2022-3 NFL Pro Football (Pls, no other sports - thx!)

Former Texans QB Ryan Fitzpatrick Retires After 17 Seasons
SB Nation Jun 2, 2022

After 17 years in the NFL, journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has retired, according to his former teammate Fred Jackson.

Fitzpatrick played for nine teams during his 17-year NFL career. He played for the St. Louis Rams (2005-06), Cincinnati Bengals (2007-08), Buffalo Bills (2009-12), Tennessee Titans (2013), Houston Texans (2014), New York Jets (2015-16), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2017-18), Miami Dolphins (2019-20) and the Washington Football Team (2021).

Fitzpatrick spent the 2014 season with the Texans, the first season of the Bill O’Brien era in Houston. In 12 games for the Texans, Fitzpatrick threw for 2,438 yards and 17 touchdowns against eight interceptions. He also ran for 184 yards and two scores.

Fitzpatrick also still holds the franchise record for touchdowns thrown in a single game with six. He accomplished the feat in Week 12 against the Tennessee Titans after being benched for two weeks in favor of Ryan Mallett.
 

Silver Minings: Derek Carr, Davante Adams and Maxx Crosby named Raiders best players
PFF weighs in on Las Vegas’ roster
SB Nation SilverAndBlackPride by Matt Holder May 28, 2022

It’s always been difficult to determine who the Las Vegas Raiders’ three best players are, but for different reasons. For the majority of the 2000s and 2010s, it was hard to find a trio that was truly worth that distinction. However, there’s been a lot more competition at the top in more recent years, and the list has been more respectable. And the top three heading into this season are the best they’ve been in a long time.

Pro Football Focus’ Ben Linsey recently named each team’s three best players and for the Silver and Black, listed starting quarterback Derek Carr, recently acquired wide receiver Davante Adams and Pro Bowl edge defender Maxx Crosby.

Adams will once again be catching passes from Carr, who will attempt to recreate the same magic that Aaron Rodgers and Adams had over the last few seasons. This offense desperately needed a player who could win consistently on the outside. Carr ranked first in PFF passing grade on throws between the numbers in 2021 compared to 22nd on throws outside the numbers.

Crosby had his full-fledged breakout in 2021. Following two consecutive seasons with sub-70.0 PFF pass-rushing to begin his career, Crosby earned a 91.9 pass-rushing grade in 2021 to go along with a league-high 101 pressures.

Also considered were LT Kolton Miller, TE Darren Waller and Edge Chandler Jones.

It’s hard to argue too much with Linsey’s Top 3, though some may want to swap out Carr or Crosby for Waller. However, excluding Hunter Renfrow from the “also considered” and conceivably the Raiders’ Top 6 could raise some eyebrows. Many would likely put the slot receiver ahead of Jones or Miller, though it certainly could be up for debate.

That being said, it’s pretty cool to see Miller get some recognition. He often gets left out of a lot of the “best of” conversations, despite finishing 2022 as PFF’s fifth-highest graded tackle (85.0 overall).

Regardless, having too many top-tier players is a pretty good problem to have.
 
Barnwell: Giants had one of NFL’s best offseasons
After multiple questionable seasons under the fomer GM, Joe Schoen looks like he has the team headed in the right direction.
SB Nation by MichaelParra Jun 3, 2022

New GM Joe Schoen had his work cut out for him during the offseason to get the New York Giants steered into a new direction. Schoen inherited a situation where the team was pressed up against the cap and starved for upgrades all over the roster. According to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, Schoen had an excellent first offseason. Barnwell placed the Giants No. 6 in his ranking of the NFL’s best offseasons.

Barnwell applauded the route Schoen took to address critical areas of the team during free agency. Bringing in Mark Glowinski, Jon Feliciano, and Max Garcia to help rebuild an offensive line that had severe depth issues a season ago. There was also positive reception for bringing in Tyrod Taylor to back up oft-injured Daniel Jones.

As for the draft, Barnwell applauded the team for finally focusing on positional value. After years of former GM Dave Gettleman’s ignoring value and spending premium draft capital on less important positions, Schoen nailed the value chart. Coming away with pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux at No. 5 and offensive tackle Evan Neal at No. 7. Then trading down twice in the second round and utilizing another pick on another premium position to select wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson.

Barnwell pointed out that while the Giants had a good offseason there was still room for improvement. Getting nothing in return for cornerback James Bradberry is something Barnwell was particularly critical of. Barnwell was also critical of the player the Giants ended up coming away with in the second round. “Robinson plays a critical position, but it was curious to see them add a player who was regarded as a mid-round selection and referred to as more of a gadget weapon when they already have one of those on the roster in Kadarius Toney. There were rumors they might be interested in trading Toney or Saquon Barkley, which would make life harder for Jones in a make-or-break season.”

Schoen said when they drafted Robinson that the Giants had a “clear vision” for how they wanted to use him. Throughout OTAs you can see the Giants developing a quick, short passing game in which Robinson should be moved around the formation and play a big role.

Barnwell makes an argument that the Giants could have moved in a different direction in regards to the draft. “Neal was profiled as a franchise left tackle prospect, but after Andrew Thomas took a step forward in his second season, Neal could end up playing right tackle instead. Teams need two great tackles in the modern NFL, but I wonder if the Giants could have drafted their pick of the class’ wideouts and then used the Robinson selection to address the offensive line.”

It’s hard, though to fault the Giants for taking a player at No. 7 who filled a position of need and was getting No. 1 overall consideration, then acquiring more assets and getting the guy they wanted in the second round.

What’s next? Barnwell says: “Without much cap space, the Giants are going to sign their draft class and try to make it to training camp without any serious injuries. There’s a chance they could trade someone such as Barkley or Leonard Williams, but those moves are more likely to happen during the season.”

Overall, Schoen and the Giants achieved a lot given the limited resources available. Being able to come away with foundational pieces on each side of the trenches while making inroads toward long-term cap health is a step in the right direction.
 

Rams make Aaron Donald highest paid non-QB in NFL history
LA will give Aaron Donald $65M in guaranteed money over the next two seasons
SB Nation Jun 6, 2022

The Los Angeles Rams have re-worked Aaron Donald’s contract, making him the highest paid non-QB in NFL history, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Donald will reportedly receive $65M in guaranteed money over the next two seasons, securing his return to the team after he contemplated retirement. The re-negotiated contract will allow Donald to retire in 2024 - and if he returns to the team he will earn a guaranteed $30M.

The star defensive tackle recently said via the “I am Athlete” podcast that he would be “at peace” if he and the Rams could not come to an agreement on a new contract, likely resulting in his retirement. Donald also noted during the podcast that the lure of winning another championship with Los Angeles was the biggest draw in him returning to the team:

But winning a Super Bowl, you get kind of a little addicted to it. I want to feel that again. I ain’t going to lie - that experience is like none other. If I was to play, it’s just to win another Super Bowl. But at the end of the day, it’s still a business and it (has) to make sense for me and my family.”

Winning the Super Bowl during the Super Bowl during the 2021 season was the last box Donald had to check on what is shaping up to be a historic career: 3-time AP Defensive Player of the Year, AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, 7-time First-team All Pro, 8-time Pro Bowl selection, NFL sacks leader (2018), Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Decade team (2010’s).

The reunited Donald and Rams will now attempt to accomplish a feat not met since 2005 - winning back-to-back world championships.

Aaron Donald since getting drafted in 2014:
—8x Pro Bowler
—7x All-Pro
—3x DPOY
—2014 DROY
—Super Bowl Champion
—Only 2 missed games in his career
—98 career sacks
 
The Walton-Penner group have entered into a purchase and sale agreement to acquire the Denver Broncos
SB Nation Jun 7, 2022

According to the Denver Broncos, they have entered into a purchase and sale agreement with the Walton-Penner group to acquire the Denver Broncos franchise.

According to 9NEWS Denver’s Mike Klis, the sale price for the Denver Broncos came in at a whopping $4.65 billion. This is a record-setting sale that was previously held by the Carolina Panthers who were sold for $2.2 billion back in 2018. Now, four years later, the Denver Broncos were sold for $2+ billion more.

The Walton-Penner group outbid the three other bidding groups that were led by Josh Harris, Jose E. Felciano, and Mat Ishbia. The Walton-Penner group showed how much they wanted the Broncos by upping their bid to $4.65 billion. The original projection for the team was closer to $4 or $4.5 billion.

Rob Walton is the eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton and the heir to the Walmart fortune. He served as the Chairman until 2015 when his son-in-law Greg Penner, who partnered with Walton in this sale, took over that role. Now both men will be the owners of the Denver Broncos, pending the NFL owners signing off on this sale, which is expected.
 
Ranking the Browns offseason moves
The uncertainty surrounding quarterback Deshaun Watson clouds everything, but how well did Cleveland do this offseason?
SB Nation Dawgs By Nature by Thomas Moore May 17, 2022


Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry had a busy offseason as he worked to rebuild a roster that finished a disappointing 8-9 last season. The biggest additions came on offense via trade as the Browns acquired quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans and wide receiver Amari Cooper from the Dallas Cowboys.

