With the draft and free agency having reordered depth charts around the league, it's time to take stock of the positional battles that will be worth watching unfold once training camps open. Here are 10 intriguing depth-chart competitions that warrant our attention this summer:
The 2012 NFL Draft illustrated teams' focus on the passing game, with quarterbacks, cornerbacks and pass rushers flying off the board. Teams can now afford to be much bolder at quarterback thanks to the rookie salary slotting system, allowing them to take guys higher than graded and to give up on former first-rounders quicker than before. Next year's class doesn't have an Andrew Luck in it, so predicting the top QB picks will be tougher, but teams will always find players to fit that need.
NEW YORK -- The Morris Claiborne story fell into the laps of America on day one of the NFL Draft Thursday night, the same way Claiborne found himself a Dallas Cowboy.
Now that Alabama and LSU have officially put an end to the college football season, all attention will start turning toward the prospects who are leaving school behind for a chance to play in the NFL and how the draft's first round might go.
Actress Patricia Modell, who was married to former Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell, died Wednesday, the Ravens organization announced. She was 80.
So what do you want? The good news or the bad news?
We'll also be doing regular updates here on Sunday morning as new info comes in.
(This story first appeared in SI in 1988.)
SI.com is previewing all eight divisions throughout the week in anticipation of the 2011 season kicking off. (Send comments to siwriters@simail.com)
SI.com has dispatched writers to report on training camps across the country. For an archive of all camp postcards, click here.
More than any other month, even April, August in the NFL is all about hope. A new season looms, and the possibilities seem endless, even for the downtrodden teams of the league who perennially pack it in and head home after Week 17 rather than play on into the postseason.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we run down the winners and losers in Week 1 of the NFL's preseason. The games don't count, but the perceptions sure do....
NFL teams could officially cut players Thursday. Here's a team-by-team list.
NEW YORK -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we wrap up day three of the NFL draft and the entire seven-round pick-fest at Radio City Music Hall ...
So dizzying was the trading action at last year's NFL Draft that the 24th overall pick went from Philadelphia to Denver to New England to Dallas in the span of about an hour. In the end, the Cowboys used it to take the most enigmatic player in that draft -- Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant.
INDIANAPOLIS -- There will be plenty of time in the next few weeks to discuss labor. (Sigh.) You'll be overwhelmed with it this week. For now, in the wake of a long, uncertain weekend at the scouting combine, I'm going mostly football. It might be the last time I can do this for a long time.
I was in the fourth grade when my family left Cleveland. Two weeks before we moved, my dad and I went to one last Browns game. They lost because Randy Gradishar caught a pass that bounced up off Brian Sipe's chest (Sipe was flattened and the pass was blocked) and ran it 93 yards for a touchdown. And I almost choked to death on a hot dog. It was a pretty good sign that I was in for a life of misery.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we take in a 16-game NFL Sunday in which 16 teams entered game No. 16 with their Super Bowl chances still alive ...
PITTSBURGH -- Musings, observations and the occasional Week 10 insight as we await the clash of AFC superpowers at Heinz Field, aka, the Big Ketchup Bottle ...
Quick-hitting insights from the slate of 1 p.m. games ...
OAKLAND -- Musings, observations and the occasional Week 9 insight as we make special note of our first ever Snap Judgments filed from the Black Hole, the very epicenter of Raiders Nation ...
He's got the name of a guy from central casting.
Quick-hitting insights from the slate of 1 p.m. games ...
Throughout the 2010 NFL season, SI.com's Nick Zaccardi will work with Jerome Bettis to get the six-time Pro Bowl running back's observations about the latest happenings in the league. Bettis retired from the NFL in 2006 after a 13-year career.
In conversations with several players this week, I got the strong impression that we're not going to see a radically different football game Sunday afternoon. Not at all. What may change is a decrease in headhunting, which is a good thing. The T.J. Ward hit on Jordan Shipley in the Cincinnati-Cleveland game three weeks ago -- despite Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan calling it textbook -- was an egregious shot at Shipley's head. The Brandon Meriweather hit on Todd Heap last Sunday, helmet to helmet, was a disgrace. I'd be surprised if we saw a hit like those on Sunday.
There's no doubt the center of the NFL's universe for Week 4 will be in Pennsylvania. That's where quarterbacks past, present -- and future, in the Steelers' case -- will be stealing headlines. But storylines across the league could not be more enticing as the meat of the NFL season approaches, with at least one coach already fighting for his job, controversial wide receivers butting heads, and contenders and pretenders beginning to separate.
