Tag: Opinion

NFL is paywalling the Eagles season opener and a playoff game on streaming because it knows you’ll pay, sucker

The NFL’s calculus shows, when it comes to fan interest, the limit does not exist.

The NFL season will kick off with a rare Friday night game and an even rarer trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Philadelphia Eagles will face a yet-unnamed opponent — rumored to be either the Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons or Green Bay Packers — in the southern hemisphere as the league makes its first official trip below of the equator.

That game won’t be on CBS or Fox, however. In fact, it won’t be broadcast on basic or premium cable anywhere. Like last year’s Wild Card game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs, that showdown will be exclusively shown on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock.

It’s not the only important game to get paywalled this year.

There is no way around this; this sucks. While Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts have added value to the game with clear images, alternate telecasts and advanced stats, Peacock’s live streams are laggy, blurry and generally feel like a pilot program from 2015. January’s Wild Card game was like watching on tape delay, as gamecasts and tweets suggested the stream itself was two to three plays behind the live action at Arrowhead Stadium throughout the evening.

This isn’t just an issue regarding Peacock’s increasingly desperate attempts to gain an audience and correct a product that has hemorrhaged money since its inception. It’s another example of the NFL’s never-ending quest to wring every last drop of cash from its fan base.

A Friday night game is the latest experiment to prove a theory that has perpetually been proven right; fans will consume high quality pro football whenever, wherever and pay for the right to do so. Moving that game overseas allows the league to sidestep any antitrust concerns about competing with high school or college football since, hey, it’s not being held on American soil. Putting it on Peacock, with its penchant for unresponsive playback controls and streaming quality so inconsistent you’ll swear you’re watching on a Super Nintendo, only furthers that.

This moves empowers Prime Video as well. Maybe you felt comfortable skipping out on the traditionally underwhelming Thursday Night Football slate expensively acquired by the e-commerce giant two years ago — local games still get local broadcasts after all. Now you’re now faced with the loss of a playoff game if you don’t sign up. While the NFL won’t see any immediate cash from these newfound subscriptions, they’ll be a massive selling point the next time the league’s broadcast rights go up for sale.

The fact this all happened in the same wave of announcements that included the NFL’s intent to run a Wednesday doubleheader on Christmas day this winter — roughly three months after saying 2023’s Christmas slate was a one-off — was beautiful symmetry. Commissioner Roger Goodell extends his reach every year, waiting for the moment it exceeds his grasp. Every year, he grabs onto whatever goal he’s set and shakes as much cash as he can. Last year’s Peacock-exclusive Wild Card game was the most streamed event in American history and made up an estimated 30 percent of internet traffic that Saturday.

The NFL is forever in the midst of a calculus problem, only to find out the limit does not exist. It can attempt to pry Christmas from the NBA and make you pay to select Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans from the same menu that includes all seven seasons of Bosch because no one has told the league it can’t. No matter how annoying this all is, it’s football.

We’ll still set viewership records even when the game is available exclusively through the Words With Friends app. We’ll stare down the television and clandestinely check our fantasy teams from the dining room table on holidays because there’s no one-step untangling of the game from our lives at this point.

So, yes, no one outside of a few select board rooms was asking for more games to be paywalled. And, yes, this stinks for the fans — especially the ones who lack the bandwidth to stream a game beyond the fuzziest of resolutions. But the NFL has no intention of leaving cash on the table, even if it means sacrificing quality along the way. Hell, that’s how we ended up with Fanatics as the league’s official apparel provider.

The NFL won’t stop pressing forward until it finds the limit where frustration overcomes quality. Maybe 2024 will be the boundary. But based on how successful the league’s last two forays into paywalled streaming have been, I doubt it.

The NFLā€™s response to the players’ union on banning hip-drop tackles shows itā€™s only pretending to listen

The NFL barely even tries to pretend it cares about players.

The NFL has embarked on a “righteous” crusade to remove “hip-drop tackles” from the professional game. And come hell or high water, league higher-ups will do everything in their power to manifest a ban.

