VITO'S VIEWS

It might seem logical for the NFL’s highest-paid player to be the league’s best player, too.

But that obviously wasn’t the case when Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons became the NFL’s first $30 million man, even though he isn’t the best quarterback or the best player in the league,

Ryan, though, was able to take advantage of good timing.

He’s only 32, young enough to get a big deal, while Tom Brady has a history of taking below-market deals and Aaron Rodgers’ current deal isn’t up yet.

Is Ryan worth the money? Well, any player is worth what a team will pay him.

Continue reading “Timing, not talent, helped Matt Ryan become the NFL’s highest-paid player”

There is an old saying that when a politician speaks the truth it is called a gaffe.

I was reminded of that line when Ben Roethlisberger publicly complained about the Pittsburgh Steelers drafting quarterback Mason Rudolph on the third round.

Roethisberger got a lot of flak for the comment when he wondered how Rudolph helps the team now.

From his standpoint, Roethlisberger spoke the truth. Rudolph doesn’t help the team win now, and Big Ben wants to win now.

And if Rudolph turns out to be a good quarterback, he could be pushing Big Ben for a job in a year or two.

Continue reading “Roethlisberger needs to pipe down and start winning big games again”

Actions speak louder than words.

That was the message from the Jacksonville Jaguars when owner Shad Khan confirmed reports last week that he has made an offer to buy historic Wembley Stadium in London.

The announcement brought up old fears that the purchase may be the first step in moving the Jaguars to London.

The London Evening Standard, which broke the story, even wrote, “Khan’s long term ambition is to move the Jaguars into Wembley Stadium on a permanent basis, but that remains some way off.’’

A USA Today columnist also speculated the Jaguars could wind up in London.

Continue reading “Skeptics can snicker, but the Jaguars are staying in Jacksonville”

The Jacksonville Jaguars, who only have two quarterbacks on their current roster, figure to have a third by the end of this weekend.

How they acquire that third quarterback will be an interesting subplot to their draft.

If they don’t draft one (or draft one in a late round on the third day) or sign one as an undrafted free agent after the draft ends, he figures to be just a camp arm.

That would be a sign they figure Cody Kessler, obtained from Cleveland for a conditional seventh-round pick, will remain the backup.

If they take one in the second or third rounds (they bypassed Lamar Jackson in the first round), he would likely beat out Kessler for the backup job behind Blake Bortles. Kessler was a third-round pick two years ago.

Continue reading “Jaguars had better hope Lamar Jackson doesn’t become a star”

It was just a coincidence that team president Mark Lamping conducted the Jacksonville Jaguars’ annual “State of the Franchise” news conference last Thursday on the same day the NFL announced the 2018 schedule.

Many Jaguars fans were upset that the team only got two primetime appearances despite reaching the AFC title game last year. They got a Sunday night home game against Pittsburgh on Nov. 18 and a Thursday night game at Tennessee on Dec. 6.

Two AFC South rivals (Houston and Tennessee) got three primetime appearances, and 10 teams got five primetime spots, including the two Super Bowl teams, Philadelphia and New England, while Minnesota, the loser of the NFC title game, got four.

Lamping’s presentation showed the NFL’s decision probably wasn’t a surprise as he talked about the challenges a small-market team faces.

He didn’t address the schedule because it hadn’t been released, but here’s a look at some of the factors that probably influenced the NFL.

Continue reading “NFL doesn’t consider Jaguars ready for primetime just yet, and that makes a lot of sense”

The Dez Bryant divorce from the Dallas Cowboys was messier than it should have been.

In reality, it was just bidness, as they say in Dallas. He had a big contract ($12.5 million base salaries the next two years and a $16.5 million cap number this year), and not only had his production dropped off, but Bryant had tended to wear out his welcome by being a distraction with things like his sideline outbursts. The Cowboys didn’t want him at any price, even if he had agreed to a paycut.

Still, the way it was handled on both sides left a lot to be desired.

First, owner Jerry Jones was not exactly candid when he said at the scouting combine that he wanted Bryant on the team.

Meanwhile, they waited a month to cut him after the league year started, and that cut down on his options now that many teams have spent big money. But Bryant and his agents didn’t think to get a roster bonus payable at the start of the league year, which probably would have forced the Cowboys to cut him a month ago.

Continue reading “Dez’s Dallas exit was understandable but needlessly messy”

As the depositions continue in Colin Kaepernick’s collusion case against the NFL, it’s impossible to predict whether his lawyers will uncover a smoking gun to prove collusion.

But it’s obvious Kaepernick is the victim of one thing – NFL Groupthink.

The NFL is not a bastion of original thinkers who go against the grain. They tend to play it safe and reach the same conclusions, whether they obviously collude or not.

Exhibit A is Tom Brady. No GM in league thought he was worth a flyer in the first five rounds of the 2000 draft. Bobby Beathard was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he didn’t draft Brady even though his coach in San Diego at the time, Mike Riley, lobbied him to take Brady. And Beathard was more of an out-of-the-box thinker than most NFL executives.

The best exhibit this year is UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen. He won’t fall out of the first round because he has too much raw talent, although nobody can predict how good a college quarterback will be in the NFL.

Continue reading “Rosen is a great test of the NFL’s dreaded Groupthink”

Tom Coughlin is like a poker player who pushes all his chips on the table in hopes of drawing an inside straight.

The decision by Coughlin, who is now running the Jacksonville Jaguars organization, to trade a conditional seventh-round pick to Cleveland for backup quarterback Cody Kessler is another example that he is all in on the running game and thinks he can win with Blake Bortles at quarterback.

Kessler makes sense as a backup because he’ll cost the Jaguars less than a $1 million in salary in his third year, and Bortles is so durable that Kessler is not likely to see much action.

But it also means the Jaguars don’t figure to draft a quarterback in the first three rounds or address the problem of finding a quarterback for the future in Coughlin’s first two years.

Kessler certainly isn’t a long-term answer. He was drafted in the third round two years ago, but his stock has dropped since then. No team was willing to offer the Browns an unconditional seventh, much less a sixth, for Kessler.

Continue reading “Coughlin rolling the dice by doubling down on the Jaguars’ run game”

The NFL’s new catch rule may create more problems than it solves and didn’t address the league’s bigger problem in officiating — director of officials Al Riveron overturning calls that should have stood in his first year on the job.

The new rule is a reaction to the going-to-the-ground rule overturning the Calvin Johnson catch in 2010, the Dez Bryant catch in 2014 and the Jesse James catch last year.

There’s no more going-to-the-ground stipulation in the new rule.

But even Riveron said the rule change might lead to more fumbles, which means more replay and more controversy.

Rich McKay, a member of the competition committee, said he will trade 10 fumbles for five memorable catches.

Continue reading “NFL’s new catch rule is a start, but Riveron himself remains a big problem”

Tom Coughlin won two Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants by twice beating New England with a tenacious defense and a quarterback (Eli Manning) who twice piloted game-winning drives late in the fourth quarter.

When Coughlin, fired by the Giants as head coach two years ago, was hired by Jacksonville owner Shad Khan to run the Jaguars last year, he addressed the defense.

He signed three defensive starters in free agency to upgrade his defense into one of the best in the league.

Coughlin, though, did not address the quarterback situation and didn’t bring in one in free agency or the draft to challenge Blake Bortles or even to replace Chad Henne as the backup.

Instead, he decided he needed to bolster the running game to help Bortles and drafted running back Leonard Fournette instead of quarterback DeShaun Watson in the first round and took left tackle Cam Robinson with his second pick.

Continue reading “Doubling down on Bortles was the wrong move in Jacksonville”