2021 NFL Off-Season Thread

[Maxx]

Yeah would be real a shame if you had to watch him sit on the bench and never play.  That's Flacco's team and everyone knows it.

 

 

 

[VerbalPuke]

15 hours ago, Lint said:

 

Good job Hock. Turning out that Quinn probably did get this one right. I think he's going to have a huge year, especially with us having a fairly weak WR group.

[Lineker]

Quote

The Seahawks waived wide receiver Tamorrion Terry on Wednesday and the likely reason why they decided to part ways with him now came to light on Thursday.

Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald reports that Terry was one of 11 people indicted on felony murder charges by a grand jury in Georgia last week.

A 21-year-old woman named Za’Quavia Smith was killed outside a nightclub in Ashburn, Georgia in June 2018 when a group of people opened fire. At least seven people were shot altogether during the incident and one man was arrested days later in what law enforcement deemed a gang-related shooting.

Terry played college football at Florida State and went undrafted this year.

 

[Lineker]

Quote

The NFL has fined the Washington Football Team $10 million as a result of the league's investigation into the team's workplace culture.

The money "will be used to support organizations committed to character education, anti-bullying, healthy relationships and related topics," the league said.

In addition, Tanya Snyder, who was named the team's co-CEO this week, will take over the day-to-day duties and represent the franchise at league functions for the next several months. Her husband, Dan Snyder, will focus "on a new stadium plan and other matters," the NFL said.

All senior executives, including the Snyders, will take part in training in workplace conduct, covering topics such as bullying, diversity and inclusion, LGBTQ issues, microaggression and unconscious bias.

"I have learned a lot in the past few months about how my club operated, and the kind of workplace that we had. It is now clear that the culture was not what it should be, but I did not realize the extent of the problems, or my role in allowing that culture to develop and continue. I know that as the owner, I am ultimately responsible for the workplace. I have said that and I say it again," Dan Snyder said in a statement.

"I feel great remorse for the people who had difficult, even traumatic, experiences while working here. I'm truly sorry for that. I can't turn back the clock, but I promise that nobody who works here will ever have that kind of experience again, at least not as long as Tanya and I are the owners of this team."

The team had been under an independent investigation, led by attorney Beth Wilkinson, since July 2020, stemming from a number of sexual harassment allegations by previous employees over a 15-year period that were detailed by The Washington Post last summer.

Wilkinson interviewed more than 150 people, mostly current or former employees of the organization, many of whom were granted anonymity. Dan Snyder had released those who spoke with Wilkinson from any confidentiality agreements they had signed with the organization.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell "concluded that for many years the workplace environment at the Washington Football Team, both generally and particularly for women, was highly unprofessional. Bullying and intimidation frequently took place and many described the culture as one of fear, and numerous female employees reported having experienced sexual harassment and a general lack of respect in the workplace," the NFL said in its statement.

The league concluded that the team's "Ownership and senior management paid little or no attention to these issues. In some instances, senior executives engaged in inappropriate conduct themselves, including use of demeaning language and public embarrassment. This set the tone for the organization and led to key executives believing that disrespectful behavior and more serious misconduct was acceptable in the workplace."

Wilkinson made a series of 10 recommendations for the Washington franchise going forward:

1. Develop a formal protocol for reporting allegations of harassment and misconduct;
2. Develop a disciplinary action plan;
3. Conduct anonymous workplace culture and sexual harassment surveys;
4. Hire a third party to provide regular training for all employees on bullying, sexual harassment and other workplace conduct issues;
5. Increase the number of women and minority employees throughout the organization;
6. Implement a clear organizational structure with clear lines of authority;
7. Expand and empower the organization's in-house human resources and legal departments;
8. Create a formal onboarding process for new hires and a program for regular performance reviews and exit interviews for departing employees.
9. Assign an HR employee to the cheerleading squad or coed dance team;
10. Retain an independent consultant to conduct an annual assessment of employment policies.

The franchise is required to report its progress to the league office in implementing each of these recommendations. The first report is due by July 31. The franchise also must report the results of the surveys and all complaints, including from exit interviews, to the league office.

"I agree with the Commissioner's decisions in this matter and am committed to implementing his investigation's important recommendations," Dan Snyder said in his statement.

In February, the team reached a settlement with its former cheerleaders, who appeared in lewd videos made without their knowledge during swimsuit calendar photo shoots in 2008 and 2010. The franchise also announced that it had paused its cheerleader program amid its rebranding, but the move was not tied to the investigation, multiple sources told ESPN's John Keim.

