NFL

NFL preseason winners and losers from Week 1, plus ranking debut of every rookie quarterback

by
SaC Bot
August 12, 2024

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

The first week of the preseason is officially in the books, and after watching 16 games over four straight days, I can unequivocally say that I missed football. As a matter of fact, I missed it so much that I might go back and watch all 16 games again just to pass the time until the second week of the preseason starts.

Speaking of the preseason, we’ll be going almost all in on Week 1 of the preseason in today’s newsletter: Not only do we have some winners and losers, but we broke down how all the top rookie quarterbacks played. Also, I watched all 127 kickoffs five times each so I could give you a full breakdown of how teams handled the new kickoff rule.

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter or you can tell people you run into at the bank. That also works. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here.

1. NFL preseason: Winners and losers of Week 1

As everyone knows, you can’t have a week of NFL action without having winners and losers, so we have some winners and losers from the first week of the preseason. Cody Benjamin came up with this week’s list, which you can check out below.

Winners

Eagles’ top rookies. “With most key starters resting, Will Shipley was a preseason workhorse as a dual-threat candidate to back up Saquon Barkley in the real games, while Quinyon Mitchell and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. both made impact plays under new coordinator Vic Fangio. The only big name from Philadelphia’s 2024 draft class to not shine against the Baltimore Ravens was Cooper DeJean, who’s still recovering from injury.”
Seahawks defense. “New coach Mike Macdonald could have Seattle back in the playoff picture if he gets this unit even close to Ravens-level versatility and physicality. He’s off to a good start, with the Seahawks blanking L.A. and showing off rookie Byron Murphy II in the process.”

Losers

Justin Fields. “Was he ‘bad’ in his live-action Pittsburgh Steelers debut? Not necessarily. But after an offseason trailing Russell Wilson, desperate to shed his reputation as a turnover-prone starter from Chicago, two fumbled snaps isn’t going to vault him ahead in the quarterback competition. The one thing he needs is to protect the ball, which he did not cleanly do.”
Veteran backup quarterbacks. “Vying for relevance in Atlanta, Taylor Heinicke struggled to find a rhythm in relief of rookie Michael Penix Jr. with the Falcons. And Easton Stick was just as erratic filling in for an injured Justin Herbert with the Chargers. Mike White in Miami and Josh Johnson in Baltimore were also underwhelming in limited action. It’s not out of the question someone will be dialing Ryan Tannehill’s phone down the road.”

If you want to see Cody’s full list of winners and losers, be sure to click here.

2. Breaking down the preseason debut of every rookie first-round QB

The first week of the preseason can sometimes be kind of boring, but it wasn’t this year, and that’s mostly because we got to see six different first-round rookie quarterbacks make their debut over the weekend.

If you didn’t get to watch every rookie quarterback play, don’t worry, we have you covered here. Bryan DeArdo watched every snap from all six quarterbacks and then he decided to do a thorough breakdown of how each of them played.

Here’s what DeArdo had to say about Caleb Williams, Bo Nix and J.J. McCarthy.

Bears 33, Giants 6: Caleb Williams finishes 4 of 7 for 95 yards. “Williams created a highlight-reel play on his first drive. After a setback via holding penalty, the Bears found themselves in third-and-long, but Williams hung in the pocket and found wide receiver DJ Moore for a 12-yard gain to move the sticks. On the very next snap, Williams pulled one out of his bag of tricks. As the pocket collapsed around him, Williams flipped the ball forward to running back D’Andre Swift, who took off for a 42-yard gain (see the play here). That’s the type of improvisation that made Williams such a tantalizing prospect, and we got a glimpse of it in his very first NFL action.”
Vikings 24, Raiders 23: J.J. McCarthy finishes 11 of 17 for 188 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. “McCarthy entered the Vikings’ showdown against the Raiders for Minnesota’s second drive. His first attempt was an 18-yard completion to Jalen Nailor for 18 yards. His second throw, however, was an interception by Raiders cornerback Jack Jones. The pick was the result of an under thrown and ill-advised throw by McCarthy, who threw it after evading the Raiders’ pass rush. McCarthy bounced back and made some impressive throws later in the game, including 45-yard touchdown pass to Trishton Jackson early in the second half (You can see the play here).”
Broncos 34, Colts 30: Bo Nix finishes 15 of 21 for 121 yards and one touchdown. “By any account, Nix’s debut was a smashing success. He took over on Denver’s third possession, and during his five drives led the Broncos to four scores and 20 points.”

