Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Listing one free agent from the Patriots, Bills, Jets and Dolphins who could be a fit for the Chargers.
The Chargers won’t be aggressive when it comes to signing free agents, as they’re currently $22.1 million over the projected salary cap.
While they’re cash-strapped, general manager Joe Hortiz will make some moves to have some spendings available to them so they can sign some.
That said, I will list one pending free agent from each team in the NFL that could be a realistic target for L.A.
Next up is the AFC East.
From @ToddBrock24f7: Safety Micah Hyde and defensive end A.J. Epenesa have been ruled out of Week 15 after suffering injures in their win over Kansas City.
Buffalo has one of the top defenses in the league this season, ranking near the top in several key statistical categories. But with the high-flying Cowboys offense coming to town this weekend, the Bills will find themselves having to make up for the absence of two of their biggest defensive playmakers.
Safety Micah Hyde and defensive end A.J. Epenesa have both been ruled out of Sunday’s Week 15 date with the Cowboys. The news was confirmed by Bills head coach Sean McDermott Friday morning.
Both players were hurt during last Sunday’s win over Kansas City and had been considered “week-to-week” by the club.
A.J. Epenesa and Micah Hyde have been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, Sean McDermott says on WGR.
— Matt Parrino (@MattParrino) December 15, 2023
Hyde left the Bills’ Week 14 game with a neck stinger. The team has indicated that this latest injury is related to a hit he took in early November. The 11-year veteran had been trying to play through that issue ever since, though he missed Week 10 because of the injury. Hyde also missed all but two games in 2022 with a neck injury.
Epenesa suffered a rib injury in the same game versus the Chiefs, on a first-quarter play in which he tipped a Patrick Mahomes pass and then came down with the interception.
The Bills defense currently stands tied for second in the league with 23 takeaways. Hyde and Epenesa each have accounted for two picks; Epenesa has also forced and recovered a fumble. They have been in on a combined 68 tackes and 13 passes defensed, with Epenesa adding 6.5 sacks and 10 quarterback hits.
Their unavailability for Sunday’s game is of considerable consequence in a game both clubs are treating as a must-win.
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Taylor Rapp figures to be the replacement for Hyde, with Damar Hamlin likely getting a few extra reps, too. Epenesa’s absence could mean more work for Von Miller. The eight-time pro Bowler hasn’t played more than 27 snaps in a game since coming back from an ACL injury suffered last November.
Beside ranking second in the NFL in takeaways, Buffalo is tied for third leaguewide in sacks and is top-10 in total touchdowns allowed, fewest passing yards allowed per game, and fewest points allowed per game.
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A.J. Epenesa would add a strong boost to the Patriots’ defensive front
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is big on effort, and he’d get plenty of it if he had a high-motor defensive playmaker like Buffalo Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa on his roster.
Epenesa is the perfect example of patience and perseverance in a young, burgeoning NFL talent. Not having Matthew Judon on the field has obviously impacted the Patriots defense greatly. So imagine the kind of damage they could do with Epenesa joining the likes of Josh Uche, Deatrich Wise and Keion White.
It would be easy to choose Bills quarterback Josh Allen, wide receiver Stefon Diggs or even legendary pass-rusher Von Miller, but we’re taking things in a bit more of an unexpected route with Epenesa.
The Patriots have so many issues at receiver and the offense line that Allen and Diggs couldn’t save them alone. Granted, they could build around them and be better in the long-term for it. But a playmaker like Epenesa would help the defensive-focused Patriots right away.
He’s currently playing in a contract year and showing the sense of urgency you’d expected from a young player on the end of his rookie contract. With four sacks on the year, he is already 2.5 sacks away from tying his career-high from last season.
There’s nothing flashy about his game, either. He’s a tough defender that’s going to sprint and fight his way to the target with all-out effort on every single play. Belichick has made Super Bowl champions of such players in the past.
AJ Epenesa’s been on a heater the past two weeks
2nd-highest pressure rate among ED (min. 25 pass rush) and his 3 sacks are tied with Leonard Floyd for 3rd-most among ED
Trent Brown’s been good this season, but Epenesa’s bend led to some convincing wins last season https://t.co/wLPuTMbROs pic.twitter.com/WulSDEGoe8
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) October 18, 2023
Unfortunately for the Patriots, Epenesa will be on the opposing side of the field on Sunday, hell-bent on ruining the day for quarterback Mac Jones and the offense.
