SliCeR Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 The NFL's team owners will be holding their annual league meeting this week and when that happens, they'll be voting on whether or not to expand the regular season to 17 games. (Spoiler alert: It's going to happen.) One person who doesn't sound thrilled with the idea of playing a 17-game schedule is Saints running back Alvin Kamara, who used four simple words to share his feelings about the subject on Sunday. After Kamara heard that the schedule would be expanding, here's the tweet he sent out, and just so you know, the tweet has been slightly edited since this is a family-friendly website.If you're wondering about that edited part, Kamara used a word that rhymes with spit. (You can see the unedited tweet by clicking here, but remember, there is a word in there that's NSFW.) Kamara wasn't the only one who lodged a complaint about the NFL's plan to add a game. Packers safety Adrian Amos and Eagles cornerback Darius Slay also didn't seem too thrilled about the idea of playing 17 games."I don't agree with it," Johnson said Monday, via the Houston Chronicle. "As football players, especially as a running back, it's tough to get through injury-free." Last year, 49ers corner Richard Sherman said that if the NFL decided to add a 17th game, it would be hypocritical of a league that's always preaching player safety. "It's odd to me -- and it's always odd -- when you hear player safety as their biggest concern," Sherman said, via Sporting News. "They're really standing up for player safety, player safety, player safety. But it seems like player safety has a price tag. Player safety up to the point of, 'Hey, 17 games makes us this much money. So we really don't care how safe they are, if you're going to pay us this much money to play another game." The reason the NFL is allowed to expand the schedule is because the players approved it. As part of the new collective bargaining agreement that was passed in March 2020, NFL players voted to give the league permission to expand the schedule, which means the 17-game season is going to happen and it's likely going to be voted through as soon as Tuesday. According to NBC Sports, the owners will be holding a two-hour Zoom meeting that day (1-3 p.m. ET) and that's when they're expected to vote on the expanded schedule.Wow. Things got interesting real fast last Friday, when the 49ers moved up from No. 12 to No. 3, the Dolphins moved down from No. 3 to No. 12 -- only to move back up to No. 6 (with the Eagles dropping to 12th) minutes later. It was all very dizzying in real time and these seem to be the overarching takeaways: San Francisco is in the QB business while the Dolphins and Eagles appear set to stay the course with their current young passers. But there's more! This week's mock draft is three rounds. So in addition to the aforementioned trades, we also account for the flurry of free-agent moves from earlier this month. OK, let's get to it. (Note: * denotes compensatory picks.)In theory, it is difficult to quibble with the smart and progressive approach the Dolphins have taken to their rebuild under general manager Chris Grier. I've long been a proponent of them finally taking the long-view – and full roster teardown – in order to best position themselves for potential sustained success. And Friday's trades – moving out of the third overall selection in a trade with the 49ers, and then eventually back into the sixth spot via a swap with the Eagles – are again a testament to that. There is a clear vision and execution and method to their maneuvers and roster/asset mani[CENSORED]tions. I'm not wavering from championing any of that as an organizational strata. However, we have reached a point now, with expectations raised, when this enterprise is shifting from theory to practice – as in finding and developing the best from those draft selections with all involved working in synergy. It's about how much production those young players yield every week, and how that translates to wins. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some trepidation about how this will play out. Will there be unity between the front office and the coaching side of things? Will Brian Flores' staff – which seems to be ever-changing – be able to bring out the very best of the draft haul? Is this coaching staff – which played a lot more of the yo-yo stuff with Tua Tagovailoa than I would have liked – going to expertly incubate and cultivate the QB, after even more turnaround on the offensive staff and now with a fairly bizarre system with dueling offensive coordinators? Because at this point – with how this is set up – it's all about Tua. This rebuild will go as he goes. He is everything, and all parties need to be all-in with him. Some around the league wonder how sympatico things will be in this regard in Miami, and whether in his heart Flores coveted Justin Herbert, who shocked the football world by lighting the league up when rushed into duty as a rookie with the Chargers. And Flores comes from a culture in New England where the coach has unfettered power; checks and balances don't really exist. And we've seen that leap to the hasty demise of many a young Bill Belichick disciple as they have moved on to take over their own team.Craving even more NFL coverage focusing on previews, recaps, news and analysis? Listen below and follow the Pick Six podcast for a daily dose of everything you need to follow pro football.
Recommended Posts