http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ping-explosions-ecigarettes-battery/99686178/

Scott Becker was sitting at conference table conducting a work meeting when the lithium ion battery that powers his e-cigarette exploded in his pocket.

"It was like having a firework go off in your pocket," said Becker, 46, of Washington Township. "I threw my chair back, I started hitting my pants and my hip. I saw the sparks shooting out of my jeans."

Beckers suffered third-degree burns and a year later, they still require treatment three times a day.

Injuries like Becker's are becoming more common, said Karla Klas, managing director for injury prevention and community outreach at the Trauma Burn Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The batteries can explode with enough force to knock out teeth and crack vertebrae if they fail in the mouth of the user.


Scott Becker, 46, of Washington Township, suffered a third-degree burn on his right hip last year when a battery he used in his vaping pen exploded. (Photo: handout, Scott Becker)

"We've been seeing some pretty deep burns," Klas said.

Klas made a presentation on the topic at the American Burn Association's annual conference last month in Boston. While she hasn't heard of any deaths caused by exploding e-cigarettes, an informal poll of representatives from about 20 burn centers around the country tallied almost 300 recent burn cases that required hospitalization, she said.

"Not only are the burns deep, but because of the chemicals that are in the batteries, it's almost like they are having a chemical burn on top of the thermal burn," Klass said.

(continues at link)

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Anther vet on the O-line.

Downtown Rams Scouting Report: Miami CB Corn Elder

https://www.downtownrams.com/single...le-University-of-Miami-Corner-Back-Corn-Elder

By: Adam Grego

Meet my favorite DB in this entire draft class, Corn Elder from the University of Miami is a joy to watch. He did it all for the canes - Special teams, return man, nickel/outside corner, blitzer and run support extraordinaire. Corn Elder aside from having a great name, represented himself well at Miami's pro day. Measuring in at 5'10 185 pounds, running a 4.42, and jumping 35 inches.

Corn finished his 2016 campaign with 76 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 int and 12 pass breakups. Very impressive numbers that demonstrate his tenacity as a tackler and ability as a zone corner. My favorite part of his game is the nature in which he plays the position. Elder attacks, he processes information very quickly and reacts without hesitation. He supports the run with more passion than any corner in this entire draft class that I have watched so far. The gif below demonstrates his tenacity when attacking the ball carrier.

He reads it is a run and immediately sprints towards the line of scrimmage to make a stop on Dalvin Cook (the consensus No.2 running back in this year's draft) for about a 1 yard gain. This is the kind of attitude you love to see a corner play with. No hesitation to stick his face in the run game and quick to realize that he needs to abandon his zone responsibilities.

The next gif is my favorite clip of him I found through the 3 games of his I watched. The play is designed for him to drop into a zone flat route, Corn realizes that as the play develops his zone remains uninhabited. He then notices an out route developing about 7-8 yards behind him so he breaks off his zone flips back and makes a diving attempt to break up a pass.

This play shows the athletic ability and football IQ that has me drooling over a guy like Corn Elder. I promise you folks, you do not see plays made like this every day this is NFL type play recognition and recovery speed.

Lastly I would like to show a play where Corn again demonstrates how quick he is to diagnose plays and without hesitation click and close on a ball carrier.

From the get go in the above play Corn realizes this is a designed bubble screen to his side of the field. Before the WR he is responsible for covering even realizes the play has started, Corn Elder flies into the backfield to make a tackle for loss against one of the shiftier players in this years draft Ryan Switzer.

To summarize Corn Elder is a great player, he's smart, quick, decisive and can tackle. My only hesitation's with him are the fact that it was nearly impossible to find any tape on him playing man coverage so it is up in the air as to how he will perform in a man scheme and also he never showed to be much of a ball hawk in his career. Though if I had to guess I would say his skillset could definitely allow him to play well in a man scheme if he worked on his footwork and punch off the line of scrimmage. Overall I expect Corn Elder to be a round 3 pick and be one of the top 3 zone corners to come out of this draft. I like him that much.

http://fortune.com/2017/04/04/amazon-nfl-streaming-thursday-night-football/

Amazon Signs Big NFL Streaming Deal
Reuters


Photograph by Getty Images

Amazon.com will stream 10 Thursday night games for the National Football League this year, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Amazon has bought the rights to stream the games for about $50 million and will offer it for free viewing to its Prime subscribers, technology news site Recode reported earlier on Tuesday.

Last year Twitter bought the rights to live stream 10 NFL Thursday night games for a much smaller fee of $10 million.

The deal comes as sports fans are increasingly relying on the internet to watch video at the expense of traditional cable and satellite connections.

http://www.rams-news.com/adam-schefter-interviews-rams-hc-sean-mcvay-audio/

Huge changes almost everywhere we look.

No one should be surprised by as many as 11 or more new starters at new positions in '17. Maybe even more.

Think about that for just a minute. But how in the world could it be otherwise?

Seven on the O, alone.

Four more on the D. Not even counting the shuffling of the front three. And a TruJo trade would add yet another new starter.

No need to name names, is there? Easier to name the players that WON'T be different starters at same positions in '17. Lol.

I mean, new HC, new OC, new DC (including scheme from 4-3 to 3-4).

I repeat, how could it be otherwise? This is a much needed tsunami of change to improve from a sorry 4-12 team.

And let's don't forget that our starting QB will be starting just his EIGHTH game in the NFL. Plus Gurley's status is in flux after an up and then down first 2 years.

Heck, we're just a short step away from expansion team status when it comes to new starting personnel when you think about it.

I expect some surprising twists and turns in the draft. A few more FA moves afterward, too. This team is not letting grass grow underneath it's feet. It's going places and doing things in all areas.

Hot Damn!

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http://theramswire.usatoday.com/2017/04/01/los-angeles-rams-full-mock-draft-prospect-meetings/

You won't see me complaining if this works out

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angele...ey-bounceback-year-is-going-to-take-everybody

LOS ANGELES -- Todd Gurley fell off as a second-year running back in a way few ever have, from 1,097 yards in 12 starts to 885 yards in 16 of them.

His new coach sees it more as a system-wide failure.

"The run game," Los Angeles Rams rookie head coach Sean McVay said from the owners meetings last week, "takes all 11 -- whether it’s getting it targeted up front the right way with your linemen, having receivers that are willing to come down and block safeties when they bring an eighth guy down in the box, if you’ve got some run-pass options with the quarterback where you want to run it versus a two-safety look and throw it versus single-high. I think it takes all 11. And the back has to do a great job pressing it or reading out his keys, because everybody is tied together."

