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Thursday Links Package

| May 30th, 2019

It’s truly the only period of off-season for the NFL. Other than the rare injury at an OTA, nothing of relevance takes place until teams report to training camp. Here are some links for you to enjoy.

[Side Note: When searching for links, I was amazed at just how many blogs there are now and how shitty most of them are.]

  • “On an anger scale of one to 10, cornerback Prince Amukamara thinks he’s seen new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano reach a three at most during the Bears’ offseason program.” Adam Jahns of The Athletic (still not used to this) on why the Bears defense doesn’t need continuity in the transition from Fangio to Pagano. It needs change. (Jahns will be back on a pod with me in the coming weeks.)

  • “I didn’t want to blow the opportunity,” the intensively private McCaskey told the Sun-Times last week in a rare sitdown interview commemorating the team’s upcoming 100th season. “I didn’t want them to think of me as some little old lady that’s just hanging around. And, ‘What’s she really doing here?’

    “I wanted to let them know how much I cared about the team, and all of them.”

    A little old lady?

    “Well,” she said, smiling, “I am.” That’s an excerpt from Patrick Finley’s excellent sit down with Virgina McCaskey on the newly-designed (and wonderful) Sun-Times website.

  • J.J. Stankevitz of NBC Sports on expectations for David Montgomery in year one: “There are some clips that you can go back and forth and watch and say man, (Montgomery) kind of reminds me of Kareem,” Iowa State offensive coordinator Tom Manning said. “And you go back to cuts from (Hunt) too and you’re like man, that’s kind of strange, it looks a little like David there in that sense. They’re different, but I do think there are some similarities.”

  • Rick Gosselin debates the Hall of Fame credentials for Julius Peppers: “Only two edge rushers in the NFL’s 100-sack club played longer – Jim Marshall at 20 seasons and Bruce Smith at 19. Only two edge rushers played more games than the 266 of Peppers – again, Marshall at 282 and Smith at 279. Only three edge rushers went to more Pro Bowls than the nine of Peppers – Hall-of-Famers Reggie White with 13, Smith with 11 and Lawrence Taylor 10.” Spoiler alert: There is zero debate. Peppers is walking in. If Jason Taylor is a Hall of Famer, Peppers should have the building named after him.
  • Uh Oh Alert? “In a Tuesday email, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith advised NFL agents to tell their clients to budget their income to account for a player strike or lockout by ownership. The NFL’s current collective-bargaining agreement expires after the 2020 season, and negotiations on the next deal are widely expected to be contentious.” Read the entire piece from Thomas Barrabi at Fox Business.
  • “On April 28, Corey Ballentine was in a Kansas hospital recovering from a gunshot wound and mourning the death of his best friend…On Tuesday, exactly one month later, he was on the field with the Giants participating in full team reps at an OTA workout.” Worth your time, from Tom Rock of Newsday.

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