Some More Football Thoughts

It is outstanding to have football back. Football is fun. Even preseaon football is fun.

No offense to kickers but kickers getting released usually aren't attention-grabbers. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers releasing Roberto Aguayo grabbed some attention. That's because it grabbed some attention when they drafted him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Not only did they draft him in the second round but they traded up to draft him in the second round. Aguayo was a fantastic kicker at Florida State. In his one season and two training camps in the NFL it never seemed like he could get out of his own way. It'll be interesting to see if some team will take a shot at correcting that. Nick Folk is now the Buccaneers kicker.

It's convenient for the NFL-thirsty public that the Buccaneers are on Hard Knocks this year. That public is going to love being in the room with the coaches to hear the talk that led to the release of Aguayo.

Releasing a second round pick a year after making it would get a good deal of attention. This is getting more than that.

At a recent practice, Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien and his offensive coaches took a lap with the offensive players after some mistakes. The Texans are in this together.

Minnesota Vikings team captains for the Buffalo Bills game.
Sam Bradford
Kyle Rudolph
Everson Griffen
Harrison Smith
Perhaps it interests only me but it'll be interesting to see if these are the captains for the season. They make sense. Rudolph and Griffen were captains last season. Bradford and Smith are natural selections but they are more of the quiet, lead by example type. Griffen is vocal and energetic enough for all four.

It's isn't often that we see significant trades at this point in the NFL calendar. Teams are working with the rosters that they've spent five or more months putting together not changing it. There were two significant trades on Friday. Both involved the Buffalo Bills.

Trade 1
Buffalo Bills get:
WR Jordan Matthews
2018 3rd round pick
Philadelphia Eagles get:
CB Ronald Darby

Trade 2
Buffalo Bills get:
CB E.J. Gaines
2018 2nd round pick
Los Angeles Rams get:
WR Sammy Watkins

It's tough/wrong to judge any trade(s) before the particulars of said trade(s) play out but these look like they could be a win-win-win for all involved. The Bills give up two very talented football players in Watkins and Darby but they get in return two talented players in Matthews and Gaines and two high draft picks. Those picks are the key as the Bills now have six picks in the first three rounds of the 2018 NFL Draft. They are building for the future with the present still in mind. Watkins has the talent to be an elite receiver but he's missed so much time to injuries. One could even go so far as to say replacing Watkins with Matthews is a push for the Bills because of all that missed time. The Rams needed a dynamite pass-catcher for second-year quarterback Jared Goff. If Watkins can stay on the field the Rams got that dynamite pass catcher. Darby was probably better as a rookie in 2015 than he was last year but he has the potential to be a top corner. He's an excellent addition to the Eagles defense.

It's interesting to see the Bills looking real good at corner with Stephon Gilmore and Ronald Darby the last two seasons to having neither now. It looks like first round rookie Tre'Davious White and E.J. Gaines will be their guys moving forward.

The Vikings lost running back Bishop Sankey to a season-ending torn ACL in the preseason game against the Bills. He'll likely be placed on injured reserve once he clears waivers. In the assembly-line nature of an NFL roster the Vikings signed Bronson Hill yesterday to fill that running back roster void. The depth chart at the position now looks like this.

Dalvin Cook
Jerick McKinnon
Latavius Murray
Terrell Newby
Bronson Hill

They also have C.J. Ham at fullback. Cook, McKinnon, and Murray have been considered the Vikings 2017 backfield since Murray and Cook were added to it this offseason. Sankey was running well enough in camp and before he was hurt against the Bills that he might've been giving the team's decision-makers something to ponder. "Do we keep four?" Now he has surgery and rehab ahead of him. Football is hell on the human body.

The San Francisco 49ers are expected to retain coaching intern Katie Sowers. This would make Sowers second-ever full-time assistant coach in the NFL. Last year, the Buffalo Bills hired Kathryn Smith as their special teams quality control coach. Sowers has worked with the 49ers receivers this summer. Congratulations Coach Sowers.

The current issue of Sports Illustrated has a terrific article on tackling in college football. Make the game suffer with a nod to Rugby and tackling technique!

It's so great to have football back. Even preseason football.