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| Friday, August 23, 2024 |
| Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| If you hate preseason football, then I have some fantastic news for you today: The preseason is about to be over. The final weekend is here, and after Sunday, there will be no more games and we'll be going full steam ahead into the regular season. |
| The only downside to the preseason being over is that we're going to have roughly two weeks to burn until the start of the regular season. My guess is that we'll be spending those entire two weeks talking about Brandon Aiyuk trade rumors. |
| Speaking of Aiyuk, we'll actually be covering the latest on him today, plus, we'll be taking a look at some players who could be in line to have a breakout season. |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. |
| 1. Today's show: Predicting players who could have a breakout season |
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| Our new NFL podcast here at CBS Sports, "Pushing the Pile," is finishing up its first week ever and it's going out with a bang. For today's show, Mike Renner and Kyle Long tried to pinpoint a few players who could have a breakout season in 2024. |
| Here is one player that each guy likes to break out this year: |
| Kyle Long: Sam Darnold. Long thinks that Minnesota might actually be the perfect situation for Darnold to thrive. "I think they've got a lot of the pieces here for Sam Darnold to step in. He's a guy who's been thrown to the fire in a lot of bad situations, he's been to hell and back as a quarterback," Long said. "But now, you're throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson, you got that great protection. ... I'm looking to see the Purple People Eaters get some 'W's with [Darnold]." Mike Renner: Anthony Richardson. Renner likes the fact that Richardson is now going to get to play with Jonathan Taylor for the first time. "What I saw in those games [last year] is a guy who's ready for the NFL," Renner said of Richardson. "He was calm in the pocket, calm under pressure, easy pocket movement and a special athlete. ... He's also a tier 1 rushing threat who we didn't get to see with Jonathan Taylor last year. In a tragic twist of irony, the game that Taylor came back was the game where Richardson got hurt, so we never got to see that combo, and now, we get to see those two behind what I see as a top-five offensive line in the NFL." |
| The two guys spent nearly 45 minutes going over possible breakout players along with several other topics. If you want to listen or subscribe to the podcast, you can do that here (and you definitely should). You can also watch today's episode on YouTube by clicking here. |
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| 2. NFL Week 3 preseason: Biggest takeaways from Thursday's games |
| There were two preseason games played last night, and we have takeaways from both of them. |
| Colts 27-14 over Bengals |
| The Bengals kept most of their starters on the bench for the entire game while the Colts starters played into the second quarter. |
| Anthony Richardson has an up-and-down day. After struggling against the Bengals in a joint practice this week, Richardson didn't exactly get revenge on Cincinnati in this game. Although there was definitely some good -- Richardson threw a 9-yard TD pass to Adonai Mitchell -- there was also some bad, and that came when he threw a pick six against the Bengals defense that featured almost all backups. Overall, Richardson ended up finishing 8 of 14 for 86 yards during his five possessions on the field. Jermaine Burton shines. The Bengals rookie is buried on the depth chart right now, but he might move up if he keeps playing the way he did against Indy. The 2024 third-round pick caught four passes for 56 yards, including a 21-yard TD that you can see here. Burton finished the preseason with eight total catches for 157 yards and two touchdowns. |
| Bears 34-21 over Chiefs |
| In this battle of backups, the Bears ended up steamrolling the Chiefs. |
| Carson Steele might be the Chiefs' newest star. The undrafted rookie out of UCLA might have just officially earned a roster spot with the way he played in this game. Steele had four carries for 50 yards against the Bears, including a 31-yard run where he stiff-armed a Bears defender into another dimension (You can see the run here). In three preseason games, the fullback has run for a total of 87 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Velus Jones Jr. goes off on Kansas City. When you're on the field for the second half of the final preseason game, that usually means you're probably on the bubble for making the roster. If that's the case for Jones, he did his best to make sure the Bears keep him. The running back carried the ball 11 times for 113 yards and a touchdown against Kansas City. His most impressive carry of the night came on a 39-yard TD run that you can see here. Bears player taken to hospital. Bears defensive back Douglas Coleman III was taken to the hospital during the second half. Coleman went down after being involved in a routine tackle. Although the injury appeared to be serious, there was some good news: Bears coach Matt Eberflus said that Coleman gave a thumbs up before he left the field. "When I was out on the field on the Chiefs sideline, he was moving his limbs and gave us a thumbs up, so that was really uplifting to our football team," Eberflus said, via the Chicago Sun-Times . Coleman is trying to crack the Bears' roster after playing the past two seasons in the CFL. |
| You can check out our full takeaways from last night here. |
| 3. Brandon Aiyuk trade rumors: Commanders might be back in play |
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| Just when you thought the Brandon Aiyuk situation couldn't get any crazier, it's gotten crazier. With the start of the regular season now just two weeks away, it looks like we can add another team to the Aiyuk sweepstakes. |
| Commanders might once again be interested in Aiyuk. After trading Jahan Dotson on Thursday, it looks like the Commanders might be back in the market to land Aiyuk. According to Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle, Aiyuk to Washington is still a possibility. "My updated information is that everything is still on the table, including all the trades you've heard about. ... That Steelers scenario ... I wouldn't rule out Washington," Silver said on KNBR. The Commanders were originally linked to Aiyuk after he made it clear that he would be interested in playing for them back in June (and he's good friends with Jayden Daniels, who was his college teammate at Arizona State in 2019), so this is definitely something to watch out for. Aiyuk stirs things up on social media. The 49ers receiver hasn't been talking much during training camp, but he has been on social media. This week, he stirred things up by "liking" a photo on Instagram that featured him wearing a Steelers uniform. The photo's caption said, "You know it looks perfect." So it appears that Aiyuk is still definitely open to playing in Pittsburgh. Aiyuk's latest asking price. According to the Washington Post , Aiyuk wants a deal of at least $30 million per year from the 49ers, but they haven't been willing to offer that much money just yet. The 49ers might eventually budge, but as of now, they haven't been willing to meet his asking price, which is why nothing has been resolved yet. If the 49ers make him an offer of $30 million per year, then he'll almost certainly stay in San Francisco, but if not, then he'll likely end up in Pittsburgh or Washington. |
| No matter what happens, it's probably going to happen soon. The team that ends up with Aiyuk is going to want to get a few practices in with him before the start of the season, which is now just 16 days away for the Commanders and Steelers, and 17 days away for the 49ers, who will be playing in the opening Monday night game. |
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| 4. NFL best bets: Looking at our top over/under picks for the 2024 season |
| The gambling gurus over at SportsLine have been busy churning out NFL predictions over the past few weeks, and for today, they've unveiled their best over/under bets for the 2024 season. |
| These bets are usually under lock and key over at SportsLine (which is behind a paywall), but I picked the lock and I'm going to give you a few of the bets (but not all of them). |
| Larry Hartstein: Eagles OVER 10.5 (-130, Draftkings). "Philly gets the ninth-easiest schedule (per Warren Sharp) and doesn't play any teams that are coming off a bye. The Eagles upgraded both their coordinators. Kellen Moore's faster pace and extensive use of pre-snap motion should supercharge an offense led by stars Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith and Dallas Goedert."R.J. White: Jets Over 9.5 (-150, BetMGM). "This roster is stronger than the one that went 7-10 last year, with Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses and Olu Fashanu providing both quality and depth at the tackle spots. The offense is also deeper at receiver after Allen Lazard finished second at the position in receptions and yards with just 23 and 311, respectively. The team also did a great job improving depth behind Rodgers at quarterback, with Tyrod Taylor a veteran capable of leading this team to 10 wins if needed."Emory Hunt: Steelers Over 8.5 (+116, FanDuel). "This is basically a bet on whether or not you believe Mike Tomlin will have his first losing season in his coaching career. ... At worst, their running game and defense is more than enough to win them ball games, especially against the NFC teams on their schedule. Expect the Steelers to not only win more than eight games, but to contend for the AFC North title as well." |
| The guys over at SportsLine handed out nearly 30 bets that you can see here as long as you have a subscription. If you want to subscribe to SportsLine -- which I highly recommend -- you can do that here. |
| 5. Rookies who will underperform in 2024 |
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| Since we started the newsletter off today by trying to predict the players who might have a breakout season, we thought we'd also go the opposite route by trying to predict some players who might underperform. It's definitely not as much fun trying to pick the under-performers, but we're doing it anyway. |
| Each of our writers came up with one rookie to put on the list, so let's check out what they had to say: |
| Shanna McCarriston: Panthers WR Xavier Legette. "It won't be totally his fault, but I think Legette will have a hard time making a big splash this year while playing in a Panthers offense that was a mess last season."Jeff Kerr: 49ers WR Ricky Pearsall. "Hard to tell what the 49ers are going to get out of Pearsall, who has been hampered by injuries all preseason. Hamstring and shoulder injuries have limited Pearsall's development in training camp, keeping him out of preseason action as well." Jared Dubin: Panthers RB Jonathon Brooks. "A running back coming off a late-season ACL tear, who might miss the first few weeks of the season, on a team that is going to be one of the worst in the league? I'll fade that all day." |
| Our group of writers also tried to predict which rookies might exceed expectations and you can check out their predictions here. |
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| 6. Extra points: Chiefs hand out record-setting extension |
| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
| Creed Humphrey gets PAID by Chiefs. Humphrey is now the highest-paid center in NFL history after landing a four-year, $72 million extension on Thursday. It's a huge payday for the 25-year-old, who has anchored the Chiefs' offensive line since being drafted in the second round in 2021. You can read more about Humphrey's extension here. Patriots QB plan for final preseason game. The Patriots' final preseason game is Sunday against the Commanders and Jacoby Brissett will be getting the start with Drake Maye to follow. If one of them plays this week, that could be enough to earn the starting job for New England's opener against the Bengals. Seahawks and Panthers make trade. The two teams made a rare player-for-player swap. The Seahawks are sending cornerback Michael Jackson to Carolina in exchange for linebacker Michael Barrett. Punishment for Rookie of the Year bet. Earlier this year, Malik Nabers and Jayden Daniels made a $10,000 bet about who would win Rookie of the Year, which was frowned upon by the NFL. As punishment for the bet, the two players were put through extra training sessions to make sure they understood the rules. You can read more about their situation here. Bengals 2023 first-round pick out 4-6 weeks. Defensive end Myles Murphy is going to miss at least a month after spraining his knee during a joint practice with the Colts earlier this week. The loss of the former first-round pick definitely hurts the Bengals' depth on the defensive line as they get ready to open the season in just over two weeks. |
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| | | | | NFL Preseason | | WNBA | The NFL Preseason comes to a close this Sunday. Watch as the Cardinals take on the Broncos for one last game before the regular season kicks off this Sunday at 4:30 PM ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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| | Can A'ja's Aces score a win in Chicago? Or is the Sky their limit? Find out this Sunday at 12 PM ET as the Aces battle the Sky on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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