Although NFL league policy has barred team owners from running casinos, owners can hold investments in casinos so long as they are not involved in the casino’s operations. “This was vetted to the satisfaction of ownership and was not an issue in 2009 …
2018 NFL Over-Under Win Totals: The Panthers offense is an enigma again, and it’s scaryCBSSports.com
Speed, Discipline and a Whole Bunch of Cash: Inside the Odd Sale of the Carolina PanthersSports Illustrated
The event, scheduled for June 21 at the Vikings’ new practice facility, will include panels featuring gay, lesbian and transgender athletes and coaches, including Olympic diver Greg Louganis, triathlete Chris Mosier and former NFL defensive tackle Esera Tuaolo. The audience is expected to include 200 athletes, high school and college coaches and members of LGBTQ organizations from the Twin Cities.
“Ideally, it’s not just one team doing it — it’s something that a lot of teams are looking at it and saying, ‘Hey, we can do something like this,’” Kluwe told USA TODAY Sports. “Hopefully it goes off really well for the Vikings. Regardless of my situation with them and how that ended, the big goal is to make sure that other athletes don’t have to go through that situation and that LGBTQ athletes are able to be who they are.”
“Hopefully the big take away is that having LGBTQ individuals in your locker room isn’t the end of the world, right? This is something that lots of teams are dealing with, especially at the high school and college level, and it’s hopefully something we see teams starting to address more at the professional level,” Kluwe said. “For me, that’s particularly the NFL, but the other major organizations as well, it’s that we want openly out gay players to be able to play. It shouldn’t be that you’re frightened to be who you are while you’re trying to pursue this immensely difficult athletic career.”
“I think the unknown is what hinders progress in general as it pertains to including any minority group, so I think that what this event is going to do is it will normalize the discussion around LGBTQ inclusion,” Rapoport said. “I think the power that football has in this county to do that, the fact that the Minnesota Vikings are leading this, I think will hold a lot of weight and certainly advance that in people’s minds.”
The sale of the Carolina Panthers to hedge fund manager David Tepper is expected to be executed soon.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported the sale of the Panthers from Jerry Richardson to Tepper is moving along and a deal could get done Tuesday, per sources informed of the process.
According to Rapoport, an agreement is expected to happen which would allow for a vote on the sale by NFL owners at the Spring League Meeting in Atlanta, May 21-23.
Tepper has long been the favorite to buy the Panthers. The sale is expected to come in just above $2 billion. As a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2009, league owners are familiar with Tepper. Also key to the purchase is the hedge fund manager’s plan to keep the Panthers in Charlotte.
The next step for the billionaire investor is to sell his minority stake in the Steelers and get approved by NFL owners. After being vetted, however, the sale is assumed to proceed without hitches.
In order for the sale to become official, three-fourths of NFL team owners (24) must approve the team’s purchase.
The 60-year-old Tepper was born in Pittsburgh, attended the University of Pittsburgh and earned an MBA from Carnegie Mellon in 1982 — the business school now dons his name. Tepper founded Appaloosa Management, a hedge fund company based in Miami Beach, Florida, and is worth an estimated $11 billion.
Richardson, 81, announced he was selling the team in December after the league took over an investigation looking into allegations of workplace misconduct. The NFL investigation remains ongoing. The Panthers officially went up for sale following the team’s wild-card loss in January. Richardson, the franchise founder, ceded day-to-day control of the team in December to Tina Becker, a 20-year employee of the team who was promoted to chief operating officer.
Six of the first 60 names on NFL.com’s list of the top 101 free agents remain unsigned. One is cornerback Bashaud Breeland (No. 15), who failed a physical after coming to terms with the Panthers at the start of free agency. Another is wideout Dez Bryant (No. 16), whose production slipped last year before he became a cap casualty with the Cowboys. A third is defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins (No. 35), a run-stuffer who no longer fit the Colts’ new defensive scheme and was cut after free agency’s musical chairs began. The other three are safeties: Kenny Vaccaro (No. 25), Reid (No. 26), and Tre Boston (No. 60). There hasn’t been much of a market for any of them, though Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported this morning that Boston is scheduled to visit the Colts. What gives? Jeremy Fowler of ESPN took a stab at explaining this on Thursday, but allow me to dig into it, too.
