FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots will hold their first public training camp practice on July 27. As part of the lead-up to camp, I’ll spotlight one position each weekday to highlight the team’s personnel and some of the storylines of note.
We’ve covered wide receivers, offensive linemen, running backs and tight ends this week, so let’s move on to quarterbacks:
Tom Brady (12), Jacoby Brissett (7) and Jimmy Garoppolo (10) all ended up starting for the Patriots last season. Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports
Three quarterbacks on roster with future in mind: Since 2009, this will mark just the third time the Patriots have kept three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. The preference had been just two in order to open up a roster spot elsewhere. But with Brady approaching his 40th birthday on Aug. 3 and Garoppolo entering the final year of his contract, planning for the future means that 2016 third-round pick Brissett will be in the mix again. When Brady served a four-game suspension to start the 2016 season, Garoppolo started the Patriots’ first two games before his injury thrust Brissett into that role. Keeping the second-year QB on the active roster is a hedge against a similar situation this season as well as preparation for Brissett to assume the No. 2 spot if Garoppolo leaves next offseason.
Health report: Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen, told “CBS This Morning” in May that Brady sustained a concussion in 2016, adding another layer to any analysis of Brady’s medical file. Brady’s agent said the quarterback was never diagnosed with a concussion, but it’s possible Brady had a concussion that he didn’t report and that wasn’t diagnosed. … Garoppolo missed some time at the end of spring practices with a calf/leg injury, but the 25-year-old was still on the field with his teammates during that stretch, just watching when the pace of practice picked up. A check-in with his status at the start of training camp will be on the to-do list.
Stat check: Brady has started an NFL-record 34 playoff games. Among fellow quarterbacks, Peyton Manning (27), Brett Favre (24), Joe Montana (23) and John Elway (21) are next in line, with Ben Roethlisberger the closest active signal-caller at 20.
Quote of note: “Really special player to coach. Tom works very hard. He is very smart, he’s trained hard, he’s worked hard on his throwing mechanics, he’s worked hard on his mental understanding of the game and process. He’s earned everything that he has achieved, but … he’s not a great natural athlete. He is a very smart, instinctive football player.” — Bill Belichick, in April, speaking about Brady to CNBC’s Suzy Welch
FIFA has released its full report investigating alleged corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.
Despite explosive reports initially suggesting malfeasance in the voting process of the Russia and Qatar-hosted tournaments, Tuesday’s release does not prove ethical misconduct by either party.
With the world football governing body’s chief Gianni Infantino calling for transparency on the heels of Sepp Blatter’s dubious run, chairpersons of the independent Ethics Committee, Maria Claudia Rojas of the investigatory chamber and Vassilios Skouris of the adjudicatory chamber, published the report Tuesday.
The 2014 report was penned by former FIFA independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia, who quit in protest when only a 42-page summary of the allegations was published. That version acquitted Qatar of corruption claims, and after German outlet Bild released extracts of the full report earlier Tuesday, FIFA followed suit.
While the report does absolve Russia and Qatar’s bids of wrongdoing, the “Garcia Report” mentions a 2-million Swiss-franc payment to the account of the 10-year-old daughter of an unnamed FIFA official.
FIFA’s statement claims that despite numerous calls from Infantino and the 2016 FIFA Council meeting in Mexico City to publish the report, “it is worth noting that the former chairpersons of the Ethics Committee, Cornel Borbely and Hans-Joachim Eckert, had always refused to publish it.”
“Publishing the report in full would actually put the FIFA ethics committee and FIFA itself in a very difficult situation legally,” Eckert told BBC Sport in Oct. 2014.
FIFA’s statement states that it intends to further discuss the “Garcia Report” at a meeting next month, adding, “As the document has been illegally leaked to a German newspaper, the new chairpersons have requested the immediate publication of the full report in order to avoid the dissemination of any misleading information.
“For the sake of transparency, FIFA welcomes the news that this report has now been finally published.”
The 359-page report can be downloaded in its entirety here.
Covered Vikings for Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1999-2008
Our ESPN Insiders have provided an expert assessment of how NFL teams are positioned to compete during the next three seasons. That will bring us to the year 2020, the dawn of a new decade and the start of a key period for owners and players as they posture for the expiration of their 10-year collective bargaining agreement. (Assuming they don’t agree on an extension before the current CBA expires after the 2020 season.)
Just how long can soon-to-be-40-year-old Tom Brady play? And Odell Beckham Jr. will make how much on his new deal? With help from league insiders, we’re forecasting the next three seasons.
Matt Patricia’s experience in New England has him on the head-coaching radar, but which other NFL assistants could also get the call to the next level? ESPN Insiders take a look around the league.
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What will the NFL look like at that point? What advances will it have made? What issues will it have solved, and what problems might still remain? Let’s take a closer look.
Guaranteed contracts
You’ve heard the argument: NFL players have the shortest careers — less than four years, on average — while playing a game that maims some of them. Yet their contracts are never fully guaranteed, meaning teams can release them at any time without paying the full amount due. But establishing a fully guaranteed paradigm is not a matter of changing policy. (It’s not mentioned in the CBA.) It would require a fundamental change in the market. Players have long agreed to these terms during individual negotiations. What would incentivize owners to guarantee contracts fully when they don’t have to? A high-profile player could hold out and force a one-off concession, but it’s tough to imagine all players benefiting in the same way. And even if owners changed their approach, it’s fair to wonder if they would simply reduce multiyear, partially guaranteed offers to one-year, fully guaranteed deals. In short, it’s difficult to conceive a meaningful path to fully guaranteed multiyear deals across the league.
