Tag: backups

Where Chargers’ Easton Stick ranks among all backup quarterbacks in NFL

CBS Sports ranked all 32 backup quarterbacks heading into the 2023 season.

CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin ranked all 32 backup quarterbacks heading into the 2023 season.

Chargers’ fifth-year signal-caller Easton Stick was near the bottom of the crop, checking in at No. 25 overall.

49ers’ Trey Lance and Sam Darnold were No. 1. Panthers’ Andy Dalton was No. 2. Ravens’ Tyler Huntley was No. 3. Commanders’ Jacoby Brissett was No. 4. Falcons’ Taylor Heinicke rounded out the top five.

Here is what Benjamin had to say about Stick’s ranking:

Entering Year 5, Stick has thrown just a single NFL pass. But the former NDSU title-winner has always had respected pocket movement and leadership, and he’s drawn positive spring reports taking over for the departed Chase Daniel.

Los Angeles and Stick, the team’s 2019 fifth-round pick, agreed to a one-year deal to bring him back earlier this offseason.

Even though Stick has only taken two snaps during the regular season, which came in 2020, he has flashed athleticism during the preseason, the coaches have praised his ability to run the practice scout team, and he has a close relationship with Justin Herbert.

Stick has played ten preseason games, with 144 passes attempted.

The Chargers are hoping Stick does not have to make regular-season appearances because it would take a huge toll on the team if Herbert were to miss time due to any circumstances.

Predicting the Saints starting offense after the draft

Predicting the New Orleans Saints starting offense after the draft; Gauging opportunities for rookies, remaining positions of need

We’ve already taken stock of the New Orleans Saints defense in the wake of the 2023 draft — now what about their offense? Many of these position battles (and in some cases, position assignments) won’t be clarified until training camp begins in July. But we can still make an early survey of the starting lineup and top backups across the board.

Here’s where things stand offensively going into the next phase of the Saints offseason:

Predicting the Saints’ 2023 starting defense after first wave of free agency

There have been plenty of changes to the strength of the New Orleans Saints’ team. Predicting the 2023 starting defense after the first wave of free agency:

The New Orleans Saints built their team on the strength of their defense, so seeing it be steadily eroded in free agency has been kind of alarming. They’ve lost multiple starters along the defensive line — David Onyemata and Shy Tuttle at defensive tackle, plus Marcus Davenport at the right end spot — and several key backups in linebacker Kaden Elliss and defensive back Justin Evans.

But the Saints have been active in searching for help on this side of the ball, too. Let’s take a quick look at their projected starting defense and top backups for each position group in the wake of the first wave of free agency signings:

Saints tackles Trevor Penning, James Hurst exit practice with injuries

Saints tackles Trevor Penning and James Hurst exited Wednesday’s practice with the Packers due to injuries. Ryan Ramczyk and Landon Young were already inactive:

This is worth monitoring. The New Orleans Saints depth chart took a hit on Wednesday with both their starting left tackle (James Hurst) and his backup (Trevor Penning, a rookie first round draft pick) leaving practice early with apparent injuries. Both players left under their own power, and Penning later jogged back onto the field, so it looks like he avoided any serious injury. We’re still waiting for word on Hurst.

Still, it made a dicey situation worse. The Saints were already resting All-Pro right tackle Ryan Ramczyk and his backup, second-year pro Landon Young. That put Hurst in at right tackle for their joint practice session with the Green Bay Packers with Penning on the left side. With the top four tackles out of action, a pair of undrafted rookies suddenly found themselves in the spotlight: New Mexico State’s Sage Doxtater (at left tackle) and Montana State’s Lewis Kidd (at right tackle). Doxtater later exited practice escorted by trainers.

We don’t know yet how severe the injuries to Penning and Hurst are, or how much time they’re expected to miss while recovering, though it’s a good sign that Penning was able to return and gut it out. It’s very much a fluid situation. Hopefully they both bounce back quickly. With the regular season set to kick off in just a few weeks, the Saints will need all hands on deck. Stay tuned for updates as Wednesday’s practice session continues with Saints coach Dennis Allen expected to speak afterwards.

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Key takeaways from the first unofficial Saints depth chart

The first unofficial Saints depth chart is here, just in time for their preseason opener with the Texans. Our key takeaways:

It’s finally game week for the New Orleans Saints, who released their first unofficial depth chart of the season – well, the preseason. The team posted their lineup for Saturday’s exhibition game with the Houston Texans, but remember to take it with a grain of salt. This doesn’t totally reflect what the is doing in practice or how players will be deployed in Houston as far as the first-, second-, and third-string units. It just gives an idea of how some units may be evaluated internally. Don’t freak out over a highly-drafted rookie being ranked behind a couple of more experienced plateam yers.

With that in mind, let’s break it down and see how things compare to what we’ve learned at training camp (as is the case on New Orleans’ unofficial depth chart, rookies are underlined here):

Seahawks maximized opportunity to see backups in preseason

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll maximized the opportunity to see the backups play throughout the preseason, resting the starters instead.

The Seattle Seahawks came away with a victory in their final preseason game Saturday night, beating the Los Angeles Chargers in an impressive 27-0 win at Lumen Field. Seattle finally shined, and did so without most of its starters.

After hinting that the first teams would get at least some time this week, Pete Carroll had most sitting on the sidelines, cheering on their teammates and watching the backups get all of the work.

“That was the way we basically approached it, for the whole preseason, to make sure that we maximize the opportunity to see the other guys; to not just see them, but knowing that so many of these guys are going to be on our team,” Carroll explained during his postgame press conference. “We wanted to take them as far as we could, and get them as ready to backup and support the effort throughout.”

