You would think that players would have learned from the Ja Morant situation yet here we are. At least he wasn't on social media showing it off or anything, but still, bad look given what the league just went through with Ja Morant.
Lunes, Hulyo 31, 2023
[Meirov] Aaron Rodgers on taking a $35M pay cut: "Big names move at the trade deadline now. I wanted to make sure that if somebody valuable came available, we’d be able to get him. I’m very happy with the contract. I feel great about it.”
https://twitter.com/mysportsupdate/status/1686052720992567296?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
[Boyd] Colts RB Zack Moss just slammed his helmet down and grabbed his wrist after a rush rep in 11-on-11. He just left the practice field with a couple trainers.
https://twitter.com/romeovillekid/status/1686027023754383361?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
The 2023 r/NFL Roast of The Los Angeles Rams (1/32)
Well folks, we are in the middle of the off-season yet again. Even as training camp rages on, the countdown towards regular season football can still feel like an eternity. Let's pass the time shall we? So, to returning folks and newbies on their first rodeo…..
WELCOME TO THE 2023 R/NFL ROAST OF THE LOS ANGELES RAMS
Let's have some fun.
Guidelines:
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Try to make original jokes. We've all seen the played out jokes and memes (examples:28-3,throwing on the one yard line,big ben rapist,one yard short), let's get some new material in here. Find a new slant.
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Don't waste your good jokes about another team until it's their turn to be roasted.
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Jokes are jokes. Laugh, head over to the burn center, and move on. Let's not get into heated arguements in these threads, they are just for fun.
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Don't troll and/or attack the users posting jokes.
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Teams were chosen in a random order. You'll find out the next team to be roasted in the current thread. This will give you a day to craft your jokes.
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HAVE FUN! When all 32 teams have been roasted, we'll be just a few days away from regular season football. That being said,fire away!
Tomorrow's Team:Tennessee Titans
Previous roast series:
2022
[Kyle Meinke] Rough start for Jameson Williams in his first padded practice of the summer. Dropped two balls against air, then went 0-3 during red zone one-on-ones and took a swat at the head of UDFA Starling Thomas
https://twitter.com/kmeinke/status/1686007201813385216?t=OLlkW0JHljhACpmnCxnKTw&s=19
Linggo, Hulyo 30, 2023
[Meirov] Jets HC Robert Saleh said QB Zach Wilson will play in Thursday night’s Hall of Fame game against the Cleveland Browns. OT Mekhi Becton will also play.
https://twitter.com/mysportsupdate/status/1685692102603141120?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
[Rich Cimini] Dalvin Cook on the sideline at practice, talking with players and coaches. #jets
https://twitter.com/richcimini/status/1685659266705711104?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
Patrick Ewing was one of the last people born in “The Colony of Jamaica”
Idk if anyone else would find this interesting, but Patrick Ewing was born on the 5th of August 1962 in what was then called “The Crown Colony of Jamaica”.
On the 6th of August 1962, The Crown Colony of Jamaica gained its independence, becoming Jamaica, and making Patrick Ewing one of the final people to be born in British-owned Jamaica.
[Rapoport] #Lions coach Dan Campbell tells reporters that RT Penei Sewell is in concussion protocol.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1685623255846060035?t=Xm8d3EE2hDnIds9GcIsomg&s=19
2023 Offseason Update: Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals
AFC North
Coaching Changes: Shockingly? None. The Bengals went into the offseason appearing like they were going to lose both OC Brian Callahan and DC Lou Anarumo to head coaching jobs. Despite both of them going deep into interviews with multiple teams both coaches were retained in Cincinnati for another year. This might be the last year that this coaching tree has all of its limbs remain intact.
Free Agency
Players lost/cut
| Player | Cut/Traded | New Team |
|---|---|---|
| Jessie Bates | Contract Expired | Atlanta Falcons |
| Vonn Bell | Contract Expired | Carolina Panthers |
| Hayden Hurst | Contract Expired | Carolina Panthers |
| Tre Flowers | Contract Expired | Atlanta Falcons |
| Brandon Allen | Contract Expired | San Francisco 49ers |
| Samaje Perine | Contract Expired | Denver Broncos |
| Chris Lammons | Contract Expired | Nevada Mean Machine |
| Clay Johnston | Contract Expired | None |
| Elijah Holyfield | Contract Expired | None |
| Clark Harris | Contract Expired | None (Retiring?) |
| Brandon Wilson | Contract Expired | None |
| Kevin Huber | Contract Expired | Retired |
| Tyron Johnson | Contract Expired | Dallas Cowboys |
| Eli Apple | Contract Expired | Miami Dolphins |
Major Losses
Jessie Bates - This is obviously the biggest one. Jessie was a cornerstone of the defense that took the Bengals to the Super Bowl just last year. It was relatively well known coming into this season that there was little to no chance Jessie was re-signing with the team once his franchise year was up. Jessie came into his free agency year and performed as you might expect a player who was heading for free agency to play. His overall tackles were down substantially, but he had a career high 4 interceptions and a forced fumble. Hes going to be a loss for this team.
Vonn Bell - A member of the Bengals 2020 free agency class Vonn Bell made an immediate impact on the team that reverberated for his entire tenure in Cincinnati. Vonn started throughout the entire Super Bowl run and was off to a roaring start last year with four interceptions and two forced fumbles through 9 games before disaster struck and he was injured. Vonn is an absolute impact player who will be missed by the defense as well.
Samaje Perine - Samaje is a player whos impact isnt entirely noticeable on just a cursory glance at the stats. However any further deep dive and you see how good he actually was. With only two starts Samaje amassed 394 rushing yards and 287 receiving yards. He was more than serviceable change of pace back who frankly performed at starter levels at points in the season.
Hayden Hurst - Another player whos numbers don't quite tell the whole story. Hurst had 414 yards in the regular season which sounds like "mid" tight end numbers, but Hayden was a huge part of the offense. He played in 13 games and had 19 3rd down catches on 22 targets for an average of 7.4 yards per attempt. He also averaged 9.4 yards a catch on 1st down.
Eli Apple - Eli was seen as a backup last year and in the end had to take a much larger role in the team. Most assumed between Mike Hilton, Cam Taylor Britt, and Awuzie that Eli would seldom see the field, and boy most were wrong. Eli started 15 games with the Bengals.
Kevin Huber/Clark Harris - Well this may be one of those things that people look at and say "wow you really consider a punter and long snapper major losses?" Yes. Clark Joined in 2008, and Kevin Joined in 2009 making both guys the last hold outs of the Palmer era.
Clark Harris came into Cincinnati and helped bring stability to a position that frankly had been god awful prior to his arrival. He joined the team and was the long snapper for almost every game from when he joined in 2008 until his unfortunate injury against the Steelers in game one of last year.
Kevin Huber likewise was joined in the Palmer era out of a positional need. He was a draft pick out of the university of Cincinnati and set the record for games played by a Bengal last year at 216.
Both of these guys were invaluable to the franchise through three eras of Bengals football and will be missed.
Players signed
| Player | Position | Signed/Re-signed | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando Brown Jr | LT | Signed | 4 Years |
| Germaine Pratt | Linebacker | Re-Signed | 3 Years |
| Nick Scott | Safety | Signed | 3 Years |
| Joe Bachie | Linebacker | Re-Signed | 1 year |
| Jalen Davis | Cornerback | Re-Signed | 2 Years |
| Michael Thomas | Safety | Re-Signed | 1 year |
| Trayveon Williams | Running Back | Re-Signed | 1 year |
| Trent Taylor | Wide Receiver | Re-Signed | 1 year |
| Cody Ford | Offensive Tackle | Signed | 1 year |
| Sidney Jones | Cornerback | Signed | 1 year |
| Irv Smith Jr | Tight End | Signed | 1 year |
| Tarell Bashan | Outside Linebacker | Signed | 1 year |
| Drew Sample | Tight End | Re-Signed | 1 year |
| Trevor Siemian | Quarter Back | Signed | 1 year |
| Mitchell Wilcox | Tight End | Re-Signed | 1 year |
| Trey Hendrickson | Defensive End | Extended | 1 year additional |
This is going to end up being an interesting free agency class. At face value most of the players are either re-signed or depth, however there are definitely going to be some impact players here.
Orlando Brown Jr – The biggest signing of the year shores up the left side of the Bengals offensive line for the next 4 years. Its no secret that the Bengals have had issues with the offensive line and have now spent two off seasons attempting to correct this. Orlando Brown Junior was arguably the best LT in free agency this year and the Bengals getting him and sliding Jonah Williams over to the right side was honestly shocking. If Orlando Brown is able to be the game changer the team thinks he is the Bengals offense should be even better.
Germaine Pratt – I think if you talked to most Bengals fans prior to free agency they’d have told you there was little chance that Pratt was coming back. To re-sign Pratt for 3 years is shoring up the LB position for the next 3 years and put the team into a better position to keep their defense operating at a high level.
Nick Scott – Nick is the immediate answer to replacing Vonn Bell, with the chance of Jordan Battle supplanting him in the future. He’s got big shoes to fill, and had a nice year in 2022 with the Rams with 86 tackles, two interceptions and two forced fumbles, not bad at all for a former 7th round pick.
Irv Smith Jr – This years stop on the “Bengals get a tight end a big contract with another team” train is Irv Smith Jr! Irv was drafted in the second round in 2019 by the Minnesota Vikings. He has 88 receptions for 844 yards and 9 touchdowns in his four year career. After what was done with Hayden Hurst last year I fully expect Irv to put up career highs in receptions, touchdowns, and yards, then for him to leave in free agency for 3/20.
Draft Results
| Round | Player | Position | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myles Murphy | Edge | Clemson |
| 2 | DJ Turner | Cornerback | Michigan |
| 3 | Jordan Battle | Safety | Alabama |
| 4 | Charlie Jones | Wide Receiver | Purdue |
| 5 | Chase Brown | Running Back | Illinois |
| 6 | Andrei Iosivas | Wide Receiver | Princeton |
| 6 | Brad Robbins | Punter | Michigan |
| 7 | DJ Ivey | Cornerback | Miami |
I'm going to break these guys down into categories.
Immediate Contributors:
Myles Murphy - I fully expect Murphy to have a big role this year. I don't know if he starts at all, and to an extent I don't think he does, but I expect him to get significant playing time at some point this year. One story that has come out in the offseason was from the Bengals strength coach about the fact that Murphy did 20 straight pull ups at his game weight of 280lbs then proceeded to run 20.1mph (GPS tracked).
