Drama! Our top 10 NFL story lines as camps open
Not counting the perpetual question of whether Tom Brady will ever start acting his age, here are our top 10 intriguing NFL story lines as the season unfurls this week with the opening of training camps:
1. Aaron Rodgers: This has been uncharted turmoil: The NFL’s reigning MVP might sit out the season, might abruptly retire to host Jeopardy!, might get his wish and be traded in a blockbuster deal, or might even reluctantly agree to play one more season in Green Bay. It began to seem like the latter, with NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reporting Monday afternoon: “Rodgers has indicated to people close to him that he does plan to play for the Packers this season,” but then softening that a bit with, “That is the expectation.”
After boycotting the Packers’ mandatory June minicamp for the first time, it appeared the impasse would continue into training camp and the team’s first scheduled practice Wednesday. Rodgers had wanted out ever since Green Bay traded up to draft his replacement (Jordan Love) in 2020 without the courtesy of telling him — among other perceived slights and disrespect.
The club’s olive branch was to make him the highest-paid player in the game. He turned it down, at least initially.
His top receiver Davante Adams is in a contract dispute of his own, and Rodgers and
Adams recently both posted on Instagram a photo of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen from The Last Dance documentary. (Because this is their last dance in Green Bay?)
It had come to this: Media and fans interpreting cryptic, coded
hints sent out on social media.
2. Deshaun Watson: The Houston Texans’ disgruntled quarterback has demanded a trade ever since the club betrayed a promise to involve him in its coach and general manager hirings.
Recent reports suggest the club is now willing to entertain offers but that a starting point might be three first-round draft picks.
Under normal circumstances, at age 25, with Watson’s track record, there would be buyers. Speculative media reports have suggested Miami, Denver and Philadelphia might be among them.
But these are not normal circumstances because of ongoing civil suits from 22 women who allege inappropriate sexual contact by Watson during massages. A criminal investigation remains a possibility, as does an NFL suspension or other punishment as the situation plays out in court.
Watson has reported to training camp to avoid daily $50,000 fines, but there are indications he might not take the field. A holdout, a suspension, a trade despite the allegations against him — anything seems possible right now.
3. The COVID cloud:
It’s still with us (and the NFL) as cases spike across the country thanks to the Delta variant and so many Americans inexplicably still refusing to be vaccinated. The NFL’s vaccination number has topped 70 percent, but that’s still a ton of players — dubiously led by the Bills’ outspoken Cole Beasley — at risk.
The league cannot force its players to be vaccinated, but is bringing the hammer down on those who are not, with stringent protocols and limitations that vaccinated players do not have, and the threat of $15,000 fines for every violation. Even bigger, teams face forfeit losses if there is an outbreak among unvaccinated players that causes any disruption in the expanded 17-game regular season.
That the pandemic continues well into its second year thanks now to the defiantly unvaccinated seems also to call into some question commissioner Roger Goodell earlier saying he envisioned a return to “full stadiums this fall.”
4. Tua Tagovailoa: Maybe we’re being parochial putting Tua this high, but the Dolphins’ immediate and long-term future and the anxiously buoyant hopes of Dolfans are all riding on how good or great Tagovailoa proves to be (or not be) after an uneven rookie season that seemed to feed both hope and concern.
As an example of continuing doubts, ESPN just listed its top 15 secondyear breakout candidates, and Tua was nowhere to be found. Joe Burrow was No. 1. Five offensive linemen (!) made it. But not Miami’s sophomore quarterback.
Unlike last year, Tagovailoa is completely healthy and comfortable with the playbook. And the Fins gifted him a top first-round receiver in Jaylen Waddle. Excuses have disappeared. A big
Year 2 is needed.
And all of that onus is in the context of Rodgers and Watson both possibly being available as the Dolphins continue (at least publicly) to say “Tua’s our guy.”
5. Urban ‘n Trevor:
The most intriguing of the NFL’s seven new head coaches, former college football god Urban Meyer is paired with the NFL’s overall No. 1 draft pick in quarterback Trevor Lawrence. You need another reason for eyeballs on the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars? How about retired quarterback Tim Tebow, 34 next month, reinventing himself as a tight end after having not played in the league since 2012. Tim Tebow!
6. Rise of the Patriots?: So Bill Belichick watches Brady defect to Tampa Bay, suffers his first losing season since 2000, and Patriots owner Robert Kraft immediately OKs about $300 million in a riot of free-agent spending. And Belichick drafts a first-round QB, Mac Jones, to compete with Cam Newton. Buffalo is supposedly the new power in the AFC East, but Belichick
and Kraft’s offseason has fairly shouted, “Not so fast.”
7. Quarterback shuffle: Beyond the Rodgers/ Watson drama, we will see career re-starts for Sam Darnold in Carolina, Matthew Stafford with the Los Angeles Rams, Jared Goff in Detroit and Carson Wentz in Indianapolis.
And we will gauge the readiness and impact of five first-round rookie quarterbacks in Jacksonville’s Lawrence, Zach Wilson with the Jets, Trey Lance in San Francisco, Justin Fields in Chicago and the Pats’ Jones.
8. Xavien and the holdouts: Sounds like a doo-wop group. Once again beyond the Rodgers/Watson soap opera, several teams have contract disgruntlement with top players and the possibility of training camp holdouts.
Included are star defensive players Jamal Adams in Seattle, Minkah Fitzpatrick in Pittsburgh, Chandler Jones, who has asked Arizona to trade him — and Xavien Howard in Miami. The Fins player they call “X” skipped the team’s mandatory June minicamp and could be traded. On social media, Howard recently “liked” someone’s photoshop of him in a Cowboys uniform.
9. Carl Nassib: Unike Michael Sam, who was the first publicly gay player drafted into the NFL in 2014 but never made the team, Nassib is an established player with 20 career sacks. He is certain to make the Las Vegas Raiders roster, and history, as the first openly gay player to appear in a regular-season game. Now let’s see who’s next to come out, and how long it takes before such revelations are no longer big news.
10. Dallas on ‘Hard Knocks’: HBO dusts the cobwebs and rust off “America’s Team” in its latest five-part training camp series. Coach Mike McCarthy’s reaction when he first heard Dallas had agreed: “I about wrecked my truck.” Expect heavy doses of Dak Prescott’s comeback from a major ankle injury and Ezekiel Elliott’s from a careerworst season. Mostly, expect way, too much of Jerry Jones.