By: Reese Nasser

Every year there are notable players coming off of injury who are all potential candidates for comeback player of the year. But this year may be the deepest group ever. With players such as Dak Prescott, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, and Derwin James all returning from injuries, this award could go to anyone. 

This is where Cam Newton steps in. While he did appear in 15 games last season, he not only had Covid-19 but seemed to be impacted by it once he returned. Newton’s numbers were down across the board in the passing game. He threw just eight touchdowns and had 2657 passing yards, the lowest of his career when playing in at least 14 games. 

Newton’s struggles in the passing game did not impact his run game. He had the second-most rushing touchdowns of his career with 13. 

He also rushed for 592 yards on 137 attempts, the second-most of his career. At 32 years old, Newton may be looking to rush less and pass more. With the free agents signed this off-season, Newton will be put into a position where this is possible. 

The New England Patriots offense is rebuilt heading into this season. With free agents such as tight end Hunter Henry, tight end Jonnu Smith, and wide receiver Nelson Agholor, Newton will be surrounded with top offensive weapons, something that he did not have last season. 

In 2020, there were no clear-cut top offensive players in New England. They took a “win by committee” approach, which did not work for them. Wide receiver Julian Edelman appeared in just six games and caught just 21 passes. 

The next two Patriots receivers on the depth chart weren’t much more productive. Damiere Byrd and N’Keal Harry combined for 80 receptions, 913 yards, and three touchdowns. Each of the Patriots new signings all nearly put those numbers up by themselves over the course of last season. 

By surrounding Newton with elite pass catchers that can produce on their own, there will be less of a need for him to make plays on his own. This will then let the offense flow at a much smoother rate than it did last year. 

Newton has already seemed to become comfortable with his new WR1 in Agholor. Agholor played well in his first and only year in Las Vegas last season. He recorded 48 receptions, 896 yards and eight touchdowns. He also averaged almost 19 yards per reception. The deep threat that he will be in this offense will be a welcome for Newton. 

The signings of two of the best tight ends in football in Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry cna also not be ignored. Newton played the best football of his career when lined up alongside Greg Olsen. He will now have two players of that caliber with him on this offense. 

Both tight ends are proven in both the pass-catching game and blocking game. This will undoubtedly open up this offense in more than one way. Henry turned 60 catches into 613 yards and four touchdowns during his final season with the Chargers. Smith produced 41 receptions, 448 yards, and eight touchdowns in his final season with the Titans. Each of these tight ends has big-play capability and Newton will be able to lean on them when other pieces of this offense struggle. 

All signs point to Newton having a big bounce-back season in 2021. With new options on offense and him being healthy, he could have a complete resurgence. A comeback player of the year award could be in his future, and possibly even an MVP award, if he is able to play like he knows he can. 

The post Why Cam Newton is the ultimate darkhorse candidate for comeback player of the year appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Andy Davies

The Jacksonville Jaguars will go into the 2021 season with a new head coach. Urban Meyer is the new man to take charge, hoping to be the guy to change the fortunes of a franchise that has struggled for many years. After drafting the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck in Trevor Lawrence this year with the number one overall pick, the Jags fans have rarely gone into a season this excited. The Jags have twice gone into a season on the back of reaching an AFC Championship game but with the addition of Urban Meyer and Trevor Lawrence, there is a real buzz around the organization and in the city of Jacksonville. However, Urban Meyer has never coached in the NFL. He is one of the most successful college head coaches of his generation. Can he translate this to the pros?

His Journey As A Player

Meyer was a walk-on in college as a defensive back for the University of Cincinnati, despite initially being drafted by Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves in 1982. Injury would deny Meyer the chance to make it as a professional player, but he showed signs of his coaching credentials whilst in college. He would go back to college, heading to Ohio State University where he studied sports administration. He would get a degree at both colleges, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Cincinnati and sports administration at Ohio State, which will have no doubt helped him massively during his time as a football coach.