Even ignoring what people most affected are saying.

On Wednesday, the NFL Players Association released a strong statement concerning the league competition committee’s steadfast fervor in excising the hip-drop tackle. While noting that the players appreciate any edicts that seemingly try to improve their safety, the NFLPA maintains they believe a hip-drop tackle ban is too confusing and too broadly-interpreted for themselves, coaches, referees, and fans.

Even for an imperfect union like the NFLPA, you’d have to try really hard to find a loophole in a statement that effectively represents the wishes of players. In fact, you’d probably have to gloss over its language entirely to diminish what it said.

Well, about that:

On Thursday, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent had thoughts about the NFLPA’s feedback on a proposed hip-drop tackle ban.

To say a league stooge like Vincent was paying thinly-veiled, patronizing lip service to active players would be an understatement. It’d be akin to noting that grass is green, water is wet, and the caffeine in coffee helps jolt people awake in the morning:

I’m aghast, and I don’t even know where to truly begin.

Vincent’s response is what someone sends as a cookie-cutter professional email for the bare minimum necessary to ensure a paycheck is still directly deposited into their bank account. Noting that you “welcome player feedback” and that you’ve spoken to (unnamed and unspecified) legends of the game only to return back to a diatribe about hip-drops being a “style of play” that needs to go is insulting.

It’s essentially Vincent and the league saying, “We see you, we hear you, but we still don’t care.”

Itā€™s hard to pinpoint why the league is hellbent on, once again, baking in a layer of confusion over an issue that doesn’t appear to be that big of a problem. (And, quite honestly, it is most often incidental.)

When it says that the injury rate is 20-25 percent higher on hip-drops compared to other tackles, where is that data coming from? Why is that being cited out of the blue as a data point that is empirical and easily understood? Who conducted the study? How were hip-drop tackles defined? Can you please show me any aspect of your work? We shouldn’t have to ask a multi-billion dollar football empire a common question that a fifth-grade math teacher asks of a 10-year-old child. But here we are.

When the league says that 105 tackles of the 20,000 reviewed over the last two seasons were of a hip-drop variety, that doesn’t demonstrate this being something that must be addressed. For you math majors out there, 105 tackles of 20,000 is just over half a single percentage point. Half … of a single … percentage point. Everyone hold onto your butts. A play that almost never happens must be legislated out of the game!

Again, why is this a grand problem the NFL needs to usher in while plugging in its ears, saying “la-la-la-la-la-la,” and pretending the players aren’t expressing dismay?

I have a good, very educated guess.

Banning the hip drop isn’t about improving player safety at all. It’s about the league finding another avenue to streamline and protect its financial investment in offensive players. Even if that comes at the expense of the quality of the game or what the players themselves actually desire, the NFL wants to eliminate all contingencies to protect its broadcast, fantasy, and betting money — the talented offensive players who light up NFL RedZone every Sunday. I can think of many, much more efficient ways to improve NFL player safety — as much as one feasibly can in a brutal sport like football — before I ever even entertain the subject of hip-drop tackles. That should tell you everything you need to know.

This is virtually the league’s skill-player version of the old rule that bans hits on quarterbacks below the knee. And, if passed, it will be applied in the same byzantine manner. The NFL doesn’t care that defenders will struggle to adjust. You either eat the flag and fine in a situation that often isn’t even in your control, or you simply can’t be part of the fun anymore. Because it’s not about the defense or sanctity of the sport, and it never was.

I vehemently disagree with this clear business decision. But I’d at least have some measure of respect for the NFL if it didn’t pretend that banning the hip-drop tackle was about anything but protecting a fraction of its financial coffers.

15 Most Impactful Texans of 2023: No. 7 Laremy Tunsil

Up next in our “15 Most Impactful Texans of 2023” series is Laremy Tunsil, who did a great job protecting rookie C.J. Stroud.

The Houston Texans had an extremely successful 2023 campaign.

