Tag: 2022 season

Robert Hainsey earns performance-based pay bonus

Hainsey played more than expected in the wake of Ryan Jensen’s injury last year.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers center [autotag]Robert Hainsey[/autotag]’s unexpected ascendency to the starting lineup is paying off as he lands on the top-25 performance-based pay earnings list for 2022, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. Due to his increased snap count last year, Hainsey earned an extra $706,331. The performance-based pay does not count against the Bucs’ salary cap.

The performance-based pay bonuses are designed for players on cheaper deals who end up playing a larger number of snaps than their contract might indicate. The more they play at a lesser salary, the more they could earn in performance bonuses.

Hainsey started at center at last season after Ryan Jensen went down with a knee injury. As a 2021 third-round pick, Hainsey’s salary was just over $1 million so his performance-based pay bonus ended up being substantial.

With the Bucs’ guard positions in flux, Hainsey could be in line to earn a performance-based bonus again next season if he can win a starting job early. He will be competing against the likes of Nick Leverett, Aaron Stinnie and Luke Goedeke, but his full year as a starter does give him an advantage.

Mickey Loomis says Saints have no reservations in keeping Dennis Allen as head coach

Dennis Allen’s team underperformed in 2022. Mickey Loomis admits there’s room to improve, but says the Saints have no ‘reservations about our choice as head coach’

It’s really hard to believe that the New Orleans Saints are happy with Dennis Allen’s performance as head coach. After gambling on him to improve on his 8-28 record as the Raiders head coach from a decade ago, they struggled to keep their heads above water in the 2022 season. It was a gut check for a team that talked itself up as a Super Bowl contender all summer only to collapse in the fall.

But Saints general manager Mickey Loomis urged patience with Allen, who has the seventh-worst record in NFL history among head coaches with 50 or more games. Loomis reflected on Allen’s experience as New Orleans’ head coach during a question-and-answer session at the NFL Scouting Combine this week.

“Look, I think there were some really good things,” Loomis told SI.com’s John Hendrix of Allen’s 7-10 record as Saints head coach, giving him a mulligan for some unforeseen challenges.

He continued: “There’s things that were out of our control, his control, primarily the injuries. So, there were some really good things and some things that we’ve talked about that we collectively have to do better.”

“But we don’t have any reservations about our choice as head coach,” Loomis added.

Injuries were a major problem last year. The Saints never had fewer than eight players on the injury report each week and often went into the double digits. Star talents like quarterback Jameis Winston, wide receiver Michael Thomas and cornerback Marshon Lattimore missed much of the season because of injuries.

At the end of the day, plans went sideways, and Allen wasn’t able to compensate for it. Hopefully he’s learned from this experience and can improve in 2023. If the Saints are still struggling to put points on the board and kicking the ball away a little too quickly, he won’t get many more free passes.

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Here’s how the Bears fared in NFLPA’s team report cards

From the training facility to treatment of families to travel, Bears players evaluated the organization in 2022. See the grades here:

A new report from the NFLPA shows how Chicago Bears players view the organization, and it’s encouraging when compared to the rest of the league.

The NFLPA surveyed 1,300 of their members to get an idea of where their respective team thrives and where there’s room for improvement. The eight categories ranged from club facilities to nutrition to treatment of families to travel conditions. The results were tallied and a report card for each team was released.

Overall, the Bears ranked 13th overall in team surveys, which is respectable. Outside of three categories, the organization received high marks across the board.

An interesting nugget involved the intensity of workouts, which was something Matt Eberflus brought to the table in his first year as head coach.

While players’ opinions of the coaching staff in Chicago are generally positive, one major problem identified was the overall tempo and intensity of offseason workouts, which was reflected in an actual violation and punishment last offseason.

Here’s the full breakdown courtesy of the NFLPA website:

How Saints players graded the team’s travel strategy, training staff, and more

How Saints players graded the team’s travel strategy, training staff, and more from the NFLPA team report card:

We’ve already gone over the strangely-low grade that New Orleans Saints players gave their team for its cafeteria and nutrition options, but that’s just one area they were surveyed about on the first-ever NFL Players Association team report cards.

Ultimately, the Saints have built a great place to work, with players rating them 10th-best out of the league’s 32 teams — putting an emphasis on quality travel arrangements for road games, an intelligent and resourceful training staff, and good facilities at the team headquarters in Metairie.

