Tag: 2023 NFL draft

Anthony Richardson becomes 2nd first-round quarterback from 2023 to be benched

Anthony Richardson becomes 2nd first-round quarterback from 2023 to be benched

It’s been a tough go for every quarterback from 2023 not named C.J. Stroud. With Bryce Young being benched after just two games into the 2024 season, the same fate has not befallen former 4th overall pick Anthony Richardson.

Richardson has struggled all season, both with staying healthy and playing at an acceptable level when he has been on the field. On the year Richardson has just 4 passing touchdowns to 7 interceptions, awarding him an abysmal quarterback rating of 57.2 on the season. The boiling point for Richardson came last week when he took himself out of the game on a 3rd and goal play because he was “tired”. While he clearly was exhausted given the previous few plays, many circles will not look kindly on any quarterback taking themselves out of the game at any level of football.

All this being said, it is not the end of Richardson’s story. The Indianapolis Colts knew they were taking a bit of a project when they drafted Richardson given he had not played very much at the collegiate level and missed most of last year. This will be a chance for Richardson to reset, learn, and come back likely later into this season and show the rewards of patience. Only time will tell if Richardson can put it all together, but it is certainly not a good start for the quarterbacks of the 2023 draft class.

The 2023 Quarterback draft class is a mess

The 2023 Quarterback draft class is a mess aside from Texans star C.J. Stroud

Thinking about the 2023 quarterback NFL Draft class, the first name that comes to your mind is C.J. Stroud, and rightly so, given his performance in his first two seasons in the league. Undersold in the class is just how bad the other draft picks around Stroud have been.

Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis are all teetering on disaster for their respective franchises, and it’s starting to look like a botched class if things continue to play out poorly.

 

Young is the most obviously culprit out of the group, but it is hard to evaluate whether he is truly a “bust” or a product of the joke of a product that the Carolina Panthers have become. Young showed flashes in his rookie season but ultimately looked out of place, and in his second year was promptly benched after just two games which were blowout losses. Whether Young makes a rebound or not remains to be seen, and if he does it will likely be on a different team.

As for Richardson and Levis, both have looked subpar when on the field, and while both show flashes of serious physical talent, the end product has left much to be desired. Richardson missed most of his rookie season with injury, and now in his second year has both missed games and looks underdeveloped when healthy. Levis has had a cornucopia of mistakes that have put games out of reach and really put to question his decision-making as a quarterback.

 

Only time will tell how these three quarterbacks play out, but if things remain the same as they are right now, it’s unlikely any of these quarterbacks will be the starting going into the 2025 NFL season.

Sean Payton speaks on the decision to sign another ex-Saints wide receiver

Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton spoke on the decision to sign another ex-Saints wide receiver. He views A.T. Perry as someone worth developing:

Sean Payton earned some more ire from New Orleans Saints fans last week when his Denver Broncos signed another ex-Saints player — former 2023 draft pick A.T. Perry, the wide receiver from Wake Forest. Perry showed up on game days but his poor day-to-day performance at practice didn’t help his case for a roster spot, and the team chose to waive him.

Now he’s on the Broncos practice squad. Payton spoke about the decision to add Perry, who he sees as a player with impressive physical gifts and plenty of skills to develop further.

“We had some exposure with him,” Payton said Friday. “I obviously wasn’t there, but Pete Carmichael (was). We noticed him in his rookie year last year on film… We weren’t going to claim him, but we sure would like to recruit him to come to the practice squad. He’s long with good hands.”

It should also be noted that former Saints assistant college scouting director Cody Rager was hired into Denver’s front office this offseason, and he was part of the decision to draft Perry a year ago.

Payton emphasized that they view Perry as a stash-and-develop signing, not someone likely to get thrown into  a game right away. He’s  a longshot to p lay against the Saints next Thursday night, but never say never. He learned Carmichael’s playbook as a rookie which is derived from Payton’s system. Perry may not need as much time to get up to speed as other players in his  position.

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Sean Payton’s Broncos poached another Saints player, and he didn’t even draft them

Sean Payton’s Broncos poached another former Saints player, and he didn’t even draft this one. A.T. Perry is going to Denver:

This is getting silly. Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos signed another former New Orleans Saints player, but he didn’t even draft this one. Wide receiver A.T. Perry signed with the Broncos practice squad on Tuesday, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill.

Perry had been waived after being a healthy scratch for each of the Saints’  first four games in 2024; they drafted him in the sixth round of the 2023  NFL draft, and he made some nice plays in spot duty during the second half of the season.