They cruised to a 10-7 record under new head coach DeMeco Ryans and captured several accolades along the way. They won the AFC South and won a playoff game for the first time since the 2019 season. Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud won PFWAā€™s Offensive Rookie of the Year, rookie edge rusher Will Anderson won PFWAā€™s Defensive Rookie of the Year, and even Ryans took home hardware with PFWAā€™s Coach of the Year.

With a revamped team effort that led to dramatic improvements compared to both the 2021 and 2022 Texans, itā€™s worth examining who created that impact this past season and what their future projects moving forward.

This series has taken a look at defensive tackleĀ Sheldon Rankins, running backĀ Devin Singletary, rookie receiverĀ Tank Dell,Ā and veteran tackleĀ George Fant, and upstart linebackerĀ Blake Cashman.

Entering the top 10, we took a closer look at cornerbackĀ Steven NelsonĀ and linebackerĀ Christian Harris, and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. Now, Pro Bowl left tackle and franchise cornerstone Laremy Tunsil comes under consideration.

Opinion: It’s smart of Michigan football to seek continuity across the board

This is the way. #GoBlue

With the Sherrone Moore hire for Michigan football, the plan is to continue the trajectory of the team. Coming off of a national championship, not only is that smart in the short term, but it’s wise in the long term.

At the moment, Moore has elevated Kirk Campbell as offensive coordinator, which ensures that his vision will continue on that side of the ball. As far as we know, the plan will be to continue running things similarly on that side of the ball. Defensively, the Wolverines are apparently looking at Kansas City Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who was on the Baltimore Ravens defensive staff under Wink Martindale — same as Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter.

But some say, at a school like Michigan, why not be afraid to change things up? Why not seek the best of the best? Take a shot at someone like Jim Leonhard, even though that would require schematic changes?

Despite being a blue blood, in recent years, Michigan has not recruited at the same level as the other elite schools in college football. That could change under Moore, assuredly, but the Wolverines are more likely to be ranked in the top 15-20 than they are in the top five. That’s where establishing and keeping a system is important.

Look no further to Iowa City, where the Hawkeyes have relied on longtime defensive coordinator Phil Parker. Despite having arguably the worst offense in the country the past several years, twice Iowa has managed to play in the Big Ten Championship Game. Sure, part of that is also playing in the weak Big Ten West, but it’s also a testament to the system working. Parker doesn’t need five-stars across the board as some other coaches in the sport do — he just needs to identify talent who can run his system. It works, and it’s consistent — even when the Hawkeyes have had and lost star players, like AJ Epenesa or Jack Campbell — even this year when Cooper DeJean was injured and unable to play. There’s little-to-no drop-off week-to-week, year-to-year.

Change can be good, but if things are working, then there’s no reason to change — keep hammering home what works. Conversely, change can be damaging, even if it’s over time. Though Ohio State fans will screech ‘cheating!’ when it comes to Michigan football having won The Game three straight years, the reality of it is head coach Ryan Day has gotten away from Urban Meyer’s blueprint: toughness up front supplemented with elite skill players. In the aftermath of Meyer’s tenure, Day has loaded up on top-flight receivers and cornerbacks, but the offensive and defensive lines pale in comparison to the talent Meyer had in Columbus. Michigan, on the other hand, has found a formula for toughness, and it’s won a lot of games over the past three years. It’s a stark contrast to what used to fly in Ann Arbor — elite edge rushers, but OK defensive tackles; or an offensive line that was good, but not elite. Those things have changed dramatically since 2020.

So if Moore can lure a Cullen (or another Martindale acolyte — perhaps Martindale himself as he’s without a job at the moment), even if it’s a band-aid, it’s pivotal to continued success. Yes, at some point, there will need to be long-term stability, but players not needing to learn a new system year in and year out is crucial. Until that system gets figured out, of course (such was the case with Don Brown in Ann Arbor). But looking elsewhere, outside of the system, just because Michigan has prestige on its side is a recipe for disaster, particularly in the short-term and potentially in the long-term. Hire someone who can run the established system and move forward from there — that’s the best chance for success now and down the road.

Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee have become the biggest problem that ESPN desperately needs to solve

It’s time for ESPN to put the Pat McAfee Show in check

TheĀ Pat McAfee ShowĀ was purchased by ESPN with the idea of it being a major solution to the problems of the company’s future. Instead, over these last few weeks, it’s been much more of a problem.

At the center of it all is Aaron Rodgers, who has managed to create quite the circus act with his last few appearances on McAfee’s platform.

Last week Rodgers inexplicably used the platform to suggest ties between ABC’s late-night show host, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jeffrey Epstein, who was a convicted sex offender and a disgraced financer.

Kimmel immediately called Rodgers out for his claim and threatened to sue. McAfee tried to downplay Rodgers’ accusation as a “joke” but it didn’t work. Kimmel fired back on his show’s opening monologue of the year, taking Rodgers to task for his suggestion.

In between all of that, chaos ensued. McAfee called out ESPN executive Norby Williamson by name for supposedly leaking false ratings information to the press in an attempt to “sabotage” McAfee’s show.

It doesn’t stop there. Rodgers made his weekly Tuesday appearance on the show and went back at Kimmel, once again trying to downplay the tie between the late-night host and Epstein he created as a simple shot at Kimmel with no incriminating ties.

He then proceeded to call out former For The Win founding editor and current ESPN executive Mike Foss, who accurately described the initial Kimmel claim from Rodgers as a “dumb and factually inaccurate” joke.

Rodgers asserted that Foss’ comments did more harm than good while calling him out directly for his apology. He called out Foss as the problem with the “mainstream media” and began an unbridled rant about conspiracy theories and COVID-19 and everything else on his mind with Pat McAfee and his co-host A.J. Hawk silently capitulating their airwaves to the Jets quarterback.

Amidst all that babble, Rodgers dropped a cherry on top about Foss. ā€œI donā€™t think Mike Foss watched the clip,” Rodgers said. “I donā€™t know who that is. I donā€™t work for you, Mike.”

Ah, and there it is, folks. Yes. Therein lies the problem. Rodgers came on ESPN’s airwaves on an ESPN property to, once again for a second consecutive week, call out an ESPN executive. And he’s not wrong! He doesn’t work for ESPN. But the Pat McAfee ShowĀ is an ESPN show. Can anyone tell me the last time nonsense like this was espoused on an ESPN program without consequence? I mean, my goodness. Bill Simmons was suspended for three weeks just for calling Roger Goodell a liar. Jemele Hill was suspended for two weeks for a tweet.

Pat McAfee calls an ESPN executive a “rat” live on the air and nothing happens? Got it.Ā  Aaron Rodgers can tell Mike Foss he doesn’t work for him and continue to come on an ESPN show? OK, cool.

It seems to me that anybody who is a part of this show is given carte blanche. They’re allowed to do what they will. Call out executives. Rattle off your wildest conspiracy. As long as they watch the clip on TikTok? It’s all gravy.

To understand how we got here, you’ve got to understand where ESPN is coming from. The company has a problem ā€” it’s had it for years. It’s the same problem so many other sports media companies have run into. The problem is this: Gen Z doesn’t like sports.

Only 23 percent of Zoomers would describe themselves as “passionate” sports fans, per theĀ New York Times.Ā That fact alone poses an existential problem that ESPN and every other sports media company has been wracking their brains to try and solve.

Enter Pat McAfee. For ESPN, he is supposed to be the solution ā€” the cure. To an extent, the Pat McAfee Show is exactly what the doctor ordered.

McAfee draws in the audience ESPN covets. The viewership numbers of aren’t that impressive ā€” it only averaged 332,000 viewers through December, perĀ The Athletic.Ā For perspective,Ā First TakeĀ averaged 611,000 through December in the time slot just before McAfee’s show.

