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| Monday, August 26, 2024 |
| Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| If you're shedding tears right now, I understand. I also get emotional about the end of the NFL preseason. Just kidding. We're all glad it's over, because that means the next game on the NFL calendar will actually count. |
| With the preseason now over, we'll be breaking down some of the biggest things we learned from the preseason in today's newsletter, plus, we'll have some winners and losers from the final week of preseason play. Oh, and we'll also be going over the latest on the two QB battles that no one wants to win. |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter or you can tell people you run into at the bank. That also works. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. |
| 1. Patriots and Steelers still haven't named a starting QB |
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| If there's one trend that almost always seems to hold up in the NFL, it's that most teams know who their starting quarterback will be by the time the preseason ends. However, that's not the case for two different teams this year: the Steelers and Patriots. |
| The preseason ended on Sunday and yet both teams still have yet to name a starting quarterback. |
| So where do things stand right now? Glad you asked. |
| Let's check in on the Steelers first. |
| Russell Wilson plays five snaps in final preseason game. Wilson played exactly one possession on Saturday against the Lions and things actually went pretty well: He completed two passes for 26 yards while leading the Steelers offense to a touchdown. As for Justin Fields, his numbers were better -- he went 3 of 4 for 40 yards -- but he also took two sacks and he fumbled while taking one of those two sacks. Taking sacks and putting the ball on the ground are two things that Mike Tomlin does not want to see from his starting quarterback, so Wilson probably had the better overall game. Tomlin offers no hints about who will be starting. The Steelers coach has decided to milk things out for another few days. After Pittsburgh's 24-17 loss to the Lions, Tomlin said the decision will be made at the end of the week. "We've got three days of Steelers versus Steelers work and why not do it then?" Tomlin said, via NFL Media . "It kind of minimizes the Steelers versus Steelers work when we start making decisions prior to the completion of that. We've got ample time to prepare for Atlanta and make whatever decisions or announcements regarding divisional labor or pecking orders and so forth. And so, we will do it at the end of the work week." |
| My personal guess here is that Wilson will get the job because it seems like Tomlin would prefer a seasoned veteran. |
| As for the Patriots, things got even more interesting after Brissett suffered an injury during their 20-10 loss to Washington on Sunday night. |
| Brissett injures his shoulder. The veteran QB was only on the field for one possession and part of that had to do with the fact that he got smashed by a Commanders defender on a play that ended with Brissett injuring his shoulder. After the loss, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Brissett "would have been able to continue" if this had been a regular-season game. Maye looks solid against Commanders. The Patriots rookie showed off his arm strength while also making some accurate throws on a night where he threw for 126 yards and a touchdown. His best throw of the game for Maye didn't even count. With under a minute left to play in the first half, he rolled left and threw a 48-yard TD pass to K.J. Osborn (You can see the play here). The TD didn't count, though, because the Patriots got called for illegal formation. |
| During his postgame press conference on Sunday night, Mayo referred to Maye as the "second-best quarterback" on the roster, which makes it sound like the Patriots are leaning toward starting Brissett as long as he's healthy enough to play ... but he also said that Maye has "outplayed" Brissett. If that doesn't make sense, I tried to clear things up here. |
| If Brissett is healthy enough to play in Week 1, I think the Patriots roll with him just because they don't want to see Maye get killed behind their very subpar offensive line. |
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| 2. NFL Preseason: Winners and losers from Week 3 |
| The final week of the preseason came to an end on Sunday night with the Commanders beating the Patriots, 20-10. Back when the NFL played four preseason games, you almost never saw any starters playing in the final preseason game, but with only three games on the preseason schedule for each team, plenty of starters around the league saw some action over the weekend, which is why we decided to put together a winners and losers list for Week 3. |
| With that in mind, let's check out the winners from our list, put together by Jeff Kerr: |
| Winners |
| Bryce Young. "Young finally played in the preseason after the Carolina Panthers sat him the first two games. The 2023 No. 1 overall pick looked the part of a starting quarterback in his one series, completing his first five passes and leading the Panthers on a 12-play, 85-yard touchdown drive. ... That might have been the Panthers' best offensive drive in the Young era, and perhaps a sign of things to come with head coach Dave Canales. Young is automatically better under his tutelage."Isaac Guerendo. "The San Francisco 49ers always seem to churn out good running backs thanks to Kyle Shanahan's scheme. Guerendo was worth monitoring when San Francisco selected him in the sixth round, a combination of size and speed than can help the offense in 2024. The new kickoff rule falls in Guerendo's favor and he ended up having the longest return of the preseason with a 93-yarder against the Raiders (you can see the play here)."Frank Gore Jr. "Gore is a long shot to make the Bills roster, but his performance in the preseason finale warrants consideration. Gore finished with 18 carries for 101 yards and a rushing touchdown (5.6 yards per carry)." |
| If you want to know who the losers were on Kerr's list, you'll have to click here. |
