• I don't want to dwell on a dark subject, but it feels like we might all be whistling past the graveyard when it comes to Andrew Luck's recovery from his January surgery to repair a torn shoulder labrum in his throwing arm. According to the Indianapolis Star, Luck played through the injury for nearly two full seasons before finally seeking surgical repair this January.
When you consider that report, the fact that Luck is months behind all typical torn labrum prognoses becomes more difficult to rationalize. Even the Colts initially gave NFL Network's Ian Rapoport a time line of three months for Luck to resume throwing. April came and went with nothing even close to that outcome. And not just April – we didn't even get confirmation that Luck was throwing so much as tennis balls until August. Then so too went the assurances that Luck would be ready for Week 1, and no updated target date has emerged.
Even the revelation of a setback might be more reassuring than what we've otherwise heard, since it would at least explain why Luck's progress plateaued in the meantime, and would make it known that the delay was due to resetting the clock, rather than leaving open the possibility that the clocked simply stopped entirely. I'm not assuming that Luck will play this year.
• The Buccaneers cut rookie fifth-round pick Jeremy McNichols on Saturday, in one of the most easily foreseeable personnel botches of recent memory. You'd have
• I don't want to dwell on a dark subject, but it feels like we might all be whistling past the graveyard when it comes to Andrew Luck's recovery from his January surgery to repair a torn shoulder labrum in his throwing arm. According to the Indianapolis Star, Luck played through the injury for nearly two full seasons before finally seeking surgical repair this January.
When you consider that report, the fact that Luck is months behind all typical torn labrum prognoses becomes more difficult to rationalize. Even the Colts initially gave NFL Network's Ian Rapoport a time line of three months for Luck to resume throwing. April came and went with nothing even close to that outcome. And not just April – we didn't even get confirmation that Luck was throwing so much as tennis balls until August. Then so too went the assurances that Luck would be ready for Week 1, and no updated target date has emerged.
Even the revelation of a setback might be more reassuring than what we've otherwise heard, since it would at least explain why Luck's progress plateaued in the meantime, and would make it known that the delay was due to resetting the clock, rather than leaving open the possibility that the clocked simply stopped entirely. I'm not assuming that Luck will play this year.
• The Buccaneers cut rookie fifth-round pick Jeremy McNichols on Saturday, in one of the most easily foreseeable personnel botches of recent memory. You'd have to go all the way back to 2016, when the Buccaneers selected since-cut kicker Roberto Aguayo in the second round, to find a transaction as silly as this one.
McNichols was cut in favor of Jacquizz Rodgers and Peyton Barber. Rodgers was a mid-season pickup last year, which is to say a player who was somewhat out of the league after burning out with the Bears and Falcons over a five-year span, a span in which he never exceeded four yards per carry, failing to spring a 20-yard run in four of those five years. But he did put up 343 yards (4.0 YPC) in seven games against defenses that weren't the 49ers or Saints last year. Then there's Barber, who put up a similarly impressive 139 yards (3.2 YPC) against non-49ers defenses last year.
Why would you cut such fine specimens for a rookie fifth-round pick who merely ran for 3,046 yards (5.5 YPC) and 43 touchdowns over his last 25 games, adding 88 catches for 934 yards and 10 touchdowns over the same span? Sure, McNichols' athletic testing may have been well above the average at the Combine, with all of his 4.49-second 40-yard dash, 121-inch broad jump, and 6.93-second three-cone drill generally portending starter-level talent, but this team didn't need a starter. It needed a reliable backup, who could block well in passing situations, in 2017. Maybe McNichols, a rookie, would have improved to become a comparable pass blocker to the veterans he competed against, but who can wait for such things when you have standout assets like Rodgers and Barber to accommodate in the meantime?
To be serious, the Buccaneers just cut a rookie for blocking worse than four veterans even though that rookie was uniquely productive with standout athleticism for his position. He was a workhorse in college who posted 5.5 yards per carry despite a high volume of short-yardage carries, and he proved a great – not good – pass catcher with the ability to cut defenses from the backfield or split out wide at receiver. That the Buccaneers ditched him only reflects on their inability to interpret and manage their own assets. Someone will claim him on waivers or sign him off the practice squad (I'd guess the former), and some day within the next two years he'll emerge as at least a useful committee back, perhaps largely as a pass-catching threat. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of that day occurring in 2017.
• I'm a big fan of Jordan Howard's talent, but I was a bit concerned about his surrounding circumstances even before Cameron Meredith went down with a season-ending ACL tear. Now his offense, headed by what will likely be poor quarterback play regardless of whether it's Mike Glennon or Mitchell Trubisky under center, has Kevin White penciled in as its leading target. The same Kevin White who averaged 5.2 yards per target in 2016 before suffering a season-ending fibula break in the same leg in which he suffered a broken tibia in 2015.
White's second leg break was apparently such that the recovery process entailed him relearning his proper running gait this offseason. Perhaps that is somewhat typical for the injury, but at a glance it appears like the sort of anecdote that might prelude the dwindling of a career. I certainly hope it's not the case, but no matter the specifics, it's a red flag for a player who already was lagging behind expectations.
If White can't step up as the lead target, that means the Bears' substandard quarterbacks would otherwise depend on the likes of Kendall Wright, Markus Wheaton, and undrafted rookie Tanner Gentry. Each of theses players has their own utilities to various extents, but none are realistic candidates to suffice for the functions the Bears would depend on them in this scenario.
While it's true that Howard's brilliant rookie season occurred in similar circumstances – Matt Barkley might have been even worse than what Glennon and Tribusky might prove to be – I think Meredith's absence opens the real possibility that defenses will completely sell out against the run, and the likely weakness of the Chicago passing game means defenses will probably be able to do so with impunity.
As great of a runner as Howard might be – and his 1,313 yards (5.2 YPC) from last year hint more at great than good – it's reasonable to fear that his running opportunities might be less reliable than in 2016. His early-game usage might see as many stacked fronts as any other runner, and the selection of fourth-round pick Tarik Cohen means he'll likely see less work in losing situations – of which the Bears will see plenty – than he did in the 2016 offense. Howard was previously an option for me around the first/second-round turn, but he's probably in the third round for me now.
