NFLRT 7/19/2024

The questions and discussion…

1) Who is the best present NFL head coach? Why?

Andy Reid is the best current coach in the NFL, especially with coaching Kansas City to three Super Bowl victories in the last five seasons.

He’s led Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to four AFC Championship victories, and one game in which they lost to Cincinnati. He’s coached for 25 seasons, split between Philadelphia and Kansas City with an overall record of 258-144-1 and a 26-16 playoff record. He’s been in five Super Bowls, one with Philadelphia, and has led great teams all-around. Players want to play for Andy Reid and trust his coaching, philosophy and how he teaches the game to young players. He’s even won over half of his challenges as a head coach (72 won out of 143 challenges). 

Andy Reid.

With his third Super Bowl trophy in four years as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs; 258 regular-season wins which are the fourth-most in league history and presently the most of any active coach; plus his 26 playoff victories which rank second in league history and currently the most of any active coach and finally as the only head coach in NFL history to post 100 wins with two franchises… he helped to develop Donovan McNabb and turned the Philadelphia Eagles into a regular contender before heading to Kansas City to work with Patrick Mahomes, who has two regular seson MVPs and two Super Bowl MVPs, during Reid’s tenure as the HC of the Chiefs, Reid has cemented his place as the best head coach right now in the NFL.

2) For whatever reason rumors still prevail regarding the possibility of Davante Adams being traded, with the New York Jets being the most mentioned landing place…

What is your take/opinion on these continuing Davante Adams rumors? Why?  

I don’t think that the Las Vegas Raiders are going to be trading Devonte Adams this season or before the season. He’s going to be in Las Vegas for the entire year as they develop a new quarterback.

Last season, he had zero drops on deep passes, yet was targeted over 20 times and only resulted in two catches. He’s had a rough time in Las Vegas, and while there has been heavy rumors of him being on the move and wanting out, from text messages posted between him and Josh Jacobs, it appears as if Adams is going to stick it out in Las Vegas and see if he can help turn things around with that organization.

Personally, I think Adams needs to get out of Las Vegas and return either to Green Bay or finish off his career playing with his long-time quarterback partner in Aaron Rodgers. However, I just don’t foresee that happening and he will stay in Las Vegas to play out the 2024-2025 NFL season. 

As of Thursday’s (7/18) New York Daily News the Raiders have no intention of trading Adams to the Jets or any other NFL team.

Adams himself appeared on the latest episode of Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast saying “I’m actively on the Raiders… I’m locked in with e Raiders and I feel real good about this team and as far as I  know they feel good about me. If that ever changes, if that got to a point where they weren’t feeling the same way, I ain’t done playing so obviously we would figure out whatever we needed to figure it out.”

He has also said, “If I’m going to be reunited with anybody, it would be Aaron (Rodgers)… or relocated and be anywhere, it would be with Aaron.”

So while he is saying all the “right things” as a player with a valid and current multiple year contract it also seems he wouldn’t say no if the Raiders traded him to a contending team either.

In my opinion these rumors are not going to stop and if the Raiders start off on the wrong foot in the upcoming season then I think they will intensify to the point that some serious discussions will eventually begin with various contending teams with the most likely destination for Adams being the Jets.

At this point all I can say is… stay tuned…

3) Last  week NFLRT asked who the best running is presently in the NFL…

This week…

Who is the best running back to have ever played in the NFL? Why?

The best running back to ever play the game is Barry Sanders, despite him having a shortened career. He only played ten seasons. But he retired on his own merit.

He was a ten-time Pro Bowler and was awarded first-team All-Pro six times, second-team All-Pro four times.

He has rushed for over 1,000 yards in every season he has played, including posting 1,115 in his lowest rushing total season. He’s led the league in rushing four times including over 2,000 yards in his second-to-last season (1997) when he rushed for over 128 yards per game. In over 3,000 career carries, rushed for 99 touchdowns, 380 first-downs and 15,269 total rushing yards (which equals to five yards per carry) and only recorded 41 fumbles.

He also has recorded 2,921 receiving yards in his career along with ten receiving touchdowns.

He was an one-time MVP and finished top-three two other times. He finished top three in Offensive Player of the Year polling twice, top five once, and won the award twice including winning Offensive Rookie of the Year in his first season in the league.

He was an unstoppable player, and he could’ve kept playing if he had wanted to and taken home all the career rushing records. His career statistics, when you dive into them, are absolutely mind-blowing. Nobody can top Barry Sanders. 

If we are going by pure numbers then Emmitt Smith is the answer to the question… in his 14-seson/226 game career, he leads all rushers with 18,355 regular seson career yards as well as being the postseason leader with 1,586 yards. He has held the all-time rushing yards record since 2002 and is the only player with over 17,000 regular season rushing yards. He also holds NFL records for career rushing touchdowns, seasons with at least 1,000 rushing yards (11), as well as the record for career 100-yard rushing games (78). He also is a three-time Super Bowl champion (XXVII, XXVIII and XXX) and a Super  Bowl MVP (XXVIII).