Verdict: Won’t happen
The NFL will continue its international series during the 2017 season, including eight teams traveling to London to play games. Warren Little/Getty Images
The NFL is eager to shift the conversation on concussions. It committed $100 million last fall to research remedies for health issues of all kinds, including a reimagining of helmets. The helmet was originally designed to prevent skull fractures, not concussions. The first potential redesign is the VICIS Zero1, a helmet designed to protect against rotational injury — the cause of concussions — rather than just linear contact. Almost three-fourths of NFL teams had at least one player test the helmet this spring. Whether or not it succeeds, you can expect additional new products to appear in the coming years. The private sector has been incentivized, and it’s reasonable to believe that helmets will look and function much differently by the year 2020.
Verdict: Will happen
Could this year’s Spring League serve as a catalyst for the NFL to create its own developmental league in the future? Rob Tringali for ESPN
Developmental league
There is widespread agreement among football executives, from the league and the teams, that there is a need for more offseason work for young players — especially quarterbacks — than the CBA currently allows. But there is no unifying solution. Some prefer a traditional domestic spring developmental league modeled after NFL Europe. But it would be costly and would probably overlap with the handful of offseason practices teams are allowed. Others would settle for a quarterback “academy” that would give practice-like reps and individualized tutoring to young prospects. Some think that expanded practice squads are the answer. And a few hope the next CBA will relax team-based offseason training restrictions. This muddled situation has left it to others to create a model the NFL might eventually buy into, most recently The Spring League.
Verdict: Might happen
Reduction in broadcast revenue
Television rights fees have been the largest driver of the NFL’s economic explosion in the past decade. But recent upheaval in the broadcast and cable industries, and a notable ratings dip in 2016, has prompted a fair question: Will the gravy train end? If it does, it’s unlikely to come in this three-year window. Contracts with CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN all run through at least 2021. The NFL already has begun a transition to over-the-top (OTT) internet broadcasts, partnering first with Twitter and now Amazon for 2017. Rights fees are relatively small now but are growing; Amazon will pay five times ($50 million) what Twitter paid ($10 million) per season. There might be a time when the NFL is impacted by a bursting television bubble, but that moment does not appear close and new opportunities already exist.
Verdict: Won’t happen
NFL officials could see more and more technology infiltrate the game and the on-field decision-making as time goes on. Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports
Ha! (Sorry.) Players hate the closed-loop authority commissioner Roger Goodell maintains over most aspects of discipline, as prescribed in the 2011 CBA. This “judge, jury and executioner” lament has fueled countless public dust-ups and legal disputes. Goodell ultimately has prevailed in most of them. This authority allows Goodell to address what he considers matters of NFL integrity as he sees fit, even in a union environment. Why would he give it up? Owners might convince him to take a personal step back, leaving the work to designated staff members. But that’s much different than submitting discipline to neutral arbitration, as players would prefer. To negotiate it out of the next CBA, players would have to give up something significant, and all for an issue that impacts a statistical minority of them. There is no reason to expect change here in the next three years — or ever.
Verdict: Won’t happen
Sponsorship logos on jerseys
Teams have been selling corporate sponsorships on their practice jerseys since 2009, a hysterical transaction considering that they are seen only in practice and most NFL practices are closed to the public with increasingly limited access for visual media. The next stop is game jerseys, a transition that seems inevitable. The NFL is not usually first into any arena, revenue or otherwise, but the NBA already has jumped ahead. Its teams will wear corporate logos on game jerseys starting with the 2017-18 regular season. In the end, do you really think NFL owners would turn down the additional revenue to maintain the tradition or sanctity of their game uniforms? Exactly.
Verdict: Will happen
Will a participatory decrease among youth football players impact the NFL level? Tom E. Puskar/ AP Images for NFL Network
Cristiano Ronaldo won’t feature in Portugal’s Confederations Cup third-place play-off against either Germany or Mexico on Sunday as he meets his newborn twins for the first time.
The 32-year-old left his teammates in Kazan, Russia on Thursday morning to be with the fresh additions to the Ronaldo family, and unconfirmed Portuguese reports construed by BBC Sport state the twins could’ve arrived as early as June 8. They were apparently born to a surrogate mother in the United States, and are called Eva and Mateo.
Ronaldo’s only child before the twins’ birth was Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., who was born in June 2010.
“I’m very happy, finally, to be with my children for the first time,” Ronaldo said on Facebook, with translation from BBC Sport.
Ronaldo featured in every match of Portugal’s Confederations Cup campaign, but was on the losing side after a Claudio Bravo-inspired Chile defeated the Seleccao on penalties in Wednesday’s semi-final. He noted he’d put his “body and soul” into national team duty despite the birth of his twins, and added that “unfortunately we couldn’t achieve our main sporting aim.”
“We were informed before the Confederations Cup that Cristiano had become a father,” a statement from the Portuguese Football Federation read, as translated by ESPN FC’s Dermot Corrigan.
“The player, despite the birth of his children, had remained at the service of the national team, a gesture which we must underline and praise.
“With it now impossible to win the Confederations Cup, they must free the player so that he can, at last, go and meet his children.”
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
There could be big changes afoot in Ronaldo’s working life as well. Reports state the forward is considering an exit from Real Madrid following probes from the Spanish tax authorities over alleged fraudulent activity. Los Blancos president Florentino Perez said on June 19 that he has yet to discuss the player’s future with him.
Related – Report: Ronaldo eager to leave Real Madrid amid tax fraud investigation
Ronaldo has enjoyed one of the most fruitful periods of any footballer in history. In the last 13 months, he’s won La Liga, the Club World Cup, and two Champions League titles for Real Madrid, plundered last year’s European Championship for Portugal, and on an individual level collected the Ballon d’Or and the Best FIFA Men’s Player award.