Gurley went from being named Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2015 to amassing the fewest rushing yards ever for someone with at least 275 attempts in 2016. He averaged 3.18 yards per carry and 1.59 yards before first contact, both of which trailed only Doug Martin for the worst among qualified rushers.

Throughout the year, most of the blame was pinned to the circumstance, because the Rams' inability to scare teams with their passing attack allowed defenses to stack the box and cheat against the run. But at the end of the season, young guard Jamon Brown called for the running backs and offensive linemen to get on the same page. The Rams' running backs coach, Skip Peete, talked about how Gurley "pressed" when the initial results didn't come and often times went away from the play.

But at its core, it usually comes down to blocking -- and the Rams should be better equipped for that.

They signed one of the game's premier pass blockers, Andrew Whitworth, as their new left tackle. They added Robert Woods, widely regarded one of the game's best blocking receivers. And they brought in a new offensive line coach, Aaron Kromer, who spent the last two years with a Bills team that led the NFL in rushing yards per carry.

As the Redskins' playcaller and offensive coordinator these last two years, McVay relied heavily on quarterback play and was never able to attain the ideal run-pass balance he always seeks.

But he believes he can obtain that with Gurley.

"A lot of times you have a tendency to just look at the stats instead of the actual tape," McVay said, referencing Gurley. "I think you still see a natural runner who’s got a great body lean; he has a natural feel for how to work edges on people. And I think that showed up in spurts last year. Clearly, what he did in his rookie year, I think it sets the expectations where this guy is going to be a great back year-in and year-out. And that’s what we feel, too. I think Todd’s motivated, challenged in the right way to respond, and can have a bounce-back year. But it’s going to take everybody, and Todd is going to be a big part of it."

Helmets For Every NFL Team In Their Biggest Rival’s Colors

link: http://dailysnark.com/someone-created-helmets-every-nfl-team-biggest-rivals-colors/

uke:

sure we have several members here who are in charge of hiring/firing employees. So maybe you can relate.

I've had one of the worst employees of my life working for me for a few months now. He is a great guy to talk to, but is just a pathetic worker. Has zero initiative or pride in his work. I've given him chance after chance to get it right. Saturday, I finally had enough. He made yet another mistake so today I let him go. It was bitter sweet. I'm excited to replace him with someone who will be more eager to work, but I will miss his personality.

The damndest part, when I fired him, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said "okay, sounds good" and that was it. lol dude gave zero fucks. lol I damn near respected him for the utter lack of fucks he chose to give.

But too a more serious note, I hire several levels of employee, he was at the bottom...bottom tier employees are important and my God are they hard to find. Everyone thinks they should be the boss in 6 months.

Rams Announce 2017 Offseason Program Dates
Posted 6 hours ago

View: http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Rams-Announce-2017-Offseason-Program-Dates/258c2557-5275-4fe9-b753-b000b4749f63

By TheRams.com



Head coach Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams will get a head start on their offseason programs this year. Per NFL rule, new head coaches are entitled to conduct an additional voluntary veteran minicamp. This year, five clubs will hold voluntary veteran minicamps.

The Rams Offseason Workout Program calendar:

First Day: April 10
OTA Offseason Workouts: May 23-25, May 30-31, June 1, June 5-8
Voluntary Minicamp: April 25-27
Mandatory Minicamp: June 13-15

Voluntary offseason workout programs are intended to provide training, teaching and physical conditioning for players.

As per Article 21 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, each club’s official, voluntary nine-week offseason program is conducted in three phases:

Rams Phase One:
First Day:
April 10

Phase One consists of the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation only.

Rams Phase Two:
First Day:
May 1

Phase Two consists of the next three weeks of the program. On-field workouts may include individual player instruction and drills as well as team practice conducted on a “separates” basis. No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.

Rams Phase Three:
OTA Offseason Workouts:
May 23-25, May 30-31, June 1, June 5-8

Phase Three consists of the next four weeks of the program. Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs”. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.

Article 22 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement stipulates that clubs may hold one mandatory minicamp for veteran players. This minicamp, noted below, must occur during Phase Three of the offseason program.

Each club may hold a rookie football development program for a period of seven weeks, which in 2017 may begin on May 15. During this period, no activities may be held on weekends, with the exception of one post-NFL Draft rookie minicamp, which may be conducted on either the first or second weekend following the draft.

These are excerpts. To read the whole article click the link below.
***************************************************************
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/04/03/cleveland-browns-paul-depodesta-nfl-draft-peter-king

Paul DePodesta: The Brain Behind the Browns Rebuild
Cleveland’s crafty chief strategy officer plays coy when pressed on how he plans to help the franchise return to relevancy
By Peter King


After a career in baseball front offices, Paul DePodesta switched sports and took on the role of Chief Strategy Officer for the Browns in 2016
Photo: Nick Cammett/Diamond Images/Getty Images

PHOENIX — Paul DePodesta, the Cleveland Browns’ trump card on the rest of the NFL. Nice fellow. Harvard guy, and, to his credit, doesn’t intimidate you with his Ivy League brain. Fifteen months into the new job after two decades with five Major League Baseball teams.

Nowhere to go but up. The Browns are in a three-year run with the most high draft picks of any team in football every year: nine in the first four rounds last year, nine in the first five rounds this year, seven in the first four rounds next year. DePodesta, Cleveland’s chief strategy officer, is the mover and the shaker and the Moneyballer in this show. Right?

I spent 40 minutes with DePodesta at the league meetings the other day. I don’t doubt his import to the organization and to the cause of rescuing the Browns from a life of awfulness.

But I still have no idea what he does.

“I think part of that maybe is intentional,” said DePodesta, 44, in shorts and a T-shirt, sitting on a folding chair in a garden at the classic old Arizona Biltmore Hotel. “I’m trying to think of the most succinct way to put it. I really focus on process as much as anything else: process for how we evaluate players, process for how we make decisions, process even for how we hire people internally, process for how we go about integrating our scouting reports with guys watching tape in the office.

It is really about how we do the things we do. I think part of the reason they brought me in is because I am completely naive about the National Football League. I have no preconceived notions about how things ought to be done or how they have been done in the past, and I can look at it with a fresh set of eyes.”

“Is there an example you can give me?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” DePodesta said. “We are trying to develop things that ultimately will give us a competitive advantage and will get us back onto the landscape in terms of those competitive teams that are playing in January every year.

So, I am hesitant to give away too much of what we’re trying to do. The other reason I think it’s hard is because it is really collective. We have a lot of people in our office who are very bright and have been around the game for a lot longer than I have, who had a lot of these ideas before I ever showed up.”

