Tag: 2020 offseason

Matt Patricia alters team meetings away from football and towards conversations on racism

The Detroit Lions were supposed to begin Phase 3 of their offseason on Monday but instead pivoted to player-led meetings surrounding racism.

The Detroit Lions were supposed to begin Phase 3 of their offseason on Monday but instead, they pivoted to player-led meetings surrounding racism and the current protests happening across the country.

Late Tuesday night, coach Matt Patricia spoke with MMQB’s Albert Breer and discussed how the team shifted their team meetings away from football in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

After watching the video of Floyd’s death, Patricia told Breer that “Honestly, I was just disgusted, angry, sad, depressed. The range of emotion, you watch the video, someone being murdered and you’re like … I didn’t even know how to process it. And the range of emotion I know I felt in watching that was only one-tenth of a fraction of a minute percent of what my players must’ve been feeling.”

Patricia discussed how he knew he was out of his depth on this topic and that the best thing he could do for his players was to put football conversations on hold and allow them to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences related to the current events.

“It was just about listening and making sure we tried to get on and open it up for conversation, real conversation, truthful conversation, honest conversation, heartfelt conversation,” Patricia said. “And really, honestly, credit to my players for leading that. They’re the ones that really were able to get it to where it became so powerful.”

The Lions held both large (120 people) and small (only position groups) meetings, giving players multiple ways to share depending on their comfort level.

After two days of player-led conversations, and an off day on Wednesday, it’s still a bit unclear when the Lions will get back to football but Patricia is confident his players will help him decide when it’s the right time.

“When everyone’s ready to talk and move in that direction of football, we’ll move when the team wants to move,” Patricia said. “I think the one thing to understand there—we won’t move away from the conversation. It’s just, at some point, you’re having the conversation and then you’re also working on what we do, which is football.”

The Lions have not yet made a public statement regarding the events surrounding Floyd’s death or the fallout since, but one is expected to be made soon.

Matt Nagy details ‘most powerful 2-hour meeting’ he’s ever been a part of

Bears coach Matt Nagy understands that some things are bigger than sports, including the social injustices in this world.

The Chicago Bears kicked off their organized team activities (OTAs) in a very different way than years’ past. And no, it wasn’t just because of the virtual format.

The senseless, brutal murder of George Floyd have sparked protests and outrage across the nation, and it’s a reminder that some things are bigger than sports.

Which is something Bears head coach Matt Nagy understands.

“Football is extremely secondary,” Nagy told reporters Wednesday. “We have to get life right.”

Nagy put football aside and spent the entirety of the Bears’ two-hour meeting on Monday listening and supporting his players amid the social injustices that continue to ravage our world.

“Talking to some of the guys helped me decide on Monday into really spending our allotted two hours [of our team meeting] just listening and to let our players know how much I and we support them,” Nagy said. “It was probably the most powerful two hour meeting I have ever been in and will ever be in.”

Nagy said that more than 40 players spoke during Monday’s meeting, where they shared their feelings and stories.

“There was a lot of anger, there was a lot of fear in the conversations,” Nagy said. “There was disgust, there was sadness, there was compassion, hurt… There was a vulnerability in people’s stories.”

Nagy told reporters that black players were interested in what white players thought of what was happening, and that there was a lot of love and compassion. One of the themes Nagy continues to stress is the power of love, which was felt following the meeting.

The meeting was met with a ton of appreciation by players involved, and some of them shared their thoughts on Twitter.

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Bears land at No. 17 on Peter King’s post-offseason power rankings

While some have the Bears pegged as one of the worst teams in 2020, Peter King thinks they can make the playoffs – if things go right.

During an offseason where it’s popular to bet against the Chicago Bears finding any semblance of success, there are a few that are banking on the Bears doing as well or even better than they fared in 2019.

Peter King revealed his post-offseason power rankings, and the Bears landed at No. 17 — behind NFC North foes Minnesota (No. 11) and Green Bay (No. 12). Still, it’s a far cry from predicting Chicago will be one of the worst teams in the league in 2020, which several analysts have claimed.

King is confident that the Bears defense will return to its 2018 form, given the addition of Robert Quinn to the pass rush and the return of Akiem Hicks from injury. That, and he believes Chicago will get adequate quarterback play that should help fix the offensive woes.

