Category: Titans

2024 Mock Draft: Cardinals, Bucs, Raiders, Packers look for new franchise quarterbacks

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.

The All-22: What DeAndre Hopkins has to offer his next NFL team

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?

2023 NFL Draft: Consensus grades from best to worst for all 32 teams

The wisdom of crowds isn’t always the ideal, but here’s how 29 different analysts rated every NFL team’s draft, from best to worst.

Finding oneself beholden to the wisdom of crowds isn’t always the wisest move, but there is some tangential value in looking at how multiple analysts view the drafts of NFL teams. Worst-case, you get a sense of how we’re all wrong at the same time. Best case, there’s an aggregate response that can be accurate and telling.

Recently, football analyst René Bugner did us all the favor of compiling the post-draft grades for 2023 from 29 different sources (including yours truly, for better or worse), and did the math for each team from a grade-point perspective.

So, with those roll-offs and curves, we have a general sense of how those who analyze these things for a living (again, for better or worse) have put each NFL team in its respective place.

Here, then, are the post-draft GPAs for all 32 NFL teams. I’m including analysis for every team from my original grades at Touchdown Wire.

2023 NFL Draft: Final grades for all 32 NFL teams

Tom Brady speaks with Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis

Tom Brady recently gave pertinent career advice to Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis.

The top four quarterbacks selected in the 2023 NFL draft recently had a unique opportunity to speak with Tom Brady, the consensus greatest quarterback in pro football history. Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis attended a seminar that included Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, rap superstar Travis Scott, and Brady himself.

Brady spoke specifically to the quarterbacks about taking things beyond wherever you were selected in a draft. Brady would know, as he was taken 199th overall in the sixth round of the 2000 draft, and things went pretty well for him after that.

“Going in the second round? In the end, that’s not really a big deal,” Brady told the young quarterbacks. “Going first overall? In the end, it’s not a big deal. It’s great — you’ve got opportunities, you’re probably going to be paid more than anyone for a time period… but I was drafted 199, and I just outlasted everybody. There’s another me back there, right? So, how do I keep my edge on everybody? I had to keep working. I didn’t go, ‘Hey — I’m good. I won three Super Bowls — I’m good.”

Brady finished his career with seven Super Bowl wins, so one imagined that Young, Stroud, Richardson, and Levis were hanging on every word.

Falcons, Colts, Panthers respond perfectly to Titans’ brilliant schedule release video

The Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts, and Carolina Panthers responded perfectly to the Tennessee Titans’ schedule release video.

It’s months before the start of the 2023 NFL season, but the Tennessee Titans have absolutely won Schedule Release Day with this utterly hilarious video in which the team’s social media group queried a group of people on Broadway regarding the identities of their 2023 opponents.

The results were… fabulous.

The Atlanta Falcons were the first to respond to this on their own Twitter account.

And then, the Indianapolis Colts followed suit after five different people mistook them for the Dallas Cowboys.

The Carolina Panthers did have an appropriate question regarding the identity of their incorrect franchise identification.

12 things to know about the 2023 NFL schedule

Here’s 12 things to know about the 2023 NFL schedule — everything from how it starts, to how to watch, to how it ends.

The NFL announced its 18-week, 272-game regular-season schedule for 2023, which kicks off on Thursday night, September 7, in Kansas City and concludes with 16 division games in Week 18 – two on Saturday, January 6, and 14 on Sunday, January 7.

The 2023 NFL schedule, powered by AWS, will feature each team playing 17 regular-season games and three preseason games for the third consecutive year. The 17th game will feature teams from opposing conferences that finished in the same standing within their respective divisions the previous season. The AFC will be the home conference for the 17th game in 2023. For how opponents were determined for the 2023 season, click here.

The NFL uses the power of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to power its schedule-making process. There are approximately a quadrillion possible schedule combinations each NFL season and over 26,000 factors to take into consideration such as stadium availability, travel requirements, primetime games, competitive fairness and division rivalries. The NFL uses AWS to run high performance computing workloads to find the best possible schedule each year. For more information, click here.

