Tag: The Athletic

Coaches and Players rank the NFLs starting quarterback by tiers

Which tiers do the three former Alabama quarterbacks land heading into 2023?

The first football game of the 2023 preseason will take place on Thursday between the Jets and Browns in the NFL Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. Even though the regular season doesn’t start for another six weeks, people are starting to get the feeling that football is back. With the season approaching, it’s important to see how players and teams rank before Week 1.

The Athletic surveyed a handful of NFL coaches and players to rank the starting QBs by tier, rookies were excluded. Tier one consists of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers and Justin Herbert.  Unfortunately, no Alabama guys make the upper echelon of the list.

The first former Crimson Tide QB to crack the tier list is [autotag]Jalen Hurts[/autotag] as he is at the top of the second tier. He is coming off of an MVP runner-up season and played one of the greatest Super Bowls by a QB of all-time. I think people want to see one more year of high level play from Hurts before catapulting him into tier one. For a brief moment this offseason, Hurts was the highest paid player in NFL history and it is clear he is ascending at an unprecedented rate.

[autotag]Tua Tagovailoa[/autotag] and [autotag]Mac Jones[/autotag] both qualified for the third tier, however I believe they both have an opportunity to play themselves into a higher tier. Neither one of the guys feels like they have ever had the full support of their franchise, but have shown they are both capable of being high end NFL starters.

When Tagovailoa has been healthy he’s been awesome for the Dolphins as he’s gone 21-13 as a starter through three years and led the NFL in passing yards per attempt (8.9) and Quarterback rating (105.5). Jones, on the other hand, earned Pro Bowl accolades as a rookie and has often looked like the lone bright spot in an anemic Patriots offense.

I think that we will see at least two of the three Alabama quarterback’s move up a tier before the start of the 2024 season. I also believe that Young has all of the pieces around him to have an outstanding rookie season and could be viewed as a tier two QB by this time next season.

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Eagles’ Jalen Hurts lands outside the top 5 in The Athletic’s tiered QB rankings

Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts lands outside the top 5 and tied in The Athletic’s tiered QB rankings

The quarterback rankings are back, and Jalen Hurts will no longer be found in anyone’s bottom half.

In 2021, Hurts landed at the bottom at No. 30 on the list.

In 2022, the Eagles star soared into the top 20, jumping ten spots from his prior ranking.  Ironically, Hurts tied with Carson Wentz in the quarterback tier last season.

Wentz is out of the NFL this season, while Hurts is a top-six quarterback according to The Athletic’s tier-based rankings.

A Tier 2 quarterback can carry his team sometimes, but not as consistently. He can handle pure passing situations in doses and/or possesses other unique dimensions to elevate him above Tier 3. He has a hole or two in his game.

We’re not sure there are holes in Hurts’ game, but, understandably, critics or experts want to see back-to-back MVP caliber seasons.

Hurts landed ahead of Lamar Jackson (7), Trevor Lawrence (8), Dak Prescott (9), and Matthew Stafford (10).

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The Athletic’s QB tiers rank Derek Carr 14th in the NFL

The Athletic’s Mike Sando surveyed 50 voters around the NFL, who ranked Saints QB Derek Carr 14th among his peers:

Every summer The Athletic’s Mike Sando speaks with dozens of talent evaluators around the NFL to assemble the best-informed ranking of pro quarterbacks possible, a group which Sando says “includes eight general managers, 10 head coaches, 15 coordinators, 10 executives, four quarterbacks coaches and three involved in coaching/analytics.”

So where does New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr rank among his peers? Organizing the passers into tiers, Carr was slotted firmly in Tier 3, a group Sando describes as “a legitimate starter but needs a heavier running game and/or defensive component to win. A lower-volume dropback passing offense suits him best.” Sando’s sources around the league put Carr at No. 14 overall.

That’s in line with his salary as the 12th-highest paid quarterback in the league, though he’ll take a step back in those rankings once Joe Burrow puts pen to paper with the Cincinnati Bengals. In last year’s version of this project, Carr clocked in at No. 12, while Jameis Winston ranked halfway down the list at No. 24. Andy Dalton wasn’t ranked at all.

It’s a fair evaluation of Carr, though the Saints are hoping he’ll outperform those expectations. If he can just be an upgrade over the quarterbacks they’ve fielded post-Drew Brees, this should be a playoff team. If he can elevate the talent around them and be a legitimate asset, their ceiling might be even higher.

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Why Chris Beatty could be next Chargers offensive coordinator

The Chargers will have an interesting field of candidates for 2024 OC if Kellen Moore leaves. Could Chris Beatty receive interest?

Kellen Moore takes over as offensive coordinator for the Chargers in 2023 after Joe Lombardi’s offense faltered in last season’s campaign. However, one has to wonder just how long Moore will stick around in LA. In previous seasons, he’s taken head coaching interviews and is generally viewed as one of the young up-and-coming minds in the league.

