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| Thursday, August 12, 2021 |
| For the second consecutive Thursday night in months, the NFL will have football streaming to a device near you. And as the preseason truly gets underway and pushes us that much closer to the start of the regular season, there's no shortage of storylines around the league for you to try to keep pace with. But that's why we're here, and I'm stepping in for a day to give John Breech an opportunity to mourn the potential divorce between high-powered safety Jessie Bates and the Cincinnati Bengals -- more on that below -- allow me to present you with the biggest headlines circling the league right now. |
| This is the Pick Six Newsletter, and you want it; nay, you need it in your life. (And please, do yourself a favor and make sure you're signed up to receive this newsletter every day! You don't want to miss our daily offerings of everything you need to know around the NFL.) |
| Teams who could make 2021 playoffs after missing in 2020 |
| The NFL is a league fueled by parity, and it's a huge reason things aren't often stale on a year-to-year basis. Sure, you'll have the usual suspects every few years -- teams who dominate and contend on an annual basis (e.g., Kansas City Chiefs) -- but it's inevitable that Cinderella will show up to the ball. In 2020, you saw the oft-mocked Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills take huge leaps forward to challenge the Chiefs for AFC supremacy, and you saw the legendary Tom Brady take his talents to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise that hadn't won a ring in roughly two decades, then taking it all in a pandemic season. And there were other notables who showed signs of moving forward but couldn't quite make the jump, but maybe they can in 2021. |
| The Pick Six Podcast experts weigh in on who they believe made the right moves to put themselves in position to make the playoffs this season after being unable to a year ago. |
| So, who'd they'd give the nod to? |
| Catch the entire episode below to find out (and subscribe for all kinds of daily NFL talk) right here. |
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| 2. Cowboy up: Dallas getting healthy in August |
| There's a lot of positive news funneling out of Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California, as the team prepares to wrap up and head back to Frisco, Texas following their preseason matchup with the Arizona Cardinals on Friday night. The strained shoulder on Dak Prescott has "improved dramatically" and he went as far as throwing for the first time since pulling himself from practice two weeks ago -- having a 10-throw session with four-time Pro Bowl wideout Amari Cooper on Tuesday before doing more work on Wednesday. Prescott says he feels "no soreness" after firing off a few, and is might get back to full practice duty early next week after the Cowboys do an MRI first to guarantee all's well before removing the reins. |
| It was Cooper's first work with Prescott since last October and Cooper joins DeMarcus Lawrence in being activated from the team's PUP list within the span of a week. Both are now eligible to practice but will be brought along cautiously to ensure they're ready for Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Greg Zuerlein isn't far behind. Zuerlein is "already kicking" and special teams coordinator John "Bones" Fassel says the Cowboys expect their veteran kicker to be "on all cylinders" no later than Week 1. Factor in the return of Tyron Smith, La'el Collins, Zack Martin and Blake Jarwin, and it's looking more and more like Dallas will be fully loaded when they try to bounce back from a disappointing 6-10 finish to last season -- this time with Dan Quinn leading a defense he hopes can match serve with the prolific offense. |
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| 3. Ravens woes continue: 2021 first-round pick will miss time |
| Former first-round pick Marquise "Hollywood" Brown is nursing a hamstring injury that currently has him sidelined, and it's not his first bout with injury. To help both provide insurance in the event Brown misses time for any reason in 2021, and with the goal of finding him a dominant complement when he's on the field, the Ravens spent a first-round pick on receiver Rashod Bateman. Unfortunately for them, Bateman limped off of the practice field this week with what's now being described as a groin injury, and head coach John Harbaugh noted on Wednesday that the rookie might miss "a number of weeks" -- something the Ravens can't afford if it stretches into the regular season. |
| Harbaugh went on to note it "won't be months," but also sounded exceedingly uncertain of how many weeks he's actually referring to. And considering it only takes eight weeks to equal more than one month, the Ravens can only hold their breath and wait while constantly evaluating Bateman's progress, because a groin injury on any player can be a nagging injury. But when that player is a receiver, the chances of reaggravating it are exponentially increased. And with Brown still down, all eyes turn to newly-signed free agent Sammy Watkins and a cast of unproven targets for Lamar Jackson. |
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| 4. Sophomore slump or Year 2 dynamite? |
| It's insanely difficult to make it to the NFL, and it's even harder to do it and then make an immediate impact. That's what players like cornerback Trevon Diggs and wide receiver Brand Aiyuk were able to do though, both joining a short list of 2020 rookies who made their presence felt in short order for the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, respectively. The question is can they either improve upon a strong Year 1 and/or best it, and they're not the only sophomore talent primed to do so. That said, there are some who entered the league last season with a ton of pre-draft hype but failed to live up to it over the first season of the NFL careers, one example being safety Xavier McKinney -- a former second-round pick of the New York Giants who missed the majority of the season due to injury. |
| McKinney did flash when he was on the field, however, and a Giants defense that went out and signed cornerback Adoree Jackson to help complement James Bradberry should combine with the health of McKinney to put him where he wants to be in the season to come. In looking around the league, there are several who either fall into the category of first-year breakout but still have a lot to improve upon to become elite, or in the category of those who stumbled out of the gate but have the potential to regain stride and change games in a major way. Go take a look at who CBS Sports predicts will take center stage in their second season. |
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| 5. Bates and switch: Bengals talks with star safety fall apart |
| You have to wonder at times if the Bengals enjoy things more when they're difficult, as opposed to taking the easy road when given the chance. Now is another one of those times, because while reports are funneling out of camp of a disjointed offense as former first-overall pick Joe Burrow tries to work his way back from a devastating season-ending knee injury, and with former LSU teammate Ja'Marr Chase now in tow, to boot, the defensive side of the ball might be in for a world of hurt in the near future. That's because star safety Jessie Bates III and the Bengals have reportedly seen contract talks fracture to the point there's now a sizable question mark wrapped around his future with the team. |
| Be not misled or confused: Bates is an absolute stud at the position. The former second-round pick earned PFWA All-Rookie Team honors in 2018 and his 2020 season was a career-best, one that saw him deliver 15 pass breakups and a forced fumble while being the definition of consistency in interceptions -- grabbing three in 2020, just as he did in 2019 and 2018. With nine INTs in only three seasons (and as a safety) and 222 combined tackles, Bates wants to be paid his value. If the Bengals don't agree with him on what that is, he'll find it somewhere else when one of the best safeties on the market hits free agency in 2022. |
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| 6. Allen vs. Mahomes: Battle of the direct deposits |
| It feels like it was just yesterday when Patrick Mahomes glued napalm to the QB market and blew it to smithereens with his historic 10-year deal, $450 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, and it kinda was. Since penning that contract in April 2020, others have begun creeping up on the financial marks he set -- Dak Prescott having earned a contract from the Dallas Cowboys this past March that walks past $40 million per season, followed by Josh Allen recently strolling past what Prescott was able to do. Allen landed a six-year extension with the Buffalo Bills that amasses to an eye-opening $258 million with $150 million guaranteed. At first blush, it would appear Mahomes is still light years away from Allen and all comers, but maybe not. |
| Former agent and resident CBS Sports contract guru Joel Corry took some time to dive into the deets of the megadeals of both Allen and Mahomes to see if the former has truly turned the chasm into a crack in the sidewalk -- setting the stage for Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield to try and make Mahomes' money look normal by NFL quarterback standards. It's an intriguing deep dive into the numbers that you should take a swim in, because Mahomes might still be the king of the financial castle, but for how long? |
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