Tag: NFL wire

Every NFL team’s most impressive player in training camp

These NFL players have been standouts during training camp.

The unofficial start to the NFL season kicked off with training camp last month, where all 32 teams returned to action in preparation for the 2022 season.

It’s been an eventful few weeks, filled with competitive position battles, brutal injuries and noteworthy performances.

Whether it’s rookies making an immediate impact or veterans dominating, training camp has brought out some standout performances around the league. While it’s important to temper expectations at this point of the year, it’s hard to ignore the impact some players have had this summer.

Our NFL Wire editors identified the most impressive player from each of the 32 NFL teams during training camp.

2022 NFL Wire mock draft: See the staff’s picks in the first round

Editors from the NFL Wire network made selections for all 32 picks in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. Here are the results.

The first round of the 2022 NFL draft begins in three weeks.

Numerous trades involving quarterbacks and wide receivers have shaken up the first 32 picks. Several teams have multiple first-round picks. Several other teams still need a quarterback. How will it all play out once the dust settles and Roger Goodell kicks off the draft on Thursday, April 28?

Editors from the NFL Wire network made player selections for all 32 picks in the first round. Here are the results.

Super Bowl LVI predictions from all 32 NFL Wire editors

Editors from all 32 NFL Wire sites make their predictions for Super Bowl LVI. Does our team favor the Bengals or Rams? Or is it an even split?

The staff at Touchdown Wire made their picks for Super Bowl LVI. Now, it’s time for all 32 editors within the NFL Wires to predict Sunday’s winner between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams.

Will Joe Burrow and the Bengals complete a magical season and win the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy? Or will Sean McVay’s Rams finish the deal and win a title in their home city of Los Angeles?

Here’s how the NFL Wire editors are picking Super Bowl LVI:

Every NFL team’s MVP after the first 4 weeks of the season

Here is every NFL team’s MVP after the first 4 weeks of the 2021 NFL season:

There have been quite a few surprises through the first four weeks of the season thus far, with teams such as the Panthers, Bengals and Cardinals getting off to great starts. And although we’re only about a quarter of the way through the season, the top contenders have begun to separate themselves from the pretenders.

The same goes for the preliminary race for NFL MVP. There are some strong candidates that have emerged, including Josh Allen, Dak Prescott and Kyler Murray, and also some dark horses who could factor into the mix with a strong finish to the season.

At the quarter mark, we picked every team’s most valuable player through the first four weeks, and it hasn’t been all about the quarterbacks.

Washington jumps up to No. 20 in NFL Power Rankings after handing Steelers first loss

Washington came up with their biggest win of the season on Monday, jumping them up to No. 20 in the most recent NFL Power Rankings.

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It’s safe to say that the Washington Football Team might have earned some respect from the rest of the NFL on Monday night.

On the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers, playing without both of their top-two players — Antonio Gibson was ruled out with an injury in the first quarter, and Terry McLaurin was dealing with an ankle injury while being locked down by the Steelers’ secondary — Washington did what no other team has done this season. They handing Pittsburgh their first loss of the season, and did so in comeback fashion after trailing by 14 in the first half.

Because of this impressive performance, Washington has been bumped up in the most recent USA Today Power Rankings, clocking in at No. 20 this week, just four spots behind the New York Giants, who stand as the only NFC East team ranked ahead of them.

In the end, Washington’s ranking in the NFL as a whole doesn’t matter much, but where they stand in the division will mean everything come the end of the month of December, With a tie for the top spot in the NFC East, these next few games are more important than ever. Both Washington and the Giants are rolling, may the best team win.

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Bills’ Mitch Morse ranked among NFL’s best centers

Prior to the 2019 season, the Buffalo Bills knew they had to revamp their brutal offensive line. The club wasn’t shy about doing it, either. Among all those moves in free agency, the big, massive, fish, center Mitch Morse. 

Prior to the 2019 season, the Buffalo Bills knew they had to revamp their brutal offensive line. The club wasn’t shy about doing it, either. Among all those moves in free agency, the big, massive fish, was center Mitch Morse.

Since joining the Bills, it’s been steady as she goes for Morse, but now he’s getting some national spotlight. The NFL Wire pegged their top centers in the league this week, and Morse ranked as the 10th best center.

Here’s why, according writer Doug Farrar:

When Rodney Hudson left the Chiefs for the Raiders before the 2015 season, Kansas City responded by taking Morse in the second round of that year’s draft out of Missouri. Morse got a crash course in blocking at the highest level from Andy Reid and his staff — Reid has long been known as a master of offensive line technique, and line coach Andy Heck is equally highly-regarded — and that allowed Morse to accept a four-year, $44.5 million contract with the Bills in March, 2020. Smart move for the Bills, as Morse proved just as adept in Buffalo’s mobile quarterback-based offense as he had with the Chiefs. Morse allowed one sack, one quarterback hit, and 14 quarterback hurries for a quarterback in Josh Allen whose processing speed isn’t quite optimal yet. And when it was time for Allen to take off on designed runs… well, few centers are able to pull and block in space this adeptly.

The Bills knew the importance of getting Morse under contract in 2019. Speaking of  Reid and his knowledge of centers and offensive lineman, who does Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott have a connection to via their time with the Eagles? Reid. So it came as no surprise that McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane felt it just to spend big on a center.

Blocking is overlooked but important, and among those overlooked, the one that is the most is the center. It’s Morse’s job to get everyone on the same page each and every snap, making calls at the line. As the kog that turns the O-line, Morse was thrust into a unit which had four brand new starters last season.