But McAfee wasn’t hired for television ratings. Instead, it’s the multi-platform audience he brings to the table that ESPN has proudly touted since acquiring his show in May of 2023.

It’s because of thatĀ andĀ the $17 million annual salary he’s paid by ESPN that McAfee can go unchecked. He makes the big bucks. Just like any other company out there, he’s treated differently. So are his friends. Rodgers falls under that umbrella.

But folks, this can’t last. Not like this.

McAfee, Rodgers and company have become a problem ESPN needs to solve. Every week the show turns into whatever the opposite of PBS is. Rodgers rattles off unchecked conspiracy theories and baseless COVID-19 claims that have been debunked for years at this point. Now, they’re calling out executives and getting into verbal spats with other Disney-based talents.

Look, man. This is all fun and games now. But, like we just saw with Kimmel, it doesn’t take much for everything to go left. Maybe Kimmel won’t sue. Maybe the Disney-on-Disney beef won’t escalate any further. But this is absolutely going to happen again. It might not be Kimmel, but it’ll certainly be someone else. And the results could be much, much worse.

That’s why ESPN should nip this in the bud right here and right now. Otherwise, this dumpster fire might turn into ash quicker than any of us ever expected.

Public Menace Aaron Rodgers somehow voted most inspirational by his Jets teammates

Hopefully Aaron Rodgers can inspire the Jets while actually doing something inspirational next season

Aaron Rodgers genuinely seems like one of the worst people to be around. Seriously. I cannot imagine hanging out with this dude.

Just picture it: You’re sitting in a bar kicking it with Rodgers and, suddenly, he starts bringing up 9/11 theories while you’re just trying to figure out if you want to go with the local IPA or a nice lager.

The dude constantly lies. We know this. He’s done it quite literally all season long. He’s told us ā€” and his Jets teammates, by the way! ā€” over and over again that he’d be back this season because of some miraculous torn Achilles recovery he discovered. Wrong. He didn’t. And the Jets haphazardly waited on him and completely tanked the season.

That’s who Aaron Rodgers is, man. At his core, he’s just a guy who will say or do anything to stay in the spotlight no matter if he believes it. We’ve seen it over and over again.

Yet, somehow, despite being a public menace to just about everyone, the dude was voted by his Jets teammates as most inspirational, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Apparently, the team just loves the guy. Robert Saleh says so, anyway.

“I’ve said it a million times: He loves his teammates, and his teammates love him,” coach Robert Saleh said. “He’s so intentional with how he approaches everybody in the building. He’s very thoughtful in the way he does things, and he’s a tremendous human. He’s really well deserving of this award.”

And left tackle Duane Brown says he’s inspired by Rodgers’ diligence in his torn Achilles recovery.

“It’s inspiring, man,” left tackleĀ Duane Brown said. “That’s one of the most difficult injuries to come back from. To see his recovery, even without being on the field, has been remarkable. And the attitude he has — I’m sure the day-to-day isn’t easy, but he doesn’t complain about it.”

That’s fascinating. Look, we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors with the Jets. Maybe Rodgers is actually a great teammate to those guys. Maybe, just because he’s a menace to everyone else, he’s pretty cool to them? Who knows!

Could this also just be another thing the Jets are doing to massage their quarterback’s ego? Sure! Maybe. I have no idea. None of us do.

Regardless, I hope he feels appreciated. Especially after costing one of his teammates a job with the farce he put on for everyone.

The only AP voter to rank UCLA over South Carolina in the top-25 poll explains why

One voter believes that UCLA has played a slightly tougher schedule than South Carolina.

January often feels like the midway point for the college basketball season. After two full months of games ā€” and as conference play begins in earnest ā€” stars have emerged to help the contenders separate themselves from the pretenders.

On the womenā€™s side, there are just seven undefeated teams left. We can break them down into two categories.

Three of those teams are greatly exceeding expectations and taking advantage of schedules that are a bit softer than those of the other unbeatens. But nonetheless, they enter 2024 with zero losses. They are: West Virginia, Oregon State and TCU. A round of applause for those three.

