Tag: market

Steelers lose WR trade target to 2024 AFC opponent

The Pittsburgh Steelers have once again lost out on another All-Pro receiver the team was previously linked to.

Three former All-Pro wide receivers previously linked as Pittsburgh Steelers trade targets have come and gone, with nothing from the Steel City to show for it. The 32-year-old receiver DeAndre Hopkins has found himself a new quarterback to catch passes from, and sadly for all the Russell Wilson fans out there, it isn’t Mr. Unstoppable, but instead three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.

As if Steelers fans couldn’t fear the Christmas Day matchup with the Kansas City even more, with a current undefeated record of 6-0 on the season, the Chiefs pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire Hopkins from the Tennessee Titans for a conditional fifth-round pick.

Will Pittsburgh finally stop losing out on the wide receiver trade market and bring a playmaker to a WR-needy Steelers team? While Russ will cook regardless, Steelers GM Omar Khan could set up his QB for success down the stretch with such a trade.

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Saints ticket prices plummet ahead of Week 14 Panthers game

New Orleans Saints ticket prices plummet ahead of Week 14’s Carolina Panthers game. Some resellers listed seats in the single digits:

Yikes. Ticket prices for Week 14’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers have plummeted, and it’s easy to understand why: the Saints are stuck in a three-game losing streak while hosting a one-win Panthers team. That’s after visiting Detroit Lions fans took over the lower bowl a week ago.

And that same Panthers team just scored twice as many points on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week (losing 21-18) as Derek Carr’s offense managed against that same Buccaneers defense earlier this season in a 26-9 defeat.

What’s more, the Saints have won just 8 games inside the Caesars Superdome since Drew Brees retired at the end of the 2020 season. They’re stuck with an underperforming quarterback, an unpopular head coach, and organizational leadership that’s rapidly burned through the good will they spent decades cultivating. They’re in a bad way, and even diehard fans will hesitate to spend hundreds of dollars on an unsatisfactory product.

So it’s little surprise that tickets are listed in the single digits on some resell platforms. At one point seats in the lower bowl behind the New Orleans benches were listed at $60 each. While it’s embarrassing to see so little fan interest, maybe this is the wakeup call Mickey Loomis and decision-makers at the top need to kickstart significant changes:

Week 5 NFL broadcast maps: Will your local station carry Saints at Patriots?

Will your local station carry Saints at Patriots? Check the Week 5 NFL broadcast map from 506 Sports:

There aren’t a ton of fireworks in the forecast for Week 5’s matchup between the New Orleans Saints (2-2) and New England Patriots (1-3) which has the look of a tough game between two defense-first teams. But will your local CBS station carry the broadcast?

This week’s broadcast will be shown in each team’s home market: meaning Saints fans in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and large parts of of North Carolina, Florida, and Arkansas will be tuning in. So will Patriots fans in most of the Northeast: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, plus most of New York and New Jersey.

If you’d like a visual, reference, check this broadcast map from 506 Sports. Markets in blue will carry the Saints-Patriots game, while those in green will feature the Tennessee Titans-Indianapolis Colts divisional rivalry game. But much of the country will see the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers (marked in red) continue their storied feud:

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Chargers RB Austin Ekeler: ‘We’re the only position being punished for our production’

Austin Ekeler continued to expand upon his viewpoints and the fight for the current running back market.

Austin Ekeler continued to expand upon his viewpoints and the fight for the current running back market. First, he was asked about the Zoom meeting that the top running backs in the league held last Saturday.

“I thought it was important to get together and talk about these issues,” Ekeler said. “These things aren’t going to change overnight. We want to put ourselves in positions as a union to protect ourselves as players.”

Ekeler further detailed the fight against media members using certain analytical figures to devalue the impact running backs have in the league.

“You can put statistics in one way or another to say someone’s worth something, or they’re not. These narratives are putting you down for, ‘well can you keep doing it?'”

Ekeler responded to a tweet from Colts owner Jim Irsay referencing the current CBA. There was some acknowledgment from Ekeler back that Irsay was right about the everyday use of the franchise tag having been agreed to back in 2020.

However, Ekeler said that the running backs must stay united in their messaging against such devices being used by executives and owners.

Using Giants’ Saquon Barkley as an example, Ekeler tried to demonstrate the unmeritocratic nature of the current market. “If Saquon Barkley runs for 3000 yards, ‘alright, we’re gonna franchise tag him again.'”

