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| Thursday, July 20, 2023 |
| Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| If I sound tired, it's because I stayed up until an ungodly hour to watch the first game of the Women's World Cup, and then, when I was finally about to go to sleep, I decided to watch the British Open. Between those two events, America is going to collectively lose four billion hours of sleep this week, but that's OK because sleeping is for wimps. |
| Speaking of not sleeping, Commanders fans might not be sleeping tonight and that's because they'll likely be out celebrating the official exit of Daniel Snyder. We'll be taking a look at the looming sale of the Commanders today, plus we'll be ranking the five NFC coaches under the most pressure. |
| 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. Let's get to the rundown. |
| 1. Today's show: Breaking down the Bills' offseason and predicting how they'll do in 2023 |
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| After taking a quick one-day break yesterday, the "All 32" series is back today and it's back with a bang, because we're going to be talking about the Buffalo Bills. |
| To talk about how things are going in Buffalo, we brought on the affable Matt Parrino of Syracuse.com. Parrino is arguably one of the three most likable people on Twitter, so you should follow him, which you can do here. |
| Here are two topics that hosts Katie Mox and Will Brinson covered with Parrino: |
| What's up with the Stefon Diggs drama? When the Bills report for training camp on July 25, all eyes will be on Stefon Diggs, who clearly wasn't happy with the team as recently as last month. Right now, it's not clear why Diggs is mad, but Parrino thinks it's a combination of two things. For one, he thinks he's frustrated because the Bills can't get over the hump and get to the Super Bowl. Also, Diggs seems frustrated with his role in the offense. "If you're Stefon Diggs and you didn't like the way the offense evolved over the course of last season under Ken Dorsey, maybe you have a lot of questions and maybe those questions weren't being answered adequately." The Bills have exactly one week to get things figured out with Diggs if they want to have a drama-free training camp. Will the Bills win the AFC East for the fourth straight year? The Bills are favored to win the AFC East this year, but they're not a heavy favorite with their odds currently sitting at +125. Although Parrino thinks the Bills have one of the five best rosters in the NFL, there's only one value bet he likes in the AFC East. "I like the action on Miami," Parrino said of the Dolphins, who are +300 to win the division. "You can not understate how important it was to get [defensive coordinator] Vic Fangio, on top of getting Jalen Ramsey. ... When Tua's healthy, they're great and I think they're going to be the No. 1 problem in this division for the Bills." |
| Parrino spent nearly 25 minutes talking about the Bills, and if you want to hear everything he had to say, you can listen to today's show here. You can also watch today's show on YouTube by clicking here. |
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| 2. Commanders sale expected to be finalized today |
| After nearly 25 years, it looks like Washington's long national nightmare is finally over: Daniel Snyder is about to be out as the owner of the Commanders. The NFL owners are all in Minneapolis today and the only thing on the docket is to vote on the sale of the Commanders. If the sale gets 24 votes, which seems to be a formality at this point, then Josh Harris will become the new owner of the Commanders. |
| Here's a look at what this means: |
| Snyder's reign is over. Snyder bought the team in May 1999 and since then, the team has been a disaster both on and off the field. On the field, the Commanders didn't make it to a single Super Bowl under Snyder (or even an NFC Championship game). In 24 seasons as owner, the Commanders made the playoffs just six times while finishing with a postseason record of just 2-6. They also haven't won a playoff game since 2005, which is the fourth-longest active drought in the NFL. The NFL gets rid of its biggest headache. From the team name, to the workplace misconduct allegations to the congressional investigation to the financial improprieties, Snyder has more controversies than he did playoff wins. Josh Harris is taking over. The Commanders new owner is a billionaire who already has some experience when it comes to owning a professional sports franchise. Harris is currently the primary owner of both the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA and the New Jersey Devils in the NHL. It will be interesting to see how Harris handles the Commanders because his other two teams haven't had a lot of success. The Devils have only made the playoffs twice in 10 seasons under Harris' watch. As for the 76ers, they've made it to the playoffs six straight times under Harris, but they've never made it past the second round. Harris is spending $6.05 billion. Harris will be paying a record-setting price for the Commanders. The $6.05 billion is the most ever paid for an NFL team, topping the $4.65 billion that Rob Walton paid for the Broncos in 2022. Harris' ownership group will multiple other partners, and of those investors, the biggest name is definitely Magic Johnson. The former Lakers star is also the part owner of a Dodgers team that has made it to three of the past six World Series. |
| The owners meeting starts at 2 p.m. ET, so there's a chance that the sale could be voted through by the time you read this, so if you live in the D.C. area and you hear fireworks going off around that time, that's probably why. |
| 3. Five NFC coaches under the most pressure in 2023 |
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| Earlier this week, we took a look at the five AFC coaches under the most pressure heading into the upcoming season, and now, we're going to make our way to the NFC. The NFC is so down right now that I'm not sure any coach is actually under any pressure compared to the coaches in the AFC, but we still made a list. |
| Here's a look Jeff Kerr's ranking of NFC coaches under the most pressure: |
1. Mike McCarthy, Cowboys
2. Ron Rivera, Commanders
3. Dennis Allen, Saints
4. Todd Bowles, Buccaneers
5. Dan Campbell, Lions |
| Remember when I said that I didn't think any NFC coaches were actually under any pressure? I take that back. If you're the coach of the Cowboys, you're always under pressure. After two straight 12-win seasons in Dallas, you'd think that would take some pressure off McCarthy, but I think it's actually added more because Jerry Jones now wants to see this team get over the hump and getting over the hump would mean getting to the NFC title game or Super Bowl for the first time in 28 years. |
| Anyway, if you want to see Kerr's full ranking, be sure to click here. |
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| 4. One breakout player for each team in 2023 |
| It's pretty much a guarantee that multiple players will have a breakout season in 2023. The hard part is trying to figure who those players will be. For instance, Geno Smith came out of nowhere to have a breakout season in Seattle last year, but no one really saw that coming. |
| So is it actually possible to predict when a player will have a breakout season? I have no idea, but Jared Dubin is going to try and do that today. Dubin went through EVERY NFL roster and came up with one player from each team who could break out this year. Here's a look at four of the players on his list: |
| Packers: QB Jordan Love. "The Packers better hope Love is the guy who breaks out. Otherwise, the offense is in deep trouble."Browns: WR Elijah Moore. "With improved quarterback play relative to what he had with the Jets, Moore should be in better position to make defenses pay than ever before."49ers: DE Drake Jackson. "With Charles Omenihu now in Kansas City, he looks like a locked-in starter across from Nick Bosa. The attention devoted to Bosa, Arik Armstead and Javon Hargrave should afford Jackson plenty of opportunities for one-on-ones and matchups against overmatched offensive tackles."Vikings: RB Alexander Mattison. "Mattison has been given only six opportunities to start in his career, but during those games he's averaged 23.3 touches for 115.5 total yards per game, and he's scored five total touchdowns. That's the equivalent of nearly 2,000 total yards and 14 scores across a full season. If he achieves even 60% of those figures, that would count as a breakout campaign." |
| Dubin came up with one breakout player from EACH team, and if you want to see his full list of all 32 players, then be sure to head here. |
| 5. Crazy player streaks that could continue in 2023 |
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| It's hard to be great in the NFL and it's even harder to be consistently great, but several players have managed to do that over the past few seasons. There are several players around the NFL who have been so great over the past few years that they're now on the verge of making history. |
| Let's take a look at a few of those players and how they could make history in 2023 by continuing a wild streak: |
| Derrick Henry: Five straight seasons with double-digit rushing touchdowns. "If Henry rushes for 10-plus touchdowns this season, he'll become the third player in NFL history to reach the mark in six consecutive seasons -- joining LaDainian Tomlinson (nine) and Adrian Peterson (seven)."Mike Evans: Nine straight seasons with 1,000 receiving yards. "A 1,000-yard season in 2023 would extend Evans' streak to 10, which would allow him to join Jerry Rice as the only players ever with 1,000 receiving yards in 10 consecutive seasons." Russell Wilson: 11 straight seasons with 3,000 passing yards. "Wilson needs 3,000 passing yards to join Peyton Manning as the only players ever to reach the mark in each of their first 12 seasons." |
| If you want to take a look at all the crazy streaks that Jeff Kerr covered in his piece, then be sure to click here. |
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| 6. Extra points: Jets trade receiver to the Lions |
| 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. |
Lions acquire Denzel Mims. There was some speculation on Wednesday that the Jets were going to cut Denzel Mims, but that didn't happen because they were able to work out a trade with the Lions. The Jets will be sending Mims and a 2025 seventh-round pick to Detroit in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2025. Mims caught 42 passes for 676 yards during his three seasons in New York. You can see the full details of the trade, along with our grades, by clicking here. Packers sign USFL MVP. There could be a training camp battle at backup quarterback for Green Bay this year and that's because the team just signed Alex McGough. The 27-year-old is coming off a 2023 season where he not only led the Birmingham Stallions to the USFL title, but he was also named league MVP. Browns release defensive tackle over aggravated robbery allegation. Perrion Winfrey was released by the Browns on Wednesday after it was revealed that police in Ohio are investigating him for an incident involving aggravated robbery. You can check out all the details here.
Bengals to induct two into Ring of Honor. The Bengals ROH induction ceremony could get wild this year and that's because two very popular former players are being inducted: Boomer Esiason and Chad Johnson. Esiason, who works for CBS, led the Bengals to the Super Bowl in 1988 while also taking home league MVP that year. As for Johnson, not only is he the franchise's all-time leader in receiving yards, but he also created some of the most amazing touchdown celebrations of all time. Seahawks unveil new throwback uniforms. If you love the 1990s, then you're probably going to love the Seahawks' new throwback uniforms. The Seahawks are bringing back their royal blue jerseys and silver helmets for multiple games this season, and let me say, they look awesome. You can check out the throwback look here. Colts unveil new black helmet. For the first time in franchise history, the Colts will be wearing a black helmet. The team will wear the helmet for one game this season, which will come in Week 7 against the Browns. If you want to check out the new look, be sure to click here. |
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| | | | | Big3 on CBS | | WE NEED TO TALK | Sunday on CBS, the Big3's Summer of Fire makes its way to Miami. The legendary hoopers and coaches take the court beginning at 3 PM ET on CBS.
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| | Tracy Wolfson, Dara Torres, Aditi Kinkhabwala and Sarah Kustok bring you the next episode of WE NEED TO TALK on Saturday, July 22. New York Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier also join the show. Catch it at 1 PM Eastern on CBS and Paramount+.
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