ProFootballTalk: 18-game season topic won’t go away

NFL VP of Football Operations Ray Anderson says expanding the season to 18 games is “still on the table.” The PFT crew is pretty unanimous when saying this is not a good idea.

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Second-year cornerback Jalen Ramsey, a top-five pick who faces high expectations in 2017, will start training camp with no practice.

Via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union, Ramsey will be placed on the physically unable to perform list at the outset of formal preseason preparations. He had core muscle surgery in June.

Joining Ramsey on PUP will be cornerback Aaron Colvin.

Players on the active/PUP list can be activated once they pass a physical. They can’t participate in practices until activated.

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The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots are the only two teams in the NFL to have won at least one playoff game in each of the last five seasons. The Seahawks had few departures from last year’s roster that lost in the Divisional Round to the Atlanta Falcons. They’ve added an 11-man draft class and augmented the roster with a few free agent signings that addressed a few areas of concern over the offseason.

Seattle’s roster remains the most talented in the NFC West. However, an offseason dominated by trade discussions involving star cornerback Richard Sherman has left an uncertainty regarding the cohesion of the locker room after Sherman’s multiple tirades and criticism of coaches last season. And for all the downplaying of the trade discussions Seattle wants to espouse now, NFL teams don’t look to trade All-Pro cornerbacks in their prime, with a reasonable contract and depth issues at the position for no reason at all. And the Seahawks practically hung a “For Sale” sign on Sherman in letting teams know publicly they were taking calls regarding Sherman’s availability.

Can the Seahawks still win the division and make a deep playoff run despite any potential lingering issues? Of course. They managed to win the division again last year in the midst of all the happenings with Sherman. But if the gremlins of last season carry over into 2017, there is potential for a crash landing.

Even if they do, the Seahawks may be talented enough to win the division again anyway.

Biggest positive change: With the selection of four defensive backs among their 11 draft picks in the NFL Draft, the Seahawks infused youth into their secondary depth. The additions of Shaquill Griffin, Tedric Thompson, Delano Hill and Mike Tyson give the Seahawks young depth that can contribute immediately on special teams and push starters Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor for playing time in the coming years. Griffin could earn a starting role opposite Sherman as Deshawn Shead is likely to start the year on PUP and Jeremy Lane has been better served as a slot cornerback during his tenure in Seattle. The rest of the group provides potentially more stable options as backups should a player of Thomas’ caliber be lost for the season again as he was last December. The drop in ability from Thomas to back up Steven Terrell was substantial and significantly lessened Seattle’s defensive might.

Biggest negative change: While Steven Hauschka had some issues in Seattle last year, the Seahawks now seem destined to be relying upon a career resurgence from Blair Walsh. Walsh, who helped the Seahawks win a playoff game in Minnesota two years ago by missing a 27-yard field goal at the end of regulation for the Vikings, now joins the Seahawks in an effort to get his career back on track. Walsh was released by the Vikings last year nine games into the season after missing eight (four field goals, four extra points) of his 35 kicks on the year. Hauschka had a problem with low kicks as five of his 10 missed kicks last season were blocked. Walsh has a big leg and earned a Pro Bowl trip as a rookie. However, what he can bring to the table now is uncertain.

Coaching thermometer: Pete Carroll has a job in Seattle as long as he wants it given the run of success the team has had during his tenure as head coach. The Seahawks have made two Super Bowl trips and brought home their first Lombardi Trophy in 2013, have won at least one playoff game in each of the last five seasons and have missed the postseason just once in Carroll’s seven seasons at the helm. Carroll has given no indication he sees the end of his coaching road coming any time soon. He and general manager John Schneider are seemingly joined at the hip and Carroll’s contract was extended through 2019 last summer.

We’d like to crack a beer with . . . Jon Ryan. The Seahawks’ punter is one of the more engaging personalities on the team. He’s thrown a touchdown pass in an NFC Championship game, broke his face in frigid conditions during a playoff game in Minnesota and fumbled without being touched on a fake punt. He’s also caught a 109-yard touchdown pass as a receiver playing college football at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. Ryan is now the longest-tenured member of the Seahawks and the only player on the team to predate Pete Carroll in Seattle. Honorable mention to Doug Baldwin.