PHILADELPHIA -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we take in a Week 1 that's sure to spark overreaction and over-analysis on numerous fronts. But then again, that's par for the course on the NFL's opening weekend ...
Now that Fantasy Clicks has cast a net with a significantly larger audience -- thanks to the format change -- I'll have to work doubly hard to entertain the masses every time out (or risk alienating brutally honest Twitter followers like @KSully49 -- just kidding). So, to celebrate this renewed commitment to excellence, let's start with a real 12-team auction draft from Monday night.
SI.com has dispatched writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. Here's what Damon Hack had to say about Browns camp in Berea, Ohio, which he visited on Aug. 6. For an archive of all camp postcards, click here.
Real NFL football is finally here as the Cleveland Browns kick things off with the opening of their training camp today in Berea, Ohio. As the first team to officially take the field for the 2010 season, the spotlight is shining on an organization that appears to be making strides toward respectability. Nowhere is that more evident than in the way the Browns went about the business of setting up their organizational structure and hierarchy during the offseason.
When Cleveland fans have cried their final tear over LeBron James, the local superstar whose breakup with his hometown Cavaliers couldn't have been more tacky if James had written it on a Post-it instead of announcing it on his one-hour nationally-televised ego trip, they will look to the upcoming NFL season for hope and positive news.
The NFL's version of spring football began this week. As usual, the news has centered on which players are not in attendance.
LeBron James' performance Tuesday night in Cleveland was one of the most puzzling things I've ever seen. Here it was, a crucial Game 5 against the Boston Celtics. The game was in Cleveland, and even on television it was apparent that the court was surrounded by insane emotions -- the expectation of victory, the hangover of 45-plus years of sports heartbreak, the hatred of the Celtics and all their victories, the lingering worry that LeBron himself might walk away when the season ends.
LeBron James may yet rescue the Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland, in that order. He may score his team's final 25 points in Game 6 Thursday night, as he once did in a crucial playoff game, and lead the Cavs to a win in Boston to keep their season alive. He may win a championship and re-sign with the Cavaliers. Someday we may see a 30-foot statue in downtown Cleveland of LeBron wearing all eight of his Cavaliers' championship rings.
With the NFL draft having reshuffled a few quarterback depth charts around the league, let's take stock of the shifting arms-race landscape as we await the opening of training camps in about three months. It's a quarterbacks' world in the NFL, but it seems to change about every other week, so you have to stay current.
NEW YORK -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the second night at the NFL draft, where rounds two and three unfolded with another dose of quarterback-inspired drama and intrigue ...
There's pressure on everyone to figure out which draft picks will prosper and which will bust in their NFL career. There's pressure on the players too -- particularly the highly drafted ones. The 10 people on draft weekend who should be feeling the most heat:
And so the Brady Quinn era ends with a whimper in Cleveland, roughly the same way it did for Derek Anderson, Charlie Frye, Trent Dilfer, Jeff Garcia, Kelly Holcomb and Tim Couch before him. There was much promise and fanfare upon arrival, but only an air of failure and disappointment as he made his exit.
This column appeared in the Feb. 15, 2010 issue of the magazine.
The holiday season is all about giving, so this week's column gives a little hope to the fans of teams that no longer have playoff dreams dancing in their heads. Happy Holidays, everyone, and perhaps even more importantly, a happy New Year.
How did Randy Lerner get Mike Holmgren? Can the Titans make it? Was Mike Tomlin right? Are the Saints flawed? Is Clay Mathews in Clay Matthews' league? Can Brett Favre and Brad Childress kiss and make up?
Musings, observations and the occasional insight from a Week 15 that was chock-full of drama, record-setting performances and thrilling comebacks and conclusions. With Christmas just around the corner, who could ask for anything more?....
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
I don't know if you have ever done it, but for a long time it seemed like everyone had at least once or twice said "Jack Nicholson" when they meant "Jack Nicklaus" and vice versa. It seems weird if you think about it... yes, the names are similar, but it's hard to imagine that Nicklaus and Nicholson often share a similar context. Nicholson isn't winning Masters. Nicklaus isn't winning Oscars. But the strangeness of having two people that famous with similar names seemed more than many of us could handle. Eddie Murray and Eddie Murphy shared a similar connection.
Can't resist a few more lingering thoughts in the continuing aftermath of "Bill-gate,'' perhaps the perfect NFL storm for the cacophony of debate that the 24/7 news cycle generates and thrives on.....
