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| Monday, August 5, 2024 |
| Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| I have some great news to pass along today and that's the fact the NFL season starts in exactly one month, so please go mark your calendar now, and if you don't have a calendar, then please order one online. The NFL season will be kicking off on Sept. 5 with the Chiefs hosting the Ravens. |
| It doesn't seem possible that the regular season is just one month away, but it is ... Before we get to the regular season, though, we have to make it through the preseason, which will be kicking off on Thursday with our first full week of preseason action. |
| Anyway, for today's newsletter, we'll be recapping Saturday's Hall of Fame ceremony, plus, we'll be taking a look at the surprise player who landed at No. 1 on the NFL's "Top 100" list. |
| 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 grocery story. That also works. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. |
| 1. NFL's Top 100 has a surprise at the top |
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| Every summer, the NFL unveils its ranking of the top 100 players in the league and this year's ranking came with quite the surprise: Patrick Mahomes was NOT ranked first on the list. The NFL's ranking is different from most rankings because the entire thing is voted on by players, which is bad news for every player, because Mahomes is probably now going to be taking names and destroying everyone on his way to a third straight Super Bowl win. |
| So who got the top spot if it wasn't Mahomes? In a total surprise, that honor went to Tyreek Hill. |
| Here's what the top five looked like: |
1. Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill
2. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson
3. 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey
4. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
5. Browns DE Myles Garrett |
| It was a solid weekend for Hill. Not only did he get voted as the best player in the NFL, but the Dolphins also reworked his contract. The team didn't add any new years, but Hill will now have $65 million of his salary fully guaranteed over the final three seasons of the deal. |
| As for the NFL's rankings, you can see the full top 10 here. Pete Prisco gets yelled at all the time for his rankings, but at least he was smart enough to put Mahomes on top when he ranked the top 100 players back in June (He had Hill at fourth overall). |
| Another part of the ranking I found interesting was how the top 10 quarterbacks panned out. Let's take a look at that (The number next to each player's name is their overall ranking in the Top 100): |
1. Lamar Jackson (2nd)
2. Patrick Mahomes (4th)
3. Josh Allen (12th)
4. Jalen Hurts (15th)
5. Dak Prescott (16th)
6. C.J. Stroud (20th)
7. Brock Purdy (28th)
8. Jordan Love (34th)
9. Tua Tagovailoa (36th)
10. Joe Burrow (39th) |
| Burrow likely ranked low because he didn't play for almost half the year, but I thought the most interesting ranking was the one given to Justin Herbert. Other NFL players clearly aren't very impressed with Herbert, who ranked as the 13th-best QB and the 73rd-best player overall. |
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| 2. Pro Football Hall of Fame: Recapping the enshrinement ceremony for the Class of 2024 |
| The Pro Football Hall of Fame officially has seven new members following the enshrinement ceremony over the weekend that saw Dwight Freeney, Steve McMichael, Randy Gradishar, Devin Hester, Patrick Willis, Julius Peppers and Andre Johnson all get inducted. |
| There were plenty of memorable moments during the ceremony. Here are a few that stood out: |
| Steve McMichael gets an emotional induction. With McMichael bedridden at home due to ALS, the Pro Football Hall of Fame decided to bring the ceremony to him. McMichael's Hall of Fame bust was presented to him at his home in Chicago, which was a fitting spot to get it for the former Bears star. You can watch the clip from McMichael's induction here. Michael Jordan showed up to the ceremony in Canton. The NBA legend was in Ohio to watch his friend, Dwight Freeney, get inducted, but he ended up getting a shoutout from someone who wasn't Freeney: Julius Peppers. Like Jordan, Peppers attended North Carolina, so the former Panthers star made sure to give a shoutout to M.J. for that, "I'm not going to sit up here and act like my idol and one of the reasons I went to Chapel Hill is not in the building. ... "M.J., I love you big bro," Peppers said. You can read more about Jordan's appearance here. Devin Hester becomes first returner to get enshrined. After becoming the first returner to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Hester used part of his Hall of Fame speech to call on the comittee to start inducting even more returners. "I hope that me being here today opens up the door and brings some attention to other guys like Brian Mitchell and Josh Cribbs, because I'm not the only returner who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame," Hester said, via PFT. "I'm just the first." |
| For all of the highlights from Canton, be sure to check out our summary of the ceremony by clicking here. |
| 3. Hall of Fame Class of 2025: Eli Manning headlines group of players who will be eligible for the first time |
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| With this year's class officially inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, now seems like a good time to go ahead and take a look at who might be in the class of 2025. |
| CBSSports.com's Bryan DeArdo put together a list of players who will be eligible for the first time next year, and I can already tell there's GOING TO BE SOME CONTROVERSY. And that's mainly because Eli Manning will be eligible for the first time. Manning's stats don't exactly scream Hall of Famer, but he did win two Super Bowls, so he has that going for him. |
| Here's a look at some of the players who will be eligible for the first time next year: |
| QB Eli Manning LB Luke KuechlyOG Marshal YandaRB Marshawn LynchOLB Terrell SuggsRB Darren SprolesOT Joe StaleyCB Aqib Talib K Adam Vinatieri |