How they can prove us wrong: In the positive, the Sherman issues don’t linger into the season. Wilson returns to 2015 form, now healthy, behind a significantly improved output from Seattle’s offensive line. Lacy gives the team the power back presence they’ve missed and Seattle’s defense remains along the league’s best. In the negative, the Seahawks are slow out of the gate as Wilson struggles behind continued poor offensive line play. Fissures within the team resurface as blame gets tossed around. The running game isn’t consistent. Wilson is forced to throw 30-35 times a game. Age begins to catch up to key pieces of Seattle’s defense as they slide back from the top of the league. Blair Walsh’s inconsistencies follow him to Seattle.

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In the Chiefs’ playoff loss to the Steelers, defensive end Tamba Hali barely played: His seven snaps against Pittsburgh were by far his fewest in any game of the 2016 season.

Anger at that lack of playing time has apparently been simmering all offseason, and today Hali went off. In a series of tweets, Hali questioned why he didn’t play more and asked if the Chiefs even want him anymore.

“Fans should know this. Only played 7 snaps last year 2017 playoff game against the Steelers,” Hali wrote. “Am I needed in KC anymore?”

Hali said he always wants to give it all for his team and is frustrated that the team wouldn’t let him.

“I’ve played through all my injuries I’ve acquire throughout my careers not sitting out because I did not feel I wouldn’t be at my best,” Hali said. “I play because I love the game and did it under some of the worst conditions.”

The 33-year-old Hali said he was ready to play in the playoffs, comes to work ready every day, and wants to be a valuable member of the team.

“I was healthy last year and the year before. I had a scope not a major procedure. The result of playing for a long time,” Hali wrote. “I haven’t missed any off-season workouts in 11 years w/the Chiefs. I’ve played in every game except four in my 11 year career with Chiefs.”

Hali wasn’t pleased with the playoff loss, wasn’t pleased when the Chiefs fired General Manager John Dorsey last month, and isn’t pleased now. With training camp about to open, the Chiefs have some issues with a star player.

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The preseason is often a letdown, as fans get excited for the return of football only to watch a game featuring a bunch of third-string scrubs who will be bagging groceries by September. At least Cardinals coach Bruce Arians is warning you in advance.

Arians said today that he has decided not to play quarterback Carson Palmer and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald in the Hall of Fame Game.

Although Arians said he does want to give his starters more preseason reps to have them up to speed for the start of the regular season, he doesn’t want to put too much on two of his most important players.

So when the Cardinals take the field against the Cowboys, Drew Stanton will get the start at quarterback. No word yet on whether Dak Prescott will suit up for Dallas, but suffice to say that if he does, he won’t play long. Nor will fans’ excitement for the return of football, once they remember what the preseason is all about.

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UNLV sees “no hurdles” in their negotiations with the Raiders for the new football stadium they’ll share, and they’ve hired a lawyer who charges $745  per hour to assist with the no hurdles that will be experienced.

Via the Las Vegas Sun, the school has hired Daniel Etna of Herrick Feinstein LLP to advise it through the process of working out a fair deal with the Raiders.

“Getting the best possible use agreement for UNLV will dictate its future in athletics,” University Regent Trevor Hayes said, via the Sun. “I support spending money to hire the best experts. Even if it costs $100,000, that equates to $3,333 per year for the 30-year life of the [lease]. A poor use agreement will put UNLV out of the Division I athletics business.”

The Raiders and UNLV are legally required to share the venue, which will be built with $750 million in taxpayer money. But it’s up to the Raiders and UNLV to negotiate the agreement, and the first draft proposed by the Raiders likely was slanted in favor of the side that wrote it. So they’ll go back and forth in order to work out a final deal, and UNLV can either do it by the seat of their pants or the school can rely on someone with the knowledge, experience, and skill to get the best possible deal.

Which the Raiders surely are already doing.

The PFT preseason power rankings are entering the home stretch. Before seeing how it ends, why not go back to the beginning and review the full list?

Teams No. 8 through 32 appear below. Below that, your comments about where we’re right, where we’re wrong, plus whatever else didn’t get deleted due to the presence of locker room talk.

But don’t pop off without doing your homework; click the links to the ones you may disagree with before articulating your disagreement. And, yes, I’m simply saying that to generate clicks.

