The girlfriend of former NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett, who died last week in an apparent drowning off a Florida beach, said she tried hard to save him.

“I trust that God has a plan for everything, but I don’t think I will ever understand why this happened,” Madison Carter wrote on Facebook.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you, and I hope you know how hard I tried.”

First responders were called to the scene after a group of people were spotted in the water near a sandbar struggling to make their way back to shore, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said.

Mallett was among the group and was pulled out of the ocean by lifeguards after going underwater but was not breathing when he made it back to shore, the sheriff’s office said.

Carter described Mallett as talented, dedicated, and passionate.

“Those of us who were lucky enough to know your heart know that it was even bigger than your larger-than-life personality and stature. Nothing was ever about you, it was always about others,” she wrote.

“Words cannot convey how badly I miss you. I hope you know how loved you are. By myself, your amazing family, your friends, your teammates, your students, and countless others. I don’t know how I’ll ever get past this. But I’m so honored to love you and be loved by you. You changed my life, and I’m forever grateful for the time we had.”

Mallett was a star with the Arkansas Razorbacks before he was drafted in 2011 in the third round by the New England Patriots, the NFL said. He spent seven years in the NFL with the Patriots, Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens.

He played in 21 games, went 3-5 as a starter, and compiled 1,835 passing yards, nine touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, the NFL said. His career ended in 2017.

Authorities had been warning beachgoers as rip currents claimed at least 11 lives in two weeks last month along the Gulf Coast.

Yellow flags indicating “a medium hazard, moderate surf and/or currents” were flying along Destin beaches, though “there were no rip currents present in the area in which we responded to Ryan Mallett,” the Destin Fire Control District said in a statement.

Mallett’s death “seems to be just a tragic accident and not something to do with the conditions of the surf or tides or currents,” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said.

NFL star Tom Brady shared online a photo of himself and former Patriots teammate Mallett on the field. “We lost a great man. Thank you for everything Ryan,” Brady wrote on Instagram. “Praying for the Mallett family and all their loved ones tonight.”

Mallett had gone into coaching and was the head football coach at White Hall High School in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Madison Carter is a medical student.

This from his obituary:

In addition to his sports obligations, Ryan was able to obtain his bachelor’s degree from UA. and  later completed his Master’s of Arts in Teaching degree. Following in his father’s footsteps, Ryan became a high school football coach, which had always been his desire after ending his playing career.  He served two years as offensive coordinator at Mountain Home High School, where he was mentored by head coach Steve Ary.  His ultimate goal was to be a head football coach, and he achieved that goal at White Hall High School this past year before his untimely death.  He was so excited to be able to teach young men how to improve their skills in the game he loved.  His players were his children, and he loved them BIG. He was fortunate to work with men at both schools who were more than coaches — they were friends. Ryan lived each day to the fullest.  Everyone knew he was a big-hearted, fun-loving guy, who enjoyed hunting, fishing, going to the beach, and of course, playing sports. But the thing closest to his heart was being with family and friends competing in some of his favorite activities: river trips, corn hole tournaments, trash talking his cousins (and Aunt Kay), playing golf, and filling his days with laughter and love.

– – –

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com surveys the free agent market – with many of those remaining unsigned looking for one last big (or not so big) score:

It’s July 4. The annual celebration of American independence. With training camps opening in a few weeks, there are plenty of players who would be interested in shedding their own independence and joining a team.

In recent weeks, much of the focus has fallen upon running back Dalvin Cook and receiver DeAndre Hopkins. But there are plenty of other players with instantly-recognizable names who remain available to be signed, by any team at any time.

Several quarterbacks remain unattached, including Carson Wentz, Teddy Bridgewater, and Matt Ryan, who has taken a job at CBS but who hasn’t closed the door on playing. Joe Flacco is available, as are Nick Foles and Chase Daniel.

Running back Ezekiel Elliott has been on the market for months, with no takers. Likewise Leonard Fournette, Kareem Hunt, J.D. McKissic, and Mark Ingram haven’t signed. As running backs inevitably get injured, will their phones ring?

Receivers Jarvis Landry, N’Keal Harry, Kenny Golladay, and Julio Jones are available, as are tight ends Cameron Brate, Marcedes Lewis, and Kyle Rudolph.

The offensive linemen still on the market include Taylor Lewan, Chase Roullier, Justin Pugh, and George Fant.

Plenty of pass rushers are out there, such as Yannick Ngakoue, Jadeveon Clowney, Robert Quinn, and Melvin Ingram. Interior defensive linemen like Akiem Hicks, Ndamukong Suh, LInval Joseph, and Tyson Alualu are available.

Linebackers Anthony Barr, Myles Jack, Kyle Van Noy, and Kwon Alexander remain unsigned.

Cornerback Marcus Peters, Eli Apple, and William Jackson are available, as are safeties John Johnson, Duron Harmon, and Logan Ryan.

Plenty of kickers are on the market, including Mason Crosby, Randy Bullock, Ryan Succop, and Brett Maher (DB aside – Florio left off the venerable but still accurate Robbie Gould from this list).Top free-agent punters are Matt Araiza and Andy Lee.

Some players could be signed before camp opens. Some could be added once teams see what they have (or don’t have), or as players get injured. Some could wait to see how the season begins to unfold. Others simply won’t get a call, either because they want too much or because no one is or will be interested.

It’s how the game goes. Every year, new players enter. There are only so many roster spots. And not nearly enough players choose to retire. For most, the game makes the decision for them.

CHICAGO

Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com with a look at GM Ryan Poles:

In a modest apartment not far from Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, Ryan Poles pondered his future. It was 2009, and he was a Chiefs scout, grinding for an organization that was bottoming out.

Three years later, Kansas City finished 4-12, the worst record in the league, triggering a rebuild. The blueprint of how the Chiefs transformed from bottom-feeder to two-time Super Bowl champs could serve Poles well in his current position as Chicago Bears general manager.

