Here are your answers to your NFL questions after Week 2—with a video mailbag on the way Thursday (check out The Breer Report playlist on SI’s YouTube channel). Here’s what we’ve got …
From Billy Conway (@bonescon): Is it time to revisit whether the Eagles really won the Bryce Huff for Haason Reddick swap? It seems like Roseman may have some regrets about paying all that money for Huff.
Not yet, Billy. The reality is that, on that great New York Jets defensive line, Huff was viewed as the team’s most natural pass rusher. That doesn’t just go away. So he didn’t get untracked on the hockey rink everyone was sliding around on in Brazil, or against an Atlanta Falcons team that was running the ball exceedingly well—getting the Philadelphia Eagles front on its heels and staying out of obvious pass situations. I wouldn’t turn that into a referendum on the signing just yet.
Also, the reality is that Reddick’s time in Philly had simply come to an end. He wanted more money, yes. But there was also the matter of his overly-aggressive, upfield style of play. It was a problem for the Carolina Panthers and became one last year when then-defensive coordinator Sean Desai put in the Vic Fangio defense, which requires more of edge players than hunting sacks. With Fangio himself coming in this year, that fit was going to be shaky (the Jets’ style of defense, on the other hand, is actually ideal for the way Reddick plays).
If I were you, I’d just give the Huff thing time, and know that getting a third-round pick for Reddick was a good thing for the Eagles, regardless of whether Huff works out.
From KELLEN (@KTaylor757): With what looks to be yet ANOTHER year of horrid O-line play in Chicago, is it time for the team to start questioning the ability of O-line coach Chris Morgan? Us fans are a little sick of our QBs getting hit.
Kellen, I’m going to just look at Morgan’s résumé and give you an answer. He was working with Mike and Kyle Shanahan from 2011 to ’13 in Washington, then Kyle brought him to Atlanta in ’15, and he stuck there for six seasons. After a one-year stopover in Pittsburgh, he landed in Chicago, and managed a talent deficit there the past two years. Now, he’s with a new coordinator, Shane Waldron, and is an offense piloted by a rookie quarterback.
Hate to do the it’s-only-two-games thing again, but it’s the truth. Give it some more time. The tackles, in time, should be good. The interior is manageable. The talent elsewhere on offense is good. Check back with me around Halloween.
From Archie Panfilli (on email): Shedeur Sanders made news recently with his post-game handshake refusal because CSU “talked trash” online (something he’s done plenty of himself). Do NFL teams take note of this and see this as a kind of character flag? And do you know of any NFL prospect with character flags coming in that overcame them?
Short answer: Of course. And I do think Shedueur Sanders is aware of that—with my proof being that he brought his entire offensive line to his press conference this week after seemingly throwing that group under the bus after the Colorado Buffs’ blowout loss to Nebraska. It’s only magnified because he’s a quarterback. He’ll be an interesting prospect to dig into, for sure, and there’s no question he has plenty of ability.
That said, to answer your second question, there are examples of guys overcoming character flags and becoming model citizens in the league. New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu is my favorite. Things were so bad for him coming out, that teams took him off the board simply because they were within driving distance of his hometown, where he had once gotten into trouble. Twelve years into his NFL career and he’s now playing for his hometown team, just down the street from where all of those issues once arose. Pretty cool, I’d say.
From Christian Deguzman (@xtDGZ253): How much of Baltimore’s 0–2 start can be accredited to the departure of Mike Macdonald?
Christian, I think that it probably has a little something to do with it—Zach Orr is a bright, bright coaching prospect, but he’s new as a coordinator. Remember, Macdonald’s second week as the Baltimore Ravens’ DC didn’t go so well, either. His unit allowed 547 yards from scrimmage in a 42–38 loss to the Miami Dolphins that day. There was grumbling then about missing Wink Martindale. In time, I’d say John Harbaugh’s call to bring Macdonald back from Michigan worked out O.K.
