Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
From Patrick Mahomes to Sam Howell, Touchdown Wire’s Natalie Miller ranks the NFL’s current starting quarterbacks from 1-32.
It is that time of the offseason when we begin to ponder the questions that will linger in our minds until the first snap of the 2023 season. One of those questions, of course, is: Who is the best at the most important position in the entire sport?
Today we rank all the starting quarterbacks from Nos. 1-32. This includes rookies, who we will analyze given their college success and film.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar picks the best pro football player to wear every jersey number — from Jim Otto (00) to Aaron Donald (99).
Football is a game of numbers, and that includes jersey numbers — which define players in our minds to a certain degree. Who can think of Hall of Fame center Jim Otto without thinking of his 00 jersey, or Warren Moon’s No. 1, or a host of legendary quarterbacks rocking the No. 12, and on and on.
In this specific exercise, we are determining the greatest player in pro football history to wear each jersey number from 00 to 99. Sometimes, the choices are eminently obvious, and other times… not so much. No. 8 had the duel between Steve Young and Troy Aikman, just as we saw in multiple NFC Championship games in the early 1990s. No. 21 had us deciding between LaDainian Tomlinson, Deion Sanders, Frank Gore, Charles Woodson, and Patrick Peterson. Yikes!
On and on it went, but we finally worked through each jersey number and each correspondingly greatest player, and here is that list for your perusal — with the honorable mentions that made this process quite tricky at times.
Football’s almost back! Here are training camp reporting dates for all 32 NFL teams — rookies and veterans.
Our long national nightmare — life without football — is nearly over. As the summer starts to turn, and the days get just a bit shorter, it’s time to start thinking about your favorite team’s new coaches, acquired free agents, and draft picks. Maybe this is the season for your team to hoist the Lombardi Trophy?
We all live in hope, which is what the season is about.
In just a few weeks, rookies will report to their new NFL facilities for their first training camps, with the veterans soon to follow. Here are the starting dates for all 32 teams — rookies and veterans.
Now that the 2023 NBA draft is done, what better time than now to run another 2024 NFL first-round mock draft?
Now that the 2023 NBA draft is in the bag, what better excuse can we at Touchdown Wire have to do another 2024 NFL mock draft? The 2023 college football season is still weeks away, and it’s the dead part of the NFL timeline, so while we don’t think we’ll see any insane deals like the one the Wizards and Suns pulled off (unless the Rams decide to get weird again), it is time to start thinking about what NFL teams will need after the 2023 season and after 2024 free agency.
This time, the draft positions are courtesy of the Pro Football Network mock draft simulator, with no first-round trades during the simulation.
Without further ado, here’s one version of how the first round of the 2024 NFL draft might look.
Touchdown Wire’s positional lists continue with Doug Farrar’s 11 best cornerbacks heading into the 2023 NFL season.
If you want to know how variable cornerback performance can be from year to year, consider the case of Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell. In 2021, Terrell was one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks, allowing 29 catches on 66 targets for 200 yards, 93 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, three interceptions, 13 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 47.5. One season later, Terrell gave up 39 catches on 68 targets for 430 yards, 142 yards after the catch, a league-high nine touchdowns, no interceptions, eight pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 115.8.
Or consider the case of J.C. Jackson. The former Patriots star never allowed an opponent passer rating lower than 62.7 over four seasons in New England. Then, he signed a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Chargers, and between schematic issues and injuries, Jackson allowed 198 catches on 27 targets for 370 yards, 72 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 152.4 — in just five games.
Why are CBs J.C. Jackson, William Jackson III, A.J. Terrell, and Amani Oruwariye struggling in 2022?
From year to year, cornerback performance can be as volatile as you can possibly imagine, for all kinds of reasons. The same cornerback on the same team in a system supposedly set up to help him succeed can see his performance fluctuate wildly from season to season.
