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2021 NFL mock draft: Two rounds
College football finished its season and crowned a champion. The NFL remains on schedule to do the same. However, it will continue to be business unusual with the pandemic continuing to rage out of control for the foreseeable future. A memo informed all 32 pro teams this week the Combine "will be conducted in a different format." In actuality, the Combine in Indianapolis has been canceled with all workouts taking place during individual pro days on college campuses. The league will work with schools to encourage consistency "in testing and drills across pro days and ensure that all clubs have ...
The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Will Bills employ same defensive strategy against Chiefs, hoping for different result?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When they met earlier this season, the Buffalo Bills looked to limit Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ passing attack. And that happened. Mahomes threw for 225 yards, well below his league-leading 316-yard average. But that left Buffalo vulnerable to the run. Rookie Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire rushed for 161 yards. The Chiefs ran 46 times for 245 yards overall, both high marks for an Andy Reid-coached Chiefs team. Will that happen again? Not getting beat deep was the best way to hang with the Chiefs, the Bills believed, and Buffalo did that. The Chiefs converted ...
The Kansas City Star
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Shawn Windsor: New Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell's philosophy for football is already outdated
The Detroit Lions new head coach, Dan Campbell, has never been a coordinator. He has never called plays, on either side of the ball. He has never had to take an offseason and design a detailed, meticulous strategy and stuff it in a binder, or on a computer. And that's just fine. Campbell understands the game. Relates well to players — according to many who have played for him. And, by most accounts, has a fine sense of the shifting cultural norms from one generation to the next. As he told Billy Liucci, a Texas A&M writer who hosts a podcast, last summer: “You have to be able to adjust to the ...
Detroit Free Press
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Jeff Seidel: Lions taking big gamble with Dan Campbell; at least their plan seems clear
DETROIT — We have seen all kinds of Detroit Lions regimes. But this feels totally different. How all the pieces have come together. The Lions didn’t hire the people’s choice to be their next head coach. Robert Saleh, from Dearborn, Mich., was scooped up by the New York Jets. The Lions didn’t go with the familiar. Darrell Bevell, the Lions interim head coach, interviewed for the job but didn’t get it. They didn’t jump for the hot assistant coach. The Lions interviewed Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy but he didn’t get it. The Lions didn’t go with experience. The Lions inte...
Detroit Free Press
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Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes returned to practice Wednesday ahead of AFC Championship Game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes returned to the practice field Wednesday, three days after an injury prompted his early departure from a playoff game and he entered the NFL concussion protocol. It’s a potential step toward a return for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, though it’s not the final one. “He looked good. He’s in the protocol, so there’s only certain things he can do, and it’s a limited basis, but today is a limited practice, so this fit right into what he could do,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. The Chiefs play host to the Bills at 5:40 p.m. Sunday at Arrowhead S...
The Kansas City Star
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Philip Rivers retiring from NFL after 17 seasons
SAN DIEGO — The time has come, dadgummit. The man whose good-natured hollering was as renowned as his highly unorthodox and highly effective throws is hanging up his helmet to put on a different hat. Philip Rivers, who came to San Diego in a draft-day trade in 2004 and played quarterback for the Chargers all but his final season in the NFL, announced his retirement Wednesday. “It’s just time,” Rivers told the Union-Tribune late Tuesday night from his home in Indianapolis, where earlier this month he completed his only season with the Colts. “It’s just right.” Rivers, who wore No. 17 throughout...
The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Dieter Kurtenbach: For the 49ers, there should be no price too high for Deshaun Watson
The Texans should take whatever they want from the 49ers. So long as they send their 25-year-old, three-time Pro Bowl quarterback back to the Bay. There’s only one thing that’s certain about Deshaun Watson’s situation in Houston — he wants to leave. By release or trade, it doesn’t matter. He’s fed up with the organization and is trying to use any bit of leverage he has to facilitate his exit. And while I don’t believe he’ll be traded — the entire NFL system is built so that he won’t be traded — the 49ers can’t operate under that pretense. If the Texans indeed make Watson available, Kyle Shanah...
The Mercury News
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Mark Bradley: In Terry Fontenot, the Falcons have found their leader
It has, goodness knows, been hard to take the Falcons seriously. They’ve been to two Super Bowls and messed up both. They’ve hired coaches who were gimmick guys (Jerry Glanville) and slogan guys (Dan Quinn). They often act as if they know everything, but somehow they don’t know the rule about onside kicks. Over the breadth of their history, they’ve been an easy punchline. That just changed. They now have Terry Fontenot as their general manager. He’s a star. He’s the sort of person who’d have succeeded at whatever he tried – twice Tuesday he invoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Street Swee...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Report: Lions bringing in Saints' Aaron Glenn to be defensive coordinator
The Detroit Lions haven't even officially announced the hiring of Dan Campbell as the franchise's next head coach, but the NFL Network reported Tuesday that he will be bringing New Orleans Saints defensive-backs coach Aaron Glenn with him to serve as defensive coordinator. When looking at potential coordinator options, Glenn always seemed among the most logical choices. A former All-Pro cornerback, Glenn played 15 seasons in the NFL. Since retiring, he tried his hand at scouting before moving into coaching, spending the past five seasons leading the Saints defensive backs. Campbell and Glenn b...
The Detroit News
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Marcus Hayes: Josh McDaniels is the best candidate, so the Eagles should hire him
PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles have the opportunity to hire Bill Belichick's greatest disciple, but there seems to be reluctance among the commenter-ati, largely based on the subject's perceived lack of warmth. The Eagles would be wise to ignore this noise, because they should not fret that Josh McDaniels lacks "emotional intelligence." Know what Belichick lacks? Emotional intelligence. Know what Belichick does not lack? Actual intelligence. Pick your poison. Jeffrey Lurie and his henchmen interviewed McDaniels all day Sunday in Florida, which was a lousy way for McDaniels to spend a winter Sunday ...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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