As he enters his second season in Chicago, Poles finds himself at the beginning of that arc. The Bears finished 3-14 last season, worst in the NFL. It set up one of the biggest offseasons in franchise history, from having — and trading — the No. 1 overall pick to developing a possible franchise quarterback and surrounding him with the right players.

“Anyone who’s in one of these major decision-making seats, at some point you’re going to have to make a franchise-altering or career-altering decision,” Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry said. “It can be easy in these roles, especially because they’re so public facing, to operate from a posture of being afraid to make a mistake, being afraid to make a bold move or even from the perspective of pure job preservation.

“And when I see what Ryan did, I see someone who is doing what he thinks is in the best interest of the organization.”

Not only did Poles, 37, trade the Bears’ top pick, he also dealt some big names — Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn — for draft capital. At the same time, Poles acknowledged it won’t be a quick process and said there will be “weak spots” on the Bears’ 2023 roster.

Patience was at the core of the Chiefs’ rebuild, but Poles also saw how quickly things can accelerate if the team hits on key moves. Less than a month after finishing 2-14 in 2012, the Chiefs hired coach Andy Reid and haven’t had a losing record since. Reid’s first priority was to improve the culture in the locker room, and that included trading away talented players, including All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters, who clashed with some in the organization. In 2017, Reid and the Chiefs made their most consequential move, drafting quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“There were some dark days there where you had to work through that,” said Mike Borgonzi, a former roommate of Poles who’s now the Chiefs’ assistant general manager. “And it was really just having to change the habits of everyone in the organization, from the scouts to the coaches to the players, and having a sense of doing it together.

“We lived it. We experienced it. Not a lot of people can have the first pick of the draft and then win a championship seven, eight years later.”

POLES’ ASCENSION WAS not without rejection and doubt.

As a player, his claim to fame was being an offensive lineman for Boston College and blocking for quarterback Matt Ryan. While Ryan went on to enjoy a 14-year NFL career, an injury as a senior shifted Poles’ path from a projected midround pick to signing as an undrafted free agent with the Bears in 2008.

Poles didn’t make the 53-man roster and was cut.

He nearly took a marketing job before a former BC teammate asked him to go on a trip to Alaska to close up his family’s fishing camp. For two weeks, Poles considered his future. There was no cell service — just whales, bald eagles, the ocean and peace of mind to plan his next step. “That probably was the best thing he could have ever done,” his mother, Mary Ellen Poles, said. “He had a lot of time to think.

“And he came back and said, ‘I still want to be a part of the game.’ That was pivotal. That was a cathartic moment for him where he was like, ‘This is what I really want to do.’ And he went after it.”

Ryan Poles’ timing was fortuitous. When he returned, a position opened at BC, where Borgonzi was the assistant recruiting coordinator and liaison for pro scouts. Poles was hired as a graduate assistant to help with recruiting.

“When I did that, I was kind of 50-50, was it going to be coaching or was it going to be personnel? Once we got into recruiting and watching tape and getting organized, sending letters, hosting visits, you realize it’s actually kind of a cool thing to build a roster,” Poles said. “That’s where it kind of started.

“And then I had scouts coming in all the time asking about the players, and I was like, ‘I think that’s really what I want to do.'”

The next step was networking.

“Me and Ryan went out to the combine. We just flew out there,” Borgonzi said. “We met with a bunch of personnel people out in Indianapolis. And then we ended up getting some interviews.”

Scott Pioli, who evaluated college talent for the Patriots, knew Poles and Borgonzi from scouting nearby BC. The Chiefs hired Pioli as GM in 2009.

“We developed a relationship with Scott, and he called us up in May for interviews,” Borgonzi said. “We went out there, and we thought it was a very good place to work. Scott just got hired out there, and it was a fresh start.

“We were going to learn a lot of things from Scott, and we certainly did. So our first year out here [in K.C.] was in 2009, and I actually lived with Ryan and Katie (Poles’ wife), who was his fiancee at the time. Money was a little tight back then, so we had a split apartment.”

One of the things Poles and Borgonzi learned was the fleeting nature of front-office jobs in the NFL. Pioli lasted four years, the same amount as his successor, John Dorsey. Brett Veach is going on his sixth season as the Chiefs GM.

“Towards the end of Scott’s deal, it went so wrong. It was just a mess,” Poles said. “So you’re almost like, questioning it again. Like, ‘Is this what I want to get into?'”

THE CHIEFS’ IMPLOSION didn’t dissuade Poles. He credits Pioli with being transparent about what went wrong, emphasizing the importance of building the right culture in the locker room.

“The unique thing when Ryan and I were here at Kansas City together is we worked under three different general managers,” Borgonzi said. “So I think we learned a lot of different philosophies, a lot of different processes. I don’t know if that happens everywhere, where we were involved in everything, the college scouting, the pro scouting. We were in on contract negotiations. We dealt with agents a lot.

“So for people to think, ‘Oh, it’s a young guy getting the job [as Bears GM],’ he had a lot of experience for those 13 years that he was out here.”

Poles’ responsibilities included overseeing all aspects of college scouting. During his tenure, the Chiefs drafted franchise cornerstones in Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. Poles also assisted with pro personnel, free agency and draft coordination.

Poles became the director of college scouting in 2017, and around that time, he took a trip to his hometown of Canandaigua, New York, to visit family.

“They were sitting around a campfire and they asked him, ‘What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in five years?'” Mary Ellen Poles said. “And he said, ‘I’m going to be a general manager of a team.'”

Mary Ellen said her son read “voraciously,” books on leadership and how people built successful organizations. He reached out to colleagues and mentors for insight, including Berry and current Baltimore Ravens president Sashi Brown.

