Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Bleacher Report ranked the SEC teams as the conference-only schedule will be used in 2020. Alabama makes the top of the list.
Despite the 2020 season being unlike anything college football fans have seen in the past, one thing remains the same: Alabama being mentioned at, or near, the top.
A team of writers from Bleacher Report ranked SEC teams from best to worst on a point system; the top-ranked team got 14 points, and it went down by one as the rankings got lower. The final rankings were decided based on total number of points.
Here’s how they ranked:
The New Orleans Saints had eight players featured on a list of the top 101 best NFL players in 2020, including free safety Marcus Williams.
[jwplayer CCyQ9Jhe-ThvAeFxT]
The NFL released its annual Top 100 Players ranking as voted on by active players themselves, and the New Orleans Saints tied the Baltimore Ravens for the most total selections in the entire league (seven each).
Interestingly, another list breaking down the best players in the game today comes from Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield. They recognized eight Saints as belonging in the top tier of NFL talent. However, they left out cornerback Marshon Lattimore (ranked at No. 76 on the NFL’s list) and running back Alvin Kamara (No. 42) while including center Erik McCoy, free safety Marcus Williams, and left tackle Terron Armstead. Here’s where each Saints player finished in Touchdown Wire’s rankings:
Jordan being listed so low is an interesting choice. He’s not just one of the lower-ranked edge defenders overall, he’s one of the lowest-ranked members of his own team, which doesn’t match up with his consistent production (which Farrar and Schofield pointed out in their writeup). It’s tough to buy that he’s not a top-five player on the Saints’ roster.
Still, it’s great to see Williams and Armstead get their due credit. Except for a few high-profile mistakes in coverage, Williams has held down one of the toughest jobs in the NFL. He’s created more interceptions than any other Saints defensive back from 2010 to 2019, and he just started playing in 2017. Armstead is the most physically gifted member of the offensive line, and has put in the work at refining his technique to match it. He just needs to stay healthy long enough to catch more of the national spotlight.
So there isn’t much to nitpick on this list, except for Jordan’s 50-spots-or-so too-low placement. What’s up with that?
[vertical-gallery id=36486]
New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara slipped nearly 30 spots in the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020, but he still got his due credit.
"The No. 1 thing about him is how electrifying he is in the passing game and the running game. He's a do-it-all back," 🔥
AK on the @NFLNetwork's #NFLTop100 pic.twitter.com/tPok16kLA4
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) July 28, 2020
He may have fallen 28 spots from his ranking in last year’s list, but Alvin Kamara’s peers didn’t get it twisted: he still belongs on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020 despite a drop in performance.
And now that he’s healthy, Kamara is poised to return to upper echelon in next year’s listing. Considering that he was slotted in at No. 42 even after a down year, and well, he might not have much higher he can climb.
Kamara is the fifth running back selected for the 2020 Top 100 ranking, ahead of former teammate Mark Ingram (No. 44) as well as L.A. Rams-turned-Falcons runner Todd Gurley (No. 51), Raiders breakout rookie Josh Jacobs (No. 72), and Seahawks starter Chris Carson (No. 96). It’s unclear how many running backs will be ranked higher than Kamara, though high-end playmakers like Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott, and Derrick Henry figure to make the list.
The three-time Pro Bowler was introduced on the Top 100 list by several opponents who he had frustrated throughout the 2020 season, including Buccaneers linebacker Devin White, who described Kamara as, “The number one thing I can say about him is how electrifying he is. In the passing game, in the running game. He’s a do-it-all back.”
Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett agreed, saying, “He can catch a checkdown and take it 20, 30 yards. Quarterback always has a nice safety blanket back there.”
[lawrence-related id=36004,35366,31801]
New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis, a team captain and first-team All-Pro, clocked in at No. 67 for the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020
[jwplayer INYb62b6-ThvAeFxT]
The third Saint to appear on the #NFLTop100 Players of 2020: @demario__davis at No. 67! ⚜️ #Saints pic.twitter.com/qLfk78WY65
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) July 28, 2020
Don’t look now, but Demario Davis is finally getting his due credit. The New Orleans Saints linebacker was named to the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020 list for the first time in his career, as voted on by his fellow players. Davis was also named to the Associated Press All-Pro first team for his impressive efforts during the 2019 season.
He’ll join six of his teammates selected for this year’s Top 100 list, tying the Baltimore Ravens for the most players from one team in the league; right tackle Ryan Ramczyk (No. 82) and cornerback Marshon Lattimore (No. 76) were previously announced, leaving four more Saints to be revealed.
Davis became an all-around elite defender last season, combining his quick recognition against run plays with rapid awareness in the passing game. He also showed out when called on to blitz quarterbacks. But Davis’s best quality might be his leadership, filling in admirably when franchise quarterback Drew Brees was sidelined for five weeks with an injury.
[vertical-gallery id=36071]
The New Orleans Saints are returning more starting players and more snaps played than most of their competition in the 2020 NFL season.
