DETROIT

Coach Dan Campbell seems to say the Lions aren’t in the market for a trade with incoming talent.  Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com:

he Lions are coming off a bad loss to the Ravens, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to do something drastic.

With the trade deadline approaching, head coach Dan Campbell said in a Tuesday interview with 97.1 The Ticket that he wouldn’t want to make a change that would be too disruptive with what Detroit has already built.

“First of all, the value’s got to be right,” Campbell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “It’s got to be something that we feel like can help us, fits us. But it also can’t be something that’s going to mess with what we got going on here.

“[G.M. Brad Holmes is] mindful of that and I appreciate that about him, that he knows what I’m talking about, what we’re about. And we’re not going to mess with the vibe of this team.”

Campbell added that there’s “no talent that’s worth” bringing in that wouldn’t fit in the locker room.

At 5-2, Detroit is on pace for its most successful season in years. The club currently ranks No. 4 in total yards and No. 8 in scoring while the defense is No. 11 in yards allowed and No. 19 in points allowed.

Campbell noted that he and Holmes haven’t had many serious discussions about a trade yet.

“I know he’s going through a lot of things and when it becomes serious, he’ll bring it to me,” Campbell said. “But right now I’m concerned with the guys we have in this building, getting them right, and I’m also concerned with chemistry.

“I don’t ever want to do anything that’s going to mess the chemistry of this team up, either, ‘cause we got the right guys here right now.”

Campbell and the Lions will host the Raiders next Monday night — the day before the league’s trading deadline.

WASHINGTON

Are the Commanders preparing to trade EDGE CHASE YOUNG?  Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com consider that possibility (as well as the Vikings dealing EDGE DANIELLE HUNTER):

Which pass-rusher is most likely to be dealt this week, Danielle Hunter or Chase Young?

Graziano: Young. I was going to say Hunter, but then the Vikings upset the 49ers on Monday night to improve to 3-4, and my sense of things is that this means they’re not going to be sellers. They’re two games out of first place in a division they won last year, and I don’t think they’re up for trading their best pass-rusher.

Young is a hot name right now, and teams have absolutely been calling the Commanders to see what they want to do with him. In Young and Montez Sweat, Washington has two edge rushers slated to be unrestricted free agents at the end of the year, and the presumption around the league is that the team can’t or won’t be able to keep and pay them both. (You can only franchise one player per year.) But under new ownership and with uncertainty surrounding head coach and chief organizational decision-maker Ron Rivera, the Commanders might not be in position to have decided what to do with Young yet. Heck, it’s not out of the question they could trade Sweat instead, if the offers are better.

The reason I was going to say Hunter is because the Vikings were having serious conversations about trading him last offseason before they reworked his contract to get him into camp. They had multiple teams interested and at one point, according to sources, the Jaguars were believed to be on the verge of a deal to get him. That deal and all of their other Hunter conversations fell apart, and they threw him an extra $11.5 million to keep him happy.

He has performed well, but while the Vikings’ season appeared a couple of weeks ago to be in bad shape and he might or might not be in their plans for next year, I think they’re focused on staying in this thing. They have a $15.1 million dead-money cap charge for Hunter in 2024 whether he’s on the team or not. He turns 29 on Sunday, and Minnesota looks like it might be a rebuilding project in 2024 and beyond. So if you can get something of value for him now, it kind of makes sense. But this is an example of why the NFL trade deadline is too early. Not enough teams are out of it yet.

Fowler: I’m leaning Hunter, Dan, though there are so many layers to this — mainly, which player would garner the highest draft pick? There’s no question both could net their respective team a high Day 2 pick. Would it take a first-rounder to pry either? Possibly. That was the going rate for Bradley Chubb last year, and Hunter is generally seen as a better pass-rusher than Chubb. Meanwhile, Young, coming off a strong rookie year, was considered a top-10 rusher in the league, on the Nick Bosa track to greatness. And what’s scary is he’s getting back to that mode, looking spry with five sacks in six games after an injury-riddled past two years.

With Hunter, there’s a history of trade dialogue from the offseason, so interested teams can pick up where they left off, even though it’s important to remember Minnesota hasn’t been shopping him lately. It would probably take a sizable offer for the team to consider. But enough teams love his game that I could see an aggressive push. Washington has given the impression behind the scenes that it would like to keep Young, who still needs a full, healthy season to prove he’s back to form. And after all, Young is cheaper and younger with more upside, right, Dan?

Graziano: Yes. To be clear: Young is the one of the two I’d prefer to trade for. He’s only 24, and you only have to pay him $61,111.11 per game the rest of this year as opposed to the $643,555.55 per game you’d have to pay Hunter. If you’re trading a valuable pick or picks for a player, you’d ideally like him to be more than a two- or three-month rental. And while both of these guys are free agents at the end of the year, the younger one is generally the player you’d feel better about committing to for the long term.

Anyone who acquires Hunter or Young knows they’ll be confronted with a long-term contract decision at the end of the year, if not before. If I’m giving away high picks or players I like at the trade deadline, I’d prefer to be negotiating with an incoming player who has as much upside as possible.

