Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
After the Patriots beat the Chiefs in last year’s AFC Championship game, Tom Brady sought out Patrick Mahomes and gave him some advice.
After the Patriots beat the Chiefs in last year’s AFC Championship game, Tom Brady sought out Patrick Mahomes and gave him some advice.
After the Patriots beat the Chiefs in last year’s AFC Championship game, Tom Brady sought out Patrick Mahomes and gave him some advice.
After the Patriots beat the Chiefs in last year’s AFC Championship game, Tom Brady sought out Patrick Mahomes and gave him some advice.
If the New Orleans Saints lose Teddy Bridgewater, they could pick a quarterback like Jalen Hurts or Jordan Love in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The New Orleans Saints are headed for an offseason of uncertainty at quarterback. Even if Drew Brees returns for one more year as the face of the franchise, it’s no guarantee that his backup and heir apparent will follow him. Teddy Bridgewater deserves the opportunity to start next season, and there’s several teams who could offer that to him.
And as for Taysom Hill: his most exciting plays haven’t happened at quarterback. He’s become an effective receiving threat and runner in short-yardage situations, but his future shouldn’t include much more passing. He’ll turn 30 later this year and should continue to focus on where he’s most gifted, while he still has the athleticism to overwhelm defenders. He’s a restricted free agent, and it’s possible (but unlikely) he joins a new team, too.
But let’s say that Brees and Hill return, while Bridgewater gets the starting nod in another city. There are options the Saints could consider in free agency, and that’s normally been their strategy — plugging holes with veteran players so that the draft is wide-open. Still, maybe this year quarterback is more of a draft priority than something to target with free agents. Here are five names to watch (and no, a trade up for Joe Burrow isn’t even worth considering).
He’s 22 starts in, with 13 or 14 more to go hopefully, but Book was the only Notre Dame quarterback during this time period whose big numbers matched the team’s lofty success.
With Notre Dame’s season concluded and the entire college football season just waiting for the coronation next Monday night, what better time than now to reflect on the last decade of Notre Dame football. There is a little over three months until the April 18th spring game so let’s fill that time with some Brian Kelly-era reflection.
Over the next few months, we’re going to run through the best games, players and moments from the last ten years of Notre Dame football.
With the first installment, we start with the most important position in football. Here are the four quarterbacks on our 53-man All-Decade Team.
BACKUPS
For the first time since 2012, neither the Patriots nor the Broncos will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
For the first time since the 2012 NFL season, neither the Denver Broncos nor the New England Patriots will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
Denver failed to reach the postseason this year and New England was eliminated in the Wild Card round on Saturday evening.
The Peyton Manning-led Broncos reached the Super Bowl following the 2013 and 2015 seasons. The Tom Brady-led Patriots reached the NFL’s title game following the 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons.
A new era of young quarterbacks appears to be taking over the league. From 2003-2018, Manning, Brady and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger represented the AFC in 15 of the league’s 16 Super Bowls.
The only time one of those QBs didn’t reach the Big Game during that 16-year stretch was 2012, when the Joe Flacco-led Baltimore Ravens knocked off Denver and New England on their way to a Super Bowl win.
With Brady’s playoff loss and Rothlisberger’s injury concerns, the era of Manning, Brady and Big Ben may be coming to an end in the AFC. Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson appear to be the conference’s next generation of stars. Broncos fans can only hope Drew Lock joins them.
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The New Orleans Saints might have the NFL’s best quarterback situation in 2019, but free agency looms for Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater.
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The New Orleans Saints quarterbacks depth chart is one that should be the envy of the NFL. Drew Brees is a Hall of Fame-bound passer, sitting comfortably on top. Teddy Bridgewater proved his worth as a backup who can win games in this league. And Taysom Hill is a dynamic reserve who can fill in at almost any position, up to and including quarterback.
But according to our friends over at Touchdown Wire, that short-term strength comes with a price. All three of those quarterbacks are going to be free agents after this season, and the Saints have a tough decision to make on whether to keep Brees or Bridgewater. It’s possible they’re able to re-sign both of them, but Bridgewater will have earned far more opportunities — and much bigger contract demands — than what he was offered in the last signing cycle. And that potential instability ranks New Orleans’ outlook at the position low among the league; at No. 24, to be exact:
If this ranking pertained only to this season, the Saints might be No. 1. They have a future Hall of Famer in Drew Brees and, when he missed five games with a thumb injury, backup Teddy Bridgewater went 5-0. The Saints should have a deep playoff run this year. But, after that, things get cloudy in a hurry. Brees will turn 41 in January. He’s still going strong. It’s difficult to imagine the Saints choosing to keep Bridgewater as the starter over Brees because coach Sean Payton and Brees have such a close working relationship. It’s also difficult to imagine Bridgewater choosing to stay in New Orleans as a backup when he could likely get a starting job in free agency. Third-stringer Taysom Hill never will rise to the starting role. He’s a multipurpose threat and is used mostly on gimmick plays. Unless the Saints find a magical way to keep Bridgewater, it will be time to start looking for an eventual replacement for Brees. “Don’t be surprised if the Saints find a way to keep Bridgewater,” a panelist said. “(General manager Mickey) Loomis and Payton can be very charming. The smart move is to keep Teddy, even if he’s your backup for another year or two until Brees retires. They’ll be willing to throw good cash at him.”
To put a more optimistic spin on it: the Saints have at least two NFL quarterbacks in the building they can put faith in, and they’ll probably have their pick of them in the spring. Bridgewater will be able to command a starting quarterback’s salary in the range of $20 million or better per year, which is close to the decreased salary Brees agreed to accept the last time his contract ran out.
The Saints can afford to keep one of them, but they’ll be hard-pressed to recruit Bridgewater if Brees is determined to continue playing. At least Hill can return on a low-cost restricted free agent tender, at least for one more year.
Fortunately, the Saints have plenty of time to figure this situation out. Hopefully they’ll be able to do so with everyone crowded around the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LIV.
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