| If you want to see the full list of candidates who will be eligible for induction for the first time in 2025, be sure to click here. |
| In somewhat related news, DeArdo also broke down some changes that he would like to see with the Hall of Fame's selection process and you can check that out here. |
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| 4. Ranking the top battles happening at joint practices |
| Joint practices have become all the rage in the NFL. Although teams tend to bench their starters for preseason games, every healthy starter is generally on the field for a joint practice, which is when two teams practice against each other. |
| With that in mind, Josh Edwards decided to take a look at some of the best battles that will be happening this month from joint practices around the league. |
| Aug. 5: Lions-Giants (Detroit corners vs. New York receivers). "Detroit has aggressively upgraded its cornerback room this offseason by first trading for Carlton Davis, signing free agent Amik Robertson and then drafting Terrion Arnold, Ennis Rakestraw Jr.. The additions should lead to the Lions playing more man coverage, which allows them to do more with the front seven. New York added a big piece to its receiver room with the draft selection of LSU's Malik Nabers. The presence of a true No. 1 wide receiver pushes others down the depth chart, which organically creates improved depth." Aug. 6: Falcons-Dolphins (Atlanta receivers vs. Miami corners). "The Falcons went out this offseason and signed Darnell Mooney, traded for Rondale Moore. The infusion of talent in that room should allow the organization to be more pass forward in 2024. On the opposite sideline, the Dolphins signed free agent Kendall Fuller, who rounds out a secondary that features Jalen Ramsey, Kader Kohou, as well as safeties Jordan Poyer and Jevon Holland. The floor is really high for that group."Aug. 8: Rams-Cowboys (Los Angeles defensive line vs. Dallas offensive line). "There is no great substitution for losing a Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle but Los Angeles concocted its own formula with the selections of Florida State teammates Jared Verse and Braden Fiske in the first and second rounds. ... As for the Cowboys, with potentially two new pieces along that unit, Dallas still has a lot of scenarios to sort through on the line before the season." |
| You can see Josh's full list of big battles coming up here. |
| 5. Ranking the best additions of the offseason |
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| Now that the offseason is officially over, Cody Benjamin decided to take a look into the rearview mirror today by ranking the best addition at each position this offseason. This could be a player who was added in the draft or got signed in free agency or who got traded to another team. |
| If that doesn't make sense, let's look at the first position on Cody's list: Quarterback. |
| Best QB addition by any team: Caleb Williams to the Bears. "Kirk Cousins is the 'safer' bet at quarterback considering his track record as an efficient starter, but he's aging and coming off injury, whereas Williams could bring superstar gunslinging to a more talented Bears lineup." |
| Now that we've got quarterback out of the way, let's check out two other positions: |
| Best RB addition by any team: Saquon Barkley to the Eagles. "Four different running backs cracked my honorable mention list, which speaks to the position's depth this offseason, but Barkley brings home-run upside to an already-all-star Eagles lineup."Best pass-rushing addition by any team: Haason Reddick to the Jets. "Brian Burns was arguably the biggest pass-rushing addition this offseason in terms of investment; New York not only traded multiple draft picks to land him but then gave him top-three edge money. And yet Reddick has enjoyed higher highs as a quarterback terrorizer, pairing imposing physicality with a knack for prying the football loose." |
| Cody actually created a full team of the best additions at each position and you can check that out here. |
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| 6. Extra points: Rams star dealing with knee injury |
| 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. |
| Puka Nacua dealing with injury. The reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year will be missing a little bit of time after suffering a knee injury in practice over the weekend. According to reports , Nacua is week-to-week and it's not yet clear when he'll be back on the field. Rams training camp has been a bloodbath with the team now dealing with several injuries. Besides Nacua, left tackle Alaric Jackson, right tackle Rob Havenstein and left guard Jonah Jackson are all currently "week-to-week" after getting injured over the past few days. Titans sign three-time Pro Bowler. The Titans added some depth to their secondary over the weekend by signing Quandre Diggs to a one-year deal that's worth up to $5 million . The Titans have totally revamped their secondary this offseason by adding players like L'Jarius Sneed, Chidobe Awuzie and Diggs' former teammate, Jamal Adams. One sticking point in Dak Prescott negotiations. It appears that one big reason why the Cowboys haven't been able to get a deal done with Dak is because they can't agree on the length of the contract, according to PFT. You can check out our full story on the situation here. Jon Gruden shows up to Chiefs training camp. The Chiefs had a special visitor at training camp over the weekend with Gruden making his way to practice on Sunday. The former Raiders coach, who was decked out in Chiefs' gear, spent a good chunk of the practice chatting with Andy Reid. You can see photos here. O.J. Simpson's estate forced to hold an auction. The family of Ronald Goldman is looking to get some money from Simpson's estate and it looks like that's actually going to happen. A probate judge in Nevada agreed with a plan to auction off some of Simpson's most valuable and high-profile items with the proceeds going to the Goldmans. You can get the full details here. |
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