Guess who's back, back again, Tebow's back, tell a friend. Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back.
I'll be honest, I don't usually use Eminem lyrics in the newsletter, but I also don't usually write about washed up NFL players who are trying to make a comeback after six years completely away from football -- and yet, I'm doing both of those things today.
Although I'm happy for Tebow, I wish this news could have waited until next week. As I wrote yesterday, the NFL schedule release is my favorite holiday of the offseason, and now, Tebow is trying to overshadow it. I am beside myself. STOP IT, TIM.
Although I'm not happy with Tim right now, we'll be covering him in full today. We'll also have every team's strength of schedule for 2021 plus we'll pick the team the Buccaneers should play in their home opener.
Alright, let's get to the rundown. As always, here's your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To sign up, all you have to do is click here and then share the link.
There were 259 players selected in the 2021 NFL Draft and most of them will be practicing with their new teams for the first time this weekend when 29 of the league's 31 teams host their rookie minicamps. With rookies set to make their first appearance ever with their new team, Will Brinson thought today would be a good time to rank instant impact rookies, but since he's bad at ranking things, he brought on CBSSports.com draft guru Chris Trapasso to help him.
In today's episode, not only did they cover several rookies who should make an instant impact -- Trapasso thinks Kyle Pitts is going to be a game-changer for the Falcons -- but they also talked about which players have the best chance to win the rookie of the year awards.
Trapasso thinks the dark horse to win the defensive rookie of the year is Washington linebacker Jamin Davis, who was the 19th overall pick and the sixth defensive player taken overall.
"He lands in such a good scenario with the Washington Football Team, playing with four first-round defensive linemen, who have all played pretty well," Trapasso said. "Jamin Davis is going to be well, well above 125 tackles and if the Washington Football Team is a fun team again and they win the NFC East or make the playoffs, Jamin Davis is going to be in the spotlight a lot."
Trapasso made such a good case for Davis to win DPOY that Brinson literally stopped the podcast so that he could bet some money on the Washington linebacker to win the award. Davis currently has 16-to-1 odds (bet $100 to win $1,600).
If you want to know who they like for offensive rookie of the year, be sure to to listen to today's show -- and follow the podcast -- by clicking here.
It's Tebow time in Jacksonville.
Apparently, Jaguars coach Urban Meyer has decided that he's going to sign Tim Tebow to a one-year deal and the twist is that Tebow is going to play tight end. I'm not going to say I saw this coming, but when Meyer and Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke both decided to move next door to Tebow, that was the first sign that this was going to happen. You don't move in next to someone and not give them a job.
I'm not sure if Tebow is going to be able to make the roster, but the Jaguars are definitely leaving the door wide open for it to happen. Let's take a look at the situation in Jacksonville.
If you're dying to read more about Tebow, you can click here for the top five plays of his NFL career. We also put together a list of other quarterbacks who have successfully made a position switch in the NFL and you can check that out by clicking here. Finally, we put together a timeline of Tebow's sports career, starting with his time at Florida with Meyer, and you can check that out by clicking here.
By the way, if Tebow makes the roster, he'll be getting a free trip to London and that's because the Jaguars will be hosting a game in the U.K. in 2021. The NFL is only playing two London games this year and they'll be hosted by Jacksonville and Atlanta. According to the Athletic, the league has decided to scrap the Mexico City game for the 2021 season.
For the first time in NFL history, the league is going to be playing a 17-game schedule this year and if you're wondering who is going to benefit the least from the newly expanded regular season, the answer is the Pittsburgh Steelers and that's because they're going to be facing the most difficult strength of schedule this year.
Based on the final standings from 2020, the Steelers will be going into 2021 with a strength of schedule of .574, which not only gives them the most difficult schedule for the upcoming season, but it makes them one of only two teams in the NFL -- along with the Ravens -- that will have a strength of schedule above .550.
Of the Steelers' 17 games, 10 of them will be coming against teams that made the playoffs last year, which is tied with the Packers for the most in the NFL. On the other hand, the Eagles only have to play five games against teams that went to the playoffs last year. Also, the Eagles only play THREE teams all season that finished 2020 with a winning record. In news that probably won't shock you, the Eagles have the easiest strength of schedule for the upcoming season.
With that in mind, let's take a look at the two teams with the highest grades and the four teams with the lowest grades.