Prior to taking the Chargers’ job this offseason, Moore interviewed for the Panthers’ head coaching gig before it was given to Frank Reich. Assuming he’s successful with Justin Herbert, the career trajectory for Moore ultimately points up toward a head coaching job.

In replacing him for 2024, the Chargers probably commit to an extensive search to find the best candidate. But there are some in-house coaches that make sense to potentially take over. Passing game specialist Tom Arth or quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier may have the first shots at a promotion.

Another potential candidate could be Chargers’ assistant coach Chris Beatty. The Athletic’s Daniel Popper wrote a thorough profile on the LA Chargers’ wide receivers coach earlier this week.

In 2021, Beatty made a pitch to wide receiver Mike Williams and Lombardi that the former Clemson product could grow his route tree to have a career year: As more slants and leverage routes were called for Williams, his stats increased. 2021 was a career year for Williams. In the 2022 offseason, the Chargers re-signed him to a three-year, $60 million extension.

It’s hard to ignore the work Beatty has done with the receiver room, even in suboptimal circumstances. As the aforementioned Williams was in and out of the lineup with injuries in 2022, Beatty had to rely on veteran journeyman DeAndre Carter to buoy the positional group. Carter had 538 receiving yards in 2022 after he never previously had a season with even 300 yards. Beatty has also gotten the best performances out of college wide receivers he’s coached such as DJ Moore and Jordan Addison.

Beatty aspires to have another primary play-calling job again for the first time in over 10 years. Per Popper’s article, Beatty did an interview at one point to be Kevin O’Connell’s offensive coordinator in Minnesota. Working with a trio of Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston, and the aforementioned Williams could continue to bolster his resume for when the time comes to interview again.

The Athletic’s SEC QB battles to watch has Florida’s fight featured

The Gators’ starting quarterback question remains unanswered and head coach Billy Napier was mostly mum on the subject on Wednesday.

Florida football’s opening kickoff is still just under six weeks away and the media is back at full strength thanks in large part to the boost the Southeastern Conference’s media days have given them. However, there have been storylines that carried over from the spring season that are still at the forefront of the discussion.

The Gators’ starting quarterback question remains unanswered and head coach Billy Napier was mostly mum on the subject during his Wednesday appearance. It is that enigma that sits among The Athletic’s Kennington Smith III’s six SEC quarterback battles to follow this summer, as former Wisconsin Badger Graham Mertz and also ex-Ohio State Buckeye Jack Miller III battle for QB1.

Like Saban, Florida coach Billy Napier was reluctant to put a timeline on naming a starting quarterback. Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz is by far the most experienced, with three years under his belt. Jack Miller is in his second year of Napier’s system and started in the Las Vegas Bowl last season. And there’s redshirt freshman Max Brown, who Napier said has had a “good summer.”

The trio didn’t inspire much confidence during Florida’s spring game as both teams combined for a little over 500 total yards, but Napier praised how they’ve responded during the summer months.

“(Graham) has an incredible motor and work ethic,” Napier said. “He is in the building. He is fanatical about his preparation. I think that has helped the competition.

“I think it has caused Jack to respond. Jack’s had an incredible offseason, and he’s in position for a great camp. And we’ve been really pleased with the young player, Max Brown.”

The Gators open their 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT.

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The Athletic’s SEC football expectations fairly bullish on Florida football

It’s not the top tier, but it is certainly a bit more optimistic than some of the other opinions.

College football is right around the corner having now passed an important milestone in the annual SEC media days event which concluded on Thursday. Now that each member school has had a chance to speak their piece, the media has taken what they have learned this week and begun projecting its predictions for the coming fall.

The Athletic’s Seth Emerson published his SEC football expectation tiers on Friday, with a more bullish opinion on Billy Napier’s second year at the helm than many of his colleagues. He included the Gators among three other conference programs he believes are playoff-caliber: “Be in the Playoff or in serious contention consistently.”

The other SEC teams sharing the tier with the Orange and Blue are the Texas A&M Aggies, Tennessee Volunteers and Auburn Tigers.

Emerson has the Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners in the top tier as consistent, realistic contenders for a championship. The rest essentially just need to be respectable.

The Gators open their 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT.

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This Florida football rivalry thrived as a result of conference realignment

The UF-UT rivalry clearly benefitted from the SEC splitting into East and West divisions.

Conference realignment seems to be the rage in college football of late as the Power Five groups continue to play a chess match against their FBS peers. A major impetus for this action stems from the departure of the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, starting a domino effect as others try to keep from falling behind.

With all the excitement in the air, The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman surveyed the history of realignments in college football and how they affected various rivalries. Among those mentioned was Florida’s long-standing affair with the Tennessee Volunteers, which headlined the list of games that thrived as a result of realignment.