DJ Turner - With the loss of Eli Apple even with the return of Awuzie I expect second rounder DJ Turner to see significant playing time early. He reportedly ran the fastest 40 yard dash at the combine and should help improve the speed of a group that often felt like it got burned when Apple was targeted.
Brad Robbins - As I mentioned previously the Bengals parted ways with Kevin Huber who has in turn retired. Drue Chrisman took over as the Punter for the Bengals and was serviceable but not what I would call elite. You don't invest a draft pick in a punter unless you think they have real talent. The Bengals have a training camp battle with Chrisman and Robbins for the punter of the future, if Robbins wins out he will be an immediate contributor this year.
Possible Contributors this year:
Jordan Battle - With the addition of Nick Scott Battle doesn't have to be an immediate starter and that may be good. It will allow him to ease into the league. Battle has been quiet for the most part this off season but alabama fans rave about him. He could force his way into the starting line up if things fall his way.
Chase Brown - The restructured deal for Mixon means the Bengals aren't necessarily looking for a new lead back right now. When Brown has talked to reporters hes talked about working on his run blocking more than anything else with pass catching short behind it. It sounds like theres a good chance he has already been told to plan on being a 3rd down back early on. If he has a role similar to Perine this year his impact could be massive.
Maybe next year:
Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas - I wish the best for both of these guys, but honestly I don't understand these picks. No one reading this was muttering "Wow the bengals need more Wide Receivers" yet here we are. With Boyd, Chase, and Higgins as well as Mixon, Irv Smith, Trenton Irwin, and Trent Taylor I just don't see these guys getting much of a shot this year. I could be wrong, and if one of them breaks out it might make it easier for the team to move on from Boyd in the off season.
DJ Ivey - I don't expect much this year out of Ivey with Turner drafted ahead of him, however hes gotten praise from CB coach Chuck Burks as being able to play the position "at a high level" and has been praised for his 4.46 speed. Speed really seems to be the common denominator with the defensive players in this years draft.
Other Offseason News that Affected the Team
Joe Mixon sure had an offseason. He had someone get shot on his property....maybe by his sister? He was arrested for threatening someone with a gun, and of course he signed a new restructured deal for less money.
This has also been the off season of the Burrow and Higgins contract. As of this writing nothing has officially happened on either fronts, but it looks like it might be getting close.
Projected Roster
| Position | Starter | Second/Backup | Third/Backup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterback | Joe Burrow | Trevor Siemian | Jake Browning |
| Runningback | Joe Mixon | Chase Brown | Trayveon Williams/Chris Evans |
| Wide Receiver | Ja'Marr Chase | Charlie Jones | Trent Taylor |
| Wide Receiver | Tee Higgins | Trenton Irwin | Stanley Morgan |
| Wide Receiver | Tyler Boyd | Andrei Iosivas | |
| Tight End | Irv Smith Jr | Mitchell Wilcox | Drew Sample |
| Left Tackle | Orlando Brown Jr | Jonah Williams | Jackson Carman |
| Left Guard | Cordell Volson | Max Scharping | Nate Gilliam |
| Center | Ted Karras | Trey Hill | Ben Brown |
| Right Guard | Alex Cappa | Hakeem Adeniji | |
| Right Tackle | Jonah Williams | La'El Collins | Jackson Carman/Cody Ford |
| Left Defensive End | Sam Hubbard | Myles Murphy | Cam Sample |
| Left Defensive Tackle | DJ Reader | Josh Tupou | |
| Right Defensive End | BJ Hill | Zach Carter | |
| Right Defensive Tackle | Trey Hendrickson | Joseph Ossai | |
| Weak Side Linebacker | Logan Wilson | Joe Bachie | |
| Middle Linebacker | Germain Pratt | Jaylen Moody | |
| Strong Side Linebacker | Akeem Davis Gaither | Markus Bailey | Keandre Jones |
| Strong Safety | Nick Scott | Jordan Battle | Brandon Wilson |
| Free Safety | Dax Hill | Michael Thomas | Tycen Anderson |
| Left Cornerback | Chidobe Awuzie | DJ Turner | DJ Ivey |
| Right Cornerback | Cam Taylor Britt | Mike Hilton | Jalen Davis |
Position Group Strengths and Weaknesses
Position groups:
QB – Well previously I would have said this is an elite group just because Joe Burrow is leading it. I still want to believe that but I’d like to hear more about Burrows calf before I go into too much detail on how amazing this group is. Jake Browning has been getting a lot of run from the local press for looking good through the first few days of training camp. I wouldn’t be entirely shocked to see him as the eventual second string QB but for now since he has game experience I expect Trevor to remain in the second string position.
WR/TE – I don’t think its much of a stretch to call this the best WR room in the league. When Chase went down for an extended period last year everyone thought this team would fall back because teams would just double team Tee Higgins. Instead not only did Higgins thrive but players like Trenton Irwin stepped up out of nowhere to catch 231 yards in 9 games and only two starts. Add the guys in that were drafted this year and this is a deep deep deep WR corps.
Tight End is not as deep, but the Bengals have spent the last two years taking Tight Ends who had a lot of potential but not yet lived up to it and lifting them to new contracts. I fully expect Irv Smith to have a career year this year.
RB – This may be an issue. Joe Mixon had a little over 1200 yards from scrimmage last year, which is down from what this team expects from Mixon, but still a serviceable number. However, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Chris Evans has been disappointing since he was drafted and Trayveon Williams has not had much chance to shine with only 231 yard in his career. If Chase Brown can come in and make an immediate impact in training camp he can easily take the Samaje position from last year spelling Mixon and possibly taking over as the lead back. This is going to be something to watch going forward as one of the most intriguing training camp battles.
Offensive Line – Boy this is going to be an interesting one this year. On Paper the OL is substantially better than it has been the last two years and that’s considering that they were SUBSTANTIALLY better last year than the year before. However, what happened? They had injuries in consecutive weeks losing 3 offensive lineman in 3 weeks. The lineup for this year looks substantially better on paper, but more than anything it looks deeper.
Defensive Line – Sam Hubbard, BJ Hill, Trey Hendrickson, and DJ Reader is a nightmare front for any offense. Now add first round pick Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai into the mix and this is a very strong defensive front four. I’d put this defensive line against most defensive lines in football from a pure talent perspective. The Bengals gave up the third fewest points in the AFC last year and this line is a big part of the reason why.
Linebacker – Logan Wilson, Germain Pratt, and Akeem Davis Gaither are all three studs as starters, but the depth doesn’t currently look amazing. This may be one of the few positions the team is thin at. Then again its possible that Lou could work some magic with the second stringers if it comes down to it.
Secondary – Awuzie, Britt, Scott, and Hill are all extremely talented looking members of the secondary with a lot of question marks. Awuzie has been incredible for the Bengals but was lost last year to an injury. He just came off the PUP list a few days ago and should be ready to go for the start of the season, but is he ready? Dax Hill and Cam Taylor Britt are both second year players who showed a lot of promise towards the end of last year but you have to put a lot on their shoulders this year. Nick Scott had a nice year with the Ram last year, but this is going to be a big step for him. Last year was his first year as a starter for the Rams in a year where it was apparent really early the Rams weren’t doing much. This year he will be expected to start for a Bengals team that many are picking as Super Bowl contenders. Behind these guys Mike Hilton and Michael Thomas have showed a lot of promise and played extremely well at times and Jordan Battle will have a chance to make his case as a future starter.
Special Teams – Special teams is looking stronger this year than it has in a while. Kicker has not been a worry since Evan McPherson was drafted, but unfortunately Punter has been a position of weakness for the last year or two. Drue Chrisman has been okay since he took over for Kevin Huber, but he hasn’t exactly been booming kicks. The drafting of a punter this year makes it appear like the team might be looking for a substantial upgrade in punter. If Brad Robbins takes over as the punter of the future this teams special teams may be fixed for the next few years.
Schedule Predictions
Week 1 – Bengals @ Browns
Opening up with the Battle for Ohio sure is going to be a show down. This will be a test for a new look Bengals defense that is without Bates or Bell and a once again reworked Bengals OLine against Myles Garrett. I believe the Bengals offense will overcome the Browns defense.
Final Score Bengals 27- Brown 17.
Week 2 – Bengals Vs Ravens
A second AFC North Match up in two weeks is honestly almost a little unfair. Bengals Ravens has been hard nose football and last season was no exception. The Bengals lost offensive linemen in back to back Ravens games between week 18 and the wildcard round. So the Bengals will hopefully have a substantially healthier offense than the last time they played the Ravens. However the Bengals will not be playing the Pro Bowl QB Tyler Huntley and will instead be playing non Pro Bowl QB Lamar Jackson. This will be a close tough game.
Final Score 24-17 Bengals.
Week 3 – Bengals Vs Rams
This could be a massive matchup for this early in the season. These two teams haven’t faced off in a meaningful game since the Super Bowl. They did however have a joint practice last year and boy howdy did it go swimmingly, as long as you ignore a massive fight that occurred at the end of the second practice that involved La’el Collins taking swings and Aaron Donald swinging Bengals helmets at people. So no theres definitely not any bad blood here. This will be a big match up that I think the Bengals in particular will be “up for” more than any other game in the first quarter of the season.
Final Score Bengals 31 Rams 17
Week 4 – Bengals @ Titans
The Titans appear to be a bit of a mess right now. They don’t have a real receiving threat and its not clear if their QB of the Future is also the QB of the present. Heres what I do know for sure, The Bengals played the Titans last season without Awuzie and without Vonn Bell and still held Derrick Henry to 38 yards on 17 carries and Ryan Tannehill without a TD. Obviously anything can happen, but this should not be a close game when its all said and done.
Final Score Bengals 24 Titans 10
Week 5 – Bengals @ Cardinals
I expect the Cardinals to be a substantially better team this year than last year, I do not expect this to be a competitive game. This early in the season the Cardinals should still be gelling and working to figure out their identity.
Final Score Bengals 35 Cardinals 17
Week 6 Bengals Vs Seahawks
The Seahawks are a very good team that on paper should have a lot of continuity from last year. The Seahawks scored a lot of points, but also gave up a lot of points. I don’t see why this would be any different.