Fowler: That’s another layer to consider, Dan, because my sense after asking around is Young wants to play out this season regardless. Then, he’s set up nicely for free agency or gets the franchise tag. I was told recently that games seven and eight were big for Washington’s potential plans at the deadline. Had the Commanders beaten the Giants, they’d be sitting at 4-3 entering a crucial matchup with the Eagles. Now, if they lose to Philly, they will be sitting at 3-5 at the deadline, with the chance to inherit valuable draft capital to restock in 2024. It would become more tempting at that point.

Plus, the Vikings are already without Marcus Davenport at the edge rusher spot due to injury, so trading Hunter leaves the proverbial cupboard extremely bare. At least with Washington, the defensive line trio of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Sweat could offset the loss of Young.

TAMPA BAY

QB BAKER MAYFIELD will play Thursday night in Buffalo.  Grant Gordon of NFL.com:

Dealing with a dinged-up knee and some soreness, Baker Mayfield appears to be good to go for Thursday night.

Whether or not a healthy Buccaneers offense will be in place is the top talking point for Tampa Bay ahead of its Week 8 matchup against the host Buffalo Bills.

Tampa’s lost three of its last four with each of the defeats accompanied by 13 or fewer points scored – such as was the case in a 16-13 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

As Mayfield is starting for his fourth team in three seasons, he’s no stranger to adversity or the topsy-turvy NFL world. Thusly, he’s optimistic the Buccaneers can steer their ship through these currently choppy waters.

“I think with any of those experiences you learn how to weather some of these storms, and you learn how to grow through them and handle them when certain situations come,” Mayfield said Tuesday, via team transcript. “For right now – like we keep mentioning – just get our stuff fixed, be more detailed, fundamentally sound and good things will happen. When you re-watch the losses, we’ve played good teams, but we haven’t played our best. So, for us, it’s about us playing our best ball and focusing on what we can control and that’s being fundamentally sound and doing our jobs.”

While Mayfield and the offense are still looking to remedy their ills, his knee injury had him limited in practice Tuesday, a day after he was listed as not practicing for a walk-through.

“Yesterday I was pretty sore,” Mayfield said. “Less than 24 hours after the game, that’s kind of how it always goes. I just kind of re-aggravated what I did against the Saints. Nothing too bad, just pain tolerance and move on.”

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that Mayfield was dealing with some soreness and it wasn’t considered major. It seems to be just that.

Nonetheless, it’s lingering just as the Buccaneers’ offensive issues are. Tampa is 23rd in the NFL in offense, with little balance as the passing game is 15th in the league in comparison to a 29th-ranked rushing attack. Furthermore, Tampa’s 37.5 red zone scoring percentage is 28th in the league.

Sitting at 3-3 and fighting to three-peat as NFC South champions, the Buccaneers are working through some trials and tribulations that their offensive coordinator doesn’t believe will be shipshape in short order.

“No quick fixes for where we’re headed – just a lot of the same conversations,” first-year OC Dave Canales said. “I hate to sound like a broken record, but fundamental execution … I thought the [running] backs ran harder this week – we had some opportunities there. Again, just kind of getting grooved in the system.

“Still would love to be able to run the ball with consistency and do that. Maybe that’s me just being able to call more of those runs in different situations. But, yeah, definitely got to be better.”

Perhaps due to pressing, Mayfield has thrown an interception in four straight games after going without one in his first two games this season.

“We’re trying harder to throw the ball in certain situations,” Canales said. “He would love to have a couple of those back. The tipped interception the other week, those are going to happen. The one on Sunday right there, if he gets the ball to Rachaad [White], we get a big gain. He knows. He knows that. At the same time, coach [Todd Bowles] has asked us to go and play the best offense we can to try and win the game. He really means that. For us, that means going for it. That means finding these opportunities to be able to stretch the field when we can. Being smart about that, of course, [but] trying to attack the coverages the right way. I love that. The guys love that. We have this free reign to just go and try to put our best foot forward. In the process, man I’d love to get this run game going, for sure.”

There are a lot of questions posed to the Bucs heading into Thursday regarding their quarterback, their running game and their offense as a whole.

ARIZONA

A quad injury has sent TE ZACH ERTZ to IR. A tweet from Mike Garafolo of NFL Network:

@MikeGarafolo

The #AZCardinals are putting TE Zach Ertz on IR, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. The three-time Pro Bowler, who has 27 catches for 187 yards and a TD this season, suffered a quad strain on Sunday. The plan is for him to return later in the year.

SAN FRANCISCO

With QB BROCK PURDY merely human in Minnesota on Monday, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com thinks he knows what Kyle Shanahan is thinking:

Monday night’s performance by Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins could echo into the offseason.

Cousins and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan have been linked since 2012, when Washington made Cousins a fourth-round draft pick after former owner Daniel Snyder took it on himself to trade up to No. 2 for quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Griffin failed, Cousins thrived.

Fast forward to 2017. Shanahan, in his first draft with the 49ers, did not scout Patrick Mahomes despite holding the second pick in the draft. Shanahan was waiting for Cousins to become a free agent in 2018.

Along the way, someone persuaded Shanahan to trade for Jimmy Garoppolo, the first domino in a comedy of quarterback errors that has contributed to Shanahan’s failure to parlay a great team into a Super Bowl win.

forward to Monday night. Brock Purdy, the look-what-we-found last pick in the 2022 draft who has potentially become Shanahan’s new-age Cousins, threw a couple of interceptions with the game on the line. Cousins, in contrast, played one of his best games ever.

