Tom Brady might be having buyer’s remorse about agreeing to purchase a piece of the Raiders. If not, Fox might be having buyer’s remorse about agreeing to pay Brady $37.5 million per year to call games.
According to Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, if/when Brady’s purchase of a portion of the Raiders is approved, severe restrictions on his access to all NFL teams will be activated. Per Wickersham, “Brady would not be permitted to be in another team’s facility, would not be permitted to witness practice and would not be permitted to attend broadcast production meetings, either in-person or virtually.”
Those things are the lifeblood of broadcast crews. It gives them inside information regarding the game that will unfold, making it easier to tell fans what happened. Brady would be prohibited from ever doing that, except on the rare occasions that he works a Raiders game.
Brady also would be “prohibited from publicly criticizing game officials and other clubs,” which could open the door to a fine if he goes to far in calling a bad call a bad call.
The restrictions were presented to owners during Tuesday’s meeting in Minnesota. It’s unclear whether the restrictions have changed since May, when the Commissioner suggested that the situation has been addressed — but the league declined to say what the restrictions were.
As PFT reported in July, Brady and former Patriots teammate Richard Seymour have joined forces in an effort to buy 10.4 percent of the team. It’s unclear if/when the transaction will be approved by owners.
At this point, Brady and Fox should want it to be delayed until after the 2024 season. Why have Brady’s first year complicated by a potential approval of the transaction in October, or December?
More broadly, Brady should pick a lane here. Be an owner or be a broadcaster. Don’t be both. Because you can’t be an owner and do the job properly as a broadcaster.
To try to both, frankly, is more than a little selfish.
And, even more frankly, these restrictions might be the NFL’s way to send that much-needed message to Brady.
The cut to 53 players marks the change from training camp and the preseason to the regular season, but it did not bring any resolution to the 49ers’ impasse with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Aiyuk wants a new contract, but has not agreed to one with the 49ers and has not agreed to one with any team that the 49ers have worked out the framework of a trade with over the last few weeks. The wideout has not been holding out as the situation has played out so he has avoided any fines from the team, but he also hasn’t been taking part in practice and General Manager John Lynch suggested that it’s time for that to change on Wednesday.
During a press conference, Lynch said that the “expectation” is that Aiyuk will practice with the team on Wednesday and that “we’ll deal with that” if Aiyuk does not get on the field. Lynch declined to say if those sentiments had been delivered to Aiyuk and his representatives, but made it clear that the time has come for some resolution.
“At some point, you gotta play,” Lynch said.
The Cowboys were able to end their standoff with CeeDee Lamb this week and we’ll see if the 49ers can do the same with a player who makes them a lot more dangerous on the field.
On Tuesday, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor expressed a lot of confidence that wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase will be in the lineup for the season opener against the Patriots.
Taylor sounded a lot different when he spoke to the media after practice on Wednesday. Chase did not practice at all a day after Taylor’s pronouncement, which also featured Taylor saying that the wideout would continue practicing all this week after getting on the field for the first time this summer on Sunday. Taylor said that he “probably put my foot in my mouth speaking too quickly” about Chase’s practice plans and took a more measured approach to the outlook for Week One.
“I think every day is a new day, we’ll keep working through it. . . . I think it’s wise for me just to say we’re gonna take it day-to-day and see what tomorrow brings,” Taylor said, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Taylor said that he thinks Chase can still play on September 8 even if he doesn’t practice again this week, but it looks like everything is very much up in the air when it comes to the availability of the Bengals’ top wideout.
In past years, it was difficult to get Bill Belichick to say much. This year, it might be even harder to get him to shut the hell up.
The future Hall of Famer has added another media gig to his ever-growing portfolio. Via ESPN, The Breakdown with Peyton and Belichick will debut September 6 on ESPN+.
Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick will do the show 11 times this year, focusing on the Monday night games that will be accompanied by the ManningCast. Belichick is also slated to appear on each of the 11 ManningCast shows in 2024.
The new show, 30 minutes in duration, will focus on the two teams playing in the next Monday Night Football game.
Belichick also will join Pat McAfee every Monday. Belichick will appear on Inside The NFL. He’ll host a show with Underdog Fantasy. And he’ll co-host the Let’s Go! podcast, which previously was co-hosted by Tom Brady.
If Belichick gets his way, it’ll be a one-year foray into media. He wants to coach again. To make that happen, it will help to have a fan base clamor for his services. He seems to believe — and he’s probably right — that the more fans hear from him, the more impressed they’ll be about what he can bring to the table.
The NFL changed the kickoff rule this offseason in an attempt to promote more returns. Bill Belichick doesn’t think it’s going to work.