Years before he had a staff of his own, Poles was figuring out who would be a part of his team, notably Ian Cunningham. The two had never worked in the same building but had gotten to know each other on the scouting trail. During the pandemic, Poles called Cunningham about joining forces should either of them get hired as a general manager. Cunningham is now the Bears’ assistant GM.

“It was almost like he was starting to build what he wanted,” Mary Ellen said.

Poles’ attention to detail was apparent in 2020 when the pandemic forced the NFL to conduct the draft virtually. Poles was tasked with making sure the communication process ran smoothly, so he had dress rehearsals with Mary Ellen and his sister, Kelli, who role-played through the process of getting a drafted player on the phone and handing that call off to the GM, head coach and so on.

Poles became the Chiefs’ executive director of player personnel in 2021, and he believed he was ready to take the next step. But again, it required patience.

He interviewed with the Carolina Panthers in 2021, then with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants in 2022.

“I remember when he went through his first round of interviews [with Carolina]. He’s like, ‘I got really positive feedback,'” Berry said. “He was always the person who was reaching out to people who had walked the path before him to learn from in a very genuine way.”

Kevin Warren was the Big Ten commissioner in 2022 when Poles went through his second wave of interviews, including with the Minnesota Vikings, with whom Warren spent 15 years.

“I actually called Ryan unsolicited, because he was interviewing for the Bears job and the Vikings job at the same time,” Warren said. “I wanted to make sure that whatever information I had about Minnesota that I could share with him.

“I called the NFL office and got Ryan’s number and called Ryan, introduced myself and said, ‘Look, I was at the Vikings, and it’s a great environment. I just wanted to give you some insight.'”

Warren has become more than an adviser to Poles. The Bears named Warren as team president on Jan. 12.

“When I hung up that phone call, I said to myself, ‘That guy is special,'” Warren said. “And wherever he is, he’s gonna be highly successful, and he’s gonna do a great job and he’s gonna win multiple Super Bowl trophies.”

THREE MONTHS AFTER he was hired as the Bears GM on Jan. 25, Poles was sleeping at Halas Hall during his first draft.

“That was not healthy doing that last year,” Poles said. “I don’t ever want to go through that again.

“But it was necessary to get the job done, so a little bit different approach.”

Poles began revamping the roster almost immediately, trading Mack for a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 sixth-round selection. He was an active trader during his first draft, making four moves that netted five players, including fifth-round offensive tackle Braxton Jones, who earned offensive All-Rookie honors.

Poles is following the Chiefs’ blueprint.

“It definitely rubs off on you,” he said. “Build through the draft.

Ryan Poles admitted there will be holes in the Bears’ roster this season, but if Kansas City’s rebuild taught him anything, it’s to be patient and build through the draft. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

“You see guys mature. Travis Kelce stands out to me as one … just a guy that you watch him in college, and he comes in, I think he got hurt early, and you see him mature and grow and connect with a quarterback, and all of a sudden he’s the best tight end to ever play. That’s so rewarding as a scout to see that kind of journey.”

Poles is hoping he found his Reid equivalent in Matt Eberflus, who was hired as head coach two days after Poles joined the Bears. The two had met a couple of years earlier when they played golf, appeared on a podcast together and stayed in touch.

“That’s maybe the secret sauce to the success people can sustain in this business, whether it be like [GM] John Schneider in Seattle with Pete Carroll, and myself and Andy,” Veach said. “And I think Ryan, because he had a prior relationship with Matt, I think helps the thing get rolling right away. Just that level of trust.

“It’s one of those deals where it’s a hard business because it’s never going to be perfect, and you’re never going to hit on every draft pick, and every free agency period is never going to go perfectly. But I think when you start and you’re rooted in that level of just trust and respect, I think that helps you sustain and work through adversities that you’re inevitably going to have.”

There was plenty of adversity to work through last season. The passing game was historically bad early, the offensive line struggled and the pass rush was the worst in the league.

But the development of quarterback Justin Fields gave Poles enough confidence to trade the No. 1 overall pick to Carolina, instead of using it on one of the elite QB prospects. The Bears received four draft picks and DJ Moore, who instantly became the team’s most established wide receiver and a potential key to Fields’ development.

The Bears might finally have found a franchise quarterback. Fields set rushing records for a QB last season, and he provided some glimpses of his passing potential, despite a lack of establishing receiving playmakers.

Like in Kansas City, Poles knows the process can take time, which can be difficult in a market starved for success. The Bears haven’t won a playoff game since the 2010 season, around the time when Poles and Borgonzi were roommates in Kansas City, pondering their futures.

“We were just young guys in our 20s trying to figure out our way,” Borgonzi said. “We were trying to figure out how to add some value to the organization, and really that was just work hard, be humble and listen.”

By the end of his Kansas City tenure, Poles admitted it wasn’t easy being humble. It’s how he ultimately wants to feel in Chicago.

“I remember almost being borderline cocky walking in the stadium like, ‘All right, we’re gonna win this game; there’s an 80% chance we’re gonna win this game,'” Poles said. “That’s a really fun place to be when you get to that spot.

“I don’t know if we’ll get to it at that level, but I wanna have a good product where everyone’s happy and we can compete for championships.”

DENVER

What would be a successful first season for Sean Payton in Denver?  Nick Kosmider of The Athletic:

When Sean Payton agreed to become the Broncos’ head coach back in February, he was “well aware” that his new job provided a chance to chase NFL history. No head coach has led two different teams to Super Bowl victories. Payton, who guided the Saints to the championship to close the 2009 season, hopes to eventually become the first while leading Denver to its fourth championship.

“You ever do something that you are so excited after you’ve done it once, and you can’t wait to show somebody?” Payton said during the Broncos minicamp last month. “You see a movie, you go to a great restaurant, you got a great Christmas gift and it’s unbelievable and you just can’t wait for someone else (to see it)? That’s kind of like winning a championship. You are addicted to it. … There is just nothing like it. It’s borderline obsessive. After 2009, we had a number of close, tough playoff games — some big wins and tough losses. You want everyone that has not had that opportunity (to have it). If I said to you to pretend you have a picture of what it is like, and then I said I want you to (multiply) it by 100,000, it’s even better than that.”