As one league source remarked in the aftermath of the 22-17 win by the Vikings, Cousins “gave Shanahan something to think about for free agency next year.”

Indeed he did. Cousins, as we explained months ago, will become an unrestricted free agent in 2024. He can’t be tagged. He has a straight and clear path to the open market. And, if Shanahan decides to make the move based on how this season ends (and how Purdy performs down the stretch), nothing will stop him from doing so.

With one exception. The Vikings could decide after Monday night’s game that it’s finally working with Cousins. It was his best performance since joining the team in 2018, especially in light of the prominence of the stage and the quality of the opponent.

Until the legal tampering window opens, the Vikings have exclusive dibs on negotiating with Cousins. If Monday’s game is not an aberration but the start of a new trend, maybe they should extend him now, abandoning the potential plan to find a young franchise quarterback and embracing the remaining seasons of the 35-year-old who might have turned a late-career corner.

Absent that, Shanahan will have the ability to decide after the season to pursue Cousins. We’ve already seen the 49ers not hesitate to throw quarterbacks overboard in search of someone better. Shanahan did it with Garoppolo and Trey Lance. If Shanahan believes Cousins gives them a better chance to win a Super Bowl than Purdy does, maybe Shanahan will do it again.

And maybe the Vikings will mobilize sooner than later to keep that from happening.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

Kenneth Arthur of Turf Show Times on the amazing pace of WR PUKA NACUA:

Puka Nacua had 154 more yards in Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, just 2 yards shy of tying Ja’Marr Chase’s record for the most-ever through a player’s first 7 NFL games. The L.A. Rams fifth round rookie now has 752 yards in seven games, the second-most of all-time to start a career behind Chase’s 754 yards in 2021. The question of whether Cooper Kupp’s return would negatively impact Puka was answered emphatically in Week 7, despite the loss:

Nope.

Matthew Stafford targeted Puka 12 times against the Steelers and the rookie caught eight for 154 yards. He has surpassed Odell Beckham Jr (609 yards in 2014) and Anquan Boldwin (621 yards in 2003) to sit directly behind Chase’s record-breaking pace in 2021. Puka has already been target 82 times, more than any other player in history through seven games; Terry Glenn has targeted 78 times through seven games in 1996.

It is also Puka’s third career game with at least 140 yards already. That’s a first. Only three other players in NFL history have had two 140-yard games through their first seven appearances: OBJ, Chase, and Justin Jefferson.

All of those players were first round picks, but Puka was available with the final pick of round five.

Puka needs one more 140 yard game to tie Billy Howton with four 140+ yard games during a rookie season, the second-most ever. Howton had those four games in 1952, while Bill Groman had five such games in 1960 and OBJ had five in 2014.

Puka has 10 more games left this season.

With 752 yards, Puka Nacua is only 248 yards away from becoming the 30th rookie in NFL history to reach 1,000 yards. He has more than halfway towards setting the NFL rookie record of 1,473 yards by Groman, a mark he set in only 14 games. Chase had 1,455 yards in 17 games two years ago.

But Nacua is even closer to setting marks for rookies who were not first round picks.

Only 11 players who weren’t first round picks have had 1,000 yards as rookies and six of those players were second round picks: Boldin, Howton, Michael Thomas, Ernest Givins, A.J. Brown, and Cris Collinsworth. Keenan Allen was a third round pick and Bill Brooks was a fourth round pick.

Only two players in NFL history were drafted outside of the top-100 and had 1,000 yards as a rookie: Harlon Hill in 1954 and Marques Colston in 2006. Colston was a seventh round pick out of Hofstra.

Puka needs less than 400 yards to set a new record for receiving yards by a rookie picked outside of the top-100, which would be less than 40 yards per game if he stays healthy. He’s averaging over 100 yards per game so far and the return of Kupp (who had 29 yards on seven targets) didn’t stop Stafford from trusting Puka in the big moments.

Nothing about “the moment” has been too big for Puka Nacua.

Nacua leads the NFL with 58 catches.  And 58 catches is the most anyone has had in the first 7 games of their career.

If he gets shutout by the Cowboys, he will still have the record for most receptions in a player’s first 8 career games.  Or at least a share of it with RB SAQUON BARKLEY who had 58 in his first 8 games in 2018.

If Nacua gets 5 catches in his 8^th game Sunday, he will have the 9-game record (now Barkley 62).

KANSAS CITY

Before he was a QB, PATRICK MAHOMES played safety in high school.  Good work here from Nate Taylor of The Athletic:

Sitting down at a table, Patrick Mahomes looked at the screen and smiled. In front of him was a laptop, the entire screen displaying grainy footage.

Mahomes leaned forward. In just a few seconds, before the play began, the Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback identified several details — the opponent, the highlight that was about to happen and where he was on the field under the Friday night lights. Then, Mahomes reacted with bursts of noises and phrases.

“Ooh, yeah!”

“Look at that! … Ooh!”

“You like that!”

The moment filled Mahomes with joy as he rewatched one of his first football highlights, a time in 2011 when he wasn’t a sought-after recruit, wasn’t the best player on his team and wasn’t even a quarterback.