Here’s 12 things you need to know about the 2023 schedule, courtesy of the NFL.

The 2023 NFL schedule, week by week

Here is the complete 2023 NFL schedule from Week 1 through Week 18.

The NFL announced its 18-week, 272-game regular-season schedule for 2023, which kicks off on Thursday night, September 7, in Kansas City and concludes with 16 division games in Week 18 – two on Saturday, January 6, and 14 on Sunday, January 7.

The 2023 NFL schedule, powered by AWS, will feature each team playing 17 regular-season games and three preseason games for the third consecutive year. The 17th game will feature teams from opposing conferences that finished in the same standing within their respective divisions the previous season. The AFC will be the home conference for the 17th game in 2023. For how opponents were determined for the 2023 season, click here.

The NFL uses the power of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to power its schedule-making process. There are approximately a quadrillion possible schedule combinations each NFL season and over 26,000 factors to take into consideration such as stadium availability, travel requirements, primetime games, competitive fairness and division rivalries. The NFL uses AWS to run high performance computing workloads to find the best possible schedule each year. For more information, click here.

The NFL’s 104th season begins with the league’s annual primetime kickoff game, as the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Detroit Lions at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, September 7 (8:20 PM ET, NBC). The Lions finished the 2022 regular season with wins in eight of their final 10 games while the Chiefs won each of the final eight games last season, including the playoffs.

Week 1 continues Sunday, September 10, with a double-doubleheader featuring four Sunday afternoon games in every market. On CBS at 4:25 PM ET, two 2022 playoff teams meet as Miami visits the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas travels to Denver in an AFC West showdown and Philadelphia visits New England in a rematch of Super Bowls XXXIX and LII. On FOX at 4:25 PM ET, the two teams with the most regular-season wins in NFL history – Green Bay and Chicago – meet at Soldier Field to renew their rivalry while the Los Angeles Rams travel to Seattle in a rematch of their thrilling Week 18 overtime contest that helped the Seahawks secure a 2022 playoff berth.

Later that day, NBC’s Sunday Night Football begins with the Dallas Cowboys visiting the New York Giants (8:20 PM ET), in a matchup between NFC East divisional rivals and 2022 playoff teams. NBC will televise one game each Sunday night in Weeks 1-15 and Week 17. On Saturday in Week 16, NBC will feature Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (4:30 PM ET) while Peacock will exclusively stream Buffalo at the Los Angeles Chargers at 8:00 PM ET.

Kickoff Weekend concludes on Monday, September 11, with ESPN/ABC’s Monday Night Football, featuring Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets hosting Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills (8:15 PM ET) in an AFC East showdown. YouTube is the presenting sponsor of Kickoff Weekend, marking the first time a League partner will brand the opening weekend of the season, inclusive of Thursday night, the weekend games, and Monday night.

ESPN will televise 16 games this season (one game each Monday night in Weeks 1-15 and Saturday night in Week 17) and will be simulcast on ABC in Weeks 1, 11 and 17, including the Super Bowl LVII rematch between Philadelphia and Kansas City on Monday, November 20. In Weeks 2, 3 and 14, there will be two Monday night games on ESPN and ABC. In Weeks 2 and 3, the two Monday night games broadcast at 7:15 PM ET and 8:15 PM ET. In Week 14, the two Monday night games will both kickoff at 8:15 ET, as Tennessee visits Miami (ESPN) and the New York Giants host Green Bay (ABC). In Week 16, ABC will broadcast the conclusion of the NFL’s Christmas Day triple-header between Baltimore and San Francisco (8:15 PM ET). There will be no Monday night game on the final regular-season weekend (Week 18) to provide more flexibility for the scheduling of the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs.