It’s that passion for coaching — and, more specifically, winning — that brought Payton back into the role after a one-year break following a highly successful 16-season stint in New Orleans. The ultimate goal is clear. Payton is expected to lift a proud franchise out of arguably its worst stretch as an NFL franchise — seven seasons without a playoff berth, including six in a row with losing records — and return it to a spot among the league’s best.

Now, as Payton’s first training camp in Denver approaches, the natural question centers on just how quickly that kind of turnaround can begin. Put another way, what are realistic expectations for Payton in Year 1 as the coach of a Broncos team that hasn’t tasted the postseason since 2015?

History suggests Payton’s quest to turn around the Broncos will take some time. There have been 13 previous head coaches in NFL history who won a Super Bowl and then went on to coach another team. Only two of those coaches — Mike Holmgren and Doug Pederson — led that team to the playoffs in their first year on the job.

Holmgren spent seven seasons in Green Bay, leading the Packers to the championship after the 1996 season. He then became the head coach of the Seahawks in 1999 and led them to a 9-7 record that was good enough for first place in the NFC West. It was the first of six playoff appearances in 10 seasons in Seattle for Holmgren, who got back to the Super Bowl after the 2005 season but lost to the Steelers.

Pederson had a five-year stint with the Eagles that included a victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. After a year out of coaching following his firing by the Eagles, Pederson took over a Jaguars team in turmoil following the disastrous one-year stint of Urban Meyer and led Jacksonville to a 9-8 record that won the AFC South. Jacksonville beat the Los Angeles Chargers in the wild-card round, making Pederson the first Super Bowl-winning coach to guide his next team to a playoff victory in Year 1.

A lack of success in their first seasons didn’t always equate to a lack of success overall for the past Super Bowl champions.

Mike McCarthy, who won Super Bowl XXI with the Packers, went 6-10 during his first season with the Cowboys in 2020, a campaign that was soured by the season-ending injury suffered by quarterback Dak Prescott in Week 5. He has gone 12-5 in each of the past two seasons and last year led Dallas to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.

Bill Parcells went just 5-11 during the 1993 season with the Patriots, a job he took after previously winning two Super Bowls with the Giants. Parcells led the Patriots to the playoffs the following year and then got back to the Super Bowl following the 1996 season, losing to Holmgren’s Packers.

Seven of the 13 coaches eventually took their next team to the playoffs, including six of the last coaches in that position.

The Broncos signed Payton to a five-year contract and expect the 59-year-old to reestablish a long-term winning culture in Denver, the kind that eroded for the Broncos amid constant coaching and personnel turnover since they won Super Bowl 50 following the 2015 season. This season will be the first step in that process, and Payton’s own history suggests he can quickly revitalize the Broncos. He took over a team in New Orleans in 2006 that went 3-13 the previous season. Payton led the Saints to a berth in the NFC Championship Game in Year 1 while helping Drew Brees, during his sixth NFL season, turn in the best performance of his career.

The turnaround that season was made possible because Payton was able to translate his vision for winning, one that hinged on attention to the smallest details, to a group of players desperate to finally taste success.

“Every day you feel like you’re preparing for the Super Bowl even though it’s Week 2 or 3 or 4,” former Saints linebacker Scott Shanle, a member of that 2006 team, told The Athletic earlier this year. “That’s why he gets so much out of his team because he demands for you to be mentally tough.”

There is another historical lens through which to view Payton’s quest to make a quick turnaround. As Grant Gordon of NFL.com noted, Payton is the fifth coach since 1970 to be included in a trade for a first-round pick, which is part of the package Denver gave to New Orleans earlier this year for the rights to sign him. Three of the previous four head coaches — Don Shula, Bill Parcells and Jon Gruden — led their teams to winning records in their first season after being traded. The lone coach with a losing record in Year 1 was Bill Belichick, who went 5-11 during his first season with the Patriots in 2000 following a trade from the Jets. It’s safe to say it worked out for Belichick from there. He, Shula and Gruden all went on to win Super Bowls for the team to which they were traded for a first-round pick.

While history can provide context, it ultimately will have little bearing on what Payton accomplishes with the Broncos in 2023. His challenge is unique. He is taking over a team in a division that has been dominated by the defending champion Chiefs and MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes since 2016. He is inheriting a veteran quarterback in Russell Wilson who is coming off the worst statistical season of his career. He is taking over a roster without a single homegrown player who has been to the postseason.

It will all make reaching the postseason in the inaugural season, as Holmgren and Pederson did before him, a significant challenge for Payton. Though playoffs are not an unrealistic expectation in 2023, the most important thing Payton must do in Year 1 is show that he can put the Broncos on the path to sustained success.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Payton said as minicamp closed. “We will be anxious when the time comes and when training camp comes to get started. We’ll go from there.”

JACKSONVILLE

T CAM ROBINSON gets a four-game suspension.  Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com:

Jaguars left tackle Cam Robinson was suspended four games by the NFL for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.

Robinson is eligible to participate in training camp and the preseason and will be allowed to return to the active roster Oct. 2.

He will lose $888,888 for each game suspended for a total of $3,555,552. The suspension also voids the guarantee of his $16 million base salary in 2023. This is the second year of a three-year, $52.75 million contract extension he signed in May 2022.

“As a veteran leader in the locker room, I always want to set a good example and my actions in this instance are not a reflection of that goal,” Robinson said in a statement released by the team. “I apologize to the fans, my coaches and, most importantly, my teammates. It hurts me that I cannot be out there with my brothers at the start of the regular season. I will attack training camp the same way I have for the last six seasons, to make sure I am ready both mentally and physically.”

