“NFL Notebook”

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Going thru my notes about the NFL.

OTA WORKOUTS…Wrapping up, and eventhough teams cut full speed workouts back, there still were injuries in San Francisco, Denver, Philadelphia and other places.  The Achilles-it’s always the Achilles.

CHARGERS…New staff-new enthusiasm-same old rhetoric.  Brandon Staley is excited, but then again so were Anthony Lynn before him, and Mike McCoy before that.  Interesting reaction from coaches about  the brand new playbook, how complex it is, and the challenges for young QB-Justin Herbert.  He’s not Drew Brees, yet, and the language Drew Brees knew and was able to call, will be what Herbert must pick up.

RAIDERS…Lots of new faces, same old stuff from Jon Gruden.  This seems like the 3rd attempt by GM-Mike Mayock to fix all that ails the Raiders.  Had to get rid of tons of bad contracts.  Then had to force feed young defense.  Then got rid of the offensive line.  Now trying to fix all that.  Progress will be judged by what they do on field come fall, not what they say in walkthrus in June.

RAMS..Maybe the most honest comments are about the firepower around incoming QB-Matthew Stafford.  That veteran WR group and the TE packages, all those guys have already done it on the field the last couple of years, and now you add the former Lions big time passer to the equation.  That’s real.

GREEN BAY…No Aaron Rodgers sighting, the holdout continues, the standoff goes on, the power struggle, the QB-vs-the GM is very real.  Only thing different now is with the June 1st calendar date, if the Packers want to move him, they get lots of bonus money back, and the cap hit is (11M) not (31M) if they trade him.  Jordan Love gets all the snaps in camp right now.  This Rodgers-to-San Francisco rumor makes sense doesn’t it?

HOUSTON…No Deshaun Watson, no comments by the front office, no decision yet by the NFL Commissioner on putting the QB-on the Exempt List.  The 22-lawsuits are still out there.  Supposed payments to victims being discussed.  Coach and GM refuse to discuss issues at all.  And now Watson drops hints about wanting to be traded to Denver.  That cannot happen till his legal situation is resolved.  Oh to add to all that, the Texans had over 12,000 on a season ticket waiting list, and that’s gone.  People saying no because of Watson, because of JJ Watt, because of DeAndre Hopkins deals.  How’s that offseason going?

SEATTLE….Whatever the issues between QB Russell Wilson and Coach Pete Carroll seem solved.  Wilson in the OTAs.  A team that thinks, if healthy, they have solved their offensive line issues and running back issues too.  Time will tell.  Understand history, Carroll has a track record of making late-off season deals, so there may be another veteran player addition.

DENVER…They have Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock, but will they be there opening day?  The rumor mill says Deshaun Watson to Denver is a possibility.

TITANS…They gave up a hefty price, a #2 and #4 draft picks to get Julio Jones from Atlanta this week.  You add him to the WR-TE packages they have and then mix in all things Derrick Henry, wow.  That’s alot firepower for the rejuvenated Ryan Tannehill to use.

JAGUARS…Urban Meyer, it’s his team, his QB-Trevor Lawrence.  Sure there is lots of excitement in J-ville with this clean piece of paper, but remember, this is a group that lost 15-games in a row last year, and you cannot bring in a whole new team in one off season.

BILLS..QB-Josh Allen says he hasn’t gotten the vaccine and does not think he will.  Buffalo has only about 60% of its players vaxxed, and Union Chief DeMaurice Smith sounded off..’no excuse for any player to not know the information about what the Covid vaccine can offer’.

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