Tag: Y.A. Tittle

What have the 49ers done with the No. 3 overall draft pick?

The San Francisco 49ers have the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft after their trade with the Miami Dolphins. What have they done in history?

The San Francisco 49ers made a deal with the Miami Dolphins to acquire the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

Assuredly the NFC West club is going to use that pick on a quarterback. After all, aside from a rash of injuries, including those at the quarterback position, the Niners went from Super Bowl runner-up to last in the NFC West. With the success San Francisco generated in 2019, the winning under Kyle Shanahan should be a trend, not a fad.

Now that the 49ers have the No. 3 overall pick, here is a look back what they have done with the pick in their history.

Giants players honor Emlen Tunnell, Y.A. Tittle with practice jerseys

New York Giants players continued a new tradition during practice on Wednesday with several wearing Ring of Honor jerseys.

The New York Giants continued a recent tradition under first-year head coach Joe Judge where scout team players get to wear the jerseys of Giants Ring of Honorees. Two weeks go we reported on the first time the Giants did it:

Quarterback Colt McCoy donned the No. 16 jersey belonging to Frank Gifford, while cornerback Jarren Williams wore Mel Hein’s No. 7 and rookie linebacker Carter Coughlin wore Lawrence Taylor’s forever infamous No. 56.Offensive lineman Chad Slade also wore Chris Snee’s No. 76 and defensive lineman David Moa wore George Martin’s No. 75.

On Wednesday, at practice in the snowy confines of the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, there were more old jerseys on display.

Al Blozis was won offensive lineman for the Giants in 1942-43. At 6-foot and 250 pounds he was initially deemed to be too large for military service. But in 1943, Blozis found himself a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He was killed in action in 1945 and his No. 32 was retired by the Giants. Legend has it that Blozis’ name was once on a plaque in centerfield of the Polo Grounds. The plaque was reportedly stolen.

Emlen Tunnell’s career with the Giants is well-documented. A nine-time Pro Bowler who was a member of the 1956 NFL Championship team and who played the last three seasons of his career with Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. His No. 45 is not retired by the Giants.

Y.A. Tittle and Mel Hein’s careers are also well-documented. Tittle only played four seasons for the Giants but what a four seasons they were. His 36 touchdowns passes in 1963 stood as an NFL single season record until 1984 when Miami’s Dan Marino broke it with 48. His No. 14 is co-retired with Ward Cuff.

Hein played center and linebacker for the Giants for 15 seasons (1931-45). He was one of the 17 players indicted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1963. His No. 7 is retired by the Giants.

Dick Lynch was born in Oceanside, New York and began his NFL career in 1958 with the Washington Redskins after attending Notre Dame, where is is a member of their Hall of Fame. He was traded to the Giants in 1959 for fourth round draft pick.

A defensive back, Lynch played eight seasons for the Giants, leading the NFL in interceptions in 1961 and 1963. After misplaying career, Lynch worked as an analyst on Giants radio broadcasts from 1967 until his death in 2008. His No. 22 is not retired.

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Carson Wentz’s historically bad 2020 season puts the Eagles in an impossible bind

Carson Wentz’s regression is one for the ages, and the Eagles have no choice but to ride it out.

We at Touchdown Wire are not exactly breaking news when we tell you that Carson Wentz is having a season for the ages — and not at all in a good way. On Monday night in a 23-17 loss to the Seahawks, Wentz completed 25 of 45 passes for 215 yards, one touchdown, one interception, six sacks, and one pass over 20 air yards completed in six attempts. That was the 33-yard Hail Mary to tight end Richard Rodgers with 12 seconds left in the game — a play that made a lot of gamblers very unhappy, and saved Wentz from further statistical humiliation.

Had Wentz not completed this late-game arm punt, he would have finished his day with 24 of 45 completions for 182 yards and no touchdowns. That, folks, would have given Wentz a yards per attempt total of 4.0. Even with the Hail Mary, we’re talking about a YPA of 4.8. That’s exactly two yards per attempt lower than his career total of 6.8, and it’s just one indication of exactly how severe Wentz’s 2020 decline has been.

Want more? Well, there’s a lot more.

Wentz’s decline isn’t just bad — it’s historically bad, and the other quarterbacks throughout NFL history who have experienced similar declines in their careers were almost always those who hung on a bit too long and felt the effects in a negative way.

Yeah, not good. Per NFL Research, Wentz’s drop in passer rating from 98.3 in 2017-2019 to 73.4 this season makes him the sixth quarterback to have a plummet of more than 24 points in one season. Wentz is the only quarterback under 30 to have this happen to him, and four of the other five quarterbacks on the list (Y.A. Tittle in 1964, Joe Theismann in 1985, Brett Favre in 2010, and Peyton Manning in 2015) retired after those seasons. The only other quarterback on the list is Mark Rypien in 1993. That was Rypien’s last season in Washington — he never threw more than 217 passes in a season after that, though he played for the Browns, Eagles, and Rams from 1994 through 1997, and for the Colts in a 2001 return to the game after retiring from 1998 through 2000.

Not that Wentz is retiring; he’s 27 years old and in the second year of a four-year, $128 million contract extension that has him in the books for $18,656,536 in salary cap for 2020, $34,673,536 in 2021, and $31,274,536 in 2022. If the Eagles wanted to cut bait, it would be massively impractical to do so before 2022. Per OverTheCap.com, the dead cap in 2020 would be $77,877,144, and $59,220,608 in 2021. It’s not until 2022 that a release would be fiscally reasonable; then, the dead cap is just $24,547,072, with a cap savings of $6,727,464.

So, if you’re wondering why head coach Doug Pederson is sticking with Wentz despite his historically bad regression, the simple reason is this: The Eagles can’t really afford to do anything else.