Regardless of the outcome of the QB competition—my money is on Foles—the Bears have to forget Trubisky’s head space and roar into a winnable, manageable season. Chicago doesn’t play a 2019 playoff team in its seven games before Halloween, and by the time a killer November (Saints, at Titans, Vikings, at Packers) rolls around, the quarterback dilemma should be solved.

I’m more bullish on the Bears than many, in part, because the defensive front should be as good as it was in 2018, when Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks led a marauding front; now Robert Quinn (11.5 sacks in 14 Dallas games last year) is a third force to offense to worry about. In 33 games of the Nagy Era, the Bears have allowed 18.1 points per game, and there’s no reason to expect that production to go away. If the quarterback’s a B-plus player, the Bears could ride a favorable schedule to the playoffs. That’s a big if.

King is one of the few analysts to predict a potential return to the postseason. And given Chicago’s dominant defense, if the offense is just good enough, suddenly playoffs doesn’t seem like such a stretch.

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Familiarity with Dan Quinn may help Falcons after offseason quarantine

The Falcons did enough down the stretch of the 2019 season to convince owner Arthur Blank to retain head coach Dan Quinn and his staff for another year.

The Falcons did enough down the stretch of the 2019 season to convince owner Arthur Blank to retain head coach Dan Quinn and his staff for another year.

Even though some fans would have preferred the team to find a new voice, Quinn’s calm, pragmatic leadership style has helped him keep the respect of his players during two frustrating seasons.

Plus, Quinn has a 46-39 overall record after five seasons, going 3-2 in the playoffs with a Super Bowl appearance. But putting all of that aside, the biggest reason Atlanta’s decision to keep its head coach may pan out is because of the unusual nature of the 2020 offseason due to the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting quarantine.

The experience factor could favor Atlanta

As the NFL tries to become a safer league, players and coaches don’t get to spend as much time together as they would have in previous offseasons anyway. For a new coach, dealing with the quarantine could result in being miles behind by the time the league begins training camp.

Meanwhile, Quinn has the command of a very talented locker room as we get closer to what’s likely to be an unusual start to the season. There’s an advantage to experience, which the Falcons have plenty of.

Dimitroff’s plan this offseason was to trim the fat on the roster and create as much salary cap space as possible, while also trying to get younger. In other words, he’s betting on the young players to step up and fill different roles to create the most efficient possible version of the team.

The Falcons have veteran talent at key positions, a stable, proven coaching staff and are relatively under the radar nationally. It’ll be interesting to see if these factors, along with Dimitroff’s many offseason moves will be enough for the team to return to the playoffs in 2020.

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Chicago Bears’ 6 biggest losses during the 2020 offseason

The Bears have made some changes this offseason, which will affect how Chicago’s roster pans out this season.

Following a disappointing 2019 season, the Chicago Bears will be looking to rebound heading into the 2020 season. But they’ll be doing it without some familiar faces on their roster.

The Bears have made some changes this offseason, which will affect how Chicago’s roster pans out this season. There were some expected departures, including outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and tight end Trey Burton. But not all of those losses serve to benefit the Bears.

Here are the Bears’ six biggest losses this offseason:

1) ILB Nick Kwiatkoski

AP Photo/Sarah Stier

2020 team: Las Vegas Raiders

Nick Kwiatkoski was a big reason why the Bears defense remained a dominant force following a season-ending injury to Danny Trevathan in Week 10. Kwiatkoski shined in relief of an injured Trevathan, where he tallied 76 tackles, eight tackles for loss and four pass deflections. Ultimately, the Bears chose to re-sign Trevathan over Kwiatkoski, and Chicago lost valuable depth at inside linebacker. Kwiatkoski’s impressive performance earned him a three-year, $21 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, which includes $13.75 million guaranteed.

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Doc Rivers left an impression as guest speaker for Bears

Matt Nagy has invited some well-respected guest speakers to speak to the Bears during this virtual offseason, including Doc Rivers.

This offseason has been unlike any other for Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy and his team. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, NFL clubs have been forced to conduct offseason programs from an entirely virtual format.

The hope is that teams will soon be able to hit the practice field as restrictions loosen, but a virtual offseason is certainly no walk in the park. Especially following a disappointing 8-8 season where you want to fix the things that went wrong. And the best place to do that is on the practice field.

Still, Nagy has found creative ways to keep his players interested during their virtual meetings, including special guest speakers. While Nagy has kept those guest speakers under wraps, a new article from the Los Angeles Times has let us know the identity of one of those speakers: Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers.

Considering Rivers grew up a Bears fan watching Gale Sayers, Rivers jumped at the opportunity to address the team when approached by Nagy.

“Talking to the Bears, the whole team, are you kidding me?” Rivers said, via the Los Angeles Times. “I was jacked up about that.”

Rivers addressed the Bears players and staff for 30 minutes and answered questions for an additional 45 minutes. But it could’ve been longer, as Nagy was receiving text messages from players and coaches with additional questions for Rivers.

“I’ve heard a lot of people talk to groups and Doc, to me, not to take anything away from anybody else, but that was one of the most powerful hour-and-15-minute discussions that I had selfishly for myself and we had as a team,” Nagy said. “Man, there was so much good stuff in there. A lot of the stuff I don’t even want to tell because I don’t want other people to know.”

During the roughly 75-minute session, Rivers detailed some personal stories that he felt would help the Bears in their quest to achieve greatness.

Doc Rivers told the Bears about the time he scored 54 points in a high school game, only to have his father push him to play even harder. How in 2007 he arranged a Duck Boat tour of Boston for Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Garnett soon after the Celtics’ superstar trio was formed — an outing he used to have the trio envision traveling the same route the following summer during a championship parade.

Bears players wanted to know about Kawhi Leonard’s leadership style. He’s quiet, Rivers told them, but became more vocal as the season went on.

Rivers has been in high demand this offseason, as he’s also spoken to the Los Angeles Rams and Indianapolis Colts this offseason

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McCarthy still coaching Cowboys from home in Green Bay

The new coach is eager to hit the field, but for now, he’s doing the job in Dallas virtually, from within the shadows of Lambeau Field.

Even in the weirdest NFL offseason in living memory, here’s one of the more surreal notions, one that could never have been imagined even just a few short months ago: The head coach of the Dallas Cowboys is doing the job from his home… in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Mike McCarthy, who spent the entire 2019 season bunkered in with his family and strategizing pretend gameplans with a collection of former assistants, was hired and introduced- in person– at the Star in Frisco in January. But the shuttering of team facilities and stay-at-home guidelines in the wake of COVID-19 meant that the man trying to lead the Cowboys to their next Lombardi Trophy would have to start that journey within the shadows of Lambeau Field.

“I have been with my family the whole time, except for maybe the first 10 days of the pandemic,” McCarthy said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters.

While the longtime coach is eager to get back on a field with real football players, his job thus far has involved overseeing preparations rather than actual practices.

“We’ve really just hunkered down and tried to focus on the things we can control,” he went on. “And as a staff, we’re planning for a full training camp and we’re also planning for a training camp in Oxnard, we’re planning for a training camp in Frisco. We spent an enormous amount of time in the planning phase because it is our first camp together.”

But, as is the case with everyone else working from home, that planning phase has relied heavily on virtual meetings and internet technology. And, as has been the case with most, there have been limitations, making it anything but business as usual.

McCarthy has yet to physically stand in front of the entire Cowboys team, and he joked that he doesn’t even have the setup for “90 boxes” on his at-home computer screen. As a coach in his first year with a new team, McCarthy should have gotten a one-week head start in live meetings and practice sessions with his staff and roster under normal circumstances. That bonus time was lost to the virus, but even now, McCarthy is reluctant to say he’s behind schedule, possibly because every coaching staff around the league is suddenly in the same boat.

“You really don’t have a true comparable, the 56-year-old McCarthy said. “But I think it’s obvious to think if we started April 6 like we normally would as a first-year program, we would be in a different spot than we are here today.”

 

The coaching staff started by meeting first with players in small positional groups, with a focus on terminology and overall philosophy. McCarthy has been touching base on a nightly basis with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to decide how much to throw at the players in the virtual classroom setting. Full offensive and defensive meetings only got underway this week to start putting those individual pieces together into a cohesive system.

To be sure, this 2020 method is not the traditional way of installing a playbook.

“We just kind of flipped some things and the order of how we would normally do them,” McCarthy offered. “It was more done with a focus on productivity, not just the detail but also get the volume of what we want to get done. Because our volume is obviously higher than a normal year because it’s our first year. That’s why we went with that approach.”

A large volume of new Xs and Os, delivered in a compressed timeframe and during highly unusual days where everything is more difficult than it should be. It’s a big ask. McCarthy credits his roster of guys already in Dallas with making it possible.

“I am excited because this is probably going to be the most experienced team that I’ve coached, so we’ll rely on that,” McCarthy said. “I think if we were going to push to one side or the other, we’d definitely push on the side of the volume because of our veteran experience.”

When faced with uncertainty, people with experience tend to prepare themselves for everything… because they know anything can happen.

“This challenge has clearly made everyone- especially myself- take a step back,” the coach went on. “Don’t react as fast as you may have in normal times. I think you’ve really got to trust your instincts, the awareness and your experience in this particular time as far as how we install and initiate the development and growth of our program.”

While the league is moving toward allowing teams to start in-person practicing again, it’s still a game of wait-and-see. So McCarthy’s coaching-from-home stint goes on at least a little while longer. The rest of the world may be sick and tired of self-isolating after two months and change; McCarthy’s been doing it now for almost a year and half.

“I think we’ve all been taught a whole different level of patience,” McCarthy said. “I’m anxious to get back, frankly. My family is probably anxious for me to get back… It’s time, I know, for me to get back. I spend a lot of time looking into a camera and talking. I am ready to get back and get to work in person.”

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ESPN dubs Bears EDGE Robert Quinn one of best positional upgrades this offseason

Bears GM Ryan Pace upgraded the pass rush with the acquisition of Robert Quinn, who ESPN dubbed one of the best positional upgrades of 2020.

While the Chicago Bears didn’t make any big waves during this offseason, they made some moves that made the roster better heading into a pivotal 2020 season, including on the defensive side of the ball.

The Bears defense certainly wasn’t the major concern this offseason, but the pass rush had its share of struggles in 2019. Outside linebacker Khalil Mack had a down year statistically, and outside linebacker Leonard Floyd had a career-low three sacks. With Floyd due to make $13 million with his fifth-year option, general manager Ryan Pace released the former first-round pick in March.

Pace upgraded the pass rush with the free-agent acquisition of Robert Quinn, who had 11.5 sacks with the Dallas Cowboys last season. And that was without one of the game’s best pass rushers in Mack on the other side.

ESPN’s Mike Clay dubbed Quinn one of the best positional upgrades of this offseason, noting what he accomplished on an underwhelming Cowboys defense last season.

Quinn turns 30 this summer, but the veteran edge rusher is one of the league’s most underrated players. In his only season with Dallas, Quinn racked up 11.5 sacks (eighth among edge rushers), 72 pass-rush wins (third) and a 21.5% pass-rush win rate (first) in 2019. He has reached 8.5 sacks all five seasons in which he played at least 600 snaps.

In Chicago, Quinn replaces Floyd opposite superstar Khalil Mack. Floyd impressed with 7.0 sacks as a rookie in 2016, but his totals have progressively dipped from 4.5 in 2017 to 4.0 in 2018 to 3.0 last season. He ranked ninth among edge rushers in snaps last season but struggled to only 27 pass-rush wins (51st) and a 0.8% sack rate (19th worst). Floyd is now with the Rams.

While the Bears were content with what Floyd provided on defense in terms of his ability in coverage and run defense, ultimately pass rushers are judged on their ability to get after the quarterback. And Floyd hasn’t been able to consistently do that. Since entering the league in 2016, Floyd’s sack total declined every season — including the last two years with Mack drawing double and triple teams.

Meanwhile, Quinn proved that he can get after the quarterback, and Chicago is banking on Mack and Quinn providing a 1-2 punch off the edge to generate the kind of pressure that overwhelmed some offenses back in 2018.

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Bill Barnwell: Redskins had 11th-best offseason in NFL

The Redskins have made a lot of changes this offseason, but the perspective from the outside suggests it may work out in the end.

Coming off of a disastrous 3-13 season in 2019 that saw the head coach be fired early on, and the team president get canned after all was said and done, it’s an understatement to say that the Washington Redskins were in need of a solid offseason to get things back on the right track heading into 2020.

According to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, they did just that. Barnwell has the Redskins rated as having the 11th best offseason in the NFL, hiring a new coaching staff, and creating a new culture in Washington now that Bruce Allen is gone. The hiring of two-time coach of the year Ron Rivera was highlighted, along with free-agent signings of Kendall Fuller, Thomas Davis, and Ronald Darby. Oh, and the draft selection of Chase Young didn’t hurt either.

While the team added young playmakers like Antonio Gibson and Antonio Gandy-Golden in the draft, Barnwell states that he would have liked to see the Redskins more active when it came to the free-agent market, maybe making a run at a WR like Robby Anderson.

When Robby Anderson’s price dipped, I would have liked to have seen Washington target the former Jets wideout on a similar sort of contract to the two-year, $20 million pact he inked with Carolina. Anderson is probably stretched as a No. 1 wideout, but he would have made an excellent No. 2 across from budding star Terry McLaurin.

It’s fair to note that Washington didn’t add much veteran talent this offseason, and one of the vets they did add was recently arrested on five charges related to discharging his weapon in a Colorado apartment. Still, this is a Redskins team that knows they aren’t likely to make the playoffs this season, and they’d rather spend their energy on developing young players now and hoping to make waves in the future.

Nonetheless, having an offseason ranked just outside the Top-10 in the NFL is not too shabby for a Washington team that has spent the better part of the last decade near the bottom of the league.

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ESPN believes Bears had the second worst offseason

The Bears didn’t make any waves this offseason, but they did upgrade at several positions. Still, they ranked among the worst offseasons.

The Chicago Bears didn’t make any waves in free agency and the NFL Draft, but they did upgrade at some positions on offense and defense, including quarterback, tight end, pass rusher and safety.

But ESPN’s Bill Barnwell believes the Bears had the second worst offseason in the NFL, ranking just behind the Houston Texans. As far as the rest of the NFC North goes, Barnwell ranked the Detroit Lions at No. 29, the Green Bay Packers at No. 27 and the Minnesota Vikings weren’t yet ranked.

The biggest reason for that rationale was how the Bears handled the quarterback position this offseason in trading for quarterback Nick Foles, a move that has been both praised and criticized.

Despite the fact that Foles’ contract was a disaster for the Jaguars, the Bears sent a fourth-round pick to acquire him and didn’t force the Jags to eat any of the money, instead restructuring $21 million in guarantees to come due over the next three seasons. Foles could work out as the team’s starter, but this is the equivalent of signing an expensive three-year gym membership as a college senior. There couldn’t have been much of a market for Foles, and Andy Dalton, who was cut by the Bengals after the draft, came without the pick or significant cash attached.

The Jimmy Graham deal was likely the worst contract of free agency, as a Bears team that had already committed significant assets to tight ends Dion Sims, Adam Shaheen and Trey Burton under Pace gave Graham a two-year, $16 million deal with $9 million guaranteed and a truly inexplicable no-trade clause. Graham can’t block, and he was anonymous during his time with the Packers. 

Barnwell went on to further explain about how the Bears mishandled the quarterback position, citing there were better options than Foles on the market. While that might be true, considering this shortened offseason amid the coronavirus pandemic, they brought in the best option in Foles. Foles has experience in a Matt Nagy-like offense, which is invaluable considering the on-field limitations.

While Barnwell spent most of the piece droning on about all of the areas the Bears didn’t handle well — signing tight end Jimmy Graham, not bringing in a veteran cornerback — he did give them props for upgrading the pass rush with Robert Quinn and bringing in some veterans like offensive lineman Germain Ifedi and cornerback Artie Burns, as well as not exercising Mitchell Trubisky’s fifth-year option.

But he also failed to mention that Chicago added a veteran safety in Tashaun Gipson to start alongside Eddie Jackson, as well as bringing in two likely-immediate starters in second-round tight end Cole Kmet and cornerback Jaylon Johnson.

While the Bears didn’t have the greatest offseason — they were strapped for cap space, after all — they did make some upgrades on both offense and defense that should help them get back on track in 2020.

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