The other four are teams that more recently have established themselves as powers in womenā€™s basketball. Theyā€™ve been tested. Theyā€™ve played tough schedules. They have signature victories. They should compete for their respective conference titles, and theyā€™re now expected to make deep runs in March.

Those teams are: Baylor, N.C. State, South Carolina and UCLA.

For the past few weeks, the 36 voters on the Associated Press Top 25 Poll have agreed that South Carolina was the nationā€™s top team. And of course, thereā€™s good reason for that. The Gamecocks have marquee wins over Notre Dame, Utah and North Carolina, and they rank first in the nation in offensive and defensive rating, according to HerHoopStats.

What Dawn Staley is doing with South Carolina this year is incredibly impressive. She lost all five starters ā€“ all of whom were WNBA Draft picks ā€“ from a team that won the SEC and went to the Final Four last year, and the Gamecocks still look like juggernauts in the sport with players like Raven Johnson, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Kamilla Cardoso leading the way.

But this week, I diverged from the rest of the AP voters.

I put UCLA at No. 1.

After the Bruins beat rival USC on Saturday ā€“ a previously unbeaten team armed with Freshman of the Year frontrunner Juju Watkins ā€“ I felt compelled to take a closer look at the resumes of UCLA and South Carolina.

Here are the facts:

  • UCLA has four wins this season over currently ranked AP Top 25 teams (UConn, Florida State, Ohio State and USC). South Carolina has just two (Notre Dame and Utah) after North Carolina fell out of the poll this week.
  • If you want to judge teams by where they were ranked when the games occurred, fine. UCLA beat two top 10 teams (No. 7 UConn and No. 6 USC) while South Carolina has only topped one (No. 10 Notre Dame).

Simply put: I think UCLA has played a tougher schedule.

Iā€™ve also seen both of these teams play in-person this season: South Carolina three times, and UCLA once at the Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun. To me, the Bruins looked like the better team. Kiki Rice, Londynn Jones and Charisma Osborne make for a dynamic backcourt trio, and Lauren Betts controls the paint and protects the rim in a way that few players can, which is why the Bruins are No. 1 in rebounding rate at 63.4%.

I also believe that UCLAā€™s best win ā€“ take your pick of either a neutral site triumph over UConn or a home victory over USC ā€“ is better than South Carolinaā€™s best win, which is probably the Gamecocks’ season-opening shellacking of Notre Dame. Two months into the season, the Irish ā€“ fresh off an upset loss to Syracuse ā€“ donā€™t look as good as the Huskies or Trojans.

Further, I donā€™t think South Carolina has done much yet to make a convincing argument as to why it is leaps and bounds better than UCLA. The Gamecocks rose to the top spot in Week Two simply because they had the best Week One victory after the preseason top two ā€“ LSU and UConn ā€“ lost to Colorado and N.C. State. Some voters selected Iowa as No. 1 in Week Two, but they too joined the folks voting for the Gamecocks in Week Three after the Hawkeyes lost at home to Kansas State. South Carolina essentially became No. 1 by default and kept winning. The Gamecocks deserve credit for those victories, but it doesn’t mean that their place atop the sport is inarguable.

A big topic of conversation in womenā€™s college basketball in recent years is the increased amount of parity. Thatā€™s still true this season. South Carolina doesnā€™t seem unbeatable, and neither does UCLA. Neither does Baylor or N.C. State. We could very well enter March with zero unbeaten teams.

At the halfway point in the season, thereā€™s room for multiple teams to get No. 1 votes.

Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco’s firings were long overdue, if not too late

Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco should’ve been let go of a lot earlier.

The Chargers cleaned house on Friday after parting ways with GM Tom Telesco as well as HC Brandon Staley. This comes on the heels of an embarrassing 42-point loss to the Raiders on Thursday Night Football.

JoJo Wooden and Giff Smith were promoted to interim GM and HC respectively. Wooden has been the Director of Player Personnel since 2013. Giff Smith has served various roles from 2016-2023, including defensive line and outside linebackers coaching stints.