Bengals 35 Seahawks 31
Week 7 – Bye Week
Week 8 – Bengals @ 49ers
This has all the makings of a trap game. I don’t think the Bengals will exactly take the 49ers lightly, but I can’t help but think that coming off of a bye week and with the Bills the next week this game could be a loss for the Bengals. The 49ers had a very potent offense post adding CMC last year and I don’t see any reason that changes this year unless Purdy regresses. I think this will be a tough match up that the 49ers will win and once again my childhood being ruined will be brought up by the announcers.
Bengals 13 49ers 20
Week 9 – Bengals Vs Bills
In a rematch of last years AFC Divisional round game the Bengals and Bills play a game on a sunday night on NBC that is going to dredge up a lot of memories of Damar Hamlins horrifying injury and an ill timed whopper commercial. This is going to be an emotional game for both teams and if the Bengals really are going to compete for the 1 seed a game they’ll have to win. The Bengals took the Bills to the wood shed in the divisional round, a loss that the Bills are going to be keen on avenging. This game could go either way, but the Burrow lead bengals havent shied away from the lights when they’ve gotten bright (unless they are playing the brown on halloween) this should be a Bengals win.
Bengals 27 Bills 19
Week 10 – Bengals Vs Texans
On paper this shouldn’t be close. The Texans are rolling up with a Rookie QB against a defense that has been very stout in the past and we have no reason to this it won’t be this year as well. Final Score Bengals 38 Texans 10
Week 11 – Bengals @ Ravens
The Bengals and Ravens are two very evenly matched teams, last year the Bengals pulled out the last two games, while the Ravens won their first meeting. All 3 games were very close. I gave the Bengals the edge in their opening matchup, but am giving the Ravens the edge here. They have an incredible secondary and I think that wins out at home.
Final Score Ravens 30 Bengals 20
Week 12 – Bengals Vs Steelers
This should be a big year for the team from Pittsburgh with them taking a major step forward. The second year for both Pickens and Pickett should be big steps from last year and a step towards them being substantially more competitive. However I don’t believe that they make that big of a step forward against The Bengals and the revamped Offensive Line in Cincinnati. Final Score Bengals 27 Steelers 17
Week 13 – Bengals @ Jaguars
This should be a fun matchup of two very good young QBs who played very tough playoff games last year. In the end I think the Bengals have the better team and that will translate to a win. I am incredibly interested in seeing how Calvin Ridley looks on the Jags this year and think this could be a good game for him.
Final Score Bengals 27 Jaguars 23
Week 14 – Bengals Vs Colts
On paper again this shouldn’t be much of a fight. The Colts are a young team that’s rebuilding, however the Colts have often had the Bengals number in a way that is infuriating for a team that’s only 2 hours away. This game should not be close, but it will be.
Final score Bengals 24 Colts 17
Week 15 – Bengals Vs Vikings
I’m not sure what to think of this years Vikings team. Axing Dalvin Cook is just a weird look, but the Vikings have been a RB factory for the last decade constantly having very good, high end RBs so by the time week 15 rolls around I could easily see them having a very good RB corp to replace Dalvin. I really don’t have a lot of thoughts on this game other than I believe it goes the Bengals way.
Final Score Bengals 21 Vikings 13
Week 16 – Bengals @ Steelers
Steelers matchups are always rough for the team from Cincinnati. While I think this game will be close in particular because its being played in Pittsburgh, similar to their first game I think this game goes the Bengals way. Final Score Bengals 24 Steelers 20
Week 17 – Bengals @ Chiefs
In a repeat of the 2021 season the Bengals and Chiefs will play in the second to last game of the season. This time it occurs at KC. This game frankly is a toss up to me, much like the last 4 games against the Chiefs have been. Its going to come down to a late touchdown or field goal, but frankly could easily go either way. I’m going to predict a final score of 30 - 23, which team wins? No idea.
Week 18 – Bengals Vs Browns
Once again mirroring the 2021 season the Bengals will face the Browns in the final game. As I’m predicting the Bengals will win the division this will include most of the Bengals starters being rested. Trevor Siemian will start and the Bengals will take a loss to a Browns team starting most if not all of their starters.
Browns 17 Bengals 10
Season Predictions
My final record prediction is 14-3 or 13-4 depending on the outcome of the Chiefs game. 2020 Bengals Fan Usidore feels like 2023 Bengals fan Usidore is being ridiculous, but this is a team that was 12-4 last year and one of those losses only came because of absolute fluke play by an emergency long snapper. They are incredibly talented and were basically a hair away from the 1 seed last year (the chiefs and Bills both had 3 losses). They have a very tough schedule ahead of them, including the gauntlet that is the AFC North. If they can come out of this with 3-4 losses this team will be among the more battle tested AFC teams in years.
Assuming they make the playoffs this is a team that should contend for the Super Bowl. Will they? Only time will tell, but I expect this team as its made up to give a run for their money to any other top teams in the AFC. If this team can somehow snag the one seed any team coming into Cincinnati will be in for a top notch atmosphere.
Training Camp Storyline
The most interesting storyline this training camp is that this is going to be Joe Burrows first real training camp. 2020 was covid, 2021 he was rehabbing from his knee injury, and 2022 he had his appendix removed. So this is going to be his first time entering the season with actual practice under his belt, which will be interesting. Last year it took Joe 4 games to get going post his appendix removal and weight loss. This year it will be interesting to see how quickly he gets up to speed. If he starts game one like he started game five last year the league is in deep trouble.
I have no words for this.
Obviously the new storyline for training camp and really the asterisks for everything I’ve written to this point is the health of Joe Burrow. I’ve been traveling for work this week and was in a meeting when I got the text about Burrow being carted off. The person who lead the meeting came up to me afterward and said he couldn’t figure out why I looked distraught out of the blue, then he checked his phone when the meeting ended and figured it out.
All of my predictions, ideas, hopes and dreams for this team this year are riding on Joe Burrows calf being 100% by week 1. If for some reason his current strain puts a strain on the Bengals and Trevor Siemian or Jake Browning end up starting a significant number of early games this all becomes moot and the season becomes substantially harder.
So the new training camp storyline at this point has to be how Trevor and Jake are doing and who is taking first team reps. Currently they are alternating on a day to day basis, it will be interesting to see how long that continues. Taylor has also said they will sign another QB. It will be interesting to see if they go after someone like Jameis Winston who has significant starting experience or someone more along the lines of Trevor Siemian who showed some potential but has never really started.
Either way its obvious that Bengals fans are hoping that Joes calf muscle is rested and ready to go by Week 1 against the Browns on the road.
Sabado, Hulyo 29, 2023
[AP NFL] Le'Veon Bell questioned why 'top tier' running back Saquon Barkley got an $11 million deal compared to 'bottom tier' quarterback Daniel Jones' $40 million salary.
https://twitter.com/ap_nfl/status/1685042642273579008?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
[Holder] On Jonathan Taylor's relationship with the Colts' FO: "It's much worse than you think"
https://twitter.com/HolderStephen/status/1685256708505915392?s=20
[HoopsHype] Josh Hart to get $75 million in extension with Knicks?
To that point, “the word on [Josh] Hart’s extension, which will be delivered in August, is in the range of four years, $75 million,” per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Hart, a favorite of Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, picked up his $13 million player option for the 2023-24 season in late June.
https://hoopshype.com/2023/07/29/josh-hart-to-get-75-million-in-extension-with-knicks/
Biyernes, Hulyo 28, 2023
[Meirov] The Packers just released LB Jonathan Garvin … hours after they wished him happy birthday. Not fun.
https://twitter.com/mysportsupdate/status/1684958471429492736?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
[Charania] The Portland Trail Blazers are waiving guard Jeenathan Williams, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Williams averaged 10.6 points and 25.3 minutes per game in five contests to finish last season.
https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1684936698545790976?s=46&t=DMnS3J-zs7RXhxH1hQoiig
[Arye Pulli] Dalvin Cook just said Derrick Henry started the running back group chat, and Austin Ekeler was one of the pioneers of getting the Zoom call. “[Derrick] saw some stuff on Twitter, so he started a group chat… Austin Ekeler put us in a position to go to the Zoom call
https://twitter.com/aryepulli/status/1684922137272848384?s=46&t=DMzKILyEihBw9OIfj0hfjg
Robert Saleh on Aaron Rodgers taking a pay cut: "I think it says a lot when the best player on your football team -- a Hall of Famer -- is willing to sacrifice something because he wants to win, which is ultimately what we're all here to do. This was Aaron. Aaron wanted to do this."
https://ift.tt/6Lkvw0D
Huwebes, Hulyo 27, 2023
[Furones] Jalen Ramsey was seen limping off the practice field at Dolphins camp after a rep. He grabbed at his left knee as he went to the ground on the sideline and was attended to by trainers. He was helped up but didn’t want to step with it. A cart has come to take him away.
https://twitter.com/DavidFurones_/status/1684596785400934400?s=20
LeBron James on Twitter: I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers. We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love.
Full tweet doesn’t fit in title. Here it is:
I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers. We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love. Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us! #JamesGang👑
https://twitter.com/kingjames/status/1684594877429092352?s=46&t=nMNlxFK7ubxYb-ajBNkqVA
I believe this is the first LeBron’s spoken about Bronny’s cardiac arrest since it happened. Glad he’s saying Bronny’s healthy now.
Who is a player you expect to have a breakthrough this season?
I am thinking of players who are kind of flying under the radar in this subreddit.
Franz Wagner had a really good year in Orlando, people were mostly focused on Paolo Banchero as the first pick and Orlando was unfortunate with injuries. I only managed to see them few times, and the player who stud out the most was Franz. He is looking like potentially one of the best point-forwards in couple of years. 18.6/4.1/3.5 doesnt look crazy good, but I feel if Orlando stays healthy this year, they can challenge for a playoff spot and Wagner could become a legit all star.
Miyerkules, Hulyo 26, 2023
People who don’t like the Jaylen Brown contract, what would you have rather Boston have done with the money instead?
We often talk about player contracts and how many players are overpaid or aren’t worth the money being paid to them. What are alternatives Boston could have done with this money to set them up for success. If this is considered a bad deal what would be an alternative and why?
[Schefter] Another deal: Bears and TE Cole Kmet reached agreement on a four-year, $50 million extension, including $32.8 million guaranteed and $20 million in new first-year cash, per me and @FieldYates.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1684232610111692800
[Schefter] Another big-money OT deal in Houston: Former Texans 1st-round pick Tytus Howard and Houston reached agreement on a 3-year, $56 million extension that includes $36.5M gtd, per source
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1684158870837501952?s=20
2023 Offseason Review: Jacksonville Jaguars
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
"It was ALWAYS the Jags..."
