Broncos Insider: One big thing Courtland Sutton says he will improve in 2019 By Kyle Frederickson Denver Post April 15, 2019

The smile never really leaves Courtland Sutton’s face when he talks. Whether he’s answering questions for reporters at the podium or barking support on the Broncos’ sideline, Sutton enters his sophomore NFL season with an infectious bounce. Something new quarterback Joe Flacco is beginning to learn in the voluntary offseason program.

Sutton said: “I actually walked up to (Flacco) and he was like, ‘You have so much energy.’ I was like, ‘Get used to it.’ I get excited waking up in the morning. Being able to come here and this be my job and getting to be an organization like this, it’s an exciting thing for me. I told him, ‘Get used to it because you’re going to get a lot of it.’”

But Year 2 also calls for self-reflection. Sutton caught 42 passes for 704 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie. More is expected of a No. 1 wide receiver. What’s the first step toward progress? Let Sutton explain.

“One thing I really wanted to work on leaving out of the season was getting my speed to a different spot, being able to be explosive after the ball gets in my hand,” Sutton said. “Not just be a guy that is a possession-catch guy. … That came footwork and ball skills. There were some plays I felt I should have made, but I knew what I needed to work on. I went into the offseason working on those things. I’m going to continue to work on them. I have a long offseason and a long summer, and then I’ll hit training camp full speed.”

Dalton Risner has the angels, and the wind, at his back as NFL draft looms By Sean Keeler Denver Post April 15, 2019

The Google map of a man starts mid-bicep on the right arm and winds gently north, by means of a family tree whose branches stretch and crackle like black lightning to the cusp of the shoulder. Some football players wear their hearts on their sleeves. Dalton Risner wears his soul.

“I make sure I get meaningful tattoos,” explains Risner, the Wiggins native, former Kansas State All- American offensive lineman and likely the first Colorado native to get plucked in the NFL Draft later this month. “They’re going to be tattoos I still love when I’m 80.”

For an open book and a free spirit, Risner is particular when it comes to his arms.

They’re his living and his canvas, his trade and testament. Every image has a point and purpose, every inch a sacred, busy ground: Risner’s guns measured 34 inches long at the scouting combine, generally in the ballpark of what most NFL war rooms like to see in tackles at the next level. He’s only the fourth lineman in the history of the Big 12 to ever be named to the league’s all-first team three different times, a 312-pound farm kid, a gregarious mess of beautiful contradictions.

A terror between the hashmarks who at the Senior Bowl reportedly whupped Boston College defensive end Zach Allen during workouts to the point where the two came to blows. A teddy bear who last month walked into a room of nearly 90 Special Olympians and greeted each one by their first names on sight, and later held an autograph session that cultivated more than $1,000 for their cause.

“That night, he brought me (the money) that he raised and I was just like, ‘You’re just so cool,’” gushes Kim Schnee, director of the Manhattan (Kan.) Special Olympics. “And then I said, ‘I’m not stalking you or anything, but can I get your address?’ And he kind of looked at me weird. I said, ‘Because I need to send you a thank-you note.’ He said, ‘Oh, no, you don’t.’”

It’s been a whirlwind tour these past few weeks, flying in and out of Manhattan to meet with curious NFL front offices, memorizing the life stories of every offensive line coach in the league as part of the final leg of his pre-draft homework. When you ask Risner about the rest of his free time, he texts you a screen cap of the notes he keeps on his iPhone as a daily to-do list:

Do the LITTLE THINGS

Remind people in life that I love them

“That’s something I look at every single day,” Risner says. “Every day is a gift from God. You’ve got to be thankful for the people in your life.”

If you start at the apex of the left shoulder, descend south from the three wooden crosses and veer west, you eventually hit a range of mountains, a reminder of home, the Front Range glistening in the distance. Beneath the peaks is an impeccable tattoo tracing of a hand-written note, eight lines deep, from his father, Mitch, his high school football coach at Wiggins, his mentor and his champion.

“He was always very athletic, so at 6-5, he played middle linebacker for me,” the elder Risner says of Dalton, who as a senior was pegged as the fifth-best prospect in the state by 247Sports.com and Rivals.com despite playing for a Class 1A program in a town with a population just a shade under 900. “He couldn’t cover the width of the field, but he could cover the box.”

Dalton is the middle son of five boys in Mitch and Melinda’s household, ages ranging from 17 to 26. If the kid wasn’t the quickest in the bunch, he might’ve been the strongest: whenever a wrestling match ensued between Dalton and little brother Kaeson, which was often, it was the nearest piece of family furniture that usually came out the biggest loser.

“I would call it ‘reckless abandon,’” Mitch laughs. “The dude was just reckless. Of all my kids, he’s the most reckless kid I have.”

About a year ago, Dad noticed the door to the guest bedroom had started to look a little wonky. When he circled back to the Reckless Kid — who hadn’t lived at home in ages — for an explanation, Dalton burst out laughing.

“When he was a sophomore (in high school), he and Kaeson were fighting and Kaeson ran into the room and closed this door to hide from him,” Mitch recalls. “And Dalton took a running start and put his shoulder into this door and broke it off the hinges. And he said, ‘Oh, crap, we’ve got to fix it,’ and they just got some scrap wood. I said, ‘How many more are there of these issues around the house?’ And he said, ‘I’m not telling.’”

When it came to football, though, father and son almost always pulled on the same rope. Dalton grew up a fan of the Broncos and of Nebraska, and when he told his father how cool he thought it would be to suit up for the Huskers one day, Dad made it their mission, once the Reckless Kid’s growth spurt kicked in, to get his son in front of as many college eyeballs as a rented Toyota Yaris would allow.

“’In this life,” he said, “there’s going to be one person that’s going to make it,’” Dalton says. “’And you’re going to make it. You’re going to make it, man.’ And that was just a really cool thing for my father to say, that he believed in me.”

They attended a half dozen college football camps the summer after 8th grade. They hit another 12 after 9th and 15 after his sophomore year, constantly doubling back, methodically widening the net. One summer, Mitch had so many trips booked at so many different campuses that he decided to rent a 2011 Yaris from Denver International Airport specifically for the trek. On the plus side, it was electric, which saved on fuel. On the other hand, the passenger seat wasn’t exactly designed for a 6-foot-5, 290- something-pound lineman to ride shotgun.

“Every time I moved my knees, and I had my seat moved all the way back, I would be trying to take a nap,” Dalton recalls, “and (Mitch would) say, ‘Dude, your knee just put it in ‘park.’”

“He leans the seat all the way back and I swear to you, his head was on the back seat of the car,” Mitch adds. “His knees were on the dashboard console. Our shoulders were rubbing the whole time.”

They soldiered through 2,600 miles in that thing, anyway, a regular Butch and Sundance — once pulling an all-nighter to get from the University of Wyoming to Kansas State with Dalton cramping up for half the trip.

“Those are the times we look back to,” Mitch says, “because if we didn’t do those things, if we didn’t get in front of schools, and work on your craft … (I told him), ‘Ain’t nobody coming to Wiggins to see you. I’m not going to teach you the techniques well enough.’

“Some kids want it. Some kids don’t. Some kids want it and do something about it.”

If you follow the tree on the right shoulder down, another matching bicep mountain range bleeds into another tattoo tracing of a hand-written note, this one six lines deep, a replica of Melinda’s elegant cursive. The passage ends with the stanza: My life was not my own, but that of my children. Signed: Mama.

The comfort on the big stage, the gift of gab, come from Mitch, a salesman by trade. The caring, the empathy, the desire to give and help others, the selflessness, the attention to detail? Hockey assist to Mama.

“My wife is just amazing at just knowing people and knowing their names and knowing their kids’ names and remembering their stories,” Mitch explains. “Dalton combines the best of both of those worlds, and that’s why he’s so magnetic. He will meet you once and (recall your name), and I don’t know how he does it. He’s one of those guys that just walks into a room, and you’re just magnetized to (him).

“His mother is the most caring, giving person I know. And he gets that from her. It’s in his DNA, man. Crazy.”

If you want to know why NFL scouts keep perking their ears up, you could check out the YouTube snippets from the Senior Bowl, the ones that showed why his 90.7 grade from Pro Football Focus as a senior, tops among starting Big 12 tackles, was straight on the money. Or the Texas game from last October. Especially the Texas game.

“At halftime, he was just visibly upset,” recalls Charlie Dickey, Risner’s old offensive line coach at K-State and currently at the same position with Oklahoma State. “He came out in the second half … just got everybody moving and grooving and you just tell the passion and the fire. He was finishing guys and trying to pancake guys.

“He plays with an edge. He’s a great competitor. He’s just going to try to finish every play. And he’s probably the best I’ve ever had at that, at just trying to finish blocks. He takes every block personally, and he wants to try to destroy the guy over him.”

But the Reckless Kid also learned from Melinda and Mitch how to turn it off, and how to keep it off, how to win with vinegar on the field and with honey off it.

“As a coach, you coach a lot of things wrong,” Mitch laughs. “I guess I got that one right.”

And that one stuck. Inspired by a visit to Camp Hope, a summer respite for children with cancer, Dalton got the wheels turning on launching his own non-profit RiseUp Foundation, aimed at uplifting the lives — and spirits — of kids battling disease or financial and personal hardships. A three-time captain with the Wildcats, Risner embraced any opportunity he could to act as a goodwill ambassador for the football program or the athletic department in community events.

“Dalton looks at the positive in people,” notes Terry Carpenter, whose son, Michael, is a 33-year-old Special Olympian in Manhattan who met and befriended Risner a few years ago. “Dalton finds something positive in everyone he meets. It’s just amazing.”

The Reckless Kid was a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award last fall and a finalist for most of college football’s major good-guy honors, including the Wuerffel and William V. Campbell trophies, the Senior CLASS award and the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, college football’s version of the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year honors. When organizers with the latter asked Dalton for a guest list to join him at the trophy ceremony down in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Risner made a point to invite both Kaeson and Michael to the party.

“I thought it would be a great experience for (Michael) … I thought that it was bigger than me,” Dalton says. “Michael had such a big impact on me that (I thought) that would be a moment that he would remember for the rest of his life.”

It was. At one point, the crowd — including Witten himself — rose in unison to give Michael a standing ovation. My life was not my own, but that of my children.

“Ever since I got to college, in my free time, I’ve wanted to help others,” Risner says. “I didn’t work hard to be 6-foot-5, 300 pounds. That’s something that God blessed me with, to use that platform to positively impact people. I see too many athletes who don’t care who’s watching.”

Dalton Risner cares. To a fault. It’s written all over his face. It’s written all over both arms, a rolling tribute to faith, football and family, to the angels who set him on the righteous path. The ones, like the wind, at his back.

Fangio, Flacco - but not Harris - open Broncos' minicamp this week By Mike Klis 9NEWS April 15, 2019

There will be quarterback Joe Flacco running the Broncos’ offense for the first time.

There will be Vic Fangio coaching the Broncos’ defense, offense and special teams for the first time.

There will not be Chris Harris Jr. this week at the Broncos’ voluntary minicamp. The Broncos’ star cornerback will continue to skip the team’s offseason’s program for the first time as a way to send a message he wants his contract reworked.

Harris has been working out in Dallas with his personal trainer Ronnie Braxton.

“I’m ready,’’ Harris said in a phone interview, while sounds of his wife and three daughters peppered the background. “This is easily going to be my best year this year. These next three years, I’m about to go crazy. If they want me to be here, I’ll go crazy these next three years, I’ll guarantee it.’’

Harris has one year and $7.9 million left on his current contract. New cornerback Kareem Jackson, who has four less Pro Bowls than Harris, will bring his $12 million payout in 2019 to the Broncos’ minicamp Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the team’s UCHealth Training Center.

If it seems like the Broncos’ minicamp snuck up on people, it’s because they have a “new coach” schedule this offseason. Because Fangio is a first-year head coach, the Broncos were allowed to start their offseason program two weeks earlier than teams with a returning head coach.

New head-coach teams also get an extra minicamp before the draft. The purpose is to give a new coaching staff a little more evaluation of their players before determining draft needs.

So the Broncos had two weeks of conditioning, followed by their full minicamp this week that includes up to10-hour days of meetings, walkthroughs, a full practice that includes 11-on-11 drills and conditioning.

Fangio and his coaching staff can run this minicamp like a regular, non-contact, no-padded practice. Next week, it’s back to phase 2 of offseason work as the coaches can be on the field for instruction, but there cannot be any 11-on-11 work.

So after two weeks of weightlifting and conditioning, the Broncos will jump right into practice Tuesday. And then return to a lighter phase of work next week.

There will be player physicals on Monday, a full day of meetings, walkthroughs and practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then a half-day of work on Thursday.

While most players on other teams are reporting for conditioning for the first time this week, Flacco will get an early chance to get on the practice field with the Broncos’ first-team offense.

Flacco, a former Super Bowl MVP and 10 1/2 -season starter for the Baltimore Ravens, was acquired earlier this offseason by the Broncos in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. The Broncos then traded away their starting quarterback from last year, Case Keenum, to Washington in exchange for $3.5 million and a one-round jump in next year's draft.

Flacco won’t have starting receiver Emmanuel Sanders (Achilles), running back Phillip Lindsay (wrist) or left guard Ron Leary (Achilles) at practices this week. He will have receivers Courtland Sutton, DaeSean Hamilton and Tim Patrick, tight end Jeff Heuerman, new right tackle Ja'Wuan James and running backs Royce Freeman and Devontae Booker.

Flaco won't be throwing against Harris. So far there have been no negotiations since Harris decided two weeks ago to stay away from the team. Broncos general manager John Elway has said he wants to wait until sometime after the NFL Draft, which will be held April 25-27, before addressing Harris’ contract.

Meanwhile, Flacco, Fangio and 2019 Broncos take the field for the first time this week.

Hanging with Tiger, dining with Gary Player and caddying for Zach Johnson: Inside Brandon McManus’ trip to the Masters By Nicki Jhabvala The Athletic April 15, 2019

Zach Johnson’s tee time for the Par 3 Contest at the Masters wasn’t until 2:13 p.m., so he turned to his caddie and suggested they grab a bite in the Champions Locker Room, a place for only the elite.

As winner of the 2007 Masters, Johnson sits among rare air. And for a few hours to start what would be a banner week for the sport, his caddie, decked out in the signature white jumpsuit and green hat, did too.

What would later happen was nothing short of spectacular, as Tiger Woods emphatically announced his return to the top in securing his fifth green jacket. But as Woods drew the spotlight, Broncos kicker Brandon McManus lived out a dream that included moments not even he could imagine.

Moments, simple as some were, that McManus could only describe as incredible — repeatedly.

“I actually ended up eating lunch with Gary Player, which was pretty incredible,” he said. “Before I could eat any of my food he asked if he could have one of my fries.

“He called it a chip.”

This started three years ago when McManus met Zach Johnson met through a mutual friend — former star of “The Bachelor,” Ben Higgins. McManus has attended Johnson’s annual charitable golf tournament and gala, the Zach Johnson Foundation Classic, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ever since.

At the most recent one, McManus asked Johnson if he could get him an extra ticket to the 2019 Masters. McManus had never been to Augusta National and wanted to take his father and brother-in- law for the ride to attend last Wednesday’s practice and the start of the tournament, last Thursday.

Johnson happily obliged.

But as the three were prepared for spectatorship, Johnson texted McManus and offered him even more: to be his caddie in the Par 3 Contest, a nine-hole competition that precedes the tournament and often features players’ wives, children and friends as caddies.

“That was obviously a resounding ‘Yes,’ and I couldn’t thank him enough for that,” McManus said. “It was just amazing seeing the spectacle of the Masters, and how well-thought-out and how quickly they were able to move everybody through the checkouts and picking out what outfits they want for certain things.

“I’ve never seen a well-oiled machine like this before. It was truly incredible.”

For a golf fan, the thrill was unlike any other.

McManus’ day started with a bit of shopping, as he and his father and brother-in-law purchased and shipped home merchandise to remember their first trip to Augusta. Then McManus met up with Johnson under the oak tree on the 18th green. He said hello to Johnson’s true caddie, Brett Waldman, then followed him to the caddie barn to get suited.

“When we came back out to the putting green and it happened that Tiger was there, Justin Thomas was there and I was talking to a bunch of the caddies,” McManus said, adding that even he can get starstruck for a few seconds. “So that was a super cool experience.”

Then they headed for lunch with Player and Johnson, and then out to the green. For the first eight holes, McManus hung in the background as any caddie would, sporting the jumpsuit and hat along with his diamond-encrusted Super Bowl 50 ring.

The telecast zoomed in on McManus’ jewelry as he carried Johnson’s bag across the green, while the announcers told of his personal golf feats as a 3 handicap.

“They might have shaved a shot. I’m a 4,” McManus conceded. “In the summer I might be able to play a 3 because I can play more. It’s pretty much true.”

When they arrived at the seventh hole, Johnson offered McManus a chance to putt — the weakest part of his game.

“Everything else about my game is pretty good, but I’m not a good putter,” he said. “So I didn’t want to putt on 7. Hole 9 came around, and they actually showed it on the telecast. I hit the tee shot on hole 9 over the water and everything there. I didn’t hit the green; I was just left of the green and then I pitched it up to where you saw on the telecast where I putted from.”

Just wide right. The announcers chuckled as McManus lined up for his final shot of the day and walked off, basking in his final moments as caddie.

McManus, the Broncos’ star kicker and special teams captain, lives for these pressure-packed moments. He has booted five career game-tying or game-winning field goals for the Broncos, and his 81.9 field- goal percentage (including the postseason) ranks second in team history, behind only Matt Prater (82.9 percent). Last season he became only the fifth Broncos kicker to reach 100 regular-season field goals (he has 112).

But when the seasons end, he can often be found on a different green. McManus is a regular at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, where at least twice a week he hones a game he started playing as a kid in Pennsylvania.

“I had a 9-hole course that was about a mile-and-a-half from my house and went to a couple summer camps there as a kid,” he said. “… I was an average player two years ago. I went down from an 11 to a 4 in one year because I got rid of all my boastfulness about trying to go for Par 5s and doing a bunch of stupid stuff that would hurt my score. I started playing smart, and took a lot of characteristics from kicking and the mentality of what I need to succeed.”

Although this year marked his first time to the Masters, it certainly was not his first experience at a major tournament. In 2015, before the start of the Broncos’ Super Bowl-winning season, McManus interned with the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, some 80 miles west of his hometown of Lansdale, Pa.

For more than three weeks, McManus saw first-hand how much the details matter in organizing a spectacle.

“Just seeing everything that goes into a golf tournament is incredible, even the small things like where to place port-a-potties behind tents so they’re not in TV cameras’ shots, to concessions, to the grounds crew in the mornings setting up the holes,” he said. “There are just so many things going on.”

At the time, he had hoped his post-football career would include helping to organize a Super Bowl.

Instead, he won one in his prime.

Upon returning to Colorado last week, McManus thought about embarking on another golf mission. He couldn’t keep the white jumpsuit from Augusta.

“I wish. They swap out your credential, your ticket to get in, for the jumpsuit,” he said. “But I thought about getting one custom made just to have.”

Mason's Mailbag: Expect a major impact from Mike Munchak By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com April 15, 2019

Hey Mase, I'm not sure how many people realize what a good situation we are in by hiring Mike Munchak. Do you think our running game will improve once our offensive line gets coached up by him?

-- Russ Musick

The running game should improve, but I expect the more significant upgrade to come in pass protection. In Pittsburgh, the Steelers had the league's second-worst sack rate for 10 seasons prior to Munchak's 2014 arrival -- all of which were with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback. With the same passer and Munchak coaching the Steelers' offensive line from 2014-18, the sack rate was the league's second-best, trailing only New Orleans in that span.

One person who understands this is ESPN's Chris Mortensen, who was on Orange and Blue 760 this week.

"The hiring of Mike Munchak was one of the biggest offseason acquisitions of this NFL period," Mortensen told Orange and Blue 760 later adding, "Go talk to the Steelers. They're still crying tears over that one."

One of the most economical and beneficial investments a team can make is in quality assistant coaches. If you get a good group of teachers like Munchak and others on the staff to work with players on a day- to-day basis, you have the best chance of maximizing the players' talents. Further, there is no salary cap on coaches, and the salary scale is far below what it is for top players. The hiring of Munchak is an investment in the entire offensive line, and it should pay immediate dividends.

If you could have any former Bronco, in his prime, for next year’s team (other than John Elway or Peyton Manning) who would you choose? #AskMase

-- Jeff M. (TheRedOne80 via Twitter)

There are two names that pop to mind.

The first is Tom Nalen, the best center in team history. Then you'd be set at the other two interior spots, as you could move Connor McGovern to guard. The presence of Elijah Wilkinson, who started in the second half of the 2018 season, would ensure that you'd be covered with starting experience at both guard spots in case injuries strike Ron Leary again.

The other possibility would be Randy Gradishar, inside linebacker during the salad days of the "Orange Crush" -- and a player who belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. While his tackling prowess is often the first item cited in making his Hall case, he was also one of the best linebackers of his era at dropping into coverage and making plays on the ball. At his peak, he intercepted at least three passes in four consecutive seasons (1975-78). Some were uber-athletic, including one toe-tap sideline grab of a Jim Zorn pass in Seattle in 1978.

If the Broncos’ top prospects are gone at 10, and a team like the Raiders wants the pick, what compensation could be had? Could 10 and 41 net picks 24, 27 and 34? Would you take that deal if you were John Elway?

-- Chad Jacob

Realistically, I doubt the Raiders would want to make such a deal within the division with such high picks.

Further, the value of the picks on the draft-value chart has a 180-point discrepancy in favor of the Broncos. A trade involving the No. 10 overall pick (1300 points) from Denver and the 24th (740 points) and 34th (550 points) picks from Oakland would be more balanced -- resulting in a 10-point differential in favor of the Broncos. That difference is roughly the value of a pick in the early 200s.

AFC Roster Reset: Chiefs, Chargers, Patriots sit atop conference By Gregg Rosenthal NFL.com April 15, 2019

Our Roster Reset series takes a division-by-division look at where things stand across the league heading into the 2019 NFL Draft. Gregg Rosenthal examines the pecking order of the entire AFC below.

The best AFC organizations of the decade are having rough offseasons, at least on paper. The Patriots watched a lot of talent leave the building, including most of the defensive coaching staff. The Steelers have been in the news for a lack of leadership from Ben Roethlisberger and the dumping of Antonio Brown, rather than any roster improvements. The Ravens are undergoing a defensive overhaul unseen by the team in over a decade, all while trying to build around Lamar Jackson. And the Chiefs lost their best players off a lousy defense.

"On paper" doesn't mean much in the NFL, but this is a recipe for even more parity than usual in the AFC, with greater hope than ever that New England's incomparable streak of nine straight playoff byes could finally end. Then again, we've heard that before. As we wrap up our Roster Reset series, let's take a quick look at the AFC hierarchy heading into the draft.

Playoffs or bust

Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots.

Anything less than a tournament appearance for these three teams would qualify as a massive letdown. Chargers general manager Tom Telesco has been carefully building this roster for years and it's loaded with talent, if thin in spots on both lines. It's go time, with Philip Rivers set to turn 38 years old late in the coming season.

The Chiefs are putting a lot of faith in new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's system while getting rid of talented pass rushers Dee Ford and Justin Houston. The team's defensive additions outside of star safety Tyrann Mathieu came at sneaky-good values, with Alex Okafor, Emmanuel Ogbah and Bashaud Breeland arriving able to play quality snaps. Any team with the best offensive mind in the conference (Andy Reid) and the best player (reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes) should make the tournament.

Replace Bill Belichick with, say, Jason Garrett, and the Patriots' roster looks like a seven-win outfit. That seems unlikely to happen, but Belichick and Tom Brady have earned the right to kick back and join the NFL's soft middle after stretching their dynasty far past any historical precedent. A warning: two of the four teams in last year's "playoffs or bust" category -- the Steelers and Jaguars -- did indeed go bust.

Contenders Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens.

Let's be real: There's not that much separating this large group from the ones above and below it. They are teams capable of making a Super Bowl in the ultimate year-to-year league, yet a playoff spot is hardly assured. The Steelers still have strong line play on both sides of the ball and finished last season going toe-to-toe with the Patriots and Saints. The Colts were ahead of schedule in Frank Reich's first year as head coach and enjoy enviable continuity, with talented general manager Chris Ballard's 2019 draft class yet to come.

If Baker Mayfield ascends to top-five-quarterback status, which feels eminently possible, this ranking will be too low for the Browns. The team's strong-looking backfield and defensive line give Mayfield margin for error. The entire AFC South makes an appearance in the AFC's middle, with the Jaguars' signing of Nick Foles and Tennessee's smart free-agent pickups tightening an already competitive division. The Ravens are dealing with the most upheaval in this tier, with this being a year the team's organizational sturdiness will be tested. Jackson will be looking for a big second-year leap, like the rest of last season's excellent rookie-quarterback crop.

Don't sleep on us Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos.

Zac Taylor has impressed in his brief time in Cincinnati and the roster is better than most inherited by first-year head coaches. The Jets' Adam Gase has all the pieces around Sam Darnold to fulfill his reputation as a quarterback guru. Bills coach Sean McDermott has proven he's a significant value as a defensive leader and the team's offseason moves mostly look heady, but Josh Allen's accuracy issues could lower Buffalo's ceiling. Joe Flacco is a boom-or-bust pickup for Denver, but it's hard not to like a coaching staff led by defensive mastermind Vic Fangio and offensive line maestro Mike Munchak. All of the teams above have enough talent to believe a wild-card game appearance is possible if everything breaks right.

Uphill battle to the playoffs

Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders.

Crazier things happen every season than the Dolphins scratching out a winning record in a season where Ryan Fitzpatrick is the Week 1 starting quarterback. Dolfans who believe in going "full tank" may be disappointed by eight or nine wins, but it would be a sign that new coach Brian Flores is the real deal. The team's defensive roster has a long way to go, though.

The Raiders are undoubtedly more talented after an offseason of aggressive additions, but Jon Gruden hasn't given much indication he can make all the new pieces work together.

Which Teams Could Actually Draft a Quarterback in the NFL Draft? By Danny Heifetz The Ringer April 15, 2019

In the past three NFL drafts, 11 teams selected a quarterback in the first round, and 10 of those teams traded up to do so. The 11th team was the Cleveland Browns, which selected Baker Mayfield first overall last year. If a team wants a quarterback in the first round, they usually have to go and get their man.

A strange aspect of this year’s draft is that there’s little information about which teams are interested in going to get their man. The team that is believed to be most interested in a specific quarterback is the Cardinals, who already have a quarterback. Beyond Arizona, there is a surprisingly low amount of information about which teams are even in the market for a quarterback, nevermind which one.

“It’s one of the most interesting drafts I’ve seen, because there is no chalk,” Gil Brandt told NBC Sports’ Peter King last week. “I think we’ll have [a] lot of the unknown right up to draft day.”

There are few prizes to be had in the first round, including Kyler Murray, Drew Lock, and Dwayne Haskins, while several other teams could wait to the later rounds or punt to next year. Let’s look at 11 potentially QB-needy teams and try to figure what their plans may be.

Teams That Need a Quarterback (but Might Wait Until 2020)

New York Giants The Giants may seem like they’re content to stick with Eli Manning until Manning’s children are old enough to take over the job themselves, but believe it or not, co-owner John Mara is onboard with getting a quarterback this year.

”I would love to come out of this draft with a quarterback,” Mara told ESPN’s Jordan Ranaan in March.

The caveat is that this is the case only if there is a quarterback worth taking.

“If the top quarterbacks are graded toward the bottom of the first round or even the second round, I’m not going to insist that we take one at no. 6 or even at no. 17,” Mara said. “Show me what the value is. That’s always been our philosophy on that.”

So at least we know John Mara isn’t as impulsive as Jerry Jones. Not only could the Giants roll with Manning in 2019, which is the last year of his deal, but SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano reported the team was interested in extending Manning beyond 2019 if he plays well.

Miami Dolphins Miami needs a quarterback as bad as any team in the league after trading Ryan Tannehill to the Tennessee Titans for a seventh-round pick and some spare change last month. The only quarterbacks on Miami’s roster are Ryan Fitzpatrick and two sixth-round picks. But Dolphins owner Stephen Ross seems patient enough to wait another year before Miami makes a move.

”I would love for it to be two years, but you have to be realistic,” Ross told reporters of the team’s rebuild timeline.

While Dolphins GM Chris Grier and coach Brian Flores were not happy to hear the word “tanking” used by media members to describe the Dolphins approach in 2019, “Super Bowl contender” may not be the most accurate way to describe their roster this season, either.

Washington Just 14 months ago, Washington signed Alex Smith to a four-year contract extension with $71 million guaranteed that would have him under contract until he turned 38. But after a forgettable string of performances to start his Washington career, Smith suffered a spiral leg fracture in Week 11 that became infected after surgery and has put his football future in doubt. Smith may not play at all this year and Washington may look to move on from him rather than bank on Smith returning in 2020 at 36 years old and playing at a higher level than he was in 2018.

For an immediate solution, Washington traded for Denver’s Case Keenum to compete for the 2019 starting gig with the friend-zoned Colt McCoy. To acquire Keenum, Washington merely swapped a 2020 sixth-rounder for a 2020 seventh-rounder and are paying him just $3.5 million in 2019. This year is the last year of both Keenum’s and McCoy’s deals. So while Washington has three quarterbacks (Smith, McCoy, and Keenum) none of them may suit up for the team beyond this year.

Teams That Want a Better Quarterback

Arizona Cardinals Arizona’s interest in Kyler Murray is well known at this point, but here’s the short version: When Kliff Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech last year, he said he would take Kyler Murray no. 1 overall if he were with an NFL team making the pick. Then the Cardinals hired Kingsbury, the video resurfaced, Murray chose the NFL over the MLB (a good choice), and signed Kingsbury’s agent to represent him. Cardinals GM Steve Keim was asked about all of this at the NFL combine, shrugged, and said Josh Rosen was the team’s quarterback “for now.” Then Josh Rosen deleted some Instagrams of him with the Cardinals and said he was hacked, and every reporter, blogger, and ball boy who left the combine in Indianapolis had heard that Arizona wanted Murray no. 1 overall.

Murray to Arizona is at the top of every mock draft. At this point, the surprise would be the Cardinals hanging onto Rosen, whom they traded up to draft no. 10 overall last year.

The Team That Will Not Draft a Quarterback (or Is Very Good at Lying)

Oakland Raiders There was a lot of speculation that Raiders coach Jon Gruden wanted to part with Carr after a disastrous 2019 season, but Gruden tried to put those rumors to bed at the NFL combine when he was asked about Derek Carr.

“He’s our franchise quarterback,” Gruden said. “Let me make that clear.”

It should be enough to kill the idea that the Raiders might trade up and take Kyler Murray, but Gruden has gone back on his word as Raiders coach before. Just last month, Gruden released Jordy Nelson despite saying “Yeah, he’ll be back” in his December 28 press conference. We can give Gruden the benefit of the doubt for now, but if the Raiders do draft a QB—whether for Murray or someone else— we’ll officially no longer be able to take Gruden at his word.

General manager Mike Mayock has already set the table for this reversal. Last week, Mayock said that while Carr is a franchise quarterback, the team could still improve at the position if the possibility arises.

“If we found somebody we liked better, or thought had a bigger upside, you’ve got to do the right thing for the organization,” Mayock said at his pre-draft press conference on Thursday. “But we love Derek. We love what he brings to the table. But like every other position, we’re going to do all of our due diligence. And I happen to work with a head coach that absolutely loves the position. And we’re always going to know about those guys.”

Teams That Don’t Need One Right Now, but May Want a Jump on Next Year

Denver Broncos The Broncos just traded a fourth-round pick for Joe Flacco, and Denver president of football operations John Elway told reporters Flacco is still in his prime at 34 years old. Flacco seems like more of a stopgap option than a long-term one, but Elway has insisted he is a re-tooler, not a rebuilder, and he may not have the patience for a rookie’s learning curve. Elway was apparently impressed with Missouri’s Drew Lock at the Senior Bowl, but the Broncos reportedly did not request to interview Lock (nor Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray, Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, or Duke’s Daniel Jones) at the combine.

Cincinnati Bengals The Bengals aren’t looking for a new quarterback yet, but another tough year from Andy Dalton could convince them to replace him. Dalton’s contract expires after the 2020 season, and Bengals owner Mike Brown said at the NFL combine in February that he wanted to see Dalton in 2019 before working on an extension.

”I think it’s a good year for [Dalton] to show like he can, like we think he will,” Brown said. “After he re- establishes himself we would want to get together with him and see if we can extend [his contract].”

Dalton will turn 32 during the 2019 season. He has two years and $33.5 million left on his contract, though none of that money is guaranteed. Dalton’s deal is a reasonable expense for a league-average passer, but Cincinnati is in its first year with new head coach Zac Taylor, and Dalton may not have the track record to stick around if he has another injury-plagued campaign (or even if he has a healthy-but- eh season) in 2019. It’s unlikely the Bengals are the team that reaches for a quarterback they love, but it also might not be a bad move. There’s a good chance the team can miss the playoffs with another mediocre season that encourages them to move on from Dalton, but still earn an even worse pick in next year’s draft than the no. 11 overall pick they hold in 2019.

“They Need a Quarterback Eventually,” We All Say for the Fifth Year in a Row

Yes, it is unlikely any of these teams replace their oldies this year, but it’s worth running through exactly why.

Pittsburgh Steelers Roethlisberger is still among the league’s best quarterbacks. He led the league with 5,129 passing yards last season (at 36 years old). Before that campaign, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he wants to play “three to five more years.” The team drafted Mason Rudolph in the third round last year, and several of his former receivers have questioned Roethlisberger’s character recently.

New Orleans Saints Drew Brees turned 40 in January, but the Saints may already have their backup plan in place in case he calls it a career next year. Teddy Bridgewater went back to New Orleans on another one-year contract, and the Saints replaced Brees in the playoffs for do-it-all quarterback Taysom Hill on a few plays. Hill is the closest the NFL has to a Swiss army knife. In last year’s regular season, he was involved with five of six of New Orleans’s special teams units, was targeted seven times, and ran for 196 yards and two touchdowns. In the playoffs, he launched a deep ball against the Eagles that was as good as any Brees throw last year. Between Bridgewater and Hill, the Saints probably have their option on the roster, and they don’t have a pick until no. 62 overall after trading up for Marcus Davenport last year.

Los Angeles Chargers Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt reported the Chargers were interested in Josh Rosen, albeit just how interested they were is unknown. If they don’t trade for Rosen, another QB seems unlikely. L.A. hasn’t drafted a quarterback since 2013 when they took Brad Sorensen out of Southern Utah in the seventh round.

New England Patriots Bill Belichick will not draft a quarterback to replace Tom Brady. He’ll take a page out of the Night King’s playbook and harvest a human baby’s soul.

Pro Football Hall of Fame plans massive celebration for 2020 NFL centennial By Susan Glasser Cleveland-Plain Dealer April 15, 2019

On Sept. 17, 1920, several football-minded investors gathered inside a Hupmobile auto dealership in downtown Canton and created what would become the National Football League.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame plans to mark that meeting in grand style with a multi-day Centennial Celebration in September 2020. Organizers hope the event will be bigger than the Super Bowl, featuring thousands of former NFL players and Olympic-style theatrics.

Event details have not been finalized, but Pete Fierle, chief of staff and senior vice president of communications for the hall, said every former NFL player – the hall calls them “legends” – will be invited. He estimates that between 5,000 and 10,000 will attend.

A key event will be something similar to an Olympics opening ceremony, with former players parading together, organized by team.

“The entire celebration is not only a tribute to the NFL’s first 100 years, but a kickoff to the league’s next century in the city where it was born,” said Fierle.

He said activities will likely run Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, through Saturday or Sunday, Sept. 20 or 21. The actual anniversary is Sept. 17.

Though the core events will take place in Canton, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Johnson Controls Pro Football Hall of Fame Village, the economic impact should be felt throughout Northeast Ohio. Fierle declined to estimate the number of potential visitors, but said, “We’ve described this as being Super Bowl- like.”

The centennial will come just six weeks after Canton’s annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week, held each year in early August, which also features numerous events and brings in thousands of visitors. Fierle said the community is more than capable of planning and hosting both events.

Hall of Fame plans a massive celebration for NFL’s 100th anniversary By Mike Florio Pro Football Talk April 15, 2019

This season will be the NFL’s 100th. But the 100th anniversary of the NFL comes in 2020. September 17, 2020, to be exact.

That’s one hundred years to the day after the day the NFL began, in Canton, Ohio. On that day, football will return to Canton, in a big way.

According to Susan Glaser of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will host a multi- day Centennial Celebration on and around September 17, 2020, with every former NFL player invited to attend. Among other things, the event will include an Olympics-style opening ceremony, with the players in a parade organized by one of the teams for which they played.

“The entire celebration is not only a tribute to the NFL’s first 100 years, but a kickoff to the league’s next century in the city where it was born,” Hall of Fame chief of staff and communications director Pete Fierle said, via Glaser.

The celebration is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, September 16, and it will run through Saturday, September 20 or Sunday, September 21.

If the event will continue through Sunday, September 21, why not stage a regular-season game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium?

FMIA: What If Arizona Doesn’t Draft Kyler Murray With The No. 1 Pick? By Peter King Football Morning In America April 15, 2019

What happens if we’re all wrong? What happens if the Arizona Cardinals don’t do the lead-pipe-lock thing of the 2019 NFL Draft, which is to use the first pick overall on Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray? What happens if they shock the world April 25 and trade the pick, or take someone else?

It’s 10 days before the first round kicks off, and we’ve talked ourselves into being sure the Cardinals will take Murray and pair him with the coach who lusts after him, rookie coach Kliff Kingsbury. And if I had to do my mock today, I’d give Murray to Arizona. (Useless Information Dept.: MOCK DRAFT ALERT!! Mine is next Monday.) It makes a lot of sense to pair your McVayesque head coach with the quarterback he loves.

I’m not positive Murray to the Cards plays out like that. I’ve got a few reasons, after a round of phone calls in the past few days.

The Lead: The Decision

Let’s run ’em down:

• I don’t believe there is unanimity inside the Cardinals building today either to take Murray, trade down for a passel of picks to a Murray-loving team, or to sit at one and take an impact player for the defense like edge-rusher Nick Bosa. Then again, if GM Steve Keim and Kingsbury both want Murray, that’s going to be the pick.

• The Cards’ personnel brains—led by Keim and VP of player personnel Terry McDonough—are extremely confident people. If you run a team’s player-acquisition department, of course you should be confident. But Keim and McDonough are at the upper end among NFL personnel people in belief in their ability to pick players. I think Keim wouldn’t blink about trading the first pick. Keim won’t be scared to buck conventional wisdom.

• Suppose the Raiders, picking fourth, and coach Jon Gruden, who was openly covetous of Murray at the combine, decide that three of their five first-round picks in the next two drafts are worth using to get the first pick. Theoretically, suppose the Raiders trade the fourth and 27th picks in round one this year, plus one of their two first-rounders next year, to deal up to Arizona’s pick, and the Raiders take Murray. Then suppose they could recoup one of those first-round picks by trading quarterback Derek Carr to Miami or Washington or the Giants for a 2020 first-rounder. Over the next four years, the Raiders would save about $13 million a year by paying a first-pick quarterback an average of $8.5 million a year, as opposed to the $21.5 million average on the remaining four seasons of Carr’s contract.

• If you’re the Cards, and you could have four first-round picks in the next two years, including the fourth overall pick this year, and you have a coach you believe could make Josh Rosen 20 percent better, it might make sense to try to ransom the pick. To take the Murray pick and deal it, and be in position to choose a defensive centerpiece like Josh Allen or Quinnen Williams and two more first-rounders … tempting.

• Few teams in the NFL need a transfusion of talent at multiple positions like Arizona. The respected player-rating site Pro Football Focus ranks players top to bottom at each position. In 2018, Arizona had only two players from its starting 22 rated in the top 15 in the league at their positions: middle linebacker Josh Bynes (fifth) and cornerback Patrick Peterson (ninth). Arizona did not have a top-30 guard, center, tackle, tight end, running back, quarterback, defensive tackle or safety. Alarming. Trading the top pick could be medicine for a lot of personnel issues in Arizona.

But it Keim thinks Murray’s going to have Mahomes-like impact, or even close, he should resist temptation, pick Murray, and deal Josh Rosen 10 nights from now. Peter Schrager made a good point the other day on “Good Morning Football:” In 1984, the Portland Trail Blazers had a young shooting guard they liked, Clyde Drexler, who went on to be a Hall of Fame player. Owning the second pick of the ’84 draft, with Michael Jordan on the board, Portland picked center Sam Bowie. Some 35 years later, it’s still the worst NBA draft decision ever. If the Cards see star power in Murray, their decision should be made.

Who knows how good the 5-10 Murray will be? But living with passing on him would be something Keim, and steward-of-the-franchise president Michael Bidwill, must consider with one of the biggest decisions this team has had to make since moving to Arizona in 1988.

Big Day In Seattle

Russell Wilson is 30. He is the face of the Seattle Seahawks. His contract expires at the end of this year, and you’d think he’d be happy to leapfrog Aaron Rodgers as the highest-paid NFL player of all-time sometime this year.

I don’t think signing a boilerplate contract averaging $34 million a year—something Wilson never could have dreamed possible when he was the 75th player picked in the 2012 draft—will be enough for him, and for his representative, Mark Rodgers, a baseball agent with one football client, Wilson. I think Wilson actually would be content playing out his current contract and then working under the franchise tag for the next two seasons rather than taking a typical mega-millions contract. Playing year-to-year, Wilson would average $27.8 million a year over the next three years, rather than a solid $34 million a year over five or six.

That seems ridiculous. There’s a few reasons why it’s not.

But first, this deadline agent Rodgers has given Seattle. Today’s a big day in the Pacific Northwest if you take Wilson and Rodgers at their word, that—according to a source close to the talks—they say they won’t do a long-term deal with the Seahawks if it’s not done by tonight. Read that last sentence again. I didn’t mean they’d put off further talks on a new contract till 2020 if it’s not done by tonight. I meant Wilson and Rodgers don’t plan to negotiate further with the Seahawks, period. My source says they’ve told GM John Schneider it has to be done now, or not at all.

That’s why, with this being what Wilson likely believes is his last chance to get a truly market deal in Seattle, I would be shocked if he leaves this all to Rodgers, regardless how much he trusts his agent. Wilson’s an activist. I would bet he wants Schneider and/or Carroll to hear from him directly about why he wants to get this deal done now, and he wants to get it done differently than other quarterback deals have been done. I’ve known Wilson since training camp of his rookie year, and he’s one of the ultimate hands-on players I’ve met. He has never struck me as the type to hand a job this big to his agent and say, Good luck. Call me when it’s done.

If it does get done, my source says the contract would likely include devices to adjust future years of the deal based on how high the cap goes up year to year, or based on new revenue streams (gambling revenue, for example, or a TV contract that explodes). If it is not done, it means the Seahawks have determined Wilson isn’t worth setting such a precedent. (No NFL player’s contract fluctuates based on cap increases or increases in the league’s bottom line unknown at the time of signing.) That would be understandable, but would it be the right call for the Seahawks? It could be a potentially career-altering risk for Schneider and coach Pete Carroll.

Of course, there’s no real reason why a deal couldn’t be done July 15 or Dec. 15 either. But waiting would be calling Wilson’s bluff. Maybe you win, maybe you lose. It’s a risk. Normally, talking about hard negotiations, I’d say big deal. Quarterbacks—all except Kirk Cousins—might play a year on the franchise tag, but they eventually sign long-term and stay with their teams. I think there’s a good chance Wilson could be different.

Like Cousins was, Wilson is not afraid to play year-to-year: this year at $17 million, and then as many as two years on the franchise tag, at $30.3 million in 2020 and $36.4 million in 2021. If the Seahawks chose to franchise Wilson a third time, the cost would rise to $52.4 million for 2022. Which would be a very difficult one-year salary for any team to digest, unless the cap skyrockets in 2021, when a new CBA is due to take effect.

Most players want the assurance of guaranteed money and long-term security. They’ll take significant guaranteed money in exchange for fighting for what Cousins got (a fully guaranteed three-year, $84- million contract) or what Wilson presumably wants (a fluctuating contract, based on the league’s future success). But from what I hear, Wilson and Rodgers feel the league could be on the precipice of major new revenue streams. Recently, Bills co-owner Kim Pegula said she wanted to have the opportunity to provide sports betting inside their stadium. What might the NFL’s take on in-stadium gambling be, and how would that be divided with the players? Could Facebook or some digital brand bid an unheard-of sum for the rights to part of the TV deal in 2022?

Because the game is so injurious, you don’t see many players going year-to-year. But Wilson’s durability is a big part of his football appeal. Since the day Wilson was drafted in 2012, the Seahawks have played 125 regular-season and postseason games. Wilson has started them all. Last year, he was the only NFL quarterback to take every offensive snap for his team. In the last two years, he has played 2,186 of Seattle’s 2,191 offensive snaps. That could change in an instant, of course. But Wilson is fine gambling on himself, and on his durability.

For those who would not put Wilson in the same stratum as Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady or Drew Brees, it’s understandable. But Wilson is the second-highest-rated quarterback in history (100.3). He has 83 career wins, regular-season and postseason, in seven years, an average of 11.8 a year.

Schneider, of course, has to worry about 53 players, not just one. Linebacker Bobby Wagner is due to hit free agency after this season, and he’s had the kind of career that one day will merit Hall of Fame consideration. If Wilson, the offensive leader, gets a precedent-setting contract, then what of the unquestioned leader of the defense, Wagner? He certainly wouldn’t get quarterback money, but Wagner might want to push for the kind of financial incentives Wilson gets.

A few other things, counter to the current rumor mill. I do not believe Wilson is pushing for a trade right now, to the Giants, or anywhere. I believe he wants to work out a deal with Seattle. I believe Wilson wants to know where he stands with the Seahawks long-term, which is one of the reasons why he is pushing hard for a deal to be done now. I believe if the Seahawks do not do a deal by midnight tonight, it doesn’t meant they don’t want Wilson to be their quarterback for the next decade—it just means they’re not willing to set a contractual precedent like tying his contract to how fast, and how high, the cap rises over the life of the deal.

Pragmatically, if I’m Wilson, everyone around the league views me as an Eagle Scout type, and as long as I step on the field, I’ve got to be all-in, and a team guy all the way. That is the only way he can maximize his value long-term, and perhaps post-Seahawks. And if I’m the Seahawks, I know the kind of person I have in Wilson, so maybe I feel: Let’s go year-to-year over the next three years, for reasonable money for a franchise quarterback, and hope at some point in those three years there’s a thaw and we can re- visit this contract.

Whatever happens, this is a dramatic day in Seattle. I don’t know which way it’ll go, but I don’t think it’s time to shred the “3” jerseys yet. Gut feeling: At the very least Wilson plays in Seattle three more years. And a lot can happen in those three years.

April 17, 1999

Two decades ago Wednesday, the New Orleans Saints made one of the craziest trades in NFL history. They traded all six 1999 draft choices and their first-round and third-round picks in 2000—eight draft choices in all—to Washington to move up seven spots in the first round of the ’99 draft to pick Texas running back Ricky Williams.

“Twenty years ago—that’s crazy,” the Washington coach at the time, Norv Turner, said Friday. As was the deal. At the time, so much about it was revolutionary. The noted draft-value trade chart, invented by the Cowboys a few years earlier, had the Saints trading away 4,441 points of draft value in exchange for 1,700 points—the value of the fifth overall pick. “When the coaches were told about it that day,” Turner said, “we looked at each other and said, ‘This isn’t real. You gotta do that.’ “ And GM Charley Casserly, negotiating with Saints GM Billy Kuharich, agreed to it eagerly.

Ditka was smitten with Williams after his 2,124-yard, 27-TD senior year at Texas, and he proclaimed at the league meetings a month before the draft that he’d trade his entire draft for Williams. “Put us in line,” Casserly told Kuharich. Except New Orleans didn’t have a second-round pick that year. So Casserly said he’d have to have a first and third in 2000 to make up for the lack of a second-rounder. The Saints did it. (Man, why not ask for Ditka’s first-born too?) “A generational trade,” Casserly called it.

From the moment the deal happened, there were problems. Big problems. Williams was intensely shy. The Saints flew him to New Orleans for a post-draft press conference. On the plane, he was given a Saints cap to wear. “I’m not wearing that,” Williams said. He was told he’d be doing the press conference from a podium. “I’m not doing that,” he said.

Uh-oh.

When the dreadlocked Williams got to the Saints offices, Ditka greeted him wearing a wig with dreadlocks, and a flowered shirt and shorts. Williams did the press conference, standing to the side of the podium, not behind it. There was a fan fest with maybe 5,000 fans there on the property, fans going crazy because they got the best player in college football, and they chanted for Williams. Someone with Williams that day said, “Ricky looked around, and he was in shock. This was not what he thought the NFL would be. The look on his face was, ‘What the f— is this?’ “

Ricky-mania was in full swing. Williams dressed in a wedding gown and Ditka in a wedding tux, and they posed as bride and groom for an August 1999 cover of ESPN The Magazine. Heaven knows why Williams did that, but the season started bad and got worse. Williams’ shyness bordered on the weird. I went into New Orleans to interview him, and though pleasant enough, he insisted on doing the interview with his helmet on, with the dark shield covering his face. The Saints went 3-13, and Ditka was fired.

Williams lasted three seasons with the Saints before being traded to Miami in 2002. Other than helping New Orleans win a division title in 2000, Williams’ tenure in New Orleans was more circus than football. I texted Ditka on Friday and would have loved to speak with him about the trade and the weird year, but he didn’t get back to me.

“Oh my God,” his assistant head coach, Rick Venturi, said the other day. “That trade was a sugar rush for the franchise. We were at a low ebb. Everyone makes fun of the deal, because we gave up the farm to get Ricky, but we really trusted Mike. He’d won before, and he gave us faith we’d win with him.”

Postscript I: The Bengals, picking third, had a chance to make the same deal Washington made. Eight picks to move from three to 12 with New Orleans. Nope, the Bengals said. We’re staying. We’re picking the guy we want badly. Akili Smith.

Postscript II: Casserly thought he had a deal with Chicago, picking seventh, to move from 12 to seven if the player Washington wanted was available. That player: Champ Bailey. So after the deal with the Saints went through, Casserly called the Bears back, ready to move up five slots in exchange for third, fourth and fifth-round picks. “We had a deal, but they upped the ante on me when I called back,” he said. The Bears wanted Washington’s third-rounder in 2000, or there’d be no deal. Casserly, fuming, took a deep breath and agreed to the ransom. “If you really want the player, you’ve got to take a step back and take the emotion out of it,” he said. Washington got Bailey at seven.

Postscript III: I didn’t ask Casserly if he got any satisfaction from the quarterback Chicago took to be its long-term QB solution at 12—Cade McNown, who won three games in two years for the Bears. McNown was a disaster, and was out of football after two seasons.

Postscript IV: Casserly’s reward for getting those eight picks and maneuvering to pick up Bailey, and following that with Washington winning the NFC East? He got fired at the end of the year after new owner Dan Snyder took over.

Postscript V: Bailey lasted only five years in Washington before a contract dispute prompted the team to trade him to Denver for Clinton Portis. Bailey played 10 of his 15 seasons in a 15-year career for Denver. After being elected to the Hall last February, Bailey got a call from Casserly. “You realize I never would have traded you,” Casserly said.

Postscript VI: Williams had a good NFL career, in between missing two years for a “retirement” and a marijuana suspension. He finished with 10,009 rushing yards in 11 seasons, 31st on the all-time rushing list. Interesting who is 32nd: Clinton Portis.

They don’t make trades like they used to.

Quotes of the Week I

“Derek Carr is a franchise quarterback. Beyond that, just like at any position, we’re going to do our due diligence. If we found somebody we liked better, or thought had a bigger upside, you’ve got to do the right thing for the organization. But we love Derek.” —Oakland GM Mike Mayock. The Raiders have the fourth pick in the first round of the draft.

II

“Those defensive linemen, they’re gonna go off the board like Chiclets this year.” —Bill Parcells, to me, about the first round being overrun with strong defensive-front prospects this year.

You know Chiclets. I can only surmise that it means, if you’re like Parcells (or any other human), the box of 12 little Chiclets lasts maybe 20 minutes. You can’t stop shoving them in your mouth.

III

“Hey Billy, I’ll see you in a month, my man.” —South Carolina receiver Deebo Samuel, in a social media video post, talking to New England coach Bill Belichick.

I don’t believe Tom Brady is familiar enough with his head coach after 19 years to refer to him like this: “Hey Billy.”

IV

“I’m on a crusade to eliminate bad football.” —Detroit coach Matt Patricia, speaking at a coaching clinic at the University of Alabama, in an enlightening story for The Athletic by Chris Burke, who covers the Lions.

V

“My heart is broken. He died in my arms.” —Barbara Gregg, wife of Pro Football Hall of Fame tackle Forrest Gregg, who died Friday morning in Colorado after a long fight against Parkinson’s Disease. They were married 59 years.

VI

“Smith erratically started pulling apart store displays and placing them in her cart. She was asked to leave by staff and left the store to perform karate moves in the parking lot. In the meantime, [her dog] Bo got a box of Jiffy Cornbread Muffin Mix and tried to leave the store. Smith was arrested and fought with officers — she also attempted to kick out a window on the squad car. While this was occurring, Vann had made his way to the back of the store and removed all of his clothing exposing himself to other customers.” —An Eau Claire (Wis.) Police Department press release, from WEAU-TV.

Lisa Smith and son Benny Vann were the chief culprits and both were arrested. But we shan’t forget Bo the dog.

“The dog was not charged,” the police statement revealed. “Police issued him a warning for the theft.”

My question is how, exactly, was the warning issued? Was it, “Bo! Bad dog! Give the Jiffy Cornbread Mix back! Now! NOW, I SAID!”

The dog was not charged. My favorite sentence of the year.

Instagram Ripjob of the Week

“I have lost my respect in you… #DoneWithYou” —LeBron James Jr., instagramming to Antonio Brown last week, after Brown vindictively laced into former Steeler teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster.

What I Learned What I learned about the late Forrest Gregg, the Hall of Fame tackle who Vince Lombardi once called the best player he ever coached, from a pupil who might have been better: Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz, who played for Gregg for the first four years of his career. Munoz on Gregg, who died in Colorado Springs on Friday of Parkinson’s Disease, in the presence of wife Barbara:

“So I missed most of my last year [1979] at USC with a knee injury. I played only in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. After the season, there were questions about my knee and how it would hold up, and the only one who flew out to work me out before the draft was Forrest Gregg, the coach of the Bengals. Here he was, a Hall of Fame tackle, played for Vince Lombardi, Lombardi called him the best player he’d coached, and he put me through a two-hour workout at USC. You talk about the desire to show the guy I belonged. He was so intense, and I gave the effort in that workout that I’d give in a game. I didn’t know till after the fact that half the teams flunked me on the physical because of my knee. That workout might have been the only chance I had to show I belonged in the NFL. I can’t emphasize enough how important that workout was to my future. The fact that the number three team in the draft, Cincinnati, was sending the head coach to work me out … huge.

“I’ll never forget him that day: 6-5, maybe 245, had that Texas drawl—I was a California boy. A gentleman, but an intense, demanding coach. Then they drafted me. As an offensive tackle, to play for the man Lombardi said was the best player he ever coached, a man who exuded credibility, exuded discipline … He’d encourage you, but he’d hold you accountable at the same time.

“The best example of that, and one of the greatest things I learned from him, is when you don’t play well, you deserve to be called out. My rookie year, 1980, we went to Green Bay. Big game for him, because obviously he was a Hall of Fame player there. We lost. I had a horrendous game. So he called me out. He stood in front of the team and looked at me and said, ‘You played terrible. That guy going against you beat you all day, and he’s sitting on the bench late in the game, eating a hot dog.’ For him, it was embarrassing. And he was right. I was awful. I felt like, Thank you for doing that. I can guarantee that will never happen again.

“One other thing. After I got selected to the Pro Bowl [in 1981], he called me into his office. We walked outside. He put his arm around me. He said, ‘Congratulations. You’ve been selected to the Pro Bowl. Now you have to understand that every player you play in practice is going to measure himself against you because you’re a Pro Bowl player. Every player who plays you in a game is going to do the same thing. You’ve got to play every play like a Pro Bowler. You can’t relax.’ So I thought, okay, I’m going to hold myself accountable every play I ever play, for the rest of my career.

“Those two things helped me so much, as a player, and as a man. That’s why I owe him so much for what I accomplished.

“I remember how good he was getting us prepared to play big games. We were playing at Pittsburgh in December the year we went to the Super Bowl. If we win, we clinch the AFC Central. Before we left Cincinnati, he said to us, ‘If you’re afraid of games this big, you stay home. You stay in Cincinnati.’ Heck, I wasn’t afraid. But I was like, Let’s go! I couldn’t wait. We won. We clinched that day in Pittsburgh.

“After I retired, every time I saw him, I wanted to give him a hug. I loved who he was as a man—his credibility, his character, his discipline. One or two years after I retired, we were in New York together. The league put together a team for the first 75 years of the NFL, and Forrest and I were two of the tackles on that team. I kept thinking, ‘What am I doing here? With Forrest Gregg!’ Then I got into the Hall of Fame, and all I could think was, ‘I’m gonna have my bust with Forrest Gregg.’ ”

Pause. Munoz sounded emotional.

“It’s hard to put into words. But now we’re teammates forever. I just pray for Barbara and the family.”

Factoidness On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates placed Newman on the injured list and recalled Kramer to take his place.

This is not a “Seinfeld” episode, though Mike Florio wishes it were. Kevin Newman got hurt, and Kevin Kramer got called up from Triple-A to replace him. As much as it pains me to say, Newman’s injury did not come from a fiery mail truck incident during which he sings “Three Times A Lady” by Lionel Ritchie. No, the Newman injury was a simple finger laceration.

But, hey, that’s not much fun. This is.

Numbers Game

Though records are not kept for such things, I do believe the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have set one NFL record already in 2019: They have a 29-person coaching staff. A few notes about it:

• Bruce Arians hired an officiating coach, the Bucs’ 28th assistant coach, Thursday. Former NFL side judge Larry Rose, who lives south of Tampa in Fort Myers, joins the staff as “officiating consultant,” and will advise Arians on challenges on game day, and will counsel staff and players on the ever-changing rolodex of NFL rules.

• Arians has 11 African-American assistants, including all three coordinators (Byron Leftwich, Todd Bowles, Keith Armstrong) and his assistant head coach (Harold Goodwin). He has two female assistants—assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar and assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust. Thirteen non-white-male assistants on one staff is historic.

• The Bucs will go the route of several teams in training camp: They’ll run simultaneous practices with the full 90-man roster, dividing the position groups in half so each player can get more practice reps every day. To do this, it’s helpful to have extra coaches.

• Special teams are a particular emphasis. Arians hired a specialist coach (Chris Boniol) as well as a coordinator (Armstrong) and two assistant—Amos Jones and Cody Grimm.

Will it work? It’s interesting that, at week’s end, I checked on the Patriots’ website and looked at their coach lineup. Only 10 are listed, though that number will rise by at least six (including linebackers coach Jerod Mayo) by the time the staff is finalized. (New England had a 15-man staff last year and won the Super Bowl.) It’s interesting to note that Bill Belichick, and one of his mentors, Bill Parcells, have always been opposed to huge staffs. They believe, in part, that the more coaches you have, the more your message can get misinterpreted. And they believe, also, that it’s good to have players play without constantly being coached and instructed—to see if they’re getting the message without being told too much, too often.

10 Things I Think I Think

1. I think my gut tells me the NFL schedule release date will be Wednesday evening this week. That goes against the NFL’s recent history—the league has released the slate on a Thursday, one week before the draft, for the last three years—but there’s a reason why I see Wednesday night this year: Good Friday and Easter come up this week. The NFL likes to maximize attention, ratings and sales (tickets, merchandise, etc.) with tentpole days like the release of the schedule. There likely will be a chunk of Football America either traveling late this week or doing things other than being glued to the TV or internet to check out when the most interesting games this year will be. (Now watch the schedule get posted Thursday. Or Tuesday.)

2. I think I won’t be shocked if Denver, at 10, drafts Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins.

3. I think there are two interesting developments in the NFL’s work to better helmet design and technology.

• Players in underperforming helmets will not be allowed to take the field with them in 2019, after a season in which the league allowed them to be grandfathered into play for one last season. Teams that do not cooperate with the edict that players wear only league approved helmets will now be disciplined. The fact that only 32 players—2 percent of the league’s players—finished the 2018 season in helmets that didn’t meet the minimum standard is a good sign.

• The NFL’s senior VP for health and safety, Jeff Miller, told me Friday the next step on the helmet horizon is nearing a reality. Position-specific helmets, designed to concentrate on which parts of the helmet take the biggest impact per position, “are off the drawing-board phase and into the prototype phase,” Miller said. It’s possible that you’ll see different-looking helmets by 2020 or 2021. A great sign for players, for instance, such as wide receivers. Doug Baldwin told me last fall a vital thing for receivers’ helmets is padding and security on the back of the helmet—because when he falls to the turf after making a leaping catch, he can hit the back of his head violently on the ground. These are the kinds of protections that position-specific helmets can provide.

4. I think it’s going to be a good day Saturday, when Jeff Legwold’s ranking of the top 100 players entering the draft drops at ESPN.com. In our business, I trust his rankings as implicitly as any.

5. I think this comes from one long-time NFL scout on Saturday, asked about the depth on the defensive line: “There’s a reason why so many capable defensive linemen haven’t been signed in free agency. Allen Bailey, Corey Liuget, Muhammad Wilkerson, Ziggy Ansah, Ndamukong Suh—well, Suh is because of money, I assume—are all guys who teams would want. But if you can draft a guy for a quarter of the money, or less, you’ll do that. And if you don’t draft one of the good defensive linemen, then you go back and see what the price on some of these veterans is.”

6. I think there’s a story on NFL Network you’ve got to see later this week. The Network will air it several times starting Friday night. It’s reporter Mike Garafolo’s piece on a Division II edge-rushing prospect from the University of Charleston (W.Va.), Kahzin Daniels. Daniels is a late-round/free-agent type, but he’s caught the NFL’s attention because he had 31.5 college sacks, most often getting blocked by more than one lineman. The kicker: Daniels is completely blind in his right eye. Good football piece; better life piece. Garafolo finds an 8-year-old boy going blind in his left eye, and shows Daniels mentoring him. Powerful piece.

7. I think Sterling Shepard is a nice player, a number two or three receiver on a good team, and because I have railed against the Giants for not developing their own players, it’s good to see them keep a home- grown guy. But $10.3 million a year is a little steep for a guy with six 100-yard games and 14 touchdowns and a 12.0-yard average catch in 44 career games.

8. I think I cannot understand why the NFL would have asked for 21 ornamental cherry trees, some of the most beautiful trees on earth, to be cut down to make a better setting for the NFL draft. Turns out now that 11 of the trees will stay in place, with 10 to be uprooted, moved, then replanted after the draft. No guarantee that those 10 trees will live long lives. “The likelihood that these trees will survive relocation is extremely low,” The Nashville Tree Foundation said, according to The Tennesseean. It’s just hard to understand why an outdoor event will be better-staged without 10 beautiful trees.

9. I think Reuben Foster is fortunate he was not suspended by the league, but rather fined two 2019 game checks. The league never announces absolute specifics, but it’s likely that the story—stemming from Foster being arrested on a Niners’ road trip to Tampa Bay last year, where there was an incident with his girlfriend at the team hotel, and that incident led to the 49ers cutting him—has something to do with the fact that club management told him to stay out of trouble and to stay away from this woman on the road, and he didn’t. Foster should be pleased he’s not getting suspended, and he should know there’s not going to be any margin for similar slip-ups with his new team, Washington.

10. I think these are my other thoughts of the week:

a. Amazing what Tiger Woods accomplished Sunday, winning his first major in 11 years, winning his first major ever after trailing entering the final 18 holes, winning the Masters by a stroke after four debilitating back surgeries from 2014-17 that were so physically taxing that good friend Notah Begay recalled Sunday he once had to virtually carry Woods to his car in his back-pain period so he could pick up his kids at school. Begay had to drive. The human body is an amazing vehicle. b. But what I found myself thinking as I watched Sunday—and I watched it all, though I’m as casual a golf fan as there is—is that it is so interesting, this capacity we have in America for forgiveness. Remember nine-and-a-half years ago, when the stories of Woods’ seedy infidelity broke? And man, they were seedy. He was as low as he could be. His wife Elin kicked him out and divorced him. He was the biggest endorser of any athlete in the country, and it wasn’t even close, and AT&T, General Motors and Gatorade dropped him. “I was foolish,” he said, totally humbled and absolutely tarnished. c. And did you see the scene Sunday? The chants for Tiger, the love for Tiger, the fawning interviews of Tiger, the social-media praise of Tiger across the spectrum of sports (Brady, Serena, Kareem). Overall, I think it’s a very good thing, that a man can be as low as an inchworm, and work his way back through personal and physical struggles, and he can make it back. I have no idea what his personal life is like, but at least he’s not in the headlines for the wrong reasons anymore. It’s a cool thing, that he worked his way back. d. Story of the Week: Juliet Macur of the New York Times on the suicide of American Olympic cyclist and brilliant Stanford student Kelly Catlin. e. The story is heartbreaking in and of itself, a woman who was on her way to winning Gold at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and was so intelligent she would have been invaluable in whatever professional life she chose. But Macur’s respectful touch with Catlin’s family—she is a triplet, with parents devoted to their children without being helicopters—is particularly notable. I would encourage all journalism students to read this, because it’s a great lesson in taking an impossibly difficult subject, the suicide of a complicated person, and making it riveting without being maudlin. The relationship with her estranged sister very late in life is particularly touching, along with her sister’s reaction to Kelly’s death. f. Good example of Macur making dialog work so well in a story:

“I wake up every two to three hours at night to go through all of these permutations on what could have saved her,” said her father, whose eyes were reddened by weeks of crying. “I can’t help but wonder what she would’ve done with her life.”

Kelly’s mother answered, weeping, “Something great.” g. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255. h. Remembrance of the Week: Master Tesfatsion of Bleacher Report, writing in the Washington Post about the murder of Nipsey Hussle, and his meaning. i. Tesfatsion’s family is from Eritrea, the small East African country. Hussle’s father is from Eritrea, and Hussle spent time there in recent years and embraced his roots. I know Tesfatsion, and I know his family story, and he’s had to work exceedingly hard to get to the rising and prominent place in sportswriting that he occupies. In this piece, Tesfatsion quotes Hussle’s ethos of “taking the stairs” and that “handouts can cripple you.” I didn’t know of Hussle till his murder, but it’s obviously so sad that he couldn’t have continued his work in Los Angeles, where he was about to meet with police to talk about how to improve life in the city for so many disaffected young people before he was killed.

j. Tesfatsion, to me, is a fine example of what makes this country great. His family came here with a dream, as so many families have for generations, and their children arduously climbed the American ladder seeking better lives. It’s such a vital part of who we are, and who we need to keep being.

k. Tragic-Inspirational Story of the Week: Anthony Attrino of NJ Advance Media on the New Jersey high school principal who died after a selfless act.

l. Derrick Nelson’s words: “If it’s just a little bit of pain for a little bit of time that can give someone years of joy, it’s all worth it.”

m. Draft Story of the Week: Greg Gabriel of Pro Football Weekly, on how the New York Giants blew their 1996 first-round pick—Gabriel was a scout for the team—by lack of preparedness, and by internal division. I really don’t think the Cedric Jones pick could happen again today. But the Gabriel story also is a cautionary tale about a team doing enough homework—which the Giants did not do about Jones. n. Comic of the Week: “Tank McNamara” by Bill Hinds weighs in on instant replay. First comic strip ever linked in the 22-year history of this column. History made. o. The Columbus Blue Jackets , eight-seeded in the Eastern Conference, swept the first two games from the far-and-away best team in hockey, Tampa Bay, in Tampa, in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Columbus took Game 3 on Sunday as well. That’s why the NHL playoffs are so much more competitive than the playoffs in all other sports, and only baseball is close. p. Coffeenerdness: When it’s fresh, the Dunkin’ Donuts dark roast blend is a very good cup of coffee. I realize I compliment other coffees more, but I had a medium dark roast the other day for $1.89, and it was good, and the value was great. q. Winenerdness: Thanks for your cab, St. Francis (Santa Rosa, Calif.). Affordable ($21 in NYC) and distinctively delicious. r. Happy trails, Dwyane Wade. s. Happy trails, Dirk Nowitski. t. Two tremendous players and—from everything I’ve heard, though I’ve never met either—better people. Thought it was so cool that Wade’s good pals Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony all showed up in Brooklyn to support Wade to watch his last game. u. I don’t find it particularly cute, or a harmless change-of-mind, change-of-life story that Magic Johnson quit in mid-Laker crisis, and he did it without telling his boss. In what world does the man who runs a sports organization announce his resignation to the press before he tells the person who signs his paycheck?

v. Is there a better value player in baseball than Khris Davis of the A’s? Home runs since opening day 2016, before Sunday’s games: Davis 142, Giancarlo Stanton 124, Mike Trout 106, Bryce Harper 91. Over those four seasons, Davis will make $32.5 million, Stanton $74.5 million. (Harper is $51.9 million and Trout $106.9 million); I used the Davis/Stanton salary comparison because they’re pure home run hitters. Pro-rated, Davis is averaging 42 homers a year, and already has 10 this year—in mid-April.

w. Jose Altuve is ridiculously good. But you knew that.

x. Twins pitching the other night had this nine-batter stretch in a loss to the Mets: single, walk, walk, walk, hit-batsman, walk, walk, walk, single. y. Bottom of the 12-guys-on-the-injured-list Yankees batting order Saturday: Frazier, Tauchman, Higashioka, Wade. Unless you’re Peter Gammons, or you go to bed every night in pinstriped pajamas, you don’t know all four of those guys. z. Finally, we all owe Batallion Chief Jim McGlynn of the New York City Fire Department a debt of gratitude. McGlynn retires today after a 34-year FDNY career. He’ll have lots of memories, including the one on 9/11—he was the last person to be rescued from the rubble of the fall of World Trade Towers. Jeff Glor of CBS News caught up with him as he readied to walk away. Thanks, Jim McGlynn.

The Adieu Haiku Deebo Samuel: Pretty confident young man. “Hey Billy?” Just wow.