Also, as per this article from the Green Bay Press-Gazette, there have been a spate of huge contracts signed by quarterbacks in the past year-plus.
Indeed, as the linked article displays, none of the top 11 highest-paid qbs have won a Super Bowl. The 12th-highest paid qb is Patrick Mahomes, with whom you may be familiar.
Who’s contract was absolutely ridiculous when he signed it, with a $50m AAV for a decade.
It makes perfect sense once you realize that the way it works in the NFL is that it doesn’t matter who’s best, it matters whose turn it is.
The Colts have lost DE Samson Ebukam for the season with a torn Achilles tendon.
This one seems like it came out of left field a bit.
He was under contract through 2025 but the Bears got ahead of the game on his extension. A big old pile of guaranteed money and a AAV that makes him the 7th highest paid WR (likely to drop to 8th when CeeDee Lamb signs a deal).
Mahomes is practicing at training camp with a blindfold after spinning around.
This, of course, will come in handy for every time Mahomes takes a snap, spins in place four times then tries to find Travis Kelce on a deep cross.
https://www.si.com/nfl/patrick-mahomes-ridiculous-pass-chiefs-training-camp
Are they also going to deploy a drone that shoots little lasers at him?
Vikings rookie QB J.J. McCarthy, who has been competing with Sam Darnold in training camp for the starting role, has been diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his left knee. It’s not clear when the injury occurred: he played well in last weekend’s pre-season game, was not pulled from the game early, and didn’t report the issue to the team’s medical staff until yesterday.
He’s scheduled to undergo surgery on it later this week; until the surgery is actually performed, it’s not clear if it’ll be just a minor surgery, allowing him to return to action soon, or if he’ll need a full repair, which would likely mean missing the entire season.
Ouch, that suuuuuuuuucks for the Vikings.
Marquise (Hollywood) Brown, acquired by KC in the offseason to be the speedy deep threat that they lacked last season, suffered a sternoclavicular injury in their first preseason game. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Just as a general piece of advice, do not play Dance Dance Revolution to celebrate a good preseason game.
(I have no idea what actually happened but that’s where my imagination went.)
I wonder if the soon-to-be 18th game will be a new out-of-the-us game.
The offseason has NOT been kind to Minnesota.
Confirmed earlier today, out for the season.
Tannehill is still floating around out there, just saying. Could do a lot worse. They have Darnold, but we know what he is, and it’s not great.
Patriots trade Matthew Judon to the Falcons for a 2025 third round pick.
Definitely some pros and cons to this trade for the Pats, but it shows that they are … well, let’s say they’re not “aiming high” in 2024. Judon was one of the best players on the team - possibly the best. I understand why they didn’t want to sign him for huge $$ given the injury history and tendency to fade toward the end of every season, not to mention him flapping his gums about his contract and causing problems. But they are also without DT Christain Barmore indefinitely due to blood clots, so the strategy of “use your excellent defense to keep you in the game and let Jacoby Brissett manage the game just enough to eke out some wins” doesn’t work so well when your defense is not elite.
I had some hope that the Patriots would be a little better than expected (a low bar), maybe stealing enough wins to go 7-10 or so, but now it looks like they’ll definitely be in the bottom 5, grabbing some more high draft picks and starting the rebound next season.
Heh. My buddies and I were picking our ‘bottom feeders’ this morning, and the Pats were high (low?) on that list.
Yeah, a lot of punditry predictions had them as ending with one of the worst records in the league, but I had been a little more optimistic based on the strength of the defense + what I expect to be average QB play from Brissett (as opposed to the dumpster fire QB situation last year) + the addition of some young WR talent that could add some spice to the throwing game.
Alas, it does look like I should just get excited about next year’s draft 
They’ll probably be fine with Darnold. I actually think Darnold would have given them a better chance to win in 2024 than a healthy JJ. Will be interesting to see how O’Connell’s offense looks without Kirk. If Darnold plays well it will be quite the feather in his cap. I’m not ruling that out.
Vikings pick up Matt Corral, who’s been playing in the UFL.