[mm-video type=video id=01h3ezk80xx1z7rp1w2n playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h3ezk80xx1z7rp1w2n/01h3ezk80xx1z7rp1w2n-4265b7ad0321817c1560c2b15ddc1089.jpg]
For those cornerbacks who made this year’s list — Patrick Surtain II, Marlon Humphrey, Darius Slay, Jaire Alexander, and Jalen Ramsey — it’s a case of beating the odds. This means that there are seven new players on this year’s list, which is about par for the course.
The criteria for inclusion on this year’s list were…
This is the second in our positional rankings series, which concludes with our list of the 101 best players in the NFL today.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated).
From Minkah Fitzpatrick to Quandre Diggs to Vonn Bell, here are Doug Farrar’s 11 best safeties in the NFL today.
Safety might be the NFL’s most volatile position.
When you look at what makes the best safeties in the league from year to year, not only do the requirements change in certain ways, but the players at the top tend to vary quite a bit. This was reinforced to me when I put together last year’s list of the NFL’s best safeties, and there were just five safeties who made the list in both 2021 and 2022.
There’s similar turnover as we move to 2023. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Tyrann Mathieu, Quandre Diggs, Kevin Byard, Justin Simmons, and Jordan Poyer made the cut last year and this year. That’s six of the 13 top safeties from last season, so here’s to the new blood.
Derwin James, Micah Hyde, Marcus Williams, Xavier McKinney, Antione Winfield Jr., Jimmie Ward, Devin McCourty (retired) didn’t make the list from last year. Not that any of them had horrible seasons or anything; there’s just a run of guys who were better last season who I think deserved more merit.
[mm-video type=video id=01h3fca0ywt6ajy7v29m playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h3fca0ywt6ajy7v29m/01h3fca0ywt6ajy7v29m-1d9ee80d685960c8a35da8c655416ef8.jpg]
My criteria for the positions this year were…
With all that out of the way, here are my 11 best safeties in the NFL as we all prepare for the 2023 season — and next month’s list of the top 101 players in the game today.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated).
From Matt Milano to Denico Autry to Tyler Lockett to Tony Pollard, here are the NFL’s most underrated players by team.
Why are great players underrated in any sport?
There are all kinds of reasons. In football, it could be that the guy playing your position is even better than you are, and he’s been doing it longer. Maybe we only have the attention span for one great player at your position Maybe you’re on a team that doesn’t get much national praise, or you’re part of a unit that… well, stinks… and you’re one of the few bright spots. Or, you’re just getting started on the ascent, and the world hasn’t quite caught up yet.
No matter the reason, there are many NFL players who ply their trade at an exceedingly high level, and they’re not given their proper due. Here, we look to rectify this in 32 individual instances with the most underrated player for every NFL team. Some of these guys have been doing it the right way in the shade for a long time for their teams; a few are new in their uniforms.
No matter why, all 32 of these NFL players deserve more love than they get, and here’s why. Here is every NFL team’s most underrated player.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated).
In Doug Farrar’s latest 2024 mock draft, the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Raiders, and Packers are in the market for new franchise quarterbacks.
May and June mark the “slow” part of the NFL year (don’t tell that to DeAndre Hopkins’ agent), which means that teams are now engaging in some summer scouting in between all the minicamp preparation and whatnot. This means, of course, that teams are already putting the work in on prospects for the 2024 NFL draft.
We’re doing the same at Touchdown Wire, and based on projected team needs and our own initial tape work, we thought it would be interesting to start up the inevitable 2024 mock drafts! In this case, the order of teams is set by Pro Football Focus’ Mock Draft Simulator, and we go from there.
And in this mock, we have four teams looking for new franchise quarterbacks in the first round. The Arizona Cardinals, who have the first two picks overall, are starting the process of moving on from Kyler Murray, which may or may not be an actual thing by the end of the upcoming season… but it could be. We also have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looking to accentuate a quarterback room that currently consists of Baker Mayfield, Kyle Trask, and John Wolford, which kinda speaks for itself.
Also, the Las Vegas Raiders may well be tired of the Jimmy Garoppolo Experience after one year of it, and the Green Bay Packers may be in a situation where the Jordan Love succession plan didn’t go quite as everybody hoped.