And I’ll trust Harbaugh’s judgment on this one too. The bigger question, to me, will be how all the gambles they’ve made on their own ability to develop players—gambles that usually pay off for Baltimore—play out. They believe Trenton Simpson can be an upgrade over the departed Patrick Queen. They think going with Andrew Vorhees, Daniel Faalele and Roger Rosengarten over Kevin Zeitler, John Simpson and Morgan Moses will prove to be wise, given a little time. And if those sorts of things prove true, the Ravens will be just fine.
Again, it’s usually smart to have some faith in what they’re doing in that organization.
From Ryan Fitzpatrick (@FitzMagic_14): Who’s your favorite analyst/co-worker on TNF?
Fitz, I’d say it’s a five-way tie between Charissa Thompson, Taylor Rooks, Andrew Whitworth, Richard Sherman and Tony Gonzalez—Tony really showed me last week what it means to take one for the team.
(In all seriousness, it was an awesome first week with the Amazon pregame crew. You too, Fitz.)
From Michael Shaw (@mikeinwpb7307): How come Kirk Cousins wasn’t called for intentional grounding for a pass into the stands at the end of the first half? The play ended with nine seconds on the game clock. In 2012 at Seattle, Tom Brady was called for grounding at the end of the first half (you mad bro game) costing the Patriots a chance to kick a field goal. How is this different?
Michael, yes, by the letter of the law, looking at it, Cousins threw it well out of bounds, and he was clearly still in the pocket, so it probably should’ve been a foul. I checked in with some folks on it, and what I came back with is that coaches have found that officials will give a quarterback the benefit of the doubt in that sort of situation deep in the red zone.
There was a receiver in the back of the end zone, Cousins could have made the case that the ball slipped out of his hand, and he wasn’t under duress—so the action didn’t cause the defense to miss a chance at creating a negative play for the offense. I do think, in that spot, if there’s a pass rusher in Cousins’s face, and Cousins launches the ball into the third row, the officials call that more aggressively, and the opposition would protest if they didn’t.
But this sort of feels like a no harm, no foul situation.
From Brandon Gordon (@RollTide_Colts): Why is the NFL so inconsistent on tossing penalties, such as the hip-drop tackle, which they said would be an area of focus this season?
Brandon, there were some folks pretty upset over what they perceived as misses on the hip-drop tackle in Week 2. The Houston Texans weren’t pleased with a takedown from Chicago Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards that injured Joe Mixon, and Ja’Marr Chase was very unhappy with the officials not throwing a flag for the way Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie wrestled him to the ground.
The league did acknowledge when it adopted the rule that there could be a grace period early in the season, as players made their adjustments, and officials dished out warnings and got comfortable with calling it. I think that’s where we are now.
I think it should be said, too, that the problem here was a result of another safety measure, which was the introduction of Hawk (or Seahawk) tackling. Introduced in part by former Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, the technique was adapted from rugby, with the idea that players at all levels of the sport get their heads to the side and roll as they tackle, to lessen the impact on the head and neck areas. It’s succeeded too, but one consequence of the wrap-and-roll instruction of the tackle is that a defender is dragging a guy down that way.
So the adjustment for players is real, and takes time.
From Major Hawk (@MajorHawk1962): Other than the perpetually absent Haason Reddick, where could the Jets look to replace Jermaine Johnson?
Hawk, I don’t know. Yannick Ngakoue and Frank Clark are, by a healthy margin, the two most notable names out there. Clark came up in the same system as Jets coach Robert Saleh and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, so there’s certainly reason to believe he could easily transition. Ngakoue was with Saleh as a rookie in Jacksonville, so there’s familiarity there, too. As long as expectations are reasonable, those two could be workable solutions.
