The post-Super Bowl, pre-Scouting Combine days are supposed to be somewhat slow days for football news. Not as slow as late June but slow. It's a good time for thinking about football stuff. Last week, however, wasn't such a slow football news week. From Kareem Hunt signing with the Cleveland Browns to Antonio Brown-Pittsburgh Steelers drama to a fun opening weekend of the Alliance of American Football to Antonio Brown-Pittsburgh Steelers drama to Colin Kaepernick getting a bunch of cash from the NFL to Antonio Brown-Pittsburgh Steelers drama. Despite all of that football news there was still time for some thinking about football. Here are a few of those thoughts.
1. It appears that the acceptance of the AAF surprised some people. The viewership of the opening weekend games topped those of NBA games. I'm not sure why that was so surprising. It's football. Football is fun. The play was at times a bit rough but that should be expected. None of these players had played together before or played for these coaches before. The games were still fun and the quality of play should only get better. The NFL needed a developmental league. Now they have a fun one.
2. More AAF from Bruce Feldman:
6 former 5-star recruits played in the Memphis Express-Birmingham Iron game:
Christian Hackenburg, QB, Express
Anthony Johnson, LB, Express
Max Redfield, S, Iron
Trent Richardson, RB, Iron
Ty Isaac, RB, Iron
Trovon Reed, CB, Iron
That was the same number of 5-star recruits that played in the Super Bowl.
Sony Michel, RB, Patriots
Malcolm Brown, DT, Patriots
Robert Woods, WR, Rams
Andrew Whitworth, T, Rams
Dante Flowler Jr., LB, Rams
Lamarcus Joyner, S, Rams
3. There are odds on which team lands Antonio Brown. How pathetic is that? I'd had enough of this Brown-Steelers drama about a second after it started. There's a ridiculous twitter debate (that's a surprise) going on among Vikings fans right now over whether it would be best for the Vikings to pursue Brown at the expense of adding an offensive lineman, specifically a guard. There are offseason, roster-building debates among fans of all teams that range from unrealistic to downright stupid. This one is a bit of both. Everyone seems to forget that the Steelers would have to eat about $21 million in cap space if they were to trade Brown. Why would they take that cap hit and trade away one of the best receivers in the league? From the Vikings side of things, it's just as unrealistic and stupid. For starters, the reason that Brown's 2019 football home is reportedly in question is his cancerous impact on the Steelers. Why would the Vikings consider adding such a player? That risk might be worth it for some teams if they have a crippling need at the position but the Vikings already have two terrific receivers in Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. Adding Brown, the player, would put three hard-to-stop receivers on the field. That's very appealing. Every Vikings fan would want that if Brown, the football player, was the only factor in the equation. There's so much more. Adding Brown, the person, just seems like such a risk at a position that isn't a great need. None of this even touches on the cost of trading for Brown. The pro-Brown faction in this idiotic twitter debate makes it sound as if it's a left guard or Brown. In reality it would take a first round pick (at least) and fitting $12 million into the salary cap to add Brown. That's not a left guard or Brown. That's potentially a left guard, a right guard, and a first round pick or Brown. Or, it's potentially Anthony Barr/Sheldon Richardson and a first round pick or Brown. It isn't a debate. Now, I'm really tired of the Antonio Brown drama.
4. HBO's Hard Knocks is going to come knocking for a team soon. Unless a team volunteers for the show, it's going to come down to one of these five teams.
1. New York Giants
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Detroit Lions
4. Oakland(?) Raiders
5. Washington Redskins
The above is probably my order of most appealing to least appealing. No matter which team is picked, the series will be compelling. It always is. Everything produced by NFL Films is magic.
6. The 2019 season will be the NFL's 100th. It's a big deal and the league is treating it as such. It sounds like the traditional Super Bowl champ vs "someone great" Thursday night season-opener will be pushed to Sunday night in favor of the Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers. This is a great, old rivalry. It's the most contested rivalry. Many yahoos in the media call it the oldest rivalry in football. It isn't. The oldest rivalry is Bears-Cardinals. The Bears and Cardinals are the only teams playing in the 100th season that played in the first season. The Packers didn't join until 1921. Unfortunately, the Bears aren't scheduled to play the Cardinals in 2019. I'm fine with Bears and Packers opening the 100th season but don't call it something that it isn't.
7. I've been thinking about a lot of Vikings stuff since the end of a disappointing 2018 season. Draft stuff, free agency stuff, coaching staff stuff, etc. Here are a couple things that bounded through my head recently.
a. I think that second-year receiver Chad Beebe is going to play a big role in the Vikings offense moving forward. I think a lot of fans are excited about the slot receiver-playing son of Don Beebe. Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen are great but there's a real need for a third receiver to step up. 2016 first round pick Laquon Treadwell was supposed to be that guy but he hasn't done it yet and time's running out. Beebe spent most of the 2018 season on the practice squad confounding the Vikings defensive backs in practices. In limited action late in the season he showed that ability against the defensive backs of other teams. Beebe could be a big part of the Vikings offense moving forward.
b. The Vikings top 3 corners in a few years might be Mike Hughes, Holton Hill, and Mackensie Alexander. The Vikings starting duo of Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes are great and I'm not trying to run them out of town. I'm not for trading Rhodes this season or next. Unless, he's hit a point in his career in which he simply can't stay healthy I want him on the field for the Vikings. He didn't miss much time to injury but he was never quite healthy enough to play to his abilities last season. His health and ability to stay healthy is a concern. In my opinion, Waynes has been underrated for a couple seasons. His coverage has improved each season and he's always been excellent against the run. With the current cap situation I'm concerned that the Vikings won't be able to re-sign him.
8. The Scouting Combine is coming up fast. Free agency is right behind that. Then the draft. Before we know it, we'll be watching that Bears-Packers game.
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