Free agency was more about filling some roster holes with serviceable players as opposed to making a “big splash,” with the most noteworthy signing probably being return specialist Jakeem Grant Sr.

The NFL Draft was a bit muted without a first-round selection, but Berry still was able to find two players that should see considerable playing time this fall in wide receiver David Bell and cornerback Martin Emerson Jr., took a shot at fixing the kicking game with Cade York, and added a pair of intriguing prospects in defensive end Alex Wright and defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey.

All is not perfect, of course, as the uncertainty about Watson’s availability will hang over the team until there is a resolution to the civil lawsuits filed by 22 women who have accused him of inappropriate behavior and sexual assault. And Berry has not fully fixed the defensive end position opposite Myles Garrett, although an eventual return by Jadeveon Clowney would check that box.

It is those last two issues - primarily the one with Watson - that appear to have influenced how the NFL media has viewed the work the Berry has done, with the grades and/or rankings pushing the Browns down a bit further than one might expect. With that in mind, let’s take a quick run through a few prominent sites and see what they think about the Browns.

Pro Football Focus: Offseason Grade: B+
Free Agency Grade: Above Average
Draft Grade: B
Obviously, the biggest move Cleveland made was acquiring Deshaun Watson at quarterback. Leaving the moral discussion on that subject for another article on another day, if Watson plays all season this year, he is a big enough upgrade over even a healthy Baker Mayfield to immediately propel this team back among the contenders.

In addition to that, they also addressed the biggest weakness on the team by trading for receiver Amari Cooper. The draft was solid if unspectacular, as UAB’s Alex Wright was the most intriguing selection. Wright recorded a 91.1 PFF pass-rushing grade in 2021, 51 pressures and three batted passes, and he has the kind of athletic profile to replace Jadeveon Clowney opposite Myles Garrett.

Cleveland already had a contender’s roster, but Mayfield’s injury last season meant they failed to capitalize. Now they have Watson, and the only big question remaining is whether they can trade away Mayfield or if they have to cut him, as they would rather do that than live through the awkward situation of keeping him as a backup all season


ESPN: Ranked No. 17
The Browns entered the draft without a first-round pick, then traded out of the second round despite a need at wide receiver. Cleveland finally added one near the end of the third round, selecting David Bell from Purdue. Bell, who was ultra-productive in college, could play a big role in the Browns’ offense. But he will likely be operating out of the slot and in underneath coverage. That should allow Peoples-Jones to remain a starter opposite Amari Cooper. And though the Browns could still add another receiver, they will be counting on DPJ to play significant snaps next season.

Sporting News: Ranked No. 17
The Browns are here assuming Deshaun Watson will be playing every game for them in 2022 as their new major upgrade at franchise QB. He gives them a much higher running and passing ceiling offensively than Baker Mayfield and the Myles Garrett-led defense is built to be a great complementary force playing with more leads. Cleveland joins Baltimore in having a good chance to displace AFC runner-up Cincinnati in the North.

NFL.com: Ranked No. 14
The Browns remain an impossible team to rank in this exercise given what we don’t know about Deshaun Watson. The quarterback remains in limbo on account of the 22 civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and misconduct, as well as the ongoing league investigation. Will he even play in the 2022 season? And if he doesn’t, how much can we realistically expect from a team — 8-9 a year ago — being led by Jacoby Brissett? Well, they do have Baker Mayfield, but the team will throw an anniversary halftime celebration for the 2000 Super Bowl champion Ravens before the former No. 1 overall pick plays another snap in Cleveland. The Browns have the chance to be an AFC superpower in the years to come, but they remain a messy proposition in the here and now.

Rankings and grades are a mostly harmless process, but with the uncertainty surrounding Watson, it is hard to get a good grasp on how good the Browns can be this fall. Even with everything going on in 2021, the team still finished just two games off the pace in the AFC North, so with the improvements made this offseason, plus the continued growth of the offense and defense, it is not that difficult to see an additional three wins and a return to the playoffs, as long as Watson is available all season.


For what it's worth .. Watson is still making (bad) news headlines weekly in Houston.
There are still more women being added to his troubles every week it seems.
 
Players making enough to buy politicians
Perverts welcome in the NFL-no punishment

Walmart to sell stock in NFL teams, welll at least in the Broncos
 
Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor member Don Perkins dies at 84
Perkins was arguably the first great running back in the history of the Cowboys franchise
SB Nation Jun 10, 2022

Legendary Dallas Cowboys running back Don Perkins died at age 84, according to a team announcement on Thursday night.

The mothership announced the news and highlighted Perkins’ accolades during his historic career in Dallas. Perkins joined the Cowboys in 1961, just a year after the team joined the NFL, and played seven tremendous seasons with them before moving on. He was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 1976.

So many people love the Dallas Cowboys because of the greatness that surrounded the team from the very beginning. Perkins was a very big part of that and was arguably the first great running back in the history of a franchise that has boasted quite a few over 60 years now.

Tragically, the Cowboys have received far too much of this kind of news as of late. As the mothership noted, many franchise icons have passed away recently.

“ Unfortunately, Perkins’ death is yet another blow to the Cowboys’ family. He’s the second Ring of Honor member to pass away recently, along with Rayfield Wright. Back in January, the Cowboys lost former players Dan Reeves and Ralph Neely. Marion Barber passed away last week and the Cowboys have lost former running backs coach Gary Brown, as well as former scouting director Larry Lacewell. Jerry Jones’ personal assistant Marylyn Love died this past spring.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Perkins’ family and friends. “
 
Micah Parsons comes in fourth in NFL.com’s list of top 10 disrupters across the league
Micah Parsons causes problems for opposing offenses.
SB Nation Jun 9, 2022

Micah Parsons is one of the best defensive players in the NFL. When it comes to what Parsons is good at, well, it can be difficult to properly quantify things. Parsons is the exception to the rule in that he can just about play every position on the defensive side at an elite level. If he is in your front seven then you are living life above the average line from a performance perspective.

Ultimately, Parsons’ job is to make life difficult for opposing offenses which is something he did with regularity across his rookie season. It turns out there are very few people in the NFL more capable of disrupting things than he is.

Micah Parsons comes in fourth in NFL.com’s list of top 10 disrupters across the league

It feels like only a matter of time until Parsons takes the mantle as the undisputed top defensive player in the NFL, but for now he is already hanging out among the very elite.

Recently NFL.com used Next Gen Stats to assess which defensive players “disrupted” things the most. Micah Parsons came in fourth in their list of 10:
QBP: 59
QBP rate: 21.1%
Hurries: 36
Sacks: 13
TO-QBP: 4

Parsons wasn’t an every-down rusher — he was primarily an off-ball linebacker — which sparks an interesting debate when it comes to this exercise. With less pass-rushing responsibility, Parsons might have benefitted from being assigned to get after the quarterback in more advantageous situations. But the flip side of that argument is the reality that he was rushing less, meaning he had fewer chances to make an impact in that facet of the game. And he certainly maximized those opportunities.

Parsons fell short of the gross totals posted by most of the players listed here when it came to quarterback pressures, but he led the league in quarterback pressure rate at 21.1 percent. He finished with 13 sacks, getting home on 4.7 percent of all pass rushes — good for third best in the NFL. Add in the four turnovers caused by pressure, and Parsons proved to be quite the disruptive defender in his rookie season.

It has been said many times that Parsons would in all likelihood be one of the best edge rushers in the NFL if he played the position snap in and snap out. His hybrid-ness is what makes him truly unique, though.

Only Maxx Crosby, T.J. Watt, and Trey Hendrickson ranked ahead of Parsons, which again speaks to just how incredible his production as a rookie (!) was considering where he lined up on defense. It is an interesting note to consider that perhaps he was sometimes in more advantageous situations than other players, but he was certainly at a disadvantage in other capacities as well.

Let’s see what his second season brings.
 
Justin Herbert rated as 3rd-best AFC QB
What does Herbert have to do in 2022 to break into the top two?
SB Nation Jun 9, 2022

The praise train for Justin Herbert just keeps coming. Recently, Justin Herbert was ranked as the top player in the NFL age 25 or younger. That’s high praise when it comes to a league where it seems like the young, up-and-coming talent around the NFL has never been higher.

But where does Herbert land when it comes to ranking the quarterbacks within his conference? According to CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin, Herbie isn’t the lead dog, but he’s pretty dang close. Behind only Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, he lands at #3 in the AFC heading into the 2022 season.

“If Mahomes is the magician and Allen is the supersized dual threat, then Herbert is the prototypical pocket passer,” says Benjamin. “Any concerns about the Oregon product’s college competition or softer-spoken leadership have been silenced by a historic debut, with Herbert becoming the first player in NFL history to throw 30+ TDs in each of his first two seasons. Despite the Chargers still seeking their first playoff appearance with him under center, few teams probably feel as secure at the position, where the 6-foot-6 signal-caller possesses veteran poise and one of the most electric arms in the league.”