Division: AFC South
Previous Season Record (9-8, 1st place in the AFC South)
This is my first time ever doing an offseason review, while also juggling school and work responsibilities, so please bare with me.
2023 Draft:
| Round 1 | Anton Harrison | OT Oklahoma |
|---|---|---|
| Round 2 | Brenton Strange | TE Penn State |
| Round 3 | Tank Bigsby | RB Auburn |
| Round 4 | Ventrell Miller | LB Florida |
| Round 4 | Tyler Lacy | DE Oklahoma State |
| Round 5 | Yasir Abdullah | LB Louisville |
| Round 5 | Antonio Johnson | S Texas A&M |
| Round 6 | Parker Washington | WR Penn State |
| Round 6 | Christian Braswell | CB Rutgers |
| Round 6 | Erick Hallett | S Pittsburgh |
| Round 7 | Cooper Hodges | G Appalachian State |
| Round 7 | Raymond Vohasek | DT North Carolina |
Round 7 Derek Parish FB Houston
UDFA's:
Jayson Ademilola DT Notre Dame
DJ Coleman LB Missouri
Elijah Cooks WR San Jose State
Kaleb Hayes CB BYU
Dequan Jackson LB Colorado State
Samuel Jackson OT UCF
Jaray Jenkins WR LSU
Oliver Martin WR Nebraska
Leonard Taylor S Cincinnati
Divaad Wilson CB UCF
Free Agency
| D'Ernest Johnson | RB | Cleveland |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Dogbe | DE | Arizona |
| Henry Mondeaux | DE | New York Giants |
| Josh Wells | OL | Tampa Bay |
| Chandler Brewer | OL | Los Angeles Rams |
Re-Signings
| C.J. Beathard | QB | 7th season |
|---|---|---|
| JaMycal Hasty | RB | 4th season |
| Andrew Wingard | S | 5th season |
| Tevaughn Campbell | CB | 5th season |
| Tre Herndon | CB | 6th season |
| Adam Gotsis | DL | 7th season |
| Evan Engram | TE | 7th season |
The Jaguars didn't really make any "splash" signings much to the chagrin of the fanbase, but I think the goal heading into this offseason was to strengthen the amount of depth on the team in order to eventually compete with powerhouses like Kansas City and Buffalo, and in the long run to save money so that eventually we can go all out and build a "super team" around Trevor once we have enough depth. Considering the amount of holes that the Jaguars had last season (especially on the defensive side of the ball) it's really amazing that this team finished 9-8 and won their division. It's truly a testament to how great of a coach Doug Pederson is, and how generational of a player Trevor Lawrence is as well. The culture in Jacksonville is changing, and Jacksonville is now a place that players legitimately want to go to now.
The Jags also traded for Calvin Ridley, and his role on the team is to essentially be a WR 1 for Trev, and to create more opportunities for Evan Engram, Christian Kirk, and Zay Jones in the passing game. There was also very little coaching turnover, and that was mostly by design, as Pederson has said that he wants to keep the Jaguars coaching staff largely intact in order to ensure scheme continuity and to strengthen relationships between players and coaches.
Starting Lineup:
QB Trevor Lawrence
RB Travis Etienne
WR 1
Schedule Prediction:
Week 1 @ Colts (W)
Week 2 vs Chiefs (W)-Statement win. The team is going to be highly motivated and will have something to prove. The heat, and humidity combined with a raucous crowd is also another reason why I'm going with the Jags in this one. It will be a lot like the 2018 game against the Pats.
Week 3 vs Texans (W)
Week 4 vs Falcons (W)
Week 5 @ Bills (L)
Week 6 vs Colts (W)-The Jags won this game as soon as the schedule was announced.
Week 7 @ Saints (W)
Week 8 @ Steelers (W)-Duval North
Week 9 BYE
Week 10 vs 49ers (L)
Week 11 vs Titans (W)
Week 12 @ Texans (W)
Week 13 vs Bengals (L)
Week 14 @ Browns (W)
Week 15 vs Ravens (W)
Week 16 @ Buccaneers (W)
Week 17 vs Panthers (W)
Week 18 @ Titans (L)
Overall 2023 Record: 13-4 (Jags fans know that we're really going to finish 17-0) (1st place in the AFC South).
If Trevor Lawrence continues to improve and plays like the player that most people expected him to play as coming into this league, the Jags will be one of the top teams in the AFC this season. No question about it.
Martes, Hulyo 25, 2023
[Zack Pearson] Justin Fields says that "Quarterback" on Netflix reached out to him for a new season. He says he doesn't think he's going to do it.
https://twitter.com/Zack_Pearson/status/1683870058315931648
r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season - Post Mortem Thread
Hello everyone, and welcome to the final post of the r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season... our Post Mortem thread!
Included here are the individual ranker lists, the master list, and rank breakdowns from this year's ranking process.
Ranker Lists / Master List / Calculations
Here are the things I’m sure everyone wants to pour over - the individual rankings, their corresponding sheets, and the master list with associated fancy data.
The lists that follow are the personal opinions of 53 individual people combined to find an average rank. Some of our users shared their lists as we went along with each reveal. As promised from the beginning, all data is being made available to you.
As a refresher, here is a quick run down of the methodology:
Methodology
Link to more detailed writeup on our methodology
-
Step 1: A Call to Rankers right after the Conference Championship games
-
Step 2: Rankers from each team nominated players to rank, with a 11 game minimum threshold. Players are associated with the team they played for in 2022
-
Step 3: The Grind. We instructed users to tier positions groups into T25, T50, etc based on 2022 regular season play only. This took several weeks as the rankers tiered each position group and discussed them. There were no individual player threads and no arbitrary position caps. Just questions and rankings.
-
Step 4: Users submitted their own personal Top 125 lists.
-
Step 5: User lists were reviewed by myself, u/mattkud , and u/MikeTysonChicken . The rankers were expected to answer questions about their lists. They were allowed to make any changes to their list, and were not forced to make any changes
-
Step 6: The Reveal… which we just finished!
With that said, here are the lists:
These are the completed ranking forms from 1-125 for each individual. After all lists were submitted, u/mattkud and I combined the lists into one sheet to calculate an average rank for each player and a standard deviation to use when trying to find outliers. There were 194 players nominated; with rankers tasked to rank out to 125, any player that didn’t fall on a user's Top 125 was assigned an unranked value of 140. This was used to help calculate the average rank.
We then used conditional formatting within Google Sheets to highlight ranks that were 1 standard deviation off a players mean rank in addition to using 2 standard deviations. The biggest reason why we also used 1 standard deviation is that numerous players had large standard deviations to begin with, as you’ll see. This makes sense, especially towards the bottom end of individual lists when players can be unranked by numerous rankers. While it’s not ideal, we had to ensure that we caught players that were accidentally omitted from user lists. Highlighting both standard deviations made this a possibility.
We then reviewed each user's list with assistance from /u/MikeTysonChicken. As a former showrunner of the Top 100 list, he gave us an additional set of eyes to observe the process . Part of our hesitation with performing the list reviews is we don’t want to indirectly coerce rankers to move players to certain spots. That would go against the entire spirit of this project. So, we simply stuck to the conditional formatting as outlined above and asked each individual ranker their thoughts on the players identified as outliers, requiring justification on players 2 or more standard deviations from their mean. There were some users who realized they forgot to rank a certain player, or mistakenly had a player ranked lower (or higher) than they intended, and they were free to make corrections. For example, more than a few ranked Jaguars Josh Allen when they intended on ranking Bills Josh Allen and vice versa. If rankers felt like they needed to make any other adjustments, they were free to do so at this time, but they were under no obligation to do so. If they felt their list was justified and were fine with all of their submission, once they provided that concurrence, we locked their list. Once all mistakes and changes were made for other users, their lists were locked as well. All completed lists were reviewed and locked with the concurrence of the individual ranker.
Once this was complete, we calculated the ranks to find the Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season.
This year we continued to remove 1 high rank and 1 low rank to calculate the average rank. In the case of ties, we broke them by including the 1 high and 1 low rank and recalculating their average. This occurred twice in this years rankings.
Historical List
And now for a fun little trip down memory lane... Here is the Historical List:
LINK TO HISTORICAL LIST
Master Ranking List
Notes:
-
Column BG is the sum of all the ranks for the player
-
Column BH being the average rank of Column BC.
-
Column BI is the sum of all the ranks for the player minus the sum of the highest and lowest rank for each player. If there are multiples of the same value, it only subtracts 1 of the highest/lowest. This is what is used to find the final rank. The formula looks like this:
=SUM(E2:BE2)-LARGE(E2:BE2,1)-SMALL(E2:BE2,1)
- Column BJ is the average value, and thus rank, for the player minus the highest and lowest rank divided by the total number of sheets (53) - it's highlighted in yellow. Essentially, Column BI is divided by the total number of sheets. This is the final average rank for each player. The order, 1-194, is determined from this value, low to high. You’ll notice 4 cells highlighted in green in this column for the Top 125, this was to visually indicate ties to me.
Calculations and Outliers
Explanation
Final Calculations - w/Adjustments & Concurrence: This is the conditional formatting we used to determine outliers for the sheet reviews. This is NOT the sheet we used for the outlier sheet, this is merely an example of the formatting that was used for the outlier sheet. You can clearly see certain ranks are color coded to indicate ranks that were much above or below the congregate average. The original outlier calculation sheet included several mistake ranks that were corrected, as well as a single list that was removed during the calculation stage. This is included for transparency’s sake, just so y’all can see a bit under the hood.
-
Red cells are high ranks that are 2 standard deviations from the mean, as in the ranker was too high on a player strictly per standard deviation.
-
Blue cells are low ranks that are 2 standard deviations from the mean, as in the ranker was too low on a player strictly per standard deviation.
-
Yellow cells are high ranks that are 1 standard deviation from the mean but less than 2 standard deviations as well. These are not outliers and rankers didn’t have to account for them. I simply noted them in case there was an error.
-
Orange cells are low ranks that are 1 standard deviations from the mean but less than 2 standard deviations as well. These are not outliers and rankers didn’t have to account for them. I simply noted them in case there was an error.
CAN THE STANDARD DEVIATION METHOD BE IMPROVED UPON?
Yes, this is a real question we could use an answer on from the sub. r/NFL suggested to us a couple years ago to use standard deviation when trying to identify outliers. I believe the method works very well as you can see in the data above though I do think it has its flaws. This is largely due to how the ranking average is calculated.