In fact, the play began with Mahomes as one of the players farthest away from the ball. Wearing the No. 5 jersey as a sophomore at Whitehouse High, a school just south of Tyler, Texas, his hometown, Mahomes kept his eyes on the opposing quarterback while moving backward toward the middle of the field. When the quarterback released the ball, Mahomes accelerated, planted his right foot to change direction and extended his arms, catching the ball in stride.

With coaches, teammates and cheerleaders celebrating, Mahomes’ interception included him executing a nifty jump cut to evade being tackled on his 22-yard return. After he scampered out of bounds, Mahomes screamed and barked some trash talk at the opponent, the John Tyler High Lions, while teammates patted his helmet.

“When I was playing safety, I was treating it like I was the quarterback, thinking of what the quarterback was thinking,” Mahomes said. “That interception is off Greg Ward (Jr.), who played quarterback at Houston. He plays in the league now at receiver for the (Philadelphia) Eagles.”

Before he surprised everyone with his rare passing skills, before he won two Super Bowls, before he became the unquestioned face of the NFL, Mahomes played his first varsity season at free safety, a season that proved to be pivotal for the rest of his career, even though it wasn’t his idea.

Randy McFarlin has always started his explanation the same way.

“Well, we had a good quarterback in front of him,” said McFarlin, Whitehouse’s head coach for Mahomes’ first three seasons. “Hunter Taylor was lighting it up.”

McFarlin’s second point is always the same, too: The Whitehouse coaching staff faced a dilemma.

Whitehouse’s 2011 team featured more sophomores than usual, partly because the 2010 team, which finished 9-3, was led by several talented seniors. Receiver Trey Metoyer, a five-star recruit, joined Oklahoma. Joey Gautney, a defensive end, went to Louisiana-Monroe. And Quincy Aldridge, an all-district safety who grabbed 20 interceptions as a four-year starter, began his college career at TCU.

“It was kind of a down year (in 2011),” said Adam Cook, the then-offensive coordinator. “Those kids fought hard, but we lost probably the most talented team that we had at the time.”

In 2010, Mahomes split time at quarterback on the freshman team but was called up to varsity for the postseason, playing as a rotational safety. In Whitehouse’s first-round playoff game, a win over Royse City, Mahomes surprised the coaches by nabbing his first interception.

Early into training camp in 2011, McFarlin believed the Wildcats’ biggest void on defense was at free safety. While Mahomes was proving he should be the backup quarterback to Taylor, a senior and three-year starter, McFarlin and Cook approached Jason Shuck, the secondary coach.

“They came to me and said ‘Hey, Shuck, would you like to take a look at Patrick at safety?’” Shuck recalled. “I said, ‘Uh … yeah.’ I knew he was a rental, but it was a pleasure to coach him.”

Mahomes was 15 years old. Taylor, the starting QB, drove him to and from the Wildcats’ two-a-day practices. The teammates first became friends while playing on the same Little League baseball team.

“Anytime you say you’re from Whitehouse, that’s who they ask you about,” Taylor said of Mahomes. “He probably should’ve been the starter, to be honest. The coaching staff saw him and said, ‘Is he better than our starting quarterback? Yeah, probably. But is our biggest hole at safety, and can he do the job?’

“Not only was the answer obviously yes, but it was an upgrade (over) anyone we had.”

Together, the Whitehouse coaches — McFarlin, Cook and Shuck — persuaded Mahomes with an old-school approach, one they believed would help him develop into a better athlete, even if he didn’t pursue football in college. Back then, McFarlin knew Mahomes’ favorite sport was basketball, especially after he earned Whitehouse’s starting point guard role as a freshman.

“Have you ever watched him play basketball?” Taylor said. “He was unbelievable.”

The son of Pat Mahomes, a pitcher who spent 11 years in the major leagues, Mahomes was already a dominant outfielder and pitcher, his fastball reaching 93 mph.

Shuck explained to Mahomes that he would be a starter, have the responsibility of calling pre-snap checks to adjust the secondary’s coverage and spend the season learning as much as he could about the free safety position. Coleman Patterson, who later became one of Mahomes’ top receivers, would have a similar experience that season by playing cornerback.

“I know you’re going to compete for the quarterback job next year,” Shuck told Mahomes, “but there’s no better way to prepare for that than looking at it from the opposite side.”

Mahomes had another reason for agreeing to play free safety: Instead of watching from the bleachers, he wanted to be with the rest of his close friends who would be on the field every Friday night.

McFarlin also was optimistic Mahomes and his classmates — Patterson, Ryan Cheatham, Jaylon Dews and Jake Parker — would form an exceptional core for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

“To me, the key to that group was Patrick,” McFarlin said. “If I could keep Patrick, then I think I could keep the whole group.”

Still, before the Wildcats started the 2011 season, Taylor was intrigued to see how Mahomes would perform in a less-than-ideal circumstance — tasked with playing a position he didn’t love — for the first time.

“I was a quarterback from the time I stepped on a football field in the fifth grade to the time I took my last snap at (Stephen F. Austin),” Taylor said. “Not only did (Mahomes) humble himself enough to do it, but then he did it at the highest level that we could’ve asked him to do it at.”

– – –

As the backup quarterback, Mahomes started every week the same way. He watched how Taylor operated the Wildcats offense, which featured deep passes, plenty of bubble screens and concepts designed for intermediate completions to the middle of the field to give the receiver space to run after the catch.

