Tag: Yahoo

Where are the Commanders in Yahoo’s NFL offseason power rankings?

There is a lot of optimism surrounding Washington, but many unknowns, too.

The long part of the NFL offseason is over. Rookies across the league are reporting to training camp less than one month from now.

The Washington Commanders open camp on July 18, when the rookies are scheduled to report. The veterans are due five days later.

It’s been a chaotic offseason for Washington but in the best possible way. First, there were no controversies surrounding the owner — he’s gone. Welcome, Josh Harris. The Commanders also hired one of the top general manager candidates of the last decade, Adam Peters, followed by one of the NFL’s most respected coaches, Dan Quinn.

That led to a roster overhaul, in which Washington will have turned over half of its roster. The biggest domino from a personnel perspective is the arrival of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. If Daniels hits and becomes the player many believe, it hides some of your other flaws.

While there is a lot of optimism surrounding the franchise, it’s not the type of optimism that fans believe a Super Bowl is coming in 2024. Most fans are happy with the long-term approach because, for so long, the former owner chose instant gratification, which backfired every time.

So, how do others view the Commanders, as far as comparing them to other teams?

Yahoo Sports recently released its latest offseason power rankings ahead of training camp and had the Commanders at No. 29.

Why so low?

Grabbing a coach who was in demand, a GM everyone wanted and a quarterback who practically everyone ranked second in the draft class is a good offseason. That’s the type of nucleus that can turn around a franchise very fast.

The problem with using the Texans as an example of a quick turnaround is they hit an unprecedented amount of green lights. They hired a great head coach in DeMeco Ryans who probably would not have looked their way if he was drafted by another team way back when. They didn’t have the first pick of the draft but C.J. Stroud fell to them at No. 2 and ended up being perhaps the greatest rookie quarterback in NFL history. Many young players broke out at the same time. It’s hard to replicate all of that.

Nothing said here is incorrect. There are plenty of reasons why the Commanders should be optimistic about their future. However, the payoff isn’t likely in 2024. And that’s OK. Many analysts and fans have said Washington could be poised to repeat Houston’s success from last season. The two teams were in similar positions before each season. That could happen, but the Commanders play in a more difficult division than the AFC South. And Stroud proved to already be one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks.

Daniels has yet to throw an NFL pass. While there is genuine excitement surrounding his future, there are still many unknowns.

Report: Big Ten presidents exploring further expansion involving Oregon, Washington, and more

Report: Big Ten presidents exploring further expansion involving Oregon, Washington, and more

According to a report from Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, the Big Ten presidents are currently exploring the possibility of expansion with growing uncertainty mounting around the future of the Pac 12.

According to Wetzel, the focus is on Oregon and Washington, which would move the total to 18 teams. There is also the possibility of adding Cal and Stanford to make it 20.

According to Wetzel, the discussions are in the early stages and no decision is imminent.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.

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Notre Dame’s Swarbrick on College Football in 2020

Swarbrick also goes on to say the next “mile marker” to have an idea as to when students may return to campus will come when a decision is made on if those taking summer classes will actually be on campus or if they’ll all be done online.

Notre Dame athletic director is quoted Wednesday night in Pete Thamel’s most recent piece about whether or not there will be college football in 2020.  The Yahoo! Sports reporter gets quotes from other administrators but states the most important thing that needs to happen before we can even begin to think there will be college football as we know it this fall:

But for those looking for hints of hope for college football’s return, they should start with the clearance for students to return to campus.

Thamel and Yahoo! reached out to a dozen different administrators nationwide, Notre Dame’s Jack Swarbrick being one of them.

Swarbrick points out the mixed messages of telling students to stay home and athletes to come to campus if the conditions don’t abate.

“It’d be very hard to do,” Swarbrick said. “There’s a liability. Some of the dynamics of the game being what they are. The nature of it is such that there’s significant risks.”

Swarbrick also goes on to say the next “mile marker” to have an idea as to when students may return to campus will come when a decision is made on if those taking summer classes will actually be on campus or if they’ll all be done online.  For what it’s worth, earlier this week Ohio State announced they were moving all of their in-person summer classes to only being online.

Swarbrick is also quoted at the end of the piece with the following:

“Nothing quite matches the unique issues that are created by the activity being integrated into an academic institution,” Swarbrick said. “There’s nothing like it in other sports.”

The whole piece is worth reading if you’ve got a few minutes to spare (again, link is posted in the first paragraph here).  Until we start to see students showing up on campuses around the nation we aren’t going to see players suiting up.  It’s kind of common sense but makes a lot more sense the more you think about it.