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Back in from the road. Going back out in a few days. This week’s takeaways from my travels …
The three first-round quarterbacks had bumpy preseason debuts. Bryce Young took big hits. C.J. Stroud seemed to doubt what he was looking at, hesitated to pull the trigger and threw a bad pick. Anthony Richardson looked every bit the big, raw prospect he is, with a high ceiling but a long, long way to go, evidenced by an off-balance interception of his own.
To me, this is the best (only good?) part of preseason games.
Getting to watch the rookie quarterbacks can give you an idea—just an idea—of where they’re going. It’s where Blake Bortles once shined and opened the possibility that the Jaguars were going to take the redshirt off him and blow up their best-laid plans. It’s also where Deshaun Watson gave the Texans pause on sitting him as a rookie, which eventually led to Houston turning to him in Week 2 of 2017.
Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports
With that in mind, over the weekend, I tapped into evaluators who got a chance to see Young, Stroud and Richardson make their debuts on the game field (Young against the Jets, Stroud against the Patriots and Richardson against the Bills). Here’s what I got back …
AFC exec on Young: “Showed a lot of poise and toughness with the hits that he was taking. He didn’t look rattled in the pocket, with the play, or after hits. … I thought [physically, he looked good]. Quick processing ability, he’s seeing the field, and delivered throws with pressure in his face.”
AFC exec on Stroud: “Small sample size [two series], but he was hesitant on some of his pocket reads. He was late on the interception. Not much help from the offensive line, so not great, but not terrible. … You can see the arm strength and athleticism.”
AFC exec on Richardson: “Talented—you can see the potential he has. He played like a rookie and will have to fine-tune his fundamentals in terms of seeing the field, ball placement, etc., at this level. I’m sure there are plays from the game he’d like to have back, but I think he’ll grow with each game.”
So if you’re looking for sweeping conclusions, you’ve come to the wrong place, because it’s not even close to time for that. But seeing how each player builds off the first game, with each having started his team’s matchups, will be interesting. If you’re looking to mark your calendars, Richardson and the Colts play the Eagles on Thursday night, Young and the Panthers play the Giants on Friday night, and Stroud and the Texans play Miami on Saturday.
I’ve said this before, but I really wouldn’t be too concerned with where Joe Burrow is at physically. It was encouraging, of course, for everyone in Cincinnati to see him moving around and throwing before the Bengals’ preseason opener against the Packers—and even better that he didn’t require the sleeve he wore to protect his calf on the day of the injury. I also don’t sense that there’s anything going on here from Zac Taylor or anyone else, to try to throw anyone off the scent when it comes to his timetable.
My read instead is that Taylor doesn’t want to box Burrow in. Yes, the quarterback is typically a quick healer, and yes, that applied to coming back off the ACL, and even his appendicitis of last summer. That said, this is a muscular injury, which means how quickly he came back from the other injuries might not really relate to this one.
Here’s the other thing: as unfortunate as the quarterback’s circumstances have been, in not getting a full offseason since entering the pros in 2020, that experience has also given him a pretty good level of knowledge on what he can do to ready himself in a situation like this.
Take, for example, the fact that he hasn’t been out at practice every day? The reason why, as we wrote in training camp takeaways, is because he’s using that time to do all his rehab work, which allows for him to take part in everything else with the team, so he won’t miss a beat in readying for Week 1. He uses the team’s time at walk-throughs for that, too.
"It’s really more [using the time wisely],” offensive coordinator Brian Callahan told me. “He’s probably past the creativity. He wants the information he needs, he takes it and he runs. That’s where he’s gotten to in his career now; he’s gotten all this experience and playing time. There’s not a lot of fluff for him. It’s, give me what I need to know, show me what I need to do and I’m going to make it all work. That part’s fun.
“We’re to a point now where it’s like, well, let’s give him more information. Let’s see how much more he can handle. He’s really shown to be pretty adept at handling a lot of information.”
And the physical work, obviously, will come when it makes sense to put him back out there. Which I’d guess will be before Week 1.
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
The second-best story of the weekend, for my money, was Chargers rookie CJ Okoye registering a sack in his first organized football game. That’s right. Okoye, who came to the States as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway program, had never played in an actual football game before Saturday night. And, yet, there he was, with two minutes left in the Chargers’ preseason opener against the Rams, running down Stetson Bennett, after the QB escaped the initial push, to get the sack and force a punt.
That Okoye even was able to play the 10 snaps he did on defense is amazing on its own.
And Chargers coach Brandon Staley acknowledged as much postgame, saying that Okoye doing what he did was “historic” and “remarkable. … This guy’s never played a game.” Staley then added that his players said they would celebrate so hard; they would get a 15-yard penalty if Okoye got a sack. The flag was never thrown. But it wasn’t for lack of effort, the way the group rushed to mark the occasion with their Nigerian teammate.