The quote that perfectly summarized Ekeler’s viewpoints in the presser was when he said running backs are “punished for their production.”

“You have that success, and then you get put into a situation where these narratives are putting you down as far as ‘Well, can you keep doing it?’ We’re the only position right now that seems to be getting punished for our production. It frustrates us.”

It should be noted that Ekeler sees his fight for the running back market and his relationship with the Chargers as two different entities. Ekeler stated his appreciation for the organization and referenced how they met him in the middle with incentives earlier this offseason.

In talking about the actual offense, he seemed visibly excited when answering questions about Kellen Moore. Ekeler cited good energy at camp practices that is “meshing” together Moore’s offense.

NFL Week 1 broadcast maps: Saints vs. Bucs draws national audience

The NFL’s Week 1 matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be broadcast from coast to coast on FOX Sports.

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All eyes will be on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome when Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints host Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday, and that attention is reflected in this week’s broadcast coverage. The first Saints game of the year will be covered on FOX affiliates from coast to coast, with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call in the booth and Erin Andrews reporting from the sideline.

Scheduled for a 3:25 p.m. CT kickoff, just one game is competing for Saints-Bucs on Fox: a West Coast tilt between the Arizona Cardinals an dSan Francicso 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, which will be shown in their local markets.

Check the map from 506 Sports and see if your market will be tuning in:

Other NFL games shown in the New Orleans market this week include the Atlanta Falcons home opener with the Seattle Seahawks on FOX (at noon CT), and Cam Newton’s New England Patriots debut against the Miami Dolphins on CBS (in the early slate, with Tony Romo and Jim Nantz calling the game).

Additionally, we’ll be watching four national broadcasts from around the league: the Houston Texans visit the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday (on NBC), with the Los Angeles rams opening SoFi Field against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

Week 1’s Monday Night Football slate is a double-header on ESPN, featuring an early Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants matchup, and a nightcap between the Tennessee Titans at the Denver Broncos.

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A.J. Bouye trade opens the market, but the Lions should expect more for Darius Slay

Examining how the Jaguars trading cornerback A.J. Bouye could impact the market for the Lions potentially shopping Darius Slay.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, when the league’s new year begins on March 18th, the Jacksonville Jaguars will trade cornerback A.J. Bouye to the Denver Broncos for a 2020 fourth-round pick.

There are several parallels that can be drawn between Bouye’s situation and that of Detroit Lions’ own top cornerback Darius Slay. They are close in age and production — Slay is slightly older and more productive — and both are nearing the end of a large contract, Slay in his final year while Bouye has two remaining.

Slay has suggested he has high contract demands, which has caused the Lions some trepidation in handing over another big-money deal, after seeing their last big contract extension — to Damon Harrison — blow up in their face.

In turn, it should be no surprise that Lions general manager Bob Quinn privately told a group of local reporters that included our own Jeff Risdon, that the team was exploring trade possibilities for Slay — hoping to potentially get some value out of one of their best assets.

“I think what we’re trying to do is explore a trade,” Quinn said. “That’s not saying we are definitely trading him. We’ve had some conversations with other teams. Nothing to report right now. We’re very much in the information gather phase of this.”

Seeing the return on the Jaguars got for Bouye has almost assuredly left Quinn disappointed.

While there are parallels between Bouye and Slay, the Jaguars and the Lions are in two very different spots.

The Jaguars are very much in sell mode after entering the season with their salary cap in the red. The Bouye trade frees up around $11.5 million and they elected not to pick up stud defensive tackle Marcell Dareus’ option, giving them another $20+ million in space. The Jaguars have suggested they are clearing room to use the franchise tag on EDGE rusher Yannick Ngakoue — someone the Lions could be interested in — but he has said publicly he has asked to be allowed to leave. Bottom line, this was a move the Jaguars almost had to make.

Meanwhile, the Lions are sitting on roughly $50 million in cap space — including Slay’s current deal of $13.4 million — and are in no rush to give him away for less than an ideal return.

Slay has made the last three Pro Bowls and most believe he is still an upper-echelon player. I don’t believe the Lions would even entertain a Day 3 offer for his services, and local reporters have suggested it would likely take a late second round or multiple Day 2 picks in order to get a deal done.

The Bouye deal shows how veterans are devalued when it comes to offseason trades, especially when a team is feeling the pressure. The Lions, while under pressure to win, should be in no rush to make a decision on one of their top players unless the deal is too good to pass up.