The Jaguars added that while “disappointed with this development” they “are confident that Cam and our team will rise above this challenge as we collectively move forward.”

Walker Little will step in at left tackle, and the Jaguars will start rookie first-round pick Anton Harrison at right tackle, with veteran Josh Wells, whom they signed to a one-year deal in April, serving as the backup swing tackle. Little has started eight games (including playoffs) in Robinson’s place at left tackle over the past two seasons because of injuries.

When Robinson returns, the Jaguars likely will slide Little inside to left guard where he will compete with Ben Bartch.

Robinson ranked 59th in pass block win rate among offensive tackles in 2022, per ESPN Stats & Information. He missed the final three games of the regular season and both Jaguars playoff games after suffering a knee injury in the overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 18.

Robinson has started 75 games for the Jaguars since they drafted him in the second round in 2017.

TENNESSEE

RB HASSAN HASKINS is now on the Davidson County arrest list. The headline says he assaulted his girlfriend, but we note she was also arrested. Turron Davenport of ESPN.com has plenty of details:

Tennessee Titans running back Hassan Haskins was arrested and charged with aggravated assault by strangulation stemming from an alleged June 22 incident with his girlfriend.

Haskins was booked Thursday in Davidson County (Tennessee) and was released later in the day after posting a $10,000 bond.

“We are aware of the situation and gathering additional information,” the Titans said in a statement Friday night.

According to the police report, Haskins allegedly strangled his girlfriend, Makiah Green, on June 22 during a disagreement that stemmed from when he saw that she “liked” another man’s Instagram photo. The two got into an argument, resulting in Green allegedly throwing Haskins’ shoes on the floor. Haskins allegedly told her to stop, and when Green didn’t, he pushed her to the ground, then tossed her on a bed, where he used both hands to strangle her. The fight continued with the two allegedly slapping each other.

A second alleged incident occurred Thursday when the two were at dinner. Haskins allegedly left Green at the restaurant, and she had to take an Uber back to their house. Green saw Haskins in the house when she returned. She allegedly threw a glass at him and took refuge in their bedroom. Haskins allegedly kicked the door down, an argument ensued and Green allegedly ripped a $5,000 chain off his neck.

Haskins allegedly shattered Green’s phone. Green allegedly then grabbed Haskins’ phone, saw Snapchat notifications with photos of naked women in chats, shattered Haskins’ phone and assaulted him.

Haskins, in a statement provided to police, said Green attacked him with a broom and choked him from behind. He alleged she also threw his PlayStation 5, putting a hole in the wall, and furnished a video to support his statement.

Green was also jailed and charged with aggravated assault by strangulation and felony vandalism. She posted $7,500 bond and was released.

Haskins is scheduled for a court appearance on July 10 in front of Davidson County Judge Ana Escobar.

The Titans selected Haskins in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. The second-year running back had 25 carries for 93 yards and 11 reception for 57 yards last season.

MIAMI

QB TUA TAGOVIALOA is incredibly accurate and WR JAYLEN WADDLE loves him for it.  Bobby Kownack of NFL.com:

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has taken his share of lumps in three seasons in the NFL, losing time to journeyman QB Ryan Fitzpatrick his rookie year and missing multiple games to injuries his next two seasons.

The jury is still out for some even after Tagovailoa put up 3,548 yards and 25 touchdowns in 13 contests last season. Miami wide receiver Jaylen Waddle backs him, though, and he knows exactly what makes his QB special.

“His ball placement,” Waddle told KPRC 2 Sports’ Ari Alexander. “I think everybody sees it, knowing exactly where to put the ball so his receivers can not just catch it, but catch it and run with it. That’s what makes Tua, Tua.”

The stats support Waddle’s take.

Tagovailoa led the league in 2022 in yards per attempt (8.9) and yards per completion (13.7), as well as passer rating (105.5).

Waddle was fifth among all wide receivers with 537 yards after catch (YAC), while his teammate Tyreek Hill placed just behind him in seventh with 514.

They were able to do so in part thanks to Tagovailoa’s accuracy in YAC-heavy areas like the flat, as Waddle mentioned, but the third-year QB also was also among the best in the NFL at deep-ball placement, posting the highest passer rating (124.1) on throws of 20-plus yards and second-highest deep completion percentage (24.5), per PFF.

Although Waddle did not come close to his NFL rookie record of 104 receptions, he still benefitted greatly from another year of partnership with Tagovailoa. He set career highs with 1,356 receiving yards and eight scores while leading the league with 18.1 yards per catch.

“It was just a mindset,” Waddle said about his jump in yards per reception from 9.8 the year prior, also crediting Hill’s skills and the addition of head coach Mike McDaniel. “Mike came in and really harped on YAC. Having a guy like Cheetah, who’s a YAC monster, you don’t got no choice but to learn from him and soak up all that game that he’s giving.”

Waddle and Hill will again look to put up gaudy numbers in Year 2 as one of the NFL’s best WR duos. They can likely fuel the Dolphins’ fourth-ranked passing offense to even greater heights should their pinpoint-passing QB manage to play 17 games for the first time in his career.

Advice for Tua from Michael Vick, recounted by Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

During Mike Vick’s recent appearance on Tyreek Hill’s It Needed To Be Said podcast, Vick had a few things he needed to say about Hill’s current quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa.

“I just think he’s got to bulk up a little bit,” Vick said. “Get a little bit bigger. Get stronger. As you grow into your man body, that’s what needs to happen. Ain’t nothing wrong with picking up another 10 pounds, 15 pounds. . . . Don’t get hit. Don’t get knocked around.”

Tua has been working on how to fall, by studying jiu-jitsu. But Vick is right; it’s far better to avoid the hit at all than to learn how to fall after getting hit.

