Michael Sam’s NFL career was already on hiatus, but now that he has left the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, it’s fair to wonder if the 25-year-old’s professional football career could be on the verge of ending before it ever really started. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he returns. I’m surprised he left. I was very surprised. […]

In case you haven’t noticed, the San Francisco 49ers are a mess. The team was already sliding after a shockingly poor 2014 campaign, but then defensive stalwart Patrick Willis retired, as did rising star Chris Borland. Top free agent Mike Iupati skipped town, as did head coach Jim Harbaugh. Frank Gore is gone and there […]

Quarterback is one of the most important positions in sports and by far the top position in football. You can’t win without a good one, which is why good quarterback insurance is a great thing to have. Few backup pivots can lead teams to Super Bowls, but some of them are strong enough to keep […]

Every year, at least three teams that didn’t make the playoffs the previous season re-join the postseason picture. And you can pretty much guarantee that’ll be the case again in 2015. Miami Dolphins: We get the feeling someone other than the New England Patriots will rise up in the AFC East, and although the Buffalo […]

For obvious reasons, the NFL values the integrity of the game in a special way. That partially explains why the New England Patriots were hit so hard for Spygate and Deflategate, and it fully explains why the league won’t touch anything related to Las Vegas, casinos and gambling with 10-foot poles. Last year, the league […]

Flipping through Pro Football Talk, CBS and Bleacher Report this morning, it occurred to me that a ridiculous ratio of NFL news this time of year pertains directly to the league’s quarterbacks and their contracts. But when you think about it, that’s utterly silly. Eli Manning is entering “the final year of his contract” but […]

There’s been a lot of talk regarding the quarterbacks of the NFC South lately. Jameis Winston was the top pick in the 2015 NFL draft, Cam Newton just signed an extremely lucrative new contract, there was that report that the Saints are worried about a potential Drew Brees decline, and Matt Ryan’s always in the […]

I’ve argued time and again in the past that even professional athletes deserve to have personal lives. They deserve to have hobbies, they have the right to spend weekends in Las Vegas and we shouldn’t hold it against them so long as they’re putting time into working on their game and they’re staying out of […]

The Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t been good in a long time. A lot of that can be traced back to the fact they haven’t found a reliable quarterback since the Mark Brunell days, but don’t discount the fact the Jags have for years failed to find somebody who can consistently produce as a pass-rusher. Some facts: […]

Reviewing New England’s early-season options if indeed Tom Brady’s suspension holds up to start 2015: 1. Jimmy Garoppolo: This is easy. Garoppolo is already on the roster as the backup quarterback, and the Patriots used a second-round pick on the Eastern Illinois product last year for a reason. He presumably knows this offense well, and although […]

The New England Patriots were already supposed to face heavy fire in the AFC East in 2015. Sure, they’ve won the division 11 of the last 12 years, but defending Super Bowl champions have been cursed of late (only four of the last nine Super Bowl winners have won their divisions the following season) and […]

If the NFL were merely punishing Tom Brady and the New England Patriots (to the tune of docked first- and fourth-round draft picks, a $1 million fine for the team and a four-game suspension for Brady) based on a report that concluded that it was “more probable than not” they breached league rules by taking […]

There haven’t exactly been a lot of blue-chip offensive linemen on the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots or New York Jets in recent years. In fact, the division hasn’t had a first-team All-Pro offensive lineman since 2010. But more than anything else, that might have to do with the fact all four teams […]

Now that the 2015 NFL draft is out of the way, teams have a fresh chance to collect their thoughts and look at any potential holes that still remain on their rosters. And that’s where the final wave of free agency comes in handy. Entering the slow period on the NFL offseason schedule, here’s a […]

That was the most boring first round of a draft I’ve ever experienced. No big surprises, no big slides. The guy who was supposed to go first overall did, the guy who was widely expected to be picked second was. Those were the draft’s biggest names — both quarterbacks from high-profile schools — but neither […]