So how did all this come together? I did a little digging Sunday. It started for Okoye at inaugural NFL Africa talent camp in Ghana, where he was one of six guys selected to go to the NFL International Combine in London. He then was one of 13 players plucked from there to join the IPP program’s training camp at IMG Academy in Florida.
That’s where Chargers area scout Donovan Beidelschies first saw Okoye, at a workout put on for teams. This was the year for AFC West (and NFC North) teams to take IPP players in, so GM Tom Telesco’s department was mindful they were getting someone, and Beidelschies reported back that the 6'7", 335-pound monster was in good shape and had potential. The team also liked his soccer and basketball background, figuring he’d have solid hand-eye coordination and feet for a big man because of it.
After that, the league—with the effort here spearheaded by former Giants star Osi Umenyiora—gave the Chargers a list of about 10 players that were being considered and asked them to look at it. Chargers pro scouting director Louis Clark provided thumbnail reports on each of them, and Telesco responded to the league with a list of four or five players he liked, with Okoye on that list. The league then assigned Okoye to the Chargers.
Okoye is essentially the 91st player on the Chargers’ roster, with the team given a roster exemption to keep him. Los Angeles will also get to have him on its practice squad through the season without counting him against its number there.
So … how’s he been otherwise? I heard he came on a bit last week in one-on-ones and pass-rush work. And everyone loves him as a guy, which was pretty obvious in how his teammates reacted to his big moment the other night.
Justin Fields was 3-of-3 for 129 yards, two touchdowns and a perfect passer rating Saturday, but that wasn’t the story for the Bears’ offense. It was, as I see it, how a revamped, more athletic offensive line went to work on the Titans’ defense on two of those three throws, screens that accounted for 118 of Fields’s yards.
Here’s what happened …
• On the 62-yard touchdown to Moore, a perimeter screen, left tackle Braxton Jones and left guard Teven Jenkins got to their spots fast enough to erase defensive backs from the play. First, Jones got to the numbers fast enough to shove corner Armani Marsh past Moore, who cut inside of him. Then, Jenkins got to the second level, found safety Mike Brown in space and engaged him long enough to allow Moore to break right past him.
• The 56-yard score to Khalil Herbert came on another called screen, but one that didn’t go as close to plan. A blitz forced Fields to retreat and buy time to find the window to get the ball to his back. But the delay also opened things up in front of Herbert, and center Cody Whitehair and right guard Ja’Tyre Carter were leading a convoy some 30 yards downfield, clearing the way for Herbert to score.
And notice that the only starting linemen we didn’t mention there was the most athletic one of all, first-round right tackle Darnell Wright.
Now, if you’re looking to spread credit a bit, Fields did an outstanding job eluding the rush and buying time for Herbert on the second touchdown, and receivers Velus Jones Jr. and Equanimeous St. Brown did a great job finding work as blockers downfield. But, really, those plays were about the big guys up front. And considering how bad the line was a year ago, seeing that had to be a sight for sore eyes for GM Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus.
The Jonathan Taylor situation should gain some clarity this week. Colts coach Shane Steichen, who’s been in a tough spot on this one, said he expected Taylor back on the field at some point between now and the team’s next preseason game—Taylor has been on the team’s PUP list since he reported to camp July 25.
Of course, his appearance probably won’t make things less awkward. But he does have good reason to show up, thanks to a tweak in the CBA that was added in the 2020 negotiations.
Through those talks, second-round picks (Taylor was one) became eligible for the proven performance escalator (it had been for guys taken in the past five rounds). The escalator was designed to bump a guy’s fourth-year salary if he hit certain playtime and performance benchmarks over his first three seasons. As such, Taylor’s number for this season rose from the $1.68 million on his rookie deal to $4.30 million, which is the equivalent of the second-round tender for a restricted free agent.
And that number isn’t far off from the $6.33 million he made over his first three years, nor is it far off from where the top running backs on last year’s free-agent market landed.
But the reality is that, even if this money is paltry compared to what, say, an edge rusher or tackle or receiver makes, backs simply have to take what they can when they can get it, because there’s no telling what’ll be on their next season’s paycheck. So that leaves Steichen, a first-year coach, to try to mend what’s been fractured relationship-wise, with the team’s handling of one of its best and most respected players.
I’m on record saying that, for the good of Anthony Richardson, they should pay Taylor. But at this point, the Colts have been resolute on waiting.
Clelin Ferrell is a man worth watching. Let’s start here—he’s a defensive lineman who was drafted in the first round and washed out with the Raiders. That he landed in San Francisco alone, with defensive line guru Kris Kocurek, is enough to inform you that a career revival could be afoot.
It happened with Arden Key, and guys who weren’t as ballyhooed coming out, such as Charles Omenihu and Samson Ebukam, with all three pumping life into their stock as players, and reaping the benefits financially elsewhere as a result of their time with Kocurek. And it’s pretty easy to argue those three aren’t as talented as Ferrell.