Somehow, someway—with a banged-up offensive line—the Patriots will have to find a way to stop him.
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#Bills DE Boogie Basham: ‘I got to set myself up to be great’
When the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Carlos “Boogie” Basham at 61st overall in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, it certainly turned some heads.
Not only because the team had just picked a player in the first round at the same position in Greg Rousseau, but also because Basham was seen by some as a “steal” in terms of improving the Bills pass rush.
So while he’s training to begin a third pro season, he’s aware his previous campaign left a lot of room for improvement and fell short of that goal.
“This year can either set you up for life or set you up somewhere else,” the young DE said via NYup.com. “I got that mindset, whether it’s at Buffalo or somewhere else, I got to set myself up to be great somewhere.”
Despite playing nearly twice as many snaps in 2022 compared to his rookie year, it included fewer sacks and less than 20 snaps in five of the 15 games he appeared in. Basham experienced a lack of consistency overall.
“You kind of question yourself sometimes, but you can’t do that,” he added. “If you question yourself then you’re not gonna play at your full potential.”
He is now looking to build on last offseason’s visit to his new teammate Von Miller’s Las Vegas-based pass rush summit in Las Vegas with fellow defensive ends Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa learning from the league’s elite pass rushers about concepts and opposing offensive linemen tells that they allow them to gain an edge in winning their defensive matchups.
The results showed for Basham in a few of the Bills regular-season games, including their opener against the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angles Rams, logging a sack, two quarterback hits, a season-high four pressures, and an interception.
Miller was also able to continue his tutelage of his mentees by way of the Bills defensive line room meetings throughout the 2022 season.
“I remember the first day we’re sitting there watching film and Von is like, ‘Yeah, he has a weak left leg,'” Basham shared. “I’m like, ‘What you mean?’ He’s like, ‘He’s an outside puncher versus puncher to the inside.’ It was like 10 seconds and he just said that right away. He’s been doing this for a long time so he can pick up on stuff like that.”
He knows after struggling with consistency much of his second year that he’ll still need to be better to improve a Bills pass rush that was scrutinized at season’s end.
At that time, Basham met with GM Brandon Beane and HC Sean McDermott, who wanted him to continue to show progression. He’s currently focused on getting his weight down while adding power.
“The speed was good, changing direction, winning on all levels of the line, but they want to see more power rushes and physicality on my rushes,” he continued. “In my first year, I didn’t really know what moves I wanted to use or what I was doing, but I feel like last year I honed in on speed rushes and counters and I feel like I did a great job of showcasing that I’m a bigger guy but I can still move fast. Once I’ve got both the speed and power on film, it’s really gonna throw tackles in a bind because they don’t know what I’m gonna throw at them.”
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Mac Jones was reportedly fined by the NFL for unsportsmanlike conduct.
New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones was reportedly fined for an incident that occurred late in last Thursday’s home loss to the Buffalo Bills.
After being sacked by Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa, Jones flicked a football in his direction that hit him, resulting in a $10,609 fine by the NFL, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Overall, it was a rough game for Jones and the Patriots offense, which only mustered 10 points and 242 total yards in the loss. Jones was especially frustrated with the offensive play-calling under Matt Patricia and could be seen shouting expletives on the sideline during the game.
#Patriots QB Mac Jones was fined $10,609 for unsportsmanlike conduct late in last week’s loss to the #Bills. Jones flicked the ball and hit A.J. Epenesa after a sack. No flag was thrown.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 10, 2022
The Patriots hope to leave those frustrations in the rearview with the team preparing for a pivotal Monday night road game against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 14.
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Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar features Week 1’s great underrated players on his Secret Superstars team.
There are all kinds of reasons that NFL players are underrated.
Perhaps they’re in systems that don’t best show their skills. Maybe they’re buried on a depth chart. Or, they’re in somebody’s doghouse, and their coaches can’t see their potential. Sometimes, young players haven’t quite put it all together, but there are enough flashes to make you sit up and take notice, and when it does work, it’s all good.
Week 1 of the 2022 regular season features players at every position who showed up and showed out despite their underrated statuses, and here at Touchdown Wire, it’s our job to point them out.
Here are the Secret Superstars for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season.
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Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell joins a list of Hawkeyes greats on the Big Ten preseason honors list.
Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell was one of 10 players named to the Big Ten Preseason Honors List. The announcement was made by the league office on Monday. Ten members were selected by a media panel, with five representatives from the East and West divisions.