So I can’t draw the specifics out of DePodesta—which, though I wouldn’t tell him, I actually like, because the last thing you want on your team is some baseball know-it-all coming in to tell the football guys how to win, and the second-to-last thing is then bragging about what you’re doing.

Let’s try something else, then. The one thing that’s obvious about the Cleveland approach—and it has to be a big part of the DePodesta way, seeing that he’s the strategy guy—is the accumulation of draft choices. When he starts talking about that, clues start surfacing.

“We’ve looked ourselves in the mirror and said, ‘Do we think that we are actually superhuman when it comes to picking players?’ And we pretty easily answered that with a resounding no. So how are we going to increase our chances? We need to have more picks. So, if we have the same number of picks every year as everyone else, we don’t expect do better than anyone else.”

“Sounds like Jimmy Johnson’s philosophy,” I said. “You aware of that?”


“Yes,” he said, smiling.

“Had any conversations with him?” I said.

“I’ll keep that to myself. I’ll say this: I’m a big admirer of what he’s done.”

* * *


The draft strategy Jimmy Johnson implemented during his time with the Cowboys is one the Browns appear to be emulating
Photo: Peter Read Miller/Sports Illustrated

Jimmy Johnson coached the Cowboys from 1989 to 1993. He had a heavy influence on the draft under owner Jerry Jones. By the time Johnson figured out how vital volume of picks was, the Cowboys began to own the draft. See how familiar this looks:

• Dallas, 1991-1993 — Top four rounds of the draft: NFL-high 23 picks.

• Cleveland, 2016-2018 (as of today) — Top four rounds of the draft: NFL-high 22 picks.

Yes, Johnson has spoken with the Browns. He just won’t say about what.

But it’s no deep, dark mystery. Just as acquiring all these picks wasn’t deep and dark. The Browns in 2016 traded the second pick in the draft down to Philadelphia’s eighth slot in the round, and then again to Tennessee at 15. That netted Cleveland seven picks over multiple drafts in the first four rounds.

“That’s good,” Johnson said from Florida on Friday. “There’s strength in numbers. I always wanted to have more picks in the middle rounds and at the end, because you can build a good team with the role players you get in the third, fourth and fifth rounds. With the Browns now, with all those picks, really, you’re one free-agent class and one draft from being a contender.

“But I’ll tell you, here’s the danger of having so many picks: You think, ‘We’ve got so many picks, let’s move up and take that guy with a little risk.’ You think you’ve got so many picks and you can afford to waste them on guys. I never looked at it that way. You have to look at every pick like it’s the only one you’ve got.

Like I’ve told Bill Belichick, ‘You don’t have to use ’em this year. Bank ’em. Trade ’em.’ He knows. One time he told me he had a good team, and he had some extra picks, and he was afraid the guy they’d take might not be good enough to make his team. Fine. You don’t like what’s there? You can always find someone to take your four this year for a three next year. Like I said, bank ’em.”

What Johnson and the Cowboys were so good at was hitting on some of the late ones—and that’s due to the fact that they could afford to err because of the multiple picks. The Cowboys hit on Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith with first-round picks in 1989 and 1990, back when the draft was 12 rounds long, and in 1991 got Leon Lett in the seventh round and cornerback Larry Brown, a future Super Bowl MVP, in the 12th.

“In college I was my own recruiting coordinator at Oklahoma State,” Johnson said. “That helped me later on, because Oklahoma was the top program in the state, and so I didn’t just get the best guys; I had to look for some of the hidden guys. So when you’ve got all these picks, and a lot of them come down the line, you’d better know players.”

There’s the pressure on Cleveland. With 31 competitive front offices, the Browns had better have a cadre of scouts DePodesta and GM Sashi Brown and VP of player personnel Andrew Berry can trust. Said DePodesta: “We don’t get any points or win any games for having the most picks. We need to turn that into talent. It’s part of the reason we are so excited for this April. I think our team will look fundamentally different in May than it does right now.”

It very likely will. But this Browns administration cannot afford to have a B-minus draft. “Cleveland doesn’t have to build their team all this year,” said Johnson. “But after three years, they better have a contender. If they’re not a contender after three years, someone ought to be fired. Simple as that.”

* * *

The one thing that bugs me about Cleveland is the loss of too many players they’ve developed. Center Alex Mack and wideout Taylor Gabriel left in 2016 and were keys on Atlanta’s NFC title team. A good right tackle, Mitchell Schwartz, left in free agency a year ago in his prime, at 26, for Kansas City. This year the Browns lost a potential star wide receiver, Terrelle Pryor, after transitioning him from quarterback; they couldn’t bridge a contract dispute, and he signed in Washington.

That’s four holes Cleveland didn’t need to have. At some point—like, now—the Browns won’t be able to justify losing good players on the road to contending. I asked DePodesta why they’ve lost key players whom they probably should have kept.

“Great question,” he said. “I’d say going back a year when we did have a handful of free agents and we allowed them all to sign elsewhere, that was a moment in time. That is not something that we want to do continuously.

Again, that was a situation that we felt like we really do need to rebuild the foundation of this organization, and it is almost like redoing a house—you need to rip down all the walls and get it down to the studs. Now, when you do that and you tear out all the walls and the floors and all you have left are the studs, you look at it and go, wow this looks terrible. We never want to go through this again, and I think that is our attitude.

“Even as we got into the season last year, there was a monumental shift in our organizational evolution, and it was when we traded for [New England linebacker] Jamie Collins. What we were trying to show everyone in our organization hopefully, and all our fans, was that that is now behind us and we are adding to this and building; this is not going to be about tearing it down all the time.

This offseason we were able to re-sign Jamie, we were able to re-sign [guard] Joel Bitonio, and we added free agents this year. We feel like we’ve got a handful of players that will be part of our core going forward, and our goal is to now build out that core and ultimately, when it comes time, retain it. It did come time right now, with guys like Bitonio and Jamie, we had to retain them and we did. And we will have more players that will be like that.”

* * *

“What translates between baseball and football?” I wondered.

“I’ve actually been struck by how many similarities there are,” DePodesta said. “I have been through similar rebuilding exercises, but I think baseball is different especially because of that minor-league system, where you can see the wave building through the minor leagues. Whether baseball or football, we’re tasked in front offices with making decisions under uncertainty.

How do you corral that uncertainty in a way to make more consistently better decisions? That’s very similar. I remember last year, during the free agency period, sitting in a room with a bunch of our scouts, and we were talking about these players, and I remember thinking, ‘I don’t have a 20-year library of players in my head like I did in baseball, so there’s not a whole lot I can contribute to the nuance of this conversation.’ But these are the exact same conversations I have been having for the last 20 years.