He may not have made it to the NFL as a player but he showed signs of his credentials as a coach during his time in college. Meyer would often spend additional time in practice, learning how to run them and handle substitutions. These all prepared him for life as a coach. As a player, he was part of a Cincinnati team that finished 2-9, with Meyer saying that it “wasn’t a great experience. We weren’t very good”. This will help him be prepared for a Jaguars team that won just one game in 2020. His former coach in Cincinnati David Currey spoke of his coaching abilities.

“He was not a great player but you could tell he would coach for a living. He was a student of the game, always trying to learn about things”.

The Start Of Meyer’s Coaching Career

He started his coaching career in 1985 as a defensive backs coach for St Xavier High School in Ohio before becoming a graduate assistant for two seasons with Ohio State. He spent two years with Illinois State as an outside linebackers coach in 1988 and a quarterback and wide receivers coach in 1989. He would then spend eleven years as a wide receivers coach, spending six with Colorado State and then five with Notre Dame before getting his first head coaching job in 2001 with Bowling Green.

The Early Stages Of His Time As A Head Coach In College

Meyer only spent two seasons with Bowling Green but would leave the team with a 17-6 record in charge. Highlights of his time there was the 56-21 win over rivals, the University of Toledo Rockets. Whilst with Bowling Green, he transformer their fortunes. He joined with the team having gone 2-9 in 2000 to then go 8-3 in 2001 and 9-3 in 2002, before leaving for the University of Utah.

Utah hired Meyer and was an instant success, going 10-2 and winning the Liberty Bowl in 2003. They would go 12-0 and win the Fiesta Bowl in 2004. Whilst with the university, he coached safety Eric Weddle and quarterback Alex Smith, who went on to be the number one overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. Smith would become an inspiration to everyone when he went on to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year during the 2020 season, returning the field after a life threatening injury in 2018.

Meyer openly claimed that he “made Utah competitive” during his time there. Morgan Scalley played as a defensive back under Meyer at Utah before going on to become a defensive coordinator with the college. He spoke of how Meyer changed everything.

“You could tell it would be different from the first session at the weight room. I never had butterflies going into a weight room and that had me going”.

Success With Florida and Ohio State

The Florida Gators then came calling in 2005, where Meyer would spend the next six seasons. He would coach notable players such as Cam Newton, Carlos Dunlap, Janoris Jenkins, Maurkice and Mike Pouncey, Tim Tebow and Trey Burton during his time in Florida as head coach. With an overall record 65-15 with the Gators, Meyer won Florida the Outback Bowl and the Sugar Bowl as well as winning two National Championships. He had a 5-1 record with Florida in Bowl games. Following a health scare, Meyer decided to leave the Gators after the 2010 seasons as he wanted to put focus on his family and “life away from the field”.

He soon returned to college football, becoming Ohio State head coach two seasons later. During his time with the team, he had an 83-9 record. He won one National Championship as well as a Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. His time there sadly ended in controversy, before leaving in 2018 due to health reasons. He spent time as a television analyst before accepting the Jacksonville head coaching position in January 2021.

His Coaching Style & The Spread Offense

Meyer is seen as someone who is competitive, fiery and resolute. His “juice” is said to fire his teams up, with his infectious personality an integral part of his head coaching success. During his time as an analyst, he often went through a breakdown of offensive systems, with one component of his style of coaching being his Spread Offense.

This is a scheme which features four receivers, resulting in the opposition defense attempting to cover these players. This system allows the run game to excel, with RPO and read option plays often used under this style of offense. In a modern day NFL, we are seeing plenty of college schemes being brought into the league. Meyer will look to bring this style of coaching into the NFL that worked so well for him in college.

Can He Transform The Jaguars?

This is not going to be an easy task for Meyer but as he showed in Utah, he is capable of turning a team around. Jacksonville has the talent on their roster but have never seemed to fulfil their potential. One of their aforementioned trips to the AFC Championship was in the 2017 season. Their defense named ‘Sacksonville” played a big part in their journey, where they had a ten point lead and were nine minutes away from reaching the Super Bowl. They would end up losing 24-20 in agonizing fashion.