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Ravens safety Haruki Nakamura broke his right ankle on the opening kickoff of Monday night's game at Cleveland.
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern). Sunday 4:15 p.m. Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers
Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner, under fire after parting ways with general manager George Kokinis midway through his first season as GM, denied today that Kokinis had been fired and said he hoped to find a veteran NFL general manager-type like Ernie Accorsi or Mike Holmgren to help shape the organization and help embattled coach Eric Mangini.
By now, I imagine your typical Cleveland Browns fan has started to look back on 1996-98, the three seasons they had no NFL team to follow, with a mixture of nostalgia and fondness. Given the almost constant state of despair Browns fans have resided in since the franchise was re-born as an expansion entry in 1999, who could blame them for remembering those days as relatively pain-free compared to the misery to come?
Seems to me we have nine bad teams in football right now. For all of you in Buffalo, Chicago and Seattle who want me to include your team in this grouping, sorry. You've show too many signs of life to make the Bottom Nine.
It's going on six weeks into the NFL season and a whopping nine teams still have no more than one victory.
DALLAS -- Whoa. I picked a heck of time to skip a Monday-nighter to go to see U2 at JerryWorld. Great game, from the looks of the highlights, with Chad Henne and the Wildcat proving the Dolphins are going to be a factor in the AFC East (one game separates the Jets, Pats and Fish with 11 to play), and Rex Ryan having some holes to plug on his defense. For more on the game, go here and here.
Breaking down Sunday's Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens game (1 p.m., CBS)...
In taking the Braylon Edwards problem off the Browns' hands Wednesday, the New York Jets have made another bold move to win now and win big in the AFC East in the first year of the Rex Ryan era.
You might have heard lately that Braylon Edwards is a member of the Bad Guy Club. You don't apply to that club; people apply for you, after checking your credentials for roughly 2.1 seconds. Edwards got in for "off-the-field issues." (I've always wondered: if a guy has an Oedipus complex, but he never thinks about his mom while he's playing, is that an off-the-field issue?)
These were supposed to better days for the Cowboys, Browns and Raiders, with Tony Romo rising from undrafted free agent to Brett Favre clone sans Terrell Owens, Brady Quinn becoming the Robo-QB in Cleveland he was at Notre Dame and JaMarcus Russell showing improvement in Year 3.
I haven't come up with a new word for a while, so I want to throw one out there .. the word is "fanbole" (pronounced FAN-buh-lee).
MINNEAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we try to fathom the latest comeback miracle, and undoubtedly one of the greatest, in Brett Favre's long and eventful 19-year NFL career....
BEREA, Ohio (AP) -- Cleveland rookie cornerback Coye Francies, incensed over a prank, threw a bucket of ice and at least one errant punch during a skirmish in the Browns' locker room.
Two hours before kickoff last Sunday between the Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings, I bumped into a Browns fan in the hotel lobby. He wore a bright orange Browns shirt and white Browns cap. In his right hand, he clutched a cigar.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we absorb a bonanza of Week 1 action and await the Bears-Packers new-look NFC North showdown at a jacked to the gills Lambeau Field ...
Unless you're a devoted fan of the Denver Broncos, you've probably never heard of Nate Jackson. He's a tight end who attended a small college in California and wasn't drafted into the NFL. He's played in 41 games over six seasons and caught 27 passes, two of them for touchdowns. He's made lots of tackles on special teams.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we re-cap the winners and losers of the second week of the NFL's preseason schedule. The games don't count, but the perceptions sure do.....
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we run down the winners and losers of the first full week of the NFL's preseason schedule. The games don't count, but the perceptions sure do.....
Is the New England dynasty over? It's one of the burning issues in pro football as Tom Brady, Bill Belichick & Co. prepare to enter training camp and prepare to reset the clock after a disastrous 2008 calendar year.
This story appears in the May 25, 2009, issue of Sports Illustrated.
CLEVELAND -- This column, eventually, will be about LeBron James and the best moment going in basketball: That moment when James has the basketball and the shot clock's running down and he has to create something. There's nothing quite like it in sports, really. It makes you wish the referee would just give him the ball every time down and put six seconds on the clock and say, "Go."
The NFL Draft has been over for almost 72 hours, which is more than enough time to discern who'll be the impact rookies of the 2009 season. What? You expected us to wait all the way until training camps opened and actual football started being played? Get real.
KANSAS CITY -- I'm going to have 32 opinions on 32 teams here in a few paragraphs, and a few will surprise you. But I've got to start off with a cool story that played a big part in the trade of the weekend -- and, in all likelihood, the trade of the year in the NFL.