Campbell was a second-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Phil Steele in 2021. In addition, he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors and was tops nationally with 143 tackles.
Campbell is on a litany of preseason watch lists ahead of the 2022 college football season. He was one of the best linebackers in the nation last year before returning for his senior season.
He is one of three Iowa linebackers on the Butkus Award watch list. He is also on the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list. The media recently named Campbell the preseason Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and he joined cornerback Riley Moss on both the Athlon Sports and Sporting News’ preseason first-team All-American lists.
A lot of successful Hawkeyes have been named to the same preseason honors list. They include center Tyler Linderbaum (2021), defensive end A.J. Epenesa (2019), tight end Noah Fant (2018), linebacker Josey Jewell (2017), defensive back Desmond King (2016), and offensive tackle Brandon Scherff (2014), all of whom were NFL draft picks. Linderbaum, Fant, and Scherff were all first-round NFL draft selections while Epenesa was a second-rounder.
It certainly isn’t bad company for Campbell to be mentioned in when looking at his future draft stock, especially after Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy recently talked up his abilities on Twitter. The 2022 season can be a special one for Jack Campbell.
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#Bills reflect on 9 sacks vs. #Jets: ‘Everybody eats’
The nine sacks against the Jets were Buffalo’s most in a game under Sean McDermott, and their most in a game since 2011 (10 against WFT Oct. 30, 2011). They now have 19 sacks in their last four games.
The first sack of the day came on Jets WR Jamison Crowder in a failed trick play while the other eight came on Wilson. It was the most he’s been wrapped up in a game this season.
Bills sack leader DE Mario Addison (7) and S Jordan Poyer had two sacks apiece. Poyer’s two takedowns were good for a single-game career-high, and his sack season total (3) is also a career-high.
DT Ed Oliver had a sack and a half in the game along with three quarterback hits, and LB Matt Milano, DE Boogie Basham, and DE A.J. Epenesa each had a sack as well while DE Jerry Hughes also added a half-sack
“Everybody eats,” Oliver said to the press after the game. “Everybody was just on it. It just seemed like everybody was flying around. He wanted to run around and just our overlap and everybody just rushing. So that was a good sight to see especially in the game like this with so much on the line.”
“We won a lot on first down,” fellow DT Harrison Phillips said during his media session. “Our coverage did some great things to make him hold the ball and then our offense scoring early being up kind of the whole game lets us get after the quarterback.”
“I just think overall they’re playing faster,” HC Sean McDermott said while addressing the media. “We had some young players mixed in there and then you’ve got some older guys with Jerry and Mario and that blend has come together at the right time.”
And McDermott wasn’t the only head coach in the game to compliment the defense’s level of play.
Jets HC Robert Saleh called the Bills defense a “buzzsaw” after the contest.
“Obviously they are one of the best defenses in football,” Saleh said during his postgame press conference. “We just could not run the ball very well. Obviously, it was tough sledding. And any time we got something going, their front was dominant.”
The Bills clinched the AFC East with the win and are now the No. 3 seed on the back of their four-game winning streak. They’ll host the Patriots for a third matchup this season on Saturday evening for the first-round Wild Card game.
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Every draft class has a group of unheralded and underdrafted players who become NFL stars. Here’s this year’s group of sleeper candidates.
Player value is in the eye of the beholder, and certainly in the eyes of the team decision-makers selecting a draft prospect. When the Seahawks took Richard Sherman in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, Sherman was a lightly-regarded cornerback and ex-receiver with embryonic coverage skills, but he was also a perfect fit for Pete Carroll’s single-high coverage schemes, which require his cornerbacks to be aggressive off the line of scrimmage and to cover at a lockdown rate down the boundary. Because he was in the right place, Sherman was able to become the pre-eminent cover cornerback of his era.
The Bengals stole Georgia defensive tackle Geno Atkins in the fourth round of the 2010 draft because Atkins was allegedly undersized. But that organization understood that Atkins’ height (6-foot-1) also amounted to leverage, and Atkins used his leverage, not to mention his play speed and hand technique, to make eight Pro Bowls and amass 75.5 sacks, 171 quarterback hits, and 100 tackles for loss.
So, when it comes to deciding right off the bat who’s a draft steal, opportunity takes a part. Scheme fit and coaching are important. And talent will out in the right place. With all that in mind, here are the draft picks in 2020 we think have the best opportunities to outpace where they were actually selected.
