Interesting to see how teams are treating preseason differently. Kudos to the Bears and Giants for letting their new starters play for a good bit. It makes sense for rookies like Caleb Williams and Malik Nabors to get reps with many of them with the other starters. You also have teams like the Texans playing a good chunk of time with the starters.
And then you have teams like the Bengals, Ravens, and Atlanta who rest a majority of their starters, and instead get a look at second teamers and low end of the rosters players.
The problem is that if any of your starters gets injured in the preseason, you’ll be crucified by the media and fans. So the risk will always be substantial to get those reps.
Should be fun to see how the rest of this preseason, and what they will do in preseasons if they move to 18 regular season games. Balancing getting reps for your new players versus the injury risk is a tough call, and one you will never, ever win.
The Buccaneers reached a release settlement with linebacker Randy Gregory, whom they had signed in the offseason, but who never showed up for training camp, apparently without explanation.
The Raiders have named journeyman Gardner Minshew II as their starting quarterback for Week 1; he beats out second-year player Aidan O’Connell, who had been the team’s starter for the final weeks of 2023.
Assuming that he actually starts in Week 1, Minshew will have started games at QB for four different teams (Jaguars, Eagles, Colts, and now Raiders) since 2020.
In full disclosure: I like Minshew a lot. He has a great work ethic, his teammates love him, he throws few interceptions, he’s a good student of the game, and he can be very good at manufacturing plays. And, not that it really factors into his on-field performance, but he’s hilarious, and doesn’t take himself too seriously.
The knocks on him, and why he’s bounced around, are on his arm strength, fumbling, and consistency (or lack thereof).
For some perspective though, there are only 8 current starting QBs who have even been to the Super Bowl. Of the winners, Rodgers & Wilson are near/at the end of their careers, and Stafford signed his current deal before he won (though it was renegotiated). Of the losers - Hurts, Goff, and Burrows are all in the top 10, and Purdy is still on his pittance of a rookie contract.
So it’s not like there’s a large pool of SB winning QBs who are greatly underpaid.
Joe D’Alessandris, who had been the Ravens’ offensive line coach for the past eight seasons, passed away this morning at age 70. Earlier this month, the team had announced that D’Alessandris was dealing with an undisclosed acute illness, and had undergone surgery earlier in the summer.
He had been an offensive line coach for the past 45 years; after primarily working in the college ranks for much of his career, he moved to the NFL in 2008, where he coached with the Chiefs, Bills, and Chargers before joining the Ravens’ staff in 2017.
Tomorrow is one of the saddest days of the NFL year as teams have to cut their rosters from 90 to 53 by 3:00 pm CST. Thats roughly 900 prospects whose NFL dreams will come to an end for the year. Some will make it to practice squads or may be signed later in the year as injuries mount, but regardless its a tough day for almost everyone.
Already all-name guys like Miles Battle, Steele Chambers, Albert Huggin, and AJ Green have been waived. More will follow over the 23 hours or so. Tough time.
Two of the big competitions in the Packers’ training camp were:
Whether Sean Clifford or rookie Michael Pratt would be the QB to step up and cement their place as Jordan Love’s backup
Whether kicker Anders Carlson, who struggled as a rookie, could hold off veteran Greg Joseph and keep the job
The answer, in both cases, was “none of the above.” The team traded a seventh-round pick to the Titans yesterday, for backup QB Malik Willis, then cut both Clifford and Pratt (though they resigned Clifford to the practice squad). They also released both Carlson and Joseph, and signed another former Titan, rookie Brayden Narveson, who’d just been cut, to start out the season as their kicker.
In addition, they placed RB AJ Dillon on injured reserve, without designating him to potentially return during the season. Dillon had missed the end of last season with a neck “stinger,” and suffered the same injury during training camp.
Giants un-retire Ray Flaherty’s number (1) for Malik Nabers. Flaherty was an end who played for them in 1929, and 1931-1935 (with a head coaching stint at Gonzaga in between). He’s credited with inventing the behind-the-line screen pass and the two-platoon substitution system. His was the first number ever retired from the NFL. He’s in the Hall of Fame as a coach (inducted 1976).
That’s ensaddening. While I think Nabers will be great, unretiring numbers to give a rookie what he wants smacks of “Sell jerseys now, fuck the history”.