Tag: alliance of american football

Raiders add former AAF passing leader and Patriots practice squad QB Garrett Gilbert

Raiders add another former Patriots player, this time a QB

Twice over the past few years Garrett Gilbert has been part of the Patriots organization. So, naturally, he’s joining former Patriots OC and current Raiders HC Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas. His agent announced the addition on twitter today.

Gilbert was on the Patriots’ practice squad part of last season. The time before that he was with the Patriots was 2014-15.

In between those stints, Gilbert has been around. He even spent some time with the Raiders back in 2015.

Gilbert has been active for eight NFL games since then, the first coming in 2018 with the Panthers.

Where he really made his name, if you will, was in the short life of the Alliance of American Football in 2019. In the league’s only eight-game season, he led the league in passing and led his Orlando Apollos to a 7-1 record in the process.

Since then, he’s gotten more opportunities in the NFL. Which is to say he actually started a couple games. He started one game for the Cowboys in 2020 and one game for Washington late last season.

Now he’s currently the one and only backup behind Derek Carr for the Raiders. At least until they add a third QB to the offseason roster.

NFL owners will vote on 4th-and-15 attempt replacing onside kicks

The NFL owners need 75% yes votes to install a rule allowing teams to attempt a 4th-and-15 from their own 25 yard line to retain possession.

The NFL owners are set to vote on Thursday for a proposal which will effectively eliminate the onside kick, instead allowing teams a chance to keep possession late in the game by giving them one chance to convert a first down on 4th-and-15 from their own 25 yard line.

This proposal went to a vote last year and the competition committee voted 7-1 in favor, but the owners voted it down.

For it to pass this year, the league’s owners will need a 75% yes vote, meaning 24 of the 32 owners will need to approve the proposal.

The proposal would allow a team to use the 4th-and-15 rule twice per game, after any scoring play – including a safety. It would be used primarily in late game situations, as the risk of not picking up a first down is huge, giving the other team the ball in scoring position.

This rule was put into place in the short-lived Alliance of American Football (AAF) league in 2018, with the first team to attempt it successfully converting a first down.

Onside kicks are borderline unobtainable with the NFL’s new rules on kickoffs. In 2019, only 12.5% of onside kicks were recovered by the kicking team, while 4th-and-15 chances were converted 28.6% of the time, and 24.1% of the time dating back to 2015.

The league allowed this rule to go into effect during last year’s Pro Bowl, and the NFC team – coached by Pete Carroll – attempted one late in the game, a pass from Kirk Cousins intended for Kenny Golladay that was instead intercepted by former Seahawks safety Earl Thomas.

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