Buffalo’s new hope in 2020 is that all those guys, Morse, along with Dion Dawkins, Quinton Spain, Jon Feliciano and Cody Ford, can all continue to build on their chemistry which began forming last season. Make no mistake, this grouping was an average one by comparison to those around the league. But continuity is very important in the trenches, and the Bills have it.

And evidently one of the league’s top centers, too.

 

 

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Bills’ Micah Hyde named 9th best safety in NFL

NFL Wire ranks Buffalo Bills’ Micah Hyde the ninth-best safety in the league.

Buffalo Bills safety Micah Hyde was named one of the NFL’s best safeties recently by Doug Farrar at the NFL Wire. Overall, Hyde slotted in at the No. 9 spot of the top-11 ranked safeties in the league.

Since 2017, Hyde and safety partner Jordan Poyer have established themselves as one of the NFL’s best secondary pairings. Farrar breaks Hyde and his partner in crime down here:

Sean McDermott – along with general manager Brandon Beane – has assembled a top-flight defensive unit that could be one of the best in the AFC.

From where I sit, it begins with the safety tandem of Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, already acknowledged as the best pair in the league in my opinion. Hyde in particular has raised his level of play the past few seasons. He does perhaps some of his best work down in the box helping stop the run, but he also has coverage skills that are necessary in today’s game.

He and Poyer work so well in tandem, with their ability to confuse quarterbacks like Brady – along with wide receivers – with how they can take basic coverage concepts and make them look exotic to an offense.

I expect to see more of plays like this from this tandem, and Hyde in particular, in 2020.

It’s true that Hyde is among the best safeties in the NFL and slotting him in around ninth looks right. Hopefully in due time Poyer will start to get his acknowledgement, too.

In 2017, Hyde earned a Pro Bowl nod. Cornerback Tre’Davious White was named an All-Pro just last season. Soon enough it’s going to have to be Poyer’s turn for some overlooked acknowledgement because all three of these guys put Buffalo’s defense to high levels each and every season since they were thrust together by Sean McDermott three seasons ago. But that’s not to take anything away from Hyde, either. The No. 9 overall spot here is a much-deserved placement for him.

 

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PFF gives Bills’ Tre’Davious White a top-five honor

Pro Football Focus names Buffalo Bills Tre’Davious White a top-five cornerback in man coverage.

Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott runs a defense that relies heavily on zone coverage. But the Bills do mix it up and run man coverage too, of course. The major pillar of that appears to be cornerback Tre’Davious White after more high-praise was recently sent his way via Pro Football Focus.

The football analytics outlet put White in the conversation to be the best cornerback in the entire NFL, alongside Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore. In doing so, PFF gave White a shoutout for his skills in man coverage despite that actually not being the Bills’ “go-to” coverage.

Overall, White was tabbed the third-best man coverage defender by PFF. Here’s the breakdown on White:

3. Tre’Davious White, Buffalo Bills

Man-coverage grade: 74.5

White’s PFF grade might have fallen a bit short of his tremendous rookie season (90.1 coverage grade in 2017) over the last two years, but the way that he’s limited production points to the fact that he’s certainly in the mix for best cornerback in the NFL behind Gilmore. The Bills didn’t run as much man as teams like the Patriots and Ravens, but White was lights out when they did over the course of the regular season. He allowed just 13 of the 33 passes thrown his way to be completed with seven forced incompletions. It’s hard to get much better than that.

As mentioned, it’s actually zone coverage that the Bills and White rely on more. And good news: He’s really good at that as well. Last month NFL Wire tabbed their best cornerbacks in zone coverage. The No. 1? White.

It’s expected that While will continue his high level of play in 2020, whenever the NFL does get to playing football. If he does, the Bills are going to have a big decision to make: How much is White worth? The club already picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract, so he’s signed through 2021. After that, White will likely be the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, and the Bills would look smart in being the ones paying that.

 

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Tre’Davious White named NFL’s best zone CB

Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White named NFL’s best cornerback in zone coverage.

Finally in 2019, Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White started to garner national attention. For his efforts last season, White was named an All-Pro for the first of hopefully several times in his Bills career.

As the 2020 season approaches, White continues to get the national attention he’s deserved since he entered the league. Most recently, the NFL Wire named the league’s best cornerbacks in zone coverage and White took the top spot.

Here’s why via Doug Farrar:

Last December, I did a tape piece in which I tried to discern who was the NFL’s best cornerback — New England’s Stephon Gilmore, or Buffalo’s Tre’Davious White? The differences between the two as far as overall excellence were tough; these are the two best at their position in the NFL. But White’s attributes in zone coverage were made abundantly clear.

The stats match the tape. White allowed 25 receptions on 43 targets for 325 yards, no touchdowns, five interceptions, and a Positive Play Rate of 48.8. Given his ability to dominate against the league’s best receivers on a week-to-week basis, and his remarkable consistency, White made his claim as the league’s best zone cornerback obvious, and inarguable.

In Touchdown Wire’s rankings, White edges out the likes of Gilmore (4), Janoris Jenkins (3) and even Richard Sherman (2). But it’s a well-deserved honor.

Buffalo’s defense plays plenty of zone coverage, and in that system, White tied Gilmore for the league-lead in interceptions last season with six. It was a no-brainer for the Bills to lock White up with his fifth-year option on his rookie contract as a former first-round pick, but they’ll certainly be looking to lock him up long-term as well.

 

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