The practice of destructive misinformation that is so prevalent during the walkup to the draft is absolutely deplorable.
The Cleveland Browns' decision to shop Braylon Edwards is a head scratcher.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we wrap up the first three games of what is somewhat inaccurately called the NFL's wild-card weekend from a raucous and purple-bedecked Metrodome ...
The beautiful thing about a new sports year is that it gives us another chance to appreciate all of the same old things. So here is 2009 coming right at you, and it's a whole new chance to:
The NFL's hiring and firing season can be a confusing swirl of speculation, conjecture and misinformation, but sometimes a marriage of team and candidate just makes too much sense not to happen. Like Scott Pioli becoming the next general manager of the Cleveland Browns.
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
A few minutes after midnight this morning, new Cleveland starting quarterback Brady Quinn wrapped up his postgame media duties and got ready to leave Cleveland Browns Stadium. Before he did, he lightly slammed his fist on the Browns' locker-room door, a symbolic gesture that matched the mood of his team, and his city.
What is it about the Cowboys that seems to capture so many people's fancy? Capture so many fancy people? Fancy capturing so many people! I mean, is it the arrival of rodeo season or what? Personally I find it kind of a rich boys' team with an apathetic fan base.
The nouveau supermen of the National Football League are capable of both dropping back into pass coverage and bull rushing offensive tackles. They can race around linemen like they are stuck in quicksand, yet jack up tight ends at the line of scrimmage and toss them aside like rag dolls. They are the most feared defensive players in the game today for a variety of reasons and they all have one thing in common: They play outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense.
MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- I have been voting at the Montclair First Ward District 3 polling place for 17 years. Even with presidential elections, we never had a line longer than two or three people. This morning, at 6:48, there was a line of 36 citizens in front of us, many of them New York commuters. One of the poll workers said the normal turnout in this 1,000-voter district for a presidential election was 500 or 600, and she expected "close to 1,000'' today. It took 31 minutes to get through the line, get into the voting booth and make my choice -- time very well spent.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight from Week 9 as we await a Patriots-Colts showdown that features much more "down'' than we're used to in recent years.....
I'm returning to seriousness in my Emailer of the Week Award. No more good guy. Only deep thinkers need apply. Step up, Chris Guhin of Brooklyn because you have driven me to my charts, which is a world I much prefer to the one in which I have to spend most of my time. My charts don't yack on TV like schoolgirls. They don't find people like Joe the Plumber to quote. They don't make up lies and justify them in the name of politics.
The league is learning the hard way that a microscopic foe can be much more imposing than a 300-pound lineman, as a sudden slew of staph infections has sacked several football players
Kernels of conventional gridiron wisdom were crushed again in Week 6, ground into dust by the millstone of truth that is the Cold, Hard Football Facts.
First thought after Cleveland's rout of the Giants on Monday: Maybe there's no best team in football.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we take in a Week 4 that turned into a veritable points-palooza in so many NFL locales (six of Sunday's early eight games saw the winner score 30 points or more) ...
Every Monday, SI.com's Michael Lombardi will hand out five letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
Two weeks into the NFL schedule and already some preconceived notions and preseason perceptions are dying off one by one, or rapidly becoming out of date. Harsh reality has begun setting in on any number of fronts. What we thought we knew has been replaced by what we've seen so far.
LeBron James should never wear a New York Yankees cap or don the blue-and-silver colors of the Dallas Cowboys, as far as some cranky Cleveland sports fans are concerned.
Breaking down Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns game (8:15 p.m., NBC)...
If at all possible, you don't want to start 0-2 in the NFL. It's not a death sentence, but since the playoffs expanded to 12 teams in 1990, only 19 teams have climbed out of an 0-2 hole to make the playoffs. That's 19 teams in 18 seasons of play, or about one per year.
The glory of the AFC is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty fallen? (Samuel II, almost).
Peering into my Roger Goodell-autographed crystal ball -- it's actually more oblong-shaped -- just hours before the NFL kicks off its regular season with the Redskins-Giants showdown at the Meadowlands, here are 10 things I foresee unfolding this year.....
There are very few phone calls during our existence that are truly life-altering. For no fewer than 1,000 players on the cut line, one of those calls could be coming on Saturday, when NFL teams have to cut their rosters to 53 players. Take it from a guy who's been there, it is utterly amazing how disappointing a two-minute conversation can be.
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