Before moving on to coaching and GM candidates for replacement content, it’s time to truly look back on the Telesco-Staley era as it comes to an end. After having plenty of cap space in 2021, a stud quarterback on a rookie deal, and plenty of big names on the roster, the Chargers sit here today with nothing to show for it. The Telesco-Staley era was defined by “all in” promises with more flash than substance.

Let’s start with Telesco. With a relatively slim playoff resume and mediocre regular season success in his 11 years, it was past time for him to go. Dean Spanos and Chargers’ ownership could not willingly let him hire a fourth head coach. His last shot was Staley.

Frankly, he got the opportunity to hire a third coach because of the selection of Justin Herbert in 2020. Had that not happened for this organization, I think it’s safe to say that he would’ve been gone sooner. But the Chargers wanted to keep some sort of structure at the top to bring along their rookie QB. At the time, there was a core of the fanbase and media that believed Telesco should’ve been relieved of his duties with Anthony Lynn after 2020.

And it’s clear that is the direction the franchise should’ve gone in. Telesco has struck out on finding requisite depth for the team in the draft. He’s spent all of the teams’ financial resources and their future capital on poor investments. The Chargers are $42 million over the projected cap in 2024. That stems from four max contract restructures for a losing season and J.C. Jackson dead cap money.

The retention of drafted players over the Telesco tenure was generally bad. Consistently, guys like Kyzir White and Drue Tranquill left the team on the cheap after their rookie deals while the Chargers would choose the worse team-building plays instead.

Letting Telesco manage another season would’ve been untenable. To be honest, the short-term damage he’s inflicted on the team in 2024 is enough to deal with. It was well past time to go.

For Staley, he leaves Los Angeles after three years on the job. He finishes 24-24 after 9-8, 10-7, and 5-9 seasons. While Staley showed promise in his first season, his downfall primarily occurred for a plethora of reasons. After promises to build the offense around Justin Herbert and “throw that sh*t downfield”, the Chargers’ head coach never fully figured out the offensive staff/personnel side of the ball. From Joe Lombardi to Kellen Moore, one thing remained consistent on offense: football that was never fundamentally sound.

And when the Chargers did manage to score 30 or 40 points, Staley’s defense managed to give up more. Herbert bailed out the former Chargers’ head coach in a number of games. Staley harped on the lack of complementary football all year and it presented itself in largely every game LA played. Even some of their wins were relatively ugly.

Staley’s defense and special teams combined units ranked bottom 10 in EPA in every season he was the head coach. Simply put, he was hired as a defensive coordinator who never fixed the defense. LA’s unit was plagued with poor tackling fundamentals, bad player development, and convoluted personnel decisions on gamedays. While Staley had good ideas in theory like the style of defense he intended to play, it was the execution of the concepts that were lacking.

Truthfully, there are plenty of more platitudes and moments I could mention on why both Staley and Telesco are finished in LA as we sit here today. But what’s more pressing is the future. While the Chargers will likely still be a hot destination with Herbert viewed as a top franchise cornerstone around the league, the damage has been done. There’s the cap situation. There’s deep player unhappiness rooted in the current situation. There probably will be a decent amount of turnover with not just coaching personnel, but many of the Chargers’ franchise figure players who have been present over the last half decade or longer.

Staley was hired by Telesco to make a run and build off the Herbert window. But whatever GM and coach pairing is hired next will be brought in to clear the wreckage “all in” venture that completely collapsed.

COLUMN: All Jayden Daniels needed was the right situation

Jayden Daniels’ career took some turns, but he ended up right where he needed to be.

On August 29, 2019, [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] started his first college football game. He was a true freshman at Arizona State and one of the top quarterback recruits in his class.

Head coach Herm Edwards was looking to usher in a new era of Sun Devil football and Daniels was at the center of that plan.

In that first start, facing Kent State, Daniels was under pressure behind a bad Arizona State offensive line. But he was steady. He totaled three touchdowns and nearly 300 yards, completing 62.4% of his passes and protecting the football.