The circumstances in Reid’s case are obvious. Teams don’t want much to do with Reid because of his outspokenness on behalf of his friend and former 49ers teammate, Colin Kaepernick, in addition to his consistent willingness last season to follow Kaepernick’s lead by protesting during the national anthem. That the Bengals reportedly told Reid last month during a free-agent visit that they would prohibit any protests certainly gives some juice to Reid’s grievance case, even if his collusion allegation might ultimately make for a harder sell.
Also, as For The Win noted last week, Vaccaro demonstrated during the anthem at least once last season, and Boston had once tried to organize some kind of team protest after the 2016 shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott by Charlotte police, when Boston was still with the Panthers. But the NFL isn’t blackballing every player who took a knee during the anthem at one point or another, and there are additional complicating factors here for all three players, too.
Vaccaro and Reid, in particular, thrive better as box safeties who do best playing closer to the line of scrimmage to contain the run, or to slide into a weakside inside linebacker (WILL) spot in nickel and dime packages. Strong safeties are typically less valuable to teams because they’re not as versatile in coverage downfield—an important distinction in a league where teams typically use three-or-more receiver sets and increasingly line up running backs as receivers.
A number of NFL teams also like their safeties to be interchangeable to help disguise coverages. This is where things get tricky for Boston. He’s coming off a season with the Chargers in which he had eight pass break-ups and five interceptions, both career highs. But, as Boston told Sporting News’ Alex Marvez back in March, talks between his camp and the Chargers hit a wall because “they think I’m more of a strong safety-type of player.” And Pro Football Focus ranked Boston 42nd among safeties in tackle efficiency. The general feeling—Reid’s prominent status as a protestor notwithstanding—is that this isn’t an elite-level group.
“I think it may have something to do with the caliber of players available,” Joel Corry, a former agent who now analyzes contracts and the salary cap for CBSSports.com, told me. “I suspect free safeties would have fared better because of the coverage ability.”
It’s not known exactly what Vaccaro, Reid, and Boston have demanded from teams, but Boston gave some indication of what he might be seeking in his interview with Marvez: “We’re closer to veteran minimum than we are to the $7-, $8-, $9 million players we wanted to be two months ago or even eight months ago,” Boston said. Depending on each player’s specific asking price, they could be overinflating their value.
Consider: Kurt Coleman, who turns 30 in July, signed with the Saints before the start of free agency for a max of three years, with an average annual value of $5.45 million, and $6.2 million in guarantees. Soon after free agency began, Tyrann Mathieu, age 26, signed with the Texans for just one year and $7 million, with $4.5 million guaranteed. Then, one week into free agency, 29-year-old Morgan Burnett inked a deal with the Steelers—who will likely drop him down to play WILL on passing downs, to replace Ryan Shazier—with a three-year max, $4.8 million in AAV, and $4.25 million guaranteed. Now look at the deals some of the league’s premiere hybrid safety-linebackers have gotten: The Rams’ Mark Barron, age 29, is due to earn $10 million this season, on a deal he signed in 2016; and the Cardinals’ Deone Bucannon, age 25, had his fifth-year option picked up for 2018, at a price of $8.718 million.
Like Bucannon, Reid (27 years old) and Vaccaro (26) are former first-round picks. They both played last season on their fifth-year options, which earned them $5.676 million. Boston, 25, was a fourth-round pick who was cut after 2016 and made $900,000 last year on a one-year prove-it deal. But this year’s market set the bar for all three of them much lower.
The Giants weren’t going to pursue ex-Dolphins safety Michael Thomas in free agency, even after they hired ex-Dolphins defensive backs coach Lou Anarumo. Then the market came in soft, and they got Thomas at two years max with $1.5 million in guarantees.
Thomas is more of a free safety who can be paired next to Landon Collins, an impactful strong safety. Also, Thomas demonstrated during the anthem throughout the 2017 season. Yet that didn’t keep the Giants from signing him, albeit for far less than what Vaccaro, Reid, and Boston likely want.
Last Tuesday was the deadline for any free agents who sign with other teams to count as part of next year’s formula for compensatory draft picks. That, too, could have contributed to the delay some teams may have had in signing Vaccaro, Reid, and Boston. But none have signed in the days since the deadline came and went, either.
