Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
I have some big news today and that news is that the NFL season will be kicking off in exactly 10 weeks. Ten Thursdays from now the Chiefs will be hosting the Lions in the NFL opener.
If you can't wait that long to watch Patrick Mahomes, I have some good news for you, you can actually watch him tonight! Mahomes and Travis Kelce are teaming up to face Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in a two-on-two golf showdown known as the "The Match," which starts at 7 p.m ET tonight (You can see all the details plus a preview of the event here).
Normally, I never bet against Patrick Mahomes, but I also never bet against Steph Curry, so I have on idea who to bet on tonight. While I think about that, let's get to today's newsletter.
As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. We'll be delivering NFL news here all summer. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let's get to the rundown.
1. Today's show: Breaking down Eagles offseason
It's time for another episode of our "All 32" series, and for today's show, we're focusing on the Philadelphia Eagles. If this is your first time reading the newsletter or if you haven't read it for the past two weeks, our "All 32 series" is where we pass time during the dead part of the offseason by devoting an entire episode of the podcast to each individual team.
Anyway, to talk about how things are going in Philadelphia, we brought on CBSSports.com's Jeff Kerr. There are not many people alive who know more about the Eagles than Kerr, so he was the perfect person to break down their offseason and while also taking a look at how their 2023 season might play out.
Here are a few topics host Katie Mox and Will Brinson covered with Kerr:
- How will the Eagles (and Jalen Hurts) look with a new offensive coordinator? With Shane Steichen now in Indianapolis, the Eagles had to replace him at offensive coordinator and they did that by promoting Brian Johnson. Before getting the OC job, Johnson was the QB coach in Philly for two seasons (2021-22), and because of that, he's very familiar with Hurts. However, Johnson has never called plays, which is one big thing that Steichen did very, very well. "They are going to miss Steichen a bit, because Steichen was a really good play-caller for them and he seemed to get the most out of his quarterbacks," Kerr said. "If Hurts can take that next step under Johnson, then great, but I think that might be why we get a little bit of regression by Jalen this year."
- How many games can the Eagles win? The Eagles over/under is set at 11.5 games and Kerr thinks they'll hit the over, but only if they can put together a winning record during a brutal five-game stretch starting in Week 9 where they face the Cowboys twice along with the Chiefs, Bills and 49ers. "I think there are only two teams that can beat the Eagles in the NFC and that's the Cowboys and 49ers," Kerr said. "I think their toughest stretch of the year is that five-game stretch and if they can go 3-2 during that span, they're winning 11 games easy."
The group also spent some time talking about which running back will be getting the most carries in the Eagles offense this year. Overall, Kerr spent more than 20 minutes talking about the Eagles and if you want to hear everything he had to say, you can listen to today's show here. You can also watch today's show on YouTube by clicking here.
2. Ranking the NFL's top 10 safeties heading into the 2023 season
As you may or may not have noticed, we love to rank things here at CBSSports.com, and because of that, we thought we would spend the next few weeks ranking every position group heading into the 2023 season.
At some point, we're going to run out of positions to rank, but we're not quite there yet. After ranking corners earlier this week, we're going to go back to the secondary today to rank the top 10 safeties.
The top 10 list below was put together by Garrett Podell, and if you'd like to tell him how perfect it is, you can do that by clicking here. That link will take you to his Twitter profile, where you can also argue with him if you don't like his list.
Top 10 safeties for 2023
1. Derwin James, Chargers
2. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Steelers
3. Justin Simmons, Broncos
4. Budda Baker, Cardinals
5. Talanoa Hufanga, 49ers
6. Kevin Byard, Titans
7. Jordan Poyer, Bills
8. Antoine Winfield Jr., Buccaneers
9. Tyrann Mathieu, Saints
10. Kyle Dugger, Patriots
My first takeaway from this list is that the Broncos are the only team in the NFL that had a player ranked on our best corner list AND our best safety list. Their defense should be pretty stacked this year, which means if Sean Payton can get Russell Wilson to just play average football, the Broncos could be a surprise team this year.
Anyway, if you want a detailed explanation of Podell's rankings, be sure to click here so you can check out his entire story.
3. NFL hands out four more gambling suspensions
If the NFL loves doing one thing during the offseason, it's handing out suspensions just a few days before the Fourth of July. Over the past few years, the league has made some major announcements -- that are usually negative -- in the lead up to the Fourth and this year is no different.
The NFL announced on Thursday that four players have been suspended for gambling violations.
- Colts kick returner Isaiah Rodgers among three players suspended for at least one year. We know the NFL was investigating Rodgers earlier this month over a possible gambling violation and he even admitted to breaking the rules in a tweet that he sent out. There is reportedly evidence that he placed hundreds of wagers, including some bets on the Colts, and because of that, he's been suspended for at least one year. Colts defensive end Rashod Berry and free agent Demetrius Taylor were also suspended for at least a year .
- Titans starter gets suspended for six games. Tennessee's starting right tackle, Nicholas Petit-Frere, will be getting a six-game suspension. In a statement released on Thursday, Petit-Frere said he got hit with the suspension because he was gambling at the Titans facility. However, he was NOT gambling on NFL games, which is why he was only suspended for six games.
- Five players have already been suspended this year. Back in April, the NFL handed out five gambling suspensions. The Lions were hit the hardest by the suspensions with four players being banned (Stanley Berryhill III, Jameson Williams, Quintez Cephus, C.J. Moore). Cephus, Moore and Berryhill were all cut shortly after the announcement was made.