Saturday’s matchup marked the Seahawks’ third and final preseason game of the year and Carroll is hoping his approach, different from previous summers, will be effective after all.

 “I think from stuff that we’ve learned, last summer,” Carroll said of his decision. “Leave it that. Succinct.”

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Sean Payton comments on Marcus Davenport’s elbow injury

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton commented on Marcus Davenport’s elbow injury, saying that he doesn’t expect the DE to be sidelined long

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The NFL draft is hyped up as the event when teams seek to get better by adding fresh talent from the college ranks, so it was frustrating to see the New Orleans Saints prepare for their Week 1 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers without the most valuable players they’ve picked in recent years.

In a Monday appearance on WWL Radio, Saints coach Sean Payton preached patience with one of those players: third-year defensive end Marcus Davenport, ruled out with an elbow injury suffered late in training camp.

“Look it’s gonna be soon here Davenport’s back,” Payton said. “He’s got an injury that if you try to hustle him back too early, [he would] be out for a lot longer. We’re gonna be making the right decisions regarding his health.”

If there’s a silver lining for Saints fans here, it’s that Davenport didn’t start the season on injured reserve. NFL teams are allowed to sideline players on I.R. for three weeks at a time this year, so if this were a long-term problem for Davenport then he would have been designated to the reserve list.

It might suggest the Saints expect him to be back in a week or two, which is supported by Payton’s comments. We’ll learn more when the Saints publish their first injury report on Thursday.

Fortunately, the Saints backups did a great job filling in for Davenport across from starting end Cameron Jordan. Jordan saw his usual majority of snaps (60, 85.7% of the defense’s total) with Trey Hendrickson (39 snaps) and Carl Granderson (23) rotating in. Versatile practice squad call-up Margus Hunt (21 snaps) also got some looks out on the edge. Both Hendrickson and Granderson got onto the stats sheet with sacks, and Hendrickson was credited with a pair of other quarterback hits.

It was enough to raise the hackles of Bucs coach Bruce Arians. After reviewing the game tape on Monday, he roasted left tackle Donovan Smith, who was charged with blocking the Hendrickson-Granderson combo in Davenport’s absence.

“I was very disappointed in his play,” Arians said. “I think every now and then he reverts back to some techniques that are not very good [and] he got beat. He had, probably, the easiest guy to block up there and he did a poor job. It was one of his poorer games and [I] expect for him to bounce back this week, yes.”

The Saints will visit Tampa Bay for a rematch on Nov. 8, under the bright lights on Sunday Night Football. And Smith will probably be drawing a matchup with Davenport, who beat him for a pair of sacks in their meeting last year. The Saints pass rush got off to a great start against the Buccaneers, and it looks like they’re set up to keep that momentum going.

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Seahawks at Packers: Inactive players for Sunday’s divisional round

The following players have been designated inactive for the divisional-round contest between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers.

The Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers will square off Sunday afternoon in the final game of the weekend’s divisional playoff round.

Here’s a look at the inactive players for the Seahawks and the Packers.

Seattle inactives:

Green Bay inactives:

WR Ryan Grant

RB Dexter Williams

CB Ka’dar Hollman

CB Josh Jackson

FB Danny Vitale

T John Leglue

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. P.T. at Lambeau Field.

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Snap counts and playtime percentages from Seahawks win over Eagles

Both the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles were lacking starters due to injuries – here are the wild-card snap counts for both teams.

The Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles entered the wild-card round of the playoffs with more than a few starters watching from the sidelines with injuries. The Eagles even lost starting quarterback Carson Wentz to a head injury early in the game.

Both teams rallied and made the necessary adjustments, however, it was Seattle who emerged victorious on Sunday.

“This was a really good accomplishment for our guys,” coach Pete Carroll said after the win. “We’ve come off a season of playing really well on the road and having played well here too. To get back and get to do it again. I know there’s a lot of talk of how you do that stuff again, but we did. As a matter of fact, the score was even the same I think. It’s a really big accomplishment.”

Here’s a look at the snap counts and playtime percentages for the Seahawks and Eagles during their wild-card matchup.

Seattle next heads to Green Bay to face the Packers in the divisional round on Sunday.

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Week 16 snap counts and playtime percentages: Cardinals at Seahawks

A look at who got the most time on the field in the Week 16 matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals.

The Seattle Seahawks dropped their Week 16 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals and suffered a number of new injuries in the game. With health already a concern, the reserves were called up to back up the inactive starters.

Regardless, Seattle wasn’t able to find a way to get it done and inked its fourth loss of the regular season.

“We had a really difficult day, obviously,” coach Pete Carroll said postgame. “Boy, nothing worked out the way we wanted it to, other than the first couple of drives. After that, we just weren’t able to do enough to have a chance to win the game. It didn’t matter, kind of, what phase we were in. We just weren’t good enough today.”

The Seahawks had made a number of adjustments prior to the contest but fell short in nearly every facet of the game. Carroll believes it wasn’t a lack of preparedness.

“We were ready to play, and jacked up and all that, and it turns out like that,” Carroll continued. “It’s just really a surprise. We could talk about this, and you guys are going to ask your questions and stuff, but really, our focus is gone on that game, because it wasn’t going to be on this game after we got in this locker room anyway with the game coming up next week.”

Here’s a look at the snap counts and playtime percentages from the Seahawks Week 16 loss to the Cardinals.

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