You’ll notice a high number of players have standard deviations in the mid-20’s, or even 30’s, which makes identifying true outliers really difficult. A good example of that is Aaron Donald. He has been the best defensive player over the last decade and was still extremely good when on the field, but his playing time made him really hard to judge. Some people didn’t care about missing time due to injury and ranked him highly, other’s cared a lot and ranked him very low. Neither viewpoint is necessarily wrong, but it does make his standard deviation very high and using it to find outliers seems rather pointless. And he didn’t even have the biggest standard deviation!
For now, we’ll continue with the sheet review as done above. However, if anyone has a way to improve how we identify outliers without ranking out all players to 200+ let me know! I know this is basically a copy/paste from the question we posed last year, but we’re always looking for ways to improving the list and this is one of the bigger things that could be improved
Breakdowns
Divisions Combined
| Division | Total | Division | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| NFC North | 9 | AFC North | 12 |
| NFC East | 20 | AFC East | 15 |
| NFC South | 8 | AFC South | 7 |
| NFC West | 15 | AFC West | 14 |
| TOTAL NFC | 52 | TOTAL AFC | 48 |
By Team
| NFC Team | Total | AFC Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 11 | Dolphins | 6 |
| 49ers | 8 | Chiefs | 5 |
| Vikings | 4 | Bills | 4 |
| Lions | 3 | Chargers | 4 |
| Cowboys | 3 | Steelers | 3 |
| Commanders | 3 | Ravens | 3 |
| Giants | 3 | Bengals | 3 |
| Buccaneers | 3 | Browns | 3 |
| Rams | 3 | Jets | 3 |
| Seahawks | 3 | Titans | 3 |
| Packers | 2 | Raiders | 3 |
| Saints | 2 | Patriots | 2 |
| Panthers | 2 | Colts | 2 |
| Falcons | 1 | Broncos | 2 |
| Cardinals | 1 | Texans | 1 |
| Bears | 0 | Jaguars | 1 |
Positions (+/- from Last Year):
| EDGE | IDL | LB | CB | S | Total Defense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 (-1) | 11 (+2) | 7 (-1) | 10 (-2) | 8 (0) | 48 |
| QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | OG | C | Total Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 (+1) | 6 (+1) | 14 (+1) | 3 (0) | 9 (+1) | 6 (-1) | 4 (-1) | 52 |
Thoughts / Recap
I just wanted to take a moment and give my own thoughts on the changes and recap this year's version of the r/NFL Top 100 since I largely tend to stay out of the conversation.
1). u/mattkud and I are extremely thankful that you guys have stuck around this long to read the list! I may have been the more public face here on r/nfl by posting all the threads, but kud was crucial behind the scenes creating the various spreadsheets and virtual infrastructure needed to organize everything. I want to stress this was not a one man show, but a team effort. The rankers put out a fine list this year and were (mostly) well-behaved in the comments section.
2). For the last couple of years we’ve instituted a minimum games threshold to the list. This year it was 11 games, which was a rise from 10 games on our 2021 list but more in line with our 10 game threshold in a 16 game season in 2020. This meant that guys like TJ Watt and DJ Reader were left off the list before the process could even start. We got a fair amount of comments about the games requirement wondering why guys like Watt weren’t showing up here. And I don’t want to single out Watt here as being especially problematic, even if we reverted the games threshold to 10 games, then guys like Cooper Kupp and Rashan Gary would be left out of it, and these guys very well could be seen as worthy of being on the list. As of right now we give the rankers a fair amount of leeway with how they want to take injuries into account, some (rightfully) don’t care about missed time and grade the players simply on the quality of whatever snaps they had, while others (rightfully) penalize players for missed time, because after all availability is the best ability. This means that players that did hit the minimum games but still missed significant time like Aaron Donald and Jordan Poyer have very large standard deviations. I’m not sure this is even really an issue because everything eventually averages out, but I felt like the missed games thing was especially apparent this year. This is after all a community driven list so I do want to ask, is this something that you think should be re-evaluated? Is an 11 game minimum threshold too strict? Is it too lax? Should we use snaps instead of games? Should there be a limit at all? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? I wonder what you guys think about that
As always, we cannot thank enough the showrunners who came before us, u/MikeTysonChicken , u/Mister_Jay_Peg , u/skepticismissurvival , and u/Staple_Overload . These guys have made kud and I’s jobs a lot easier by providing the foundation that we used to build the ranking process. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, all we’ve had to do is copy and reformat the existing spreadsheets in order to fit the current year. It’s been a joy to run the r/NFL Top 100 list this year (for the most part) and I personally cannot wait to run it back next year
Closing
The book is now closed on the r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season. If you want to look back at any of the releases, the Hub Post should have you covered
Keep a lookout for the Call for Rankers sometime around the Super Bowl if you would like to join next year.
]Bleacher Report] "Ben's my guy. I got big confidence, big faith in my boy this year." Mikal Bridges talks Ben Simmons' upcoming return and being a support system for him 💯 (via @PodcastPShow )
Ben Simmons is an outstanding talent with arguably a unique game. If Bridges has confidence in him that is good enough for me. I hope it works out well for them. Except when they play the Pelicans.
Source: https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1683846676425891841
Lunes, Hulyo 24, 2023
[Yates] The MRI on Lions S C.J. Gardner-Johnson revealed no structural damage to his knee and he is considered day-to-day at this time, I’m told. Great news for a huge part of Detroit’s reshaped secondary after Gardner-Johnson left practice earlier today.
https://twitter.com/fieldyates/status/1683523272946733056?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
NBA's highest yearly salary is Curry at $48 million. Mbappe just got offered $775 million yearly salary to play in Saudi Arabia.
Do you think if Saudi Arabia decided to invest in basketball, they would be able to attract talent over there, with these kinds of numbers?
[Pelissero] There is optimism that #Lions DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson's knee injury is not serious, per sources. More tests to come after CJGJ went down in practice today, but as one source put it: “He’s fine.”
https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1683502830651359232
In 2017, The Clippers employees wore this iconic t-shirt before trading blake griffin to Detroit Pistons
https://twitter.com/MarcJSpears/status/881202410907029504
I dont know whats crazier, putting the griffin alongside this people or clippers deciding to ship him to detroit after wearing making their employees were this.
[Pelissero] Raiders RB Josh Jacobs, who hasn’t signed his franchise tender, was spotted this morning boarding a flight leaving Las Vegas. Jacobs won’t report for training camp Tuesday and has told people close to him that he doesn’t plan to return anytime soon.
https://twitter.com/tompelissero/status/1683468701998235649?s=46&t=PhzHJyC8WgcP0j5UW0OE9A
Linggo, Hulyo 23, 2023
[Woodyard] Jared Goff: “That so-called 'hype train,' I think it's funny to me that, like, you go 9-8, you don't make the playoffs, and now you're all of a sudden the favorite. Of course, we've got good players, we've got good coaches, we've got a good team, but we haven't done anything.”
https://twitter.com/e_woodyard/status/1683134245483560960?s=46&t=IX8yKIxZkEL6TendVkcZZQ
Joel Embiid parties with several teammates at his wedding, James Harden nowhere to be found
Embiid got married to his longtime girlfriend, Sports Illustrated model Anna de Paula on Saturday.
Following the ceremony, a picture surfaced of Embiid with several Sixers teammates.
Sixers GM Daryl Morey was present at the wedding.
Rumor is that James Harden skipped Embiid's wedding to eat burgers and go clubbing.
[Ari Meirov] HC Andy Reid said WR Kadarius Toney "tweaked" his knee during a special teams drill today and did not participate in the rest of practice.
https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1683139793155158017
FIBA are currently using a glass floor with LED’s, making a dynamic court that can react to plays.
Glass floors with LED’s have been around for a while, mainly being used at sports venues that are multi use and need to change sport to sport, however, I’ve never seen a floor like this used in elite level competition.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvCn2RjN5L2/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Dan Campbell on hype around Lions: "I think as always, the thing that's gonna worry you is the hype train. This thing is just taking off and it's out of control right now and that's fine, as long as we stay focused on the job at hand and the work. We've got to put the work in and earn it."
https://ift.tt/NRSaqMo
Sabado, Hulyo 22, 2023
Harden will probably lose $100M because he demanded trade out of Brooklyn
Harden in Brooklyn:
- Harden was expected to re-sign with the Nets after the 2021 season.
- Nets would've given him his max in 2022 to keep the Durant-Harden duo together
Harden in Philadelphia:
- Took a massive pay cut on a cheap 1-year deal (plus player option) so the Sixers can add P.J. Tucker
- After the season, no team wants Harden at the max. He is forced to opt into the 2nd season of his cheap contract, which was never part of the plan.
- Next season Harden will re-enter free agency at Age 35.
- Realistic contract for a 35-yr old Harden will have a starting salary of $33M next season.
| Season | Rejected Nets Contract | Actual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | $47.4M | $33.0M |
| 2023-24 | $51.0M | $35.6M |
| 2024-25 | $54.9M | $33.0M (projected) |
| 2025-26 | $58.8M | $35.6M (projected) |
| 2026-27 | $63.3M | $38.2M (projected) |
| 5-year total: | $275.4M | $175.4M |
I think I'm being overly kind to Harden here, projecting he'll get a $33M salary as a 35-yr old free agent next season. That extrapolates to $148M on a 4-year contract, which I think is way too optimistic. He has been declining for several years, and teams are going to be wary of how he'll perform in his late 30s.
Who was considered the GOAT before Montana and Brady?
We all know the heated debates surrounding who the true GOAT of football is, with Joe Montana and Tom Brady often taking center stage. But here's the thing – before Brady claimed his throne, Montana was undeniably considered the greatest of all time. Now, my question to all of you NFL historians: Who held the consensus GOAT title before the Montana era?
Lebron James may have been conceived the night Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke the NBA scoring record in 1984.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA scoring record on April 5, 1984. LeBron James was born on December 30, 1984, roughly 9 months after Kareem broke the record.
All this really boils down to is that the NBA’s next all-time leader in scoring was conceived the night Lebron broke Kareem’s record on February 7, and will be born around early November of this year.
