An ex-Marine turned analytics wonk is using biomechanical data to help teams find the NFL draft’s diamonds in the roughAs the NFL draft winds down on Saturday and the rookie free agent signing period kicks off, teams are on the clock to find the next Brock Purdy. San Francisco closed last year’s show after taking the 23-year-old quarterback with the 262nd and final pick on the board, a distinction that comes with the unfortunate nickname Mr Irrelevant. But when franchise QBs Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance were both knocked out late last season, it fell to the Iowa State product to keep the 49ers’ playoff fortunes alive. All he did was win his first seven starts and lead San Francisco...
Time will tell who got the best haul of players in Kansas City from Thursday’s first round, but there were encouraging signs from Seattle, Houston and PhiladelphiaAfter months of rumor and speculation, Thursday night’s first round of the NFL draft featured less chaos than anticipated. There were few eyebrow-scorching picks and, instead, a steady stream of sensible selections.Let’s look at some of the winners from the opening night. Continue reading...
The football analyst has consistently leveraged his ample platform and gravitas against reproductive rights and LGBTQ people – and it doesn’t seem like NBC or the NFL careNo sports league does more than the National Football League to encourage the stereotype of the glass-chewing, expletive-spewing coach. Tony Dungy, though, was more Kenneth Parcell than Bill Parcells – a soft-spoken, clean-cut ex-defensive back whose winning pedigree and strategic ingenuity rightly earned him pride of place among the titans of his profession. That Dungy is also a Black pioneer makes him especially useful to commissioner Roger Goodell’s efforts to “protect the [NFL] shield” from the seasonal assaults on its undying legacy of racial and gender inequality. Since transitioning to a lofty post-retirement...
The schedule for the 2022 season was unveiled on Thursday night and there’s no shortage of delicious matchups on offerThe NFL released its full 2022 schedule on Thursday night to add to what’s been a rollicking and unpredictable offseason. Here’s a lookahead to what should be some of the most entertaining matchups of the upcoming season. Continue reading...
The NFL now has 30 medical professionals at each game as it grapples with rule changes and greater head-injury awarenessWe are high above the plush seats in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the NFL’s chief medical officer and I, watching the Atlanta Falcons’ Cordarrelle Patterson getting dumped on his back. “As he throws the ball, keep an eye on his head,” Dr Allen Sills says. The tackle looks innocuous, at least at first. But then Sills asks a technician in the video review booth to slow down the footage before viewing it from another angle. Now it is clear that, as Patterson falls, his head spanks the turf and ricochets up. The incident, from the NFL game in London on Sunday...