So, here’s one version of how the first round of the 2024 NFL draft might go.
Jon Gruden, who resigned from the Raiders after his sexist, racist, and homophobic e-mails were made public, is back in the NFL. Sort of.
Former Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach and ESPN broadcaster Jon Gruden, who has been persona non grata in the league since his resignation from the Raiders in October, 2021, is back in the NFL… to a point, as a consultant for the New Orleans Saints, as the Saints try to extract the most from new quarterback Derek Carr. The Saints signed Carr to a four-year, $150 million contract with $100 million guaranteed as they attempt to get the game’s most important position back on track — something the franchise hasn’t enjoyed since Drew Brees’ salad days.
In this process, the Saints are availing themselves of all possible options, including Gruden’s insight.
From Nola.com’s Jeff Duncan:
Carr worked primarily out of West Coast offenses in Las Vegas. Head coaches Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels ran similar offensive systems to the one the Saints have employed since Sean Payton initially implemented the scheme in 2006. In fact, Payton’s offense was heavily influenced by Gruden from their time together on the Philadelphia Eagles staff in 1997.
To facilitate the transition, the Saints signed two of Carr’s old Raiders targets in free agency: wide receiver Bryan Edwards and tight end Foster Moreau. The club also brought in Gruden this week to pick his brain about the offensive transition. The longtime head coach spent much of his time at the Saints facility with Carr and the offensive coaching staff as they orchestrated the early stages of the offensive installation.
Gruden has a unique familiarity with Carr and the Saints’ offensive scheme so the move to bring him to campus makes sense. Statistically, Carr enjoyed the best years of his career in his three-plus seasons under Gruden from 2018 to 2021.
Of course, there’s what happened in 2021 that pushed things off the ledge for the Raiders, and for Carr himself. Gruden resigned from the team after reports from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal disclosed e-mails in which Gruden used words and terms that were racist, sexist, and homophobic.
Jon Gruden resigns as Raiders’ head coach amidst massive controversies
It’s highly unlikely that any team would accept Gruden as a head coach or assistant coach with all that attendant baggage, but the Saints seemed to see value in his consultancy.
DeAndre Hopkins is now a free agent after his release from the Arizona Cardinals. What does Hopkins still have to offer the NFL?
Well, so much for Memorial Day weekend being a relaxing one for NFL coaches and executives. On Friday, it was announced that the Arizona Cardinals released receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and that will perk up the ears of the shot-callers in all 31 other NFL stops.
Selected by the Houston Texans with the 27th overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft out of Clemson, Hopkins has been at his best an elite production machine. From 2014 through 2020, Hopkins led all receivers in targets (1,117) and receptions (695), only Julio Jones had more receiving yards (10,159) than Hopkins’ 9,207, and only Antonio Brown, Davante Adams, and Mike Evans had more touchdowns than Hopkins’ 58.
However, Hopkins hasn’t played a full season since 2020. Hamstring and knee injuries limited him to 10 games with the Arizona Cardinals in 2021 — his second in the Valley of the Sun after a major 2020 trade — and he was suspended for the first six games of the 2022 season for violating the NFL’s policies no performance-enhancing substances. His 106 catches on 160 targets for 1,289 yards and 11 touchdowns over those two seasons would have been about one season’s production before.
It was too much for the Cardinals, who had tried unsuccessfully to find a willing trade partner for the veteran receiver. The primary issue was not performance, but salary. Hopkins signed a two-year contract extension in 2020 that gave him $54.5 million in new money with $42.75 million guaranteed at signing. By releasing him now, Arizona saves $8,911,114 of his cap hit this season, and they still take on $21,077,776 in dead cap in 2023.
That’s the bad news. The good news for the Cardinals is that they’re obviously rebuilding at all levels, and getting Hopkins’ entire contract off the books in 2023 makes the most sense of all available solutions — unless we’re talking about the one solution of seeing what Hopkins has left in the tank at age 30.
That’s now for the rest of the NFL to decide. So, for those interested and interesting teams, what does DeAndre Hopkins have left to offer?