Biyernes, Hulyo 21, 2023
[Schefter] A RB deal: Veteran free-agent Melvin Gordon reached agreement today on a one-year deal worth up to $3.1 million with the Baltimore Ravens, per league source.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1682431110582611968?s=46&t=x5-NzdOmzxVdg9621hs9Tw
[First Take] They make Morey out to be the smartest GM. He's never taken a team to a NBA Finals. He builds his team around Harden and they've never won... The next time Harden's in the Finals wake me up. The next time Morey's in the Finals I'll be dead. Both [Morey & Harden] are so overrated.
https://ift.tt/oSAmkMj
[Wojnarowski] Free agent G Wesley Matthews has agreed on a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, sources tell ESPN. Matthews, 36, joins the Hawks after two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1682390872363597827
Huwebes, Hulyo 20, 2023
Most 10, 15, 20…. 60 point playoff games all time.
10 Pt Games: LeBron James (280)
15 Pt Games: LeBron James (275)
20 Pt Games: LeBron James (252)
25 Pt Games: LeBron James (190)
30 Pt Games: LeBron James (120)
35 Pt Games: Michael Jordan (75)
40 Pt Games: Michael Jordan (38)
45 Pt Games: Michael Jordan (23)
50 Pt Games: Michael Jordan (8)
55 Pt Games: Michael Jordan (5)
60 Pt Games: Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor (1)
r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season - #5-1
Welcome to the 5-1 Rankings for the r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season!
Link to Previous Post (10-6)
Players whose average rank landed them in places 5-1 are on this portion of the list revealed today. Players are associated with the team they finished playing for at the end of the 2022 season
Below you will see some write-ups from the rankers summarizing the players’ 2022 season and why they were among the best in 2022. Additionally, their ranks from previous years are available for y’all to see
METHODOLOGY
Link to more detailed writeup on our methodology
-
Step 1: A Call to Rankers right after the Conference Championship games
-
Step 2: Rankers from each team nominated players to rank, with a 11 game minimum threshold. Players are associated with the team they played for in 2022
-
Step 3: The Grind. We instructed users to tier positions groups into T25, T50, etc based on 2022 regular season play only. This took several weeks as the rankers tiered each position group and discussed them. There were no individual player threads and no arbitrary position caps. Just questions and rankings.
-
Step 4: Users submitted their own personal Top 125 lists.
-
Step 5: User lists were reviewed by myself, u/mattkud , and u/MikeTysonChicken . The rankers were expected to answer questions about their lists. They were allowed to make any changes to their list, and were not forced to make any changes
-
Step 6: The Reveal… where we are now!
And without further ado, here are the Top 5 players in the r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season!
#5 - Jalen Hurts - Philadelphia Eagles - Quarterback
Previous Ranks
| 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|
| N/A | N/A |
Key Stat:
Converted 82% of first downs on running plays from 1 or 2 yards to go, the highest out of any player in the league with 25 or more attempts
Written by: u/wrhslax1996
Introduction
If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be sitting here in July 2023 putting together a r/NFL Top 100 top-10 write-up for Jalen Hurts, I would have probably laughed in your face and told you to stop being an idiot. That’s not to say that I didn’t like Hurts last summer, I definitely did and I wanted him to be “the guy” more than anything. I just saw what he did in 2021 and, while it definitely was not bad QB play, it was not enough for me to totally buy-in. Then the 2022 season happened and 4,461 yards, 35 TDs, and only 8 turnovers later, I think it’s safe to call me an absolute moron for doubting the ever-improving Jalen Hurts. This is a man who was benched for the younger and, at the time, hotter young QB on the biggest stage. While many would have quit (or at the very least publicly showed some serious damage to their pride and confidence), he persevered and took his talents to a team that would continue to nurture his still-progressing abilities as a Quarterback. When he slipped into the 2nd round of the NFL draft, he did not bat an eye and took it upon himself to work hard and continue improving, eventually supplanting Carson Wentz as the starter of the Philadelphia Eagles. When the 2021 season ended on a sour note, with Jalen and the team playing a really ugly game against the Tampa Bay Bucs in the playoffs, Hurts buckled down and, yet again, worked his ass off to come back stronger, faster, and better in 2022. This dude just refuses to stagnate and is, clearly, never complacent. He strives for greatness when things are going well and he strives for greatness when he is beaten down and that, in my opinion, is the most admirable quality a football player can have. I am immensely stoked to have him as the Quarterback of my favorite team and I’m unbelievably excited to be tasked with this write-up. With all that being said, let’s get into the fun.
2022 Season
Jalen Hurts was an absolute menace for opposing defenses throughout 2022. He took massive steps forward as a passer while continuing his dominance as a rusher. We’ll start with the rushing because, as expected, Hurts continued his ability to put folks in an absolute blender throughout the season. We’ll start with this clip right here for a couple of reasons. Nate Tice included a couple different clips, but I want to draw your attention to the first one where the Eagles are running G-T counter-read. On the snap, Mailata and Dickerson pull through and Hurts has his eyes downfield reading the defense. He sees the backside EDGE stay home to stuff Miles Sanders so he elects to keep the ball and follows his blockers perfectly. There’s nothing super fancy about this play but it does show how teams have to respect a lot of different things on any given play the Eagles run. The EDGE has to respect the handoff, the linebackers have to respect the players possibly going on routes, and that frees things up for Hurts to do what he does here. On any given play, defenses have to defend the possibility of handoff, QB run, or pass which is always going to leave something open for the taking. Running an offense like that isn’t really doable without a player like Hurts at the helm. One thing I really want to highlight in this section is how strong Hurts is as a runner. While, as a fan, I wouldn’t say no to seeing him slide a little more in order to preserve his longevity, it’s really hard to complain when your QB is doing stuff like this. He reads the outside EDGE well, in this case, noting that he moves upfield to trail the RB. Hurts keeps the ball, but the Vikings still have 3 defenders over 2 blockers on the right. He initially wants to take his run outside but sees the safety crashing down and, knowing that he probably doesn’t have the straight-line speed to make that corner, Hurts stops on a dime and immediately cuts it upfield. By that point, although he’s turned it into a positive play, the LB has disengaged from the pile of humans clogging the middle of the field and should, by all means, be able to shut down the play. But Hurts, who squats 600 lbs or some shit, just keeps churning his legs and fights through multiple Vikings to score a TD. That’s a QB who is just built different. The last rush I really want to show you is this one against the Vikings. The Eagles are running an RPO here and Hurts keeps the ball and ends up taking it himself down the right sideline. He gets a comfortable first down and carries it down to about the 15 yard line. He looks bottled up with 4 defenders and only 2 blockers in the vicinity. He fights through every single person down there, breaking three tackles and scoring even though he was wrapped up two separate times between the 10 and 5 yard lines. That is just ridiculous strength.
As a passer Hurts was really good in 2022. He established himself as one of the best throwers of the go ball in the NFL last year. He did this against the Bears with a sprained shoulder! That’s a ridiculous throw with insane touch right into AJ Brown's arms without making him break stride. Here’s another one vs the Giants where he leads Devonta Smith perfectly to score a huge TD. Now, I won’t lie, this is a slightly dangerous ball with a single-high safety drifting towards that side of the field, but the throw itself is immaculate especially with significant pressure bearing down on him from both the blindside EDGE and up the middle. It also exemplifies an area where Hurts took huge strides in 2022 - staying strong in the pocket and using his arm to just deliver death blows. In 2021 he would have bailed from that pocket immediately and, while it probably would’ve ended up a positive play, I don’t think it would’ve been a TD. In 2022, he stays tough, steps up into limited space, absorbs a pretty big hit, and throws a really nice ball. Speaking of staying in the pocket and delivering strikes in the face of significant pressure, here’s a 3rd down conversion to Quez Watkins. He has a free rusher in his face almost immediately but he delivers a clutch throw on the money to convert and live another down. He was genuinely stone cold last year. The last part of the passing game I really want to touch on here is his anticipation and touch. Here’s another 3rd down conversion against the Giants where he throws with some really impressive anticipation to Devonta Smith. That ball is out well before Smith completes his break but Hurts knows where the ball needs to go, where Smith will be, and where the opposing defender cannot reach and delivers a perfect strike. I’ll include this play against the Commanders to show the level of touch and precision he can put on a ball. He has the utmost faith in his WRs and that shows here, as he puts a beautiful ball right where only Devonta Smith can make a play on it. That is not something I saw a ton in 2021 but saw it very often last year and it impressed me greatly. Here’s a play from the Super Bowl where Hurts uncorks a literally perfect ball to Dallas Goedert who makes an insane catch. Hurts throwing to the sidelines is an absolute thing of beauty and, while playoffs are not taken into account for ranking purposes, I could not resist putting this clip in there. I mean just watch it. Hurts layers that ball between two defenders, both of which either have a PBU or an INT if that ball is anything but perfect. That’s a big time throw from a guy who was pretty green only a year ago. I’ll close out this section with two more clips. This is just an insane play on a scramble drill and I want to highlight his ability to get outside, let his defenders work towards the boundaries, flip his hips, and put the ball where only his guys have a chance of getting it. That’s just stellar improvisation. This clip is much of the same.
Legacy
Hurts legacy moving forward is still largely unknown. He has improved every single year since he was in college and last year he was just so close to winning it all. While I doubted him last year, I will never do so again. He has proven me and everyone wrong each and every year while continuing to improve and hone his craft. Knowing who he is as a competitor, he will stop at nothing until he wins one (or multiple) Superbowl(s). In his second year as an established starter, he earned his first pro-bowl bid and Second-Team All Pro honors. The sky is the absolute limit for this guy and, with a new contract and a lot of money now in his pocket I have no doubt that he’s ready to buckle down and keep winning. Congrats to Jalen Hurts on earning his spot in the r/NFL Top 10 players of the 2022 season.
#4 - Travis Kelce - Kansas City Chiefs - Tight End
Previous Ranks
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 7 | 15 | 13 | 31 | 28 | N/A | 83 | N/A |
Key Stat:
3rd season with 1300 receiving yards, no other tight end in NFL history has multiple such seasons
Written by: u/TheUltimate721
INTRODUCTION:
NEW NEWS! Another Kelce Brother is in the top 100, and Travis comes into our top ten after yet another dominant season. In celebration of his upcoming tenth season, let's give a brief recap of his career so far.
