The contracts are a reminder that the teams and players have different priorities than usual. At a time of such economic uncertainty, with the salary cap potentially shrinking the next offseason, players may be more inclined to take long-term safety instead of trying to take every last dollar off their teams, which often includes a date with the franchise label. . Kittle is one of football’s most valuable non-quarterbacks, though his hard-earned contract doesn’t fully reflect that. Clark, who got a bigger signing bonus and a higher average salary, is almost as unique to his job.
There is no other true NFL nose tackle with the passing skills that Clark possesses. Like Kittle, he’s improved with each season and just kicked off a dominant campaign in 2019. In Za’Darius Smith and Clark, the Packers have two of the biggest game destroyers at their respective positions playing side-by-side in a foreseeable future. They plan to dominate the right side of the Green Bay offensive line at camp.
11) Billy Turner vs. Rick Wagner is a battle that should be about Packers fans. I assumed Wagner was the favorite to take over on Bryan Bulaga’s good tackle after Green Bay guaranteed him $ 3.5million this offseason, but early days at camp indicate it’s a battle with Turner . Either way, it feels like a big step back from Bulaga’s 2019 coin.
12) Alex Smith’s remarkable comeback isn’t the only quarterback story in Washington. What Smith has overcome is worthy of the Comeback Player of the Year award, no matter what. All natural apprehension about Smith on the pitch dissipates when you see what it means for him and his family.
Smith’s time away from football makes any screening a matter of guesswork, but coach Ron Rivera says he will compete to play like anyone else. Rivera’s comments on whether Dwayne Haskins would start at quarterback in the preseason opener – if they had a preseason game – underscored how open the position remains.
“It would have been Dwayne,” Rivera told the Kevin Sheehan Show last week, via NBC Sports Washington. “He’s competing, next week would have been Kyle [Allen], and we would go from there. We don’t give anything to anyone. It’s all going to be won and that’s one of the things we talked about. He knows that’s how I feel about it and he practices like that. He is very competitive in practice and he has done an outstanding job. And again, he has to show he deserves this opportunity. “
Haskins remains the favorite to start Week 1, but this comment gives me the vibe of Trevor Siemian in 2016. There’s a non-zero chance Allen will start the first game and a reasonable chance he will eventually start, maybe. being with Smith as Josh McCown’s backup / extra coach.
13) Melvin Ingram’s absence from the field is worth watching. Like everyone who watched the first episode of Hard knocks knows, Ingram is at Chargers training camp. He has even hit his own theme music. He did not, however, participate in training for what coach Anthony Lynn calls “the business of the company.”
It is possible that Ingram is the first “internal hold-out” of this new collective agreement. With the new rules requiring teams to fine players if they skip work, a strategy for players looking to get paid could be to show up at camp and participate in all meetings while staying off the pitch. . (And while the negotiation takes place behind the scenes.) That’s speculation. As Notes from Steve Wyche of NFL Network, the reason for Ingram’s absence remains a mystery. But he is in a year of contract, and this explanation would make a lot of sense. It also represents a better compromise compared to the old system, when resistances were more contentious, and could be the start of a future trend.
Update: It has since been reported that Ingram was indeed not happy with his contract.
