Sports

[gardenman]

One hundred days until the first game! It's coming fast now! The Chiefs and Ravens to start things off this year. I've got a bad vibe about the Chiefs this year. I think their reign atop the AFC may be over. They slipped to the eighth-highest-scoring team in the AFC last year and when you win by outscoring the opponents, that's not great. I don't see them ascending while lot of other AFC teams seem to be getting better.

The good news for the Chiefs is they play in the AFC West which isn't the strongest division in all of football. The Raiders don't look very impressive. The Broncos and Chargers might be improved. The Broncos need something of a miracle to occur at QB, but you never know. Jim Harbaugh will be coaching the daylights out of the Chargers. That's a pretty talented, though underperforming roster. The Chiefs should still win the West, but then things get trickier in the playoffs. There aren't many patsies in the AFC playoff field these days.

[gardenman]

The NFLPA wants to change the offseason schedule starting in 2025. They want only classroom work with no on-the-field work until training camps start but longer training camps starting earlier. They think this will lessen the risk of injury to the players. Training camp could start in mid-June under that proposal. Mid-June to September is a long, long training camp. Two and half months of training camp is a lot, especially for the teams that train at a remote location. Do you leave your family for two and a half months?

Players get pretty antsy now in training camp. Adding a month or more to the length may not be as wise as it seems. We'll have to see if that goes through. It may be especially hard for the media members who travel to cover the training camps. They'd end up spending almost a quarter of the year (two and a half months) away from home.

[gardenman]

Does anyone need a running back? The Panthers reportedly have some buyer's remorse after signing Miles Sanders last year and are looking to move him. He's currently third on their depth chart and making $7+ million this year and $8+ million next year. He averaged just 3.3 yards per carry last year and lost his starting job midway through the season. Any trade will likely come with a requirement for his deal to be redone at a much lower cost. I would expect the Panthers to move him before the trading deadline if they can find a buyer. He could be one of those "We'll pay you to take him" type of deals you see from time to time.  His value will go up as injuries mount, but RBs are pretty easy to replace and his price tag will scare a lot of teams off. 

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

It will be very fun and interesting to see what Jim Harbaugh does with the talented and underachieving Chargers.....He plays the Chiefs twice 

I agree about the Chiefs, while they still have a chance to grab the AFC West Division, but other talented teams in the AFC can take them down...And the Chiefs and their off field distractions aren't a good omen either...

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 The Chiefs' quest to reach the Super Bowl last season did not pit them against the Bengals in the playoffs.  Joe Burrow's has a 3-1 all-time record against Kansas City with a now healthy Burrows,the Chiefs will have their hands full!

Then there's the usual Ravens, Bills, the surprising young Texans, and the Browns might be in the mix,and Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season for the Steelers (but with a geriatric QB who knows, but they got that renegade song, to fire up their defense led by TJ Watt ........) and if they match up again in the playoffs, if the weather is right, maybe the Dolphins can step up and challenge..

And they have some NFC teams on their schedule that should give them trouble too----49ers and the Bucs....

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

The NFLPA wants to change the offseason schedule starting in 2025. They want only classroom work with no on-the-field work until training camps start but longer training camps starting earlier. They think this will lessen the risk of injury to the players. Training camp could start in mid-June under that proposal. Mid-June to September is a long, long training camp. Two and half months of training camp is a lot, especially for the teams that train at a remote location. Do you leave your family for two and a half months?

Players get pretty antsy now in training camp. Adding a month or more to the length may not be as wise as it seems. We'll have to see if that goes through. It may be especially hard for the media members who travel to cover the training camps. They'd end up spending almost a quarter of the year (two and a half months) away from home.

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@gardenman 

Doesn't sound like a good idea AT ALL!!!

[Spurt]

I know I rag on the Cowboys A LOT ....but they have actually had a few good high character guys on the team...One of them is Bob Lilly..I remember the hoopla when Bob came to SA several times to promote the Cowboys.....His hobby is photography and he had a book published in 1984....Anyway, there has been much talk about the Redskins Larry Brown getting into the Profootball Hall Of Fame he was even a Senior nominee for 2024 but didn't make the cut. Back in 2019 Bob Lilly even wrote a letter to the Selection Committee endorsing His Redskin rival as a Senior Candidate......Nice gesture....and just wanted to give a shout out to 84 yr old  Bob Lilly ......And yes the Cowboys do/did have some nice guys..

[gardenman]

The Steelers have an interesting situation at QB. Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are an interesting duo. Who will be the starter? Normally you'd go with the vet, but the Steelers are only paying him $1 million so they have no real financial reason to play him. Justin Fields is more talented and has more upside. Training camp will be fun for them.

[Spurt]

@PARedbird 

Of course, what longtime  Redskin/Washington fan wouldn't take advantage of a snide remark made about the Cowboys 

Stephen A. Smith thinks the NBA Dallas Mavericks lost last night in the NBA Western Conference Finals Game 4 because there were members of the Dallas Cowboys in attendance.🤣🤣🤣

And in idiotic news, the former NFLN employee, Michael Irvin had this to say....

Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin says the Mavs will win it all because 77 + 11 = 88 (Irvin's Cowboy Jersey number 🙄) Or 88 could mean LOST A JOB (NO NBA CHAMPIONSHIP) like what happened to Irvin and NFLN!

[teganslaw]

SPURT I wondered why the Mavericks didn't sweep the Timberwolves. The Cowboys in the audience must have cursed the team! 

The Bears and Jets are listed in the top 5 of the most improved teams in 2024. It seems that every year there are high expectations for the Jets and they disappoint. 

With the Bears, optimism is good, but some are thinking that they will win the divsion with Caleb Williams. Maybe their expectations should be tempered a bit and just hope for a winning record. Even beating Green Bay would be a start.

[gardenman]

The Bears and Jets have solid rosters, but coaching and QB play will determine their fates. The Jets are hoping Aaron Rodgers holds together the whole season while the Bears are hoping a kid QB can come in and learn a complicated offense quickly and succeed. I'm not sure that both aren't being overly optimistic. The Jets play their home games on a field where the turf eats players. And by and large, kid QBs struggle for a bit before they take off.

If everything goes right, they could be successful, but you can say that for all 32 teams. Of the two, I think the Jets have the best chance for success right away. Rodgers, assuming he can stay upright, is talented enough to help any team win. Everything speeds up dramatically for a college QB moving to the pros. He has less time for everything and the defenders move faster. It takes time to adjust to the speed of the NFL.

The Eagles get back on the practice field today and unleash the media. For the first media-watched OTA they had the media all huddled up in a section of the stands far from the action. Today they're letting the media wander around the fields as the practice goes on. We should get lots more video and news from the practice today.

I think one more week of voluntary OTAs and then one week of mandatory and then everyone disappears until training camp. From mid-June until the start of training camp, the only news that comes out is that of the players who did something wrong in the offseason and got suspended. You prefer not to hear any of your players' names come up during that spell. It's the deadest part of the NFL offseason.

The Eagles have two empty roster spots and everyone's guessing who they'll get to fill those spots, but nothing concrete just yet. I wouldn't be surprised to see former Eagles linebacker Shaun Bradley claim one spot. Even though he's still an unsigned free agent, he welcomed the free agents the Eagles signed and also the draft picks to the Eagles. He still considers himself an Eagle. He's still recovering from a torn Achilles he suffered last year. Once he's healthy, he's apt to be back to compete for a linebacker/special teams role. He'd be a good depth piece if nothing else. We'll have to see.