College football is going to look more like the NFL in 2024.
The NCAA announced several changes on the football front on Friday, including one that should help eliminate the chance of any more sign-stealing scandals in the future. In-helmet communications between coaches and designated players on the field will be allowed for the first time.
As in the NFL, the quarterback and a defensive player with a green dot on their helmet will be able to listen to calls from the sideline before communication cuts out with 15 seconds left on the play clock. That should put an end to the need to flash signals from the sideline and put an end to attempts by any Connor Stallions imitators to try to do what Stallions did for the Michigan program in recent seasons.
In another technological shift, teams will also now have the ability to watch in-game video on tablets on the sidelines.
The NCAA also announced that games will now have a two-minute warning at the end of both halves, which is another change that has long been part of the professional game.
Attorney Mike Caspino, who represents former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough, recently teed off on team owner Michael Bidwill. Caspino’s criticism focused on one specific piece of sworn testimony regarding Bidwill’s stated role in football operations.
“[W]e got into, in Michael Bidwell’s deposition, him telling me that he’s an outstanding judge of football talent,” Caspino said in his appearance on Doug Franz Unplugged. “And I said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Did you ever play the game?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I played it.’ I said, ‘Where’d you play?’ He said, ‘High school, in Washington, D.C.’ I said, ‘So, you’re the one making, you know, the talent decisions around the building?’ ‘Yeah, I am.’ And it struck me that — and in speaking to other people there — that he is such a hands-on owner that he goes into offensive coordinators and tells them who to get the ball to. And he’s making all of the decisions regarding the talent, regarding who to draft. And he’s making it off because he played for a year or two at some fancy boarding school in Washington, D.C. And it just struck me right there why the Cardinals are so bad. They have an owner who doesn’t listen to the people around him and thinks he’s smarter than everybody else, even with the game of football.”
On Thursday, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and Cardinals G.M. Monti Ossenfort conducted their pre-draft press conference. It would have been a perfect opportunity for one of the reporters to ask Gannon and/or Ossenfort about Bidwill’s involvement in football operations.
Not a single question was asked regarding Caspino’s characterization of Bidwill’s testimony.
On one hand, it’s one of the realities of press conferences. The various reporters assume that one of the others will ask the potentially delicate question. And then no one ever does. On the other hand, in a job that relies on cooperation and access, it’s dangerous to be the one who asks a question that will piss off the coach, the G.M., the owner, and/or anyone else in the organization who can help, or hurt, the media’s effort to do their job.
Regardless of why or how the question wasn’t asked, the question wasn’t asked. It would have been interesting to see what they said and how they said it.
It should have been asked. It’s an obvious topic, based on Caspino’s remark. How hard would it have been to ask whether and to what extent Bidwill is involved in picking players?
Most owners are far more involved in such matters than they pretend to be. It’s their team; they have the right to be.
As to Bidwill, Caspino gave the local media low-hanging fruit on the question of whether Bidwill is, or will be, actively involved in picking players. It’s highly relevant with the draft a week away.
The question wasn’t asked. Caspino’s comment about Bidwill’s football involvement otherwise has gotten no attention in Arizona, or elsewhere. (Other than here.) Hardly any attention has been given to other aspects of Caspino’s comments.
We’ll leave it to others to figure out why. For now, the simple truth is that, for most in the local and national media, it’s as if Caspino said nothing of interest this week.
In reality, he said plenty of compelling things. Things that suggest the new lawsuit filed earlier this month against the Cardinals and others will be very compelling. Especially since it will play out in an open and transparent court system.
Tight end Drew Ogletree is back with the Colts.
Ogletree was placed on the Commissioner Exempt list in late December after being arrested on domestic violence charges and charged with two felonies. Those charges were dismissed with prejudice last month and the NFL moved to restore him to active duty,
Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com, that Ogletree is off the exempt list and back on the team’s 90-man roster. Ogletree is taking part in the team’s offseason workouts.
Ogletree was a 2022 sixth-round pick and he had nine catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns in 12 appearances last season.
Bill Tobin, whose long NFL career saw him serve as General Manager of both the Bears and the Colts, has died at the age of 83.
Tobin’s death was announced today by the Bengals. Tobin spent two decades consulting with the Bengals, and his son Duke Tobin is the Bengals’ director of player personnel.
Bill Tobin and his brother Vince Tobin both played college football at Missouri. Vince Tobin would go on to have a long coaching career, including a stint as head coach of the Cardinals. Vince Tobin died last year at the age of 79.