Next came the Wildcats’ practices. The best part for Mahomes and Taylor came at the end of the practice when McFarlin let the starters compete against one another. Those repetitions allowed Mahomes to experiment.

“And s—, he knew what was coming,” Taylor said, laughing. “He’d try to throw me off, and I’d have to play games with him. Really, looking back at it, it made both of us better.

“Not a lot of high school quarterbacks have to deal with looking off a safety when the safety knows what you’re doing and he’s that athletic. You better figure it out quickly, or you’re going to look like a fool.”

Mahomes enjoyed bending every rule as the free safety. He would roam before the snap and freestyle on occasion, similar to the playing style of Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed.

“He was bringing some excitement,” Cook said. “That’s one thing about Patrick: He loves to practice. The majority of the great ones enjoy getting better. Patrick was always excited and talking trash, that competitive greatness.”

“He was pretty doggone good at it,” Shuck said of Mahomes. “In all those 18 years (coaching), maybe one other guy had a little bit better hips than him — but not by much. He was so flexible and rangy. I called him Gumby.

“He was a film rat. He always had another question. He remembers everything.”

Shuck’s mantra for the Wildcats secondary was four simple words: Don’t get beat deep.

Most of Whitehouse’s opponents in 2011 ran a variation of the spread offense. Whenever the opposing offense lined up with three receivers on one side of the formation, Mahomes was the deep safety on that half of the field, the last defender in the Wildcats’ bend-but-don’t-break defense.

“What makes him the athlete that he is that he’s so smart,” Cook said of Mahomes. “He did a great job of playing center field.”

“I was always good at reading coverages and reading routes,” Mahomes said. “I could read the quarterback’s eyes and make the plays. Even then — well, especially then — I really wasn’t the fastest person, but I could read it and be in the right spots.”

Mahomes finished the season with a team-high five interceptions, earning all-district honors.

“There wasn’t a very big drop-off from Quincy (Aldridge) to Patrick,” Taylor said. “He was probably the best secondary player I’ve seen at the high school level in person.”

– – –

Mahomes revealed the biggest reason why he didn’t love being a safety.

“The only thing that really took me away from playing that position — because I didn’t mind playing it and reading and trying to make plays on the ball — was the tackling part,” he said.

As a child, Mahomes spent a short stint in Pop Warner as a linebacker. He hated tackling then, too.

When McFarlin, Shuck and Taylor reminisced about Mahomes’ tackling ability, they each responded with laughter. Shuck emphasized to Mahomes to keep his technique simple — stay low, wrap your arms around the ball carrier’s legs and wait for the cavalry.

“He wasn’t the most physical safety that I’ve ever had,” McFarlin said, laughing. “It doesn’t have to look good. Just get the guy down.”

– – –

A few months later, Mahomes, who didn’t participate in many football camps, went to the University of Texas for a recruiting camp for sophomores. Even though Mahomes shared his desire to be a quarterback, Texas’ coaching staff had Mahomes go through safety drills, which upset his father.

“Texas just thought, ‘Oh, this kid is a good safety,’” Shuck said, laughing. “They didn’t have any tape of him at quarterback. People dog Texas all the time, but they really should’ve followed up a little bit more.”

Mahomes acknowledged that the odds of him playing at Texas, even before the camp, were slim. He also planned to play football and baseball in college, which Texas might not have allowed.

The next season, everything changed for Mahomes. As a junior, he earned the starting quarterback role, generated highlight after highlight — often manipulating the eyes of opposing safeties and throwing precise deep passes for touchdowns — and committed to Texas Tech and coach Kliff Kingsbury.

“It’s honestly crazy to me,” Mahomes said. “When I played football — even my junior year, and really my senior year — I never thought there was, like, a future at the quarterback position.

“Even when I got offered by Texas Tech, I always thought I’m going to play football for three years, I’m going to play baseball for three years, and then I’m going to go play (professional) baseball. Just to see how I developed, just from learning the position to now, where I’m fully engulfed in a Ph.D. with Coach (Andy) Reid’s offense, it just shows how much I’ve evolved. It’s not that long of a time.”

CLEVELAND

Out of necessity, starting QB P.J. WALKER has finally been elevated from the practice squad on a semi-permanent basis.  Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com:

With Deshaun Watson still day-to-day due to his ailing shoulder, P.J. Walker has gotten a promotion.

The Browns have signed the quarterback to the 53-man roster, the team announced on Wednesday.

Walker has helped the Browns win consecutive games while on the practice squad. He had run out of standard elevations from the practice squad after Sunday’s victory over the Colts.

After being released by the Bears at the start of the regular season, Walker joined Cleveland’s practice squad. He was elevated to the gameday roster for the Week 4 loss to Baltimore before starting the Week 6 win over the 49ers.

Walker has completed 33-of-66 passes for 370 yards with three interceptions for Cleveland this year.

Cleveland has also signed running backs Nate McCrary and Jordan Wilkins to the practice squad.

PITTSBURGH

QB KENNY PICKETT says he has to do a better job of throwing to WR GEORGE PICKENS.  Steelers fan Mike Florio agrees:

The Pittsburgh offense has received plenty of criticism this year. It seems to lack an identity. It seems to lack a rhythm. It seems to lack an overriding strategy.