Arizona State won 30-7 and the Daniels era offered ASU fans new promise.

There were some freshmen struggles, but overall, it was a good debut year for Daniels.

But then things got messy. The pandemic disrupted the sport and Daniels played just four games in 2020. The situation at ASU deteriorated as recruiting violations took center stage and the NCAA rolled into town, forcing several staff changes.

Daniels couldn’t settle down and in 2021, he posted the worst performance of his career, throwing 10 picks and averaging just 183.2 pass yards per game.

Following the 2021 season, Daniels hit the transfer portal. He ended up at LSU, a key piece of Brian Kelly’s rebuild.

2022 wasn’t perfect, but Daniels delivered in big moments, particularly in LSU’s home upset over Alabama.

It was finally starting to click for Daniels, and it led to higher expectations in 2023.

Could Daniels make that jump? Could he go from a good quarterback to one of the best in the country?

Short answer: He did just that.

Daniels was special. There aren’t many other ways to describe what he did this year. You watched it and you knew it was different. That’s it.

The way he threw the graceful deep balls, the way he effortlessly weaved his way through defenders when he took off to run. You couldn’t game plan for it. He took over games in ways no other player in America did.

Daniels took a gamble at LSU. He was coming to a program in the midst of a rebuild with a first-year coach. The QB room was crowded and the starting job wasn’t a given.

But he finally got that stability. The entire offensive staff stuck together. LSU returned its leading receiver and five starters on the offensive line. Under better circumstances, Daniels flourished.

And on Saturday night, he won the Heisman, joining LSU legends [autotag]Billy Cannon[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Burrow[/autotag]. And like Cannon and Burrow, he’ll go down as one of the best to ever do it.

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The Heisman never should have been this close

Jayden Daniels is going to win the Heisman, but it never should have been this close.

The battle for the Heisman was a two-horse race down the stretch.

Caleb Williams began the year as the favorite, before giving way to Michael Penix Jr., who remained the front-runner through October.

Then Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy had his brief moment, but over the last month, the debate narrowed in on [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] and Bo Nix.

Daniels and Nix rank first and second in nearly every key passing stat. Daniels leads the country in ESPN’s QBR and PFF grade, with Nix sitting second. The same could be said for passer rating and total touchdowns.

Both rank top 10 in yards per attempt and completion percentage, while combining for just seven picks over 762 attempts.

But Nix and Oregon remained in playoff contention, while Daniels and LSU picked up their third loss the first week of November.

Oregon’s success as a team kept Nix atop the odds board for a while, while Daniels’ name faded after leaving the Alabama loss in concussion protocol.

Nix entered conference championship weekend as the favorite. He would get his chance to lead Oregon to a Pac-12 title and playoff appearance while Daniels sat at home.

That’s not how it went. The Oregon offense got off to a slow start and Nix had a few rough series. Throughout the night, Daniels’ stock took off, shooting up the odds board. And when the dust had settled, Daniels was the heavy favorite, now -1400 to take the award home.

But it never should have been this close. It never should have come down to Oregon winning or losing on championship weekend. This was always Daniels’ award.

If the Heisman is about the most outstanding player, there was never another case. It’s fine if a voter wants to use team success as a measure on their ballot, but if that’s the case, then let’s not pretend it’s an individual award.

Daniels was far and away the most outstanding player in the sport. His national lead in yards per attempt is over a yard more than the next guy. The difference between Daniels’ and Nix’s PFF grade at one and two is the same difference that separates Nix and Williams at two and 15. His QBR is the second-best ever tracked by ESPN.

By this point, you’ve heard all the numbers. You’ve seen him play. Daniels didn’t need a Heisman moment on the national stage to win this thing, because he was good enough week in and week out to produce at a level rarely seen in the history of this sport.

It’s looking like Daniels is going to win this thing, but it never should have come down to the result of the Pac-12 title. It never should have been this close.

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