Some Patriots news on this Friday:
– The New England Patriots released some news on Thursday, with five veterans set to start training camp next week on PUP. According to the team, David Andrews, Jonathan Jones, Raekwon McMillan, Jabrill Peppers and James White are among players who will be sidelined to start the preseason. White’s name wasn’t much of a surprise given the severity of the injury he’s working his way back from. While the team is likely taking a cautious approach with Andrews and Jones as they both continue recuperating from shoulder surgeries, McMillan’s name is probably the more surprising one given that his ACL injury happened last preseason, along with the fact he reportedly saw quite a bit of work during OTAs. Peppers is also coming back from an ACL, so he’s another one where it could just be a case of the club trying to avoid seeing either player suffer a setback. But as we know, New England’s defense is going to be a key focus in these coming weeks so one can only hope they’ll be ready to go sooner than later. Also reportedly starting the preseason on the sideline are rookies Chasen Hines and Andrew Stueber, who were placed on the active/non-football injury list on Tuesday. There’s a photo of Hines walking uphill and looking very unhappy on the club’s website, so unlike all the other players who were smiling in the photos posted by the team, this is likely not the start the rookie was hoping for.
– The other interesting bit of news that came out on Thursday was the fact the team announced the coaching staff for this season, and neither Matt Patricia nor Joe Judge were officially named Offensive Coordinator for the team. Patricia was listed as the “Senior Football Advisor/Offensive Line”, while Judge holds the title of “Offensive Assistant/Quarterbacks”. Nick Caley, whose name has come up in some discussions about potentially becoming an offensive coordinator either here or elsewhere at some point, remains listed as “Tight Ends” coach. His situation is interesting and it certainly looks like his future may potentially be in doubt. In fact, during a recent Q&A with readers on BostonSportsJournal.com, Greg Bedard gave the possibility of Caley being back with the club in 2023 a “2 percent” chance, which obviously means Bedard believes Caley is likely leaving after this season. The club also doesn’t have an official defensive coordinator, with Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo each listed as “linebacker” coaches.
– After recently announcing his retirement from the NFL, it appears Jason McCourty has already found a new gig to keep him busy for the foreseeable future. McCourty is reportedly heading to the NFL Network to be a part of the new group at Good Morning Football. McCourty joins cohosts Peter Shrager, Jamie Erdahl, Will Selva and Kyle Brandt. “I’m fired up to join the team at NFL Network because it enables me to step out of one locker room and into another,” said McCourty in a press release from the league. “Being able to team up with Jamie, Peter, Kyle and Will gives me new teammates with the common goal of adding to the success of Good Morning Football. I look forward to the early mornings, great debates, laughter, and talking about the game I fell in love with. I know it will be a fun ride filled with fascinating guests and incredible segments. I will take full advantage of learning from my awesome co-hosts and production team. I’m excited to bring an inside perspective of what it’s like to be an NFL player. I’ve had the pleasure to experience it all in the NFL, from being drafted at the end of the sixth round, to being cut, then traded and finally retiring. I’ve endured seasons of 0-16 to hoisting a Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LIII. Good Morning Football now gives me the platform to share those experiences and lessons with fans all over the world.”
– The team also announced the schedule for the first few days of training camp next week, with the first public practice behind Gillette Stadium set for Tuesday, July 27th at 9:30am, with gates opening up at 8:00am. That’s the time for each day through July 30th, although fans will want to keep an eye on the team’s official website since those times are obviously subject to change. According to their site, those times are also tentatively set to remain that way from August 1-4, although anyone attending will, again, want to confirm before heading out to the stadium.
NFL NOTES:
– There was some big news out in Arizona on Thursday as Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was given a surprisingly lucrative extension, which will now likely be yet another benchmark future quarterbacks will look at when it comes time for their own new deals. Murray reportedly received a 5-year, $230.5 million deal, which is slightly higher than the $230 million fully guaranteed deal that was given to the Browns’ Deshaun Watson. Murray’s deal is reportedly not fully guaranteed, with the quarterback set to make an average of $46.1 million per season. That’s an unbelievable number considering it wasn’t that long ago NFL quarterbacks saw their deals in the high teens with the elite QBs seeing salaries in the mid to upper 20s. Couple that with the fact Murray has been relatively inconsistent and it makes you wonder what effect it will have on other players like Lamar Jackson and others at that position moving forward. Aaron Rodgers already set the bar with a league-leading annual amount of $50.3 million, but it’s clear that we could even potentially see that one broken at some point, which is pretty crazy.
– The Cleveland Browns are apparently making their own contingency plans as they await the outcome of Watson’s legal issues. They reportedly added former first-round pick Josh Rosen, who will join Jacoby Brissett in the quarterback room to start the preseason. Rosen was the 10th overall selection in the 2018 draft by the Cardinals and his crash happened fairly quickly, with Arizona wasting little time after parting ways with him in 2019 and he’s been unable to establish himself elsewhere thus far. Depending on how long Watson is out for, Rosen still probably faces an uphill battle earning a starting role. Brissett has been a fairly solid player in the league, with the former Patriots quarterback having already been far more successful and he remains a player teams feel confident in, which is a trait Rosen has yet to be able to display anywhere he’s been so far. The fact he’s already on his sixth NFL roster speaks volumes, and it just goes to show you what an inexact science first-round quarterbacks can be and how fortunate the Patriots are to have quickly landed a quality one in Mac Jones.
– It sounds like the league is heading to a new streaming service called “NFL+”, which appears like it may potentially someday replace their current “GamePass” service, which is a favorite among quite a few fans. There were some comments made by Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp on SI.com, who talked about some of the upcoming features of their new streaming platform. The current service already allows for watching out-of-market preseason games and listening to radio broadcasts, both of which are said to be new features of this upcoming “NFL+” service. Local and national games will be available through the service as well during the season, essentially just like cable. There will also reportedly be NFL Network shows on-demand and NFL Films archives, the latter of which are always extremely well done.
– The most interesting bit of news remains the future of NFL Sunday Ticket, which could ultimately be one of the biggest moves. Sunday Ticket has long been exclusive to DirecTV, with out-of-town fans forced to have a dish and pay for expensive programming. All rumors seem to point to that finally coming to an end, and Rolapp added that it’s definitely changing, saying, “NFL Sunday Ticket has been a fan staple since its inception in 1994 providing a way for avid fans to watch all the NFL games played on Sunday. But we believe it can be a lot better and we are planning a new rollout of NFL Sunday Ticket for the 2023 season. While we are not ready to reveal that just yet, one thing we can say is it will be more innovative, accessible and digital.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