What would be good for the Jets now is Will McDonald IV ascending in his second year—he’s played about half the snaps through two weeks and had three sacks against the Tennessee Titans—and for Reddick to show up. Eventually, I think Reddick reports, if for no other reason than he has to by the Tuesday before Week 13 (Nov. 26) to get the six credited games required to become a free agent in March (otherwise, his contract tolls and the Jets have him under contract through 2025). And, really, he should be there before the Nov. 5 trade deadline because the rules read that if he isn’t, the team would have discretion over whether he’d come off the exempt list (not coming off the list would be another reason for the contract to toll).
Losing Johnson sucks, no question. But it’s not the end of the world.
From Mike Liddle (@mliddle17): Does Dave Canales last the full year in Carolina???!
Mike, here’s an amazing number for you: David Tepper has been the Carolina Panthers owner for 101 games. He’s had an interim coach for more than a fifth of them. And if you shorten that timeline, Carolina has had an interim coach for 22 of its past 73 games, and 18 of its past 31 games. Those numbers are downright cartoonish.
I present them here because I don’t think, if you’re Tepper, you can simply do that again, especially when your hire Canales, who was a one-year coordinator before you made him your head coach. Making that type of choice usually requires some patience as a guy grows into the role, especially when said guy is inheriting what Canales did in taking over last January. So, just logically, I think it’s unlikely Tepper has that quick of a trigger.
Then, again, those numbers are hard to believe in the first place, so I guess you can’t rule anything out.
From Greig (@HighlandBrewer): Is Drake Maye going to start Week 5?
Greig, to me, this is definitely not the time to be hustling Maye out onto the game field. The Patriots’ offensive line struggled against Seattle. The left tackle position is still a massive question mark. The run game has been really good, but how that holds up as defenses do more to stop it, with more tape out there now, remains to be seen.
I’ve said this all along: The priority should be Maye’s development, period. The best place for him to develop right now is on the practice field, and not risk undoing the work the coaches have done with him to build up new habits, and break old bad habits.
So remember the 10,000 reps (or was it hours?) premise, and give this thing time. I’d trust Alex Van Pelt, who played quarterback in the league, to know when Maye is ready.
From Michael (@MBison705): Could the looming presence of Bill Belichick possibly cause coaches with warm seats in high profile spots (Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants) to coach tighter as the season goes on?
Michael, I don’t know. But it’d be hard to feel more pressure than what’s already on people in those markets working for those teams. While I’d agree that Belichick’s availability will loom if some combination of the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles fail, I don’t know that it really changes the dynamics already in place for Brian Daboll, Mike McCarthy and Nick Sirianni.
The pressure’s on those three inherently, regardless.
From Jason (@Mailman725): Hello Albert, how do you like Jason Kelce on ESPN so far? Do you think he would be better in the broadcast booth rather than on pregame coverage? Thanks.
I haven’t watched enough to know, but what I do know is that Jason Kelce has always struck me (and obviously this isn’t a unique thought) as a guy cut out for it. I think he’ll be good enough to choose his own path.
From Kevin Donahue (@BiggsDonahue): What's the over/under of NFL teams moving on from their Week 1 starter in 2025?
I just went through the standings, Kevin. I set the absolute ceiling at 15, and that’s accounting for potential curveballs such as the Falcons trading Cousins to make way for Michael Penix Jr. I think a realistic over/under might be around six.
From Curtis Allen (@curtis93969): Is the NFL sacrificing quality product the first couple weeks by having a limited offseason practice schedule and teams protecting their starters in preseason so much?
Curtis, those are two different questions. On the offseason rules, for both spring and summer, I think the answer is yes. Owners bargained that stuff away to get more favorable economic terms and increased player control in CBA talks, and the result is a lot of teams using September as an extended preseason. The reality is to get better at football, you have to play football, and you aren’t allowed to do nearly as much of it as you used to between March and September.
As for the question of preseason games, I think there’s a smaller impact. Joint practices, as I see it, effectively simulate the reps in a safer, more controlled environment. Playing preseason games in August is about making money more than anything else. But that’s the NFL in 2024.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Bryce Huff–Haason Reddick Swap Is Still a Good Deal for the Eagles.