Among the top-three, Herbert ranks only behind Mahomes with 9,350 passing yards over the past two seasons by just 229. If Herbert had played the season opener in 2020, he’d like be the leader in that category. As far as passing touchdowns go, he’s behind both Mahomes (75) and Allen (73) with 69, which is still an NFL record through a quarterback’s first two professional seasons.

If you’re interested in the entire list, here it is from top to bottom:
Patrick Mahomes
Josh Allen
Justin Herbert
Russell Wilson
Joe Burrow
Lamar Jackson
Deshaun Watson
Derek Carr
Ryan Tannehill
Matt Ryan
Mac Jones
Trevor Lawrence
Tua Tagovailoa
Kenny Pickett
Zach Wilson
Davis Mills
 
Giants’ RB Saquon Barkley out to prove he’s still an elite player
Whatever the future holds for Barkley, proving he is still game-changing player is Step 1
SB Nation Jun 9, 2022

After his spectacular 2,028 total yards from scrimmage rookie season, he was SAQUON BARKLEY. He was the “touched by the hand of God” No. 2 overall pick who had won Offensive Rookie of the Year and was seemingly en route to a historic Hall of Fame NFL career. After that season, the New York Giants running back was the 16th-ranked player on the 2019 NFL.com top 100 players list, voted on by his peers. And he deserved it.

In 2018, he had become one of just three rookies to surpass 2,000 scrimmage yards.
  • He made the Pro Bowl.
  • He set the rookie record for receptions by a running back with 91.
  • He had an NFL rookie record 12 games with 100 or more yards from scrimmage.
  • He had five touchdowns of 50 or more yards, tying Randy Moss for the rookie record.
  • Barkley was, in short, phenomenal. He was a phenom. A force of nature. The new Barry Sanders.
Now?

Barkley is an afterthought when discussing the best NFL players. He is a “maybe he can be great again” guy. Barkley is nowhere to be found on those “best” lists. You won’t even find him anywhere the top of best running back lists, like this one or this one.

Injuries and incompetence around him have robbed him of the luster of the SAQUON BARKLEY days. Now, he is just Saquon Barkley. He still wears the “26” earring. He still has the massive quads. He still draws a crowd when he speaks to the media. He still largely carries the hopes of a Giants franchise begging for something to feel good about after an awful decade of football.

Barkley, though, also carries a lot of questions around on his broad shoulders. Can he be great again? Does the 2018 Barkley still exist? Playing 2022 on his fifth-year option, can he convince a Giants’ regime that did not draft him that he can be part of the team’s future? At a time when we are seeing big second contract for running backs often turn into Fool’s Gold, how much money is he worth?

There is only one place Barkley can answer those questions. On the football field, where he has to stay healthy and show that writing him off at the age of 25 is foolish. Since Game 3 of the 2019 season, when he suffered a high ankle sprain, we have only seen glimpses of a truly healthy Barkley. There was the devastating 2020 knee injury, and another ankle injury last season just when Barkley seemed to finding his footing.

Can that change in 2022? Injuries, of course, are impossible to predict. Asked on Wednesday how he feels, though, the twinkle in his eye and the Barkley smile spoke volumes. “I’ll tell you, I feel a lot better than I felt at this point last year. Like you said, I was rehabbing. My body feels good. My body feels strong. Feel like I got my strength back. Feel like I got my speed back. Feel like I can trust my knee again, trust myself to make plays and not think about it,” Barkley said. “My body feels really good.”

That might be the best news of the entire spring for the Giants. Whether Barkley has a long-term future with the team or not. There was plenty of pre-draft speculation that the cap-strapped, rebuilding Giants would use Barkley as a trade chip to help their cap situation and accumulate draft capital to replenish a needy roster.

At the NFL Scouting Combine, new GM Joe Schoen said he was “open to everything” and that he would “certainly listen” to offers for anyone on the roster. Obviously, the Giants ultimately decided that the best path forward was Barkley to at least begin 2022 with the team. Would Schoen be willing to pay Barkley big money if he shows something close to his 2018 form in 2022?

“We’ll see,” Schoen said this winter at the NFL Scouting Combine. “In free agency it’s not what the player was, it’s what’s he going to be this year. That’s what you’ve got to evaluate, and I think there’s some unknown. But I think everyone can say when the kid’s healthy he’s one of the best backs in the league.”

There is still a question of whether or not Schoen and the Giants will ever get to the point of having to make that financial decision. Perhaps, if Barkley gets off to a hot start in 2022 and rebuilds his value, the best move for the long term will be get as much in return for him as the Giants can at the trade deadline. That might, honestly, also be best for Barkley.

There is little doubt that the injuries, the losing, the questions, the weight of being the face of a floundering franchise, have had an impact on Barkley. “To be honest, I’m just tired of whatever is written about me, the BS that’s said about me or this team,” Barkley said earlier this offseason. “I want to go out there and prove to this organization that the player they drafted is still there, I can still do special things with the ball in my hands, and I can help this team.

“One thing I’ve learned is the story that’s going to be told is people are going to shape it the way they want it to be told. I feel like there’s a lot of things that are left out ... I’m just tired of BS. Just want to go out there, play the game I love, and have fun with my teammates.”

One thing we have seen throughout spring practices is that head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who come from successful, creative offenses, are having fun scheming up ways to use Barkley’s skillset. Barkley has often lined up and been targeted as a wide receiver, he’s been in the slot, he has been thrown the ball out of the backfield. The emphasis for the new Giants’ offense seems to be spreading the field and giving playmakers space to operate. Barkley is, obviously, central to that.

“I think Saquon is a unique guy. You move him in different spots,” Daboll said. “He’s got good hands, he’s a good route runner, a good runner. Try to use him the best way we can. I see a talented player. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

Barkley told reporters he hasn’t moved around the formation this much since his Penn
State days and added that “I was OK in college. I’m very excited. I think this offense is going to put our playmakers in position to make plays, whether it’s post-snap, pre-snap, just giving us looks so we can good out there and let our talent go and work,” Barkley said. “I’m excited not only for myself but for all the playmakers on this team, for the offensive line, for the team in general. I feel like we have something special here.”

Whether the Giants have something special remains to be seen. As does what Barkley’s role in that future will be. Still, seeing how the Giants are using him and how well he appears to be moving around, and hearing how good he feels after a healthy offseason are all positive signs.
 
I'm going to break this article up into four posts as it's pretty long. It's interesting as it rates all 32 NFL teams. Of course it's subjective, this is just what PFF thinks - but still, I was pretty surprised at where some of the teams ended up after the FA signings, trades, and draft picks.

2022 NFL receiving corps rankings: Cincinnati Bengals take No. 1 spot; Packers and Bears at the bottom
NFL/PFF Jun 9, 2022 - Pt 1 of 4

The most challenging part of ranking NFL positional units is weighing elite talent against depth.

Players like Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams are extremely valuable, as their trades and subsequent contract extensions this offseason would suggest. Their on-field impact goes beyond their individual production to include the opportunities they create for their teammates and the defensive attention they draw. But one elite wide receiver often isn’t enough for an offense. Having quality secondary and tertiary receiving options is also important, particularly as the season progresses into the postseason.

Here’s an attempt at balancing that high-end talent with depth — rankings and tiers for all 32 NFL wide receiver and tight end groups entering the 2022 season. Running backs weren’t included in the receiving corps for this exercise.

TIER 1: ELITE

1. CINCINNATI BENGALS

No team has a more impressive collection of young pass-game talent than the Bengals. Obviously, quarterback Joe Burrow is a big part of that, but the starting wide receiver trio of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd that came together last offseason contributed heavily to Burrow’s progression from his rookie season to 2021.

Chase established himself as one of the NFL’s best deep threats (league-high eight touchdowns on throws 20-plus yards downfield) and after-the-catch weapons (third among wide receivers in yards after the catch) at the position. Cincinnati’s decision to reunite him and Burrow also allowed Higgins and Boyd to profile as some of the better No. 2 and No. 3 options in the league, respectively.

2. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Tampa Bay’s receiving corps isn’t quite as talented as it was at full strength last season. Antonio Brown and O.J. Howard are no longer on the roster, and neither is Rob Gronkowski (for now). However, the Buccaneers still have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin — a stellar one-two punch when healthy — and added Russell Gage from Atlanta via free agency and tight end Cade Otton in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Gage makes a lot of sense as a fit alongside Evans and Godwin. He profiles as a possession receiver who can work the middle of the field from slot or wide alignments. Gage steadily improved his receiving yards per route run from 1.18 in 2019 to 1.96 last season (19th among qualifying wide receivers).

3. MIAMI DOLPHINS
Via an offseason trade, Tyreek Hill joined forces with the player closest to his unique blend of speed and twitch in the open field — Jaylen Waddle. Opposing defenses are going to have to grapple with the best way to mitigate risk and limit the damage caused by that duo all season.