Travis was drafted with the 63rd overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft, Andy Reid's first season in Kansas City. He didn't play his rookie year, dealing with an injury, but he was mentored by the journeyman tight end Anthony Fasano. When Travis stepped onto the field for the first time in 2014, he immediately made an impact, leading the team in receiving yards at 862 with 5 touchdown catches. Travis found success again in the 2015 season, with 875 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns, but his hothead attitude would cause him problems on multiple occasions. Travis showed that he could be an elite player in 2016, where he amassed 1125 receiving yards and was named first team All-Pro. In 2018, transitioning from a run first offense with Alex Smith to a pass heavy one with Patrick Mahomes, he exploded yet again, amassing 1336 yards and 10 touchdowns (Which broke the record for single season receiving yards by a tight end, but it got broken again by George Kittle later on the same day). Needless to say he was integral in the Chiefs 2019 Super Bowl campaign and was even better in 2020, breaking that single season yardage record for tight ends again at 1416 yards, and even set a record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a Superbowl.
There was a lot of talk about the Chiefs in the 2022 offseason, everyone's eyes were on them again, but this time with a lot more skepticism. One particularly popular idea repeated by media personalities was that Tyreek Hill's absence would in theory free up more defenders to cover Travis Kelce, so he wouldn't have close to the level of production that he's had over the last several seasons.
THE 2022 SEASON:
Travis and the others took this sentiment personally, and refuted it early and often. Week 1 Travis started off with 121 receiving yards and a touchdown. He continued to cause nightmares for Lavonte David when he put up 92 yards and a touchdown against the Buccaneers when the Chiefs avenged the Superbowl 55 loss in Week 4. The next week he was integral in the comeback against the Radiers on Monday Night Football, catching 4 touchdown passes as a lethal weapon in the Red Zone. Against an underrated Titans defense, Travis was targeted 17 times as the Chiefs abandoned the run game in the most literal sense possible, netting 10 receptions and 106 yards.
Travis is a self described flanker. He's too big for the typical corner to handle, and too fast for a linebacker. An excellent mismatch for Andy Reid to exploit, but what makes him so special is that Travis plays the Tight End position with a quarterback's mentality. He's probably the smartest person on the field other than the guy throwing him the ball, because he knows exactly what every other player on the team is doing. The protection, the routes, the reads, the coverages... no other tight end knows every aspect of the play quite like he does, and because of this mentality Andy Reid gives him the ability to ad-lib his routes and assignments to choose what he thinks will be the most effective on a given play. The end result? Thousands of angry opposing team fans constantly screaming "How the hell is Travis Kelce so open on every play?"
For the longest time, Derwin James was considered one of the only players that can contain Travis Kelce, but even he was powerless to stop Travis from amassing 115 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. Jalen Ramsey was no match for Travis when the Chiefs beat the Rams. He played almost perfectly against Houston and Seattle, getting 105 and 113 receiving yards respectively between the two games.
All in all, Travis finished the 2022 season with 110 catches for 1338 yards and 12 touchdowns, career highs for receptions and touchdowns. Part of what makes this season so special for Travis though is that no other tight end even came close to being as effective as him. The next closest tight end (T.J. Hockenson) had 914 receiving yards on the season, over 400 yards less than Travis, and the second team all pro (Kittle) had fewer touchdowns and almost 600 fewer receiving yards. Overall 2022 was a down year for Tight Ends production wise... Except for Travis, who must be a vampire with how he seems to only be getting better as he gets older.
LEGACY:
Any debates regarding Travis Kelce's legacy at this point are going to include the words "greatest" in them. He's already a first ballot Hall of Famer whenever he retires, so where do you go after that? Greatest TE in Chiefs history? Greatest QB-Pass Catcher duo of all time? Greatest Tight End of all time? They're all pretty tough marks to beat but Travis has as good of a shot as anyone of getting them.
His 10,344 career receiving yards is currently fourth all time among tight ends. Where he's going to end up on that record depends on two things: 1) How long will he keep playing for and 2) Can he keep playing as dominant as he has been. If we were to assume that Travis plays until he's 37 years old (Which is how old Tony Gonzales was when he retired), and that he has roughly the same production he has for the last five years, so 4 more seasons averaging 1288 yards and 9.4 touchdowns, he would end up #1 for career receiving yards for tight ends with 15,496 receiving yards and #3 for receiving touchdowns with 106 (Antonio Gates has 116 and Tony G has 111).
That sounds pretty crazy for a 33+ year old Tight End to be doing, but he's already doing some pretty damn crazy stuff for tight ends. Travis has a streak of seven consecutive 1000 yard seasons currently going. No other tight end has ever had more than four total 1000 yard seasons, as well as the most 100 yard games of any tight end in NFL history at 35.
Regardless, Travis Kelce is one of the all time greats, and I for one, am going to enjoy watching his legendary connection with his quarterback while it lasts.
#3 - Justin Jefferson - Minnesota Vikings - Wide Receiver
Previous Ranks
| 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|
| 16 | 33 |
Key Stat:
39 of the Top 40 scrimmage yards leaders through their first 3 seasons are either running backs or fullbacks. 17th place Justin Jefferson is the only wideout
Written by: u/SoDakZak
Accolades
| Accolade | Total | Years |
|---|---|---|
| NFL Pro Bowl | 3 | 2020-22 |
| NFL AP OPOY | 1 | 2022 |
| AP All-Pro 1st Team | 1 | 2022 |
| AP All-Pro 2nd Team | 2 | 2020-21 |
| PFWA All-Rookie Team | 1 | 2020 |
| CFP Nat. Champion | 1 | 2019 |
Introduction
Justin Jefferson is known as JJ, but few know he’s actually JJJ (Justin Joshua Jefferson).
Born and raised in Destrehan, Louisiana he has a long way to go to be the most accomplished NFL player from this town with barely 10k people. Ed Reed hails from that town, and even sticking to receivers; JJ has his work cut out to catch the career stats of Joe Horn: 2 more Pro-Bowls to even pass “Receiver with most pro-bowls from Destrehan, Louisiana.” Heck, it’s almost debatable if he even has the most widely known TD celebration since Joe Horn is famous for this gem.
Sticking to this tiny town; it’s apparent in his young career that a phrase coined by Destrehan native Jim Mora are words to live by, as Justin Jefferson has yet to win a game in the postseason.
sad gjallarhorn noises
The 2022 Season
If you want the historical context to understand Vikings fans’ emotions and hype around Justin, Jon Bois will be releasing a 7-part mock documentary on the Vikings between now and football season. You’ll want to watch it, because inevitably it will bubble up to the JJettas era and how we came into and experienced this season for JJ. His first two seasons set an impossibly high bar. One that basically put him on a trajectory of… “hey kid, you better be better than every receiver except maybe Jerry Rice and Randy Moss.” So what does he do going into year 3??
He sets a personal goal for 2,000 yards receiving ….and then…?
…He almost did just that.
We had a JJ2k on r/MinnesotaVikings for Cris-sake.
Game 1: FTP with a 9 catch 184 yard and 2 TD performance. I was at this game and the only cheer that was louder than Justin turning this into a TD, was Christian Watson dropping this bomb. We really do hate the Packers more than we love the Vikings.
Game 2: Philly Slay-ed him.
Game 3: Detroit murdered him. This two game stretch seriously took the wind out of the JJ2k sails.
Game 4: 147 yards with a rushing TD in “Lahndahn” against the Saints ... .we think this is going to be the most incredibly close game this entire season.
oh, you sweet summer child…
Game 5: Da Bears (known for their defense) hold him to 154 yards.
Game 6, 7, 8: yawn. 320 yards a TD with three W’s. This was a weird stretch where he went 600 yards without a TD.
Game 9: Holy shit. JUSTHIM JEFFERDAD IS A GOD. Surely this is the most impressive comeback win for our season?!
Game 10: We need to stop playing the NFC East the week after our most iconic games as a franchise. This is one of 6 games where JJ didn’t hit 50 yards receiving. Anyone else actually surprised his total was so high when he had SIX games under 50 including two with 15 yards or less?!
Game 11: Ayy I’m Thankful for JJ and that Vikings fans get to remember him and Adam Thielen sharing a Turkey Leg after a win against some guy named William Beltcheck and the NommingLand Fat-riots.
Game 12: Jettas beats the Jets. JJ still gets a TD but only 45 yards.
Game 13: Justin had 223 yards, surely the Vikings won…. (Can we note that 223 yards is a LOT to have without crossing the goal line??)
Game 14: gg Indy, easy cakewalk win everyone expected over a first time head coach on a Saturday. 123 yards and a TD.
Game 15: 133 yards and his final TD of the season. We beat the Giants in our house. This should be a blueprint we can use the next time we play ‘em.
Game 16:
JJ: “When Lambo?”
Kwesi: “Lambo when Lambeau Win”
JJ: one catch, 15 yard sad noises
Game 17: You know, this was the game where I knew how good JJ was… It should tell you a lot when you do the math and realize He only needs 229 yards against the Bears to hit 2,000! and people are actually thinking ”... .well, it IS Justin Freakin’ Jefferson, and it IS da 2023 Bears…” Alas, it was not meant to be & this completes the most milquetoast 1,800 yard receiving season I’ve seen the media cover.
Playoffs against the Giants: I’m contractually bound by these stupid list rules to mention this game.
“Justin had 47 yards receiving on 7 receptions and 9 targets none of which came on the last play of the game.”
exhales
There. Happy?
Final statline: 13-4 record.
184 targets, 128 receptions, 1809 receiving yards, 8 receiving TDs, a rushing TD and 24 rushing yards.
It was the 6th most receiving yards in a season.
Legacy
Let’s get down to business, to deplete, our funds…
Mulan was a woman disguising as a man for battle, Our logo is a man disguising as a woman for battle, and Justin Jefferson is a GOD disguising as an absolute DOG for battle.
The two main things he can improve on are scoring TDs to finish these plays/drives….and playoff success. Justin staying healthy for the foreseeable future puts him on a trajectory unlike any other. The fact that I can still say he is ahead of many of Jerry Rice’s career stats is incredible. I’ll enjoy it while I can, and you should too. We never know how long someone can be at the top of their game, but JJ is in a prime that would rival many of the best three year stretches in NFL history… and he’s doing it to start his career. (He is a full year younger than Jaden Smith, son of that G.I. Jane actress). JJ is so far ahead in “receiving yards in players first X seasons” that if he has 1,960 or more yards this year, he will officially be an entire season ahead of all receivers in NFL history. He only needs 688 to have the most in the first 4 seasons. He already has held the first three seasons.
I hear his latest future contract perk is just annexing Lake Minnetonka and the surrounding land into his portfolio.
JJ before turning 23 years 328 days old:
324 rec
4,825 yds
25 TDs
Rice before turning 23 years 328 days old:
49 rec
927 yds
3 TDs
I rest my case.