| 3. 10 things we learned from the NFL preseason |
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| The 2024 NFL preseason is officially in the books. There were a total of 49 games played, and since Cody Benjamin watched them all -- no one loves preseason football more than Cody -- we asked him to come up with a list of 10 things that he learned during the preseason. |
| Let's check out his top three: |
| The Raiders will almost certainly start multiple quarterbacks. "It took coach Antonio Pierce until partway through the preseason to declare a winner of the competition between Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew, and even then, the choice of Minshew felt somewhat reluctant. ... Count on seeing O'Connell back under center down the road."The Cowboys found their next gem up front. "First-round rookie Tyler Guyton carried his promising training camp into live action, making a case for an Opening Day spot in Dallas' starting lineup. With Tyron Smith no longer in town, Guyton was always going to have an important role, but he looks to be up for the challenge, continuing the club's tradition of sturdy homegrown blockers."The Browns offense could be in trouble. "Kevin Stefanski is widely and rightfully well regarded as an offensive mind, but, boy, are there red flags with his personnel going into 2024. Deshaun Watson is the biggest, having played just 10 combined games the last two years, but so too is the quarterback's chemistry with Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy after the top wideouts each missed time for different reasons this offseason." |
| If you want to want to see all 10 of our takeaways from the preseason, be sure to check out the full story here. |
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| 4. NFL cut day is almost here: Notable names who could be released |
| Things are going to get kind of crazy in the NFL over the next 24 hours, and that's because tomorrow is cut day. Between now and 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, all 32 teams have to trim their roster down from 90 players to 53. |
| Every year, there are a few surprises on cut day so we had Cody Benjamin try to predict who some of the surprise cuts could be coming this year. Here's a look at a few names on his list: |
| Falcons QB Taylor Heinicke Cardinals QB Desmond RidderChiefs WR Kadarius ToneyEagles CB James BradberryBroncos RB Samaje Perine |
| If you want to see Cody's full list of players, then be sure to check out his story here. If you want to keep tabs on every player who has been cut so far, you can do that by following our cuts tracker here. |
| 5. NFL rookie grades for the preseason: Caleb Williams earns an 'A' |
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| During the regular season, we hand out grades every week in the newsletter, so we thought: Why not also do that for the preseason? So that's exactly what we're going do right now. Chris Trapasso put on his professor hat and he graded each rookie based on how they played during the ENTIRE preseason. |
| Let's check out three of the grades that Professor Trapasso handed out: |
| QB Caleb Willams (Bears): A. "All Williams did in his 42 preseason snaps was stoke the fire of his incendiary hype in the Chicagoland area. While he completed just 50% of his throws, he averaged 8.5 yards per attempt and provided a glimmer of his Mahomesian playmaking skill (athleticism + arm talent) outside the pocket. He was as advertised all preseason."QB Jayden Daniels (Commanders): A-. "Daniels went 12 of 15 for 123 yards with no touchdowns nor an interception all preseason. And the reigning Heisman winner was calm, cool and collected all August long, wasn't he? Dialed in. He earned that starting gig quickly. The release was lightning quick, Daniels made correct decisions in a flash, and was accurate with the football."EDGE Chop Robinson (Dolphins): B-. "No pressures for Robinson in two preseason games, but the film showed a ferocious, hair-on-fire rusher on the perimeter, and he held his own against the run relative to his label as a pass-rushing specialist." |
| Trapasso graded a total of 30 rookies, and if you want to see how the other 27 fared, be sure to check out his full story here. |
| We also put together a preseason all-rookie team, and you can check that out here. |
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| 6. Extra points: Nick Chubb expected to miss at least the first four games of the season |
| It was a busy weekend in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
| Nick Chubb expected to be sidelined until at least October. The Browns running back is expected to start the season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, according to multiple reports . If that happens, that means Chubb will have to sit out at least the first four games. The 28-year-old suffered a torn MCL and partially torn ACL last September. The decision by the Browns means Chubb will miss games against the Cowboys, Jaguars, Giants and Raiders. Chiefs sign JuJu Smith-Schuster. The veteran wide receiver is returning to Kansas City. Smith-Schuster was cut by the Patriots on Aug. 9 , and after spending 17 days in free agency, he's now landed with the Chiefs. JuJu won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs in 2022 after a season where he caught 78 passes for 933 yards and three touchdowns. 49ers star willing to miss games due to holdout. With all the Brandon Aiyuk drama, it's easy to forget that the 49ers are also dealing with a situation involving Trent Williams. The All-Pro left tackle has been holding out of training camp, and according to ESPN , Williams is prepared to miss some regular-season games if that's what it takes to get his contract adjusted. You can read more about the situation here. Ja'Marr Chase returns to practice. Like the 49ers, the Bengals have also been dealing with some contract drama involving a star player, but they actually got some good news over the weekend. After sitting out all of training camp, Ja'Marr Chase finally returned to practice on Monday, which presumably means he's ready to play and will be on the field in Week 1. |
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