8. Kansas City Chiefs.

9. New York Giants.

10. Tennessee Titans.

11. Miami Dolphins.

12. Denver Broncos.

13. Houston Texans.

14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

15. Detroit Lions.

16. Baltimore Ravens.

17. Carolina Panthers.

18. Philadelphia Eagles.

19. New Orleans Saints.

20. Minnesota Vikings.

21. Cincinnati Bengals.

22. Arizona Cardinals.

23.  Buffalo Bills.

24.  Los Angeles Chargers.

25. Washington.

26. Indianapolis Colts.

27. Los Angeles Rams.

28. Jacksonville Jaguars.

29. San Francisco 49ers.

30. Chicago Bears.

31. Cleveland Browns.

32. New York Jets.

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While the Chiefs may not be knocking on the door of the Super Bowl, they’ve been loitering on the porch. For 2017, the question is whether they’re deliberately taking a few steps down toward the sidewalk in order to getting a running start that will knock it down.

In three of coach Andy Reid’s four seasons with the team, the Chiefs have made it to the postseason. But a bye in 2016, their first first-round bye since 2003, led to the same outcome as each of the other three times they skipped wild card weekend and hosted a game in the round of eight: The Chiefs lost.

They last made it to the AFC title game in 1993, and most perceive a gap between Kansas City and Oakland even though Kansas City, not Oakland, most recently won the AFC West. Contributing to the confusion regarding the Chiefs was the curious decision to invest two first-round pick in a work-in-progress quarterback when Alex Smith still has gas in the tank. The move became an obvious admission that they believe Alex Smith is a guy who can keep them on the porch, but not much more than that.

Biggest positive change: In an offseason that didn’t feature much in the way of veteran player acquisition or departure, the effort by the franchise to get a franchise quarterback stands out — if they’re right about Patrick Mahomes. For now, it’s a coin-flip proposition at best, especially with Mahomes making the difficult transition from the college spread to Reid’s version of the West Coast offense. Given that the league has three types of teams — teams with franchise quarterbacks, teams trying to find franchise quarterbacks, and teams who aren’t quite sure whether their quarterback is a franchise quarterback — the Chiefs have decided after four years with Alex Smith that he isn’t. While the move may not bear much fruit in 2016, it sets the stage for filling the void that will emerge in the conference if Tom Brady is in the final year or two of his career.

Biggest negative change: The sudden, abrupt decision to dump receiver Jeremy Maclin surprised many and reinforced the idea that the Chiefs are focused more on developing for the future than pushing their chips to the middle of the table right now. And while Reid knows Maclin well enough to know when to get out from under an eight-figure salary, the fact that the Chiefs didn’t try to get him to take less and stick around means that they simply wanted to clear him off the roster so that younger guys can get the reps. If the younger guys can’t get it done, however, that won’t help the Chiefs get to the divisional round again, and it definitely won’t help them get past it.

Coaching thermometer: By getting an extension on the same day G.M. John Dorsey got a pink slip, Reid has as much security as any coach in football. And with Brett Veach replacing Dorsey, many believe Reid will now have even more influence over the roster. So if the Chiefs are indeed taking a step or two back in an effort to eventually take a step up, chances are that Reid will be there every step of the way.

We’d like to crack a beer with . . . Eric Berry. He overcame cancer and has returned as good as ever, becoming the heart and soul of the team and finally getting a contract that reflects it. What does he really think about undermining Smith and eventually replacing him with Mahomes? What does the think about the way Maclin’s exit was handled? Does he truly believe that the team is moving in the right direction, and that the team can put together a championship-caliber offense before the window closes on a quality defense?

How they can prove us wrong: If they decide to throw Mahomes into the fray as a rookie in the hopes of having the game slow down for him sooner than later, the Chiefs could quickly become not a top-10 team. Likewise, the apparent plan to thrust 2016 rookie phenom Tyreek Hill (who averaged only 5.3 touches from scrimmage per game last year) into a bigger role will mean more opportunities to take more of the hits that are more likely to lead to an injury.

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On August 3 Tom Brady will turn 40, an age at which NFL quarterbacks have rarely been able to keep playing. But if Brady plays in 2017 at anywhere close to the same level he played in 2016, he’ll be the best 40-year-old quarterback the league has ever seen.