The subject of Tua came up because Vick pointed out that, even though Hill has a better contract and climate, he no longer catches passes from Patrick Mahomes. That prompted Hill to repeat his declaration that Tua is the “most accurate quarterback in the league!”

Vick agreed at first, but then when he realized what he was agreeing to, he backed off.

“I ain’t gonna say the most accurate, I’m just saying like his ball — he throw a catchable ball,” Vick said. “He throw a real catchable ball. If you watch what he did in college . . . every ball was on the money. Soft, right where the receiver [was], in stride.”

Whether he’s the most accurate or not, Tua has shown that he can run the Mike McDaniel offense, and that the Dolphins can win when he’s on the field. The far bigger challenge for 2023 becomes staying on the field. The more Tua plays, the better off the Dolphins will be. Possibly, good enough to win one of the toughest divisions in football.

NEW ENGLAND

After more than two decades together are Robert Kraft and Bill Belichik on the rocks?  Michael Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Patriots are at a crossroads. The relationship between owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill Belichick seems to be at a crossroads, too.

And even with six Super Bowl trophies delivered by Belichick having full control over the football operations, there’s a shelf life for everyone who isn’t winning. Since winning Super Bowl LIII, Belichick hasn’t been winning.

No postseason victories. Two playoff appearances, two failures to qualify for the postseason.

And since Tom Brady left after the 2019 season, it’s even worse. Three years, one playoff berth — a 47-17 blowout loss to the Bills.

Entering the 2023 season, the Patriots are the worst team on paper in the AFC East, and decidedly a middle-of-the-pack member of the conference. While Belichick has a proven knack of making a team better than it appears to be on paper, he’s the one who puts the team together. So even if he’s good at digging a team out of a pre-existing hole, he’s the one responsible for the oversized divot from which he has to dig.

In March, not nearly enough attention was paid to ominous remarks from Kraft regarding Belichick’s job security.

Meeting with reporters at the league meetings in Arizona, Kraft was asked a simple question: “You guys have posted a losing record two of the last three seasons . . . if that happens again, could Bill [Belichick’s] job be in jeopardy, or is he here to break Don Shula’s all-time wins record and beyond?”

“Look, I’d like him to break Don Shula’s record,” Kraft replied, “but I’m not looking for any our players to get great stats. We’re about winning, and doing whatever we can to win. And that’s what our focus is now. And I — it’s very important to me that we make the playoffs, and that’s what I hope happens next year.”

As we explained at the time, the question wasn’t about stats. It was about wins. But Kraft doesn’t seem to be willing to let Belichick linger until he gets more Ws than Shula, if there are too many Ls along the way.

Last week, Kraft said that one thing will satisfy him in 2023: Winning “number seven .” While falling just short of winning a seventh Super Bowl triumph likely won’t be enough to prompt a change, another failure to make the playoffs could. Or perhaps another one-and-done postseason capped by a blowout loss on the road as a wild-card team, after a failure to win the division.

Does anyone really think the Patriots will win the division? It’s not impossible. But it’s far more improbable than it ever was when the Patriots were the Globetrotters and the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets each played the role of Washington Generals. Now, each of those three teams is better than the Patriots, on paper. Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, and Tua Tagovailoa (if he can stay healthy) are MVP candidates.

The perception of the Patriots isn’t aided by last year’s failed experiment to put the offense under the control of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. We said as the season approached and it became more and more clear that Belichick was actually going to go through with it that, if any other coach was trying to do it, the consensus would be that the head coach had lost his damn mind.

Belichick got the benefit of the doubt, thanks to his track record. The end result was that his track record was diminished.

Then came the remarks that prompted the recent quotes from Kraft . At his final press conference of the most recent season, Belichick pointed out that, from 2020 through 2022, the Patriots ranked twenty-seventh in spending. Kraft pointed out that spending will never be “the issue” with the Patriots, and that Kraft always gives Belichick whatever he asks for.

Hidden in this back-and-forth is an old-fashioned pissing match, with Belichick trying to subtly shift blame for post-Brady struggles to Kraft for not spending, and with Kraft pushing it back to Belichick for not asking for the money to be spent.

We all know how these things will go. In the ultimate game of rock, scissors, paper, Kraft owns all three. He’s in charge. What he says, goes. Who he says goes. And if Belichick fails to deliver a playoff appearance or if he runs the postseason victory drought to half of a decade, he’s the one who could be going.

It sounds crazy, I know. Belichick is one of the great coaches in NFL history. Since Brady, however, his teams have been just above ordinary. At some point, a sufficient stretch of failure wipes out a history of excellence. At some point, the past will have faded from the rear-view mirror. At some point, Kraft will decide to turn the page.

And he’ll be more likely to do it sooner than later if Belichick keeps trying to blame Kraft for failures that, in Kraft’s mind, trace only to Belichick.

THIS AND THAT

LLOYD HOWELL

While we were away, the NFLPA selected its new executive director.  Lloyd Howell is “retired” from a major defense-related consulting firm where his final job was CFO.  This from Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com:

The NFL Players Association’s board of player representatives has elected Lloyd Howell as the NFLPA’s new executive director.

Howell will take over for DeMaurice Smith, with an official start date “in the coming weeks,” according to a release from the NFLPA. Smith was reelected to his fifth term for the position in 2021, and he said at the time it would be his final term. Howell becomes the NFLPA’s fourth executive director, following Ed Garvey (1971-1983), Gene Upshaw (1983-2008) and Smith (2009-present).

“We are excited to have Lloyd lead our union into its next chapter and succeed DeMaurice Smith, who has ably led our organization for the past decade plus and has our gratitude and thanks,” NFLPA president JC Tretter said in a statement. “It was important for us to run a process that lived up to the prestige of the position we sought to fill. The process was 100% player led and focused on leadership competency, skills and experience. Our union deserves strong leadership and a smooth transition, and we are confident Lloyd will make impactful advances on behalf of our membership.”