However I personally have coin flip decision between two other running backs that I think surpass Smith’s great career with what they did with their “limited” time playing in the NFL…

Barry Sanders played only 10 years/153 games before retiring on his a own accord. In that time span he compiled 15,269 rushing yards, 99 rushing TDs and 109 total TDs and 18,308 all-purpose yards. Sanders is still fourth on the career rushing list, despite playing just 10 seasons. He took home two NFL MVP awards (1991, ’97), four NFL rushing titles (’90, ’94, ’96, ’97), and he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl all 10 seasons.

And then there is Jim Brown…  In only a 9-year/118 game career, from which he also retired on his own accord, Brown wrote the book on how dominant a player could be at the running back position. He retired with games 12,312 rushing yards, 106 rushing TDs; 15,459 all-purpose yards and 126 total TDs. In an era when defenses were built to stop the run, Brown dominated them all. He is the only running back in the history of the NFL to average more than 100 yards rushing per game (104.3) and is the NFL record holder for career yards per carry at 5.2. Brown was an eight-time NFL rushing champion, a four-time NFL MVP and he was selected as an All-Pro eight times during his Hall of Fame career.

Which back is the “best”?

I got it as a virtual tie between Brown and Sanders… so I’ll say Bown is 1A and Sanders is 1B as the two best all-time runners in the game with Smith a very close second behind the two.

4) Jamal Adams was the sixth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Jets and he earned Pro Bowl selections in three of his first four seasons. New York traded him to the Seahawks for essentially three draft picks (two first round draft choices in 2021 and 2022 and a 2021 third rounder) back in the summer of 2020. In his first season (2020) in Seattle he earned another Pro Bowl selection as he set the single season sacks record for a defensive back with 9.5. The following year in 2021, the Seahawks signed him to a four-year, $70 million extension. Adams only played 10 games in the next two seasons due to a torn quadriceps injury and a knee injury. In nearly March of this year the Seahawks cut Adams.

On Thursday (7/11) the Tennessee Titans announced that they had signed Jamal Adams to a one-year deal.

Can Adams revitalize his NFL career in Tennessee and return to his former All-pro level of play? Why or why not?  

The key to Jamal Adams revitalizing his career in Tennessee after an unfortunate two years with back-to-back injuries taking away most of his seasons will be to staying healthy with the Titans.

While he allowed a high completion percentage last season in coverage, he also only allowed a low yardage-per-pass (5.6) and just two touchdowns. He had an over 15 percent missed tackle rate last season as well. I believe it was because he missed so much time from injuries that his numbers declined and with a change of scenery and the proper training going into the season to get him back into performing at a high level again in football.

Adams can get it back together, but he needs to stay healthy. Last season was a disappointment, but he only played in nine games. The season before? One. Stay healthy, he’ll be back to his old self of such as he showed when he was with the Jets. 

In my view if Jamal Adams can stay healthy with the Titans then I see no problem with him returning to playing in the NFL at his former elite level that he performed at while with the Jets.

It’s all about him staying healthy for a full season and getting back into the flow of the games. If he can do that then yeah he can revitalize his NFL career in Tennessee and return to his former All-pro level of play.

5) Flag football is slated to become an Olympic sport at the 2028 Olympics.

Various NFL players, including star QBs Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow as well as Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill, have expressed a strong interest in playing flag football for the U.S. in the Olympics.   

It’s unclear if NFL players will be suiting up for the United States in the flag football but NBA and NHL players have represented the United States as well as other countries in previous Olympics in their respective sports so it would be very plausible to think that NFL players would be allowed to play flag football in the Olympics also.

What is your opinion on flag football becoming an Olympic event? Why?

And…

Would you as a NFL head coach or GM want your player participating in flag football in the Olympics? Why or why not?

I would be in favor of flag football joining the Olympics in 2028. However, I feel like, to make it more competitive across the board, we would eliminate current NFL players from being eligible to play in the Olympics. I’m not sure there’s enough players from the other countries to make large enough rosters to be competitive.

However, it is the Olympics, and the best-of-the-best should be allowed to compete. And if they are, as an NFL coach or a general manager, I would have no qualms over allowing any of my current players to play in the Olympics. It’s the Olympics, and if you want to represent your country when the opportunity presents itself on the world’s biggest stage, why should I be the one to prohibit you from making that choice? Majority of people don’t get that opportunity ever in their life. So that you have that opportunity, and want to take advantage of it, go ahead. I’m in favor of adding it, I’m in favor of letting everyone play who wants to play, and I’m in favor of no restrictions whatsoever here. 

I’m not against it. Why not have flag football as an Olympic event?

However if NFL players are allowed to play I’m not sure any country not named the U.S. of A. can get together roster that can compete with level of talent the US will have on their teams.  

Still if NFL players are allowed to play… As a coach or GM I would have my worries of the potential injuries that could occur but there is no way I would tell a player that he can’t play for his country in the damn Olympics.