So far, the list of quarterbacks who have entered a season at age 40 or older and played well that year consists of just one name: Warren Moon, who entered the 1997 season at age 40 (and turned 41 during the season), and that year he led the NFL with 245.2 passing yards per game and was chosen to the Pro Bowl.

Other than Moon, the list of quarterbacks entering a season at age 40 and older is a list of players who were past their primes. Brett Favre entered the 2009 season at age 39 and played well after his 40th birthday, but by 2010, the season he entered at age 40, he had fallen off a cliff. Doug Flutie and Vinny Testaverde were still in the league after turning 40, but they didn’t play particularly well. Hall of Famers Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgensen played at age 40, but they were backups.

If Brady can do anything close to what he did last year, when he threw 28 touchdown passes and two interceptions, it will be by far the best season of any quarterback who entered a season age 40 or older. And even if Brady takes a significant step backward, he’d almost certainly be the second-best 40-year-old quarterback behind Moon.

Brady is going to get old eventually, because everyone does. But he’s poised to be the best old quarterback ever.

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Robert Mathis retired this year after a 14-year NFL career, all with the Colts. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and won a Super Bowl ring. But only one.

As Mathis looks back on his career, he sees a lot of accomplishment, but also regret, for the fact that a Colts team that came close many times only won one Super Bowl.

“Looking back on that team, I feel a mix of pride, and I’ll admit, the slightest bit of disappointment,” Mathis wrote at the Players’ Tribune. “I’m so proud of what we accomplished during our era of Colts football, but I think every person, down to the last man, would tell you that he expected to win more than one ring in Indy. If there’s any regret I have from my career, it’s that.”

The Colts made the playoffs in each of Mathis’s first eight seasons, then missed the playoffs in the year of Peyton Manning’s neck injury and returned to the playoffs for three more consecutive years with Andrew Luck at quarterback. They were consistently among the best teams in the league, and yet they only ended the year on top once. It’s hard not to look at those Colts teams and think that as good as they were, they could have done even more in the postseason.

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Browns receivers coach Al Saunders thinks his team let a Pro Bowl wide receiver get away this offseason.

Saunders told ESPN that he believes Terrelle Pryor, who left Cleveland for Washington in free agency, is going to be a Pro Bowler at the end of the season.

“I will be shocked if he isn’t in the Pro Bowl,” Saunders said. “He’s going to have that kind of year.”

That raises an obvious question: Why didn’t the Browns keep Pryor, who left for a one-year, $6 million contract that Cleveland easily could have afforded under its salary cap? If Saunders seriously believes Pryor is a Pro Bowler, and the Browns’ front office let him walk anyway, that would suggest that the coaches and the personnel department aren’t on the same page.

Despite playing in a bad offense last season in his first year as a wide receiver after switching from quarterback, Pryor caught 77 passes for 1,007 yards. In a better offense in Washington, it won’t be surprising at all to see Saunders proven right. In which case Pryor was a bargain for Washington, and letting him leave was a mistake for Cleveland.

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Eric Dickerson isn’t done offering his opinions about the Rams.

Dickerson, the Hall of Fame former Rams running back who routinely ripped Jeff Fisher before he was fired as the Rams’ coach last year, is now weighing in on the Rams’ quarterback situation. And in Dickerson’s view, last year’s first overall pick Jared Goff showed last year that he’s not as good a passer as 2015 third-round pick Sean Mannion.

“The offense was terrible. The offense looked like a high school offense,” Dickerson said on FS1. “My guy that I would start the season with would be Sean Mannion. I’ve been saying that since last year. Give him a shot.”

Dickerson said he attended a Rams practice last year where someone whose name he did not divulge told him that Mannion was good enough to start, but that Goff got the nod because of the money invested in him as a first overall pick.

“I was at practice early last year, before I got kicked off the sidelines, and I was standing next to some of the guys. I said, ‘Man, he can throw,'” Dickerson recalled. “He said, ‘He can throw it. He can really throw it.’ I said, ‘Why won’t they play him?’ He said, ‘You know. The money. We’ve got a No. 1 draft pick. We’ve got all this money to him.'”

Mannion has never started a game and has thrown just 13 passes in his two years as a Ram, but Dickerson thinks Mannion should be the man.

“It’s all about winning football games,” Dickerson said. “You have a better chance of winning with Sean Mannion.”

