Now, this is strange. The harvester would normally take a week or two. Instead, there is no combination and we have more than a month until the free agency starts. Which leaves us in this kind of interesting void, waiting for negotiations and cuts to arrive and the limit to be defined. This is our background for today’s MAQB …
• I really like what Washington is doing with its front line – supplying the staff with a ton of experienced hands. For me, it is, in a way, taking advantage of the inefficiency of the way the NFL does business. It is a very obvious frustration of people on the personal side that whenever fired GMs do not have a second chance in the same way as dismissed coaches. Typically, a dismissed technician resumes the position of coordinator or assistant technician elsewhere and can begin to reorganize his career immediately. For some reason, it rarely works that way in recognition. And that means that there are a lot of quality guys available. In that sense, the Washington personnel department is now led by three guys who were fired as general managers (GM Martin Mayhew, EVP Marty Hurney and director of professional scouts Chris Polian), and another who was dismissed as assistant GM (senior director of Eric Stokes players). And since Stokes and Polian worked with Hurney in Carolina, and Mayhew has a relationship with Ron Rivera, this is not a random collection of names either. I like the strategy. In short, if you believe that coaches benefit from the experience the second time around, then that should apply to scouts as well – and, consequently, the WFT operation now has a much internal institutional knowledge.
• Consummation of business with television can be seen as a formality. What will be interesting is to see what happens with the Thursday night football package. It’s something the league has been working on with streaming services – Amazon has been broadcasting TNF games simultaneously for a few years – as a kind of test to make sure it works. Yes, and there is a belief that the NFL is ready to take the leap to sell the rights to a streaming partner. But I heard in recent months that Disney was a viable candidate for TNF also, with the idea that it could put MNF on ESPN and TNF on ABC, or vice versa, which would allow the media giant to use the NFL as a subscription base for ESPN on the one hand, and as event scheduling on its over-the-air network. (This would probably also put Disney in the Super Bowl rotation.)
• During my long conversation with Ndamukong Suh, for our leadership in the MMQB in defense of Tampa, he and I talked about his future. He made it clear that, with the end of his contract, he wants to keep playing and keep playing in Tampa. “My goal is to go back and have the opportunity to win another championship,” Suh told me. “Me and Tom [Brady] spoke the other day about that opportunity, as well as with Jason Licht. I don’t know if you saw our celebration of the parade on that podium, Coach BA [Bruce Arians] said i’m not going anywhere. And he is usually a man of his word. So I’m looking forward to the opportunity to continue playing, especially for Tampa. And I honestly believe that I still have a lot of elite, a great talent to play. I’m not ready to turn them off yet. And my wife gave me the OK – first, I have that permission. ”He was laughing when he said that, but seriously in the feeling that his passion for football is still burning, after 11 years in the league, and even now with the championship ring secured. There are also family considerations. “In addition to being able to still have that energy, that fire to go out, I think the biggest thing that pushed me through this season was knowing that I have twins on the way,” he says. “To be able to come to this world as champions, but also to play for a few years, maybe five, who knows? May they see me on the football field and experience that at a certain age, obviously, they will be super young, coming back this year. But just for them to be able to experiment and be around that environment [would be great]. In short: Suh may take a while.
• Another thing that remains of Suh and is interesting: the benefits he saw from being Brady’s teammate as a defensive player. “If you look and come back and look at all of your teams, and this is one of the things that I was excited about when he signed with us, these defenses are usually well rested,” says Suh. “Playing and sinking, making great moves, moving the ball to the bottom of the field and scoring points, it gives an opportunity for one, to rest, but also to come out fresh and rush the passer. And grab bags and don’t really have to chase them. Because teams are often playing from behind or neck to neck and need to find ways to score. And most teams in this league want to pass. So, I was excited about his coming. And obviously the competitive advantage and the knowledge he has and brings to the team. I learned a lot from him during the camp, which was great. And we have to get to know each other on a totally different level compared to me, always trying to chase him. “
• We knew he would be there for a while, but I would not ignore the Jaguars’ signing of Ryan Stamper as director of player evaluation. He was assistant athletics director for Urban Meyer’s player development in Ohio, and played for Meyer in Florida, so he’s in the most intimate circles with the new Jacksonville coach. And he will be the one who will prevent Meyer’s decision about who will enter the building (he was the guy people were looking for to think about the coaching staff and the front office changes in January). Which means, in the end, after he acclimates to the NFL, I bet he’ll become the guy who helps Meyer avoid situations like the one he got in with strength coach Chris Doyle. As I said this morning, I cannot say whether or not Doyle deserves another chance. But it was clear that Meyer couldn’t be the only one to bring him back.
• One thing not said in JJ Watt asking for his release – in the climate of awareness of the 2021 limit, it is highly unlikely that he will end up earning the $ 17.5 million he was planning in Houston this year. Therefore, in asking for his release and not seeking a business partner, he probably left money on the table. Perhaps too much of that.
• I found it interesting to hear Bears’ new defensive coordinator, Sean Desai, say that the unit needs an “adjustment” in 2021, not a remake. “We have a good defense,” Desai told reporters. “We have good players. There has been some regression and we will overcome that. ”You have to think it was a selling point for coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace, given the pressure on the two this year.
• Jalen Hurts is a very self-conscious guy and has been in strange quarterback situations before. So my guess is that he didn’t arrange for Philly’s managers to meet him in Texas to work (h / t for NBC Philly’s John Clark for the initial report on it) without giving the Eagles a warning first. And if they signed, it is another sign that they have already passed the point of no return with Carson Wentz.
• The Cardinals hired Kelly Jones to be their chief of staff on Monday. And while that title looks a little funny, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it burst with other teams soon. The NFL has one in Dasha Smith, and with the racial calculation that we went through as a country last year, and the issues of workplace diversity that have been at the heart of the NFL, the need for someone of that kind of role is there for the most organizations.
• RIP, Vincent Jackson. The former receiver of Chargers and Bucs was an odd talent, but also one of the few football players willing to go out on the carpet with a team on the commercial side of the game. Jackson missed most of the 2010 season when the team tried to use a CBA mechanism to keep it cheap, played on the franchise’s brand in 2011 and signed a five-year, $ 55.5 million deal with Tampa in 2012. Jackson was quiet with the media, but he was known as someone who stood up for the principles. Best for your family and loved ones.