Hill and Waddle aren’t the only quality receiving options for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, either. Tight end Mike Gesicki has 32 contested catches over the past two seasons (tied for fourth in NFL), and free agent acquisition Cedrick Wilson steps in as the No. 3 wide receiver after a career year with the Cowboys in 2021 (71.6 PFF receiving grade).

4. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
A.J. Brown, a legitimate No. 1 option who can win over the middle of the field, changes everything for Philadelphia’s receiving corps. The only wide receivers to average more receiving yards per route run than Brown — who the Eagles traded for on Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft — since he entered the league in 2019 (2.61) are Davante Adams and Justin Jefferson.

Brown, DeVonta Smith and one of the more underrated tight ends in the league (Dallas Goedert) is a nice core with players like Quez Watkins and the thus-far disappointing Jalen Reagor adding some speed behind them on the depth chart.

5. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS
The Raiders, like the Eagles, made a splash for a wide receiver who can separate against any coverage and win at all levels of the field. Davante Adams has commanded a target on a league-high 30% of his routes over the past three seasons. He’ll likely be open enough to warrant a similar figure in Las Vegas, but he'll also be surrounded by more receiving talent.

Tight end Darren Waller‘s play slightly declined as he battled injury in 2021, but he ranked second among tight ends in PFF’s Wins Above Replacement metric across the 2019 and 2020 seasons. And Hunter Renfrow has developed into a reliable target over the middle of the field for quarterback Derek Carr, leading the Raiders in receiving conversions in 2021 (51).

6. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
This No. 6 ranking is under the assumption that the offseason rumors surrounding Deebo Samuel end up being water under the bridge. Before Samuel took on his “wide back” role toward the tail end of the 2021 season, he was one of the most efficient wide receivers in the league. His 86.9 PFF receiving grade through Week 10 ranked third, behind only Davante Adams and Cooper Kupp.

George Kittle remains one of the league’s few truly elite tight ends, and Brandon Aiyuk emerged from Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse down the stretch to generate a 119.4 passer rating on his 83 targets. And with potential contributions from less established players like Jauan Jennings and rookie Danny Gray out of SMU, this becomes one of the more well-rounded groups in the league on paper.
 
2022 NFL receiving corps rankings: all 32 NFL teams
NFL/PFF Jun 9, 2022 – Pt 2 of 4

TIER 2: STRONG OVERALL WITH A WEAK POINT OR TWO

7. LOS ANGELES RAMS

A potential Odell Beckham Jr. return would bump the Rams into Tier 1, but they stick at the top of Tier 2 for now. How high they rise or how far they fall largely hinges on whether Allen Robinson’s 2021 season was a one-year hiatus from the wide receiver he’s been for much of his career or a sign of things to come. Robinson’s 67.0 PFF receiving grade in 2021 — following two seasons above 80.0 with the Bears — was the lowest of his career. Cooper Kupp still headlines the unit after ranking first among all wide receivers in PFF’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric last season.

8. BUFFALO BILLS
Emmanuel Sanders and Cole Beasley are out in Buffalo, leaving Gabriel Davis and Jamison Crowder to step up and replace their production. Davis performed well all last season (81.5 PFF grade), saving the best for last with over 200 receiving yards and four touchdowns in Buffalo’s postseason loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He’ll step in as the No. 2 outside option opposite Stefon Diggs, while Crowder replaces Beasley in the slot. Crowder ranks eighth in the NFL in slot receiving yards since 2019 despite dealing with some of the worst quarterback situations in the league with the New York Jets.

9. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
The one-two punch of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams is one of the better wide receiver duos in the league. Both are top-20 wideouts in PFF’s Wins Above Replacement Metric over the past two seasons with Justin Herbert at quarterback.

The only reason the Chargers don’t rank any higher is that their starting options at the third wide receiver spot and tight end aren’t quite as exciting. Josh Palmer, a second-year player out of Tennessee, is someone who could take a step forward after catching 33 of his 45 targets as a rookie.

10. DENVER BRONCOS
Broncos receivers have escaped quarterback purgatory following the blockbuster trade to bring Russell Wilson to Denver this offseason. Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick profile as the type of big, sure-handed targets who can thrive on the end of Wilson's deep throws. Sutton and Patrick combined for 27 receptions targeted 20-plus yards downfield in 2021 without a drop. Wilson’s downfield accuracy will also be a welcome addition for K.J. Hamler as he returns from injury.

The X-factor in this group is Jerry Jeudy, who has endured an underwhelming first two NFL seasons. It’s too early to give up on the talent, but it hasn’t translated to on-field success for Jeudy. Broncos quarterbacks have combined for just a 69.7 passer rating when targeting him since 2020, and that can’t be pinned solely on the signal-callers.

11. PITTSBURGH STEELERS
In many respects, the Steelers’ receiving corps is similar to the Broncos' group. They don’t have a bona fide elite wide receiver, but they do have one you can at least make the case for. That’s Diontae Johnson for Pittsburgh. While he has battled drops and poor quarterback play early in his career, his 1.83 receiving yards per route run over the past two seasons ranks 25th among 96 wide receivers with at least 500 routes. Chase Claypool is in the same vicinity at 1.84 yards per route run since 2020.

The additions of George Pickens and Calvin Austin III in the 2022 NFL Draft to pair with those two and tight end Pat Freiermuth creates an intriguing young collection of talent for either Mitchell Trubisky or Kenny Pickett at quarterback.

12. DALLAS COWBOYS
The losses of Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson hurt, and they’re the reason Dallas slides just outside of the top 10 on this list. But there’s still reason to be excited about this unit. CeeDee
Lamb could be in for a monstrous 2022 season after raising his PFF grade from 71.6 as a rookie to 84.1 last year. He’s joined by Michael Gallup at the top of the depth chart — an underrated X receiver returning from a torn ACL in 2022. Free agent acquisition James Washington and rookie Jalen Tolbert will compete for snaps as the No. 3 receiver and vertical threat in Dallas’ offense.

13. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett will have a far tougher time in 2022 without Russell Wilson. No quarterback has graded higher on throws 20-plus yards downfield than Wilson over the past five seasons, which has played to Metcalf's and Lockett's strengths. However, that wide receiver duo still looks to be the strongest point on Seattle’s roster entering next season. Lockett and Metcalf rank 14th and 19th, respectively, in PFF receiving grade since 2019 out of 133 qualifiers at the position.

Seattle also added Noah Fant at tight end — a position that could become more involved in the team's offense with a new quarterback — as part of the trade with Denver.

14. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Offseason additions Chris Olave and Jarvis Landry take the Saints' receiving corps from one of the thinner groups across the NFL to one with promise, particularly if Michael Thomas returns at full strength.

New Orleans secured an excellent prospect-team fit by snagging Olave the first round, even if they paid a premium to move up and get him. He’s a polished route-runner who can separate downfield. That shows in his 12 touchdowns on throws 20-plus yards downfield across his final two seasons at Ohio State (fourth-most in the FBS). That profile is what New Orleans was missing at wide receiver in 2021.

15. MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Justin Jefferson has already comfortably established himself as one of the league’s best wide receivers. He leads all players at the position in PFF receiving grade against press coverage since 2020 and has proven he can win against any type of coverage from both the slot and outside.

However, the Vikings don’t have a particularly deep group beyond Jefferson. Adam Thielen is turning 32 years old in August and coming off his lowest PFF grade since 2015 in a season limited by an ankle injury. Beyond those two, Minnesota will be leaning on the likes of K.J. Osborn, Albert Wilson, Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Irv Smith Jr.

16. ARIZONA CARDINALS
The Cardinals' receiving corps for 2022 moves up or down depending on how much you want to factor in DeAndre Hopkins’ six-game suspension to start the season. Arizona’s offense ranked fourth in Expected Points Added (EPA) per play for the 10 weeks that Hopkins played, dropping to 18th in the weeks he missed. His presence in the lineup matters.

The addition of Marquise Brown via trade — Kyler Murray’s college teammate — should help, even if the trade looked like an overpay on the surface. Brown should fit in nicely to the vertical slot role occupied by Christian Kirk in 2021. The Cardinals have also put together three quality tight ends in Zach Ertz, Maxx Williams and Trey McBride who will allow them to mix and match personnel groupings.
 
2022 NFL receiving corps rankings: all 32 NFL teams
NFL/PFF Jun 9, 2022 – Pt 3 of 4

TIER 3: COULD BE STRENGTH OR WEAKNESS

17. WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

Washington’s receiving corps has been Terry McLaurin and not much else over the past several seasons. That has a chance to change in 2022 with a healthy Curtis Samuel and the first-rounder Jahan Dotson in the fold. Dotson is a sudden route-runner who plays bigger than his size with the way he attacks the football in the air. A 5.1% career drop rate doesn’t hurt, either.

The hope for Washington will be that Dotson and Samuel free things up even more for McLaurin, who has already averaged 1.9 receiving yards per route run for his career despite bottom-of-the-league quarterback play.

18. NEW YORK JETS
There’s some projection in this ranking, given the Jets' two young wide receivers have yet to fully establish themselves in the NFL. Elijah Moore earned a 73.8 PFF receiving grade as a rookie, but he could very well make a Year 2 leap alongside quarterback Zach Wilson. Like Moore, Garrett Wilson isn’t the biggest target. However, his ability to create separation before the catch and additional yardage after the catch with his shiftiness in the open field should have an immediate impact on this offense.

It’s a well-rounded unit, as well. Wide receiver Corey Davis and offseason acquisitions C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin at tight end add some veteran presence. This could end up being too low a ranking if everything clicks.

19. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
The Chiefs had to give in somewhere on the roster after handing out a lot of big contracts over the past several offseasons, and they opted to do so at wide receiver. One doesn’t simply replace what Tyreek Hill provides to an offense, but Kansas City attacked the position with several different skill sets, acquiring Skyy Moore, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. It remains to be seen how those pieces, along with returners like Mecole Hardman, fit together. Travis Kelce remains the star of the unit, though. His 85.0 PFF grade ranked fourth at the position in 2021.

20. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
The Patriots' receiving corps contains plenty of nice, complementary pieces, but it still lacks a true No. 1 wide receiver who quarterback Mac Jones can rely on to beat man coverage in key situations. DeVante Parker comes in from Miami to be one of New England's top options on the outside, but even he failed to top an 80.0 PFF grade or 2.0 yards per route run in his best season with the Miami Dolphins.

One storyline worth watching is whether the Patriots can get tight end Jonnu Smith more involved in their offense after giving him over $30 million guaranteed last offseason. Smith appeared in 16 games during the 2021 season but ran only 158 routes (52nd at tight end) and posted his fewest receiving yards (294) since the 2018 season.

21. DETROIT LIONS
This receiving corps is on the rise. The Lions have two solid pieces returning from last season in T.J. Hockenson and Amon-Ra St. Brown and also added a few more options in the draft and free agency, specifically players who could stretch the field.

D.J. Chark Jr. brings a unique combination of size (6-foot-4) and speed (4.34-second 40-yard dash), and Jameson Williams’ impact can be seen in his production against a seemingly infallible Georgia defense last year. That infusion of speed was necessary for a Lions offense that ranked dead last in average depth of target in 2021 (6.8 yards).

22. NEW YORK GIANTS
Expectations for this unit have lowered significantly compared to last offseason. Part of that is a disappointing 2021 season from Kenny Golladay, who battled injuries and wasn’t all that effective when on the field. His 49.9 passer rating when targeted ranked last among all wide receivers with at least 50 targets. Availability was the biggest roadblock for then-rookie Kadarius Toney. The Giants’ first-round selection ran fewer than 200 routes but still showed the kind of impact he could have with a 10-catch, 189-yard performance against the Cowboys in Week 5. The Giants need both to stay healthy and produce more consistently in 2022.

23. CAROLINA PANTHERS
D.J. Moore fits into a similar bucket as Terry McLaurin — a young receiver who has had a lot of success early in his career despite bottom-of-the-barrel quarterback play. Moore has cleared 1,100 receiving yards and a 75.0 PFF grade in each of the past three seasons. However, things get a little bit more uncertain beyond him on the depth chart.

Robby Anderson’s play has trailed off since his strong start to the 2020 season, and Terrace Marshall Jr. failed to make much of an impact (0.5 yards per route run) as a rookie last year. A tight end group led by Ian Thomas doesn’t move the needle much, either.

24. CLEVELAND BROWNS
Amari Cooper is comfortably the most established wide receiver on Cleveland’s depth chart, but he’s been no stranger to the injury report in recent seasons and is coming off his lowest PFF grade (73.0) since 2017.

The Austin Hooper departure opens up a larger role for the recently extended David Njoku at tight end, and the Browns will also be looking for more out of Donovan Peoples-Jones in his third season out of Michigan. Rookie David Bell is expected to step in for Jarvis Landry in the slot — a role that should suit him.

25. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
Michael Pittman Jr. quietly had a very impressive second season out of USC for the Colts in 2021, improving his PFF receiving grade from 62.3 as a rookie to 79.9 last year. He’s an impressive route-runner, especially for his size, and excelled in contested-catch situations (18 of 28) last year. Matt Ryan’s effectiveness throwing between the numbers and targeting the intermediate range should only help Pittman next season.

The rest of Indianapolis’ receiving corps has a lot of question marks. Rookie wide receiver Alec Pierce should help stretch the field, and the Colts are hoping to finally get a healthy season out of Parris Campbell. It projects to be a physically imposing group, if nothing else.

26. TENNESSEE TITANS
The Titans moved on from A.J. Brown and Julio Jones this offseason and replaced them with Robert Woods and rookie wide receiver Treylon Burks. Jones is no longer the player who was perennially in the conversation for best in the NFL, but he’s still a strong starting option when healthy (76.8 PFF receiving grade in 2021). And Brown is one of the best, young receivers in the league.

Woods was a productive receiver for the Rams since joining the team in 2017, but there’s risk involved with relying on a 30-year-old coming off a midseason torn ACL as your new No. 1 option. Similar concerns can be voiced for Burks given his role at Arkansas and lack of experience outside and against press coverage. Those pieces could come together — hence the inclusion in the “could be a strength or weakness” tier — but it’s far from a sure thing.
 
2022 NFL receiving corps rankings: all 32 NFL teams
NFL/PFF Jun 9, 2022 – Pt 4 of 4

TIER 4: LIKELY A WEAKNESS

27. ATLANTA FALCONS

In the course of a couple of seasons, the Falcons lost Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage. That drained a lot of the talent from this group, but the team has done a good job of at least putting some building blocks in place with first-round picks spent at tight end (Kyle Pitts) and wide receiver (Drake London) over the past two drafts.

While touchdowns were hard to come by, Pitts had an extremely impressive rookie season. He ranked fourth among all receivers — regardless of position — in yards per route run against press coverage, showing he can produce out wide against NFL cornerbacks. Any big leap by Atlanta’s offense will stem from Pitts and London having big years, because the rest of the unit looks relatively thin.

28. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
The Jaguars threw plenty of money at their receiving corps with the signings of Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and Evan Engram. That gives Jacksonville more depth, but the team still lacks the top-end options for Trevor Lawrence to throw to. Kirk is the closest thing to it, but even he has averaged just 1.52 receiving yards per route run over the [ast two seasons (66th among 127 qualifying wide receivers). The biggest improvement should come from the incoming coaching staff putting Lawrence and his receivers in a better position to succeed.

29. BALTIMORE RAVENS
The biggest thing keeping the Ravens from falling any lower is Mark Andrews — the second-most valuable tight end in 2021, per PFF WAR. The Marquise Brown trade puts a lot on the shoulders of unproven options, including Devin Duvernay, Tylan Wallace and James Proche, even if Baltimore uses heavy personnel often.

Rashod Bateman stands out as the clear No. 1 at wide receiver after recording a 64.9 PFF grade on just over 600 snaps as a rookie. He missed the early portion of his rookie season due to injury and didn’t have a healthy Lamar Jackson at quarterback for much of the season after he returned to the lineup. He’s a potential second-year breakout candidate, and the Ravens need him to make that happen.

30. HOUSTON TEXANS
Brandin Cooks, one of Houston's best players, belongs to this unit, but he alone is not enough to drag it out of the bottom five. There’s some potential for younger receivers such as Nico Collins and John Metchie III to elevate the unit, but that’s still a “wait-and-see” situation entering the 2022 season. Metchie is a crafty route-runner who earned an 80.0-plus PFF grade against man coverage last season, but he has some physical limitations and is coming off a torn ACL in the SEC Championship game.

31. GREEN BAY PACKERS
The Packers upped the difficulty level for Aaron Rodgers in his pursuit of a third consecutive MVP trophy by trading away his top target and one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, Davante Adams. In his place are veterans Allen Lazard, Sammy Watkins and Randall Cobb and rookies Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs.

Watson has the measurables of a No. 1 wide receiver, but there’s still some rawness to the North Dakota State product. As for the veterans, the only one to clear 750 receiving yards in a season over the past five years was Cobb with the Cowboys in 2019 (828 yards).

32. CHICAGO BEARS
It’s not difficult to see what new general manager Ryan Poles' strategy is. He wants to build the “right way,” and that means not overspending in free agency or reaching in the draft. The unfortunate side effect of that plan this offseason is that Justin Fields is in the midst of one of the worst offensive situations in the NFL entering a pivotal second season.

Darnell Mooney is the lone established option in the receiving corps after earning a 74.9 PFF receiving grade in his second season out of Tulane. He’s still better suited as a No. 2, which is a title currently held by free agent acquisition Byron Pringle. Leaning heavily on Pringle, Tajae Sharpe, Velus Jones Jr. and Equanimeous St. Brown isn’t where you want to be as an offense.
 
The writer may be over-reaching with such a title, but he does make a good case that Trubisky will have a better chance of success with the Steelers than he ever had with the Bears, whose offense remains stubbornly stuck somewhere around 1956.

Mitchell Trubisky may have found Valhalla
Steelers QB Mitch Trubisky may have located the NFL version of Valhalla.
SB Nation by Shannon White Jun 17, 2022

When it comes to NFL success for any NFL quarterback, timing is everything. Next on the list of important metrics would probably be location, location, location. However, none of the aforementioned metrics means anything without the most important metric of all: talent.

Recently signed free agent newcomer Mitchell Trubisky definitely has talent. The kind of athletic talent that warranted the second overall selection of the 2017 NFL Draft for the Chicago Bears. That selection reveals the importance of location.

The Chicago Bears are one of the oldest and most storied franchise in NFL history. Names like George Halas, Gale Sayers, Mike Ditka, and the legendary Walter Payton immediately come to mind. There are plenty of other Hall of Fame names worth mentioning, but there is one glaring position that lacks a distinguished namesake: quarterback.

Chicago is where quarterback careers go to die, making the Bears basically a quarterback graveyard. As if the Bears knew how to recognize and develop quarterback talent in the first place, an ability that they have yet to display in their history of ineptitude at the position.

The 1985 Super Bowl Shuffle squad was lead by the infamous wild child Jim McMahon, a player best remembered for his hairstyle and erratic behavior, more so than his passing prowess. That being said, McMahon is arguably the best quarterback in Bears history. Let's put it this way, there were many occasions during Walter Payton's illustrious career where the best quarterback on the roster was...Walter Payton. I am only half joking about that, as Payton was an accomplished passer, good enough to fill in as the signal caller in a pinch.

Trubisky had the distinguished opportunity, or the misfortune, depending on how you look at it, to be the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears for the majority of his four years with the franchise. He helped lead the Bears to the playoffs in two of his four years with the team. Believe it or not; his 10,609 passing yards, 64 touchdown passes, and 1057 rushing yards, plus the aforementioned two playoff appearances, makes him one of the best quarterbacks in Bears history. This from a young man who many Bears fans consider a bust. Anybody else noticing a trend here? A common denominator if you will. Maybe Trubisky wasn't the problem.

Now Trubisky finds himself with the most stable franchise in the NFL. The franchise with the most overall wins in the modern NFL era, and tied for the most Super Bowl titles with six total. By the way, the most successful and consistent organization in the sport has had three Hall of Fame caliber head coaches during that same timeframe, total. Not only have the Steelers had two Hall of Fame caliber, face of the franchise quarterbacks in Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger, they actually drafted and developed both.

Trubisky must feel like he has escaped purgatory and gained access to the NFL version of Valhalla. Fresh off a 2021 season that saw him as the seldom used, primary backup for Pro Bowl quarterback Josh Allen with the Buffalo Bills, Trubisky signed a two year free agency contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After being the perceived best option on the free agent market at quarterback, he finds himself in an enviable position with the Steelers.

Although he currently is engaged in the early stages of what is presumably a three man, open quarterback competition with incumbent Mason Rudolph and 2021 first round selection Kenny Pickett, Trubisky's starting experience and first round pedigree likely gives him a leg up in the competition. He will enter training camp number one on the depth chart.

This is Trubisky's best chance for sustained NFL success. Whoever said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression definitely wasn't talking about Mitch Trubisky.

This opportunity with the Steelers could be viewed as his first real chance to show all he is capable of. He seems like a ideal fit for the Steelers new look offense that is currently being installed by offensive coordinator Matt Canada. I say new look because nobody in the league, and Steelers Nation for that matter, has yet to witness an accurate representation of what Canada's offense will look like. That should at least begin to change after the Steelers spent the entire offseason acquiring players with skill sets that appear to fit his system. Now it's put up or shut up time for Matt Canada in Pittsburgh.

Trubisky's athleticism should mess perfectly with the assortment of play-action and designed rollouts required in Canada's offense. His mobility will be a huge asset to the Steelers young and reconstructed offensive line, giving them much greater room for the inevitable error. Although he will still only be a 28 year old entering his sixth NFL season by the start of the 2022, he will be essentially a graybeard in the Steelers incredibly youthful offense. His experience in the heat of battle could bring valuable leadership qualities, and a calming presence in the huddle. He is well known as a respectable and affable young man.

Trubisky will easily be surrounded by the most talented group of skill position players he has ever had the privilege of leading as a starting quarterback. One could argue an even better group than the one he got to watch perform in Buffalo last season.

Although Trubisky really didn't get any meaningful minutes in his one year hiatus with the Super Bowl contending Buffalo Bills, he did get the invaluable opportunity to see what a well constructed and coached operation looks like, expertly lead by a young franchise QB.

Now he has to outperform the competition, and seize this golden opportunity to show whether or not he is capable of doing the same.
 
Only old, old timers will remember these names, but they were famous in their day in the early NFL!

Hall of Famer Hugh McElhenny dies at 93
SB Nation Jun 23, 2022

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San Francisco 49ers (L–R): Y.A. Tittle, Hugh McElhenny, and Frankie Albert: Photo, 1952

Former 49ers running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Hugh McElhenny died last week due to natural causes at the age of 93.

The 49ers selected McElhenny with the ninth overall pick in the 1952 NFL Draft, and it didn’t take long for him to make an impact. In his first year in the league, McElhenny led the NFL with a stunning 7.0 yards per carry and gained 1,051 yards from scrimmage to earn a first-team All-Pro selection.

Known for his speed, elusiveness and field vision, McElhenny was called, “The King,” and formed the Million Dollar Backfield with quarterback Y. A. Tittle, halfback John Henry Johnson and fullback Joe Perry. Full disclosure, the nickname had more to do with the quality of the players than their combined salaries. Johnson himself once joked in 1987 that he was, “still looking for the million.” Still, it was accurate, as all four members would go on to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

McElhenny’s 49ers career came to an end after he was selected by the newly formed Minnesota Vikings in the 1961 expansion draft. He would also go on to play for the Giants and Lions before retiring following the 1964 season.

Up to that point, McElhenny had amassed the third most all-purpose yards of any player in NFL history. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1970 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

McElhenny went on to serve as a commentator on 49ers radio broadcasts from 1966 to 1972, and the team retired his number 39 jersey in 1971.
 
The world’s most valuable sports team hasn’t won a thing in decades. How?
The Dallas Cowboys are valued at a staggering $7bn despite a losing culture and a penchant for off-field scandal. Is the world’s richest sports team really all hat and no cattle?
London Guardian US 18 Jul 2022

Before he was the title character of an Emmy-winning series, Ted Lasso was the star of a 2013 marketing campaign for NBC after the network was awarded the broadcasting rights for Premier League soccer in the United States. The ad followed the same fish-out-of-water premise as the show it later inspired: Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis, was a red-blooded American football coach hired by Tottenham Hotspur struggling to grasp the basics of “soccer”.

In one scene, Lasso gets briefed by his assistant on England’s two most storied clubs. Manchester United, he is told, is “super rich” and “everyone either loves them, or hates them.”

“Dallas Cowboys,” Lasso replies, playing a round of cross-sport word association.

Liverpool “used to be great”, the assistant instructs, but “haven’t won a title in a really long time”.

“Also Dallas Cowboys,” Lasso says.

The set-up could use an update. Liverpool, of course, have since returned to the summit of both England and Europe. Manchester United are as polarizing as ever – and still spend gobs of money – but the club inspires more schadenfreude among its rivals than it did when the ad first aired.

The Cowboys, however, remain as they were: loved and hated in equal abundance, a generation removed from their glory years and, above all, “super rich”.

America’s Team will report to training camp next week in Oxnard, California, to begin preparations for the 2022 season, 27 years since their last Super Bowl-winning campaign. Dallas has posted a 4-11 playoff record since then and have not advanced beyond the second round of the postseason. Thirteen different franchises, including two of their hated division rivals, have won the title since the Cowboys’ last championship. Dallas was eclipsed this century by both the Pittsburgh Steelers and NE Patriots for most Super Bowl wins all-time. There have been off-field ignominies, too, most recently a $2.4m settlement stemming from allegations that a Cowboys executive filmed the team’s cheerleaders in the locker room.

But neither sub-par play nor scandal have slowed the Cowboys’ growth. The team’s star burns brighter than other supernovas of American sports, consuming the national consciousness to a degree that even the NY Yankees or LA Lakers can’t match. Dallas will play in five primetime games this season, the maximum number for a team to play in the marquee slot, and the team is a perennial A1 topic in sports media no matter their record. “They’re still ‘America’s Team,’” said Kurt Badenhausen, a reporter at the sports business website Sportico. “They’re still the most watched team. Every network wants as many Cowboys games as they can get. They have the largest fanbase in the country.”

In the financial column, the Cowboys are undefeated; even amid a Super Bowl drought, it still rains money in Dallas. The Cowboys have topped Forbes’ list of the most valuable sports franchises every year since 2016. And in an era when teams are being sold for ever-swelling sums, the Cowboys would likely command the heftiest price tag, should they ever be put on the market. Forbes pegged the Cowboys’ worth at $6.5bn, but that is almost certainly too low.

Jerry Jones, the team’s indomitable owner, said in May that he believes the Cowboys could fetch at least $10bn on the open market – a decent return on the $150m he paid to take over the franchise in 1989. Jones made it clear that he will “never sell the Cowboys”, but his sky-high valuation of the team is a testament to the financial might of America’s most popular sporting league.

“It really comes down to the economic structure of the NFL,” said Badenhausen, who helped start the annual ranking of the most valuable sports franchises at Forbes in 1998.

The NFL is the richest sports league in the world. It rakes in billions of dollars every year, most of which comes from its mammoth deals with broadcast and streaming partners, and the money is shared evenly among its 32 teams. Badenhausen said that the league generated roughly $18bn in revenue in 2021, putting it on track to reach its goal of $25bn by 2027. Last year, the NFL signed a $113bn media contract with CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and Amazon that runs through 2033, a deal that will bring each team about $300m annually.

The deal affirmed the NFL’s status not only as the biggest draw in American sports, but also the country’s top entertainment attraction. Seventy-five of the 100 most watched television programs in the United States last year were NFL games.

“The sport itself is so popular,” said Marc Ganis, a sports business consultant who has helped broker team sales and stadium developments throughout the NFL. “The games are competitive, the players keep getting better and it’s something that’s become a part of American culture. If it weren’t for that, the rest wouldn’t fall into place.”

The NFL imposes a salary cap that limits the amount of money each team can spend on players, a feature that has promoted parity on the field and brought greater profits to the owner’s box. Badenhausen said the combination of the league’s staggering riches, and how that money is spent, has resulted in higher valuations for NFL franchises than even teams with a larger global footprint. More than half of the top 50 teams in Forbes’ most recent rankings came from the NFL, including three in the top 10.

“These big European clubs are huge global brands, but the valuations don’t keep up with the size of the brand because of the economic structures of these clubs and what you have to spend to be competitive,” Badenhausen said. “You’ve got a handful of clubs in an arms race with no restrictions.”

The recent sales of the Denver Broncos and Chelsea FC were illustrative. Chelsea, one of England’s “big six” clubs and based in a major European capital, went for $3.2bn. The Broncos, ranked by Forbes as only the 10th most valuable team in the NFL and located outside a top US market, were sold for $4.65bn. “Chelsea is a much bigger brand globally than the Denver Broncos, but because of the economics, a second quartile NFL team ends up selling for more than Chelsea did,” Badenhausen said.

The economic structure that has enriched the Cowboys and the league’s other 31 teams is one that Jones played a leading role in constructing. In 1993, Jones orchestrated a backroom deal with Rupert Murdoch that resulted in Fox replacing CBS as one of the NFL’s television partners. CBS offered the league less than what it had previously paid for the broadcasting rights. Murdoch, with Jones in his corner, secured the rights for Fox in a deal worth $1.6bn over four years – 60% more than what CBS offered. “Jerry brought in Fox. Fox dramatically increased the rights fee. CBS lost the NFL,” Ganis said. “One story tells you both about the Cowboys and the NFL.”

Jones took the NFL to court in 1995 over the league’s rules that limited a team’s ability to strike its own endorsement deals. Looking to capitalize on the Cowboys’ iconic brand, Jones negotiated stadium sponsorships with Pepsi, Nike and American Express. The NFL sued Jones, contending that those deals ran afoul of the league-wide own sponsorship arrangements. Jones responded with his own antitrust lawsuit against the league, arguing that the NFL was effectively running a cartel that controlled the teams’ logos and trademarks.

The two sides settled, which allowed Jones – and every other league owner – to enter into their own sponsorship agreements. “He changed the economics of the league in terms of what teams could do,” Badenhausen said. “He went out and sold the Cowboys on the sponsorship market harder than anybody else. As a result of that, and because they have the brand to back it up, he’s been able to monetize.

Under Jones, the Cowboys have expanded their fiefdom in north Texas to create even more sponsorship deals and commercial opportunities. The team opened a sparkling new stadium in 2009 that boasts the capacity to seat more than 100,000, and a new 91-acre practice facility in 2016 that doubles as the team’s world headquarters.

The Cowboys have also been successful at growing their fanbase outside Texas. It has long been a source of amusement to many in the Lone Star State that the team has plenty of support in the Washington DC area, the home of their divisional rivals, the Commanders. Some put that down to the fact that the Cowboys were an integrated team from their birth, unlike Washington’s NFL team, and Dallas have a strong following among DC’s Black population.

Badenhausen said they were poised to be “the first team in North American sports to post $1bn in annual revenue.”

Ganis believes the biggest reason for that valuation is the man who raised the team into a cash cow. “The Cowboys are built on an extraordinary foundation,” Ganis said. “You add Jerry Jones to that alchemy, and it becomes something that is extraordinary on a global basis.”
 
Okay, the remark about the Browns (see: the Ravens write-up) made me LOL. They will NEVER live the Deshaun Watson trade down, at this rate.

NFL turnaround rankings: which 2021 also-rans will make the playoffs this season?
The 2021 playoffs had seven teams that had not reached the postseason the year before. Here are five candidates who may join the turnaround club this season
London Guardian U.S. by Oliver Connolly 21 Jul 2022

Denver Broncos
After years of treading water, the Broncos were finally able to engineer a move for one of the game’s top quarterbacks this offseason, landing Russell Wilson in a blockbuster trade in March.

Adding Wilson transforms the Broncos’ calculus. Denver already had a strong core prior to Wilson’s arrival, including a gifted offensive line and a stacked receiving unit. Wilson should finally be the post-Manning quarterback who can make it all sing in Colorado.

There is excitement on defense, too. When you add a superstar at quarterback, things just slot into place, don’t they? This Broncos defense is built to play with a lead, the kind they rarely mustered behind Drew Lock or Teddy Bridgewater. There are stars throughout the secondary, and by adding Randy Gregory they’ve been able to paper over the Von Miller-sized hole that appeared in their front in the middle of last season.

There’s only one real question mark looming over the Broncos’ playoff hopes: How will first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett handle his debut season? Wilson runs his own, specific kind of offense, one that doesn’t flow naturally with what Hackett, an offensive-minded coach, prefers to run. It’s a lot to ask of a first-year coach to navigate those waters while also running a franchise, and all while up against a pair of juggernauts in Los Angeles and Kansas City in the AFC West. The Broncos may be a year away from truly challenging.

Turnaround chances: Would be better in a different division

Baltimore Ravens
Of all of this year’s turnaround candidates, the Ravens are the safest bet. There are no stylistic issues, no talent concerns. They are loaded on both sides of the ball.

Baltimore were one of the disappointments of 2021. Injuries drained the team of depth. Difference-makers missed crucial parts of the season. An injury to Lamar Jackson sapped the offense of its one-man firepower. The Football Gods worked overtime: the turnover luck that Jackson has experienced throughout his career swung back the other way. Jackson finished with 19 turnovers in 12 games.

It will be different this year. Jackson is healthy. The team is healthy – and has depth all over the field. They enter this season having added [deep inhale]: Marcus Williams (the best free safety in football), Kyle Hamilton (the best safety prospect in the draft), Tyler Linderbaum (the best center prospect in the draft), Morgan Moses, Kyle Fuller, Michael Pierce and David Ojabo.

There is some squawking about the lack of receiving options after the team dealt away Marquise Brown. But Brown has long been more of a flashy name than a genuine game-changer. The Ravens offense is all about the system. And that system revolves around Lamar Jackson. When he’s healthy, it works.

The AFC North is in flux. The Steelers are in the middle of an offensive overhaul. The Browns are committed to doing things that are offensive. A straight shootout between the Ravens and Bengals should be in the offing. If Jackson is healthy, he’s an MVP candidate. And if the Ravens have an MVP candidate at quarterback, they are the frontrunners in the division.

Turnaround chances: Fans may want to research Phoenix-area package deals

Los Angeles Chargers
It’s hardly worth discussing the Chargers as ‘turnaround’ candidates. They featured one of the best offenses in football last season, thanks mostly to fielding the game’s top young quarterback – already a top-five (three?) player at the position coming into only his third year in the league. At some point soon, Justin Herbert will be the highest-paid player in the NFL. Right now, he is the league’s top market inefficiency.

Think about this: Herbert will count less towards the salary cap for the Chargers this year than Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson and Trey Lance do for their respective teams.

Herbert will cost half as much as Matt Ryan, Baker Mayfield and SAM DARNOLD.

Herbert will cost roughly a quarter as much as Kirk Cousins, JIMMY GAROPPOLO, CARSON WENTZ and JARED GOFF!

Oh, and Herbert will be [passes out, recovers senses] five times cheaper against the cap than Ryan Tannehill.

The Chargers stacked strength-on-strength this offseason, adding valuable pieces to the Herbert-backed offense, while using their star’s relatively meagre salary to fund a spending spree on defense. The Chargers’ defense stunk in 2021: historically bad against the run and predictable against the pass. It should improve this year, if for no reason other than the additions of Khalil Mack, JC Jackson and Sebastian Joseph-Day.

It’s hard to find a more talented roster, top-to-bottom, in the entire NFL. Leaping from out-of-the-playoffs to a championship run is tough, but that should be the expectation for the Chargers.

Turnaround chances: Anything less than a Super Bowl challenge will be a disappointment

Indianapolis Colts
Another year, another raft of changes for the Colts. Swapping out Carson Wentz for Matt Ryan at quarterback was one of the healthier upgrades of the offseason. Unlike other sides staring down the AFC’s quarterback standoff, the Colts need only worry about contending in their own division. Win 10 games, pip the Titans to the AFC South division title, and they will make the playoffs. With Ryan offering solid quarterback play and a defense laden with talent, 10 wins should be the floor.

Yet while Colts Pravda will point to this finally being the year that everything clicks together – Ryan is finally the right quarterback after a succession of wannabees and maybes – there are cracks.

Chief among the concerns is the defense. Former defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus left in the offseason to be the head honcho in Chicago. It’s who the Colts replaced him with: Gus Bradley.

Eberflus ran a particular, conservative style, one that made it hard for opposing quarterbacks to throw deep down the field. That system put his best defenders in the best spots to succeed. With the talent on the Colts roster, it worked – and they added even more talent and depth in the offseason.

But Bradley’s defense is different. It’s aggressive, and a galaxy shift from Eberflus’ approach. As a coach, Bradley has shown an unwillingness to evolve away from a style that was outdated two seasons ago. Will Bradley adjust to his new team, keeping some of Eberflus’ principles, or force the Colts’ square pegs into his schematic round hole? Bringing Yannick Ngakoue with him from the Raiders in exchange for the reliable Rock Ya-Sin should set off alarm bells.

And there are questions elsewhere. Is the receiving corps good enough? Can the o-line, a notoriously unstable unit year-to-year, continue to crank out a dominant rushing attack?

Turnaround chances: Depends on how the new regime settles in

Detroit Lions
Are you starting to believe in the Fighting Dan Campbells yet? Take away all the Lionsy-ness. Remove the idea of the Jared Goff of it all. Now, look at the rest of the roster.

Detroit will start the season with one of the league’s premier offensive lines – you can make an easy case that they have a Pro Bowl-caliber starter at four of the five spots. The offense as a whole is young and dynamic. Lions GM Brad Holmes has assembled an electric receiving group, headlined by DJ Chark and first-round pick Jameson Williams, the most explosive receiver in the 2022 draft. Besides that, you have Amon-Ra St Brown, who was a menace during the final stretch of 2021.

Not content with a fully stocked receiver group, the Lions tack on TJ Hockenson at tight end and D’Andre Swift at running back. The average age of all those weapons? 24. The only remaining question on offense: Can Goff deliver serviceable quarterback play?

The defense is more of a concern. The group was a sieve last year, partly due to injuries and partly due to the team chucking as many young players out on the field as possible to see who was worth investing in for the long-term. The Lions would hope to see growth this year, particularly with the addition of second overall pick Aidan Hutchinson, and the return of cornerback Jeff Okudah after an injury-hit season.

Is there a world in which things get weird in Green Bay? In which Justin Fields struggles in Chicago without a viable supporting cast, sinking the Bears season? In which the Vikings are unable to scotch tape together a defense and Kevin O’Connell is unable to squeeze any extra percentage points out of the Minnesota offense in his first year as head coach? You bet. And the Lions will be waiting.

Turnaround chances: Not as far away as some think
 
Who will be your NFL team’s MVP in 2022? The Athletic’s writers make 32 picks
Who will be your NFL team’s MVP in 2022? The Athletic’s beat writers have some obvious — and not so obvious — picks for each team below.
The Athletic NFL Staff Jul 20, 2022, Pt 1 of 3

Arizona Cardinals
Surely the Cardinals would love for some of their young players, like linebackers Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins, to develop into team MVP-caliber players. The reality, thought, is that the Cardinals’ best and most important player remains QB Kyler Murray. For the Cardinals to be competitive in the NFC West, they’ll need Murray to be one of the best QBs in the league consistently across 17 games. This will require Murray staying healthy and getting off to a hot start, even without DeAndre Hopkins for the first six weeks of the season.

Atlanta Falcons
Until/unless the Falcons find their long-term answer at QB, the question of whether Atlanta should have taken a QB with the fourth pick in 2021 will loom. That should not, however, overshadow the player the Falcons did get with that pick — TE Kyle Pitts. As a rookie, Pitts led the team in receiving yds (1,026 on 68 catches), and he’s going to be the top target again in 2022. Granted, there isn’t much competition on the MVP ballot with this roster, but even if there were, it would be Pitts.

Baltimore Ravens
As long as Lamar Jackson stays reasonably healthy in 2022, there’s really no other answer. Given his contract status, Jackson will be arguably the most scrutinized player in the sport heading into Week 1. However, he seems to thrive off the questions and in proving people wrong. Jackson is said to have worked extremely hard this offseason on his fundamentals and those who know him best expect him to have a major bounce-back year. It certainly should help him that the Ravens solidified their OL this offseason and figure to be much healthier on the offensive side of the ball.

Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen has been a league MVP candidate for the last two years and should again if health permits. But this year, Allen can establish himself in an entirely different way. The only offensive coordinator he’s ever worked with, Brian Daboll, is now the Giants head coach. Allen turned from an up-and-comer to a full-fledged star that makes his teammates better, but the degree of difficulty without Daboll has increased because things changed in 2022. If Allen can also help first-year play-caller Ken Dorsey make the seamless transition, Allen will cement himself as one of the league’s best once again.

Carolina Panthers
A couple of seasons ago this would have been a no-brainer. But that was before the rash of injuries that cost All-Pro RB Christian McCaffrey 23 of 33 games in 2020-21. So we’ll go with wideout DJ Moore, whose 3,525 receiving yds over the last three seasons rank fourth in the NFL — despite playing with six different QBs over that span. On a better team, Moore would be better known. He shows up every week (he’s missed two games in four seasons) and makes plays (his 10 catches of 50 yds or more are tied for the most since 2018).

Chicago Bears
The Bears would love it if come January, the answer to this is Justin Fields, but it’s hard to get there right now considering the brand-new offense and the lack of help around him. The likely MVP is the team’s most reliable player, Roquan Smith. He’s put up Pro Bowl-type numbers in back-to-back seasons, and should have more opportunities to make impact plays in Matt Eberflus’ defense. The Bears can count on Smith to be consistent and productive, a rarity for the 2022 team.

Cincinnati Bengals
If the Bengals’ MVP this year is anybody other than Joe Burrow something has gone terribly wrong. More specifically, that would mean injury hit the starting QB again. I suppose there’s a scenario where Burrow regresses and somebody overshadows him despite a fully healthy season, but it’s in another galaxy. Burrow will be the driving force in everything the Bengals do and one year after being in the MVP conversation and ranking as the top-graded QB in football by PFF, this team will be shaped and driven by his performance as long as he’s on the field taking snaps.

Cleveland Browns
Though it’s impossible to see the Browns as a playoff team without Deshaun Watson and hard to imagine they’d get to the postseason without a monster season from Myles Garrett, I’ll go with Nick Chubb as my projected season MVP. Regardless of who’s playing QB (and for how many games), the Browns have invested heavily in their OL and their run game and have a proven commodity in Chubb, who’s not only freakishly talented but has proven capable of carrying a heavy workload. The offense might need to reinvent itself more than once this season depending on Watson’s status, and the Browns certainly will need better from the pass game than they got last year. But there’s plenty of reason to believe Chubb can carry the Browns when necessary and is talented enough to help drive the offense through difficult and uncertain periods.

Dallas Cowboys
Micah Parsons. For the first time in over a decade the Cowboys have a chance to win because of their defense, and Parsons is the face of that group. He should again be in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year discussion. He’ll continue to get a lot of opportunities to rush the passer while also seeing significant time making plays all over the field as a traditional linebacker. While he showed during his rookie season that he can do just about anything asked of him, Parsons is expected to be even more effective in his second season working with defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

Denver Broncos
Russell Wilson. The Broncos traded three players and five draft picks to make Russell Wilson their franchise QB, ending a post-Peyton Manning stretch of wandering at the position that lasted six seasons. If Wilson is not the team’s MVP in 2022, then Denver’s hope of halting its stretch of losing seasons at five is probably in jeopardy. The Broncos shouldn’t put everything on Wilson’s shoulders. They have talented skill players and an improved OL. But the 33-year-old QB needs to play at a Pro Bowl level if the Broncos have any hope of winning the AFC West. Want a darkhorse candidate for this designation? We’ll go with second-year CB Pat Surtain II.
 


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