Tag: Jeff Diamond

Former Vikings GM predicts when J.J. McCarthy will start

Jeff Diamond, a former Vikings GM, looks for J.J. McCarthy to start in Minnesota before the end of the year.

The Vikings community is talking about when J.J. McCarthy will start for Minnesota. The Vikings went out and grabbed veteran Sam Darnold this past offseason to a one-year deal, and they have full confidence in Darnold starting the whole year—or until McCarthy is ready.

McCarthy is a proven winner. He won a state title in high school, went 27-1 as the starter at Michigan, and won a national title. However, the pundits are skeptical about McCarthy because he played in Jim Harbaugh’s run-first offense with the Wolverines. Either way, the Vikings drafted McCarthy 10th overall and will hand him the keys to the franchise at some point.

But that goes back to the question of when. Former Minnesota GM Jeff Diamond, who works for the 33rd Team, predicted when every first-round QB taken in the 2024 NFL Draft would start. Diamond believes McCarthy will earn the starting job in Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts.

Minnesota plays the Rams on Thursday Night Football in Week 8, which would give McCarthy 10 full days to get ready for the Colts. Plenty of people have thought McCarthy may start following the Vikings’ bye week in Week 7 against the Lions, but Week 9 is a possibility as well.

Former Titans president says Tennessee ‘failed’ the 2023 offseason

Former Titans president Jeff Diamond is not a fan of the team’s 2023 offseason.

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The Tennessee Titans have been in the midst of a franchise-altering past few months after a season that saw a seven-game losing streak that ultimately caused the team to choke away a third-straight division championship.

Since then, the team has hired a new general manager, parted ways with several notable players, re-signed the pillar of the defense, selected its heir apparent at quarterback, and announced a new billion-dollar playpen that will open by 2027, if everything goes according to plan.

Despite all this, it’s fair to say the Titans have had a polarizing offseason thanks to the moves (or lack thereof) they have made, and that has left a lot of people feeling underwhelmed about the 2023 group.

Former NFL Executive and Titans president, Jeff Diamond, certainly feels that way, as he listed Tennessee as one of the four teams who “failed” the offseason in his latest article on The 33rd Team.

Diamond believes there “wasn’t enough progress” made after the team came off a season in which it finished with the 30th-ranked passing offense.

These feelings only got amplified after the team released the likes of Taylor Lewan, Ben Jones, and Robert Woods, while replacing them with mostly questionable and/or inexperienced talent.

Diamond did go on to praise the selection of Kentucky quarterback Will Levis in Round 2, calling him an “intriguing prospect with a major chip on his shoulder after his draft fall.”

The former Vikings general manager also goes on to point out how Levis’ development could be a game-changer for the franchise due to the money it would free up to inevitably stack the team around the young quarterback.

Diamond’s lengthy statement can be seen in its entirety below.

The Tennessee Titans’ finish in 2022 was even more disastrous than the Chargers, who at least made the playoffs. Tennessee was sitting at 7-3 with a four-game lead on Jacksonville, Then, injuries to quarterback Ryan Tannehill and several other starters, along with poor play, caused the team to lose its last seven games, including getting swept by the Jaguars.

Not enough progress occurred this offseason to believe this team will rebound to when it was the AFC’s top-seeded team two years ago. The Titans released several past starters for cap relief — due to being less productive and often injured in some cases — including edge Bud Dupree, tackle Taylor Lewan, center Ben Jones and receiver Robert Woods.

The passing game fell to 30th in the league as the team could not replace A.J. Brown after he was traded to Philadelphia in a move that contributed to the firing of GM Jon Robinson. Derrick Henry is still an elite back, but his yards per carry have fallen the past two seasons, and he turns 30 in January.

Perhaps first-round pick Peter Skoronski can lead a resurgence of a once-strong offensive line after the team decides if it will play him at guard or tackle. He worked at both positions in Titans camp. The Titans also lost perhaps their most effective offensive lineman from last season in free agency when guard Nate Davis left for Chicago.

Second-round QB Will Levis is an intriguing prospect with a major chip on his shoulder after his draft fall. Coach Mike Vrabel says Levis is the No. 3 quarterback. If Levis can move up quickly and become the starter this season or by next year, it will help the team cap-wise once Tannehill is off the books.

Other talented players arrived via the draft, such as third-round back Tyjae Spears, but free agency appears to have brought no impact additions.

Leading the signees were Andre Dillard, who was often injured and considered a bust in Philadelphia as a first-round tackle, and cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, who missed 13 games in Tampa Bay during the past two seasons.

The Titans gave a $7 million per year deal to Arden Key, who is now with his fourth team in a six-year career and has never been a full-time starter.

The good news was the Titans’ extension of Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who is expected to lead the defense that fell from No. 12 in 2021 (when Tennessee was a 12-5 team) to No. 23 in 2022 (and last against the pass).

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Ex-NFL exec Jeff Diamond offers pessimistic take on Giants’ future

Retired NFL executive Jeff Diamond believes Dave Gettleman can turn things around for the New York Giants, but it may take some time.

The New York Giants entered 2019 pushing the narrative that they would be able to compete while rebuilding, which essentially blew up in their faces after just two weeks.

It was immediately clear that New York had a plethora of problems, including a lack of depth at several key positions leading to the over-use of rookies and all of the problems that come along with that.

Coming up on Week 12, the Giants are 2-8 and in the running for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, which speaks volumes about just how far off they are from being legitimate Super Bowl contenders. But perhaps they can make a playoff push in 2020?

Not so fast, says former NFL Executive of the Year, Jeff Diamond.

“I think it’s too soon to make that statement. I think that they’ve added some pieces, but there’s a lot of work to do. It will help them to have that cap cleaned out a little bit,” Diamond told Big Blue View. “They’ll have an opportunity to kind of re-fortify. Not that free agency is a cure all; it’s not. I still believe that you build through the draft primarily and you augment through free agency.

“They’ll have opportunities to add some quality free agents and hopefully they’ll turn out better than they did the last time. . . We’ll see. It’s going to be incumbent on Dave Gettleman if he survives this he’s going to have to make better free agent calls.”

Diamond does believe Gettleman benefits the Giants with his knowledge of personnel and history of winning, but eventually some of that has to show up in New York or his resume will no longer keep him afloat.

“I do believe Dave Gettleman knows personnel, he knows the business, he’s built winners before,” Diamond added. “We’ll see how it shakes out.

“I think the next draft and the next free agent class [are] really important for this Giants team to take a step forward.”

Make no mistake about it, Diamond believes the Giants can turn things around, but he doesn’t see it happened in a one-year span. Rather, he’s looking at least a couple seasons down the line and assuming that if all goes according to plan, the Giants will reemerge as competitors.

Unfortunately for Giants fans, that may mean another down year or two.

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