Tag: performance

Derek Carr’s deal listed among the NFL’s worst contracts

B/R believes Derek Carr has one of the worst contracts in the NFL, with a suggestion for what the Saints should have done last year at QB:

Derek Carr underperformed in his first season with the New Orleans Saints, struggling to hit his stride until the last third of the season — at which point it was too little, too late. The team is hoping for a faster start in 2024 after hiring a new offensive coaching staff aimed at putting Carr in a position to succeed.

Still, his underwhelming first year in New Orleans can’t be overlooked. In response, Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon called Carr’s contract one of the worst in the NFL after the disappointing year.

The bad return: Well in Year 1 with New Orleans, Derek Carr ranked below the league median in QBR for a Saints team that wasn’t particularly competitive at 9-8. And should anyone expect that to change dramatically? The soon-to-be 33-year-old hasn’t been a Pro Bowler since 2017.

The better option: They should have thrown in the towel on 2023 and started from scratch with Will Levis, who was still available when New Orleans selected Bryan Bresee 29th overall in last year’s draft.

It was frustrating to watch Carr in 2023 at times, but his contract is not that bad. He’s ranking 13th around the league in money per year. His 2024 salary cap hit ranks 20th in the league after the Saints restructured his contract a week ago. Carr also ranked 13th in passing yards (3,878), and 10th in touchdown passes (25). The Saints view his performance as right in line with his compensation, though everyone has different standards for what’s acceptable or not.

The Saints’ roster wasn’t at a point to throw in the towel, which rules out getting a rookie quarterback like Will Levis. Carr was disappointing, but to call his contract one of the worst in the league is an overstatement.

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Notre Dame Football: Best Offensive Players of 2023 Ranked 1-15

Which grades surprise you the most?

Notre Dame’s offense in 2023 goes down as one of the most successful in program history by a numbers standpoint.  By a viewers standpoint they were also towards the top of the list of being the most frustrating we’ve ever seen.

Great against poor competition while seemingly unprepared for the likes of Ohio State, Louisville, and Clemson.

So from a completely emotion-less perspective, who had the best seasons on Notre Dame’s offense?  And who left a decent amount to be desired?

Pro Football Focus has their grades for Notre Dame’s entire roster for 2023.  We went through and found the 15 offensive players they ranked the highest for their performances in 2023.  See who made the top 15 below.

Players included in this top 15 had to have played a minimum of 100 snaps on offense in 2023.

Dennis Allen won’t blame Saints’ red zone problems on Derek Carr

Dennis Allen won’t blame the New Orleans Saints’ red zone problems on Derek Carr. It’s a bad look when he doesn’t hesitate to criticize other players:

This isn’t a good look for Dennis Allen. The New Orleans Saints head coach was asked Wednesday about the team’s red zone struggles, and how much blame his handpicked quarterback Derek Carr deserves for them.

“We’re not really in the business of blame game. We’re in the business of production,” Allen told NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. When asked what Carr can do to improve in that phase, Allen responded, “To try to single him out is not the right way to go.”

But Carr is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league this season when the offense gets inside the opposing 20-yard line. 18 quarterbacks have attempted 40 or more passes in the red zone this season, and out of that group Carr ranks 17th in completion percentage (44.7%) and 18th in touchdown passes (8). He’s struggling where other players are thriving.

Even players on his own team: Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill are a combined 5-of-6 in the red zone with 3 touchdown passes. Obviously that’s a dramatically smaller sample size (and teams guard those quarterbacks differently from Carr), but it highlights his unique struggles. It’s not something Allen should be deflecting from. His handpicked quarterback is underperforming. There may be other factors at play like Pete Carmichael’s play calling and dropped passes by his receivers, but Carr is the common denominator. He’s paid more than anyone else on the team because he’s responsible for more of their failures or success than anyone else.

And what’s concerning is Allen’s willingness to call out other players this season — like Chris Olave. The second-year wide receiver was blamed by Allen for incorrectly running his route on an incomplete pass back in Week 7, saying that, “Chris didn’t run that route the way that it needs to be run. That’s what happened and we ended up having a throw-away there.”

Except that’s not what happened. Michael Thomas pointed out publicly online that Olave wasn’t part of the progression on the play, which was designed for him to clear out space for Taysom Hill. When the throw to Hill wasn’t there, Carr should have switched to Rashid Shaheed or Thomas himself, who were next in the progression. Carr threw the ball away instead and went after his teammate after the play, and Allen endorsed him for it.

It’s easy to understand why Allen is giving Carr special treatment: his future with the team is tied to Carr’s performance, and he badly needs the quarterback to thrive after convincing the front office to overpay Carr so steeply. A failure for Carr is a direct reflection on Allen. Carr is here because Allen believed he was an upgrade over Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton and the other quarterbacks the Saints have tried to lean on in life after Drew Brees, but at this point there isn’t an appreciable difference between Carr’s execution of the offense and what we’ve seen from guys like Trevor Siemian — except that Allen is making excuses for him every week.

