The St. Louis Rams have accomplished a curious and rare feat in today’s NFL. They’ve been consistently average. Or thereabouts at least, give or take a crushing loss. Jeff Fisher has been the head coach in St. Louis for three seasons, and overall his record during that time is 20-27-1. He recently concluded his worst […]

NFL teams can’t really win free agency. It’s impossible to win something that exists right now only as news that bounces across a ticker or your computer screen. None of the signings have had any influence on the winning and losing that actually matters. You know, the games. Free agency can only be won or […]

As I write this it’s been nearly two full days since The Great Trade Hour of 2015, which is still difficult to fully comprehend. It’s a rare day when the acquisition of Haloti Ngata, a five-time All Pro, can be overshadowed. Jimmy Graham will have that effect, as will any Jimmy Graham-level player who moves […]

At some point over the next few days or weeks, Michael Vick will sign with a new team. It’ll be his third different NFL outpost over the last three years, and another backup role in which he’s left to feebly hold on to a career. That’s who Vick is now. He’ll turn 35 before the […]

Football demands youth spread throughout every roster, because older bodies have endured more punishment, and could break easily. This is not revolutionary thinking, but the salary cap dictates that finding veterans to plug into a specific role is a necessary front-office skill. It separates championship-caliber general managers from the rest. Aging yet still useful talent […]

A short time ago considering a future with Adrian Peterson wearing anything but a Minnesota Vikings uniform seemed blasphemous. Now the end is near, and it’ll come amid heated words and hurt feelings. An already deteriorating relationship hit a new low during the scouting combine when Peterson’s agent, Ben Dogra, had to be separated from […]

There are dollar store-level bargains in free agency every year. Often the buyer has to look past a flaw of some kind, with those in the second or third waves of free agency passed over because of an injury, character concern or a simple fear of the unknown. But each year there are sweet deals […]

Since 2004 the defending Super Bowl champion has hosted a Thursday night kickoff extravaganza to begin the following season. Only 2013 was an exception when the Baltimore Ravens were muscled out by their baseball neighbors and forced to play in Denver. A new season brings giddy excitement into our lives. That’s a hard feeling to […]

Super Bowl XLIX was, in a word, stunning. The entire game was highly entertaining and worthy of the Super Bowl spectacle. But these five plays stood out as the defining moments. 1. Something pretty important happened at the end, right? The decision to do anything other than put the ball in Marshawn Lynch’s gut to […]

This Sunday the 2014-15 NFL season will officially come to an end, and Wade Phillips didn’t set foot on a single sideline. Let’s make a pact to ensure that never happens again as long as he’s willing and healthy. The Denver Broncos just did their part by hiring Phillips, and he’ll now be the defensive coordinator […]

The state of the first-round running back is a commentary on more than just a position. It speaks to organizational philosophies and values. It shows the team-building priorities in a league increasingly driven by passing. And it reflects a hesitancy to invest heavily in a player whose football life is, at best, fleeting. Let’s call […]

The eventual Super Bowl MVP is often easy to predict long before the game even begins. That’s because superstar players tend to do heroic things on the NFL’s grandest stage. Of the players who have received the prestigious MVP hardware, over half have been quarterbacks (26), and only nine have been defensive players. It wasn’t […]

Let’s begin by travelling back in time to 2010. It was a strange and awful period in the human existence when you may or may not have woken up feeling like P. Diddy. It was also the final year before swift rule changes that made passing in the NFL about as easy as breathing. At […]

Bill Belichick has already earned a place among the best head coaches in NFL history. A win Sunday and merely appearing in a sixth Super Bowl would elevate him to an even higher rung, one currently occupied by only one other coach. Only Don Shula has coached a team to six Super Bowl appearances. Belichick […]