The organization set out to improve its culture over the past year. The moves it has made include hiring head coach Ron Rivera, Jason Wright as the NFL's first Black team president and Julie Donaldson as the senior vice president of media and the first woman to be part of an NFL team's radio broadcast. The NFL also said that Petra Pope has replaced the all-female cheerleading squad with "an inclusive, co-ed, diverse, athletic" dance team and that the team will no longer pose for calendars.

"Over the past 18 months, Dan and Tanya have recognized the need for change and have undertaken important steps to make the workplace comfortable and dignified for all employees, and those changes, if sustained and built upon, should allow the club to achieve its goal of having a truly first-tier workplace. I truly appreciate their commitment to fully implement each of the below ten recommendations, but the league also must ensure accountability for past deficiencies and for living up to current and future commitments," Goodell said in the statement.

 

[GhostMachine]

So basically a slap on the wrist....

[Lineker]

Dallas Cowboys chosen for 'Hard Knocks': Four storylines to watch in HBO's five-episode series

Quote

The Dallas Cowboys will become the first NFL team to be featured for the third time on "Hard Knocks" in the show's 20th anniversary season, it was announced Friday.

HBO and NFL Films announced Friday that the five-episode season will debut on Aug. 10 at 10 p.m. ET.

"America, America's game and America's Team had a tough 2020. I feel like this is a perfect happenstance of football, the Cowboys and hopefully the country," said NFL Films' Ken Rodgers, the show's senior coordinating producer. "I'm sure the Cowboys want to put their difficult season behind them more than anyone."

The Cowboys were also featured on the training camp documentary series in 2002 and 2008.

Dallas went 6-10 last season in Mike McCarthy's first year as coach. Quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a dislocated right ankle and compound fracture that forced him to miss the final 11 games.

Prescott's return from injury will be one of the storylines to watch, as well as how McCarthy can rally a team to believe in him and his staff.

The show is also likely to feature running back Ezekiel Elliott along with wide receivers Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb. On defense, first-year coordinator Dan Quinn tries to mold a group that includes defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and linebackers Jaylon Smith and Micah Parsons, who was picked in the first round in April's draft.

This will mark the first time that the series has its first episode air after a team has played a preseason game. The Cowboys play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 5.

The trip to Canton will also be special for everyone associated with NFL Films because Steve Sabol was recently enshrined posthumously into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The longtime NFL Films president, who died in 2012, is part of the third father-son duo in the Hall; his father, Ed, was inducted in 2011. "Hard Knocks" was a Sabol brainchild and remains as relative today as it was when it started.

"He loved what this show represents because it shows how our business and company could change and adapt," Rodgers said. "So many people had seen NFL Films for what he had created in the 1970s - the slow motion, ball in the air, wired for sound and orchestral music style. What 'Hard Knocks' proved more than any other program, maybe in our history, is that we are not one type of filmmaking company. We are filmmakers that can adapt to any style, any format and on any network."

This will be the 16th season for the show, which started in 2001 with the Baltimore Ravens. HBO and NFL Films have an agreement to continue the series through 2024. Last year featured two teams for the first time when the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers shared equal billing.

 

[Maxx]

Haha you have to watch my dumb team

[Lineker]

 

[Lineker]

 

[LL!]

2 hours ago, Lineker said:

 

I wonder what the excuse will be when he doesn't get targeted elsewhere either. 

[Lint]

 

Lil bit of a trigger warning before reading this

Details of the Barkevious Mingo Child Sex Offense Allegation

 

[Lineker]

 

[gunnar hendershow]

One has the ask why they didn't just go with that look last year.

[Maxx]

Still looks like ass

[Adam]

Last year's Rams jerseys were the worst I have ever seen in the NFL, so this is an improvement but not by loads to be fair.

[livid]

It's just an alternate that's going to be used three times so they'll still have the ones from last year. 

[GhostMachine]

They need to go back to either the 70's unis or the ones they had circa 1999/2000 when they won the Super Bowl. These recent ones have all been garbage. Don't know which team has the worse uniforms: them or the Chargers.

Edited July 14, 2021 by GhostMachine

[Lineker]

....the Chargers have amazing uniforms.

[GhostMachine]

9 hours ago, Lineker said:

....the Chargers have amazing uniforms.

Then when are they going to start wearing them?

[Lineker]

Last season, whem they unveiled them.