Jason Fitzgerald, the founder of overthecap.com, told me the league may have overinvested at safety, which created fewer opportunities for Vaccaro, Reid, and Boston to sell themselves. “In looking at the market there are 25 safeties who make $5 million or more (annually), and that covers 19 teams,” Fitzgerald said. “Nineteen of those deals were signed in 2016 or 2017, so maybe the destinations just were not there.”
NFL teams notoriously want to control costs, and this year’s draft class was well-stocked at safety, with eight safeties going in the first three rounds. That’s eight young players with up to four years of cost certainty (because of the rookie wage scale), and possibly five years for the three first-rounders, who all have fifth-year team options.
The player who best stood a chance at re-setting the market was Rams free safety Lamarcus Joyner. But on March 6, the last day teams had a chance to do so, the Rams placed the franchise tag on Joyner. He will earn $11.287 million fully guaranteed this season. The rest of the safety market just never materialized from there.
Boston’s flirtation with the Colts could portend a thaw in what’s been a frozen market for free-agent safeties. Reid’s is a unique case, given the circumstances. But it still seems likely Vaccaro and Boston will land somewhere eventually, just for way less money than they’d probably hoped.
These preparations don’t automatically entail Joe Flacco’s demise as the team’s franchise quarterback, but the Ravens will find ways to get the rookie involved. One sentiment from minicamp should strike fear into all Baltimore’s future opponents.
Quarterback succession plays are often messy. Ben Roethlisberger’s recent comments and Joe Flacco’s usual stoicism highlighted the conundrums organizations face: trying to prepare for the future without upsetting the team’s starting quarterback.
The Cleveland Browns are making plans to tailor their offense around Tyrod Taylor and Baker Mayfield’s similar skill sets. The New York Giants took the opposite approach by leaning heavily on their 37-year-old quarterback. The Dallas Cowboys, meanwhile, know Dak Prescott is well on his way to becoming the league’s highest-paid signal-caller.
Also, roles for Washington Redskins running back Derrius Guice and three rookie offensive tackles are being decided.
Baltimore’s coaching staff understands the fine line it must walk regarding the quarterback’s overall development while still utilizing his extraordinary athleticism, raw speed and ample arm strength.
John Harbaugh and Co. are taking a Victor Frankenstein-like approach to building a role for the rookie.
Jackson ravaged the collegiate ranks with 9,043 career passing yards, 4,132 rushing yards and 119 total touchdowns. A package of plays for the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner should extend beyond the typical zone-read approach.
“They want me on the field to utilize my talent and be a quarterback,” Jackson said, per Mink. “So it’s cool with me.”
The Cleveland Browns are short on quarterbacks. No, wait, that description fits previous incarnations of the team. This Browns staff is quite excited about two short quarterbacks.
The Baker Mayfield-Tyrod Taylor combination is arguably the franchise’s most talented since Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb led the team to its last playoff appearance in 2002.
Both lack ideal height, though, and new offensive coordinator Todd Haley will tailor his offense to highlight each quarterback’s strengths while downplaying their stature.
“The offense is going to be very similar,” NFL Network’s Steve Wyche reported after speaking with head coach Hue Jackson. “In the passing game, they’re going to have a deeper pocket setup. Both of the quarterbacks are about 6’1”, and they said the way they can create passing lanes without a whole lot of schematic things is just have a deeper drop.
Jackson, meanwhile, reaffirmed Taylor is the Browns’ starting quarterback and “that won’t change,” according to the Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot.
Concern does arise with deeper drops. They will make protection more difficult for both offensive tackles. How quickly and efficiently the Browns’ quarterbacks release the ball will have a profound effect on any success the offense experiences.
The New York Giants either made an inspired choice or monumental blunder by selecting running back Saquon Barkley with the second overall pick in April’s draft.
The decision came down to how the team felt about 37-year-old quarterback Eli Manning, and new head coach Pat Shurmur is fully invested in the two-time Super Bowl-winning signal-caller.
“No, I didn’t see the age,” Shurmur said after reviewing Manning’s 2017 performance, per Breer. “There’s no substitute for experience, and he’s got it. So no, the age doesn’t bother me.”