The search, which began over a year ago, was conducted by an 11-member NFLPA search committee made up of the union’s executive officers, including Tretter and vice presidents Calais Campbell, Austin Ekeler and Richard Sherman.

“Leadership matters and player leadership matters, and I think this is something we want to build on and we see as a giant step forward and a template for the future of what our union can do and how important it’s to have really strong player leadership,” said Tretter, who retired from the NFL in August while remaining on as NFLPA president.

The process, which began in March 2022, was largely confidential after Tretter and the executive officers recommended a new amendment to the union’s search bylaws in July that called for names of candidates to be withheld from the board until the group met to vote on the executive director position. The board passed the amendment unanimously, allowing Tretter and the executive committee to vet potential candidates in secret over the course of several months before selecting the finalists to be voted on by the board.

Tretter — who couldn’t remember when the committee first met with Howell, citing a large volume of interviews — declined to disclose the final number of candidates. He said the committee presented between two and four to the board to vote on, as constitutionally mandated.

The player representatives learned the identity of the candidates this week, Tretter confirmed, and the vote was held Wednesday morning with 30 of 32 teams represented. To be elected, a candidate had to have the majority of the votes, which were cast by secret ballot and tallied by a third-party accounting firm.

While Tretter estimated 48 of a possible 128 player representatives and alternates attended the vote, only 47 were pictured in a photo Tretter posted with Howell after the election.

“We were not going to hold a vote until the board unanimously was ready to vote, and we waited until that time today — this morning — the board told us ‘We are ready to vote unanimously,'” Tretter said. “We held a vote. They said we’re ready. And we went to a vote.”

In a briefing with NFL media Wednesday, Tretter defended the search and election process and downplayed concerns about prioritizing confidentiality over transparency, calling it “good governance.”

“We talked about wanting to cast a wide net, and the way you get very talented people to get involved in a process if they believe in the process, how it’s going to be run,” Tretter said. “… We did a lot of research back into what [past elections in] 2009 and 2015 looked like. I believe in 2009 we had newspapers endorsing candidates. … And this isn’t for the media to decide, this is for player leadership to decide as our constitution lays out. So, the way the board kind of looked at good governance was the [executive committee’s] job is to then qualify the candidates, bring them to us, and then let us make the decision for what’s best for the players. So again, we did that.”

Players such as Pittsburgh Steelers player representative Cam Heyward praised the process’ discretion.

“Our @NFLPA EC and President @JCTretter did an amazing job to keep it confidential, professional, find someone who will steer our great union forward!” Heyward tweeted.

Howell retired in December from Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked for more than 34 years and was the chief financial officer at the time of his retirement. He also is a trustee at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a bachelor’s degree from Penn in electrical engineering and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“It’s going to be my sole mission to advocate and push and lead and drive what is in the interest of the players,” Howell said Wednesday. “It’s been sort of hours since the decision has been made, but I intend to really connect with the players, understand their priorities, and establish an agenda that I will lead and drive with the team.”

WHEN TO PLAY A QB

Jared Dubin of CBSSports.com tries to figure out the optimum amount of time a QB should sit and learn before being thrown into the lineup:

As most people following the NFL know by now, this is a passing league. For the most part, teams’ fortunes rise and fall on the strength of the quarterback play, and the best teams tend to be led by the best quarterbacks.

Because that’s the case, it’s important to put those players in as good a position as possible to succeed. A couple weeks ago, we examined the impact that having an offensive- or defensive-leaning head coach can have on a young quarterback. Today, we’re going to take a look at the timing of when the player actually steps into the lineup.

Between 2000 and 2019, there were been 91 quarterbacks that entered the league and become a team’s full-time starter at some point. (That’s an average of around 4.5 per year.) It may have happened right away, or it may have happened a few weeks or even years down the line. It may have happened with the team that drafted them or it may have happened with another team entirely. But at one point or another, they all got a shot to prove themselves.

But how much does it matter exactly when that shot came? That’s what we set out to determine.

Of the aforementioned 91 quarterbacks, just 29 of them started under center in Week 1 of their rookie season. An additional 21 took over the reins at some point within the first eight games of that season, while 14 more grabbed them in the back half of their rookie year. That’s 64 of the 91 passers who became the full-time starter during their initial season. Of the remaining 27 players, 16 took the job at some point in Year 2, three took it in Year 3, and eight had to wait until Year 4 of their career or later.

Here’s the breakdown:

RIGHT AWAY      WEEK 2-8             WEEK 9-16           YEAR 2                 YEAR 3                YEAR 4+

Joe Burrow           Joey Harrington   Dwayne Haskins  Carson Palmer     Philip Rivers         Rex Grossman

Kyler Murray         Daniel Jones        Jared Goff              Michael Vick         Chad Pennington Aaron Rodgers

Jameis Winston   Blaine Gabbert     Eli Manning          Jake Locker          Tony Romo           Matt Schaub

Andrew Luck         Roethlisberger     Jason Campbell   Patrick Mahomes                              Kirk Cousins

Cam Newton        Jimmy Clausen    Nick Foles             J.P. Losman                                     Matt Cassel      

Sam Bradford       Baker Mayfield     Alex Smith             Drew Brees                                      Jimmy Garoppolo

Matthew Stafford  Blake Bortles        Jay Cutler              Trevor Siemian                              Brock Osweiler

David Carr             Vince Young         Drew Lock             Jacoby Brissett                               David Garrard

Carson Wentz      Byron Leftwich     Charlie Frye          Marc Bulger         

Marcus Mariota    Josh Rosen          Jalen Hurts            Tim Tebow           

Robert Griffin        Bridgewater          Derek Anderson   Tom Brady           

Sam Darnold        Trent Edwards      Patrick Ramsey    Chad Henne        

Matt Ryan             Mitchell Trubisky  Tarvaris Jackson Chris Simms        

Mark Sanchez      Matt Leinart          JaMarcus Russell Brady Quinn        

Ryan Tannehill     Colt McCoy                                        Colin Kaepernick

EJ Manuel             Tua Tagovailoa                                 Josh McCown     

Joe Flacco            Christian Ponder 

Kyle Boller            Josh Freeman     

Brandon Weeden Josh Allen            

Andy Dalton          Justin Herbert      

Derek Carr            Deshaun Watson

Geno Smith          

DeShone Kizer    

Quincy Carter      

Mike Glennon      

Russell Wilson    

Kyle Orton            

Chris Weinke       

Dak Prescott        

Now, the circumstances these players stepped into ranged wildly. In some cases, the way they assumed the starting job was not actually the plan their team had for them.