Additionally, ESPN/ABC will air two games with playoff implications on the Saturday of Week 18, January 6, at 4:30 PM ET and 8:15 PM ET. These games will be selected following the conclusion of Week 17.

Thursday Night Football will air exclusively on Prime Video, kicking off its slate in Week 2 as the Philadelphia Eagles host the Minnesota Vikings (8:15 PM ET). Prime Video will broadcast 15 Thursday Night Football games between Weeks 2-17 (excluding Thanksgiving night) and exclusively stream the first-ever NFL Black Friday game when the New York Jets host the Miami Dolphins in Week 12 (3:00 PM ET).

NFL Network will exclusively televise eight games – four international games, three games in Week 15 on Saturday, December 16 and the New England Patriots visiting the Denver Broncos on Sunday, December 24 (8:15 PM ET).

The NFL schedule features five international regular-season games – three in the UK and two in Germany, marking the first-ever regular-season NFL games to be hosted in Frankfurt. As part of the League’s expansion of the regular season to 17 games, it was determined that, beginning with the 2022 season, up to four of the teams from the conference whose teams were eligible for a ninth regular-season home game would instead be designated to play a neutral-site international game each year.

The international slate features games in three consecutive weeks, beginning in London at Wembley Stadium in Week 4 with a matchup between Jacksonville and Atlanta (9:30 AM ET, ESPN+). The London action shifts to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the next two weeks, as Jacksonville and Buffalo meet in Week 5 (9:30 AM ET, NFL Network) and Tennessee and Baltimore face off in Week 6 (9:30 AM ET, NFL Network). The Jaguars are scheduled to become the first NFL team to play two regular-season games outside of the United States in the same season.

As part of the League’s commitment to playing regular-season games in Germany, the NFL will play two games in 2023 at Frankfurt Stadium – home of Eintracht Frankfurt, having played the inaugural Germany game last season in Munich. In Week 9, Kansas City takes on Miami (9:30 AM ET, NFL Network) and in Week 10, Indianapolis meets New England (9:30 AM ET, NFL Network) to wrap up the 2023 international games.

The Madden Thanksgiving Celebration will feature a tripleheader on Thursday, November 23, with three divisional matchups. The first game will feature a pair of NFC North foes, as the Packers travel to Detroit to face the Lions (12:30 PM ET, FOX). The late afternoon game will match two NFC East rivals, as the Washington Commanders visit the Dallas Cowboys (4:30 PM ET, CBS). The Thanksgiving Day festivities conclude with an NFC West divisional matchup as the 49ers travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks on NBC (8:20 PM ET).

Week 16 begins with Thursday Night Football on December 21, followed by two games on NBC and Peacock on Saturday, December 23. The slate continues on Sunday, December 24 with 10 games and concludes on Monday, December 25, with the second-ever Christmas tripleheader. The Christmas Day tripleheader features Las Vegas at Kansas City at 1:00 PM ET (CBS), the New York Giants at Philadelphia at 4:30 PM ET (FOX) and Baltimore at San Francisco at 8:15 PM ET (ABC).

The regular season will conclude with Week 18 on Saturday, January 6, and Sunday, January 7. For the 14th consecutive year, all 16 games scheduled for the final week of the season are division contests, enhancing the potential for more games with playoff ramifications.

The NFL’s 32 teams will each play 17 games over 18 weeks. Byes will begin in Week 6 and end in Week 14.

Here is the 2023 NFL schedule, week by week.

Every NFL team’s 2023 schedule, week by week

Here’s the full 2023 schedules for every NFL team, in team-by-team alphabetical order.

With the release of the 2023 schedule at 8:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, May 11, we now know the slate for every week of the season, and how it’ll line up for every NFL team.

To see the full schedule for your favorite team, as well as the schedules for your favorite team’s divisional opponents, not to mention your least favorite teams, just scroll on down for the official release graphics and videos from the teams themselves!