Zack Moss | Eno Benjamin | Antonio Gibson | Denzel Mims | Laviska Shenault Jr. | Josh Jones | A.J. Epenesa | Zack Baun | Marlon Davidson | Amik Robertson | Jaylon Johnson | Trevon Diggs | Antoine Winfield Jr. | Ashtyn Davis
Because sometimes life throws curveballs
We’re under an hour away from the start of night two of the NFL Draft. The Browns already filled the biggest need on the roster and now it is time to fill a few others.
The NFL Draft is not only meant to fill needs but in other cases, to make your strengths stronger. For example, the Packers have one of the best quarterbacks of all time in Aaron Rodgers. They traded up to draft Jordan Love. The Dolphins made Byron Jones the highest paid cornerback of all-time and are paying Xavien Howard nearly as much, and they selected Auburn defensive back Noah Igbinoghene with their final first round pick.
Going into the night the Browns have three picks in rounds two and three and addressing linebacker, safety, and depth at other positions will be on the forefront. However, great teams draft the best player available rather than reach for needs.
Here are seven outside-the-box options for the Browns at No. 41.
Notre Dame Tight End Cole Kmet
The Browns just handed Austin Hooper the highest paid contract for a tight end in NFL history and drafted David Njoku in the first round just three years ago. Njoku could be a great trade chip with a weak tight ends class and the Browns could easily replace him with Kmet.
Kmet is the best tight end in this year’s class and would only add to the talent pool that the Browns have on offense. Kevin Stefanski loves to use two-tight end sets and a young Kmet has lots of upside coming out of the tight end factory in South Bend.
Ohio State Running Back J.K. Dobbins
Outside of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, the Browns are incredibly thin at running back. Hunt is slated to be a free agent next year and Chubb’s contract is set to expire the following year. Extending Chubb would be a great move for the club but history shows handing big time money to running backs does not workout.
Dobbins will eventually help take the load off Chubb and add an entire other dimension to the run game. As an added bonus, Hunt becomes an intriguing trade chip for a win-now team looking to add a veteran back.
LSU OL Lloyd Cushenberry III
At LSU, Cushenberry excelled at center and the Browns just extended J.C. Tretter. However, a question mark remains at right guard and Cleveland lacks a solid backup center.
Cushenerry could not only provide tremendous depth but could also step in at right guard if Wyatt Teller lacks success at the position. Additionally, Cushenberry would make a great plug-and-play center if Tretter retires or goes elsewhere after his contract is up.
Colorado Wide Receiver Laviska Shenault Jr.
Heading into the 2019 college football season, Shenault was regarded as a top ten pick. He spent last season plagued by injuries and catching footballs from weak quarterback play at Colorado.
Behind Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, the Browns don’t have great options at receiver. Shenault could not only step in as the third receiver but does not need to be rushed into play, also learning behind OBJ and Landry. Let’s be honest, the chances the Browns can keep both OBJ and Landry down the road is slim and Shenault offers a great insurance policy if the Browns move on from either of them.
Alabama Cornerback Trevon Diggs
The Browns have two really good young cornerbacks in Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams. But as last year showed us, both have issues staying on the field. Not to mention, Terrance Mitchell and newly signed free agent Kevin Johnson are both slated to be free agents come next season.
You can never have enough cornerbacks and Diggs is regarded as one the best cornerbacks in this year’s draft. A young secondary of Ward, Williams, and Diggs could slow down young quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in the AFC North.
Iowa Edge A.J. Epenesa
Remember when the Browns drafted Myles Garrett in 2017 and still needed pass rushers? Just imagine if they added T.J. Watt instead of Njoku in that year’s draft.
Before last season, Epenesa was talked about as a top 10 pick but slow testing times had him falling down draft boards. Epenesa reminds me of a familiar case from two years ago with Harold Landry. Over the last two years, Landy has amassed 13.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss. That is certainly some production the Browns could use on the defensive line.
TCU Defensive Tackle Ross Blacklock
Sticking with the theme of defensive linemen, the Browns are pretty set. Larry Ogunjobi is going to be a free agent next year, Sheldon Richardson could very well end up being a cap casualty, and recently signed Andrew Billings is on a one year deal.
Blacklock gives the Browns a tremendous defensive tackle rotation and as a result will keep all four guys fresh instead of them leaving them on the field. It is not a sexy pick but could be one of the steals of the draft.
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