed in 2022? The answer is no, of course. We won’t get into the offensive line and the receiving corps (including the sporadic deployment of Kendrick Bourne), since the O’Brien announcement in and of itself does not address those concerns. But what it does address is that the Pats have officially moved on from having Matt Patricia run their offense.
Patricia is a career defensive-side-of-the-ball assistant and the failed head coach of the Detroit Lions, who were 13-29-1 in three seasons with Matty P. at the controls. While it may have been creative accounting to have Patricia on the New England staff while the Lions were paying most of his salary, having him run the offense was one of the biggest blunders of Belichick’s career.
Jones deserved better than that. He needed better than that.
From the moment Josh McDaniels exited New England to become head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, it was incumbent on the Patriots to recruit the best offensive coordinator they could find. Failing that, the Patriots would have better served Jones by promoting from within. Neither wide receivers coach Troy Brown nor tight ends coach Nick Caley had ever run an offense before, but they had experience both on that side of the ball and with Jones.
Instead, Belichick brought in old buddy Matt Patricia and gave him the vague title of “senior football advisor/offensive line.” From the early days of training camp, there were hints this was going to be a mess. And a mess it was.
Now it’s offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, and it’s no excuses for Mac Jones. No, the slate is not cleaned. If Jones is to learn anything going forward, he needs to re-examine what went wrong in 2022, and with O’Brien sitting next to him as they look at the monitor.
As for the pouting and whining that became the Mac Jones Patriot Way in 2022, we probably don’t need to revisit that since Jones did eliminate the baby-rattling in the last weeks of the season. But he does need to be mindful of the obvious, that such behavior will not go over well in 2023. He’ll get crushed if that happens.
The Pats went out and got a for-real NFL offensive coordinator. Now it’s time for Mac Jones to be a for-real NFL quarterback.
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THIS AND THAT
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BROADCAST NEWS
Richard Dietsch of The Athletic on the enduring Pam Oliver:
When Pam Oliver first took the NFL sidelines for Fox Sports 28 years ago, Tom Brady had just completed his run as a three-sport senior (baseball, basketball and football) at Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, Calif., Michael Jordan was preparing for his comeback season with the Bulls after leaving the NBA, and “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio featuring L.V. was on its way to the top of the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. No NFL fan under 30 can remember a time Pam Oliver was not on an NFL sideline. It has been a remarkable run — and it will continue.
On Tuesday night, Oliver confirmed to The Athletic she’ll be back for another season on Fox’s NFL coverage. Her current contract runs through 2023. Oliver worked for years on Fox’s top NFL team with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman before switching to the Kevin Burkhardt-Greg Olsen crew in 2021. This year she teamed with Joe Davis and Daryl Johnston. Her final broadcast of this season came Saturday for the Eagles’ 38-7 rout of the Giants.
“I’m committed for another year,” Oliver said. “Beyond that, it’s a process where you sit down and think about it. It’s a two-way street, of course. I’ve kind of been assured for as long as I want to do this job, I can, and they’ve been really good about figuring out where I am and what I’d like to do. I’m sure they’ve got plans of their own, but when you tell me that I can do this for as long as I want to, I expect that to be the case. But I know nothing is guaranteed. I’ll be 62 in March. I was thinking about Jalen Hurts the other day and how he could be my grandson basically (laughs). But that’s just where we are. I appreciate the longevity and I think about it. I think longevity is a beautiful thing.”
Oliver has been open about the excruciating pain she has endured over the years, from chronic migraines to fibroids. (I highly recommend this 2019 Yahoo Sports profile on her health issues by Kimberley A. Martin, who’s now with ESPN.) Oliver said the migraines still come frequently but were lessened a bit this year.
“I struggle still, but I did not get a migraine every game, so I felt I did get a bit of a break from that standpoint,” Oliver said. “It wasn’t like six days’ worth of migraines like before. It was down to two or three days, so I did feel better most weeks. But it was still pretty prevalent. I don’t think I’ll ever figure out why I get them. … It’s a part of my life, my health, and I just have to manage the best that I possibly can.”
With her Fox year ending until the summer, Oliver said she will focus on some passion projects. She and her husband, Alvin Whitney, have formed a production company, Tomboy Productions, and they plan to produce documentaries. She has also been working on and off on a memoir for the last five years.