No, Ferrell shouldn’t have gone with the fourth pick in the first round. But we knew that at the time. Most folks expected the Clemson pass rusher to go late in the first round in 2019, as a high-motor, high-character, tough, productive rusher that didn’t have the ceiling to go in the top 10. He, of course, didn’t select himself with the fourth pick, and, yet, he had to pay a price for it—with expectations for him exceeding what he was as a player.
Given that, and what I heard at Niners camp last week, I was hardly surprised to see Ferrell register a sack almost right away, beating Raiders tackle Justin Herron badly on an inside move in the first quarter of Sunday’s preseason opener for both teams.
He’s long and athletic and plays hard, and is probably now in the sort of scheme he should’ve been in from the start. That he played for three different coordinators with the Raiders probably didn’t help, either. But I’d bet on him having a nice year, with Kocurek there, Steve Wilks as his coordinator, and Arik Armstead, Javon Hargrave and (presumably) Nick Bosa alongside him on the defensive line.
Ferrell’s sack was also an example of where offensive line depth is across the NFL right now. Which is to say, it’s not in a good place. Few teams have backups they can rely on, and that much was evident all over the place this weekend. Just as it did on Ferrell’s sack, it showed up in the Panthers’ and Texans’ efforts to protect their rookie quarterbacks, and in decisions made by coaches elsewhere not to play their quarterbacks, with a heightened risk in putting them behind nonstarting linemen.
So what gives?
This is a remnant, as I and a lot of folks see it, of the 2011 and ’20 CBA negotiations. Practice time, and practice contact, were sacrificed, and while that’s great for some players, it’s not helping the NFL develop offensive linemen behind the starters. They hit less in the summer and barely ever in season, and those positions are ones where you don’t rotate or substitute much. So if you’re a backup, and there aren’t injuries, you’re going to go from September to January or February without hitting very much at all.
Which is to say those guys are getting a lot of training year-round, and very little training in-season, to do the job they were hired to do—young defensive linemen at least get to play a bunch in the games.
I don’t know how to fix this, either. But I do think when you see a good team’s season sunk, it can be traced to offensive line injuries. And why even marginally experienced linemen get paid well on the free-agent market. There simply aren’t enough of them to go around, largely as a result of the owners’ decision to trade work hours for financial concessions, and the union’s willingness to accept those terms.
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
We’ve got your quick-hitters for this week, too. And there’s plenty to chew on after a weekend full of games.
• We mentioned it in our Raiders camp report, and it was backed up in Las Vegas on Sunday—it really looks like fourth-round QB Aidan O’Connell can play. He finished 15-of-18 for 141 yards and a touchdown. And through camp, he’s shown he can throw with accuracy; he’s mature and he’s smart enough to handle a lot at the line of scrimmage. Keep an eye on him.
• Another player who had a big preseason debut to back up a strong rookie training camp is Texans receiver Tank Dell. He had an acrobatic touchdown catch, an explosive catch-and-run, and finished with five receptions for 65 yards. Afterward, DeMeco Ryans said Dell “can be an explosive playmaker for us.” And one capable of creating easy yards for Stroud.
• One more rookie in that category—Patriots second-rounder Keion White. He’s strong as an ox and was super disruptive against Houston’s reserve linemen. White’s going to have a role for New England and add to an already strong edge group.
• Hearing Sean Payton compare Zach Allen, signed away from Arizona, to Trey Hendrickson got my attention. Allen was signed, in part, to be a tone-setter for Payton’s program, and the coach knows what he’s doing in throwing the name of one of his old players around like that.
• The Ron Rivera–Eric Bieniemy dustup last week wasn’t ideal, but I don’t think in the end it’s going to affect much. The bar is high for the current Commanders brass to stay in place past 2023, and those guys know they have to win with new owner Josh Harris now entrenched. What’s said in August, to me, won’t make or break their ability to do it.
• I can say, on that subject, for the offensive coaches Bieniemy inherited, there was a period of adjustment, but over time he showed them the method behind the urgency, energy and accountability he was trying to instill. I’d assume the same goes for the players.
• The little we saw of Deshaun Watson the other night would give me confidence, if I were a Browns fan, that the changes Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt have made to the offense, to make it a better fit for Watson, are going to work. So maybe, just maybe, the old Watson winds up being back.
• George Pickens showed again Friday how good he can be on a 33-yard touchdown catch, through which he broke a tackle and made another defender miss. If the Steelers can keep the Georgia product in line, look out. We may see the talent the kid has always had finally come to life.
• The Buccaneers’ quarterback competition is very legitimate, and that Kyle Trask has taken it this deep into the summer is a good indication of how far the 2021 second-round pick has come. And that’s even though Baker Mayfield looked better against the Steelers. The plan is for Trask to get his shot with the starters this week against the Jets.
• I’ll be honest, I still don’t know what to make of the Ravens’ 24-game preseason win streak, other than it’s a good indication of the depth of the rosters they’ve put together. Fun fact: Kicker Justin Tucker is the only player left from the team’s last preseason loss, which came back in 2015 (DL Brent Urban left and came back, so if you count him, it’s two).