[jwplayer MnGv1PHj-ThvAeFxT]
The NFL has been shaken up by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic, with summer practice sessions canceled and training camp taking on an entirely new structure. With so much disruption to manage, teams that are returning less-experienced players from last year’s roster face a steeper climb in 2020 than those squads with less roster turnover.
One of those teams in good standing would be the New Orleans Saints. The analysts at Over The Cap measured turnover by snaps played in 2019 by players still on the 2020 roster, and the Saints rank high on both offense and defense.
On offense, every starter is returning except for right guard Larry Warford (970 snaps played) and wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. (607). On the other side of the ball, the same crew is back from last season with the exceptions of cornerback Eli Apple (932), safety Vonn Bell (871), and linebacker A.J. Klein (753).
Now, that doesn’t count part-time players like backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (400) and fullback Zach Line (215). But by and large, this Saints team looks awful similar to the squads that won 13 games in each of the last two years. And that’s quantified in OTC’s research.
In their breakdown, OTC has the Saints returning 81.0% of their snaps played on offense last year and 79.8% of their plays run on defense — an overall figure of 80.4%. That’s good enough to rank 9th-best in the league, behind just one other NFC playoff team from last season: the San Francisco 49ers (81.0% overall).
In fact, the only other NFC team ranked ahead of those two is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (81.3%), but there’s an important catch there. Tom Brady is taking snaps from under center now, and coach Bruce Arians is having to radically change his “no risk it, no biscuit” philosophy on offense to accommodate him. So the transition there will be more difficult than these numbers might suggest.
At the other end of the spectrum is the NFC South-rival Carolina Panthers, who are introducing first-year head coach Matt Rhule with both Cam Newton and Luke Kuechley, longtime faces of the franchise, having moved on. The Panthers are returning just 46.9% of snaps played last year, including a league-worst 35.2% on defense. They’re in for a rough time, especially with so little time to practice together.
So don’t take it for granted that the Saints have assembled such a veteran team that’s used to working together. They’re relying less on their rookies than most squads around the NFL, and have a wealth of leadership to rely on between Drew Brees, Demario Davis, Malcolm Jenkins, Craig Robertson, and other respected voices in the locker room. That makes for a world of difference on the uneven playing field we’re approaching in 2020.
[lawrence-related id=36159,36306,36278,35936]
[vertical-gallery id=36181]
Here’s what CBS’ Ryan Wilson had to say about putting Kyle Trask in the No. 4 spot behind Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Trey Lance.
Many media figures around the country may not have known his name heading into the 2019 season, but UF quarterback Kyle Trask’s performance filling in for Feleipe Franks, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the third game, has attracted some attention.
With the 2020 season (hopefully) on the horizon, the Gators’ signal-caller is ranked among the top passers in college football, listed at No. 4 on a watchlist for the 2021 NFL Draft from CBS Sports.
Trask is behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, both incredibly talented quarterbacks who led their respective schools to playoff appearances in 2019. Fields was also a Heisman finalist along with his teammate Chase Young and LSU’s Joe Burrow, who won the award.
He’s also behind North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, who has gotten some attention this offseason after scoring 42 total touchdowns last season (28 passing and 14 rushing). Lance, who plays in the FCS, may not be a household name, but playing for the powerhouse Bison should allow him ample opportunity to show off his skills, albeit at a lower level than the other passers on this list.
Here’s what CBS’ Ryan Wilson had to say about putting Trask in the No. 4 spot behind Lawrence, Fields and Lance.
“Steady as she goes” might be the best way to describe Trask’s game. He’s not flashy but he’s efficient, and in the NFL the ability to do the right thing from one play to the next is more important than flashing once a series while drives stall out. Before taking over for Feleipe Franks last season, Trask had played in just three games. He played in 12 games in 2019 and completed 66.9 percent of his throws with 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Trask’s nickname should be ‘Textbook’ because his footwork in the pocket is consistently on point, and more importantly, he gets the ball out on time, accurately, and he rarely looks confused by what he sees pre-snap. While we’re not expecting him to make a Burrow-like leap in ’20 we wouldn’t be surprised if he continues to improve and Trask finds his way into Round 1 conversations in the spring.
Trask is listed ahead of the No. 5 quarterback, Georgia’s Jamie Newman, who is a graduate transfer from Wake Forest that joined the Bulldogs this spring. He’s also ranked above several notable quarterbacks in the “Other Names to Watch” list, including conference foes in Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond and Mississippi State’s grad transfer K.J. Costello, as well as rival Miami’s D’Eriq King.
[lawrence-related id=18230,18186,18167,18120]
This season will be a make or break season for Tom Herman. Needing to make it to the conference championship, UT must navigate the Big 12.
Going into the 2020 season, Texas’ schedule should be easier than it was last season. Getting key home games against Baylor, Iowa State, and TCU should help the Longhorns improve from the disappointing 7-5 in 2019.
Building hype around itself once again going into a football season, Texas should be favored in the majority of games they play in. Where difficulties arise is the usual suspects in Oklahoma and this year’s non-conference opponent, LSU.
Returning a lot of talent, especially on the defensive side, it will be a make or break season for Tom Herman. With the goal being to make the conference championship, Texas will have to navigate through the Big 12 first.