“You know I had the coolest experience this year,” Oliver said. “Right after warmups of the (Seahawks–49ers wild-card) game, Azeez Al-Shaair, a linebacker with the 49ers, was walking by me to join his teammates but he stopped and said, ‘You’ve meant a lot, and it’s a pleasure watching you. You help in our community and you make us all look good.’ I was just like, wow. It was really emotional moment. To hear something like that makes you think you have done some things right. This is just a damn good job and I still love it.”
Not many people can say they were at the first athletic event covered by Erin Andrews as a professional reporter and the first NFL football game covered by Pam Oliver.
Both were in Tampa early in their broadcast career.
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2023 DRAFT
It’s not a Mock Draft per se, but Austin Mock and Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic have a “consensus” top 100 prospect list:
The Athletic’s Consensus Big Board combines rankings from a wide range of draft experts to identify how the top prospects are viewed against the rest of the 2023 draft class. In theory, by the time we reach draft weekend, we’ll have a good handle on how the picks could (or, at least, should) fall.
For the second version of our consensus board, Austin Mock expands the list from an initial top 50 to a current top 100. That number will continue to expand as we inch closer to the actual draft.
The 2023 NFL Draft Consensus Big Board, 2.0 (including each player’s average ranking across all sources):
1 Will Anderson Jr. EDGE Alabama 1.7
2 Jalen Carter DT Georgia 2.8
3 Bryce Young QB Alabama 3.7
4 C.J. Stroud QB Ohio State 4.8
5 Myles Murphy EDGE Clemson 5.5
6 Bijan Robinson RB Texas 9.3
7 Michael Mayer TE Notre Dame 12.8
8 Quentin Johnston WR TCU 13.6
9 Peter Skoronski OT Northwestern 13.9
10 Paris Johnson Jr. OT Ohio State 15.8
11 Jordan Addison WR USC 16.3
12 Tyree Wilson EDGE Texas Tech 16.3
13 Joey Porter Jr. CB Penn State 17.8
14 Cam Smith CB South Carolina 18.3
15 Jaxon Smith-Njigba WR Ohio State 18.8
16 Bryan Bresee DT Clemson 19.8
17 Christian Gonzalez CB Oregon 21.3
18 Kelee Ringo CB Georgia 23.3
19 Will Levis QB Kentucky 23.3
20 Brian Branch CB Alabama 24.4
21 Isaiah Foskey EDGE Notre Dame 26.0
22 Trenton Simpson OLB Clemson 28.2
23 Jahmyr Gibbs RB Alabama 28.5
24 Broderick Jones OT Georgia 32.7
25 Antonio Johnson S Texas A&M 32.7
26 Anthony Richardson QB Florida 37.2
27 BJ Ojulari EDGE LSU 37.2
28 Anton Harrison OT Oklahoma 37.8
29 Felix Anudike-Uzomah EDGE Kansas State 38.6
30 Siaki Ika DT Baylor 40.6
31 O’Cyrus Torrence OG Florida 41.5
32 Noah Sewell ILB Oregon 43.1
33 Clark Phillips III CB Utah 43.8
34 Josh Downs WR North Carolina 44.2
35 Nolan Smith EDGE Georgia 45.3
36 Devon Witherspoon CB Illinois 46.8
37 Gervon Dexter DT Florida 48.0
38 Andre Carter II EDGE Army 48.6
39 Dalton Kincaid TE Utah 49.4
40 Drew Sanders ILB Alabama 49.8
41 Emmanuel Forbes CB Mississippi St 51.1
42 Jaylin Hyatt WR Tennessee 54.3
43 Jordan Battle S Alabama 55.6
44 John Michael Schmitz OC Minnesota 57.0
45 Rashee Rice WR SMU 57.7
46 Dawand Jones OT Ohio State 58.1
47 Darnell Washington TE Georgia 59.8
48 Zay Flowers WR Boston College 61.7
49 Tuli Tuipulotu DT USC 61.9
50 Lukas Van Ness DT Iowa 62.6
51 Kayshon Boutte WR LSU 62.8
52 Henry To’o To’o ILB Alabama 63.4
53 Will McDonald IV EDGE Iowa State 63.7
54 Cody Mauch OT North Dakota S. 63.8
55 Garrett Williams CB Syracuse 66.3
56 Jaelyn Duncan OT Maryland 66.3
57 Mazi Smith DT Michigan 66.4
58 Zach Harrison EDGE Ohio State 67.5
59 Eli Ricks CB Alabama 68.9
60 Luke Musgrave TE Oregon State 69.5