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The Pro Football Hall of Fame invites every Hall of Famer to its annual enshrinement ceremony every year, and that will include O.J. Simpson in 2018.

Asked whether Simpson will be welcome once he’s paroled, the Hall of Fame told ESPN, “All Hall of Famers are invited to attend the annual enshrinement.”

Simpson has been a pariah in NFL circles since he was accused of double murder in 1994. But he was granted parole this week for a 2008 armed robbery conviction and is expected to be released in October, so he could attend next year’s enshrinement ceremony.

The Hall of Fame has kept Simpson’s bust in place despite his off-field issues. Simpson has not attended a Hall of Fame ceremony since his own enshrinement in 1985.

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Dolphins center Mike Pouncey will have his left hip examined next week with hopes of being cleared to join his teammates for the start of training camp July 27, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. But the Dolphins won’t make a decision on whether to place Pouncey on the physically unable to perform list until after the exam.

Pouncey has not practiced since last November, playing only five games last season.

Dolphins coach Adam Gase has joked this offseason about placing Pouncey in “bubble wrap” to protect the offensive lineman from injury. To that end, according to Salguero, Pouncey will not practice much in training camp or even the regular season as the Dolphins protect him against injury.

Pouncey has not played a full, 16-game season since 2012, his second season. He has required surgery on both hips.

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Warren Sapp long has campaigned for Hall of Fame selectors to recognize his former teammate Simeon Rice, whom Sapp has said is better than Michael Strahan. Now, the Buccaneers’ website has made a case for Rice to join Sapp and Strahan in Canton.

“There is no doubt Simeon Rice should be a Hall-of-Famer,” former Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, a 2014 Hall of Fame inductee, told Scott Smith. “Anyone that puts up 122 sacks and has eight double-digit sack seasons during a 12-year career deserves to be in the conversation. And he did this while going against the best offensive linemen—the left tackles. Sim is one of the best pass rushers of his time, and he played a big part in making us the dominant defense that we were in the early 2000s. Go talk to some of the great Hall-of-Fame left tackles that had to go up against Sim on a regular basis, and all you’ll hear is how hard he was to get in front of and slow down. For a left tackle out there on an island, he was their worst nightmare.”

Of the defensive linemen voted into the Hall since 1981, only five played all or most of their careers at right end as Rice did.

Selectors have never voted Rice — now in his fifth year of eligibility — a finalist. The top-11 all-time sack leaders have made the Hall of Fame. Leslie O’Neal, who ranks 12th with 132.5 career sacks, and Rice, who ranks 13th with 122, have the most career sacks without a bust in Canton. (Sacks became an official statistic in 1982.)

Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who was Rice’s position coach in Tampa, long has pushed to get Rice in Canton.

“Simeon was always big in the big games from the Super Bowl to all the playoff games,” Marinelli told Smith. “He was the missing piece for our defense because he was a guy that could take the game over. Some of the biggest games he had were against the very best players. He helped drive us to our Super Bowl championship. To me, that is what the Hall of Fame is all about. It’s not just the numbers. It’s about the guys that can get you to a world championship and that’s what Simeon did.”

The problem for Rice is that he played on a defense that already has two Hall of Famers in Sapp and Brooks. Safety John Lynch has been a finalist. Cornerback Ronde Barber becomes eligible in the Class of 2018. As great as the Bucs defense was, they won one Super Bowl. (Yes, I realize who the Bucs quarterbacks were as I covered the team then.) With Lynch, Barber and Rice likely among nominees this year, the question for selectors becomes: Who was the next most important part of that defense?

Rice can take solace in Charles Haley’s journey to Canton. It took Haley, who had 100.5 sacks and five Super Bowl rings, six years to become a finalist and 11 to earn election.

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Defensive lineman David Irving was a no-show as the Cowboys reported to training camp Friday, sources confirmed. ESPN’s Todd Archer first reported Irving’s unexcused absence.

The Cowboys held a conditioning run and physicals at their training complex in Frisco, a day before leaving for Oxnard, Calif.

Receiver Dez Bryant arrived late, and the Cowboys are expected to fine him. Irving, though, is subject to a $40,000 fine for missing the reporting date, according to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement.

Last month, the NFL suspended Irving for the first four games for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. He had four sacks and four forced fumbles last season and was expected to play a big role as a pass-rusher this season.