While I was enjoying the quiet…
One thing that I think a lot of people miss is Disney’s announcement of the Monday night games set for Sept. 19 — As part of the league’s coordinated “trickle” release this week, ahead of Thursday’s full release — that it is not actually a doubleheader. The Vikings-Eagles game, set for 8:30 pm ET, will kickoff right around when the Titans-Bills game (at 7:15 pm ET on ESPN) goes to halftime. And when I pointed out that on social media Monday morning, some fans got it real worked up over it.
They should also get used to it. It will be the only occurrence of it this year, but starting next year, we will see it three times every year. And there are reasons why it almost certain to stay this way going forward. Among them…
1) Ratings. Games kicking off at 10:15 pm ET don’t rate, and that’s one reason the league is being abandoned as part of those Monday Night Football in Week 1 last year. The late MNF game in 2020, the Titans at Broncos, attracted an average of just 7.6 million viewers (the 2020 Thursday opener, by comparison, averaged 25.8 million viewers). The year before, the number for that game, with the Raiders and Broncos facing off, was a little more respectable (10.62 million viewers), but still lower. The year before that, for the Rams-Raiders, the number was 9.61 million. Those would be good for other sports; For the NFL, they are not.
2) Inventory. Doing it allowed this to be sold to the NFL as a package for 20 games, and since it would go to one company, there was an issue with the league cannibalizing one of its packages — the overlap between those three Mondays. Managed by Disney (with early game on ESPN and late game on ABC).
3) Time zones. Realistically, a 10:15 pm ET start limits the amount of teams that can host those games. There are just six teams in the Pacific and Mountain time zones (Rams, Chargers, 49ers, Seahawks, Cardinals, Raiders). And so, if you were going to have three 10:15 ET kickoffs every year, you would be boxing yourself, and your schedule-makers, in.
So… get yourself a two-screen setup.
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• While we’re on TV, here’s my understanding of where Richard Sherman stands right now, to follow up on my buddy Ian Rapoport’s report on Monday morning: Sherman is joining Amazon in an undetermined role, while leaving the door open for a return to football. How might that return manifest? Well, for now, his plan is to start the season in TV, and keep working out in case a team calls late this year to sign him for the stretch run. The 34-year-old has always been calculated with his moves, and this one is no different.
• The Giants made a real effort to trade James Bradberry (for just about anything) and the league usually tells you what it thinks to be a player in situations like this. The clear message here is that no one thought he was worth the $ 13.5 million in cash that New York slated to pay him this year. Bradberry will turn 29 during training camp and, to be clear, other teams I’ve talked to think he’s still got something left in the tank.
One problem, again, was the money, and to put him in perspective for his number 2022 was the equivalent of a deal on the APY that gave the 49ers Charvarius Ward to lure him from Kansas City. Another issue? Bradberry will probably need a zone-heavy scheme at this point. That’s where he fit best all along (he was drafted into such a system in Carolina) and, with the fastest guy to begin with, he seemed to lose a step last year.
And I get that because he’s a new name on the market in a slow time of the year, a lot of people will make a big deal of his availability. But the key here might be to get him in the right role. If he can find it, he still has plenty left to give a team.
• One leftover from my talk with Falcons coach Arthur Smith the other day: I told him I heard him referencing the team “the right way” a lot. And so I asked him what that meant, in regards to everything from the day-to-day operation of the team, all the way to the very deliberate build that he and Terry Fontenot have mapped out.
“It checks a lot of boxes,” Smith replied. “Are you truly going to implement your culture and not get derailed? Are you gonna bring guys that are going to fit in what you want to do in all three phases? Are you truly going to have competition year-in and year-out? I mean, we can go in a million different directions, but when guys know when they come in the building that no matter how they got there, they have a chance, that is how you sustain success. You rip that entitlement out. “
And so I asked whether or not, in a year, the entitlement is gone.
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“I feel like we’re in a much better spot, yeah,” he said. “We’ll continue to work through it.”
• This week was the first one for rookie minicamps, and they could actually mean a little something — it was at one of these that Russell Wilson first turned heads in 2012, starting his then-unlikely run at a Week 1 starter as a rookie. And so we’ll start with our notes with another skill-position player who might be ready to make a run at early playing time.
Washington took Alabama tailback Brian Robinson Jr. In the third round, and took him largely on his low-mileage untapped potential. He only topped 100 carries in a season once over five years in Tuscaloosa, a result of playing behind Najee Harris, Josh Jacobs and Damien Harris for four of those seasons. And the impressive size and speed of the package he brings to the table popped out to coaches at the Commanders’ rookie camp.
If things go to plan, the 6 ‘2 “, 228-pound back should perfectly complement Antonio Gibson and JD McKissic in the Washington backfield, as the more traditional, physical tailback in the group, and allow the staff to move around the other two. And paired in the Washington class with receiver Jahan Dotson and tight end Cole Turner (who are both also flashed), the hope is Washington got a lot here to get Carson Wentz, and Terry McLaurin for that matter, help.
• You don’t often hear about linemen coming out of these camps, but the Eagles’ second-round pick, ex-Nebraska center Cam Jurgens, showed his athleticism, and how well he moved into space over the weekend.
Of course, linemen get judged when the pads go on. But the Eagles seem pretty excited about Jurgens, who gives them another nice young piece to pair with 2021 rookie Landon Dickerson on the interior of the line. Both guys have center / guard flexibility, and loom as important in Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni’s continued effort to get younger up front.
• Same goes for the tackles in Seattle — Both ninth overall pick Charles Cross and third-rounder Abraham Lucas show a ton of athleticism over non-contact work over the weekend at the Seahawks’ rookie camp. Which, at least, has the Seahawks thinking that both guys have a really strong baseline to work off.
Interestingly enough, the question related to each and every how they’ll fare in the run game (both played in Mike Leach’s offense as collegians), making them a little bit of a funny fit for what Pete Carroll generally emphasizes. We’ll see if they can coach it into them.
• On Monday, second overall pick Aidan Hutchinson became the sixth first-rounder, and the highest drafted guy yet, to agree to terms, was drafted just nine days later. His contract is the standard slotted deal, with $ 35.71 million coming over four years, all fully guaranteed, and $ 23.15 million in a signing bonus. None of that is particularly interesting
What is? Well, six of these have been done now, and all six have offset language, which signifies that the owners have won the battle over those — a battle that has its effect in the minute on the individual player, but important to teams for exemplary purposes, and important. to agents for recruiting reasons. The expectation is that 30 of 32 first-round deals will have offset language, with Jaguars picks Travon Walker and Devin Lloyd to avoid being in a position to base their deals on Jacksonville’s history with its first-rounders.
• It’s also not worth the financial benefit Aidan Hutchinson reaped for staying in school. Had he been declared the 2020 season, he’d been a passer-rushers behind Jaelen Phillips, probably grouped in with Greg Rousseau, Odafe Oweh and Joe Tryon, who went 30th, 31st and 32nd. The first of those picks, Oweh, signed a four-year, $ 11.34 million contract with the Ravens last June.
So if you think Hutchinson would’ve gone that range without his freakishly productive senior year in Michigan — and I think it’s fair to think that — then the 22-year-old more tripled than his rookie deal. Not bad for 12 months work.
• Anyone else notice how many NFL guys were in the Formula 1 race in Miami on Sunday?
More NFL Coverage:
• MMQB: The Falcons’ Strange Offseason, Remaining Free Agents
• What the NFL Didn’t Reveal About Its Browns Investigation
• Biggest Draft Takeaways From Around The NFL
• Bryce Young, CJ Stroud Possible Next No. 1 Pick
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