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Twitter reacts to Kadarius Toney’s abysmal performance vs. Lions

Fans on Twitter were… less than pleased with Toney’s performance in the #Chiefs’ loss to the #Lions on Thursday.

To put it mildly, the Kansas City Chiefs didn’t get a great showing out of wide receiver Kadarius Toney in their matchup against the Detroit Lions on Thursday night.

Toney, who started the game with a drop of a perfect pass from Patrick Mahomes that ended up being a pick-six, ended the night with one catch for one yard. He dropped three other passes, one of which may have won Kansas City the game on the Chiefs’ final drive late in the fourth quarter.

While no loss can be blamed on one individual player in a team sport, Toney certainly didn’t do Kansas City any favors against the Lions. The night he put together on Thursday may be one of the worst of any Chiefs receiver in the Patrick Mahomes era.

Fans on Twitter were less than pleased with Toney and did not mince words in voicing their displeasure with his performance during and after the game.

Check out some of their reactions below:

Realistic predictions for every Saints rookie draft pick in 2022

What each New Orleans Saints draft pick needs to do to have a successful rookie season, via @DillySanders:

The New Orleans Saints drafted five players in the 2022 NFL draft. Obviously, when a player gets drafted you want them to have immediate success and become a starter in year one. What is important to realize is that every player’s journey is different and people need time to grow. With that being said, some teams need players to jump ahead of the curve and provide solid depth. The Saints are going to be one of those teams this year.

Luckily for each of the draft picks this year, there is a path to a starting role for all of them. Some paths harder than others, however. Not everyone needs to make it all the way there, but some do in reality. Here is what every Saints draft pick needs to do to avoid being called a ‘bust’ in year one:

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes assesses his performance through Week 6

#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes knows what he needs to do to minimize the turnovers and keep the offense rolling after six weeks. | from @TheJohnDillon

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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is one of the most electric players of his generation, constantly thrilling fans with his unique ability to make plays and score points. Through his first 52 games, he has proven to be, pound-for-pound one of the best young quarterbacks ever.

But early-season struggles for the Chiefs, who were supposed to be Super Bowl-bound, have inevitably made Mahomes critics louder than ever. The MVP quarterback spoke to the media before Wednesday’s practice about what he and the offense need to do in the passing game to get Kansas City back to the top of the AFC playoff picture.

“I think as an offense, especially for me [I need to] just to stop hurting myself,” He told reporters. “Just stay within the reads, stay true to the reads and when it broke down, got out of the pocket and tried to make plays happen. Pretty much just staying true to who I am and not try to do too much and kind of relied on the other guys to make plays and they did.”

Asked if the constant assessments by the fans and analysts ever eat at him, Mahomes told reporters that victories neutralize any of the extra noise, emphasizing that his preparation keeps him centered.

“I mean it doesn’t really bother me that much,” Mahomes explained casually. “As long as you’re winning football games, the other stuff doesn’t matter, good or bad. I just kind of have that mindset of I’m going to do my routine, stay within my routine, focus on winning football games and after that the rest kind of handles itself.”

Unbelievably wise for a 26-year-old in his fourth year of being a full-time starter, Mahomes has a perfect grasp on the situation. Statistically, his performances are as good as they’ve been throughout his career with the most passing touchdowns in the league through six games (18) and the third-most passing yards (1,887). In spite of the obvious turnover troubles, this offense has kept rolling. The biggest cure to their ailments and any sort of outside criticism is to continue to win games.

This early stretch of games is surely one of the most daunting challenges Mahomes has ever faced as a pro, and if his comments are any indication, he is approaching the situation with the championship mentality that got his team to two straight Super Bowls.

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Watch: Notre Dame, Michigan State bands perform ‘Amazing Grace’

What do you most remember in the days following the September 11 attacks?

20 years ago today the attacks on the United States changed the world forever.  I was just 15 at the time and didn’t understand it and 20 years later I’ve come to the conclusion that I simply never will.

One of the very few good things that came from the brutal attacks though was the sense of community and togetherness you saw in the days and weeks that followed.  Flags were displayed seemingly everywhere and for once it actually did feel like everyone was in this together.

When things began to return to normal there were incredibly touching tributes all over.  Rivalries took a back seat to the things that really mattered.

I’ll always remember Notre Dame’s first game after the attacks, a home contest against Michigan State, and the marching bands coming together to perform “Amazing Grace” in an emotional tribute.

See that halftime performance below:

On the 20th anniversary of the attacks the plan is for Notre Dame and Toledo’s bands to perform “Amazing Grace” similarly this afternoon, something we all can look forward to.

Related:

Notre Dame-Toledo staff predictions