Bill Tobin was drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1963, played one season for them, and then played two seasons in the Canadian Football League. After his playing days ended, Tobin spent many years working in player personnel for the Bears, and he received a lot of the credit for building the 1985 Bears roster that won the Super Bowl.
In 1994 Tobin became General Manager of the Colts. He was running the draft room when they drafted future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk in 1994, he built the team that made a surprise run to the AFC Championship Game in 1995, and he was running the draft room when they drafted future Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr. in 1996.
It was also with the Colts that Tobin gained his greatest notoriety, helping to make the NFL draft must-see TV when he demanded to know, “Who in the hell is Mel Kiper anyway?” when Kiper criticized his picks on ESPN in 1994.
“He was a true NFL success story,” Bengals owner Mike Brown said in a statement. “He was a good person and I considered him a good friend. With Bill, I respected everything he said. I just took it as a given. He had an eye for players and what they would develop into. If he said the guy was a good player, then he was a good player; that’s all I would need to know. We will miss him.”
Brock Bowers wasn’t mentioned by name during Jets General Manager Joe Douglas’ press conference on Friday, but it wasn’t hard to read between the lines.
Mock drafts have frequently had the former Georgia star going to the Jets with the 10th overall pick and he recently visited with the team. During the press conference, Douglas was discussing the different types of offensive playmakers that are in this year’s class and said that there’s a tight end “that’s a Swiss-army knife” in addition to a number of talented wideouts.
Bowers is the only player who fits that description and Douglas fielded a follow-up about whether he would take a tight end at No. 10.
“If that tight end can turn into someone that’s something like Kansas City, San Francisco — or what Sam Laporta did last year in Detroit, those are real dynamic weapons for your offense,” Douglas said. “Guys that put a lot of stress on the defense because they create mismatches. It’s hard to put a linebacker on one of those guys. If you put a DB on one of them, it creates a size mismatch. If you put a safety on one of them, he better be able to run and play man coverage. So I think the right type of tight end could be a real weapon.”
The answer does little to suggest Bowers won’t be under consideration if he’s available when the Jets are picking and that could mean there will be a shiny new target for Aaron Rodgers to use come the fall.
Last year, Josh Harris added the Commanders to a sports portfolio that includes the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. It wasn’t clear how involved he would be in the management of the team.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Harris has been more involved than people expected him to be.
The truth is that most owners are more involved than media and fans realize. They typically like to be able to blame bad decisions on others, in the same way that the owners collectively use Commissioner Roger Goodell as a highly-compensated pin cushion.
This dynamic created a significant potential problem. Whether the owner realizes it or not, his employees are paying attention to everything he says, every question he asks, every move he makes. When you’re a multi-billionaire and the person who ultimately runs the team, anyone with any desire to remain employed by you will be searching for any clues as to what will make you happy.
It’s the calzone effect, as Constanza learned while working for the Yankees. The owner wants what he wants. The best way to maximize job security is to be the one who gives him what he wants.
How subtle will Harris be when it comes to which of the top quarterback prospects he prefers? Our best explanation for this week’s four-quarterback square dance was that they visited on a day that Harris was available to be there for the meetings.
Harris met with quarterbacks at the Scouting Combine. Harris realizes the importance of the decision his team is about to make.
Ultimately, it’s his team. So it’s his decision. He’ll develop a preference. It will be impossible for him to keep it quiet. Once those around him sense what it is, that’s the direction in which they’ll go.
Unless, for example, G.M. Adam Peters is willing to wager his career on rolling the dice with someone other than who the owner wants.
It happened last year with Bryce Young in Carolina. It happened 10 years ago with Johnny Manziel in Cleveland. (It would have happened that same year in Dallas, if the Cowboys hadn’t done everything they could to keep Jerry Jones from issuing a mandate to move on Manziel.)
While it’s still unclear who the Commanders will take, it will undoubtedly be a guy Harris wants. Or, at a minimum, it will be a player of whom he approves.
The Broncos gave up multiple first-round picks to get quarterback Russell Wilson. It didn’t work out.
Would they give up multiple first-round quarterbacks to get their next quarterback?
G.M. George Paton was asked on Thursday how hard it would be to package a future first-round draft pick with this year’s first-round pick, given that they didn’t have a first-round pick in 2022 or 2023.
“I would just say if it’s a player that you think can change the landscape of your organization moving forward, like quarterback, then you do whatever it takes to get him,” Paton told reporters. “If there’s consensus in the building, a love in the building, you’re aggressive and you try to get him. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get him, but you try. So we’re open to everything. We’re wide open.”
If there’s consensus in the building, a love in the building, you’re aggressive and you try to get him.