Here’s one suggestion. Get the ball to receiver George Pickens whenever and wherever and however you can.

Quarterback Kenny Pickett seems to agree with that assessment. During an appearance earlier today on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio with Adam Schein, Pickett explained a very simple philosophy regarding Pickens.

“I always want to give him opportunities,” Pickett said. “I’ve been preaching that since I got here. He’s a guy that if he’s one-on-one, he’s gotta get the football. He’s too good of a player not to give those opportunities to.”

Indeed he is. And the Steelers need to scheme plays that get the ball in Pickens’s hands. They also need to be ready to, for example, throw him a quick pass if/when the defensive back is giving him a massive cushion. They need to be committed, as Pickett seems to be, to get him the ball whenever he’s in single coverage.

The more that happens, the more likely a defense will be to commit extra resources to stopping Pickens. Which will open up the rest of the offense. Which will give the Steelers the kind of balance that can propel them toward the upper reaches of the AFC.

INDIANAPOLIS

The NFL admits that the Colts were done wrong by the officials as the Browns scored late to win on Sunday.  Or so says owner Jim Irsay who proposes special rules for the final two minutes of the game.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

The conclusion of Sunday’s Browns-Colts game was marred by a pair of questionable calls on the decisive drive. The owner of the Colts now says the league has conceded that the penalty flags were thrown erroneously.

“The NFL admits and understands that they did not make the correct calls at end of Sunday’s Colts/Browns Game,” Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay tweeted on Tuesday night. “I believe we need to institute Instant Replay for all calls, including Penalties, in the last two minutes of All Games.”

He’s presumably referring to an illegal contact foul that wiped out what would have been a fumble that the Colts recovered, which would have iced a 38-33 win, and to a subsequent pass interference penalty that gave the Browns first and goal on the one. The Browns later scored the game-winning touchdown on fourth and goal.

The first one was close. As a source with another team opined, far worse contact on receivers goes uncalled on a regular basis, especially late in games. As to the second one, the pass was clearly uncatchable; it landed well out of the end zone. As one of the PFT writers remarked on the text chain through which we constantly communicate, not even Dwight Clark on a ladder could have caught that ball.

It’s unusual for teams to go public with such admissions from the league. Surely, 345 Park Avenue won’t appreciate Irsay’s candor.

The bigger question is whether Irsay’s argument will get any traction. He’s proposing that everything should be reviewable in the final two minutes of a game. In 2019, the NFL made pass interference calls and non-calls reviewable. It became a debacle, primarily through a shifting and inconsistent standard as to what did and didn’t constitute interference.

In this specific case, replay review would have (or at least should have) found that the pass for which interference was called was indeed uncatchable.

However the league handles it going forward, it’s something that needs to be fixed. With the NFL stuffing its pockets full of money from gambling endorsement, the league has an enhanced obligation to do whatever reasonably can be done to eliminate mistakes by officials, especially in the final moments of a close game. Chalking it up to human error should no longer be good enough; in today’s climate, mistakes like that affect interests well beyond those of the two teams.

So what will the league do? More importantly, will the league do anything before one specific scandal becomes big enough to spark external oversight, whether in the form of civil litigation over gambling losses, Congressional action (up to and including the creation of a federal agency charged with, among other things, creating and enforcing rules regarding officiating), or prosecution for those whose actions potentially cross the line from negligence into intentional and deliberate misconduct.

It’s coming, eventually. The NFL can either wait for it to happen and deal with the ensuing mess(es), or it can take meaningful action now aimed at giving the teams and those who wager their hard-earned money an explanation more meaningful than, “Shit happens.”

The DB knows that New York often whispers in the ear of officials on minor matters such as precise ball placement (leading to a number of frustrating late switches after everything would have previously been put to bed).  Couldn’t they have whispered about the catchability of the pass, if they wanted to?

Florio wonders if the NFL will fine Irsay for revealing the conversations of its faililngs the League insists be kept confidential:

On Tuesday night, Colts owner Jim Irsay said the league admitted to blown calls late in Sunday’s home loss to the Browns. The next question is whether the NFL will punish Irsay for his candor.

NFL employee Tom Pelissero tweeted this last night, after Irsay’s message landed: “The NFL communicates with teams on a weekly basis about various calls. Team officials are prohibited from commenting publicly on those discussions. Now, a team owner has publicly said the league admitted to officiating mistakes. Stay tuned …”

Setting aside for now the question of whether the league specifically asked its employee to publicly make this point, will the NFL fine Irsay for speaking the truth?

It’s fundamentally un-American to stifle people from telling the truth. Yes, the league wants to keep certain things in-house, in order to minimize embarrassment or scrutiny. Right or wrong, that attitude takes on a different vibe entirely when the league is stuffing its pockets with gambling money.

Transparency becomes paramount in an age of legalized wagering from which the league is profiting. As Commissioner Roger Goodell said in 2012, “If gambling is permitted freely on sporting events, normal incidents of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, and play calling inevitably will fuel speculation, distrust and accusations of point-shaving or game-fixing.”

You know what else fuels speculation, distrust, and accusations? Admitting privately that mistakes were made and punishing anyone who would dare tell the world that mistakes were made.

