By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
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Saturday brought us another small plate of NFL preseason action, with three new quarterbacks to watch, including Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins, Denver’s Case Keenum and Arizona’s Josh Rosen (and Sam Bradford, too, we guess).

Here’s what we learned from Saturday’s Week 1 preseason games:

Minnesota Vikings 42, Denver Broncos 28

The fate of the Broncos, like many teams, will begin and end with the performance of their offensive line.

That much was evident in a short preseason debut for quarterback Case Keenum, a star for a very successful 2017 Minnesota Vikings team who saw a bunch of familiar faces lining up against him on Saturday. His new teammates didn’t do the greatest job of giving him time to throw.

Lulls in between plays not included, you could watch Keenum’s entire performance in the same amount of time it would take you to heat up that low-calorie frozen dinner (don’t forget to cut a vent in the plastic and stir the contents!). Keenum opened the drive with a quick out to Demaryius Thomas, who made Vikings linebacker Ben Gedeon miss before picking up the majority of his 5-yard gain. A false start on the next play erased that gain and forced Keenum into a third-and-7, which resulted in an incomplete pass intended for Courtland Sutton and a punt. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
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Josh Rosen had to wait until Sammy Sleeves completed his one drive before Rosen got his first crack at NFL competition.

He didn’t set the world on fire in the Cardinals‘ 24-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. But he showed some small signs Saturday that he might have a productive career in his future.

Playing with the second-string linemen for the majority of his stint, Rosen was subjected to constant pressure, but rarely crumbled. The rookie felt and evaded pressure, escaping the pocket before resetting and completing his best pass of the night, a 21-yard strike to tight end Gabe Holmes. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
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Kirk Cousins‘ playing time on Saturday night was short, and boy, was it sweet.

The anointed man under center looked every bit as advertised in his lone drive versus the Denver Broncos, completing all four of his pass attempts for 42 yards and a touchdown for the Minnesota Vikings in their 42-28 win. The yards and perfect completion percentage don’t quite jump off the page, but the tape will, length aside.

Cousins was confident, precise and looked as comfortable as a new quarterback will ever look. Buoyed by two 20-plus-yard runs by Latavius Murray, Cousins was free to test things out with Stefon Diggs, and all three worked out. Cousins first found Diggs for six yards to open the drive, and then made a key completion, connecting with Diggs on a perfectly placed pass over the shoulder of Bradley Roby for a 28-yard gain. It was the first throw that showed why Minnesota handed the keys and a fully guaranteed contract to Cousins. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
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The Jets surprised many in 2017 by winning five games when they — not the Browns, who ended up winless — were expected to be the league’s worst team.

A standout youngster says that even with those victories, New York did it by going through the motions, not by giving the maximum effort.

“Everybody was used to losing,” Jets safety Jamal Adams told Bleacher Report. “You can always tell that vibe. I came in, and it was like everybody wanted to do the bare minimum. They didn’t want to go above and beyond. They didn’t want to take that extra step.

“They didn’t want to be uncomfortable, [but] to be great, you have to be uncomfortable. You have to be willing to sacrifice and willing to do the little things. And the team, the organization, just wasn’t doing those things.” Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
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A week after dancing around the idea of sending Joel Bitonio out to the edge of the Browns‘ offensive line, Hue Jackson has committed to the change.

Thanks in part to right guard Kevin Zeitler‘s early exit from Wednesday’s practice, Cleveland trotted out a left-side lineup that offensive line coach Bob Wylie termed on July 29 as “Option Z“: Bitonio at left tackle and rookie Austin Corbett at left guard. And according to Jackson, it’s here to stay.

Jackson told reporters Wednesday “it’s full speed ahead with Joel” at left tackle, per the Associated Press’ Tom Withers, explaining moving the excellent guard to tackle gives the Browns their best five up front. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Despite leading a perennial contender in Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin has become a target of sorts for critics of the Steelers.

Last season’s near-constant drama helped to amplify the thought, as did Pittsburgh’s stunning playoff exit via a home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. (The latter eventually cost Todd Haley his job as offensive coordinator.) But Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert took it upon himself Friday to strongly back his coach, no matter how out of control things might have appeared in 2017.

“There’s no concern whatsoever about our team’s attitude, discipline, all that other stuff that gets talked about,” Colbert told reporters at Saint Vincent College, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Absolutely no concern.” Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
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Terrell Owens won’t be in Canton, Ohio, next week with the rest of his fellow 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class members — and as a result, his name will largely be a footnote during the weekend’s festivities.

Owens will be on the banners hanging around the Hall’s campus and on the video boards of the main stage. He’ll go down in history as one of eight to be inducted in 2018 into football’s most hallowed place, the home of gridiron immortality. Merchandisers will likely sell plenty of gear with his likeness on it during the weekend. But in terms of the event, that’s about where his time in the spotlight will end. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
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Training camp is quickly approaching, which means it’s time to preview the most exciting part of the summer. With camps opening later this month, Jeremy Bergman, Herbie Teope, Nick Shook and Marc Sessler are examining the key issues for each team in this division-by-division series. Here’s the AFC West camp primer:

Denver Broncos

Training camp report dates: rookies (July 24) and veterans (July 27).

Location: UCHealth Training Center in Englewood, Colorado.

Most important position battle: Devontae Booker vs. Royce Freeman, running back. Denver has struggled to put together a legitimate threat on the ground in the last two seasons, and even though C.J. Anderson broke 1,000 yards rushing in 2017, it’s been a point of relative weakness. With Anderson now in Carolina and Booker in the lead back role (for now), Denver looks to reset the position group. Neither Booker nor Freeman has proven to be a remarkable receiving option, making this competition a closer one, in that the “loser” can’t just be shifted into a receiving-back role. Booker owns the advantage of experience, but Freeman is more equipped for a load, seeing as the third-round pick has 15 pounds on the third-year pro. Then again, Freeman also has a lot of mileage on him from his college days (he rushed 947 times for 5,621 yards and 60 touchdowns in four seasons at Oregon). Freeman could become the sought-after answer at the position, which is important because it can take a portion of the load off the shoulders of new quarterback Case Keenum. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
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We’re mostly past “I’m in the best shape of my life” season, but are circling back for one more notable weight-loss journey.

Bengals running back Joe Mixon — not known as a chunky back — has shed some pounds in the offseason, trimming from 230 to 218, per the team’s official site. How did Mixon do it, you ask? It wasn’t a fad diet or something purchased from an infomercial. Mixon lost the weight by (unsurprisingly) working out consistently in the sweltering climates of Norman, Oklahoma, and Oakland, California.

The bigger surprise here, though, is that he needed to lose it at all. Mixon looked like a back who was just one block or cut away from making big plays in preseason action and during the regular season. Weight didn’t seem to be an issue. Continue reading →

By Nick Shook
Around The NFL writer
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The tag deadline arrived and passed without so much as a whimper.

The four players who received the franchise tag this offseason and hadn’t yet negotiated a long-term deal didn’t accomplish such a task by Monday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline. Those players: Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, Rams safety Lamarcus Joyner and most notably, Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, will play the 2018 season under their respective tags. Continue reading →