But he appeared to be a poor fit in Klint Kubiak’s offense and the Saints chose to let him go, though head coach Dennis Allen emphasized that the door was open for him to stick around. The Saints even opened a spot on their practice squad by promoting rookie guard Kyle Hergel to the 53-man roster on Monday.

But now Perry will be picking up a new playbook, or at least one similar to what he learned as a rookie. His former play caller Pete Carmichael is on staff with Payton in Denver as are some other familiar faces. And Saints fans  could see him as soon as next Thursday when Payton and the Broncos visit New Orleans for a prime-time game.

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Recently-cut Saints WR is now a free agent after clearing waivers

A.T. Perry cleared waivers, and the Saints have an open spot on their practice squad. But what happens next might be up to him:

Now this is interesting. The New Orleans Saints waived wide receiver A.T. Perry last Friday, and when the waiver wire updated on Monday no team chose to pick him up, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. Now Perry is a free agent, but what happens next may be up to him.

Saints coach Dennis Allen has already expressed an openness to keeping Perry around on the practice squad, and wouldn’t you know it but the team has a spot open after promoting rookie offensive lineman Kyle Hergel to the 53-man roster. But that’s not to say Perry doesn’t have options. He could choose to sign with another team’s practice squad and see if he has more success, depending on whether he’s received any offers.

You just have to wonder what’s out there. 32 teams saw his name on the waiver wire and decided they had better players on their rosters already; had someone claimed him, that team would’ve had to let another player go to make room. Swapping out rostered players with those on practice squads is a much lower-stakes affair.

Perry fell to the sixth round in last year’s draft for unquantifiable “character concerns,” and that may have played a part in the decision to not claim him. And his problems in New Orleans have been with picking up the playbook and executing his role on offense. Maybe that’s what scared off those teams in the first place. There’s a good chance Perry remains with the Saints on their practiice squad, but that’s no sure thing. Otherwise they wouldn’t have risked losing him on waivers at all.

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Saints cut second-year draft pick in surprise roster move

The New Orleans Saints cut A.T. Perry in a surprise roster move. The second-year draft pick never did climb the depth chart this season:

This is a bit of a shock. The New Orleans Saints waived wide receiver A.T. Perry on Friday, as first reported by NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill and confirmed by other local outlets. Perry was only in his second year with the team after the Saints traded up to draft him in 2023 out of Wake Forest, sending tight end Adam Trautman to the Denver Broncos in the process.

The timing is odd — because the Saints are playing on “Monday Night Football” this week, they’re only in the second day of practice — so you have to wonder if there’s an injury involved. Perry was limited on Thursday with a hamstring issue, so maybe they waived him with the goal of putting him on injured reserve. It’s also possible they want to keep him on the practice squad. It’s just too soon to say for sure.

Either way, it’s a disappointing turn for his career. Perry struggled to get in the lineup last season due to injuries and finished his rookie year with  a dozen catches for 246 yards, scoring 4 touchdown receptions. But he never did meet expectations over the summer and was surpassed on the depth chart  by other players. Minor injuries and inconsistent performance on the practice  field have kept him out of each of the first four games this season, and it might be the end of the raod for him in New Orleans.

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Raiders to deploy couple former 1st round EDGE in place of injured Maxx Crosby

Raiders to deploy couple former 1st round EDGE in place of injured Maxx Crosby

Let’s be honest, there’s no replacing what Maxx Crosby brings to the Raiders defense. But the Raiders have to try because Crosby is not expected to play Sunday when the Browns come to town. He is listed as Doubtful for the game and head coach Antonio Pierce said Friday that Crosby would be OUT.

It will be a group project trying to replace Crosby. And that group will include two former first round picks.

Saturday the team activated K’Lavon Chaisson from the practice squad. Chaisson was the 20th overall pick by the Jaguars in 2020 and was signed to the Raiders practice squad a couple weeks ago, following the loss of Malcolm Koonce to a knee injury.

Chaisson will join Raiders another former first round pick in Tyree Wilson who was the Raiders pick at seventh overall in the 2023 draft.

Others who will try and pick up the slack will be Janarius Robinson and Charles Snowden.

Raiders sign former 1st round EDGE to replace injured former 1st round EDGE

How do you replace a former top pick edge rusher? Why, with another former top pick edge rusher, of course.

Last Thursday, the Raiders lost starting edge rusher Malcolm Koonce to a knee injury. Six snaps into the game on Sunday, they lost former seventh overall pick Tyree Wilson to a knee injury. Thus leaving the position not only weaker, but lacking depth.

The Koonce injury was a huge blow. But they were hoping for the depth to step up and lessen that blow until Koonce could return. The Wilson injury meant something needed to happen.

“It got thin real quick,” Pierce said of the defensive end depth. “Telesco’s working on that as we speak.”