But let’s go under the hood on each of the eight categories and where Saints players ranked their workplace around the NFL:

PFF Top 101 lists only 3 Cowboys while 13 Eagles make the cut

Zero Cowboys O-linemen make the ’22 list and Dak Prescott is M.I.A., yet the Super Bowl runners-up equal 13 percent of the countdown. | From @ToddBrock24f7

In the big picture, the 2022 Cowboys were as good as- if not slightly better than- the 2021 iteration. They matched last year’s regular season record of 12-5, and they even advanced one spot further in the playoffs.

But individually speaking, Cowboys players didn’t impress the writers at Pro Football Focus nearly as much this season… and they certainly didn’t match up to the NFC champs.

The outlet has always seemed to have a love affair with Philly, and the Eagles’ league-best regular-season mark provided the perfect opportunity for PFF to stan hard with this year’s list.

Their annual Top 101 list came out last week, and while three Dallas standouts were included, that number represents a big dropoff from the year prior. Seven Cowboys players made the list in 2021.

But an absurd 13 Eagles players somehow made the cut in 2022; last season, no team had more than seven guys in the top 101.

Here’s a look at which Cowboys did make the Pro Football Focus 101, along with what the outlet had to say about their 2022 seasons. We’ve also included a few key takeaways about who isn’t on the list this year and a rundown of where all those Eagles fell… just to spark some healthy debate about whether they all actually deserve to be there.

Vikings’ 2022 season in review: assessing the play of Kirk Cousins

Though Cousins’ job is secure heading into the 2023, the #Vikings shouldn’t discount the idea of an investment at the quarterback position

The Minnesota Vikings are something of an enigma heading into the 2023 season, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After holding one of the NFL’s best records for the better part of the 2022 season, they floundered in the playoffs, losing to the upstart New York Giants due in no small part to the play of Kirk Cousins, who went cold in the fourth quarter.

Cousins has proven to be a rock-solid regular season signal caller in Minneapolis but is known to be a bit inconsistent when the lights shine the brightest. In a league where playoff wins and Super Bowl championships, mean more than anything else, the Vikings’ quarterback hasn’t yet shown that he can get the job done in January or February.

Ahead of the 2023 season, Minnesota will have some crucial decisions to make about their future at the position, despite the fact that Cousins is functionally un-cuttable on his fully guaranteed contract.

Here is a look at the state of the Vikings’ quarterback position ahead of free agency.

Football Outsiders says Dennis Allen was one of the least-aggressive coaches in 2022

Football Outsiders research says Dennis Allen was one of the least-aggressive head coaches in 2022. The Saints must improve in this area to survive in 2023:

There’s one easy area to point to as a criticism of Dennis Allen’s first year as New Orleans Saints head coach: a lack of aggression on fourth downs. No offense attempted fewer fourth-down conversions than Allen’s offense last year (11). Whether he trusted his defense too much or didn’t trust his quarterbacks enough, Allen chose to kick the ball away whenever given the opportunity.

But this lack of aggression went under the microscope in an article from Football Outsiders analyst Aaron Schatz, who used FO’s Aggressiveness Index to rank every decision-maker from around the NFL. This tool has been in use since 2006, which Schatz describes as: “The goal was to find a way to rank coaches based on their tendencies on fourth downs in a manner that was easy to understand but accounted for the different rates at which the average coach will choose to ‘go for it’ in different situations.”

And Allen ranked 30th out of last year’s 32 head coaches. Only New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and New York Jets coach Robert Saleh were less aggressive. Belichick has reversed his tendencies on fourth downs from earlier in his career, when the league was more conservative on average — and no one seems to quite understand what prompted that decision. Saleh was dealing with an even more fraught quarterback situation than the Saints last season, so it makes sense that he didn’t roll the dice in high-leverage situations.

Still, that’s not where you want to see the Saints ranking. Allen had the benefits of a veteran quarterback under center in Andy Dalton and some talented weapons like Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, and Juwan Johnson at his disposal. Pete Carmichael deserves some blame too for taking Taysom Hill out of the playbook. Hill only had two rushing attempts on fourth down all season while remaining highly effective in short-yardage situations. He averaged 7.9 yards per carry when the offense needed 3 yards or fewer, converting 17 first downs on 26 attempts (65.4%).

