The Ringer - Welcome to NFL 2008 Week2018-08-10T13:45:46-04:00http://www.theringer.com/rss/stream/174351972018-08-10T13:45:46-04:002018-08-10T13:45:46-04:00What Jon Gruden Can Learn From the Disastrous End to His Last Coaching Job
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<p>In 2008, the Buccaneers lost their final four games to miss the playoffs. It was a complete team meltdown that offers some lessons for Gruden as he heads back to Oakland.</p> <p id="PXf820"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the </em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17654594/history-wildcat-miami-dolphins-ronnie-brown-chad-pennington-tony-sparano"><em>wildcat ripped the league in half</em></a><em>, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, </em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/8/17662752/brett-favre-new-york-jets-2008-week"><em>Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets</em></a><em>, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—</em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/7/17658512/jeff-fisher-tennessee-titans-2008-13-3-albert-haynesworth-chris-johnson"><em>13 whole games</em></a><em>. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
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<p id="KCOLSG">“Anything goes on any given Sunday, especially on Monday night,” Jon Gruden proclaimed during one <em>Monday Night Football</em> broadcast in 2014. You have to wonder whether he was thinking back to 2008 when he said that.</p>
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<p id="AA4iIg">That year, Gruden was still the coach of the Buccaneers, and his team had a Week 14 <em>MNF</em> matchup against Carolina. Late in the third quarter, Cadillac Williams ran in a 4-yard touchdown to help Tampa Bay draw level, 17-17, and Gruden did a celebratory <a href="https://youtu.be/qGUXmxU9l8Y?t=2m43s">shimmy-slash-fist pump</a>. The Bucs were neck and neck with Carolina atop the NFC South, so a win so late in the season could determine who took the division, and maybe even a first-round bye. And at 9-3, the Bucs still had their eyes on a wild-card spot even if they lost.</p>
<p id="p9EVbI">Gruden couldn’t have known then, but his little dance was the closest he’d get to tasting the playoffs that year. Or any of the next 10 years, for that matter, as the Bucs lost to Carolina as well as their next three opponents to finish 9-7 and outside of the postseason, and Gruden was fired at the end of the year. That last month, the screws fell out of the <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d80cfe032/article/grudens-leadership-keeps-bangedup-bucs-on-course">tight (pirate) ship Gruden ran</a>—and the way that final stretch of games went down may have some lessons for Gruden as he returns to coaching for the first time in a decade with the Raiders.</p>
<p id="v5QIux">To a young generation of NFL fans, Gruden is known as a quarterback guru thanks to the popularity of QB Camp, a series in which he would interview, watch film, and run around the field as a <a href="https://youtu.be/_0CdZDarYbs?t=4m13s">“53-year-old pass rusher”</a> with top quarterback prospects. Gruden, however, did not have the luxury of brilliant quarterback play at the tail end of his time in Tampa Bay.</p>
<p id="1J0Eh7">After <a href="http://www.startribune.com/gruden-thought-favre-trade-to-bucs-was-done/62933172/">missing out</a> on acquiring <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/8/17662752/brett-favre-new-york-jets-2008-week">Brett Favre</a> that offseason, Gruden started a 38-year-old Jeff Garcia, who threw for 12 touchdowns in 12 games. In the five games Garcia was injured, 33-year-old Brian Griese took over, throwing five touchdowns and seven picks. Neither quarterback would ever start another game in the NFL.</p>
<p id="AHxK03">Even worse for Gruden’s squad than the subpar quarterback play was the complete implosion of the once-vaunted Tampa Bay defense. That demise began on December 1, one week before the Carolina game, when the University of Tennessee formally announced Lane Kiffin as the new head coach of the football team. Leave it to perhaps the only coach in football <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxQ_TIIDtAU">more</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Lane_Kiffin/status/859474407391195136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E859474407391195136&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.saturdaydownsouth.com%2Falabama-football%2F25-hilarious-lane-kiffin-tweets%2F">enigmatic</a> than Gruden to set the gears in motion on Gruden’s downfall.</p>
<p id="lDnUST">Upon Lane’s hiring, speculation immediately arose that his dad, Monte Kiffin, then the defensive coordinator for the Bucs, would join his son at UT. Not long after, Kiffin privately informed the players of his intentions to leave at the end of the season. Despite Kiffin, Gruden, and Bucs players <a href="http://archive.knoxnews.com/sports/bucs-career-at-an-end-for-coach-kiff-ep-410560426-359652321.html/">all categorically denying</a> that Kiffin’s imminent departure affected play, the results on the field were plain to see.</p>
<p id="bxbwD9">Kiffin’s storied defense allowed just one rushing touchdown in the 12 games leading up to the Carolina contest. That Monday night, though, the rush defense unraveled, giving up four touchdowns on the ground, three of which came in a 21-point fourth quarter for the Panthers that gave them the win, 38-23. The bleeding didn’t stop there. Tampa Bay allowed three more rushing touchdowns in its final three losses. During the four-game collapse, Tampa Bay allowed 189 rushing yards per game. At that rate over a 16-game season, that would’ve made the Bucs the <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/tgl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&year_min=1970&year_max=2017&game_type=R&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&week_num_min=0&week_num_max=99&temperature_gtlt=lt&c1stat=rush_yds_opp&c1comp=gte&c1val=3024&c5val=1.0&order_by=rush_yds_opp">third-worst rush defense</a> in the Super Bowl era.</p>
<p id="U7olAT">Virtually everyone’s play slipped, but the most glaringly obvious culprit was Tampa Bay’s defensive anchor Barrett Ruud, whose 90.7 Pro Football Focus grade made him <a href="https://premium.profootballfocus.com/nfl/positions/defense/summary?position=LB&week=1%2C2%2C3%2C4%2C5%2C6%2C7%2C8%2C9%2C10%2C11%2C12%2C13&season=2008&team=&customMinimum=0&minimum=50">second-highest-ranked linebacker in the league</a> going into the Panthers game. During the 0-4 run, Ruud graded at 53.2, plummeting him to 79th among linebackers in that span. The team gave up <a href="https://youtu.be/qGUXmxU9l8Y?t=3m14s">big play</a> after <a href="https://youtu.be/ThYDZck10xU?t=13s">big play</a> after <a href="https://youtu.be/gztYfBoid6I?t=2m39s">big play</a>, including the final nail in the coffin: a <a href="https://youtu.be/Do0i_iMVeGg?t=1m15s">67-yard Michael Bush run</a> in Week 17 that the Bucs never managed to overcome.</p>
<p id="x60WIh">Lane Kiffin wasn’t the only distraction to plague the Buccaneers. In April, Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen selected Aqib Talib in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft, despite reports that Talib failed multiple drug tests at Kansas.</p>
<p id="PJDUPj">Soon after being drafted, Talib got into a fight with new teammate Cory Boyd at the rookie symposium. In his first two seasons, Talib also got into <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81073244/printable/bucs-cb-talib-apologizes-for-practice-altercation-with-teammate">another fight</a> with Donald Penn, smashing Torrie Cox in the face with his helmet amid the struggle, was arrested on a battery charge, and was late to meetings and <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2008-08-05/sports/bucs05_1_aqib-talib-rookie-contract-tampa-bay">overslept and missed</a> a flight.</p>
<p id="434BR8">Gruden dismissed Talib’s rookie transgressions as “innocent mistakes,” but it was a symptom of his missteps in management. After Gruden was fired in 2009, former colleague Michael Lombardi wrote a column explaining <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090121230623/https://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2009/01/notes-from-lombardi-6/">why he thought Gruden was canned</a>, calling him the “Larry Brown of the NFL” thanks to poor personnel decisions and crummy player-coach relationships. Wide receiver Michael Clayton, who played under Gruden for five years, <a href="https://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/jon-gruden-is-the-larry-brown-of-the-nfl/">labeled Gruden a “turncoat.”</a></p>
<p id="MhgdgF">While Gruden gave Talib multiple passes, it wasn’t necessarily an indication of his coaching policy because, well, hardly anyone knows what his philosophy was—not even the players. “How do you build a championship team with all the inconsistency?” Clayton said.</p>
<p id="XEZmA9">Still, when Chucky returns to the sidelines this season—and probably for many more after, given the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/1/5/16855496/jon-gruden-hired-raiders">decade-long contract</a> Mark Davis handed him—Raiders fans have reason to be optimistic. Derek Carr is just 27, and he is coming off three straight Pro Bowl appearances. Oakland’s pass offense DVOA peaked at fourth in 2016, and even last year, amid lamentations about letting offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave go in favor of the less impressive Todd Downing, the air game still finished 13th in DVOA—the same as Gruden’s best year in Tampa Bay.</p>
<p id="IJBbNE">All reports coming out of the Bay Area indicate <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17655294/jon-gruden-derek-carr-raiders-quarterback-coach-relationship">Carr’s infatuation</a> with the “Spider 2 Y Banana” offense. And this will be Carr’s first NFL season under an offense-first head coach. Meanwhile Carr may be the best quarterback Gruden has ever worked with—it could be an excellent match for both parties. </p>
<p id="ateHPd">As Gruden begins his return stint in Oakland, some ghosts of the 2008 Bucs have come out of the woodwork. Oakland’s defense ranked <a href="https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef2017">29th in DVOA</a> last season, and the only new defensive signing to have made a Pro Bowl was Derrick Johnson. Even then, Johnson’s yearly PFF grade in the past three years has fallen from 82.0 to 70.5 to 65.5, the latter being his worst season since 2008.</p>
<p id="2BYvEq">Still, the Raiders have reason to expect that their defense will improve this year. First, they will need to resolve the standstill over two-time All-Pro Khalil Mack’s contract holdout. If they get that squared away, Oakland will be in promising shape in Year 1 of the Gruden project, having shored up the supporting cast around PFF’s sixth-best edge rusher. By moving Bruce Irvin from linebacker to defensive end, the Raiders can play to Irvin’s pass-rushing strengths while filling a hole opposite Mack on the line. Elsewhere on the defensive line, Oakland has potential upgrades to Eddie Vanderdoes—who is coming off an ACL tear—in rookies P.J. Hall and Maurice Hurst Jr. In vying for a starting spot, the pair will challenge Mario Edwards, who the Raiders hope will finally break out this season.</p>
<p id="wSqKKb">Other signings may not be flashy, but they fill needs for an Oakland team that needs stability. Free-agent acquisition Tahir Whitehead is a step up from Cory James at weakside linebacker. New signings Rashaan Melvin and Marcus Gilchrist, plus last year’s first-round pick Gareon Conley—who, after playing only two games in 2017, is expected to win the starting cornerback job opposite Melvin—have completely revamped last year’s secondary, potentially boosting a pass defense that <a href="https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef">ranked 30th against the pass by Football Outsiders</a>. Revamped too is Oakland’s whole defensive scheme. New defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has installed a high-demand scheme—featuring <a href="https://www.silverandblackpride.com/2018/6/28/17516424/paul-guenther-defensive-scheme-features-seemingly-endless-different-possible-alignments-for-raiders">14 different D-line fronts, 15 coverages, 20 blitzes out of a four-down front, and 26 blitzes out of double-A-gap fronts</a>.</p>
<p id="2KGdRQ">To make up for Chucky’s deficiencies as a player’s coach, Guenther and offensive coordinator Greg Olson will need to be rocks, not distractions, especially when the team relocates to Sin City. Olson was Oakland’s OC as recently as 2014, so he’s already worked with many Raiders players, including Carr. Since then, he’s made stops with the Jaguars and the Rams, coaching Blake Bortles to his career-best year and putting Jared Goff in the Pro Bowl. Gruden and Olson may be the perfect quarterback gurus to return Carr to his 2016 form, when according to PFF he was the fifth-best quarterback in the league. If they can engineer that, Gruden will finally have his Favre.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="b47HUr">Gruden has a promising quarterback, a set of coordinators who aren’t about to leave for Tennessee, and 10 years of perspective to learn from some of the mistakes that ultimately doomed him in Tampa Bay. It may not all come together immediately—having another nine years left on your contract doesn’t scream urgency anyway—but there’s at least plenty of reason for Raiders fans to feel like it won’t end up in the disaster Gruden oversaw in those last four games with the Bucs.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/10/17675320/jon-gruden-tampa-bay-buccaneers-2008-weekKenrick Cai2018-08-10T06:30:01-04:002018-08-10T06:30:01-04:00Redrafting the 2008 NFL Draft
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<p>With a decade of hindsight, how would teams have valued guys like Joe Flacco, Calais Campbell, and Matt Ryan?</p> <p id="4CMXPY"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the </em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17654594/history-wildcat-miami-dolphins-ronnie-brown-chad-pennington-tony-sparano"><em>wildcat ripped the league in half</em></a><em>, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, </em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/8/17662752/brett-favre-new-york-jets-2008-week"><em>Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets</em></a><em>, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—</em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/7/17658512/jeff-fisher-tennessee-titans-2008-13-3-albert-haynesworth-chris-johnson"><em>13 whole games</em></a><em>. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="2tFtAt">The 2008 NFL draft produced a future league MVP, a Super Bowl–winning quarterback, a handful of star running backs, and a few top-tier offensive tackles. It featured a few mega-busts, too. Now 10 years gone, the 2008 class stands out as, well, neither great nor terrible. But how different would it look if teams could take a mulligan and, knowing what we know now, do it all over? Here’s how the first round might go down. </p>
<h4 id="f6qy7h">1. Miami Dolphins: QB Matt Ryan, Boston College</h4>
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<p id="bXq37K">Original pick: OT Jake Long, Michigan</p>
<p id="k2myt6">This is the list of quarterbacks who’ve started for the Dolphins since the 2008 draft: Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Tyler Thigpen, Matt Moore, Ryan Tannehill, and Jay Cutler. Long was hardly a bust, but this swap is a no-brainer: Ryan’s thrown for more than 41,000 yards and 260 touchdowns in his 10-year career, and was the league’s MVP for the Falcons in 2016.</p>
<h4 id="kMLstY">2. St. Louis Rams: DE Calais Campbell, Miami</h4>
<p id="EEmHyc">Original pick: DE Chris Long, Virginia</p>
<p id="FKRwjK">The big, 6-foot-8, 300-pound defensive lineman out of Miami (originally chosen by the Cardinals with the 50th overall pick) is as disruptive as they come: He’s collected 71.0 sacks, 45 pass deflections, 11 forced fumbles, and three picks in his 10-year career, winning All-Pro honors three times (two second team, one first team). He finished tied for second in the league in sacks last year (14.5) for the Jaguars at 31 years old. </p>
<h4 id="2qdXV9">3. Atlanta Falcons: OT Ryan Clady, Boise State</h4>
<p id="H07J9y">Original pick: QB Matt Ryan, Boston College</p>
<p id="hHITyM">With Ryan off the board, the Falcons instead shore up their left tackle spot a little early (the first time around, they chose tackle Sam Baker with their second first-rounder). Clady’s career was cut short by injury (he played eight seasons) but he was a top-echelon tackle in his prime, going to four Pro Bowls while being named All-Pro three times. </p>
<h4 id="chIHbL">4. Oakland Raiders: QB Joe Flacco, Delaware</h4>
<p id="JMeQDT">Original pick: RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas</p>
<p id="04i2Fh">This might feel high for a quarterback who’s really struggled the past few years, but Flacco’s an upgrade at the most important position in sports, not only over then-starter JaMarcus Russell (who’d be done in Oakland by the end of the 2009 season), but also the never-ending turnstile of signal-callers that came after him until the Raiders drafted Derek Carr in 2014. Flacco was a solid starter early in his career, posting strong numbers in the postseason (particularly in 2012, leading the Ravens to a Super Bowl win), and while he might not be anything more than a long-term bridge to Carr in this scenario, that role still might be worth that no. 4 overall pick. Flacco’s position here is a testament to just how valuable a quarterback is—even a thoroughly average one—and Oakland’s chances to contend during the lean years from 2008 to 2015, when the team finished no better than third in its division, could’ve improved substantially with a little stability at the position.</p>
<h4 id="Xwf8fk">5. Kansas City Chiefs: RB Jamaal Charles, Texas</h4>
<p id="Zc2b7u">Original pick: DT Glenn Dorsey, Louisiana State</p>
<p id="AUBIn6">This is sort of ass backward, considering the Chiefs originally got Charles in the third round. But had Kansas City known just how good he’d become, it would’ve made sense to take the future foundation of its offense this early. Charles provided the Chiefs a dual-threat weapon out of the backfield, slippery as a runner and silky smooth as a pass catcher. If Charles is indeed done (he’s still a free agent), he’ll finish his career first among all running backs in the modern era with a 5.4 yards per carry average—better even than <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/rush_yds_per_att_career.htm">the great Jim Brown</a>. </p>
<h4 id="fQOFBX">6. New York Jets: CB Aqib Talib, Kansas</h4>
<p id="Qt9YM3">Original pick: DE Vernon Gholston, Ohio State</p>
<p id="qIwk2n">A secondary built around Talib and the then-23-year-old Darrelle Revis would’ve been one to watch. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound corner has racked up 34 picks and 117 pass deflections in his career thus far, and is still going strong. Instead, Gholston went on to become one of the worst first-round busts in league history, recording zero sacks in three seasons with the team. </p>
<h4 id="L1mBUg">7. New Orleans Saints: DE Cliff Avril, Purdue</h4>
<p id="bHeq37">Original pick: DT Sedrick Ellis, USC</p>
<p id="g7mf3x">The Saints offense led the league in scoring in 2008, and Drew Brees became just the second quarterback ever (Dan Marino was the first) to throw for 5,000 yards in a season. But that squad really could’ve used some help on defense. Ellis never lived up to his billing, playing just five years in the league, and Avril could’ve provided a nice boost to the team’s pass rush. The former Seahawk and Lion flew under the radar for most of his career, but according to the<em> Football Outsiders Almanac</em>, he was one of only two players in the NFL to notch at least five sacks in every year from 2008 to 2016. In his career, he’s collected 74 sacks and forced an incredible 30 fumbles. </p>
<h4 id="i7UL2o">8. Jacksonville Jaguars: OG Josh Sitton, Central Florida</h4>
<p id="90FcvZ">Original pick: DE Derrick Harvey, Florida</p>
<p id="TaCmhQ">The Maurice Jones-Drew–led Jaguars offenses of the late-2000s would have benefited from another rugged and versatile lineman like Sitton, who’s gone to four Pro Bowls and been named All-Pro three times. </p>
<h4 id="RDrNtr">9. Cincinnati Bengals: ILB Jerod Mayo, Tennessee</h4>
<p id="vz0hYY">Original pick: OLB Keith Rivers, USC</p>
<p id="D56eSU">Mike Zimmer’s Bengals defense might’ve been even stronger had the team invested in Mayo over Rivers in 2008. Mayo played his entire eight-year career with the Patriots, going to the Pro Bowl twice while racking up 535 tackles as the anchor in the middle of the New England defense. </p>
<h4 id="Hn8sKI">10. New England Patriots: WR Jordy Nelson</h4>
<p id="lN43z1">Original pick: ILB Jerod Mayo, Tennessee</p>
<p id="xV1tnG">With Mayo off the board, the Patriots go with a deep playmaking heir to Randy Moss, who’d be gone midway through 2010. Nelson’s caught 550 passes for 7,848 yards and 69 touchdowns in his career, and would’ve been a reliable option down the sideline and in the red zone for Tom Brady. </p>
<p id="EEoPtY"><em>Note: New England traded for this pick. The team </em><a href="http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3018338"><em>surrendered its first-round pick</em></a><em> in 2008 as part of the punishment for the Spygate scandal, which is why the first round of this draft had only 31 selections.</em></p>
<h4 id="JP7i1R">11. Buffalo Bills: DE Chris Long, Virginia </h4>
<p id="yZIL0p">Original pick: CB Leodis McKelvin, Troy</p>
<p id="d51swb">McKelvin turned into a solid pro, but where the 2008 Bills really lacked teeth was up front, finishing tied for 28th in sacks that season. Long never lived up to his billing as the no. 2 overall pick, but he’s put together a long, productive career, totaling 63.5 sacks and 13 forced fumbles with three teams (including key roles on two straight Super Bowl squads).</p>
<h4 id="GWdfat">12. Denver Broncos: OT Duane Brown, Virginia Tech</h4>
<p id="JijLfn">Original pick: OT Ryan Clady, Boise State</p>
<p id="aUJCMX">With Clady off the board, the Broncos settle for another long-term starter at the position. Durable and tough, Brown’s been one of the most reliable blindside protectors in the game over the past decade, and has been named to four Pro Bowls and won All-Pro honors twice. </p>
<h4 id="u8mqTq">13. Carolina Panthers: OT Jake Long, Michigan</h4>
<p id="F3m2ng">Original pick: RB Jonathan Stewart, Oregon</p>
<p id="Kj6C47">The Panthers took explosive runner DeAngelo Williams in the first round just two years earlier, so while Stewart’s had an incredibly impressive career, a top-tier right tackle like Long, who went to four Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro twice, likely provides a bigger impact in both the run game and passing attack. Long would’ve made for a nice bookend right tackle opposite Jordan Gross (Jeff Otah, who the team selected with the 19th overall pick, would last just three seasons in the league). </p>
<h4 id="IHfKOr">14. Chicago Bears: RB Matt Forte, Tulane</h4>
<p id="j4NpGQ">Original pick: OT Chris Williams, Vanderbilt</p>
<p id="sDiojC">Like the Charles pick, this is another bizarro redraft scenario in which the Bears have to use a higher pick on a player they originally got later. But giving up that draft capital would be worth it: Forte became one of the premier hybrid running backs in the league, capable of carrying the ball between the tackles or catching a pass on the outside. He finished his career with nearly 9,800 rushing yards and more than 4,600 receiving yards, totaling 75 scores through land and the air. </p>
<h4 id="Axxzfu">15. Kansas City Chiefs: WR DeSean Jackson, Cal</h4>
<p id="A80QpY">Original pick: OT Branden Albert, Virginia</p>
<p id="VJ7MKy">The combination of peak Dwayne Bowe and elite deep threat DeSean Jackson could’ve been a lot of fun for Chiefs fans. In his prime, Jackson was the league’s most dangerous downfield threat, capable of getting behind a defense on every snap. Oh, and he was also an electric, albeit unconventional, return man—<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf6UpiiLWaY">just ask the Giants</a>. </p>
<h4 id="XWt3gT">16. Arizona Cardinals: RB Chris Johnson, East Carolina</h4>
<p id="ZnQUYP">Original pick: CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Tennessee State</p>
<p id="yMXkc3">CJ2K is known mostly for his 2,006-yard, 14-touchdown sophomore campaign, but he enjoyed a long and productive career well after that seminal season. In all, he racked up 9,651 yards on the ground, another 2,255 yards as a receiver, and 64 touchdowns. He could’ve been an excellent complement to Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin in the Kurt Warner–led offense. </p>
<h4 id="BZKhSJ">17. Detroit Lions: CB Brandon Carr, Grand Valley State</h4>
<p id="FpfIAc">Original pick: OT Gosder Cherilus, Boston College</p>
<p id="WPkzJz"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17654282/lions-browns-winless-season-tanking-trajectory">The Lions went 0-16 in 2008</a>, so really they could’ve used a good player at just about any position at this spot. Cherilus had a good career, but considering Detroit picked off a league-low four passes during its groundbreaking winless season, I think the Lions could’ve used a playmaking corner like Carr here instead. He’s proved to be a versatile cover man, and has racked up 19 interceptions and 123 pass deflections in his career. </p>
<h4 id="S2zGAR">18. Baltimore Ravens: OT Branden Albert, Virginia </h4>
<p id="9jfzH1">Original pick: QB Joe Flacco, Delaware</p>
<p id="YFh06v">With Flacco gone, the Ravens grab a quality tackle instead. Albert started 118 games in his career and went to the Pro Bowl in 2013 and 2015. </p>
<h4 id="7dp0du">19. Carolina Panthers: CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Tennessee State</h4>
<p id="v5ljML">Original pick: OT Jeff Otah, Pittsburgh</p>
<p id="kUBT6a">Starting corner Ken Lucas would go on to sign with the Seahawks in 2009, making Rodgers-Cromartie a high-quality, versatile successor to a key role in Carolina’s secondary. Rodgers-Cromartie, who earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2016 and has gone to two Pro Bowls, has 30 picks, six defensive scores, and 150 pass deflections on his résumé. </p>
<h4 id="4jn4P7">20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: WR Pierre Garcon, Mt. Union</h4>
<p id="KR5Wef">Original pick: CB Aqib Talib, Kansas</p>
<p id="RGLoUV">Talib’s long gone, so with little depth behind Antonio Bryant (who’d be out of the league by 2009), the Bucs add a fierce, playmaking pass catcher in Garcon here instead. The D-III product, who was originally a sixth-rounder, has made quite a career for himself, breaking into the Colts lineup in his second year and eventually notching a pair of 1,000-yard seasons in Washington. </p>
<h4 id="eBUXXk">21. Atlanta Falcons: CB Brandon Flowers, Virginia Tech</h4>
<p id="HXtng0">Original pick: OT Sam Baker, USC</p>
<p id="FdDtUI">After grabbing a tackle with the third pick, the Falcons look to their defense here and go with cornerback Brandon Flowers. Flowers proved to be a ball-hawking corner during his nine-year career, stockpiling 21 picks and 111 passes defensed playing with the Chiefs and Chargers. </p>
<h4 id="3uuuLQ">22. Dallas Cowboys: OG Carl Nicks, Nebraska</h4>
<p id="CffcwN">Original pick: RB Felix Jones, Arkansas</p>
<p id="HStOC5">Jones never turned into the type of feature back the team envisioned, and Dallas would’ve been better off investing in the offensive line instead. Nicks played only six seasons, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bp/carl-nicks-never-recovers-from-mrsa-infection--steps-away-from-nfl-213509683.html">retiring early because of complications from a MRSA</a> infection, but was an elite, immovable force in his prime with New Orleans, winning All-Pro honors twice. </p>
<h4 id="A13sk0">23. Pittsburgh Steelers: OG Jeremy Zuttah, Rutgers</h4>
<p id="7lsnYh">Original pick: RB Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois</p>
<p id="paLQr0">Mendenhall had three solid seasons with the Steelers, but much like Dallas, Pittsburgh would’ve gotten more value in the long term out of a top-tier offensive lineman here instead of taking a running back. Zuttah played both guard spots and at center in his nine-year career, and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2016. </p>
<h4 id="BslpC3">24. Tennessee Titans: WR Steve Johnson, Kentucky</h4>
<p id="RWDrH8">Original pick: RB Chris Johnson, East Carolina</p>
<p id="WlQf6P">Chris Johnson’s gone, so the Titans shore up their pass-catching corps with Stevie Johnson at this spot. The playmaker out of Kentucky likely would’ve seen playing time early on, considering Tennessee’s receptions leader in 2008 was someone named Brandon Jones, who finished the year with 41 catches. Johnson notched three straight 1,000-yard seasons in Buffalo—the first player to do that for the Bills. </p>
<h4 id="7Fdf9z">25. Dallas Cowboys: CB Leodis McKelvin, Troy</h4>
<p id="8XRElF">Original pick: CB Mike Jenkins, South Florida</p>
<p id="ZaxNEM">Jenkins wasn’t a bad pick here, and played eight seasons with the Cowboys, Raiders, and Bucs—but McKelvin gets the slight edge. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound corner played eight seasons with the Bills before finishing his career in Philly, and grabbed 15 picks and 81 passes defensed. </p>
<h4 id="vpCoru">26. Houston Texans: C John Sullivan, Notre Dame</h4>
<p id="sZdkFF">Original pick: OT Duane Brown, Virginia Tech</p>
<p id="44oRKf">Brown is long gone, so the Texans go with another reliable, long-term starter in Sullivan. Sullivan was a longtime anchor of the Vikings offensive line, and is still playing at a high level as the Rams’ man in the middle. </p>
<h4 id="QCBtKJ">27. San Diego Chargers: RB Jonathan Stewart, Oregon</h4>
<p id="GCswDu">Original pick: CB Antoine Cason, Arizona</p>
<p id="TSZmD8">Heading into the 2008 season, LaDainian Tomlinson was coming off of back-to-back first-team All-Pro performances, but he’d be done in San Diego by 2010—making Stewart a quality heir ready to step in and take over the team’s dominant ground game. Stewart’s a physical downhill runner and would’ve been a steady and dependable presence in the team’s backfield.</p>
<h4 id="opdqb7">28. Seattle Seahawks: OT Gosder Cherilus, Boston College</h4>
<p id="KlvOk1">Original pick: DE Lawrence Jackson, USC</p>
<p id="uDlZ6O">Walter Jones <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2014/7/30/5940131/walter-jones-pro-football-hall-of-fame-2014">retired after the 2008 season</a>, making the tackle position a huge position of need. Cherilus never went to the Pro Bowl, but missed just five games in his first six seasons, eventually starting 116 games in a nine-year career. Seattle could’ve done worse at this spot (and, well, it did). </p>
<h4 id="cJhplh">29. San Francisco 49ers: CB Tracy Porter, Indiana </h4>
<p id="CjXEJD">Original pick: DT Kentwan Balmer, North Carolina</p>
<p id="I9uX1E">Balmer lasted just two seasons in San Francisco. Instead, the Niners pick up a physical starting corner in Porter at this spot, shoring up a secondary that lacked playmakers. Porter grabbed 13 picks and 75 passes defensed in his nine-year career, playing for five different teams. His fourth-quarter pick-six of Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLIV sealed the win for the Saints. </p>
<h4 id="PK7xms">30. New York Jets: TE Martellus Bennett, Texas A&M</h4>
<p id="yua09I">Original pick: TE Dustin Keller, Purdue</p>
<p id="8iZRrV">Keller played well at times for New York, and led the team in receptions in both 2010 and 2011. But the Jets would’ve been better off going with Bennett here, a more dynamic downfield threat capable of lining up all over the formation. Bennett caught 30 touchdowns in his career and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2014.</p>
<h4 id="vU62Um">31. New York Giants: S Thomas DeCoud, Cal</h4>
<p id="gmAEy6">Original pick: S Kenny Phillips, Miami </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="0CBtjg">Phillips was a good player, but struggled to stay healthy, missing big chunks of the 2009 and 2012 seasons to a series of knee injuries that eventually forced him to retire. New York could’ve gone with DeCoud here instead, who proved to be, at worst, a durable playmaker in his seven years in the league. The hard-hitting former Falcons safety racked up 15 interceptions, 31 pass deflections, and four forced fumbles in his career, and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2012.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/10/17672160/2008-nfl-draft-redraftDanny Kelly2018-08-09T10:17:57-04:002018-08-09T10:17:57-04:00What the Brady-less 2008 Season Taught Us About Bill Belichick
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<img alt="Matt Cassell talking to Bill Belichick in 2008" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LbmjfhQU3A3Ln5M7B06LFkM-XTM=/235x0:2902x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60779165/2008_week_belichick_cassel_AP_Ringer_NO_BUG.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>AP Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>Despite the sudden loss of perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time in the first quarter of Week 1, the Patriots still won 11 games. How’d Belichick do it? Matt Cassel and Rodney Harrison explain.</p> <p id="dbeE06"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the wildcat ripped the league in half, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—13 whole games. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="41uKHA">
<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="2Mt7yi">There was a play called “Randy” in the New England Patriots playbook in the late 2000s. It was exactly like it sounds: Randy Moss runs a post, gets open, and destroys some poor defensive back. A 26-year-old Matt Cassel first ran “Randy” against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008—in the first quarter of a Week 1 matchup that marked his first meaningful game action in years.</p>
<p id="OaUX0M">“I was thrown into the fire,” Cassel told me. “I didn’t know what to expect, first quarter of the first game of the season and I’m playing.”</p>
<p id="PC3ojc">He was playing because Tom Brady, fresh off one of the greatest <a href="https://theringer.com/nfl/2017/8/7/16107814/2007-new-england-patriots-tom-brady-randy-moss-wes-welker">passing seasons in the history of the sport</a>, went down with a knee injury earlier in the quarter after a hit from Bernard Pollard. </p>
<p id="qBqk0X">“Before the second series, the doctor walks by and says, ‘It doesn’t look good. I think it’s going to be your team for the year,’” Cassel said, laughing. “I was like, ‘Uh, could you wait until after the game to tell me this?’”</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><div id="JO1NwY"><div data-anthem-component="aside:1408500"></div></div></div>
<p id="4HaBfF">Shortly after Cassel was forced into action, the Patriots called “Randy” from their own 1-yard line. “It was supposed to be the short post, but he saw the guy jump inside, so he just threw his hand up and you had to hit him down the sideline. It was beautiful,” Cassel said. “The next thing you know, I’m hitting him in the back of the end zone for a tremendous catch. It was one of those things where it was absolutely a confidence booster.” </p>
<p id="uA7nbL">It was the moment Cassel knew everything was going to be fine. </p>
<p id="bdXbnv">This was the first big play in one of the most impressive seasons in Bill Belichick’s long coaching tenure, even though it doubled as the only season in the past 15 years that didn’t end in an AFC East crown or a playoff spot. It was also one of only three seasons over that same stretch in which the Patriots won fewer than 12 games. Yet New England spent nearly the entire season without Brady, probably the greatest quarterback of all time, and still posted a double-digit win count. </p>
<p id="rTbVkR">Belichick being forced into a situation where he <a href="https://theringer.com/2016/9/21/16077008/get-ready-for-bill-belichick-to-do-amazing-things-with-his-rookie-qb-9d52f59c992e">has to tinker</a> is one of the most compelling things in football. Effortless dominance is boring; playing Troy Brown at cornerback or rotating members of the <a href="http://nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000547575/article/patriots-break-the-mold-with-offensive-line-rotation">offensive line in</a> and out like a hoops team is fun. But none of that matches having to replace Brady for nearly a full season. </p>
<p id="1XbJRV">It has been 10 years since this 2008 season, and now that we’ve seen Brady’s dominance continue in the following seasons, that year serves as a guidebook for what Belichick can do in the worst-case scenario: one without Brady. The season was a testament to the Patriots’ system, to roster depth, to not panicking, and to having Randy Moss on your team. </p>
<p id="Go2CLC">“It was one of his better coaching jobs,” said star safety Rodney Harrison, now an analyst at NBC Sports. “It was a coaching opportunity, and he saw it as that.” </p>
<p id="sojZxW">Brady’s claim to “the greatest quarterback of all time” title has plenty of evidence behind it: He has won five Super Bowls and was the MVP of four of them. He has won three league MVPs and has been a Pro Bowl selection 13 times. Now a member of the Lions, Cassel said, “The pressure that came along with trying to replace a guy like Tom—it was an amazing season to accomplish what we did.” </p>
<p id="20Bapz">Harrison said that nothing can prepare you to lose your starting quarterback—and that goes double for Brady: “You’re seeing a pillar of health and strength and you see him go down and say, ‘Wow, did that happen?’” </p>
<p id="smFUHP">When Harrison thinks of that season, he remembers something that would be soothing <em>only </em>to a former Patriot. “What was comforting was Bill’s monotone voice. It was still there during this,” Harrison said. “The entire world was panicking. We were stunned. There are a lot of emotions in football, but he was always the same.” Belichick, Harrison said, addressed the Brady injury only once. “He told us the media would try to divide us and hit the panic button but that we won’t panic. He was not like, ‘Oh my god, the world is ending.’” </p>
<p id="Mh4LaM">The sense of calmness defined the season. This was the year that “Do Your Job,” the unofficial franchise motto, was put to the test. Harrison said that previous injuries had prepared the team for this: Belichick was insistent that <em>everything </em>must stay the same afterward, and the loss of the best quarterback in football would be no exception.</p>
<p id="4b2CuN">For Cassel, just <em>playing </em>in the NFL seemed like a long shot—let alone capably replacing one of the best QBs to ever do it. Cassel did not start a game at quarterback from November 1999 until September 2008. At USC, he backed up Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. At one point, the team <a href="https://yahoo.com/news/cassel-finally-gets-shot-214300504--nfl.html">tried</a> to convert him to tight end.</p>
<p id="VV8M9W">“Coach Belichick was incredible that entire year,” Cassel said. “When coach found out Tom was hurt, he just casually goes, ‘OK, Cassel, you’re in the game,’ and that was it.” Cassel said he’d been on teams in the past where a starter goes down and coaches start talking about the issue or worrying too much. “There was nothing like that here. It was ‘OK, we’re closing ranks, we’re moving forward,’ and that was his mentality the entire time I was there. He was a great supporter, and I got confidence because of it.” </p>
<p id="HueNZN">Even without Brady, the Patriots were still upset they didn’t win the division, kept out by <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17654594/history-wildcat-miami-dolphins-ronnie-brown-chad-pennington-tony-sparano">the Wildcat Dolphins</a>, led by Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. When I asked Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson, who was a Patriots executive at the time, what he remembered about that season, the answer was that they didn’t make the playoffs. “That sucked,” he said. He echoed the thought that Belichick did an incredible job of keeping the team on course without its best player. </p>
<p id="ODCDDa">Cassel said that one of the best moments of the season was after the Jets win in Week 2. Moss approached him and said, “Hey, Cass, you got this.”</p>
<p id="pjWnav">Moss finished that season with his second straight 1,000-yard campaign. Cassel said it’s impossible to overstate the wide receiver’s impact. In October, Cassel threw a then-career-high 32 times in a win against San Francisco. On one play, Moss was ready to run a post route, but the 49ers brought a corner blitz. Normally, Cassel would find the hot route, but instead, he said, “I just drifted from it and threw it up. And Randy just clear as day sky-rockets up there and went and got it. Randy Moss is one of the most special individuals I have ever been around. He made my job so much easier. He made so many catches that year.”</p>
<p id="mB28Xj">Moss helped plenty. So did Belichick. And so did Cassel. </p>
<p id="FEAIB4">“You have to remember,” Harrison said, “this is a guy who never started in college. Bill sees stuff in people that no one sees and even things that people don’t see in themselves.” The Patriots drafted Cassel in the seventh round in 2005 after a strong pro day. He had athletic tools but had not started at quarterback since high school; his lone start at USC was at H-back. </p>
<p id="797ahh">In Week 1 against the Chiefs, Cassel never saw Brady get hit. He was following the ball in the air after it was thrown and heard the stadium fall silent as Brady went down. He had no idea what to expect when he jogged onto the field—something he said feels like it happened yesterday. Cassel knew it was serious because he’d seen Brady play hurt so often that there was no way he would come out of the game for something that wasn’t drastic. </p>
<p id="D9I5Ug">Cassel remembered the next week wistfully. It was his first start in nine years—under ludicrous pressure. “There’s already a lot of noise outside the building and it’s against Brett Favre, at the Meadowlands.” New England employed a ball-control offense. Cassel had 165 passing yards, and, for the second straight week, the team rushed for 100 yards. The Patriots won 19-10 and improved to 2-0. The season would not be a repeat of 2007’s best offense of all time, but it wouldn’t be a disaster either. “Brett Favre runs over and says, ‘Congratulations, I’m really proud of you.’ I’ll never forget that,” Cassel said. </p>
<p id="yONF1s">The most impressive thing about the season was the offense Belichick surrounded Cassel with: Cassel said it was modified only slightly, to add bootlegs and movements in the pocket to the same routes and concepts the team would’ve run with Brady. Cassel’s ability—and what Belichick trusted him to do—grew as the season went along. He never threw more than 38 times from weeks 1 through 9. In the four games from November 13 until December 7, Cassel did that every time. He didn’t throw for more than 200 yards for the first three weeks of the season, then surpassed 400 in back-to-back weeks in November. Cassel ended the year with nearly 3,700 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.</p>
<p id="NZs06m">“When you have a young guy that hasn’t played a lot of ball, you have to build that confidence,” Cassel said. “But they understood I had been in the system for three years, that I could handle it, and the more they understood I could handle it, the more it became our own offense and it exploded the way it did.” </p>
<p id="aXN7rm">The most important part in growing Cassel’s confidence, Harrison said, was Belichick letting “Matt be Matt. He wasn’t pretending he was anybody else.” That meant taking advantage of Cassel’s athleticism in some spots, like those bootlegs. </p>
<p id="UxzClx">“We were running our offense; it didn’t change much from what Tom did,” Cassel said. For Cassel, that season launched a career that now contains 81 starts and continues in Detroit. Notably, he outlasted Leinart by at least five seasons, and Palmer retired after last year. Brady, on the other hand, just turned 41, is the reigning MVP, and has been to back-to-back Super Bowls.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="Ea0s3n">Late in the 2008 season, there were moments when Belichick let the team go no-huddle and open up the game. This<em> </em>was no different from the year before, even with a different quarterback. In November, the Patriots were down 31-24 against the Jets. “We were throwing it all over the place,” Cassel said. There was one second left on the clock. “Randy posted up Ty Law at the goal line. I saw him put his big paw up and hit him,” Cassel remembered, smiling. The Jets won the game in overtime, but Cassel called the contest a “building block” for him. The Patriots did not make the playoffs, and, in the context of their current historic run, 11 wins is a disappointment. But Belichick tinkered, game-planned, and came up with a football miracle: a good team without Brady. Cassel did his job.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/9/17670364/new-england-patriots-2008-season-tom-brady-injury-matt-cassel-bill-belichickKevin Clark2018-08-09T08:19:04-04:002018-08-09T08:19:04-04:00The Year of Peak Safety Play—and the Position’s Steady Devaluation Ever Since
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BRNy-ObE6SQnOta2U61zBjkwnj4=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60777869/2008_SafetyPlay_NoBUG_Getty_AP_Ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images/AP Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>In 2008, Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu ruled the NFL. Ten years later, even the best safeties on the market struggled to find work. Has the game simply changed? Or is the explanation more sinister?</p> <p id="J0FDkG"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the wildcat ripped the league in half, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—13 whole games. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="9DdS61">
<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="tplAJs">Ten years ago, a pair of safeties from the same division, on opposite sides of the league’s most brutal rivalry, ruled the NFL. Between them, Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu can count 17 Pro Bowl visits, 14 All-Pro appearances, and two future fittings for gold jackets. Neither was ever more impactful than in 2008. They combined to pull down 16 interceptions that season (Reed had nine, Polamalu seven) while captaining the league’s <a href="https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef2008">top two defenses</a> to a meeting in the AFC championship game. “They were two of the most instinctive anticipators to ever play the position,” says Chuck Pagano, who served as the Ravens secondary coach that season. </p>
<div class="c-float-left"><div id="esWE2W"><div data-anthem-component="aside:1408500"></div></div></div>
<p id="PpkG7O">Ray Lewis may have been the face of the Ravens in 2008, but Reed was the undisputed king of that Baltimore defense. At age 30, he’d emerged as a football clairvoyant. He paired the remarkable physical gifts that helped him become a 2002 first-round pick with an almost supernatural ability to predict the future. “He made plays because he knew exactly what was coming,” Pagano says. “Before the ball was snapped, he had it whittled down to one or two plays, and then his instincts—which were off the charts—kicked in.”</p>
<p id="kURsZc">To Pagano, the quintessential Reed moment of that season came in the Ravens’ wild-card-round playoff win over Miami. Facing second-and-12 from the Baltimore 15-yard line, the Dolphins set up in a formation they’d used earlier in the game. Reed recognized the alignment and surmised that, given the down and distance, Miami would attempt what the Ravens referred to as an “Ernie” or “Zampese” route combination. That meant a throw would travel to the opposite side of the field from where Reed was patrolling his deep-half zone. “[Baltimore cornerback] Corey Ivy’s getting ready to step in front [of the receiver], and all of a sudden, here comes Eddie Reed from the opposite hash mark [to make the interception],” Pagano says. “He had no business being over there. It’s one of those deals where you’re saying ‘Oh, no, no, no—great play, Eddie!” </p>
<p id="fOckCH">Reed was a superstar long before the 2008 campaign, but that year he transitioned from bothering quarterbacks to tormenting them. While Reed was playing chess, AFC QBs were playing checkers ... while doing the football equivalent of dangling above a shark tank on a fraying rope. Quarterbacks going against Polamalu that fall experienced a similar feeling. The Pittsburgh icon spearheaded a defense that allowed 13.9 points per game, the best mark in the league. Reed had an expert ability to find the ball; in Polamalu’s case, it often felt as though the ball found him. Many of his interceptions that season came on physics-defying displays in which tipped balls should have hit the ground by every law that governs the universe.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="m5PzLp"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"The Games to Watch This NFL Preseason","url":"https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/9/17667380/preseason-guide-games-to-watch"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="DjNh83">If 2008 was the peak year of safety value in the modern NFL, 2018 might be its deepest valley. This year’s free-agent class at the position included several players who analysts expected to secure lucrative deals based on their performance last season. Tre Boston and Eric Reid headlined the class, with Kenny Vaccaro—a pedigreed talent coming off a down season—leading the tier directly below. Yet when the market opened, suitors were hard to find. Boston waited by the phone for months before finally agreeing to a contract with Arizona (where Steve Wilks, his former defensive backs coach with the Panthers, is now the head coach). “I think we all expected to be top-paid safeties,” Boston says. “I was going into [the market] with two first-rounders, and first-rounders usually get a nice second contract. And I had the best [2017] season out of all of us. Going into it I didn’t think I was too far from [Rams safety] Lamarcus Joyner.” </p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="FnqEcP"><q>“How did we get to a point where <em>this</em> is what we were worth? You can put my stats up against some of the best of them you’re gonna get me in the $7 million-plus range. It’s crazy that people aren’t really talking about how we managed to get paid less than $2 million.” —Tre Boston</q></aside></div>
<p id="QdavP1">Joyner signed the franchise tag with Los Angeles in April, setting his 2018 salary at $11.3 million. Boston’s base salary, by comparison, is just $1.5 million on a one-year deal, with incentives that could get him up to $3.2 million. Vaccaro, who signed with the Titans last week after Tennessee starter Johnathan Cyprien went down with a torn ACL, inked a one-year contract that’s reportedly in the same range. “How did we get to a point where <em>this</em> is what we were worth?” Boston says. “You can put my stats up against some of the best of them you’re gonna get me in the $7 million-plus range. It’s crazy that people aren’t really talking about how we managed to get paid less than $2 million.” </p>
<p id="oKjQho">It does feel absurd that the free safety who recorded five interceptions for the Chargers’ defense, which finished fourth in deep-passing DVOA last season, per Football Outsiders, couldn’t find work until the eve of training camp. The question is whether that disappointing safety market is the product of the position’s marginalized standing in the NFL, a blip in the position’s trajectory, or a coordinated push among decision-makers to prevent one man—and one man only—from finding a job.</p>
<p id="otRBIC">Boston, for his part, believes that the answer is obvious. “It’s right in front of our eyes,” he says. “Somebody’s got to call a spade a spade.”</p>
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<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Dallas Cowboys v&nbsp;Arizona Cardinals" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sCRpUgG5T0HZHWaKYFC9UIyYFwY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11958263/854914248.jpg.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Tyrann Mathieu</figcaption>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="v5mGUn">It took only five years for Tyrann Mathieu to see both the highs and lows of life in the NFL. In August 2016, he signed a five-year extension with the Cardinals that made him one of the highest-paid defensive backs in the league. The negotiating process was knotty; Mathieu spent a significant portion of his snaps the previous few seasons as a cornerback, complicating his market value and leading to him landing a $62.5 million deal that made him the league’s “<a href="https://twitter.com/i/moments/760563183538937856">richest safety</a>.” Just 15 months later, not far removed from an injury-plagued 2016 season, Arizona’s brass balked at his $18.75 million cap hit and cut him. “I got released, and any time a player gets released, it’s that reality check of, <em>You have to prove yourself again</em>,” Mathieu says. “I didn’t want to go anywhere where I was locked into a long-term deal. I wanted to go somewhere to prove myself.”</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="ViqgQk"><q>“You kind of get that vibe that [teams think], ‘Most safeties are replaceable, we don’t really need ’em, most safeties are system players.’” —Tyrann Mathieu</q></aside></div>
<p id="K9xRaq">Mathieu was cut on the opening day of free agency, making him another member of the 2018 safety class that included Boston and Reid. Like his peers, Mathieu found a chilly market. He was offered a couple of multiyear deals, but they came from teams in cold-weather cities. The New Orleans native wound up signing a one-year, $7 million deal with the Texans. Mathieu’s payday was significantly more lucrative than the deal Boston got, but the leaguewide attitude he encountered was the same. “You kind of get that vibe that [teams think], ‘Most safeties are replaceable, we don’t really need ’em, most safeties are system players,’” Mathieu says. “I try not to really buy into it or feed into it. Most of the guys I talk to, I try to get them to understand the difference between a system safety and guys that actually bring value to a secondary.”</p>
<p id="CDgxHi">As the landscape of the league has shifted, the type of safety that is coveted has shifted, too. A steady increase in rule changes, including the NFL’s latest attempt at revamping the helmet rule, has diminished the need for bruising big hitters in the mold of Steve Atwater. Instead, front offices are placing a premium on safeties who can cover ground like Reed. “At one time you could get away with 4.6 [second 40-yard dash] safeties,” Browns general manager John Dorsey says. “You better have 4.4 safeties now.” </p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><div id="g9yxXt"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/episode/2d4aEPuYjiWAyZixAgIiO2" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 232px;" allowfullscreen="" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="eahaRT">Dorsey’s beliefs about the state of the position explains the Browns’ March trade for Damarious Randall. Randall spent his tenure in Green Bay as a cornerback, but Dorsey saw him as a player ideally suited to become the roaming free safety Cleveland lacked. “To me, it’s [about] the dynamic of the athlete on the back end there, as opposed to the more traditional box safeties,” Dorsey says. “I think the game has gotten to the point now where it’s athletes in the back in the secondary.” </p>
<p id="vFSSwv">The changes in how the game is played, both from a rules and a strategy standpoint, have led to the thinning out of safeties who are built like Kam Chancellor. That’s been further compounded by a wave of offensive-scheme shifts. As spread concepts and run-pass options have taken hold in the pro game, the middle of defenses have become more vulnerable than ever. Talented coverage safeties are no longer necessary just because offenses are throwing more often; they’ve become necessary because of <em>how </em>offenses are throwing. “Not only has the game gone vertical, it’s stretched horizontally as well,” Dorsey says. “So what do you do? You have to increase the speed component on your back end.” </p>
<p id="uUnR4U">Before coming to Cleveland, Dorsey spent four seasons working as the general manager in Kansas City, where the NFL’s RPO revolution took off. The Chiefs have cooked opponents on option plays while using tight end Travis Kelce in a host of different ways across their formations. Kansas City’s success provides a window into just how many demands fall on a safety in today’s NFL. As RPOs seek to exploit the space between the numbers, gigantic pass-catching tight ends like Kelce also wreak havoc. “You’ve gotta play man coverage on a guy who’s big, strong, physical but at the same time runs like a receiver,” Boston says. “He’s got a little juice to him. They can split him out as an X receiver, where you’re guarding him like a corner. You can be a corner, a safety, and a linebacker on one play.”</p>
<p id="AIJRia">That requisite positional flexibility is why this year’s underwhelming safety market felt particularly inexplicable to Mathieu. If anything, the changes in the sport over the past decade have <em>boosted</em> the value of safeties since the days of Polamalu and Reed’s reign. And that makes the disconnect between NFL safety salary and responsibility all the more curious. “They’re trying to put us in a box,” Mathieu says. “But the game is evolving, and it’s making the safety position more evolved.”</p>
<p id="QkFRaT">More evolved—and aware of the forces at play in depressing their value.</p>
<p id="hS2A4B"></p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Washington Redskins v Los Angeles Chargers" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/45t6IGIPOUvCbu3c10Kct6eyTpY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11958255/889662222.jpg.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Tre Boston</figcaption>
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</div>
<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="3XJrCr">Safeties around the league are paying close attention to what’s happened over the past several months. Mathieu regularly talks with his counterparts at the position and says theories about the market have begun to form. Those differ depending on who you ask.</p>
<p id="DXDwr7">Before this year, each of the past two offseasons saw a safety reset the market at the position. In 2016, Vikings star Harrison Smith signed a five-year, $51.3 million deal that made him the highest-paid safety in NFL history. Less than nine months later, the Chiefs handed Eric Berry a six-year contract featuring an average annual value of $13 million. Surveying how this year’s market has crystallized, Vikings GM Rick Spielman says it’s important not to equate the experience of a single class with being representative of an entire position group. “Harrison Smith is a unique player,” Spielman says. “I don’t know if you look at it in terms of just pure ‘safety.’ It’s, ‘What is the person?’” </p>
<p id="qXgEjs">Spielman points to the undulations in the running back market as a useful comparison. When the Vikings gave Adrian Peterson a seven-year, $100 million extension in 2011, it shattered the financial ceiling at the running back position. Shortly afterward, the bottom fell out. “But now,” Spielman says, “that [market] is ready to take off again.” </p>
<p id="Y9K2U2">Mathieu points to the same shift as a reason for guarded optimism. Todd Gurley’s record-setting contract with L.A. shows markets at marginalized positions can rebound if the right combination of players come along. In the realm of positional value, a rising cap number lifts all boats. And that transition can only happen, Mathieu says, if a group of safeties around the league strings together several quality seasons. “I think it’s gonna take not even one guy, but collectively, guys have great seasons and put them together back to back,” Mathieu says. “When you look at the safety position the past couple years: I signed a big deal, and then I got hurt. Eric Berry signed a big deal, and then he got hurt. And then Earl [Thomas] was struggling with injuries.” </p>
<p id="2vJx9P">Thomas’s <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/6/15/17465242/earl-thomas-seattle-seahawks-contract-extension-standoff">ongoing contract stalemate with the Seahawks</a> is a flashpoint among safeties around the league. “It’s discouraging,” Mathieu says, with a nervous laugh. To players at the position, the 29-year-old Thomas remains the gold standard. And if <em>his </em>value has diminished, the fear is the outlook for everyone else could get dark quickly. “It’s tough to see a guy like him going through the situation he’s going through,” says Titans safety Kevin Byard, who tied for the NFL lead with eight interceptions last season. “I know for a fact that he’s the best in the league at what he does. As a guy like me, a young guy, I’ve been watching Earl Thomas a long time.” </p>
<p id="bat6YC">Few safeties in NFL history occupy the same rare air as Thomas. He feels that he deserves $14 million instead of $10 million. For players of Boston’s caliber, the figures in dispute are more modest, but the negotiations no less contentious. Initially, Boston was baffled when few teams came calling with the caliber of contract offer he expected. Soon, he developed a theory of his own. “Nobody could find a football reason why it was happening,” Boston says, “but people know why.” Boston doesn’t mention Eric Reid by name, but as he explains his reasoning, the reference is unmistakable. </p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><aside id="SYETpT"><q>“People have to think beyond just one person. How are you going to look at a whole market if you sign everybody and one person is left? You don’t put yourself in that predicament. You devalue the whole market.” —Boston</q></aside></div>
<p id="viiLwz">Reid was the first member of the 49ers to join Colin Kaepernick in taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016 as a way to protest racial and social injustice in the United States. After interest in Reid as a free agent didn’t materialize this March, the former LSU standout filed a collusion grievance against the NFL that mirrored Kaepernick’s case against the league. Onlookers have linked Reid’s continued unemployment to his connection to Kaepernick, and Boston suggests the effect of Reid’s apparent blackballing is more wide-ranging than it may appear. “People have to think beyond just one person,” Boston says. “How are you going to look at a whole market if you sign everybody and one person is left? You don’t put yourself in that predicament. You devalue the whole market.” </p>
<p id="PYH07z">In Boston’s eyes, NFL teams are trying to cover themselves for not going after Reid. “Last year, [there were] three highly paid safeties,” Boston says, alluding to Berry, Chancellor, and Reshad Jones. “It was the highest our market has ever been. And then it just flops this year. It’s the first year any top-five group of free agents has waited into training camp. And a week into camp two of the top five sign. It’s just obvious [what the reasoning is]. I don’t understand why the questions are even there.”</p>
<p id="zFVnZy">For the moment, Boston’s wait is over. He’ll play for the Cardinals this season while trying to build up his value for another run at free agency next spring. When he hits the market again, he believes his experience will be drastically different. “Can’t come around twice,” Boston says. “Somebody’s not going to play football this year, and then he won’t be a free agent next year. Everyone knows what’s going on.” </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="ktrGyt">Reed and Polamalu’s dominance a decade ago was a triumphant, if temporary, stretch of supremacy for the safety position. Come next March, Boston, Mathieu, and Vaccaro will be available again, and their collective hope is that the sentiment and climate currently surrounding safeties will seem like another fleeting moment in the lifespan of the position.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/9/17669526/ed-reed-troy-polamalu-safety-position-market-devaluationRobert Mays2018-08-08T06:00:03-04:002018-08-08T06:00:03-04:00Brett Favre Was Better With the Jets Than You May Remember
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<figcaption>Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>For 11 games, Favre raised New York to new heights. Then he tore his biceps, and everything fell apart. </p> <p id="PDGeH1"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the wildcat ripped the league in half, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—13 whole games. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="6uewBv">
<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="scyWXZ">The day the Jets traded for Brett Favre, the team website crashed. When New York started selling his no. 4 jersey, it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/nyregion/09jersey.html">broke the NFL’s single-day sales record</a>. <a href="http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/58344/remembering-brett-favres-one-year-detour-with-jets-on-road-to-canton">Some 10,000 people showed up</a> to see Favre’s first training camp practice, and Favre emerged onto the field to Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” blaring from the speakers.</p>
<p id="qYIORv">“To a certain degree, I don’t know what I got myself into,” Favre <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/sports/football/08favre.html">said</a> after the trade.</p>
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<p id="01VSTX">Favre’s mere arrival was the most exciting thing to happen to the Jets in years. The franchise hadn’t been to a conference championship game in nearly a decade and its fans had spent most of the early 2000s watching a team quarterbacked by Chad Pennington: a fine passer, but one with a game-manager reputation that was nearly the exact opposite of that of Favre, who was already the all-time league leader in nearly every major passing category.</p>
<p id="K0DEiL">But when Favre left the Jets the next offseason, it was as <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/disappointed-jets-fans-goodbye-good-riddance-retiring-qb-brett-favre-article-1.391736">a disappointment</a>. He’d thrown an equal number of interceptions and touchdowns, and at 9-7, New York failed to make the postseason. A decade later, Favre’s tenure in New York is remembered as much for him <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/04/jenn-sterger-brett-favre-metoo">sending inappropriate unsolicited photos to a Jets sideline reporter</a> than anything he did on the field. </p>
<p id="jzjqXm">History hasn’t been kind to Brett the Jet, but that’s because the stat sheet and the lack of a playoff berth overshadow the fact that Favre injured his biceps after Week 11, which tanked the rest of his season. For those first 11 games, Favre was magical—the most exciting quarterback the Jets have had this century.</p>
<p id="DIaXE6">In the season opener against Miami, New York kicker Mike Nugent injured his hamstring and was ruled out for the game, so the Jets were forced to go for it on fourth-and-13 from the Dolphins 22-yard line. Facing immediate pressure up the middle from a four-man rush, Favre sidestepped the defensive tackle, stepped up in the pocket, and launched a prayer off of his back foot, finding receiver Chansi Stuckey at the goal line for a touchdown to give the Jets a halftime lead. </p>
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<p id="6G2wGy">It’s a jaw-dropping play for any quarterback, made even more incredible by the fact that Favre was a 38-year-old who had parachuted into the training camp of a directionless franchise just four weeks earlier. And the veteran had plenty more tricks up his sleeve. In Week 4 against the Cardinals, Favre orchestrated the highest-scoring quarter in franchise history. One Darrelle Revis pick-six, two Jay Feely field goals, and three touchdown passes to Laveranues Coles turned a 0-0 game entering the second quarter into a 34-0 halftime lead, the third-largest halftime lead in Jets history. New York won 56-35—the second-most points in franchise history and more than the team had scored in its final four games combined in 2007—and Favre’s six touchdown passes tied Joe Namath for the most in a single game in franchise history. </p>
<p id="3SEKee">The magic continued through the Jets’ Week 5 bye, when Eric Mangini’s wife, Julie, gave birth to the couple’s third child on October 10: Favre’s 39th birthday. In honor of Favre, the couple named their son Zack Brett Mangini, and Mangini implied that the name was part of Mangini’s recruiting pitch to Favre in August.</p>
<p id="3YlB1p">(<a href="https://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/mangini-family-adds-member/">Seriously</a>.)</p>
<p id="WItV7D">The team was playing well, too. In Week 10, New York beat the lowly Rams 47-3, setting franchise records for largest halftime lead and margin of victory. The following week, the 6-3 Jets went into Foxborough to play the 6-3 Tom Brady–less Patriots with first place in the AFC East on the line. The Jets’ defense blew an 11-point halftime lead and the teams went into overtime tied at 31, which is when Favre put together a drive that ended with a game-winning Jay Feely field goal. It was exactly the type of late-game heroics that New York had been missing for so long. Mangini seemed to enjoy extending the postgame handshake with his former mentor Bill Belichick a <a href="https://youtu.be/sVpg3pMDkMU?t=68">beat too long</a>. </p>
<p id="Etpjuw">One week later, the Jets whooped <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/7/17658512/jeff-fisher-tennessee-titans-2008-13-3-albert-haynesworth-chris-johnson">Jeff Fisher’s 10-0 Tennessee Titans</a> in Nashville. Favre had led the Jets to 8-3 and created the most exciting team in recent franchise history. Then the tires fell off.</p>
<p id="Ymb8TF">During the final stretch of the season, Favre tore a tendon in his biceps that turned his rocket arm into a noodle. With his legendary consecutive-starts streak still intact, Favre kept playing, but he underthrew receivers regularly and racked up nine interceptions and just two touchdowns to go with a 55.2 quarterback rating in his final five games. A 13-3 loss in a snowy Week 16 game against an underperforming Seattle team was the low point. After going 8-3 through 12 weeks, the Jets dropped three of their next four games and lost control of the AFC East as Favre’s play plummeted. Years later, at his Hall of Fame induction in 2016, Favre told the<em> Newsday</em> that he “was doing more harm than good” for the team and that he should have sat rather than continue his consecutive-starts streak.</p>
<p id="u75i67">“At one point, I wanted to remove myself from playing, because I would throw it over there and it would end up over there,” he <a href="https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/bob-glauber/brett-favre-has-regrets-about-year-with-new-york-jets-1.12139195">said</a> in 2016. </p>
<p id="zx4jQJ">In the final week of the season, the Jets’ destiny was no longer in their grasp. To reach the playoffs, New York needed to win and have either the Pats or Ravens lose. Standing in their way was the Miami Dolphins, led by none other than Pennington. With the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17654594/history-wildcat-miami-dolphins-ronnie-brown-chad-pennington-tony-sparano">Dolphins’ wildcat offense leading a playbook revolution</a> and Favre’s water-pistol arm, the Jets were in deep trouble. Favre threw an interception from a clean pocket in the first quarter, and Mangini could be seen on TV speaking for Jets fans everywhere: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdaP2GkFG9E">Why would we do that?</a>” Favre finished with three interceptions, while Pennington threw two touchdowns against his former team and the Dolphins won 24-17, becoming the first—and only—team to wrest the AFC East title away from the Patriots since 2002.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="2QUtYR">Favre had energized the Jets like a bolt of lightning, but the collapse of the team was slow and painful. Mangini was fired and replaced by Rex Ryan, and the Jets moved up in the draft from the 17th pick to fifth overall and drafted Mark Sanchez, cementing Favre’s legacy among Jets fans as a (particularly exhilarating) bridge between Pennington and Sanchez. The rental to end all rental quarterbacks “retired” and unretired before heading to Minnesota for the 2009 season, when his statistics and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgxSzxIxPrY">capacity for drama</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UUeqvquXZI">heartbreak</a> only improved with age. Favre proved in Minnesota that his Jets tenure was not an outlier. At 38 years old, Favre had already established himself as one of the best quarterbacks ever. His New York tenure is mostly forgotten by everyone else, but logging the best Jets quarterback season in living memory in his NFL afterlife should only enhance Favre’s legacy. </p>
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https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/8/17662752/brett-favre-new-york-jets-2008-weekDanny Heifetz2018-08-08T05:40:02-04:002018-08-08T05:40:02-04:00Ranking the 25 Best NFL Players Who Have Been in the League Since 2008
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<figcaption>Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>Who are the best of the vets?</p> <p id="XHPFbr"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the wildcat ripped the league in half, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—13 whole games. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="poYCsO">
<p id="mSFHbl">In the NFL, any career that lasts 10 years is worth celebrating. The average pro football career spans <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-shrinking-shelf-life-of-nfl-players-1456694959">roughly three</a> seasons, and even some of the league’s most talented players can flame out quickly. So any player who has made it for at least a full decade is a true veteran—an NFL Old, really.</p>
<p id="ENcPhI">So, let’s rank them. Here are the top 25 players who have played in the NFL since at least 2008. With apologies to players like Eli Manning, Frank Gore, and Greg Olsen, this list is in order of how good these players are right now. </p>
<h3 id="S0FpTR">1. Tom Brady, QB, Patriots</h3>
<p id="DjClsB"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Brady threw just 11 passes before a hit from Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard tore his ACL. The injury robbed Brady of a chance to follow up on his record-setting 2007 season.</p>
<p id="mkmv93"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Two Super Bowl rings (and another two appearances) later, Brady enters his age-41 season as the GOAT. Warren Moon is <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&year_min=1920&year_max=2017&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=41&pos%5B%5D=qb&pos%5B%5D=rb&pos%5B%5D=wr&pos%5B%5D=te&pos%5B%5D=e&pos%5B%5D=t&pos%5B%5D=g&pos%5B%5D=c&pos%5B%5D=ol&pos%5B%5D=dt&pos%5B%5D=de&pos%5B%5D=dl&pos%5B%5D=ilb&pos%5B%5D=olb&pos%5B%5D=lb&pos%5B%5D=cb&pos%5B%5D=s&pos%5B%5D=db&pos%5B%5D=k&pos%5B%5D=p&draft_year_min=1936&draft_year_max=2018&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=500&draft_pick_in_round=pick_overall&conference=any&draft_pos%5B%5D=qb&draft_pos%5B%5D=rb&draft_pos%5B%5D=wr&draft_pos%5B%5D=te&draft_pos%5B%5D=e&draft_pos%5B%5D=t&draft_pos%5B%5D=g&draft_pos%5B%5D=c&draft_pos%5B%5D=ol&draft_pos%5B%5D=dt&draft_pos%5B%5D=de&draft_pos%5B%5D=dl&draft_pos%5B%5D=ilb&draft_pos%5B%5D=olb&draft_pos%5B%5D=lb&draft_pos%5B%5D=cb&draft_pos%5B%5D=s&draft_pos%5B%5D=db&draft_pos%5B%5D=k&draft_pos%5B%5D=p&c5val=1.0&order_by=pass_td">the only quarterback</a> to have what could be described as a “good” season at age 41 or older—so Brady is now in a battle only with Father Time. Brady is coming off an MVP, but the Patriots receiving corps is a huge question mark after losing Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks in the offseason and seeing Julian Edelman suspended for the first four games of the year. But if anyone can make this situation work, it’s Brady—even at 41. </p>
<p id="4euC3D"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>There are a million moments you could pick, but it’s worth highlighting <a href="https://youtu.be/5HTJQE2BLBo?t=1h59m28s">Brady’s game-winning drive from Super Bowl XXXVI</a>. With 1:21 left in the game, Brady threw the ball six times—all out of the shotgun—completing five of those passes to move New England 53 yards and into range for the game-winning field goal. It was vintage Brady before we knew what vintage Brady was.</p>
<h3 id="OJWidg">2. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Packers</h3>
<p id="q1VVXm"><strong>In 2008:</strong> A decade ago, the only people who were certain Rodgers would be good worked in the Packers front office. Green Bay decided to move on from Brett Favre despite getting only <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/11/29/16713628/aaron-rodgers-brett-favre-2007-cowboys">one good look</a> at Rodgers at the pro level. Rodgers played well in 2008, but the Packers went 6-10 as <a href="http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3811283">their defense struggled</a>.</p>
<p id="CxW0ki"><strong>In 2018: </strong>In moving from Favre to Rodgers, the Packers completed one of the rarest things in sports: a successful transition from one Hall of Fame–level QB to another. Green Bay has a Lombardi Trophy to show for its decision, and Rodgers enters his age-35 season with the expectation that he is still the MVP-level player who has guided the franchise for the past decade.</p>
<p id="ad6bFm"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>It would be easy to pick something from Super Bowl XLV, but for some reason <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/1/13/16076974/nfl-green-bay-packers-aaron-rodgers-hail-mary-magic-2d51a21727dd">Rodgers is also the greatest Hail Mary thrower of all time</a>. Let’s marvel at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0vVqStvh_8">this one</a> against the Lions.</p>
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<h3 id="dbLyhS">3. Calais Campbell, DL, Jaguars</h3>
<p id="cRwqVd"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Campbell was a rookie playing as part of a rotation along Arizona’s defensive line. He finally became a starter in 2009, and anchored the Cardinals defense until 2017.</p>
<p id="A9kw6O"><strong>In 2018: </strong>With the Jaguars last season, Campbell earned his first All-Pro nod and became a foundational part of a historically great defense. He had 14.5 sacks last year, his most ever. For the team to make a Super Bowl run, they’ll have to continue being the Sacksonville defense they were last season, and no one is a bigger part of that than Campbell.</p>
<p id="10skQf"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> Anything from Campbell’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXsCKjLC9Sc">Mic’d Up game against the Texans</a> last year shows how he energizes the Jacksonville defensive line. </p>
<h3 id="AtPk3q">4. Drew Brees, QB, Saints</h3>
<p id="TzsXiO"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Brees notched his first 5,000-yard season and his second Pro Bowl appearance in New Orleans (and his third overall). He was already a great quarterback entering the season, but 2008 represents his rise to statistical superstar status; it kicked off a run of seven straight Pro Bowl appearances.</p>
<p id="oBPWhs"><strong>In 2018:</strong> The Saints were a more run-heavy team last season, and <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/7/12/17562726/drew-brees-saints-offense">the twilight of Brees’s career is coming into focus</a>, but heading into 2018, he’s still an efficient, effective passer who gives New Orleans a shot at a Super Bowl.</p>
<p id="QZE8EK"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> Brees has so many highlights that they can all blend together, none standing out from the rest. So let’s admire <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQB42R11cIg">a video reel the NFL made of Brees’s touchdowns of at least <em>70 yards</em></a>. What other player could have a video like this? </p>
<h3 id="FxMiiv">5. Matt Ryan, QB, Falcons</h3>
<p id="UywJZJ"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Ryan found immediate success as a rookie, throwing for 3,440 yards and leading the Falcons to an 11-5 record. His success put the Michael Vick era in Atlanta’s rearview mirror.</p>
<p id="16LdSe"><strong>In 2018:</strong> One MVP trophy and a near Super Bowl win later, Ryan is every bit the franchise guy Atlanta envisioned a decade ago. The next step for his career would be getting that elusive ring, and while the world-beating offense of 2016 isn’t coming back, Atlanta has still put Ryan in an excellent spot to be successful: Entering the 2018 season, they may have <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/6/14/17462044/top-10-pass-catching-groups-nfl-josh-gordon-browns">the best receiving corps in the league</a>.</p>
<p id="i9z7OH"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> As a rookie in 2008, Ryan made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmJRVcFrDmE&t=80s">a wild throw to put the Falcons in field goal range with just one second left</a> against the Bears. It isn’t necessarily his career highlight, but it’s the moment I knew he’d make it in the NFL.</p>
<h3 id="XsShoo">6. Joe Staley, OT, 49ers</h3>
<p id="7uZrEm"><strong>In 2008: </strong>As a sophomore in 2008, Staley moved from right tackle to left tackle and anchored the 49ers offensive line. He’s been there ever since.</p>
<p id="X8klBo"><strong>In 2018: </strong>Staley’s been named to six Pro Bowls, including one last season, when he was the league’s top-graded tackle per Pro Football Focus. He’s an exceptionally reliable left tackle in a league that is in the midst of an <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/11/2/16596392/offensive-line-crisis-league-midseason">offensive line crisis</a>. Staley has been with San Francisco through bad years and good years, and with Jimmy Garoppolo and Kyle Shanahan, this year is looking like it may be a good one in S.F. </p>
<p id="kF93xq"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>The pure delight an offensive lineman finds <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0x6aNGm1Ak">any time he gets the ball</a> is always worth a watch.</p>
<h3 id="ro9hfm">7. Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Steelers</h3>
<p id="2bpiSJ"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Roethlisberger won his second Super Bowl, though his regular-season totals (3,301 yards, 17 touchdowns, 15 interceptions) were nothing to write home about.</p>
<p id="qGYewi"><strong>In 2018: </strong>Pittsburgh’s franchise QB has made the Pro Bowl in the past four seasons, and with guys like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, he’s playing with the most offensive talent of his career. The Steelers are a true contender in the AFC so long as they have that trio of Killer B’s.</p>
<p id="V7aj4E"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>As a rookie, Roethlisberger <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KVkFYsEX90">helmed the Steelers team that ended the Patriots’ 21-game winning streak</a>. Those two teams have often been in competition for the top of the AFC ever since.</p>
<h3 id="CqqRAb">8. Philip Rivers, QB, Chargers</h3>
<p id="k2amsd"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Rivers led the NFL in passing touchdowns in 2008, but what his team accomplished was even more impressive: After Week 13, the 4-8 Chargers looked like toast in a division that included the 7-5 Broncos. But they weren’t mathematically eliminated yet, and went on to win four straight as Denver lost three straight, making the playoffs at 8-8 and knocking off Peyton Manning’s Colts in the wild-card round.</p>
<p id="ufDvej"><strong>In 2018: </strong>Rivers is still in top form, having made the Pro Bowl in the past two seasons. And even with Hunter Henry’s unfortunate ACL tear, this may be one of the most stacked rosters he’s ever been a part of. Keenan Allen and Melvin Gordon are excellent skill-position players, and the Chargers defense features the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/10/23/16518978/joey-bosa-melvin-ingram-chargers-pass-rush">most fearsome pass-rush duo</a> in football. </p>
<p id="G9XPQn"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>It’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsSpYLU7Ig0">Rivers jawing with Jay Cutler in 2007</a>. This could have been one of the NFL’s great rivalries had Cutler not been traded to the Bears in 2009. </p>
<h3 id="b0Do4U">9. Marshal Yanda, G, Ravens</h3>
<p id="RR3V9F"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Yanda was promising as a rookie in 2007, but missed most of 2008 with a knee injury. </p>
<p id="dtg8VA"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Today, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/8/4/16092828/marshal-yanda-baltimore-ravens">Yanda is a legend</a> — but he broke his ankle last season, causing him to miss all but two games. If he can come back from that injury in his age-34 season, it will help solidify what kind of offense the Ravens can field this year.</p>
<p id="O24nNH"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> There aren’t a lot of offensive guard highlights on the internet, and besides, no pancake block could be better than this Peter King story about how former Ravens linebacker Bart Scott once used a Taser on Yanda, only to see the guard turn around and say flatly, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBQXvmRO_IE">Don’t do that again</a>.” </p>
<h3 id="kEAWRp">10. Aqib Talib, CB, Rams</h3>
<p id="WDS1bM"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Talib was a rookie in 2008, and started just two games for the Bucs (but snagged four interceptions in 15 total appearances).</p>
<p id="TPnJB6"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Talib’s career hit its stride once he went to New England in 2012 and Denver in 2014. He made the Pro Bowl in each of the past five seasons, and, now on the Rams, is part of what may be the best on-paper defense in the league. He won a Super Bowl with the Broncos, and could be on the hunt for another this season.</p>
<p id="5g4EH9"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> Talib will be remembered most for taking Michael Crabtree’s chain not <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmDcjE64aoY">once</a>, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t91npvJ1jNg">twice</a>. It’s a shame the two are no longer in the same division.</p>
<h3 id="U8tTLm">11. Alex Smith, QB, Redskins</h3>
<p id="XLMDan"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Smith didn’t play in 2008, missing the year with a shoulder injury. After three mediocre seasons, it looked like he was on his way to becoming a bust. </p>
<p id="RhpYDz"><strong>In 2018:</strong> A decade later, Smith isn’t just still in the NFL, he’s coming off the best season of his career. With the Chiefs last year, he turned into a deep-ball savant, throwing for more than 4,000 yards and 26 touchdowns (both career highs). He was so good that Kansas City … traded him to Washington. Now Smith will be filling Kirk Cousins’s shoes.</p>
<p id="xWwIyF"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> It’s easy to forget how mobile Smith can be, as he shows on this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3szXpKYCVo">28-yard touchdown run</a> from 2012. </p>
<h3 id="oi6HnK">12. Andrew Whitworth, OT, Rams</h3>
<p id="itEVRG"><strong>In 2008: </strong>In his second year, Whitworth played primarily on the interior of the Cincinnati offensive line. It wasn’t until 2009 that Marvin Lewis moved him to left tackle. </p>
<p id="rY5TKk"><strong>In 2018: </strong>Whitworth had one of the best seasons of his career in 2017, earning All-Pro honors and solidifying the Rams offensive line, which helped quarterback Jared Goff make a sophomore jump. In L.A. again for 2018, he has a great chance to win his first playoff game.</p>
<p id="fmHZkl"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>Whitworth <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXXWYzjEDAw">caught a touchdown pass in 2010</a>—that’s a no-brainer career highlight.</p>
<h3 id="om9jaB">13. Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Cardinals</h3>
<p id="OB5OLm"><strong>In 2008: </strong>This was Fitzgerald’s lone All-Pro year (it’s hard to believe he’s had only one), and also the year he went on <a href="http://pfref.com/tiny/YYbMV">the greatest postseason run for a receiver ever</a>, lighting the playoffs ablaze with 546 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. </p>
<p id="q5KXPJ"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Fitz has shown few signs of slowing down, having missed just one Pro Bowl in the past 11 seasons and having racked up more than 3,300 yards over the past three. He’s nearing 35, but has said he isn’t yet contemplating retirement. Fitzgerald has caught passes from an incredible 17 different quarterbacks over his career, and he’ll likely add two more this year in Sam Bradford and Josh Rosen. </p>
<p id="sTLCNY"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>In Super Bowl XLIII, Fitzgerald made one mistake: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GEtlF6Zftg&feature=youtu.be&t=1h59m9s">He gave the Cardinals the lead too soon</a>, allowing the Steelers too much time to engineer their own comeback.</p>
<h3 id="Vov5HL">14. Jason Peters, OT, Eagles</h3>
<p id="tJe45F"><strong>In 2008: </strong>By his fifth year in the league, Peters had two Pro Bowl appearances under his belt, but his future as a top left tackle was still in doubt. He <a href="http://stats.washingtonpost.com/fb/playerstats.asp?id=7122">allowed 11.5 sacks</a> that season, and the Bills traded him for first-, fourth-, and sixth-round picks.</p>
<p id="BHNxCe"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Peters has made the Pro Bowl every healthy year since 2008, and has also notched two All-Pro appearances. He’s one of the best tackles in game, but now his health is in question: Peters tore his ACL and MCL seven games into the 2017 season, though he was <a href="https://twitter.com/DZangaroNBCS/status/1022522450129694720">participating in 11-on-11 drills in training camp</a>.</p>
<p id="Vw7Vj0"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>Peters ran a 4.93-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in 2004. For a 328-pound man, dude <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk6lvVbPNQM">can move</a>. </p>
<h3 id="PIHfXB">15. Eric Weddle, S, Ravens</h3>
<p id="biuIBY"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Weddle earned a starting job in his second year with the Chargers, and was immediately effective; the 105 tackles he registered that season is still his career high.</p>
<p id="485RPl"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Weddle has been to five Pro Bowls in the years since, including each of the past two in Baltimore. And he’s picked off 10 passes since joining the Ravens, which matches the high for any two-year stretch of his career. </p>
<p id="hp1RcE"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> It will never be clear how <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le5DgWAoGqY">Weddle picked off this Peyton Manning pass</a>, but it helped propel the Chargers past the Colts in the 2007 playoffs. </p>
<h3 id="f8lJ4Z">16. Delanie Walker, TE, Titans</h3>
<p id="zCQ9zo"><strong>In 2008:</strong> The first years of Walker’s career were incredibly quiet. By the end of 2008, Walker had amassed just 359 receiving yards across his first three seasons.</p>
<p id="P6tBr0"><strong>In 2018: </strong>Walker finally broke out when he went to Tennessee in 2013, and he has 2,695 yards in his past three years, each of which earned him a Pro Bowl nod. In an NFL that features <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/8/16/16155198/fantasy-football-tight-ends">shockingly few productive tight ends</a>, Walker has been a reliable one. </p>
<p id="FaIeKB"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> Walker isn’t the “security blanket” type of player many tight ends are. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HNzNeVUues">Here he is</a> hauling in a long pass with three defenders around him.</p>
<h3 id="EGj2hn">17. Terrell Suggs, OLB, Ravens</h3>
<p id="zzYwwD"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Suggs played on the franchise tag in 2008, and he earned his ensuing contract, picking off two passes (and returning both for touchdowns) and recording eight sacks en route to his third Pro Bowl appearance. </p>
<p id="Fnhu0x"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Four Pro Bowl appearances and one Defensive Player of the Year award later, Suggs is still at the top of his game. In 2017 he had 11 sacks as he quietly led one of the best defenses in the league. But he’s nearing 36, and after 15 seasons in the NFL, his days as the leader of the Ravens defense may be numbered.</p>
<p id="KQ9LoC"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> In 2011 against the Steelers, Suggs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8oSKyZecEM">forced a fumble</a> that nearly every player, including Suggs, thought was an incomplete pass. </p>
<h3 id="LG0Ui0">18. Donald Penn, LT, Raiders</h3>
<p id="xeyqXU"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Penn was the starting left tackle for the Buccaneers in his second year, but he was still a ways away from being the Pro Bowl–level talent he would become. </p>
<p id="nTrstT"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Penn has made the Pro Bowl in each of the past two seasons, and was the 12th-graded offensive tackle in football by Pro Football Focus last season. But foot surgery ended his 2017 season two games early, and he <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/raiders/article/Raiders-LT-Donald-Penn-to-begin-training-camp-on-13101697.php">began training camp on the PUP list</a>. </p>
<p id="Ut7TtZ"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> Again: There are few things in the NFL more fun than <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9vLRtVntd8">offensive linemen catching touchdowns</a>. </p>
<h3 id="POXViN">19. Josh Sitton, G, Dolphins</h3>
<p id="ru3PKY"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Sitton was a rookie with the Packers and part of a rotation along the offensive line that allowed him to see action in 11 games. He became a full-time starter the next year. </p>
<p id="eHHBiD"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Sitton started 13 games with the Bears last year, but Chicago declined his option in the offseason, and he signed a two-year contract with the Dolphins. Sitton was the seventh-ranked guard by Pro Football Focus last year, demonstrating that he can still play at a high level. He’s especially good as a pass blocker, which could help ease Ryan Tannehill’s transition back from injury. </p>
<p id="5jhEsy"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>There aren’t a lot of in-game highlights for the veteran guard, but Sitton saying “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ4OhvADgyc">beer and pizza</a>” are the keys to his success is pretty incredible.</p>
<h3 id="kqorR6">20. Marshawn Lynch, RB, Raiders</h3>
<p id="CmikvM"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Does anyone outside of Erie County, New York, remember the time when Marshawn Lynch played for the Bills? Well, he actually made the Pro Bowl in 2008 season with the team, rushing for more than 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns. But Buffalo was mediocre, and a few seasons later the Bills shipped him off to Seattle for a 2011 fourth-round pick and a conditional pick that became a fifth-rounder. </p>
<p id="Nt2cOB"><strong>In 2018: </strong>Now in Oakland, Lynch is 32 and in the twilight of his career, but his 891 yards, seven touchdowns, and 4.3 yards per carry during the 2017 season represented a solid season for the veteran. Lynch is also home—he grew up in Oakland, went to college at neighboring Berkeley, and is the perfect player to send the Raiders off before they move to Las Vegas. </p>
<p id="YKdoSn"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> No play could possibly sum up Marshawn Lynch’s combination of physicality, talent, and swagger quite like <a href="https://youtu.be/foD3dkZR3fI?t=1m39s">the Beast Quake</a>. </p>
<h3 id="ArY1we">21. Pierre Garcon, WR, 49ers</h3>
<p id="f0zbio"><strong>In 2008: </strong>As a rookie, Garcon caught four passes for 23 yards. It wasn’t until his sophomore season that he began to blossom under Peyton Manning in Indianapolis. </p>
<p id="SzrW4d"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Now on his third team, Garcon projects to be the top option through the air for Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers. Last year, Garcon racked up 500 receiving yards in eight games for a pre-Garoppolo Niners team before a neck injury ended his season. Now healthy, Garcon and Garoppolo are reportedly <a href="https://247sports.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/Article/Jimmy-Garoppolo-Pierre-Garcon-connection-still-a-work-in-progress-120207437/">establishing a connection</a> in training camp. </p>
<p id="lO0ckW"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> Most people probably forgot about it, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmcMAIf586w">this sideline catch</a> from Garcon in Week 3 was among the best in 2017. I’m still not sure how he kept those toes down. </p>
<h3 id="Db9k7x">22. Duane Brown, LT, Seahawks</h3>
<p id="grlRtv"><strong>In 2008: </strong>As a rookie, Brown started all 16 games at left tackle in Houston, a rare feat for any lineman in his debut season.</p>
<p id="XxF1dK"><strong>In 2018: </strong>The Texans shipped Brown to the Seahawks midway through last season for a handful of draft picks. Brown had missed half the season with a contract holdout, but Seattle gave him a new, three-year, $35 million deal this offseason. He ranked 27th among tackles by PFF last year, which isn’t jaw-dropping, but represents a huge improvement for the Seahawks’ porous line.</p>
<p id="eBmMt2"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> Here’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaE6O32YR_8">what Duane Brown can do to an elite pass rusher like Dwight Freeney</a>.</p>
<h3 id="WmAU2q">23. Ted Ginn, WR, Saints</h3>
<p id="yTC0G4"><strong>In 2008:</strong> The 790 receiving yards Ginn amassed in 2008 is still his career high, as the Dolphins lessened his return duties and gave him more time as a wideout.</p>
<p id="2pVSbl"><strong>In 2018:</strong> A decade later, Ginn has never broken out as the no. 1 receiver the Dolphins envisioned when they took him with the ninth pick in the 2007 draft. But he’s become reliable in his role, racking up more than 700 yards in each of his last three seasons with the Panthers and Saints, including 18 touchdowns combined. He still also occasionally contributes as a punt and kick returner.</p>
<p id="LhCmBJ"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> A great kick return, like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUun8gMcvLM">this one in a 2009 game against the Jets</a>, is a thing of beauty. It’s too bad Ginn never utilized his game-breaking speed to, well, break the game as a receiver. </p>
<h3 id="rq99tK">24. DeSean Jackson, WR, Buccaneers</h3>
<p id="9VQ3J3"><strong>In 2008:</strong> Jackson was an immediate success in Philly, collecting more than 100 receiving yards in each of his first two games as a rookie. He finished with more than 900 on the year, and went on to become a Pro Bowler in his next two seasons as he and Jeremy Maclin became the immediate focal points of the Eagles offense.</p>
<p id="zsBm51"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Jackson appears to be slowing down; his 47.7 receiving yards per game last season were the lowest of his career. So, too, were his yards per reception (13.4). Jackson is no longer the burner he once was, though in training camp he said he still possesses “<a href="https://bucswire.usatoday.com/2018/07/25/tampa-bay-buccaneers-desean-jackson-bucs-buccaneers-nfl-tampa-bay/">top-flight speed</a>” and that his goal this season is to <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bucs/2018/07/31/desean-jackson-hoping-bucs-rebound-mirrors-his-own-2/">get on the same page with quarterback Jameis Winston</a>.</p>
<p id="TORXaT"><strong>One Random Highlight:</strong> It could be his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJPf4h9GZvg">game-winning punt return at the Meadowlands</a> in 2010, but that would be doing Jackson too many favors. I’ll always remember the time he <a href="https://youtu.be/H5s8F2u8LUE?t=1m43s">dropped a ball short of the end zone</a> for no reason whatsoever. It’s the perfect mix of athletic brilliance and a lack of concentration — which makes it the perfect play to sum up Jackson. </p>
<h3 id="IePD4H">25. Thomas Davis, OLB, Panthers</h3>
<p id="Ks61Re"><strong>In 2008: </strong>Though he didn’t earn many accolades, Davis had one of the best years of his career, recording a career-best 92 tackles across 16 starts. </p>
<p id="07eInV"><strong>In 2018:</strong> Davis has made the Pro Bowl in each of the past three years (including an All-Pro nod in 2015) … but was suspended for four games in 2018 for <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000925466/article/thomas-davis-violates-ped-policy-will-miss-four-games">a violation of the NFL’s PED policy in April</a>. </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="ZKjgZK"><strong>One Random Highlight: </strong>Davis yelling “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d46ltKkdEZY">Ain’t nobody falling for that bullshit!</a>” as Teddy Bridgewater tries to draw an offside call takes the cake.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/8/17662462/ranking-nfl-players-2008-2018Riley McAtee2018-08-07T07:51:28-04:002018-08-07T07:51:28-04:00How 2008 Bucked the NFL’s Passing Trend and Became a Year for Running Backs
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<p>After the Patriots’ record-breaking 2007 season, you’d think 2008 would have been a year of high-flying NFL offenses. But it was actually the year of rushing attacks.</p> <p id="XF50y5"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the </em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17654594/history-wildcat-miami-dolphins-ronnie-brown-chad-pennington-tony-sparano"><em>wildcat ripped the league in half</em></a><em>, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—13 whole games. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
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<p id="o350YL">Saying the NFL is a copycat league is beyond cliché at this point. We’ve heard it so many times and for so long that it’s become an unquestioned truism: Bad teams steal concepts from the good, and innovations, trends, or even the smallest tweaks that can provide a competitive advantage catch on with everyone in between. Here’s the thing about all that copycatting, though—it doesn’t always happen overnight. </p>
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<p id="9nL708">Going into the 2008 season, it would’ve been easy to imagine the league making a quantum leap in the passing game. The Patriots had just posted a near-perfect season on the back of an aerial approach, eschewing the run in favor of an all-out passing attack that featured a no-huddle, breakneck pace, three-, four-, and five-receiver sets, and more shotgun looks than the NFL had ever seen. No one, save for the Super Bowl–winning Giants, seemed to have an answer: Tom Brady threw a then-record 50 touchdown passes and won MVP honors; Randy Moss caught 23 scores, still the record for a single season; and Wes Welker reeled in an NFL-high 112 passes running routes out of the slot. That Patriots squad changed football forever; as Panthers head coach Ron Rivera <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/8/7/16107814/2007-new-england-patriots-tom-brady-randy-moss-wes-welker">told my <em>Ringer </em>colleague Kevin Clark last year</a>, “They forced us to where we are today as a league.” </p>
<p id="5lYaCk"><em>Forced</em> is the perfect word for it, because while that spacing-based, pass-heavy offense New England modeled in 2007 has become the new norm for the league today, teams didn’t buy into those groundbreaking strategies immediately. In fact, that 2008 season would, somewhat counterintuitively, become the pinnacle year for NFL ground attacks this century. </p>
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<p id="ue4O3W">That April’s NFL draft foreshadowed the season to come: Five running backs were taken in the first round—the most at that position since 2000 and in the years since. The Raiders used the fourth overall pick on Darren McFadden; the Panthers chose Jonathan Stewart with no. 13; the Cowboys took Felix Jones with no. 22; the Steelers picked Rashard Mendenhall with no. 23; and the Titans took Chris Johnson with the 24th overall pick. In subsequent rounds, teams jumped on future standouts like Matt Forte (no. 44); Ray Rice (no. 55); Jamaal Charles (no. 73); Tim Hightower (no. 149); Peyton Hillis (no. 227); and Justin Forsett (no. 233). That talented group of rookies made an early impact, and with a burgeoning cadre of second-year pros in Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, and Ryan Grant—plus a handful of savvy veteran runners like LaDainian Tomlinson, Clinton Portis, and Thomas Jones—the NFL ground game had a season in the sun. </p>
<p id="ky3Sqy">Teams threw the ball less in 2008 than they had the year prior, attempting 519 fewer passes while connecting on 74 fewer touchdown throws. They ran the ball 44.5 percent of the time, a full percentage point higher than the previous year and a higher rate than the league’s seen in any season since. (Note: This figure includes quarterback scrambles as rushes.) </p>
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<p id="DxyyZP">It didn’t help that the reigning MVP tore his ACL in the opener, but a Brady-less Patriots squad alone wasn’t enough to account for the league’s shockingly resurgent ground game. Runners carried the ball 133 times more than the year before, boosting NFL-wide totals on the ground by 2,580 yards and <em>90 touchdowns</em>. In all, ball carriers totaled 14,119 total rushes in 2008—more than any season in the past decade—and racked up 476 scores, easily the most of any season this century and the high mark since 1979. </p>
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<p id="ggdaqE">What could explain this massive uptick in running? Some of it was born of necessity. While some teams may have loved to adopt the Patriots’ high-flying scheme, not all of them had future Hall of Fame–caliber quarterbacks capable of running it. For those squads lacking an elite signal-caller and/or pass catchers, the run game wasn’t just a preference: Take the Dolphins, who threw caution to the wind and just about abandoned the quarterback position and starter Chad Pennington altogether. Using their Week 3 game in New England (because, of course) as a jump-off point, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/8/6/17654594/history-wildcat-miami-dolphins-ronnie-brown-chad-pennington-tony-sparano">Miami introduced the NFL to the wildcat offense</a> and rode that confounding new scheme to an 11-5 record, an AFC East title, and a playoff berth. Leading the way were the team’s two running backs—31-year-old veteran Ricky Williams and Pro Bowler Ronnie Brown, the latter of whom finished the year with 916 yards and 10 touchdowns. </p>
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<p id="QNZhdn">The Dolphins weren’t the only team to use their run game as a crutch for bad quarterback play. The Vikings made the playoffs with the combination of Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson under center, buoyed on offense by Peterson’s 10 touchdowns and league-high 1,760 rushing yards. </p>
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<p id="PAFm2j">With Jake Delhomme (who threw 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and finished with an 84.7 passer rating) at the helm, Carolina finished 12-4 and won the NFC South on the strength of its defense and ground game. The Panthers were third in rush yards (2,437) and first in rushing touchdowns (30) that season, and were led by DeAngelo Williams and Stewart, who combined for 2,351 yards and 28 touchdowns. Williams’s 18 touchdowns led the league. </p>
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<p id="I6KIAW">The Falcons, meanwhile, won 11 games and went to the playoffs in Matt Ryan’s rookie year largely because of the foundation Michael Turner laid in the rushing attack. Turner—who signed to a six-year, $34.5 million deal in free agency after spending his first four years as a backup to Tomlinson in San Diego—broke out, and finished with an NFL-high 376 carries, 1,699 yards (second), and 17 scores (second). </p>
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<p id="yPfXDc">Eli Manning and the defending champion Giants rode Derrick Ward and Brandon Jacobs back to the postseason, finishing 12-4 after leading the league in rushing (2,518 yards) and yards per carry (5.0). At 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds, Jacobs rumbled and tumbled for 15 touchdowns, one of an incredible 12 backs to hit double-digits in that category that year (tied for the most this century). </p>
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<p id="kvxyFF">Hell, the 2008 season even seemed to validate Jeff Fisher’s legendarily rigid vision for how to win in the NFL. With 36-year-old quarterback Kerry Collins (who completed 58 percent of his passes and finished the year with 12 touchdowns and seven picks) under center, that Titans squad leaned into their run game, racking up 508 carries (fifth) for 2,199 yards (seventh) and 24 scores (second) on the ground. LenDale White served as the team’s short-yardage and goal-line back, collecting 773 yards and 15 touchdowns on 200 totes, while the rookie Johnson ran all over the competition, rushing for 1,228 yards and nine scores. </p>
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<p id="MKf6nC">Fast-forward to present day, though, and it’s clear that while the 2008 season was a banner year for rushing attacks around the league, it also represented a turning point for modern NFL offenses. Fisher-coached teams make for a nice example, as he’d finish <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/FishJe0.htm">no better than .500 in each of the next seven seasons</a> with the Titans and Rams, in large part due to a dogged adherence to his old-school methodology. As the importance—and efficiency—of passing exploded, Fisher failed to adapt. On the other hand, his replacement in L.A., Sean McVay, quickly installed a few core tenets of that 2007 Patriots’ squad, ditching Fisher’s archaic run-first identity, speeding things up and spreading things out while lining up in now-ubiquitous three-receiver sets on <a href="https://www.sharpfootballstats.com/personnel-grouping-frequency.html">a league-high 81 percent of plays</a>. </p>
<p id="YHyfKa">L.A. went from last in the league in scoring under Fisher in 2016 to first under McVay in 2017. But while the Rams managed to modernize their offense seemingly overnight, they were undeniably late to the party. In the past decade, other clubs adopted concepts that the Patriots showed off in 2007, tinkering more with shotgun looks, slot receivers, and movable tight ends. Play-calling gradually <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82a44e69/article/passing-league-explaining-the-nfls-aerial-evolution">became more aggressive</a>. With more variety of plays and space with which to throw, quarterbacks became more efficient, and a handful of rules changes—greater protections for quarterbacks from low hits (<a href="http://archive.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2009/03/24/brady_rule_steps_taken_to_protect_qbs_knees/">the same type of hit that caused Brady’s ACL tear</a>) and new rules shielding defenseless receivers in the middle of the field—gave offenses a distinct advantage in the passing game. Play-callers began to realize that <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d822ab287/article/passing-game-is-changing-football-but-might-not-be-for-better">more passing led to more scoring</a>. The analytics tell a convincing story: As <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/running-backs-are-finally-getting-paid-what-theyre-worth/"><em>FiveThirtyEight</em>’s</a> Benjamin Morris put it last May, “There is pretty much no ordinary [neutral] situation in which running produces better results than passing.” </p>
<p id="YnrB4n">With a boom in passing came a drop in production on the ground, and running back rushing numbers gradually declined in the years following 2008. Despite the explosion in the league’s salary cap, the average size of the most expensive running back contracts <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/running-backs-are-finally-getting-paid-what-theyre-worth/">leveled off</a> and, in recent years, even <a href="https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/987372232501616640">decreased</a>, and coming out of the 2017 season, running back <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/2017/">was among the lowest-paid positions in the sport</a>, just ahead of special teams and tight end. One-dimensional veteran backs became expendable, with teams simply relying on cheap, first-contract draft picks to carry the load on the ground instead. </p>
<p id="L759Cc">But while big-money second contracts have been few and far between for running backs over the past few years, the true difference-makers at the position haven’t become irrelevant. In fact, the running back position <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000941796/article/todd-gurleys-rams-deal-impact-on-rbs-aaron-donald">may be due for a return to a level of prominence it hasn’t enjoyed since its heyday in the late 2000s</a>—just, in a wholly different way. The Rams’ decision to sign star playmaker Todd Gurley to a four-year, $57.5 million contract extension reflects what they believe is his real value in that team’s offense, not just as a runner, but as a de facto receiver out of the backfield. Gurley, who boasts soft hands, open-field elusiveness, and savvy route-running skills, may be just the first of a growing list of dual-threat running backs of his ilk—players like Le’Veon Bell, David Johnson, Ezekiel Elliott, and Tevin Coleman—to receive a big-money extension. </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="xQQMNy">The evolution of the pro game continues, and while some teams—like the Jaguars, for instance—may look to zig while the rest of the league zags, exploiting the smaller defenders and lighter boxes that the modern air attack has produced, passing remains, indisputably, king. (And <a href="http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/272769/guide-to-nfls-new-rules-what-to-know-about-approved-tabled-and-rejected-proposals">the league’s rules changes this offseason</a> should only stimulate more of it.) But that doesn’t mean running backs must look back at the 2008 season only with nostalgia, as the glory days of an increasingly obsolete position—unless, that is, they’re hoping to turn in a Turneresque season, replete with 376 totes and six catches. Instead, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/1/27/16039664/atlantas-running-backs-are-playing-positionless-football-be87a232682f">as the lines continue to blur</a> between pass catcher and runner, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/4/18/17244450/saquon-barkley-draft-running-back-value">three-down backs who can break tackles on the ground and create mismatches through the air</a> may still be underutilized. Players like that—Alvin Kamara, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, and Kareem Hunt—give running backs a chance for a modern revival.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/7/17659326/2008-week-running-back-trendDanny Kelly2018-08-07T06:10:01-04:002018-08-07T06:10:01-04:00How Did Jeff Fisher Go 13-3 in 2008?
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<p>That year’s Titans team was among the best in football—and was also the last time the NFL’s living embodiment of 7-9 posted a winning record</p> <p id="bLYznL"><em>In football years, one decade might as well be a century. Ten years ago, the wildcat ripped the league in half, Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers, Brett Favre played 16 games for the Jets, the Patriots missed the playoffs, and most shocking of all, Jeff Fisher coached a team that won—you’re really not gonna believe this—13 whole games. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, then you don’t know where you’re going. So, to better understand what’s ahead in 2018, we’re spending this week looking back on what happened 10 years before. Welcome to 2008 Week!</em></p>
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<p id="LLgYo4">By the time Jeff Fisher was finished in Tennessee—after the 2010 season—he had overseen so many 8-8 seasons he was <a href="http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=6066144">known in Nashville</a> as “Coacho Ocho.” After becoming the master of mediocrity with the Titans, Fisher declined further with the Rams, where he went from being synonymous with 8-8 to becoming synonymous with 7-9 (or more accurately, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5AIoh-Sz8g">“7-9 bullshit</a>”). St. Louis went 7-8-1, 7-9, 6-10, and 7-9 in Fisher’s four full seasons. </p>
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<p id="j5BeGJ">Jeff Fisher has become the longhand version of saying 7-9—some corners of Twitter even celebrate July 9 as <a href="https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2018/07/09/nfl-los-angeles-rams-jeff-fisher-day-twitter-memes-gifs/">Jeff Fisher day</a>—but 10 years ago he helmed one of the best teams in football. Under Fisher, the 2008 Tennessee Titans roared to a 13-3 record and the no. 1 seed in the AFC with a backup quarterback and an imposing defense. How the hell did a coach so synonymous with mediocrity field such an impressive team? And how did it all fall apart so quickly?</p>
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<p id="FWEeXH">When Vince Young suffered a knee injury in Tennessee’s Week 1 win over Jacksonville, the Titans turned to a 36-year-old journeyman. Kerry Collins, bless his heart, was not known for his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGho-ZQIkGw">football IQ</a>, nor his <a href="https://youtu.be/OgtbOQ6qZTA?t=40">athletic ability</a>, and definitely not for his quality of play. Collins had lost 24 of his previous 32 starts and went 2-14 as a starter in the three seasons following 2008, yet under Fisher that season, he made the Pro Bowl for the first time since 1996 (playing across from Drew Brees, who logged nearly twice as many passing yards and almost thrice as many touchdowns that season) and went 12-3 and dethroned Indianapolis in the AFC South. Fisher made sure the team didn’t depend on Collins, who threw 12 touchdowns, seven picks, and attempted just two more passes than Brees <em>completed</em> on the season. Luckily the team had quite the backfield to lean on.</p>
<p id="XhHNp1">One of the questions entering the 2008 NFL draft was whether Chris Johnson was faster than Bo Jackson. Johnson set the NFL combine 40-yard dash record with a 4.24-second run earlier that year, then the fastest official time in NFL history, but still behind Jackson’s hand-timed 4.13-second mark (40-yard dash times have been automated since 1999). Whether he was faster than Jackson is beside the point; Johnson was the fastest player on any NFL field he stepped onto. </p>
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<p id="ENYkE4">The Titans took Johnson 24th overall and paired him with third-year running back LenDale White, who provided a similar complement to Johnson that he did to Reggie Bush at USC. Behind an offensive line anchored by first-team All-Pros at left tackle (Michael Roos) and center (Kevin Mawae) and a second-team All-Pro at right tackle (David Stewart), White and Johnson’s thunder-and-lightning combo became one of the best one-two punches in the league. In a Week 7 demolition of Kansas City, the two combined for <a href="https://youtu.be/A8Kf0ECdWuU?t=43">317 rushing yards and four touchdowns</a> on 35 carries. It was a hint of what would come. One year later, Johnson would rush for 2,006 rushing yards, <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&year_min=1920&year_max=2017&season_start=1&season_end=-1&pos%5B%5D=qb&pos%5B%5D=rb&pos%5B%5D=wr&pos%5B%5D=te&pos%5B%5D=e&pos%5B%5D=t&pos%5B%5D=g&pos%5B%5D=c&pos%5B%5D=ol&pos%5B%5D=dt&pos%5B%5D=de&pos%5B%5D=dl&pos%5B%5D=ilb&pos%5B%5D=olb&pos%5B%5D=lb&pos%5B%5D=cb&pos%5B%5D=s&pos%5B%5D=db&pos%5B%5D=k&pos%5B%5D=p&draft_year_min=1936&draft_year_max=2018&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=500&draft_pick_in_round=pick_overall&conference=any&draft_pos%5B%5D=qb&draft_pos%5B%5D=rb&draft_pos%5B%5D=wr&draft_pos%5B%5D=te&draft_pos%5B%5D=e&draft_pos%5B%5D=t&draft_pos%5B%5D=g&draft_pos%5B%5D=c&draft_pos%5B%5D=ol&draft_pos%5B%5D=dt&draft_pos%5B%5D=de&draft_pos%5B%5D=dl&draft_pos%5B%5D=ilb&draft_pos%5B%5D=olb&draft_pos%5B%5D=lb&draft_pos%5B%5D=cb&draft_pos%5B%5D=s&draft_pos%5B%5D=db&draft_pos%5B%5D=k&draft_pos%5B%5D=p&c1stat=rush_yds&c1comp=gt&c1val=2000&c5val=1.0&order_by=year_id">one of seven players in NFL history</a> to crack the 2,000-yard mark.</p>
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<p id="uDD1Cn">Johnson is the most memorable piece of those Titans teams, but the defense was the heart and soul and among the least appreciated units of the decade, with elite talent at every level. Fisher and coordinator Jim Schwartz orchestrated a brilliant defense that finished fifth <a href="https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef2008">by DVOA</a> in 2008 after finishing first in 2007. The defensive line was anchored by defensive tackles Albert Haynesworth and Tony Brown and defensive ends Jevon Kearse and Kyle Vanden Bosch. Haynesworth was in the midst of a two-year run as the most dominant defensive tackle in football, earning first-team All-Pro selections in 2007 and 2008. Pro Football Focus <a href="https://premium.profootballfocus.com/nfl/positions/defense/summary?position=DI&week=1%2C2%2C3%2C4%2C5%2C6%2C7%2C8%2C9%2C10%2C11%2C12%2C13%2C14%2C15%2C16%2C17%2C18%2C19%2C20%2C21&season=2007">graded him</a> as the second-best interior defender in 2007, and in 2008, he was the fourth-best interior defender (behind Jamal, Kyle, and Kevin Williams) and second among interior defenders in quarterback hits (14) and sacks (8).</p>
<p id="6ZPSfN">Despite his dominance, Haynesworth had become more famous for what he did between plays, and later between seasons. In 2006, he stomped on Cowboys center Andre Gurode’s face, forcing Gurode to get 30 stitches and earning Haynesworth a five-game suspension. But Haynesworth’s 2008 season was so good that Washington overlooked that incident and signed him to a contract with $41 million guaranteed and worth as much as $115 million. Haynesworth’s play plummeted off of a cliff, and he later said he <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/albert-haynesworth-letter-to-my-younger-self">regretted his decision</a> to leave Tennessee.</p>
<p id="nNsVgX">The linebacker unit included Keith Bulluck, perhaps the most anonymous person to earn a 97 overall <em>Madden</em> rating in NFL history (his rating was higher than Ray Lewis’s and Patrick Willis’s that year), plus David Thornton and Stephen Tulloch, the latter of whom was an excellent linebacker who later became famous for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-pIeGgKtIs">tearing his ACL while celebrating a sack</a>. In the secondary was cornerback Cortland Finnegan, a seventh-round pick out of an FCS school who became a first-team All-Pro, and also a caricature of the trash-talking cornerback with a chip on his shoulder. </p>
<p id="1q1YDa">The Titans, whose <a href="http://www.sportsoddshistory.com/nfl-win/?y=2008&sa=nfl&a=dv&t=win&o=t">preseason over/under win total</a> was 8, roared to a 10-0 start. In Week 16, the 12-2 Titans hosted the 11-3 Steelers with the no. 1 seed in the AFC on the line.</p>
<p id="J3eEyX">“So you know how big of a game it is, huh?” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PCRzi6p--s">a mic’d up Finnegan</a>, charged with covering Santonio Holmes, said to the refs before the game. </p>
<p id="qa7xtd">“Yes we do, absolutely” the ref said. </p>
<p id="UQFcPh">“Let us play it all,” Finnegan said. “Let us play it to the full.”</p>
<p id="2vnUjU">Play it to the full Tennessee did. With a 17-14 lead, the Titans scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to give themselves a 10-point lead, and safety Michael Griffin intercepted Ben Roethlisberger with less than 30 seconds left and returned the ball 83 yards for a touchdown to seal the game, a first-round bye, and AFC supremacy. </p>
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<p id="RZT7L4">The Titans didn’t celebrate quietly. After Griffin’s interception return, Titans players including White and Bulluck began stomping on Terrible Towels. A photo circulated of Kearse <a href="http://archive.knoxnews.com/sports/titans-try-to-wipe-off-towel-curse-ep-409401775-359123941.html/">wiping his nose</a> with one. </p>
<p id="Mr7zUy">After the game, CBS analyst and former Steelers coach Bill Cowher was furious. White and Bulluck refused to apologize, saying they meant no disrespect to the fans but, as Bulluck said, “It’s just the attitude you have to take.”</p>
<p id="w3eKKC">Fisher said his players may not have known the importance of the towel to the Steelers fan base but wasn’t overly concerned.</p>
<p id="myFZTl">”I mean, I know we weren’t happy to have 10,000 people in our stadium waving those yellow towels,” Fisher <a href="http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3787880">said</a> at the time. “But this isn’t a big deal to me.”</p>
<p id="Fk2emJ">It was a big deal. The Titans became the latest team to be afflicted by “The Curse of the Terrible Towel,” which was first unveiled after Bengals receiver <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/184095-does-houshmandzadeh-bring-the-curse-of-the-terrible-towel-to-seattle">T.J. Houshmandzadeh wiped his feet with one in 2005</a> and the Bengals later faltered against the Steelers in the postseason. The Titans lost to the Ravens in the divisional round, wasting their 1-seed, and started the 2009 season 0-6. Meanwhile the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl against Arizona. (Notably, the mayor of Phoenix wiped his nose with a Terrible Towel the week of the game, exposing the lovably innocent <a href="http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090116&sportCat=nfl">God and Puppies Cardinals team</a> to the curse.) The curse is real, and it took hold of Tennessee and Fisher.</p>
<p id="gsFZwu">Introducing division rival Colts head coach Tony Dungy at a nonprofit fundraiser during the 2009 season in the midst of the 0-6 slump, Fisher took off his shirt onstage to reveal a Peyton Manning jersey.</p>
<p id="lD7bWH">“I just want to feel like a winner,” Fisher said. </p>
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<p id="2JgJps">Fisher asked Dungy to perform a football exorcism.</p>
<p id="99Pd3h">“You are close to the Steeler family and the Rooneys and everything,” Fisher says to Dungy at the 6:45 mark. “I need to know about the mystery of this Terrible Towel. Because last December a couple of my knuckleheads stomped on it and we haven’t won since. Will you tell the Rooneys I have one enshrined in my office, I have one hanging in my house. I’ll do anything I need to do with that towel.”</p>
<p id="AuIkfQ">After that penance, the Titans were no longer terrible. Tennessee won its next five games and salvaged an 8-8 season, but now were sentenced to a different curse—mediocrity. Fisher went 14-18 his final two years in Tennessee—an average of 7-9. Ten years, one stint with the Rams, and zero winning seasons later, Fisher is out of football. </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="5KhHVS">He’ll <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/07/12/jeff-fisher-will-be-mocked-for-at-least-one-fox-nfl-game/">reportedly</a> announce the Jets vs. Jaguars game on September 30 to begin a potential broadcasting career. Perhaps he realized that, like Sisyphus condemned to roll his rock forever, he’ll never rise above 8-8 for the rest of his coaching career. Instead of mocking him when he takes the booth, remember that he’s not a bad coach. He’s just cursed. </p>
https://www.theringer.com/2018/8/7/17658512/jeff-fisher-tennessee-titans-2008-13-3-albert-haynesworth-chris-johnsonDanny Heifetz