Manning’s numbers say otherwise. The aging quarterback hit four-year lows in completion percentage, passing yards, yards per attempt, touchdowns and quarterback rating. But Shurmur stated his signal-caller’s case:
“When you have a quarterback that’s won as much as Eli, that played through a year like last year, the way to get him back to where he needs to be, we need to block them better, and then the best friend for the quarterback is the running back, where you turn around, hand the ball off and gain yards. It all goes hand in hand. Play action’s way more believable.”
The Minnesota Vikings’ 501 carries ranked second-last season with Shurmur calling the play. Barkley can expect a heavy load to help Manning.
“You know, at that position, it kind of is what it is,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Wednesday, per the Dallas Morning News‘ Kate Hairopoulos. Jones continued:
“We certainly know that’s going to happen. We’ve got that planned in our budgeting for the salary cap. And I just want Dak to go out there and be the MVP this year of the NFL, that’s what I want. And we’ll deal with that.“
Prescott regressed after winning the 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Anything less than an MVP-caliber season, and the Cowboys can argue Prescott’s value doesn’t quite reach Ryan or Rodgers’ level.
“I’m healthy, and I’m ready to roll,” Peterson told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. “If you want someone to help you win a championship and be productive—be very productive—you know how to contact me.”
The Saints, meanwhile, must deal with Mark Ingram’s suspension for the first four games of the 2018 campaign because of a violation of the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Derrius Guice’s first-round grade didn’t survive the league’s predraft evaluation, and the talented running back tumbled to the Washington Redskins with the 59th overall pick.
Immaturity and unreported incidents supposedly caused the free fall. How much is true can be considered moot since he’s in Washington.
“He has some improvement to do in the pass pro, without a doubt, and I think he’ll be the first one to tell you,” the head coach said, per ESPN.com’s John Keim. Gruden continued:
“That’s something that sometimes in college, with only 20 hours of practice per week, some of the fundamentals as far as pass blocking sometimes gets swept by. He’s more of a first-, second-down banger. But I’ve seen him at his pro day catch the football. He can catch the football fine, but really, our role for him is quite easy to see. It’s first, second down.“
Guice earned the designation of being the best between-the-tackles runner in this year’s class. He isn’t needed on third down, either, because Chris Thompson is special in said role. Thompson caught 39 passes for 510 yards and four touchdowns last season before suffering a fractured fibula.
The 2018 offensive class lacked quality prospects and depth. Yet multiple rookies could be starting at left tackle this fall.
The Oakland Raiders traded down and selected Kolton Miller with the 15th overall pick. Donald Penn’s presence on the roster may push Miller to right tackle or the Raiders could favor youth and athleticism over experience.
“That’s where he has recently played,” head coach Jon Gruden said at rookie minicamp, per ESPN.com’s Paul Gutierrez. “We like him at left tackle. We think he’s a prototype left tackle. He can bend, he’s got the length that you’re looking for and he’s a sharp kid…that doesn’t mean that’s where they’re going to end up, though.”
Miller fits the mold of an NFL left tackle. Isaiah Wynn and Austin Corbett don’t. Although both may be protecting their respective quarterbacks’ blind sides this fall.
New England Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia didn’t mince his words regarding Wynn’s potential.
“He’s played left tackle in the best conference, [the SEC], in America,” Scarnecchia said, per ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss. “Played it pretty good. We’re going to take a look at it and see how it goes.”
“You will see [Corbett] out there [at left tackle],” head coach Hue Jackson said, per Cleveland.com’s Dan Labbe. “There is no question he will be out there, but I think you will see him moved around too.”
If they falter, their teams will find another spot for them. But left tackle is too important not to start there.
Gregory could be available for the 2018 campaign after missing all of last season because of violating the league’s substance abuse policy for the third time. The 25-year-old defender is expected to apply for reinstatement, according to the Dallas Morning News‘ Kate Hairopoulos and Jori Epstein.
“He’s being very diligent in preparing his information and preparing his application,” owner Jerry Jones said Wednesday. “I have been proud of Randy during this offseason. I’m very aware of how hard he’s working to get back in the league and get back on the field.”
Dallas took a chance on Gregory in the second round of the 2015 draft because his attributes make him perfectly suited for defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli’s scheme.
Being away from the game can be difficult, though. Relapses can easily occur when a professional athlete lives outside of team structure because of a lack of support.
“It’s best he’s back in the locker room, he’s back around us,” fellow defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford said. “I think it will be good for him and good for us.”
METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton emphasized Saturday following the team’s rookie minicamp practice that he doesn’t have current plans to bring in a veteran running back in light of Mark Ingram’s pending four-game suspension.
Payton, however, left the door open when asked if he would consider Adrian Peterson, who recently told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that he would “definitely be open” to returning to the Saints.
“Absolutely,” Payton said emphatically. “This gets back to the notion that we had some type of any (sideline) argument at Minnesota (in Week 1 of the 2017 regular season), which I still say there was none. I think a ton of him.”
Peterson, who turned 33 in March, first joined New Orleans after signing a two-year, $7 million deal on April 25, 2017, just days ahead of the Saints’ selection of running back Alvin Kamara in the draft.
While Peterson arrived on the heels of a decorated career with the Vikings, it became clear during training camp that the Saints had something special in Kamara, who went on to win the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award.
Peterson found himself behind Ingram and Kamara on the depth chart, but the Saints believed they could make it work with the trio to start the regular season.
Nevertheless, the Saints eventually traded Peterson to the Cardinals on Oct. 10 after four regular-season games. Peterson’s stop in New Orleans resulted in 81 yards rushing on 27 carries, averaging 3 yards per attempt, and two catches for 4 yards.
He had better success in Arizona with a featured role, totaling 448 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 129 carries before a neck injury landed him on injured reserve to close out the season.
The Cardinals released Peterson on March 13, and the 12th-year pro has since spent time training and posting workout videos on social media while waiting for his next opportunity.
For now, the Saints aren’t in the market to bring in a veteran to bolster the backfield with Ingram’s looming suspension. The team appears comfortable with Kamara, Jonathan Williams, Daniel Lasco, Trey Edmunds and rookie Boston Scott.
“That would the part where if all of a sudden we decided, hey, we’re going to look at additional players that are on the street,” Payton said. “And certainly his name — there’d be a few others — we have them on the board right now. Who’s available, veteran running backs, stacked on a board and graded. But, listen, he’s a tough player, warrior, and a great worker, and we have a good relationship.”
Michigan State football has plenty of NFL draft prospects for 2019 – Detroit Free Press | Quick & Fast Sports News
» FOOTBALL » Michigan State football has plenty of NFL draft prospects for 2019 – Detroit Free Press
A recent article from Irish Times reported €730,000 being spent on PR in Irish hospitals and affiliated facilities. If these facilities did not already have in-house PR and publicity departments and experts, it might not be such a big deal. But they do. So the question begs an answer – is the expenditure justified?
For the most part, good PR is worth its weight in … well, you name it. The better your PR, the better your balance sheet is likely to be – at least if your service measures up to all the hype. If it doesn’t, watch out – “Falling rocks ahead!” But, if you already have a PR department, keeping an outside agency on retainer at the cost of several thousand a month, the added expense could backfire. Many of the Irish hospitals are spending around €100K per year for the outside services. In fact, the group as a whole spent €730,000 last year on public relations not including their in-house PR and press divisions.
There are some efforts that can easily be handled by the PR or press department at a medical facility and should probably not be sent to the higher-priced outside “experts.” Some of these duties would be creating internal publications and brochures, dealing with calls from the media, and promoting health fairs or other patient-based events sponsored by the hospital or groups within the facility. Press releases of local happenings, if an employee accomplishes something noteworthy, or specialty events such of free screenings or clinics are a perfect fit for in-house specialists.
Those who have years of experience in the specialty area of healthcare PR and also the wider field of PR can help create a master plan and strategy for what the hospital wants to accomplish each year and even longer-term such as a five or ten-year plan. For large-scale professional events, such as conferences, training in new medical procedures, treatments, or medications, the outside expert may once again be the best choice to oversee the process while utilizing in-house staff for the various tasks involved.
For both types of PR help, those with a strong mix of science/logic and creative thinking will fit these positions best. If you find someone who deals easily with people and also loves watching those documentaries about surgery or treatments for illnesses, you may have found a great person to hire.
Ultimately, no matter who does the PR, if your facility is not up to snuff, they won’t be able to save the day. But when the good PR expert mixes with a facility doing superior work – it’s well worth the expenditure.
Please help me out, I am practicing for a test next week and I need help to straighten out a character sketch.