Here is what Dochterman had to offer on the UF-UT series.

In the pre-divisional era of SEC football, there was no consistency with conference-wide scheduling. Tennessee-Florida is a great example, meeting just 19 times before 1990, including only four games between 1971 and 1990. Then when the SEC split into East and West divisions in 1992, Vols-Gators turned from irrelevance to appointment viewing. With Steve Spurrier at Florida and Phil Fulmer at Tennessee, the teams battled annually for the East Division title. Spurrier never lost to Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning and claimed the 1996 national title. The Vols finally dethroned the Gators in 1998 on their way to the inaugural BCS championship.

The Gators open up their 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT set. Florida and Tennessee will face off this fall in Gainesville to open the SEC schedule on Sept. 16 with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. EDT.

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The Athletic predicts Florida football’s win totals for 2023

The Athletic’s Austin Mock took a look at the Southeastern Conference and projected win totals for each of the 14 member schools.

The start of the 2023 college football season is still several weeks away but the summer doldrums have the fans and media alike salivating in anticipation for the first kickoff. As the opening date approaches, things are becoming more and more clear with teams finalizing their rosters and anointing their next starting lineups.

Ahead of the action, The Athletic’s Austin Mock took a look at the Southeastern Conference and projected win totals for each of the 14 member schools, including the Florida Gators. While nobody thinks that the Orange and Blue will tear up the gridiron this fall, Mock is a bit more pessimistic than most — including objective metrics such as ESPN’s SP+ rankings.

According to Mock, Florida will finish the season No. 12 in the SEC with 5.5 expected wins, a 0.2% chance of winning the conference title and a 50.5% chance of winning six — the same number of wins the program has earned over the past consecutive two seasons — or more games.

Note that expected wins is the average win total over The Athletic’s model simulations, while the conference title value is determined by how often the team won the SEC title game, and chances of winning more than six games based on how often the team gained bowl eligibility.

Only the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Vanderbilt Commodores project worse than the Gators, respectively. Although MSU’s XWINS value is a bit higher at 5.9 its chances of a conference title is 0.1%.

The Gators open up their 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT set.

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Notre Dame football: What to like about new special teams coach

What to like about Notre Dame’s likely new special teams coordinator.

Reports surfaced Sunday that Notre Dame is already keying in on a replacement for [autotag]Brian Mason[/autotag] as special teams coordinator. Mason is leaving the Irish for the Indianapolis Colts, with whom he’ll coach special teams. The search for Mason’s replacement reportedly will not be a very long one.

According to Matt Fortuna of The Athletic, Notre Dame is headed to the SEC to fill its special teams vacancy.  Below is what Fortuna tweeted on Sunday afternoon:

Source: Notre Dame is expected to hire Ole Miss special teams coordinator Marty Biagi to the same position. Biagi, who served as a special teams analyst with the Irish in 2016, replaces Brian Mason, who left for the Indianapolis Colts.
– Matt Fortuna on Twitter

A quick look at the biography of [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag] details his work, which suggests Notre Dame special teams should resemble more of what we saw in 2022 instead of what they were like for much of the 12 previous seasons.

Florida recruiting at an ‘elite’ level heading into July

Florida’s recruiting efforts have the Gators in a top-3 spot on most rankings heading into July. How do the Gators compare to the other in-state Power Five programs, though?

A lot happened in the month of June for Florida football fans that follow recruiting closely.

Billy Napier and Co. added nine commitments to the recruiting class of 2024, moving Florida into the top 3 on the 247Sports’ team rankings for the class of 2024. Yes, four-star running back Chauncey Bowens flipped to Georgia, but the gains outweigh the losses overall.

Manny Navarro of The Athletic recently took a look at the four Sunshine State Power Five programs and concluded that the Gators are still the team to beat. When looking at each team’s commitments, Florida not only had the most overall (17) but also the highest average rating (92.22).

“Nobody in college football had a better June than the Gators, who reeled in nine commitments after hosting five five-star recruits, 11 top-100 players and 33 blue-chippers on an official visit,” Navarro wrote. “Defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and linebackers coach Jay Bateman have teamed up to assemble one of the best defensive classes in the country…

“… Kudos to coach Billy Napier for elevating Florida’s recruiting from very good to elite.”

One interesting stat pointed out by Navarro is the rate at which Florida’s P5 teams host players on official visits over the summer. Miami actually hosted one more (45) player than Florida (44) did, while Florida State brought in just 27 official visitors. UCF had 34.

Florida’s recruiting staff grinds over the offseason and the allure of the SEC still seems to reign supreme in the Sunshine State. Miami has put in similar efforts but an average player rating of 87.99 is closer to UCF’s 86.93 than Florida State’s 90.60.

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