The NFL has spent the past month trying to educate players on the six key rules of the league's gambling policy (You can see the policy here). Between the five players in April and the four suspensions from today, that's nine players who have been suspended this year. That number would seem to indicate that the league isn't doing a good job of letting the players know what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do when it comes to gambling. Yes, it's the players job to follow the rules, but it's hard to follow rules when you don't know what those rules are.
4. Ranking teams by which had the best offseason
After ranking position groups for the past two weeks, we decided it was time to rank something else here, so we're going to rank teams based on who had the best offseason. Between the NFL Draft, trades and free agency, some teams definitely did better than others over the past few months.
Today, we're going to take a look at the teams that didn't do so well, and tomorrow, we'll take a look at the teams that dominated the offseason. These rankings were based on "which teams did the best to position themselves as Super Bowl contenders while also having a coherent vision going forward given the cap space and draft capital each team had entering the 2023 offseason."
Here's a look at the bottom-3 teams in Garrett Podell's rankings:
- 30. Rams. "The Los Angeles Rams hit the eject button on many of the veterans on their roster, correctly assessing that getting younger and cheaper around Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald is the move going forward... However, it is disappointing they didn't really sign anyone in free agency to supplement their roster."
- 31. Raiders. "Not shelling out for running back Josh Jacobs is smart given the position and how his career had been trending downward until he led the league in rushing yards last season. However, without him on the field, the offense could struggle in a big way. The Raiders went all-in on McDaniels getting the best out of Derek Carr, Davante Adams and Darren Waller as an offensive trio, but now only one remains as the franchise stares into a big, black hole of a future on offense."
- 32. Titans. "The Tennessee Titans were so close to hitting the full reset button this offseason, but new general manager Ran Carthon couldn't quite bring himself to unload quarterback Ryan Tannehill (34 years old) and running back Derrick Henry (29 years old) as they enter the final years of their contracts.... Carthon would be wise to blow it up at the trade deadline in 2023 and look toward a better future for 2024 and beyond."
You can see all the teams in the bottom half of Garrett's rankings by clicking here.
5. NFL reveals training camp dates for all 32 teams
We're officially in the doldrums of the NFL offseason where almost nothing is happening, but that won't be the case much longer because training camp is right around the corner, and when I say "right around the corner," I'm talking less than three weeks away.
From mid-June thru mid-July, things can get kind of boring around the NFL, but you can now start counting down the day until your favorite team kicks off training camp because the NFL has released the camp dates for each team.
Here are a few nuggets from the announcement:
- Jets will be the first team in camp. With the Jets playing in the Hall of Fame game this year, they're allowed to report to camp earlier than every other team and they'll be taking advantage of that by having their players report on July 19. Of course, this means that if the Jets are going to be the 'Hard Knocks' team, the NFL is likely going to need to announce something soon.
- Browns will also be reporting early. As the other team in the Hall of Fame game, the Browns are also allowed to report to camp early, but they won't be showing up as early as the Jets. The Browns veterans will report to camp on July 21. Based on how Deshaun Watson looked at the end of last season, it's probably for the best that the Browns get to report early this year.
- Chiefs and Lions will report to camp on July 22. As the two teams playing in the regular-season opener, the Chiefs and Lions are also allowed to report early and they'll both be taking advantage of that by having their veterans report on July 22.
- Steelers will be the last team to report to camp. The Steelers veterans won't be reporting to camp until July 26, which is the latest that any team will be reporting. I think we can all agree that you can't overestimate the value of one extra day of vacation. I'm guessing this is why everyone wants to play for Mike Tomlin.
The other 27 teams will all be reporting to camp on July 25 (These reporting dates only apply to veterans. Teams are allowed to ask their rookies to report to camp as early as July 18 and there will be a total of nine teams having their rookies show up on that date).
For a full look at every team's reporting date, be sure to click here.
6. Extra points: J.J. Watt joins CBS Sports
It's been a busy 24 hours 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.
- J.J. Watt signs on with CBS Sports. The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year will be joining gang here at CBS Sports for the upcoming NFL season. Watt has inked a multiyear deal with CBS that will see him work as a studio analyst with his first appearance scheduled to come on "The NFL Today" in Week 1. You can see Watt's full announcement video here.
- Parker signs three-year deal. The Patriots receiver was going into the final year of his contract, but that's no longer the case. The two sides decided to rip up his old deal and give Parker a new three-year, $33 million contract, which will keep him in New England through 2025. Although the Patriots are now committing more money to the receiver position, this deal will NOT take them out of the market for DeAndre Hopkins, according to multiple reports.
- Tyreek Hill offered alleged assault victim $200. The Dolphins star, who's currently being investigated for assault, tried to make the issue go away on his own last week. According to a police report obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Hill offered his alleged assault victim $200 after hitting on the back of the head.
- NFLPA has a new executive director. After 14 years as the executive director of the NFLPA, DeMaurice Smith will be stepping down and he'll be replaced by Lloyd Howell, who was voted into the job on Wednesday. If you don't know who Lloyd Howell is, don't worry, no one else seems to, either. Howell spent the past 34 years of his life as the chief financial officer at Booz Allen Hamilton before retiring in December. You can read more details about Howell's hiring here.