You try to build a winning culture and bring a group of people together in a short period of time and work them toward a common goal. The competitiveness on a week-to-week basis is the same. The impact of things like injuries is the same. But I still had more to learn about baseball, so that gives you an idea of how far down the learning curve I am with football.”

There’s one simple thing about football, though: The quarterback’s more important than any player on a baseball team. Alex Smith isn’t as good at football as Clayton Kershaw is at baseball, but Smith’s more important to the success of the Chiefs than Kershaw is to the Dodgers.

You don’t win without a good quarterback, and the Browns don’t have a good one, and this year is a tough year for quarterbacks because there’s no sure thing. It’s the continued black cloud over this franchise. Here they are, owning the draft, with the first, 12th and 33rd overall picks, and there’s no Andrew Luck coming in, and probably not anyone close.

I believe the similarly needy 49ers may well wait until the 2018 off-season, in either free agency or the draft, to sell souls for a quarterback. It may not be a bad idea for the Browns to do the same, seeing that 2018 is likely to have a better crop of passers—and it could include vets Jimmy Garoppolo and maybe Kirk Cousins.

But in that QB-in-2018 scenario, the Browns would go two straight off-seasons of this new regime without acquiring the quarterback of the future. In the Jimmy Johnson motif, year three would then be a pressure cooker of all pressure cookers.

So there’s nothing easy, and nothing altogether familiar, about this job for DePodesta. Not like his baseball life. By the way, the five teams DePodesta worked for in baseball—Cleveland, Oakland, the Dodgers, San Diego and the Mets—open their baseball seasons today. So I wondered if after the 1-15 Browns season DePodesta has the slightest pang of regret about leaving baseball. “No,” he said. “I absolutely loved my time in baseball, but I am really, really enjoying this challenge.”

He told a story about when the Indians reached the World Series in 1997, when the Browns were two years from being reborn. He said downtown was celebratory after the team won the pennant. “I remember someone saying, ‘This is wild, but you have no idea what this would be had it been the Browns.’ And that always stuck with me.”

If DePodesta ever rides in a Browns championship parade, it won’t be Jonah Hill who plays him in the next movie. There might be a line to play him, led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper.

* * *

Asshole Face (hired in 2006) and Mike Tomlin (2007) are two of the longest tenured coaches in the NFL, along with Bill Belichick (2000), Marvin Lewis (2003) and Mike McCarthy (2006)
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

More Nuggets From the League Meetings

A collection of things I heard and saw and felt at the league meetings.

On the changing face of the NFL

This might just be me, but I don’t think so. One afternoon at the pool at the Arizona Biltmore, the newest, and youngest, head coaches in the league were hanging around like pups with guys we hadn’t thought of as old vets.

By the pool on a roasting afternoon, Rams coach Sean McVay (age 31) and San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan (37) were asking counsel of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin (45) and the Saints’ Asshole Face (53). McVay got introduced to Tomlin a couple of years ago by a Tomlin protégé, Atlanta assistant Raheem Morris, and they’ve spent time at the combine getting to know each other.

It’s more McVay picking Tomlin’s brain, but Tomlin gets something out of it too—keeping up with some of the new coaches and some of the new trends in football.

“One of the things I’ve learned to appreciate about Mike Tomlin is you always feel his presence in a room,” McVay said. “He seems like he never has a bad day, and that’s something we want to mimic and emulate. Mike’s been great with how to deal with the team, how to handle adversity, and staying true to your core beliefs. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for him, and I’ll continue to try to bother him for advice.”

Mike Tomlin as elder statesman … that’s different. And Payton has become an advice-dispenser too.

On the Super Bowl rematch

Nothing has changed from my post-Super Bowl opinion that Atlanta at New England is probably not going to be the NFL’s opening game on Sept. 7. One thing I learned in Phoenix that will have a huge bearing on the Patriots’ guest in Week 1: the factor of the new stadium in Atlanta.

The Falcons believe they will play on the road (but not in New England) in Week 1, then open their new stadium on Sunday night of Week 2 against an undisclosed opponent. The NFL will announce the 2017 schedule in mid- to late April.

So if Atlanta opens at home on national TV in an NBC game in Week 2, the Falcons almost certainly will not play on NBC to open the season in Week 1. Which leaves open the best possibility I listed seven weeks ago in this column: Kansas City at New England. Could be Houston, could be Carolina. But my money’s on Kansas City.

The fact that the Chiefs have an excellent defense and a competitive offense, and the fact that they’re likely to play the Patriots tough (K.C.’s had one double-digit loss in its past 31 games) gives Andy Reid’s team the best chance to play at Foxboro in game one of 256 in 2017. This way, the league can save Atlanta-New England for a big Sunday night game on NBC later in the season, or for a key FOX doubleheader game.

On the Raiders and London

The Raiders will play in 2017 in Oakland, and they’ll likely play there again in 2018, while their new stadium is being built in Las Vegas. As for 2019, it’s totally up in the air. My suggestion: Why not have the Raiders play four home games in London in 2019—say, two in September, two in November?

Play them back to back, say in Week 3 and 4 and then in Week 10 and 11 … and the disadvantage the Raiders will have in taking two long trips to London will be made up at least in part by the fact that they’ll build local support by being a “home” team and by the fact that wherever they play that year (unless it’s a slightly larger Sam Boyd Stadium in Vegas, the UNLV home field) will be awkward.

“I love the idea,” said one owner who is very bullish on the NFL putting one of its 32 franchises permanently in London. “I doubt the Raiders will. But that’s not the first time I’ve heard that.” Hmmmm. Interesting.

One other reason the league might be interested in four games in London by one team? Assuming the NFL keeps the current format of four games by other teams on the 2019 calendar, it would be a chance to test the fervor of fans for eight games, perhaps by first offering season tickets to the eight games. The league is selling four-game season-ticket packages this year, and already 40,000 season seats have been purchased. So far, the league has sold out 16 of 17 regular-season games in London, with one game in 2011 falling 7,000 tickets short because they went on sale late due to the threat of a lockout that season.

On the Raiders’ move

To put it mildly, the reaction to the Raiders’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas at the meetings was muted. The Las Vegas backers were fired up, of course. But even though the owners voted 31-1 in favor of the move, it wasn’t an enthusiastic vote of confidence that they love Las Vegas; it was more resignation that the Raiders would never get a good stadium built in Oakland unless owner Mark Davis agreed to take on a partner. Which, unfortunately for Oakland, he refused to do.

I’ve written this several times, but Davis probably could have found a 50-percent partner who would have been a keystone to building a stadium in northern California, the same way the Mara family merged with the Tisches in 1991 when the cost of doing NFL business became too high for one family without significant income elsewhere. Easy for me to say that Davis should have sold half his team; I understand it’s his call. His father, the late Al Davis, steadfastly refused to cede any control of the franchise to partners. Ditto Mark Davis.

Look at a map of the Bay Area. Look at San Jose, on the southern end. Right next to San Jose is Santa Clara, where the 49ers play. Up in Oakland, 42 miles north of San Jose, is where the Raiders will be leaving. To get from San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley to see the 49ers is a solid hour in the car.

And I can tell you that what concerns the league now is the fact that the northern part of the Bay Area, the sixth-largest market in the country, is now going to be without an NFL team. With so much money, and so much fan interest, having one team and having it at the southern end of the region, with nothing at the northern end, is disconcerting.

The fans in this region already are turned off by the 49ers, and it will take a rally orchestrated by GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan to get them excited again. The Raiders were being built into a power, the kind of team fans from all over the Bay Area could have learned to love. Now, the Raiders may not even be loved in the next two years inside the Oakland Coliseum.

Maybe a fabulously wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur will spearhead a drive to pick off a struggling NFL team and move it west in the next three or four years, and lead the building of a new stadium. If not, the NFL will miss the greatness of this region at a time when it’s continuing to explode (in a good way) economically.

Somehow the NFL has to figure a way to stop the bleeding in great football regions like San Diego and San Francisco/Oakland. It’s not going to be easy. But there are too many great fans of pro football in California getting slapped in the face with the moves of these two franchises.

That’s one of the reasons no NFL owner or executive was celebrating the move of Oakland to Las Vegas … and the Chargers in Los Angeles as a second team makes absolutely zero sense either. The Chargers in L.A. and the Raiders in Vegas are good for the NFL’s business. But there’s nothing else good about either move.

On the longevity of football players

Interesting response when Saints coach Asshole Face was asked about players—such as Tom Brady and Drew Brees—playing so much longer than those players of past eras. “There’s an old picture I’ve seen, and Archie Manning has it,” Payton said. “It’s Len Dawson at halftime, and he’s smoking a cigarette. I think in the last five years really, we have seen it happen with golf and we’ve seen it happen with various athletes. How we look at training, sleep and nutrition is entirely different than not too long ago.

When I played in college, and I like to think that that was a short time ago and I know it was not, but we did not drink water during workouts. It was frowned upon. There were certain things that were just madness. As we have learned and evolved and if you take these elite athletes that are driven with the same mindset, it is interesting how they have pushed that bar.”

On Adrian Peterson

Just what does it mean that Adrian Peterson is visiting New England? I doubt that it’s very much, but you never know. Unless Peterson is willing to take very little guaranteed money, I wouldn’t expect he’d sign with the Patriots. Adam Schefter reported Sunday that Peterson will spend the day in Foxboro. Bill Belichick is not a sentimental guy who signs 32-year-olds who have had one great season in the past three years, particularly at a position the Patriots use as a train station.

Dion Lewis, James White and ex-Bengal Rex Burkhead will account for $5.4 million of the Patriots’ cap in 2017, according to Spotrac, which means two things: They could afford to spend more at the position without crippling their budget … and Bill Belichick never spends big on backs, particularly backs like Peterson who would be dead weight on New England’s special teams. Peterson likely wouldn’t play them.

For now, I’ll believe this is a fact-finding mission for a veteran who would certainly help the Patriots. But only if he takes very low pay. A good example is defensive end Chris Long, who could have probably tripled his $2.375 million salary in 2016 had he signed with one of the other teams that pursued him a year ago.

But he signed with the Patriots, earned his Super Bowl rin, and then left for the Eagles. I know Peterson says he’ll play for not very much and winning is the most important thing for him. But it’s hard for me to believe he’ll sign with the Patriots for, say, $4 million in total 2017 income.

* * *

Stat of the Week

Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett have been key cogs in the Seahawks defense
Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The age of the Seattle defense got me thinking the Seahawks better win now. Like, right now.

Looking at the 12 most significant players on the defense (and part of this is a projection on my part, because jobs will be won and lost between now and opening day), 10 will be between 27 and 31 years old on Sept. 1. So as much as GM John Schneider would like to get (at least) one more offensive lineman in this draft, I think he’d better concentrate on replenishing the defense as well. The ages of Seattle’s prime defenders at the start of the 2017 season:

31: Michael Bennett, Ahtyba Rubin, Cliff Avril
29: Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, DeShawn Shead
28: Earl Thomas, K.J. Wright
27: Bobby Wagner, Jeremy Lane
24: Frank Clark, Jarran Reed

* * *

The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership, by Bill Walsh
Recommended by Rams coach Sean McVay

“I love the book,” said McVay. “I read a lot. I read to learn about great leaders, mostly. In this book, Bill said, basically, ‘Focus on the little things with precision and detail. Focus on daily improvement.’ That speaks to so much of what a football team should do.”

* * *

Things I Think I Think

1. I think the best fit for Colin Kaepernick is Jacksonville. And I don’t want to hear anything about how bringing in Kaepernick is going to be a knock to the confidence of Blake Bortles. This is a performance business, and Bortles held back a team with his poor play last year. The Jaguars can’t risk 2017 being a rerun, not with the money and draft capital they’ve spent to build a good defense.

2. I think this vegan stuff with Kaepernick is the stupidest kind of nonsense. I’m sure I’m the 492nd to say this in the past few days, but Tom Brady is a near-vegan.

3. I think, with Cam Newton beginning rehab of his surgically repaired right shoulder today in Charlotte, it’s going to be very interesting to see if he’s ready to throw the ball as normal come training camp. Newton injured the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder Dec. 11 against San Diego, and the Panthers, hopeful that it would heal on its own, waited 109 days before choosing to have surgery last Thursday.

Training camp opens in 16 weeks. Newton wasn’t the same quarterback in 2016 as he was in 2015; completion percentage fell from 60 to 53 percent, and TD-to-pick differential declined from plus-25 to plus-5. If Newton can’t participate in a camp that’s vital to him and the offense after last year’s struggles, the Panthers erred in waiting so long to have the surgery done.

4. I think the interesting piece by Mike Florio on Saturday—that the owners held a secret meeting at the NFL meetings, and, according to Florio, Jerry Jones asked for a more liberal policy for marijuana and for more oversight on Roger Goodell’s salary—makes an awful lot of sense to me. Penalizing marijuana use the same as harder drugs is ridiculous in this day and age, and Goodell’s salary and benefits being more than $30 million annually has always seemed excessive to me.

5. I think you can play these games all day, but the way I’d look at the Dion Jordan disaster for Miami is this: Before the 2013 draft, Miami held the 12th and 42nd overall picks in the first two rounds. GM Jeff Ireland traded 12 and 42 to move up to three. With the third overall pick, the Dolphins selected pass-rusher Dion Jordan of Oregon.

On Friday, Miami released Jordan, who played 26 NFL games in the four Miami seasons since the draft, and had as many substance suspensions (three) as career sacks. This was a flop of colossal proportions, one of the biggest busts of this century. Here’s what has to hurt worse: Miami didn’t use one high pick on Jordan; it used two. And in slots 12 and 42, the Dolphins could have selected defensive tackle Kawann Short or cornerback Xavier Rhodes with the first pick, and Le’Veon Bell with the second one. That is the kind of decision that can set a franchise back years.

6. I think the signing of free-agent defensive end Chris Long in Philadelphia—for a long-term deal that seems destined for him to play at least two years with the Eagles—had a couple of interesting messages. One: Long saw his role and playing time slashed late in his Super Bowl season in New England; he played 62 of 188 snaps in New England’s three postseason games. Playing a third of the snaps in the biggest games of the year must have stung.

Clearly the Eagles have more planned for Long, using a scheme that he believes will fit him well. Two: Long, by his own words in Philly on Friday, wanted to emphasize how strongly he felt about his future at 32. He said last year in New England, “I didn’t miss a practice, I didn’t miss a game, and that was something that I was very proud of.” He seemed like a guy happy to have a chance to finally get a Super Bowl ring after never making the playoffs in eight seasons with the Rams. But he also seemed like a guy saying, I can do more than I did in the postseason in New England, and I’ll show you now.

7. I think my reaction to the NFL holding the 2017 NFL draft outdoors in Philadelphia is this: Waiiiiiit. Outdoors? You know what April 27 MIGHT be like at night in Philly? The NFL’s got to be thinking, after a lucky temperate Super Bowl in the Meadowlands, that it can control the weather in the northeast. I am a veteran of March and April baseball and softball in New Jersey and New York, and I can tell you: April 27 always has a chance to be like Feb. 27 in this part of the world.

Just found this on youtube. Figured you guys may enjoy it and appreciate having him on our team. Future Hall of Famer for sure!!

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Downtown Rams Scouting Report: Ole Miss TE Evan Engram

https://www.downtownrams.com/single...-Rams-Scouting-Report-Ole-Miss-TE-Evan-Engram

By: Adam Grego

Today I bring you Evan Engram, number 17, TE for Ole Miss. This is a guy I am very excited to write about, at 6-3 234 pounds Evan Engram may just be the most athletic TE to ever come out of college and I am not exaggerating folks. He ran a 4.42 (would've been a top 10 number for all WR's at the combine by the way) jumped 36 inches in the vertical and put up 19 reps on the bench. If you're looking for tools Engrams got them all.

After watching 3 of his games in 2016 against the top schools he went up against I came away very impressed. He is exactly what I expected him to be when I first started looking into him. Lets start with him as a receiver. Below I have a clip of him doing something I expect him to do consistently in the NFL.

In the clip above Engram starts from the slot and runs a seam buster. He splits the linebacker and safety in their zones with his speed for an easy TD from Chad Kelly. These are the kinds of plays that the Gronkowski, Graham, and Antonio Gates of the world make every day in the NFL. It takes a freakishly athletic TE to execute it and Engram does it with ease.

Engram doesn't just beat safeties and linebackers though, he's got the speed to burn corners deep as well.

In this clip we see Engram in a 3 receiver set getting matched up with a corner, who happened to give him about a 15-yard cushion. Engram starts the route and in about 2 seconds flat eats the cushion up and starts to fly past the corner. If not for an under thrown pass from Kelly Engram catches this behind the corner and runs it in for an easy TD, regardless Engram still makes a great play on the ball for a deep contested catch.

I could show you clips like the above two of Engram all day flying by defenders for deep receptions and TD's but I will move on to address a major concern for many with Engram, that being his blocking.

Let's start out with a very unflattering first clip of his first block attempt in a game against Auburn. (unfortunately I only had to dive 3 seconds into this game to see him completely whiff on a block)

As seen Engram fails to line up with his defender and punch his hands accurately into the defenders chest in order to execute a good block. In failing to target the chest he whiffs and the defender fly's by him to assist with making a stop. In the tape I watched I did see Engram more than you would like to see, missing on these types of blocks. Though to be clear, I feel VERY strongly that most of his blocking woes stem from a sever lack of technique. Too often he would initiate the block with his down making it impossible for him to accurately punch into his assignments chest. However when he did make contact and played with a solid base and good technique Engram was more than serviceable and I would even go as far as saying good as a blocker. The clip below he blocks a defensive end pushes him back a few yards and successfully creates a nice hole for the RB to run through.

All in all Evan Engram is a great TE prospect and leading the charge for the new age TE's being used in todays NFL. He can line up at any receiver spot, run a route out of the backfield, or from the traditional in line TE spot and be a mismatch with any and anyone who tries to cover him. Too fast for any linebacker and too big for any DB to cover Engram will be a nightmare. With some work I believe he can turn into a good blocker too. The power is there he just needs technique help, but lets be honest if you draft him it is to be a super star move tight end.

To conclude my report on Engram I would like to state that I would not be surprised if he is the first TE off the board. In my eyes Engram is the BEST tight end in this draft class, and yes I do remember that both OJ Howard and Njoku are also in this years class. Engram is phenomenal as a receiver in every way and will electrify the NFL once he steps on the field and with some work he will be a good blocker too. I can see him going any where from first TE off the board to falling to the early 2nd round it really just depends on what you value as a team, but for me, he is the best TE and will be the best TE in 5 years from this class. I would put money on that.

While walking a backstreet in old Key West there was this young couple that caught a chicken to get close up photos I guess but she was struggling mightily to get free. So I offered to hypnotize the chicken. When I did and she didn't move this old crone tourist type accused me of cruelty and murder. I laughed hard and said the chicken would look better in a pot. Where do these people come from?

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/04/02/marquette-king-has-a-new-hobby/

Marquette King has a new hobby
Posted by Mike Florio on April 2, 2017

At a time when the NFL supposedly is considering whether to redraw the line between permissible celebrations and penalties, here’s something the league will never let happen in one of its stadiums.

Raiders punter Marquette King has posted a video of himself punting a football — and then trying to shoot it. With a shotgun.

As noted by Mark Hinog of SBNation.com, King likely missed, given the manner in which the ball bounces after it hits the ground.

Anyone who has tried to shoot clay pigeons knows how hard it is to hit a small moving target. But a football is a lot bigger than the orange disks people like me have tried (and failed) to hit on a consistent basis.

Which means not that King should have hit it on the first try, but that he should have kept trying, because it would have been neat to see what happens when a football gets instantly deflated to much less than 12.5 PSI.

1) Coaching - Most of us who follow the NFL know that coaching plays a bigger role in game outcomes in the NFL more than any other sport, and it isn't even close. Next to a great QB, good to great coaching is the single most important factor in a team's success. Not just teaching, but leading, inspiring, talent evaluation, game planning, and game adjustments. We might just be going from among the worst at each of these (with the exception of loyalty, I suppose) to among the best. Certainly, offensively and defensively it might not be a small upgrade, but a seismic one at the single biggest determinate of success, next to...

2) QB - Let's not get it twisted. Jared Goff might be the real deal. He might not, of course, but he also might. Deep insight, I know. The story always seems to be, yeah, he had the worst offensive coaching, protection, and weapons in the league, more or less, but wow, he sure did struggle when he played. Um...Well....You see.....Read that again, dummies! Now, will the protection magically become top tier? No. But if it is decent, and if the Whitworth domino really takes effect and the coaching really improves thing, and Goff's second year really brings maturity and understanding, well, hey, second year's for good QBs can be a beautiful thing. Why not Goff, I ask? Really, why not Goff? Well, that brings us to...

3) Weapons - Gurley is fine. I have no questions about him. None. Can you imagine Tavon contributing to the passing game because we finally have a real offensive mind? Imagine!!! Higbee? Why not? Look, it is not going to be the '85 Dolphins, but it might be good enough to get out of the bottom third of the league, especially if #1 & #2 above are legit. Which leaves us with...

4) Defense - Again, coaching. Oh, and ridiculous talent all over the place. And if you add a glimpse of hope that the offense will actually score more than once and not go three and out every other time in order to highlight Hekker's brilliance, they may actually play with more of a purpose for 60 entire minutes.

Again, I say with a HUGE upgrade in coaching across the board (not only realistic, but expected), a legit jump from Goff (very possible, if not necessarily a given), and a dominate defense (with that front 7 - 6 first round talents and a 2nd rounder!!!! maybe the best player in football!!! - why not?), I say 12 wins is within the realm of dreams and reality.

5) For those still doubting this, I refer you back to 1999. And in this case we don't even need to rely on an out of the blue former stock boy, we can just count on the best QB from his draft class fulfilling his potential.

Now, it is time to watch the Giants start their path back to the World Series.

I would think wide receiver but cornerback would be another good pick.

I just hope that they go BPA on the five picks in the thread title with their 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks.

We already have enough "projects" with "upside".

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/new...ll-ezekiel-elliott/1depxy1ni54791my63nh5nng2p

Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones suggested to his fellow owners that the NFL lift its ban on marijuana. Other owners noted that doing so could be used as a bargaining chip as the league and NFLPA negotiate their next labor deal.

Putting into context Jones’ position on marijuana and off-field investigations, PFT notes several Cowboys players — Rolando McClain, DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory — have been suspended recently for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/n...ng-a-less-punitive-approach-to-marijuana-use/

NFLPA reportedly proposing a 'less punitive' approach to marijuana use
The union recently formed a pain management committee to study marijuana
by Jared Dubin

The NFL Players Association is coming up with a proposal that would amend the league's drug policy to take a less punitive approach to marijuana use. According to the Washington Post, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said the proposal will be presented first to the NFLPA's board of representatives, and if approved, will then be presented to the league.

"I do think that issues of addressing it more in a treatment and less punitive measure is appropriate," Smith told the Post. "I think it's important to look at whether there are addiction issues. And I think it's important to not simply assume recreation is the reason it's being used."

Marijuana is currently on the list of substances banned by the NFL and players that test positive for it are subject to fines and/or suspensions under the league's substance abuse policy. Smith noted in his interview with the Post that there are reasons other than recreation that players might use marijuana, such as pain management and depression.

"We have to do a better job of knowing if our players are suffering from other potentially dangerous psychological issues like depression, right? So if I look at this myopically as just a recreational use of marijuana and miss the fact that we might have players suffering from depression, what have I fixed?

Worse yet, you may have solved an issue that gets the steady drumbeat in a newspaper but miss an issue like chronic depression . . . where a person theoretically might be able to smoke more weed because it makes them feel better but it's not curing their depression.

"So to me, as we're looking at that front end -- and it's been a long process -- the reason why I think it's more complicated than just making a quick decision about recreational use is we look at these things as a macro-issue.

And what we try to do is what a union's supposed to do: improve the health and safety of our players in a business that sometimes can seriously exacerbate existing physical and mental issues."

When asked about the issue in November, a league spokesman issued the following statement regarding any potential changes to the NFL's policy on marijuana:

"This isn't just the NFL's policy. This is a collectively bargained policy with the NFL Players Association. The program is administered by jointly appointed independent medical advisors to the league and the NFLPA who are constantly reviewing and relying on the most current research and scientific data.

We continue to follow the advice of leading experts on treatment, pain management and other symptoms associated with concussions and other injuries. However, medical experts have not recommended making a change or revisiting our collectively-bargained policy and approach related to marijuana, and our position on its use remains consistent with federal law and workplace policies across the country. If these medical experts change their view, then this is an area that we would explore."

The NFLPA recently formed a pain management committee that is studying, among other things, the use of marijuana to manage pain and whether it should be permissible under the NFL's policies.

http://operations.nfl.com/the-game/creating-the-nfl-schedule/

CREATING THE NFL SCHEDULE
It takes hundreds of computers and four NFL executives to create the NFL's 256-game masterpiece.

Each spring four NFL executives take on an enormous task: creating the NFL schedule for the next season.

The NFL schedule-makers — Senior Vice President of Broadcasting Howard Katz, Director of Broadcasting Blake Jones, Manager of Broadcasting Charlotte Carey and Senior Director of Broadcasting Michael North — have to consider the fans, the league’s broadcast partners and many other factors when building the 256-game schedule that spans the 17 weeks of the NFL season and showcases the league’s best matchups and talent.

They have to work around events that are already scheduled to take place in or near NFL stadiums — events that may compete with the games, put undue stress on the playing surface, or create traffic or logistical nightmares. The league begins collecting information from the clubs in January about any events that may create scheduling conflicts.

They are also constrained by internal factors. A formula determines each team’s opponents every year, and a rotating schedule ensures that every team plays each of the other 31 at least once in a four-year period.

It takes hundreds of computers in a secure room to spit out millions of possible schedules — a process that sets the stage for the schedule-makers to begin the arduous task of picking the best possible one.



THE ANATOMY OF THE NFL SCHEDULE

The league’s 32 teams are split into two conferences — the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The 16 teams in each conference are split into the East, North, South and West divisions; every division has four teams.

Here’s how each team’s opponents are set:

• Every team plays six games against the other three teams in its division, facing off twice per season — once at home and once on the road.

• Every team plays one game against each of the four teams from a division within its conference — two games at home and two on the road. Which division a team plays is determined by a rotation system ensuring that the teams in one division will play the teams in every other division in its conference once every three years.
• 
  
• Every team plays one game against each of the four teams from a division in the other conference once per season — two games at home and two on the road. These matchups are also determined by a rotation, which ensures that all teams play every team from every division in the other conference once every four years.
• 
  
• Every team plays its remaining two games against teams from the two remaining divisions in its own conference — one game at home and the other on the road. The matchups are determined by where the teams finished in their divisions in the previous season. For example, a team that finished the previous year in third place in its division will play the third-place teams from the two other divisions in its conference.

GAME TIMES AND BROADCAST PARTNERS

The NFL's marquee matchups often are scheduled to air during the week’s premier time slots — Thursday, Sunday or Monday nights or the late game on Sunday afternoons. In 2017 the league will also schedule games on the Saturdays of weeks 15 and 16.

Most NFL games are played on Sunday afternoons, with early games starting at 1:00 p.m. ET and the late games starting at either 4:05 p.m. ET or 4:25 p.m. ET, depending on whether the game is part of a network doubleheader.

The Sunday afternoon games are broadcast on Fox (NFC) and CBS (AFC); most games with AFC road teams are shown on CBS, and most of those with NFC road teams are broadcast on Fox.

Over the first 16 weeks of the season, Fox and CBS will each get eight doubleheaders — meaning that one will show games during both Sunday afternoon time slots, while the other airs a game in only one. They alternate doubleheader weeks; but not always. While this may result in one network airing doubleheaders on consecutive weeks, the league prevents either network from airing doubleheaders three weeks in a row.

FLEX SCHEDULES

To make sure the best matchups at the end of the season are broadcast to the largest audiences, the NFL introduced “flexible scheduling” in 2006. This involves moving a game from its scheduled Sunday afternoon slot on CBS or Fox to the prime time hours of “NBC Sunday Night Football.”

The NFL consults with CBS, Fox and NBC to determine which games will be flexed, and the league reserves the right to move the start times of Sunday games as long as it provides the teams affected and ticket-holding fans with 12 days’ notice. In week 17, the league can flex a game with playoff implications with only six days’ notice.

From 2006 through 2013, only games scheduled during weeks 11 through 17 could be “flexed.” Beginning in 2014, the league extended flex scheduling to include games starting in week 5. Between weeks 5 and 10, though, only a total of two games can be flexed, while no restrictions apply from week 11 on.

Flex scheduling does not apply to Thursday, Monday or the occasional Saturday games. The NFL always has had the ability to move Sunday afternoon games between the 1:00 p.m. ET and the 4:05 p.m. ET or 4:25 p.m. ET time slots.

In 2014 the league introduced “cross-flexing,” which allows up to seven games annually that would have typically aired on Fox or CBS to be aired on the other network. That means, for example, that an all-AFC matchup could air on Fox and an all-NFC game could appear on CBS. An equal number of games must be cross-flexed: if CBS airs three games originally slated for Fox, then Fox would have to get three games that would have originally aired on CBS.

AND THERE’S MORE …

Each team has one bye week between weeks 4 and 11. Determining where that bye week falls for each team presents additional challenges for the schedule-makers. For example, the league tries to limit the number of times a team that played the week before has to face a rested team coming off its bye. The additional rest could be seen as a competitive advantage for the team coming off the bye.

With games on Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays, the schedule-makers have to allow enough time between games so teams aren’t at a disadvantage against an opponent that has had more time to prepare and rest. Teams scheduled to play on Thursday nights will not have to play on a short week more than once a season.

The league tries to limit the number of consecutive home or road games any team plays to two games, though unavoidable situations have forced the schedule-makers to place a team at home or on the road for three straight weeks.

Schedule-makers also work to avoid putting teams in a position where they have to cross the country too often over a short period of time or endure inordinate amounts of travel that may put the players at a competitive disadvantage compared with the club they’re playing.

The league tries to avoid scheduling teams that play on the road on Monday nights with an away game the following week to avoid having two road games separated by a short week.

The league typically schedules the Super Bowl champion at home for the Thursday night game that kicks off the new season.

The process is challenging, and there may be no such thing as a perfect schedule, but the schedule-makers consistently provide the NFL’s fans and broadcast partners with a compelling and entertaining slate of games week after week.

This is one beautiful phone;

https://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-galaxy-s8-preview/

Anyone have much experience with those edge to edge displays? While not a bezel fan, a little bezel feels necessary for gripping the device and avoid accidental screen input.

I'm no draft guru, heaven knows.

But I do know a bit about human nature. Is this Engram phenomenon a mob think mentality thing? I wonder.

It does seem that Engram has become a board darling. I'm just asking, are there no holes in his game? If not, why isn't he a high 1st round prospect?

I mean, does he really tower above all other players likely to be available at #37 in value?

Don't get me wrong. I like what I'm hearing about him just fine. But I suspect that there are several others that the Rams also have their eye on at that #37, too.

This might sound like heresy to some, but I even suspect that the Rams would entertain a modest trade down from #37 even if Engram were still on the board. Simply because they would prefer to have 2 premium picks in this particular draft over Engram.

There. I said it...

This is still bugging me, dammit.

The TruJo second tagging is the lone head scratching offseason decision by this new regime for me.

All the others I understand and endorse.

But unless their strategy is to trade TruJo for picks predraft (maybe even have one lined up already), this one puzzles me.

Tru is a good CB. Top third of the league, I mean. And I understand that he can play Wade's press man just fine.

But that $16.7 million is just obscene for a damned one year rental, man. Coulda been 2-4 other quality FA's for starter positions or for depth. Or for Donald or Tree extensions.

I remain very impressed with the McVay hire. McVay's asst coaches hires. And all the other FA moves so far, both outgoing and incoming.

I must conclude that the FO knows something that I don't know about this TruJo situation. Duh...