So if there’s a guy the Broncos love (more specifically, if there’s a guy head coach Sean Payton loves), look for them to try to move up. Especially since Payton came within one spot of getting Patrick Mahomes in 2017.
It was happening. Mahomes was slipping to No. 11. Drew Brees was in the draft room. The Saints had to tell Brees he might witness the selection of his successor.
And then the Chiefs traded up from No. 27 to No. 10 and got Mahomes.
With the Vikings currently one spot in front of the Broncos, would Payton risk losing a guy he loves, again? Or would he move up to get him?
Payton needs a quarterback, badly. He needs someone who can run his offense the way he wants it to be run.
So who is that guy? And who would he potentially “love” enough to move up, even if it means investing next year’s first-round pick?
Our guess, and it’s just a guess, is that the Broncos would do it for J.J. McCarthy. Whether that guess is right, and whether they can move up to get McCarthy, remains to be seen.
The Texans have confirmed they’ll wear an alternate helmet with a new logo this season.
After a fan posted an image on social media of an alternate Texans helmet with a light blue H logo, the Texans effectively confirmed that the leak was real by posting a picture of owner Cal McNair wearing a hat with the same logo.
The light blue H logo uses a color reminiscent of the blue Houston Oilers uniforms that many Houston fans love — but that the Tennessee Titans, not the Houston Texans, own the rights to. When the Titans wore those Oilers uniforms as throwbacks, many Houston fans were not pleased.
Texans senior vice president of marketing, communications and ticket sales Doug Vosik said the team has been listening to fans about how better to represent the community.
“Fans challenged us back a little bit and they said, ‘When I wear Texans gear, I’m repping my city. We love repping the H when it comes to Texans gear. What do y’all think of that, Texans?,’” Vosik said, via the Houston Chronicle. “So, we poked a little bit more and said, ‘Do you just want a new H on more hats, hoodies and shirts? ' And some of them challenged us pretty clearly and said, maybe it would be cool if that was somehow on a sleeve or on the back of a jersey or how do you bring that H identity, rep the H, into the uniform? And we took that challenge very seriously when the fans told us that.”
What Houston fans would really love is for the Oilers throwbacks to belong to Houston, not Tennessee. Unfortunately, the franchise that left Houston in 1997 will not allow that to happen.
While speaking to reporters at the league meetings last month, Jets owner Woody Johnson said that the team will not release quarterback Zach Wilson this offseason if they are unable to find a trading partner for him.
Jets General Manager Joe Douglas referenced those remarks when he spoke to reporters about Wilson at a Friday press conference from the team’s facility. Douglas said that the team is open to making a trade, but that they believe Wilson has value that has to be represented in the return they get in any deal.
“I know you guys talked to Woody about Zach and my thoughts are in line with Woody,” Douglas said, via SNY. “Zach is an asset. At that same time, we’re obviously open to trading Zach. There have been discussions, nothing’s really changed since we talked down in Florida. We’re open to trading him, there’s just no update on that.”
The Jets signed Tyrod Taylor to serve as the primary backup to Aaron Rodgers this season and the prospect of Wilson finding his way back into the lineup at any point is an unappealing one for the Jets’ fanbase, so it will be interesting to see what happens if no trade comes together before the start of training camp.
When last we saw Tom Brady running, he was wearing a Patriots jersey and being celebrated at Gillette Stadium. More recently, he posted on social media a video of himself running shirtless.
Ostensibly, it’s a plug for No Bull, the apparel company that absorbed TB12 and the Brady brand earlier this year. At a deeper level, it’s a reminder that Brady has opened the door to returning to the NFL.
He got things rolling a week ago, when he said he’s “not opposed to” the possibility of coming back during the season, if the starting quarterback for a contending team is injured. Personally, I interpreted that as a message from Brady to any team that might be interested in him for the full season. If he can sign up and play during the season, why not join a quarterback-needy team now?
With Brady, there are no accidents or coincidences. Everything is planned. (That’s not a criticism, just a reality.) He knew what his words would do. He had an objective in uttering them.
He said when he retired for the second time that he’s definitely done and not returning. “I’m retiring,” he said, “for good.” More than a year later, he hints at returning during a season in which he’s supposed to be calling games for Fox?
Brady, I believe, wants the phone to run before or right after the draft. He mentioned the Raiders and Patriots. Other quarterback-needy teams could be interested, too, depending on what happens next week.
The Broncos, the Vikings, even the Commanders could decide to roll the dice with Brady for a year.
Regardless, Brady is making sure teams know he’s available. It will be interesting to see whether anyone calls.
Someone should. Brady would be a middle-of-the-pack-or-better quarterback right now, and he would definitely sell jerseys and put asses in seats.