The NFL strongly considers P.R. in making its decisions. In this case, will it want to continue to fuel the story about missed calls at the end of Colts-Browns by punishing Irsay? Will the league want to invite criticism for creating the perception that it’s trying to conceal its flaws?

Arguably, the best approach could be to let it go. To move on. To wait for the next slate of bright, shiny objects, starting on Thursday night with Bucs-Bills. Or, at most, to issue a reminder to all teams about the existing rule against disclosing such facts, with a general threat that the next one to cross the line will be punished.

Pelissero said to “stay tuned.” If the league is going to do nothing to Irsay, there’s nothing to “stay tuned” for. As to whether the league will realize the problems that can arise from smacking Irsay with a fine and stop short of doing so, well, stay tuned.

TENNESSEE

A clarification on the “dual QB” system that we reported was being considered for the Titans this week.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

The Titans plan to give rookie Will Levis the bulk of the playing time Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

Tennessee is prepping Levis to start Week 8 with Ryan Tannehill (ankle) unlikely to play, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday, per sources informed of the situation.

Coach Mike Vrabel noted Tuesday that both Levis and Malik Willis would play, but Rapoport noted that the rookie is expected to be the primary signal-caller.

The news comes as little surprise given the struggles Willis has shown in three starts last year and again in replacing Tannehill in the fourth quarter of Week 6 versus the Ravens. In just two drives against Baltimore, Willis took four sacks while completing 4 of 5 passes for 74 yards and adding three rushes for 17 yards.

Levis was expected by most scouts to be a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, but slid to Day 2, where the Titans jumped up to draft him No. 33 overall. The Kentucky product boasts a massive arm and experience running a pro-style system but had turnover and accuracy issues at the college level.

The rookie entered training camp battling Willis for the backup duties, but a thigh injury in mid-August joint practices wiped out valuable preseason reps for Levis. In his lone preseason game, the rookie went 9-of-14 passing for 85 yards, an interception and took four sacks in 30 plays.

Tannehill suffered an ankle injury in the Titans’ loss to Baltimore in London before their Week 7 bye. Vrabel kept the door open for the veteran to return, but every report since the injury suggested Tannehill would miss at least some time due to the injury.

Tennessee could utilize Willis as a change-of-pace QB, particularly given his running acumen, but handing the reins to the rookie makes the most sense for the 2-4 Titans. They need to find out what they have in Levis with Tannehill hitting free agency in 2024.

NEW YORK JETS

This report taps the brakes on the timetable for QB AARON RODGERS and his return from Achilles repair.  Rich Cimini of ESPN.com:

@RichCimini

Aaron Rodgers updating his Achilles rehab on the @PatMcAfeeShow

* “Tough week of rehab.” Says there’s “some frustration” because he’s not progressing as fast as he did earlier in his recovery, but he says this is natural and part of the process.

* Still not walking without a limp because “I don’t quite have the strength in my calf.” Expects the recovery to pick up once “I can get to walking normal in a shoe, which is close, really close, then make a jump.”

* Planning to fly to NJ to attend Jets-Giants game, still hoping to have a pre-game catch with Eli Manning: “I’ll throw a couple of zingers at him.” #Jets

THIS AND THAT

TRADE TALK

Besides the discussion of EDGE rushers CHASE YOUNG and DANIELLE HUNTER (see Washington), Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com have these thoughts on trade winds blowing around the league:

What are the other names you’ve heard the most in the trade deadline conversation?

Fowler: Wide receiver has been a popular position of late, though the supply might outweigh the demand. Denver’s Jerry Jeudy, Las Vegas’ Hunter Renfrow and Carolina’s Terrace Marshall Jr. are among available players at that position. The Jets dealt Mecole Hardman Jr. and might not be done, with pass-rusher Carl Lawson and running back Dalvin Cook playing minimal roles at this stage.

It feels like Tennessee isn’t done after the Kevin Byard trade, too. The Titans have gotten some calls on their defensive line. Perhaps a veteran such as Denico Autry can help a contender. It’s clear Denver is open for business, and Carolina could be active if the Panthers receive enough interest in corner Donte Jackson and safety Jeremy Chinn.

Graziano: The big name in Carolina is edge rusher Brian Burns, but teams are being told he’s not available. The Byard trade has people wondering how far Tennessee will take this. We heard Derrick Henry’s name, for example, kicked around a bit on the offseason rumor mill. He’s a free agent at year’s end. Would Tennessee unload the remainder of his $10.5 million salary? Would they move Ryan Tannehill to make room for one of the two QBs they’ve drafted the last two years?

And I’m with you on Denver. Its guys seem to be the ones I’m hearing the most about, with Jeudy feeling like the most likely to get moved. They were asking for a first-round pick for him in the offseason, but I can’t imagine they still are.

Fowler: Teams I’ve talked to say even a Day 2 pick in exchange for Jeudy could be a hard sell, though others disagree. Jeudy’s $13 million salary next year on a fifth-year option is a consideration for teams, too. Baltimore tried to get Courtland Sutton ($14 million) last offseason, so maybe a contending team will make a run at him.

As for Tennessee: Autry, who’s in the final year of his deal, would have a market if the team engages. And, yes, I do think they would consider unloading Henry. There are some people in the league who believe Tennessee at least entertained it in the offseason. Not sure how much of a market Tannehill, with a bad ankle, would have at this point. The Jets would have made sense, but Zach Wilson is surviving on the job.