A few notes from the league:

  • Twenty-three games will be Super Bowl rematches, including each of the past two Super Bowls: Philadelphia at Kansas City (Week 11, Super Bowl LVII) and the Los Angeles Rams at Cincinnati (Week 3, Super Bowl LVI).
  • Fourteen 2023 games are rematches from the 2022 playoffs, including Super Bowl LVII, both Championship Games (San Francisco at Philadelphia in Week 13; Cincinnati at Kansas City in Week 17) and all four Divisional playoff games (Kansas City at Jacksonville in Week 2; Buffalo at Cincinnati in Week 9, the New York Giants against Philadelphia in Weeks 16 and 18; Dallas at San Francisco in Week 5).
  • The two most recent winners of the Most Valuable Player award, Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers, are scheduled to face off for the first time in their careers when the Kansas City Chiefs visit the New York Jets on Sunday Night Football in Week 4 (8:20 PM ET, NBC). Should both players start, Mahomes (two-time MVP) and Rodgers (four-time MVP) would become the seventh different pair of quarterbacks to meet in a regular-season game after both players had won multiple NFL Most Valuable Player awards.
  • The top-two picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud, are scheduled to meet in Week 8 when the Carolina Panthers host the Houston Texans (1:00 PM ET, FOX). Should both players start, it would mark the fifth game in NFL history between rookie starting quarterbacks selected with first and second overall picks in the NFL Draft.

Without further ado, here’s the full schedule for all 32 NFL teams.

NFL announces international game dates, matchups for 2023 season

The NFL has announced the dates, times, and matchups for its international series of games in the 2023 season.

The National Football League has announced the opponents, dates, and locations for the five International Games to be played in 2023 across London, UK and Frankfurt, Germany.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will kick off the 2023 NFL International Games on Sunday, October 1, as they play the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley Stadium, in what will be their landmark 10th regular season home game in London.

The London focus then shifts to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the Buffalo Bills take on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, October 8.  This game for Jacksonville means they will play two regular season games outside of the US – a first for the NFL.

The following Sunday, 15 October, the Tennessee Titans will play the Baltimore Ravens, also at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the only purpose-built NFL stadium outside of the US, to wrap the 2023 NFL London Games.

As part of its commitment to play regular season games in Germany for the next four years (beginning in 2022) the NFL will play two games in 2023 in Frankfurt, having played the inaugural Germany game in Munich back in November 2022.

The Super Bowl LVII Champion Kansas City Chiefs kick off the 2023 NFL Frankfurt Games on Sunday, November 5, as they play the Miami Dolphins at Frankfurt Stadium, home of Eintracht Frankfurt.

The following weekend, Sunday, November 12, the New England Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts, also at Frankfurt Stadium, to complete the 2023 NFL International Games.

2023 NFL Draft: The best draft steal for every NFL team

Every NFL draft has its selection of steals — those players who could surprise despite their low selections — and here’s one for every NFL team.

One of the many reasons the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII was the job that general manager Brett Veach did outside of the first round of the 2022 draft. Three defensive backs (Bryan Cook in the second round, Joshua Williams in the fourth, and Jaylen Watson in the seventh) were difference-makers all season, and seventh-round running back Isiah Pacheco became the team’s bellcow back down the stretch. Also, second-round receiver Skyy Moore joined Pacheco with touchdowns in that Super Bowl victory over the Eagles.

First-round hits are nice, but it’s almost worse to miss in the first round than it is better to win there from an opportunity cost perspective. If you want to refresh your roster at a championship level, you had better get those picks right on the second and third day. Veach and his staff did that, and it was the difference that made all the difference in the end.

Moving to the 2023 NFL draft, we’ve selected one second- or third-day pick for every NFL team who could have a similar impact on their NFL roaters sooner than mater. Each of these players have reasons for their relatively low picks in line with their tape, stats, and talent, but these are the kinds of finds that can turn a team around over time.