Dak Prescott, for example, was drafted as a developmental quarterback behind Tony Romo. He even began training camp behind Kellen Moore. But Moore broke his ankle, Romo broke his back, and Prescott started Week 1 and never gave the job back. In the same draft class, Carson Wentz was going to sit behind Sam Bradford; but Teddy Bridgewater suffered a catastrophic knee injury and the Vikings were left without a quarterback, so the Eagles traded Bradford to Minnesota and thrust Wentz right into the lineup. More recently, Justin Herbert was going to sit for a while behind Tyrod Taylor, but Taylor suffered a punctured lung while receiving a pregame pain injection, and Herbert surprisingly had to step in in Week 2. In the cases of Blake Bortles, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Mitchell Trubisky, and more, they were supposed to sit behind stop-gap starters; but those players played so badly that the plans for them to do so were abandoned.

Still other players got the job in even stranger ways. Tom Brady, famously, was Drew Bledsoe’s backup and may never have gotten a chance at all were it not for Mo Lewis. Matt Cassel appeared only in garbage time for three full seasons and then filled in for Brady when the latter tore his ACL, and secured a full-time job in Kansas City the following season. Another Brady backup was supposed to be his heir apparent (Jimmy Garoppolo), only Brady played so well that he kept the youngster on the bench. Garoppolo got to start two games while Brady was suspended, but he got injured. It wasn’t until he was traded to the 49ers midseason and then sat several more games while learning the playbook, that he got a chance to be the guy. The Chargers drafted Philip Rivers to replace Drew Brees, but then saw Brees excel for two years before they let him leave in free agency amid concerns about his shoulder injury and gave the job to Rivers for good. David Garrard was drafted a year before Byron Leftwich, saw Leftwich become the starter while Garrard backed him up, then eventually took over when Leftwich’s time was done. Kirk Cousins was drafted the same year as Robert Griffin III and served as his backup while Griffin quickly became a star, but when injuries ruined Griffin’s trajectory, Cousins stepped in. Aaron Rodgers had to wait through three different Brett Favre will-he, won’t-he retirement dramas before taking the job in Green Bay. (And his successor, Jordan Love, just had to do the same.) The list goes on and on.

In other cases, the progression was much smoother. A whole bunch of top picks in the draft knew they would start right away, and did exactly that. The plan for the Bengals, Falcons, and Chiefs was to have Carson Palmer, Michael Vick, and Patrick Mahomes sit behind a veteran for a year and then take over, and that’s exactly what happened.

In any case, we went through and compiled the career statistics for every single one of those players, broken down by when they got their chance to become the full-time starting quarterback. The results were as follows:

STARTING?           NO WAIT       GAME 2-8         GAME 9-16         YEAR 2        YEAR 3   YEAR 4

# of QBs               29                     21                    14                   16                 3             8

Comp %              62.5%            61.9%              60.9%                63.0%       65.2%    63.7%

YPA                       7.09              6.96                 6.93                   7.27          7.73        7.40

TD %                     4.34%           4.14%             4.07%                 4.73%      5.16%    4.89%

INT %                    2.50%           2.68%             2.75%               2.38%        2.61%    2.25%

QB Rtg                   87.7               85.3              83.8                     90.7          94.9        92.9

Sack %                6.34%            6.27%           5.99%                5.62%       5.45%    6.03%

In almost every category, the group of players that took over in Year 3 performed the best, while the players who became starters in the second half of their rookie season performed the worst. Of course, these results are subject to all sorts of small-sample size concerns.

You can’t just look at the Year 3 column and see that those players have significantly out-performed the others and conclude that the correct move is to sit your preferred starter for two seasons and then give him the job. That group consists of only three players, two of whom (Rivers and Romo) went on to become high-level starters for a decade or more. Similarly, you can’t just look at the Game 9-16 column and conclude that you should never give your guy the job during that section of the season because those players haven’t been as good. It’s entirely possible that players like JaMarcus Russell, Charlie Frye, Drew Lock, and more were going to fail regardless of when they stepped into the lineup.

It does seem notable, though, that the rookies afforded the opportunity to start right away have generally out-performed those who had to wait a bit but still stepped into the lineup in the first half of their rookie season, who in turn out-performed those who had to wait until the second half of the year before their team gave them a shot. It’s also worth noting that while in general, the quarterbacks who waited until Year 2 or beyond to become the starter have out-performed their rookie-starter counterparts, the former sample has the benefit of including Brady, Mahomes, Rodgers, Brees, Rivers, and Romo. That sextet makes up 22.2% of the “had to wait at least a year” sample, which will skew things quite a bit. Conversely, Allen, Herbert, Prescott, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Burrow, and Russell Wilson (just to pick a few notable examples) comprise only 9.4% of the rookie-starter group. It’s not an exact one-to-one comparison.

Still, it’s worth noting when you look at a player like the aforementioned Love that the “waiters” didn’t necessarily have to wait because they weren’t good enough to be starters. Sometimes, circumstances just lock them into a backup job for longer than expected, and when they get the chance to shine, they take advantage. Other times, though, they turn into Osweiler. You never really know what you’re going to get until you see these guys on the field.