Hardest schedules1. Steelers: 155-115-2 (.574)2. Ravens: 152-118-2 (.563)3. Bears: 149-122-1 (.550)4. Packers: 147-124-1 (.542)5. Vikings: 144-127-1 (.531)T-6. Bengals: 144-128 (.529)T-6. Lions: 143-127-2 (.529)8. Raiders: 142-128-2 (.526)9. Browns: 140-130-2 (.518)10. Rams: 140-132 (.515)
Easiest schedules 1. Eagles: 117-155 (.430)2. Cowboys: 122-148-2 (.452)3. Falcons: 123-148-1 (.454)4. Buccaneers: 126-145-1 (.465)T-5. Dolphins: 128-144 (.471)T-5. Broncos: 127-143-2 (.471)7. Panthers: 128-143-1 (.472)8. Giants: 128-142-2 (.472)T-9. Colts: 130-142 (.478)T-9. Bills: 130-142 (.478)
To check out the strength of schedule ranking for all 32 teams, be sure to click here.
When the NFL schedule gets released on Wednesday, you're going to notice some major changes and the biggest one is the expanding regular season. However, one thing that won't be changing is the annual tradition that calls for the defending Super Bowl champion to play host for the first game of the season.
This year, that means the 2021 NFL season is going to open in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers serving as the home team in the Thursday night opener.
So who will the Buccaneers be playing in the opener? Great question. Glad you asked.
Since we already know who the Buccaneers will be playing at home this year -- Falcons, Panthers, Saints, Bears, Dolphins, Cowboys Giants and Bills -- I'm going to rank all eight teams in order of what would make the worst game to what would make the best game.
8. Panthers: Carolina went 0-2 against Tampa last year and lost those games by an average of 18.5 points. No one wants to see a blowout in the opener. 7. Falcons: Atlanta went 4-12 last season and no one wants to watch a team coming off a 4-12 season play in the opener. 6. Giants: The Giants almost beat the Bucs last season and Joe Judge apparently thinks that Tom Brady's skills are deteriorating, so this would definitely be an interesting game. 5. Dolphins: Miami head coach Brian Flores spent 11 seasons in New England with Tom Brady -- I'm guessing he would love to embarrass Brady in the opener. 4. Bears: The Bears have two things going for them: They made the playoffs last year and they beat the Buccaneers in the regular season. 3. Cowboys: Dallas might be America's team, but if I'm Jerry Jones, I don't want Dak Prescott going up against Tampa Bay's defense in Week 1. 2. Saints: I will start tailgating right now if we get a Jameis Winston revenge game. The only problem is that we don't know if Winston is actually going to win the starting QB job in New Orleans. 1. Bills: On paper, the Bills are the best team on Tampa Bay's home schedule this year and the NFL likes when things look nice on paper.
For a full explanation on why I ranked things the way I did, be sure to click here.
We are now on Day 742 of Aaron Rodgers watch. Actually, I don't think we're that many days in, but it's starting to feel that way. Over the past 24 hours, we didn't really learn anything new about Rodgers, but we did learn a few things about the Packers' side of the situation.
If Rodgers wants out, the easiest thing for the Packers to do would be to grant his wishes and trade him, but if that happens, that will put Green Bay in a tough spot. There are a few things that the team has to take into consideration and here are two big ones.
If Adams feels that way, there's a good chance that at least a few other players feel the same way, which means that trading Rodgers could destroy the team for years to come -- one of many reasons why the Packers are doing their best to hold on to him.
For an NFL player, there's no worse feeling than watching the draft and seeing that your team just selected a player to replace you. It happens all the time and because it happens all the time, our Jeff Kerr decided to put a list together of the five NFL veterans who were hurt the most by the 2021 NFL Draft.
With that in mind, let's check out Kerr's list.
Kerr also put together a list of the five veterans who benefited the most from the draft and you can check that out by clicking here.
If you're into cryptocurrency, then converting your NFL salary to Bitcoin probably sounds like a good idea, but the plan only works if you're actually getting an NFL salary and that's where things are now falling apart for former Chiefs tight end Sean Culkin.
Earlier this offseason, Culkin made some headlines by announcing that he would be converting his entire 2021 salary into Bitcoin. The only problem for Culkin is that, as of right now, he's not going to be getting an NFL salary this year and that's because the Chiefs cut him on Monday. Culkin was in line to make $920,000 with the Chiefs this year and although I'm not sure how much Bitcoin that is, I do know that zero dollars will get you zero Bitcoin and that's how much Culkin is going to be getting from the Chiefs.
Speaking of zero, I'll be writing zero words for tomorrow's newsletter and that's because Cody Benjamin is going to be in charge. Although I won't be around, I will be running our live blog for the schedule release, so if you get bored at any point tomorrow, please come join.