Hopefully the Saints can improve in this area. Maybe it means more carries for Hill on fourth down, but that alone isn’t going to fix the problem. Allen needs to act more aggressively and give his team more opportunities to win a game with the ball in their hands than with their backs against the wall.

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Eddie Jackson named Bears’ Ed Block Courage Award recipient for 2022

The Bears have named Eddie Jackson as the team’s 2022 Ed Block Courage Award winner.

The Chicago Bears have named safety Eddie Jackson the team’s 2022 Ed Block Courage Award winner.

The Ed Block Courage Award is given to a player on each of the 32 NFL teams who “best exemplifies a commitment to sportsmanship and courage and serves as an inspiration in the locker room.” Recipients are voted by their teammates.

Past Bears winners of the Ed Block Courage Award include Tarik Cohen, Roquan Smith, Allen Robinson, Zach Miller and Kyle Long.

Jackson is coming off an impressive 2022 season, where led the Bears with four picks — and that was in just 12 games, as he missed the final five after suffering a season-ending foot injury. Jackson added 80 total tackles, including one for a loss, six pass breakups and led the team with two forced fumbles.

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Jason Witten presents Pitt DE Deslin Alexandre with Collegiate Man of the Year Award

Deslin Alexandre used NIL opportunities to set up a program to benefit children in his native Haiti and was a two-time Panthers captain. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys legend Jason Witten was back at The Star in Frisco this week to hand out the award that literally has his name all over it.

The tight end presented the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award to Pitt defensive end Deslin Alexandre. It’s the sixth year for the honor, which seeks to recognize the FBS player who “best demonstrates an outstanding record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity, and sportsmanship.”

The Haitian-born Alexandre has exhibited all of those things in abundance, using his own NIL opportunities to establish a program that provides basic needs like meals and education for children back in his native land. He’s also donated considerable time to Pittsburgh’s Ronald McDonald House, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, literacy promotion efforts, outreach programs that aid the homeless, and a local youth football team.

A three-time member of the All-ACC Academic Football Team, Alexandre earned his bachelor’s degree in communications and is currently pursuing an MBA in Pitt’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business.

“He is a great leader and a role model for young athletes,” Witten said of Alexandre in a press release. “He came to the U.S. from Haiti at a young age and overcame a lot of challenges to become a great player and leader, both on campus and in the community. He is a perfect example of what a college student-athlete can be.”

The 24-year-old’s collegiate coach echoes those sentiments.

“I don’t think there are enough superlatives to describe Deslin and his achievements while at the University of Pittsburgh,” Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “His impact as a student, athlete, and community leader is so inspiring. He represents the absolute best of what it means to be a Pitt Panther.”

Alexandre has also been a shining example on the football field. As a fifth-year super-senior in 2022, the two-time captain and three-year starter recorded 29 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, two pass breakups, and a safety. He helped propel the Panthers to back-to-back Top-25 seasons and an ACC championship over his time at Pitt. All that, despite not playing organized football until his junior year of high school.

As the winner of the award, Alexandre will have a $10,000 contribution made in his name to Pitt’s athletic scholarship fund, courtesy of Jason and Michelle Witten.

 

From an original group of 20 semifinalists for the honor, Alexandre joined Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford and Oregon offensive lineman Alex Forsyth as the three semifinalists for the first college football award to focus primarily on a player’s leadership achievements.

“I’m honored to be associated with the award in that regard and proud of who they are and what they stand for,” Witten said of the trio, per the Cowboys website. “In the midst of this crazy world, to see these young athletes take advantage of their platform and give back to the less fortunate… It’s really cool.”

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Packers put only 2 players on PFF’s top 101 players list from 2022 season

Only Jaire Alexander and Aaron Jones made PFF’s list, highlighting the Packers’ lack of elite performances in 2022,

A lack of elite performances from top players highlighted the Green Bay Packers’ disappointing 2022 season.

One year after putting seven players on PFF’s top 101 players list for 2021, the Packers placed only two on the 2022 version of the list.

The two players on the top 101 players list represented the Packers’ fewest in a season since PFF started compiling the list in 2010. Matt LaFleur’s team suffered through a 1-7 stretch and finished 8-9, missing the postseason in 2022.

Here’s a quick look at the two players from the Packers on PFF’s top 101 list from 2022: