Hello readers! Football is around the corner and the preseason is fully underway. With this, it is time to rehash some old storylines and some new ones and my thoughts on these storylines. Such storylines like Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Free Agency Carousel that transpired over the course of spring and summer of this year. Let's get to work!
Tom Brady
We hadn't heard a whole lot from the retired, 7-time Super Bowl champion lately. The guy had taken the whole 2023 season off to get prepared to take on the role of Color Commentator for the NFL on FOX with lead Play-by-Play commentator Kevin Burkhardt. The word is still out on how well Tom Brady will do as a commentator but perhaps he can turn out well. Certain players in his caliber of championships hadn't done so well in the realm of television. One person namely was Joe Montana who lasted just a season on NBC before the realm of public opinion said that he's not going to last. One other example is Terry Bradshaw who went on to have a good career as a Color Commentator on CBS during when they had the NFC package and later as a Studio Analyst on FOX. The main ingredient for television is that you have to have a solid personality and you have to help teach the average viewer of what is going on. The average Jane or John Doe won't understand football lingo like I-Right 26 Power (which I looked up, its a run play where the running back runs to the right). They need to be shown that the running back went to the right and this blocker did this and that blocker did that and that's why the play was either a success or a failure. Greg Olson, the person that Tom Brady replaces, will move down to the #2 color commentator for FOX. In my opinion, I do like Olson and his explaining of things football. I hope he does well in his new role. He seems to not mind the demotion to #2 all that much.
Bill Belichick
Tom Brady's old head coach Bill Belichick is out of a head coaching job for the first time this century. The head coach agreed to part ways with the New England Patriots this past January. After that, the head coach was thought he would be landing a position as head coach and general manager shortly afterwards. After a few interviews with Atlanta and Washington, Bill was the odd man out. Suffice to say, Washington went with Dan Quinn, the former defensive coordinator with Dallas, and Atlanta went with Raheem Morris, who had worked with the defense with the Rams. I do think that the head coach will get some considerations during the next year's offseason. Some takes that I have is that Bill was asking too much for a team to bring him in. Being both the head coach and general manager might be good for a personnel standpoint (saving money with having two positions for one person) but in the last few years with New England, the personnel decisions by Bill were kind of questionable. The drafting post-Tom Brady was kind of questionable. One such example is drafting injury-prone Cole Strange in the 1st round in the 2022 draft when there was better players to get. The Mac Jones experiment was also a backfire that was partly the blame on Belichick for not giving Mac the tools he needed to succeed in New England. Despite no head coaching gig, the former head coach will get to play a role with the Pat McAfee show where he will be an analyst for the show. Suffice to say, his dating prospects are alright as well as he dates a woman that is a great deal younger than him.
Free Agency Carousel and some trades
The NFL's Free Agency period is typically a crazy time. This past Free Agency period during the spring of this year was one of the most wildest in recent memory. It seemed like every hour had someone going to a new team for a period of weeks. Here is a reminder of where everyone went to:
Jacoby Brissett: Washington to New England
Kirk Cousins: Minnesota to Atlanta
Gardner Minshew: Indianapolis to Las Vegas
Russell Wilson: Denver to Pittsburgh
Saquon Barkley: New York Giants to Philadelphia
Austin Ekeler: Los Angeles Chargers to Washington
Ezekiel Elliott: New England to Dallas
Derrick Henry: Tennessee to Baltimore
Josh Jacobs: Las Vegas to Green Bay
Aaron Jones: Green Bay to Minnesota
Zack Moss: Indianapolis to Cincinnati
Tony Pollard: Dallas to Tennessee
Devin Singletary: Houston to New York Giants
D'Andre Swift: Philadelphia to Chicago
Odell Beckham Jr.: Baltimore to Miami
Marquise Brown: Arizona to Kansas City
Gabe Davis: Buffalo to Jacksonville
Calvin Ridley: Jacksonville to Tennessee
Mike Williams: Los Angeles Chargers to New York Jets
Zach Ertz: Detroit to Washington
Gerald Everett: Los Angeles Chargers to Chicago
Jonnu Smith: Atlanta to Miami
This list is just for the offense alone. There is a lot of movement for defense. Such names like Christian Wilkins going from Miami to Las Vegas and Chase Young going from San Francisco to New Orleans. Bobby Wagner also got another team to go to as he went to Washington from Seattle. Stephon Gilmore went to Minnesota from Dallas.
For the trade front, it was a bit interesting. The first big news was Mac Jones going to Jacksonville for a 6th round pick. Also that happened on March 13th was that Joe Mixon, Brian Burns, Diontae Johnson, Carlton Davis, Morgan Moses went to different teams in exchange for draft selections. The lone exception for that was Diontae Johnson going to Carolina for Donte Jackson and a 6th round selection. On April 3rd, the Bills traded to Stefon Diggs and a 6th round pick and a 5th round selection to Houston for a 2025 2nd round selection. Kind of a weird trade for the Bills to make as they gave up a bit of draft capital just to get a 2nd round selection for next year. The Bills did pick up Marquez Valdes-Scantling from Kansas City but kind of a mixed offseason for the Bills.
Anyways, that's all for my thoughts on the offseason. The 2024 Preseason and Awards Predictions post will be coming up fairly soon. Once that post is posted, the Week 1 Picks post will happen shortly before Opening Night on Thursday, September 5th. Until then, see you soon folks!
-Tom
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