61 Tanner McKee QB Stanford 69.5
62 J.L. Skinner S Boise State 69.6
63 Darnell Wright OT Tennessee 69.9
64 Andrew Vorhees OG USC 70.2
65 Derick Hall EDGE Auburn 70.7
66 Devon Achane RB Texas A&M 70.9
67 Zach Charbonnet RB UCLA 73.3
68 Christopher Smith S Georgia 73.6
69 Blake Freeland OT BYU 73.7
70 Cedric Tillman WR Tennessee 73.8
71 Jaylon Jones CB Texas A&M 74.3
72 Hendon Hooker QB Tennessee 74.4
73 Zach Evans RB Ole Miss 75.4
74 Jack Campbell ILB Iowa 75.5
75 Matthew Bergeron OT Syracuse 76.3
76 Brandon Joseph S Notre Dame 77.6
77 Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson CB TCU 78.6
78 Calijah Kancey DT Pitt 79.0
79 Kyu Blu Kelly CB Stanford 79.3
80 Jarrett Patterson OG Notre Dame 79.7
81 Sean Tucker RB Syracuse 80.5
82 Zacch Pickens DT South Carolina 81.4
83 Marvin Mims WR Oklahoma 81.6
84 Sam LaPorta TE Iowa 82.8
85 DJ Turner CB Michigan 83.1
86 Tucker Kraft TE South Dakota St. 83.4
87 Parker Washington WR Penn State 83.6
88 DeMarvion Overshown OLB Texas 84.0
89 Daiyan Henley LB Washington St. 84.3
90 Jaquelin Roy DT LSU 84.4
91 Byron Young DT Alabama 86.6
92 Tank Bigsby RB Auburn 86.6
93 Dontayvion Wicks WR Virginia 87.3
94 Tyler Steen OT Alabama 87.4
95 Xavier Hutchinson WR Iowa State 89.4
96 Keion White DT Georgia Tech 90.1
97 Nathaniel Dell WR Houston 90.2
98 Rakim Jarrett WR Maryland 90.2
99 Rashad Torrence II S Florida 90.3
100 Mekhi Garner CB LSU 90.8
A few thoughts from The Athletic draft analyst Nick Baumgardner on the updated consensus board:
• I’ll have no issue with anyone who keeps Bijan Robinson in their top 10 throughout this entire process, even if it doesn’t feel likely Robinson will hear his name called that early. (It’s possible, though.)
However, when it comes to wide receivers, it feels like the Big Board is a bit eager. While I don’t really mind Quentin Johnston being one spot ahead of Jordan Addison — personally, I would reverse it — I do think they’re both too high overall, at 9 and 10, respectively. That range doesn’t feel likely in this draft. It’s not going to be a surprise this year to see teams wait on receivers, be it those two or Jaxon Smith-Njigba. There are a bunch of really good prospects here but not any slam-dunk superstars, and that’s not going to change as the draft approaches.
We might not see a receiver go in the top 15 this year. We might not see one go in the top 20. (Addison came off the board first in Dane Brugler’s most recent mock, right at No. 20.) I would, however, take Zay Flowers at his current No. 55 slot and sleep very well at night, or A.T. Perry around pick 99 and sleep even better. Patience, once again, will pay off for teams in the WR market.
• On the other side of things, the board is probably still too low on the corners, specifically Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez and Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon. Gonzalez was No. 40 on our initial consensus board in November, and he’ll likely be higher than No. 17 after he runs this spring. In terms of pure movement skills in coverage, Gonzalez is CB1 in this class. There are questions with his game, however, as is the case with every corner on this list.
Gonzalez falling to 17 isn’t impossible, given the usual variance of team-by-team preference here. Witherspoon at 36, though? That feels very unlikely. If you ask an analyst who their top cornerback is right now, you’ll get a range of names that includes Gonzalez, Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr., Georgia’s Kelee Ringo and South Carolina’s Cam Smith. But they’ll also mention Witherspoon, who is a first-round talent.
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