#2 - Nick Bosa - San Francisco 49ers - EDGE Rusher
Previous Ranks
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | N/A | 47 |
Key Stat:
Bosa leads the league in pressure rate since his rookie season in 2019
Written by: u/scmsf49
Nick Bosa entered the league with some of the highest expectations imaginable. Before he took a snap, the expectation was that he would be better than his brother, who had already established himself as an elite pass rusher. The league knew way before Bosa’s final season at Ohio State, in which he barely played before getting injured and electing to focus on the draft, that he was going high, probably #1. The 49ers didn’t figure to be in that mix, but an early season injury to Jimmy Garoppolo and some strength of schedule luck sent the 49ers to the #2 slot in the draft and one shocking segment of events involving the #1 pick later, Bosa was there for the pickings. San Francisco went 13-3 in Bosa’s rookie season, with the defense jumping from 28th to 8th and Bosa collecting his first award, defensive rookie of the year. His sophomore season was taken from him by turf, but he made it clear immediately in year three that there were no lingering effects from that ACL injury. Following a 15.5 sack season in 2021 that saw him inexplicably snubbed for all pro honors, Bosa made it absolutely impossible to deny him again, leading the league in sacks, QB hits (the top 3 players last season had 48, 36, and 29), and pressures (T-1), winning Defensive Player of the Year with 46 of 50 votes and finishing 6th in MVP voting. Those pre-draft expectations have been met or exceeded, and now there are new expectations. Now, Bosa is expected to maintain this level of play and live up to an imminent contract that will almost certainly make him the highest paid defender in NFL history.
Nick Bosa was the best pass rusher in the league this year, but an overlooked part of his game is his sure tackling and incredible run defense. He missed 0 tackles on run plays this season (and only 2 on passes per PFF or 1 per PFR). He has PFF’s highest tackle grade among edge rushers and third highest run defense grade. This is the section where you’d talk about something he can still improve on, but there really isn’t a weak aspect to Bosa’s game currently (one could argue penalties but the validity of some of those roughing calls is a separate discussion). Bosa may have future seasons with more sacks than this, and he certainly hopes so as he’s openly shooting for the team record he narrowly missed this season and probably privately shooting for the league record, but it’s difficult to foresee him with a season that feels ‘better’ than this one. The chase is over, now he aims to protect the crown.
One of the more aesthetically pleasing weapons in Nick Bosa’s arsenal is his stunt/hesitation.
Two standout examples of this came against the Rams and against the Dolphins. These are the sort of sacks where opposing fans are furiously asking how you forget to block Nick Bosa, but Nick is doing work here to get himself to the QB. This is something he’ll likely be able to do even more going forward as he’s doubled teamed less following the offseason additions of Javon Hargrave and a more aggressive play caller in Steve Wilks. One of the few highlights from the early season game against the champs was Bosa running straight through the right tackle to sack the MVP. As an equal opportunist, here’s him doing that again against a left tackle to sack Geno Smith.
San Francisco wasn’t involved in many one possession games this season, but there were still a few late game opportunities for Bosa to step up in the clutch. His most timely plays this season came against the Saints on 4th and goal to effectively end the game, and against the Dolphins, with a strip sack resulting in a Dre Greenlaw touchdown to put the game completely out of reach with 2 minutes left.
Looking ahead to the 2023 season, the 49ers are fielding the best defensive line since their Super Bowl appearance with the potential to be better if a few things go right. Nick Bosa and longest tenured 49er Arik Armstead return to the unit, while massive (in both stature and impact) acquisition Javon Hargrave enters the fold along with the essentially redshirted 2022 2nd rounder Drake Jackson. A number of depth players return along with an interesting addition in Clelin Ferrell, who hopes to be the next defensive lineman to parlay a strong season in San Francisco into a payday elsewhere. Health permitting, Bosa will again contend for DPOY, as he should for the foreseeable future, but anyone on the team will tell you that individual success and awards pale in comparison to the pursuit of a championship. This group has gotten close in 3 of the last 4 seasons, and the clock is ticking for various players (though not Bosa, he’s 25), whether due to age or future cap constraints. The time to win is now and that hinges on superstars like Nick Bosa playing at this level.
#1 - Patrick Mahomes - Kansas City Chiefs - Quarterback
Previous Ranks
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 3 | 7 | 2 | N/A |
Key Stat:
Joins Joe Montana and Tom Brady as the only players with multiple MVPs and multiple Super Bowl MVPs
Written by: u/TheUltimate721
Introduction:
Chances are you knew he was going to be here before we even started this thing, and here he is. Patrick Mahomes takes the top spot on our list.
Back before he was the face of Football, Patrick Mahomes declared for the 2017 NFL draft after an impressive 2016 campaign with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, leading the country with 5052 yards passing and scoring 41 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. His arm talent and off platform throws dazzled scouts, but media analysts questioned his NFL readiness coming out of an air raid system, and simply despised his footwork. He was projected by most media analysts as a day 2 pick, perhaps a late first rounder if teams were high on him.
Very few people predicted that the notoriously conservative Chiefs organization, whose last first round QB was in 1983 (Back when Tom Cruise was a devout catholic, Return of the Jedi "ended" the Star Wars saga, and a faulty missile detection system in the USSR nearly caused armageddon), would trade up 17 spots in the first round to pick the gunslinger from Tyler, Texas. The trade was heavily scrutinized by the media, with personalities questioning why you would trade multiple first round picks for a developmental player, as well as complaining about his 13-19 record as a starter in college (As if that was his fault and not the fault of Tech's nonexistent defense). But Chiefs Kingdom was generally pretty excited, since KU/K-State fans here are no strangers to Big 12 Football and knew that Mahomes was a ball of talent, and with a playoff caliber roster already, the future of the Chiefs looked pretty exciting.
You know the rest, he sat for a year underneath veteran QB Alex Smith before taking the reins in 2018, exploding onto the scene with 5097 yards passing and 50 touchdowns a first team all pro and MVP. He broke a curse of nearly 25 years without a home playoff win for the Chiefs franchise, and brought the team to its first AFC Championship since 1994, the next year overcoming double digit leads in every single playoff game in 2019 en route to Kansas City's first Superbowl in 50 years, but despite having the franchise's best record in team history in 2020, they failed to run it back as Tom Brady continued to haunt our dreams.
2021 was a "down-year" for him as he threw for 37 touchdowns and 4800 yards, but what people remember more was that the Chiefs were upstaged by the Bengals in the regular season, and yet again in the AFC Championship, leading some to wonder whether the Chiefs time in the limelight was over. Only adding to the doubt coming into the 2022 season was the trade of Tyreek Hill. Hill is a top ten player in his own right, and it was only natural to think that the Chiefs might struggle without one of their top weapons. But Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid had other plans...
The 2022 Season:
Mahomes took this doubt rather personally, and responded by decimating the Arizona Cardinals, going 30-39 for 360 yards and 5 touchdowns in Week 1. Losing the best deep threat in the league had its impact on the Chiefs, as they threw less deep balls than ever before, but that's not to say that the Chiefs didn't have a deep passing game, far from it (I mean how the heck do you throw with that much strength and accuracy with just a flick of your wrist), the emphasis of the offense just turned away from the deep passing game and instead to shorter throws outside the numbers. Less of a "Go for the kill-shot" approach and more of a "Death by a thousand cuts" approach. Oh and by the way he's still making dazzling throws from off-platform. Losing Hill forced Mahomes to become a much more efficient distributor of the football, and if you want to get an idea of just how dominant he is just head over to the r/TopRightMahomes subreddit and get a look at every single category he leads the league in, spoiler alert there's a lot.
I think Patrick probably found it very cathartic carving up Todd Bowles defense and adding another 3 touchdowns to his total including this play that makes you go "That's just ridiculous." The next week against the Raiders he found himself struggling against the Raiders front 4 down 17-0, but Maxx Crosby woke up the wrong motherf---er and Patrick connected with Travis Kelce for four touchdowns to get the comeback win.
After a narrow loss against the Bills at home, struggles were predicted against San Francisco, who held the #1 ranked defense, but after spotting them a 10 point lead, Mahomes and the Chiefs offense came to life, and simply dismantled the 49ers defense. Patrick had the highest EPA/Play against a #1 ranked defense since EPA started being recorded.
Down 4 with 1:43 left in the game at Chargers, we've seen this movie before. Did anyone seriously doubt that Patrick Mahomes was going to lead his guys down the field for a score? At this point we're just expecting stuff like this to happen.
Patrick put it all on the line against the Bengals, but an unfortunate fumble cost them late. To recover, he decided to dismantle the Broncos offense with plays like this and this before gifting Denver 3 picks, just gifting them hope so he can tear their hearts out yet again. He may not have lit up the scoreboard in the Christmas Eve game against the Seahawks, but he made a series of great plays to secure the win. They finished off the season by literally running circles around the Raiders, securing the 14th win of the season and the #1 seed in the AFC.
All in all Patrick Mahomes led the NFL in touchdowns with 41, passing yards with 5250, finished #2 in passer rating. For his efforts he was awarded with another first team all-pro, and also came in with the top spot on our list. All well deserved.
LEGACY:
Year 5 is in the books for Patrick Mahomes now, and it's not a stretch to say he's had the best first five years of anyone in NFL history. The only other player with an argument is the GOAT himself, Tom Brady, but Tom had 3 Superbowls and no league MVPs, while Patrick had 2 Superbowls and 2 league MVPs.
It's unheard of to cement yourself as a future Hall of Famer this early in your career, but Patrick is doing exactly that. He's joined an exclusive club of guys who've won multiple league MVPs and Super Bowl MVPs, the other two members being Tom Brady and Joe Montana. He's overtaken Aaron Rodgers for the career passer rating record, and he could break Lenny The Cool's Chiefs career records to become the Chiefs all time leader in passing yards and touchdowns just next year.
Whenever he does decide to hang it up, he's going to be discussed as one of the best to ever do it, one of those QBs they write children's books about like Tom, Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino. And after decades of mediocre-to-bad QB play those of us in Chiefs Kingdom could not be more grateful, and by god have we been blessed with a guy who has the potential to go down as one of the best to ever do it.
All-in-all, every time Patrick Mahomes steps on to the field, you're going to be entertained. Whether it's the dazzling highlights, the spectacular comebacks, the trash talk, whatever it is... he's become the face of the sport, and someone that's being recognized on an international level. And I, for one, am going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
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