Graziano: Indeed. I actually wonder if the Titans (assuming Tannehill is out this week) might use this last game before the deadline to showcase their young quarterbacks. I still think it’s more likely they move Malik Willis than Tannehill, but that assumes someone wants to take a shot on the 2022 third-round pick.

As for Henry, I do think the price tag might be high for some teams. When I’ve brought up his name to executives, they’ve all brought up the salary. Even $5 million for a half-season rental feels like a lot to teams in the current running back market. If the Titans really wanted to unload him, they might have to pay some of the salary, and it would surprise me if they wanted to unload him that badly, if at all.

Which team has to make a deal over the next week?

Graziano: While I trust Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes to figure it out even if they do nothing, I do think the Chiefs still could stand to add a veteran wide receiver. Hardman coming back is nice, but the Chiefs know better than anyone that Hardman isn’t a guy you can count on for consistent health or production. I can’t see the Broncos dealing one of their guys to a division rival, and the same goes for the Raiders and Davante Adams.

So how about someone like Arizona’s Marquise Brown, who’s making $13.4 million this year and is eligible for free agency when the season is over? I don’t know that Arizona is looking to move Brown, but it hasn’t extended him yet, and for a future-focused team looking to amass draft picks, it might make sense to see what’s out there. The fifth-year speedster would bring some experience to a relatively young Chiefs’ wide receiver room.

Fowler: Definitely a good on-field fit. Knowing the Chiefs, though, Dan, they would want Arizona to cover just about all of that salary, which could be a nonstarter.

I’ll go with Seattle adding a pass-rusher. Uchenna Nwosu going out for the season with a pectoral injury is a massive blow to a steadily improving defense. Second-year man Boye Mafe is coming on, but the Seahawks’ top three healthy edge rushers (Mafe, Darrell Taylor and Derick Hall) are all on rookie contracts. Perhaps a veteran at a reduced rate could bolster the room. Or, if they want to go young, they could inquire on the Patriots’ Josh Uche, considering 2-5 New England might sell.

Graziano: Can’t have too many edge rushers, and the Nwosu injury definitely makes it feel like Seattle might not have enough of them. So that’s definitely a spot to watch. What do you think about the chance of Baltimore adding a running back? We mentioned Henry earlier. If he’s available, how scary would he make that offense look around Lamar Jackson? And if not, are the Ravens a smart Dalvin Cook landing spot? I don’t think the Giants are trading Saquon Barkley, and in general teams aren’t into paying big prices for backs, but I wonder if we could see one or two move. The Browns are also at the point where it feels like they could stand to add one.

Fowler: Agreed, though the Browns wouldn’t relinquish significant capital for that position. It would have to be a late-round deal. Cleveland wouldn’t have traded for Jonathan Taylor, for example. I like the idea of the Ravens adding a back to replenish for injury purposes. But they rank second in rushing offense (1,015), so any addition would be a late-season luxury play.

Philadelphia’s backfield could be one to watch, too. Rashaad Penny and Boston Scott aren’t in the rotation.

Name a team that might have sneaky intrigue around the deadline

Fowler: Saints. The offense needs a spark, and perhaps a wide receiver who can connect with Derek Carr is on the way. I’ve talked to a few teams who believe New Orleans is at least monitoring wideouts. On paper, it has more than enough at that position with Chris Olave, Michael Thomas and Rashid Shaheed. But the offense is still very much in get-right mode. Renfrow would make some sense here, given his history with Carr, though he might be redundant with Thomas manning the slot. Also watch for San Francisco, which needs slot corner help.

Graziano: San Francisco was going to be my answer here. We’re a year removed from them swinging that massive deal for Christian McCaffrey, and the Niners are a team that I think perceives itself as in a somewhat narrow win-now window. No one in the league is getting more production for less money at quarterback, and they will confront some big-money roster decisions next offseason. We just saw the Eagles make a rich-get-richer move in their secondary. When the team that kept you out of the Super Bowl last year is making moves, you have to be thinking about what you can do to counter.

We haven’t talked much about Buffalo, but the Bills have dealt with some big-time injuries so far this year. You see them making a move? Maybe on defense?

Fowler: Buffalo is fairly light up the middle due to injuries at defensive tackle and linebacker, so finding some juice there would make sense. But there aren’t many available options that make sense. Minnesota linebacker Jordan Hicks would provide experience and leadership at a young spot. The Bills do like their young linebackers and want to see them develop. Once Ed Oliver returns, the defensive tackle spot will have a four-man rotation. So, leaning no on a Buffalo move, but GM Brandon Beane has shown the willingness to be bold late in the window.

Buffalo’s Thursday night opponent, the Bucs, rank 29th in rushing offense. Wonder if they would entertain a move at running back. Penny was effective in Seattle and has ties to offensive coordinator Dave Canales.

Graziano: I do think Tampa Bay would look to upgrade at running back. Rachaad White hasn’t been what they’d hoped in terms of taking the No. 1 job and running away with it. And it doesn’t feel like Ke’Shawn Vaughn is the answer. They did open the 21-day practice window for Chase Edmonds, so maybe they can solve the problem internally. If not, would Leonard Fournette go back there even without Tom Brady there anymore?