Chris Simms says Drew Lock is the 25th-best quarterback in the NFL.
Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms has been releasing his rankings for the top 40 QBs in the NFL on ProFootballTalk.com over the past few days. This week, Simms revealed that Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock is ranked No. 25 on the list.
“He’s a first-round talent,” Simms said on PFT’s show. “I don’t know if there’s a guy that we’ve talked about that excites me as much as Drew Lock does . . . he’s got big-time talent. The ball explodes out of his hand.”
Simms has Lock ranked higher than Tua Tagovailoa, Dwayne Haskins, Mitchell Trubisky, Justin Herbert, Taysom Hill, Jarrett Stidham, Tyrod Taylor, Jameis Winston, Case Keenum, Nick Foles, Gardner Minshew II, Teddy Bridgewater, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Joe Burrow, who was the first overall pick in this year’s NFL draft.
The Broncos selected Lock with the 42nd overall pick in the second round of last year’s draft. Lock was sidelined with a thumb injury for the majority of his rookie season. After recovering from that injury, Lock started Denver’s final five games of the season and helped the team finish the year 4-1. He will enter the 2020 season as the team’s undisputed starter.
[vertical-gallery id=642240]
The New Orleans Saints had a terrific 2017 NFL Draft class, but the Kansas City Chiefs outranked them by picking coveted QB Patrick Mahomes.
[jwplayer 0AysQPXU-ThvAeFxT]
The New Orleans Saints hit a series of home runs in the 2017 NFL Draft, landing instant upgrades at key positions like cornerback (with Marshon Lattimore), offensive tackle (in Ryan Ramczyk), free safety (Marcus Williams), and running back (Alvin Kamara). That sudden influx of young, high-end talent reshaped a roster that had gone 7-9 three years in a row into a squad that’s won 13 games in each of the last two seasons.
However, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked just one other team ahead of them in reflection on that year’s crop of college prospects: the Kansas City Chiefs, who bagged Patrick Mahomes one slot ahead of the Saints. Mahomes, of course, was the player Saints coach Sean Payton famously coveted the most and could have (would have, and maybe should have) transitioned to from Drew Brees.
But let’s not lose sight of the positives here. Brugler had to dig all the way into the sixth round to find a swing-and-a-miss for the Saints in 2017, and that year’s final draft pick, Al-Quadin Muhammad, has earned his spot in the Indianapolis Colts lineup. Muhammad has logged 400-plus snaps in both of the last two years, racking up 13 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits, and 3 sacks. The Saints were simply too stacked for him to hang around.
The challenge now, of course, is paying all of these big names now that their rookie contracts are expiring. The Saints bought themselves some time by triggering the fifth-year options for Lattimore and Ramczyk as soon as NFL rules allowed them to, tying them to the team through 2021. But Kamara and Williams should each end up ranking among the top earners at their respective positions. Will the Saints be the ones to pay them?
[vertical-gallery id=35147]
The New Orleans Saints are known for their high-flying offense, but their defense has been the better unit in their recent playoff games.
[jwplayer omjGs8uq-ThvAeFxT]
It’s tough to recall the last time the New Orleans Saints defense was filled with so many playmakers at every level. Cameron Jordan is the star up front, anchoring a defensive line featuring former first-round draft picks like Marcus Davenport, Sheldon Rankins, and Malcom Brown.
The secondary returns a lot of continuity from 2019, with two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore joined by NFL veterans Janoris Jenkins and Malcolm Jenkins. Youngsters Marcus Williams and C.J. Gardner-Johnson round out the group.
And patrolling the middle of the field is Demario Davis, one of the game’s best three-down linebackers. A tough training camp competition will decide who runs next to him with the first team defense, but the Saints have solid options in rookie draft pick Zack Baun and returning starters Alex Anzalone and Kiko Alonso.
It’s enough for Doug Farrar over at Touchdown Wire to rank the Saints inside the NFL’s top-10 defenses, writing:
The 2019 Saints were one of eight teams to limit their opponents to under 100 rushing yards per game — at 91.3 yards per game, New Orleans ranked fourth in the league. The Saints also ranked third in the NFL with 51 sacks, and fifth with a pressure rate of 26.4%. The only real downturn was in a secondary that allowed far too many big plays, and was saved in a relative sense by cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who they picked up late in the season after the Giants waived him.
Rookie defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson proved to be a fourth-round steal with his effective versatility, and Marcus Williams had an outstanding year at free safety, but the cornerback combo of P.J. Williams, Eli Apple, Marshon Lattimore, and D.J. Swearinger gave up 18 touchdowns and intercepted two passes. That’s not going to work in today’s NFL. The Saints wisely extended Jenkins through the 2022 season.
The Saints defense may have outplayed their teammates on offense in the playoffs the last three years — allowing 24.2 points per game, with Drew Brees’ high-powered offense averaging just 23.6 and scoring 30-plus only once — but both units must find more consistency in the clutch if they’re going to win an elusive second Super Bowl.
[vertical-gallery id=33929]