If you want to check out Bryan’s breakdown of the other three rookie quarterbacks, you can do that here.

3. Overreactions and reality checks from first week of the preseason

Everyone on the internet loves to overreact to things, and that’s especially true when during the first week of the preseason. With that in mind, Jeff Kerr decided to take a look at everything that happened over the weekend to decide if we’re all overreacting to them:

Statement: The Chiefs’ passing game is in trouble without Hollywood Brown.
Overreaction or reality: Reality. “Brown spent Saturday night in the hospital with sternoclavicular joint dislocation, the same injury that cost Tyreek Hill four games in 2019. If Brown misses time, how will the Chiefs’ passing game look? Kansas City still has Travis Kelce, but Brown was supposed to be the veteran who provided stability at the position. Of course, the Chiefs still have Rashee Rice, but he’s facing a possible suspension by the league for off-field incidents. That leaves rookie Xavier Worthy, Skyy Moore and Mecole Hardman as the top wideouts.”

Statement: Sam Howell will steal Geno Smith’s job at some point this season.
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction. “Howell will be the No. 2 quarterback behind Geno Smith in Seattle, but the early returns from the preseason opener are positive. He completed 16 of 27 passes for 130 yards with a touchdown — a 13-yard pass to Brady Russell — starting the game and playing into the third quarter. Could Smith actually lose his job to Howell if he struggles this year? Smith is essentially a one-year rental right now in Seattle. If he plays poorly, the franchise may give Howell a shot. Right now, it’s too early to overreact to Smith’s future. It would take Seattle being eliminated from the playoffs in early December to think about that scenario.”

Statement: Sam Darnold will open the season as Minnesota’s starting QB.
Overreaction or reality: Reality. “The Vikings had to like what they saw from J.J. McCarthy in Saturday’s preseason opener. McCarthy went 11 of 17 for 188 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, relieving Darnold after the Vikings’ first series. … McCarthy can play well this preseason, but the Vikings seem set on starting Darnold in Week 1. The biggest indicator was Darnold playing one series before departing. Minnesota may give way to McCarthy during the year, yet the Vikings appear set with Darnold opening the season.”

There are plenty more overreactions from the first week of the preseason, and they’ll be available from Kerr later on today.

4. NFL’s new kickoff is here: The good, the bad and the ugly from the first week of the preseason

The NFL’s new kickoff rule took center stage over the weekend and after watching all 127 kickoffs, I have to say, things got a little crazy. Here’s the good, the bad and they ugly from the NFL’s first full week using the new kickoff rule.

The good: The AFC South seems to have figured things out already. During the first week of the preseason, there were only four kickoffs in the entire NFL that were returned at least 45 yards and ALL FOUR of those came from the AFC South. Jacksonville’s Parker Washington had the longest return of the weekend with a 73-yarder against the Chiefs that you can see here. The next-longest return came from Tennessee’s Kearis Jackson, who had a 63-yarder during the Titans’ 17-13 win over the 49ers. Anthony Gould (49 yards) of the Colts and Jacksonville’s Tank Bigsby (45 yards) are the only other returners who had at least 45 yards on a single return.
The bad: Kickers are still trying to figure out how to get the ball in the landing zone. Under the new rule, all kickoffs have to make it to at least the receiving team’s 20-yard line. If the ball hits the ground before that spot, then the receiving team gets a touchback at their own 40-yard line, which is pretty solid field position. This type of touchback happened a total of three times over the weekend, and we didn’t have to wait long to see it. During the Giants-Lions game on Thursday, Detroit’s Jake Bates hit a kickoff that landed at New York’s 33-yard line (You can see the kick here). That was well short of the landing zone and once the ball hit the ground, the officials blew the play dead and gave the Giants possession at their own 40-yard line. The Lions were one of the few teams that actually tried to have their kicker hit a line drive. Most other teams stuck with a vanilla strategy on their kickoffs so they wouldn’t give anything away for the regular season.
The ugly: The Chiefs don’t know the kickoff rule yet. During Jacksonville’s 26-13 win over Kansas City, Mecole Hardman got safetied while returning a kick! On a Jaguars kickoff in the second quarter, something bizarre happened: The ball landed in the end zone, but then it bounced back into the field of play, coming to a stop at the one-yard line. Under last year’s rule, if a kickoff landed in the end zone on the fly, it immediately became a dead ball for a touchback, but not this year. After the ball landed, Hardman stepped into the end zone and touched the ball with the assumption that this would give the Chiefs’ a touchback. It did not. You can read the full details of this bizarre story here.