Well, Telesco’s work has yielded a result as the Raiders have signed former first round pick (20th overall) K’Lavon Chaissan to their practice squad.

Chaisson was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 20th overall pick in the 2020 draft out of LSU.

Over four season in Jacksonville, he had just five career sacks. They didn’t pick up his fifth year option and he left as a free agent. He signed with the Panthers this offseason and was released last week, ahead of the season opener.

Along with the Chaisson addition, the Raiders have also added CB Kyu Blu Kelly to the practice squad. Kelly was a 5th round pick by the Ravens in the 2023 draft out of Stanford. He didn’t make the roster out of camp and spent time on three different teams last season — the Packers, Seahawks, and Commanders.

Defensive end Mitchell Agude has a real chance of making the Lions 53-man roster

Defensive end Mitchell Agude has a real chance of making the Lions 53-man roster after adding SAM duty to his resume

Who doesn’t love a good story? Especially when it’s an athlete and their journey to the league. In this case, we could be on the verge of seeing dreams come true for Detroit Lions defensive end Mitchell Agude. We’re six days away from finding out what each teams 53-man roster will look like in the NFL. The question for Agude will be if he makes the Lions roster or not.

In 2023, Agude was undrafted out of Miami (FL) and he ended up signing with the Miami Dolphins. Part of the final roster cuts last summer, he was waived and about a month later, he signed to the practice squad of the Lions.

Prior to the NFL, Agude spent a season at Miami (FL) and two seasons at UCLA. With the Hurricanes, he was able to record 39 tackles, 7 tackles for loss and four sacks. During his career with the Bruins, he had 78 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.

Some will say that it’s “just good” but for Agude, it’s remarkable. Reason being is that Agude is lucky to be alive. When he was 9-years old, he was skateboarding at Santana Park in Corona, California and suffered a near-death experience. He fell off his skateboard and hit his head on the concrete. This forced him into a coma and for one and a half days, doctors drained fluid from his head. The fall caused a severe brain bleed and seizure.

After three days of the doctors trying to figure out a way to save his life and essentially telling his family that he’ll be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life, Agude woke up. From there, everything kind of went back to normal in his life. It was a miracle for him and his family.

The only hiccup he had after the accident was trying to convince his mother, Grace Agude, to let him play football. He wanted to follow in his big brothers footsteps and play the game. Despite years of his mother not allowing him to play contact sports, she finally let him in the 7th grade. From there, the rest is history.

Now, Agude is on the brink of making the Detroit Lions 53-man roster. Up to this point, he’s had a very strong summer with the Lions. He’s recorded 8 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Let’s dive into some film and see what Agude is doing so well for the Lions defense!

The first play I want to highlight is how Agude (DE #50) reads and reacts well to a screen pass to the running back. Looking at the play above, you’ll see Agude aligned in a tilt-7 technique against the Chiefs right tackle.

Once the ball is snapped, the Lions call for a E/T Stunt with Agude and Mekhi Wingo (DT #94). This is where the defensive tackle loops around outside and the defensive end crashes inside to the B-gap. This normally frees up the tackle to get a much clearer path to the quarterback.

However, you’ll see the running back check release on Wingo and in the process, he turns around and catches the screen pass. Fortunately, Agude doesn’t get too deep into the backfield and he actually does a pretty good job reading the offensive lineman releasing up field. He reacts quickly to the running back getting the ball and he makes great effort tracking this down for a minimal gain.

Next up is a rep from Agude where he shows off his pass-rush ability. You’ll see him highlighted on the play above as he works against the Chiefs right tackle. Once the ball is snapped, he shows a quick get-off but most importantly, watch his hands and pad level.

Once the right tackle throws his punch, Agude does a great job chopping the hands of the offensive tackle with his inside arm. Following it up, he rips underneath while dropping his pad level. As he begins to turn the corner, he takes it a bit wide and this allows the right guard to pick him up.

Which, keep in mind, is a great play by Chiefs right guard Trey Smith. This gives Patrick Mahomes enough time to step up in the pocket and get rid of the ball. Overall, this rep from Agude is encouraging as the Lions look for a pass-rusher opposite of Aidan Hutchinson.

Lastly, I want to focus on Agude playing off-the-ball and aligned in a ’30’ alignment for linebackers. Teams searching for a SAM linebacker will need them to play on and off the line-of-scrimmage consistently. They’ll need to play in coverage, stop the run and rush the passer. Through two preseason games, we’re seeing Agude being able to do that.

The play above highlights just that. As I mentioned, Agude is aligned in a ’30’ and while it’s unclear what pass coverage drop he would have, if any, it’s promising to see him play well against the run. Watch how fluid he is with his lower half while being able to locate the ball carrier. In the process, he attacks up field with a good angle and good play speed to make this tackle for a minimal gain.

