With training camps open, and the first preseason game - the Hall of Fame Game - only six days away, it’s time for the preseason thread.
Two wide receivers signing new contracts:
Aiyuk still not with his hoped for Commanders (he’s a bit volatile and knee recovery is suspect). I don’t make him a good choice, lack of maturity.
Diggs still available but his price won’t fit in most caps. Still would be a terrific pickup, a top #2 receiver, even a #1 on some teams. Training camp injury and teams will come calling.
Tyreek Hill has a difficult recovery from a gruesome knee injury. Still early in rehab. A character question, but many WRs are divas.
Keenan Allen and Diggs are the top veteran guys available. Both had solid seasons last year.
Last week, Hill released a video on social media, in which he said that he “feels good,” and that “timeline looking real good right now,” but on the other hand, he also said, “I have no power in my left leg at all.” So, I am pretty skeptical when, or if, he’ll be ready to play this season.
I also think that, in his case, “a character question” is an understatement. 
I got a little giddy when I saw this thread!
My Dolphins are beginning a rebuild. Which is exciting! Good management is in - they come from Green Bay, and are emphasizing the importance of being a physical team that doesn’t make mistakes. We tried edgy and sheik; now it’s back to basics.
We have a lot of young faces, too. Names I’m not really familiar with (linebacker Jacob Rodriguez? WR Kevin Coleman?) who I hope become the fixtures of a renewed run at greatness (after a quarter century, it’s time).
Supposedly, we have the worst receivers in football. But I’m hoping we surprise people. Malik Willis might prove to be a really good quarterback (he’s never really had an opportunity), the young talent might emerge, and De’Von Achane could have a great season running behind his mammoth offensive line (Patrick Paul, the left tackle, and Kadyn Proctor, the rookie left guard, are both 6’7”).
And if they go belly up, I hear next year’s draft has some great franchise quarterbacks (has Arch Manning fixed his mechanics yet?), so there’s no losing here!
It should be an interesting year. Some minor rules changes (replay can now eject players even if no penalty called, offside kicks can happen anytime), a new rookie class, and the Rams looking like the team to beat in the NFC with the addition of Myles Garrett and possible return of Aaron Donald (it’d be a nice story, but the dude, while the best while playing, is 35 years old).
Things I’m watching for:
The 2024 QB class still has a lot of questions. Given his wilting in the playoffs was Drake Maye’s impressive year last year just a fluke of playing really bad teams? Can Caleb Williams continue to develop and run an NFL offense or will it be another year of cardiac arrests in Chicago? Is Jayden Daniels healthy enough and can he return to his rookie form? Is JJ McCarthy mentally OK, really bad at playing QB in the NFL, or both? Is Bo Nix’s regression last year real? Big year for that huge draft at QB.
Can the Cardinals join the Browns, Bucs, and Lions as teams that go winless for an entire NFL season? Why the hell did they draft a RB at #3 when they have so many massive holes in their roster? And, somewhat related, will the NFL start to do anything as teams start tanking earlier and earlier in the year?
How will the NFC North shake out? After having every single team in the division with a winning record and plus point differential last year will they regress? Will the Bears defense be the worst in their history? Can the Lions go from worst to first? Will Kyler Murray actually give a shit about winning? Can the Packers recover from losing their Defensive Coordinator and stud DE? Should be a fun division to watch.
And, since this is the training camp/preseason thread: Different teams will treat preseason differently. Will some teams start the season slower due to resting their starters in the preseason? Who will be the preseason darlings and will they be able to carry that through to real NFL games?
Despite thinking that my beloved Packers are going the wrong way, I’m excited for another year of NFL football.
Question for Niners fans, including @garygnu . What is up with the constant slew of injuries? Seems every year, they are above the norm for injuries. Is it the training staff? A play through pain until you break attitude? The Faustian deal Shanahan made for success?
It’s a good question and I’d love to read a more informed opinion than my guesses.
I’ve only noticed this in the last few years. That could be an aging roster, a new training shitty program, or just bad luck with some confirmation bias thrown in.
My best guess, behind confirmation bias, is overall practice intensity. Both from Shanahan and from the veteran leadership. For example, our second year running back in a camp battle for the RB2 spot got his ribs cracked during a non-padded practice because Fred Warner went to punch the ball out.
Our QB is slightly undersized, our offensive stars seek contact, some of our stars (Bosa) are simply not as durable as you’d like. I’m not happy with the medical and training staff, but it’s hard for me as a civilian to tell how much their incompetence is affecting things.
but I thought it was the power station 
we’ll see if adding more trainers will help (and add martial arts advisors?)
I read an article where a new player on the team commented on exactly this. Where other teams have more time to rest and recover between games, the 9ers keep practicing and hard, and it wears them down. I’ll post the article if I can find it.
Seriously? An 8 year veteran punched and broke the ribs of the presumed backup RB during an unpadded practice?
Wow.
Yup.
I love ya, Fred, but tone it down.
Diggs takes a one-year deal with Washington for $12 million. Sounds like he’s comfortable being WR2, asserting himself the best No. 2 receiver in the league.
I enjoy gambling. I’ll place sports bets, mostly on the NFL. I love playing poker. I even give lotto tickets to the kids every year in their Christmas stockings.
I do not, for the life of me, understand why anyone would bet on the Hall of Fame Game. There is so little information, and the outcome is not up to the vagaries of the play of the players, but to coach’s decisions. And the coaches are not trying to win, but rather on who to play where and how to get the most good practice reps for the team. The win is all but immaterial. To wager on such easily manipulatable data is simply incredibly stupid to me. I have the exact same problem with “prediction markets”, which are so easily to manipulate by certain people that you are always going to be far behind those with knowledge/power over the outcome.
Still, I’ll watch the game.
I’m not a gambler, but I don’t know why people would bet on any pre-season NFL game, for the reasons you note. Coaches are trying out players who may or may not make the team (based on their performance), the team’s actual starters play little - if at all - and winning the game itself is meaningless.
And yet, I can get 35 to 1 odds on Carson Beck rushing for a TD on his first Offensive Drive. Or bet $100 to get $160 back that both teams score in the 2nd quarter. Or 13 to one odds that the Cardinals score exactly 16 points. It’s ridiculous.
However, they aren’t offering odds on someone on an NFL coaching staff and/or at least one player getting busted for illegally gambling on games that they have a direct control over. It’s gonna be ugly for the NFL as point shaving and late game decisions in all but over games become more and more noticable.
You can say the same for pre-season baseball and hockey. Maybe for a friendly in soccer, too. Even in horse racing, where the spectators’ whole idea is to bet on the outcome, I know some horseplayers who refuse to wager on races for two-year-old horses. Often owners and trainers are trying out the horse at different conditions (distance, for example), too little information is available on the horse’s performance; and like a human adolescent, the horses can still be growing, resulting in awkwardness or worse.
With that all said, it is entirely possible to enjoy a sports event, even a pre-season one, without betting on it. I’ve got the football game on as I type this, and I’m enjoying it so far. Even if it is a mean-nothing game, it is great to see the return of football!
Maybe for some people, when they want to gamble, they want to gamble.
I’ve never been a gambler though. It’s so opposite of my personality. I’ve never had the urge to buy a lottery ticket or anything. The closest is investing money, and even that I do with financial advice backing up my choices.
Roger Craig, the former star running back for Bill Walsh’s 49ers, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, revealed in his pre-recorded acceptance speech that he has been diagnosed with dementia, likely the result of head trauma he suffered as a player.