Overall, the new kickoff rule did seem to work out how the NFL wanted it to by encouraging more returns. Of the 127 kickoffs that happened during the opening week of the preseason, 82% of them got returned, which is well above last season, when just 22% of kickoffs got returned. You can check out my full story on the kickoff rule here.

5. Browns made a massive trade offer to the 49ers

The Cleveland Browns weren’t able to trade for Brandon Aiyuk, but they definitely did their best to try and get a deal done with the 49ers. At some point last week, the Browns made a MASSIVE offer for Aiyuk that included sending Amari Cooper to San Francisco.

Here’s what the Browns’ proposed deal looked like (via NBC Sports Bay Area):

49ers get: Amari Cooper, second-round pick, third-round pick
Browns get: Brandon Aiyuk

The only reason the trade didn’t happen is because Aiyuk vetoed it due to the fact that Cleveland wasn’t one of his “preferred destinations,” according to NBC Bay Area. For any deal to happen, Aiyuk is going to have to sign a new contract with his new team, which essentially gives him the power to nix any trade. If Aiyuk isn’t willing to sign a new deal, then it wouldn’t make sense for a team to trade for him, and he apparently wasn’t willing to sign with the Browns.

Amari Cooper caught wind of the proposed deal and he actually had a very interesting reaction.

“LOL. I wouldn’t mind at all,” Cooper wrote on social media, which seemed to imply that he would have been fine with a trade that sent him to San Francisco.

As for Aiyuk, not only did he nix a deal to Cleveland, but he also vetoed a potential trade to the Patriots. As things stand now, there is now a “new optimism” that Aiyuk will get a long-term deal done in San Francisco. At this point, it seems like all the drama with the 49ers star will end in one of two ways: He’ll either stay in San Francisco or get traded to the Steelers.

6. Extra points: Raiders to name starting QB soon

It was a busy weekend in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.

Raiders set soft deadline for naming a starting QB. The Raiders QB competition between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew will likely be over by this time next week. Over the weekend, coach Antonio Pierce said he’d like to name a starter soon after the Raiders’ second preseason game, which will take place on Aug. 17 against the Cowboys. We have a prediction on who the starter will be, and you can check that out here.
Marquise Brown could miss Chiefs opener. The Chiefs receiver had to be taken to the hospital on Saturday after suffering a sternoclavicular joint dislocation (where your clavicle comes into your sternum). The injury is expected to knock Brown out for about four weeks, which means there’s a chance he could miss the opener. We have more details on his injury here.
Browns and Seahawks make trade. The Browns are bringing back center Nick Harris. After spending the first three years of his career in Cleveland, Harris signed with the Seahawks this offseason, but now he’s headed back to Cleveland after being traded there on Sunday. You can check out the trade details here.
49ers cancel joint practice with Saints. The 49ers were supposed to practice with the Saints this week, but now, that’s not going to happen. The team is apparently too injured to participate, so Kyle Shanahan decided to call things off.
Malik Nabers dealing with possible injury. The Giants rookie appeared to twist his ankle over the weekend, but at this point, it’s not clear whether the injury is serious. Giants coach Brian Daboll didn’t offer much of an update on Monday, simply saying that he thinks Nabers is “OK,” although he’s apparently not OK enough to practice today.
Jaguars to sign veteran safety. The Jags are reuniting with Tashaun Gipson. Over his 12-year career, Gipson has played for five different teams, including a three-year stint in Jacksonville from 2016 thru 2018. The 34-year-old, who got a one-year deal, is currently suspended for six games, so he won’t be eligible to play until October.