Overall, it’s been very encouraging to see Mitchell Agude playing well for the Detroit Lions defense. Coming into this season, it felt like James Houston was somewhat on the hot seat. Houston needs to stay healthy, get on the field and produce.

Fortunately for the Lions, they’ve got a player waiting in the wings and potentially pushing Houston out of his spot. Looking like a more natural fit for that SAM linebacker position, it wouldn’t be surprising if Agude ended up making the 53-man roster over Houston and other defensive players.

Right now, Agude is doing all of the little things right. He does a good job with his run fits, flashes the ability to rush the passer and shows great effort on just about every single play. As he looks to live out his dream, he could be causing nightmares for the decision makers on the Lions roster. Over the next week or so, we’ll see if he can make his dream come true.

Film Review: Safety Brandon Joseph continues to increase chances of making the 53-man roster

Lions Film Review: Safety Brandon Joseph continues to increase chances of making the 53-man roster, from Russell Brown

Back in 2020, Brandon Joseph exploded onto the scene for the Northwestern Wildcats. He was a redshirt freshman and earned First-Team All-American honors and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He finished 2020 with 52 total tackles, two pass deflections and six interceptions. Despite another strong season in 2021 with 80 total tackles and three interceptions, we didn’t see Joseph enter the NFL Draft as a redshirt sophomore.

Instead, we saw Joseph enter the transfer portal and he found his way to Notre Dame. In 10 games for the Fighting Irish, he didn’t look like the same player. He was no longer making one-handed interceptions in the Big Ten Championship and just wasn’t around the football the way he was doing before.

Entering the 2023 NFL Draft, Joseph didn’t blow up the Scouting Combine. His vertical jump was 30.5 inches, and his 40-yard dash was 4.62 seconds. That 40-yard dash time was tied for 4th-slowest of any defensive back and his vertical jump was the lowest of any defensive back at the Combine that year.

The less-than-ideal performance was a contributing factor to him being undrafted to the Lions in the 2023 NFL Draft. Despite spending most of his entire rookie season on the practice squad, Joseph did play 14 special teams snaps between weeks 3 and 4 (Atlanta and Green Bay) last season.

With a season under his belt, Joseph is doing his best to prove he’s worthy of a roster spot in Detroit this summer. It’s been a strong camp for him and adding to that, he had a strong performance against the New York Giants in week one of the preseason. Let’s dive into some tape to look at what he could provide the Lions on defense this season.

During Lions training camp, one of the big things that Dan Campbell wanted to see from Brandon Joseph was for him to be more physical. Against the Giants, he showed that from time-to-time and he finished with three tackles in that game.

Looking at the play above, you’ll see the Giants come out in an unbalanced formation to the left of the defense. With an additional offensive tackle and tight end to the right of the quarterback, you’ll see Brandon Joseph (#40) move down towards the box.

Prior to the snap, the quarterback motions a receiver towards the offensive line. Once the ball is snapped, you’ll see Joseph fly up field and lower his shoulder into the receiver. Making himself difficult to block, Joseph creates enough separation to fit into a potential cutback lane for the running back. Sure enough, he meets the running back and contributes to making the tackle.

Lastly, I want to focus on Joseph being in the right place at the right time. Looking at the play above, the Lions defense is running Cover 1-Hole. All linebackers and defensive backs are playing man coverage except for Joseph. He’s aligned as the strong safety and he “funnels left” into the “hole.”

In this instance, he sits about 10-12 yards off the ball and reads the quarterback and the three receivers to his side. Sitting in the passing window of a post route, Joseph reads this one perfectly and is able to intercept this pass. With a good return, he flips the field and gives the ball back to the offense with good field position to potentially score.

Overall, there’s much to be desired with Joseph from his college tape to now. He has the ball skills to make plays and as you can see, he’s not afraid to get physical and tackle. The hope is that this will carry into the rest of the Lions preseason games and if it does, I’d anticipate for him to make the Lions 53-man roster.

Last season, we saw the Lions have three safeties listed “officially” at safety with Tracy Walker III, Kerby Joseph and Ifeatu Melifonwu. They also had Brian Branch and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, but they were listed as nickelbacks for the defense.

This season, the question will be if the Lions roster will have three safeties or four safeties in their secondary? Despite Brian Branch having the versatility to play in the slot, he’s listed as a safety with Kerby Joseph and Ifeatu Melifonwu. If the Lions are looking for that 4th safety to allow Branch more freedom to roam around the defense, then I’d look for Joseph to be part of their plans this season.

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