Different teams handle the 3-game preseason differently. Some, like the Chiefs, want their starters to have some reps before the games count. Others, such as the Rams, don’t play starters no matter what. These specific examples are actually our last 2 Super Bowl winners, so either method can clearly work. My job here is to…
Two teams kicked off the preseason last week, but NOW it’s officially preseason week 1. All 32 teams participated this week, albeit with few starters across the league. Since we switched to a 3-game preseason schedule, teams have been split on playing their stars in games 2 and 3, but most keep them out of…
Welcome back to NFL football! Last night, we got our feet wet with the annual Hall of Fame Game, featuring the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns. This Canton, OH showcase rarely includes much playing time for starters (if any), and this year’s game was no exception. Before you ask: no, Aaron Rodgers did not…
With the annual Hall of Fame game just a week away, I wanted to step back and take a look at the league as a whole. What can we expect to happen this year? Will past trends re-emerge, or will new ones begin? I thought about these questions and more, and then I came up…
This is it! What you’ve all been waiting for! I’m not entirely sure why, but the 2022 version of this discussion has been the #1 post here on Takeaways since it went live. Therefore, among all the position reviews, this is the one that returns: the top 10 returners for the 2023 season! As with…
Free agency is slow right now, but it’s certainly not over. Plenty of impactful players are there for the taking, and they should all be signed once they find the right fit and acceptable contracts. I thought we’d reassess the free agency landscape and see who’s still out there. You’ll notice several RBs on this…
Let’s face it: there’s not a lot going on in the NFL right now aside from a few gambling suspensions. You can take a look at my deeper dive into that issue here, but we’re currently in the slow period of free agency, and training camps don’t open for a few more weeks. Only one…
As much as we love football here at Takeaways, we certainly enjoy and appreciate other sports too. Case in point, this week featured the 2023 NBA Draft, where 58 players learned their new professional teams. That got us thinking: what NFL draft lessons can we learn from the NBA draft? Though the sports are different…
The USFL regular season just concluded, and though we don’t really cover that league on this site (at least not yet), we’re going to show it some love right now. Before you ask why I’d give any thought to a spring league, think of such leagues as the minor leagues of football. Veterans and UDFAs…
You’ve probably seen plenty of stories right now about NFL players gambling and subsequently getting suspended. A while back, our first brush with the NFL’s recently implemented player gambling policy came back in 2019, when Cardinals CB Josh Shaw missed 21 games after being suspended for betting on games (a parlay that included a bet…