Belichick told Pat McAfee that he expects most teams to kick the ball into the end zone for a touchback, even though the new rule means the ball goes out to the 30-yard line on touchbacks. Belichick said that for the kicking team, the risk of giving up a long return isn’t worth kicking it to a spot on the field where the receiving team will have a chance to run it out.
“I think what we saw in preseason was most teams kicking the ball so it would be returned so they could evaluate their coverage,” Belichick said. “Once you get into the regular season, just touchback ‘em. I mean, you put the ball on the 30 instead of the 25, big deal, I’d rather do that than kick it to one of these guys who’s got a chance to change field position on you in a hurry. I think we saw more returns in the preseason, percentage-wise, than we’re going to see in the regular season.”
Belichick wishes the NFL hadn’t made such a radical rule change on kickoffs and instead had just promoted more returns by moving the kickoff back far enough that kickers won’t be able to put the ball in the end zone.
“It’s pretty hard to get used to,” Belichick said. “Just move the ball back and kick off from the 20 or 25 or put it wherever you want to put it. If you want kickoff returns, just move the ball back.”
The new rule, however, wasn’t only designed to promote returns. It was also designed to reduce injuries, and the low-impact nature of having the coverage players and the blockers lined up only five yards apart, without the chance to get a running start, should work to make the play safer. But Belichick doesn’t think safer means better.
Wednesday brought another twist in the saga of Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Reporters at Bengals practice sent word that Chase was not present for the start of Wednesday’s workout and then shared that Chase arrived late to the session. The wideout was in street clothes rather than a uniform.
Chase returned to practice this week after sitting out of training camp and the preseason in a contract impasse with the team. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said on Tuesday that he’s confident Chase will play in Week One and that the plan was for him to continue working all this week.
It’s not clear why that plan changed, but there will likely be an update from Cincinnati in the near future.
The Patriots have decided on a starting quarterback for the first week of the 2024 season, but their choice doesn’t know he’s won the competition yet.
Head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters at a Wednesday press conference that he’s made a choice between veteran Jacoby Brissett and first-round pick Drake Maye, but that he has not shared the news with either player or with the team at large at this point. Mayo said he wants “both sides to hear it from me” and that hasn’t been possible on Wednesday because of ongoing roster machinations.
“I’m gonna talk to the individual players tomorrow. I’m gonna have a team meeting tomorrow and then I’m gonna get it to you guys,” Mayo said.
Brissett seemed to be the likely choice for most of the offseason and summer and Mayo said Maye is the team’s second-best quarterback the other day, but he also said Maye outplayed the veteran in preseason action to cloud the picture a bit. Those clouds will be gone soon and the Patriots will be on to Cincinnati for the opener.
Former Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe has found a new home — one where he’ll have a good opportunity to learn.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Zappe has a deal in place to sign with the Chiefs’ practice squad.
Zappe was waived by New England earlier this week after playing 14 games for the club over the last two seasons. A fourth-round pick in 2022, Zappe was 4-4 as a starter with a 2-4 record in 2023. He has completed 63.2 percent of his career passes for 2,053 yards with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions — good for a 78.5 passer rating.
The Chiefs kept just two quarterbacks on their 53-man roster in Patrick Mahomes and Carson Wentz.
Additionally, Kansas City claimed defensive back Eric Scott off waivers. The Cowboys selected Scott in the sixth round of the 2023 draft, though he did not appear in a game last season. Dallas waived him earlier this week.
The Patriots have the third spot in the waiver order and they used it to add four players to their roster on Wednesday.
According to the league’s transaction report, the Patriots have claimed linebacker Curtis Jacobs, tackle Demontrey Jacobs, defensive tackle Eric Johnson, and tackle Zachary Thomas. The corresponding moves to clear room for them will be announced later in the day.
Moving to add the two offensive linemen is no surprise given how poor the Patriots offensive line looked throughout the preseason. Whether Jacobs, who was cut by the Broncos, and Thomas, who was with the Rams, will help is anybody’s guess, however. Jacobs has never played in a regular season game and Thomas has made three appearances.
Curtis Jacobs was with the Chiefs and Johnson spent the summer with the Colts. Jacobs was undrafted this year while Johnson had 18 tackles and a sack in 28 appearances the last two years.
Veteran defensive lineman Lawrence Guy has lined up a workout with one of his former employers.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Guy will be in Baltimore to try out for the Ravens on Wednesday. Guy was released by the Patriots early this year.
Guy spent the last seven seasons in New England and started 111 of the 118 games that the team played while he was in the organization. Before going to New England, Guy played in 45 games during three seasons with the Ravens.
Guy had 38 tackles while appearing in every game during the 2023 season.
The Ravens have defensive linemen Broderick Washington, Michael Pierce, Justin Madubuike, Brent Urban, and Travis Jones on their initial 53-man roster.