The components of Sacksonville would slowly fall apart. Jalen Ramsey, Malik Jackson and Yannick Ngakoue all left in 2019, with both A.J. Bouye and Calais Campbell leaving in 2020. Quarterback Blake Bortles was seen as the player holding back the team, being released in March 2019 as the Jaguars looked to Nick Foles, who won Super Bowl 52 MVP just a year earlier. He was seen as the missing piece in the jigsaw but only lasted one season in a disappointing spell with the franchise.

Head coach Doug Marrone guided Jacksonville to the AFC Championship and a 10-6 record in his first full season as head coach of the franchise. Despite this, he couldn’t guide them to more than six wins in any of the three seasons that followed before being fired in January 2021. Issues off the field started to develop, with the players arrested on their annual trip to London in 2018 after an unpaid £50,000 drinks bill. Meyer won’t stand for any negative behaviour with his aforementioned fiery, competitive and infectious personality is likely to keep the players in check.

And then of course, there is Lawrence. One of the best college prospects in many years, he brings a lot of expectation with Jags fans pinning their hopes on him being the man to bring the good times to this franchise. He had not lost a regular season game since high school and reached the National Championship in two of his three seasons with the Clemson Tigers, winning one of those two.

He played 40 games in college and threw for 758 out of his 1,138 throws, giving him a 66.6 completion percentage. Across his time with Clemson, he threw for 90 touchdowns and 10,098 yards. Jacksonville have a real talent on their hands and they need to do everything they can to ensure he fulfils his tremendous potential.

Along with Lawrence, they have reunited their number one overall pick with his Clemson team-mate in running back Travis Etienne, who recorded 70 rushing touchdowns and 4,952 rushing yards during his four seasons in the ACC. He will join a running back room alongside James Robinson, who impressed highly in 2020 during his rookie year with 1,070 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns. Etienne is said to also be working out as a receiver, which gives variety to the offensive side of the ball. Former Detroit Lions wideout Marvin Jones has joined the team via Free Agency to add depth to a wide receiver room already including DJ Chark Jr and Laviska Shenault Jr. Second-round pick Tyson Campbell gives depth to the Jaguars secondary, as will 65th overall pick Andre Cisco. 45th overall selection Walker Little will add protection to the Jags offensive line. Myles Jack is a survivor from the Sacksonville era and alongside fellow linebacker Josh Allen, they have the potential to cause problems for the opposition.

Jacksonville have a long rebuild ahead and fans should not expect an immediate transformation. Doubts remain over new Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz and whether he can get back to his 2017 form. The Tennessee Titans’ defense is seen as their Achilles heels and the Houston Texans are a mess. They will likely see their quarterback Deshaun Watson leave, which will result in years of struggles and mediocrity. This is not the toughest division in the NFL and the Jags will want to capitalise on this, but the improvement will likely be in either year 2, 3 or 4 of the Urban Meyer Jacksonville era.

The post Urban Meyer’s career so far: can he transform the Jaguars? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Rich Maletto

Every year, the NFL announces one NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Some of the coolest stories of NFL careers, like Eric Berry in 2015, battled and beat cancer. Last year was no different when Alex Smith won the award. Today I will cover three candidates for comeback player of the year for the 2021 season.

Alex Smith was the epitome of what one would expect for an NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award winner. The man about lost his leg from an injury obtained on the field during an NFL game. An injury that was so atrocious, it led to seventeen surgeries! Smith broke his leg in 2018, missed the entire 2019 season to play in eight games for the Washing Football Team, where he started six games.

In those six games, Smith went 5-1, threw for over 1500 yards, and had six touchdowns. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t sure he would ever see the football field again. Alex Smith won the award in a landslide, 49 votes for, and Big Ben Roethlisberger got the only other vote.

Saquon Barkley Coming Back From Injury

To be clear, I don’t see anyone next year as a clear favorite for such an award. Christain McCaffery is coming off of any injury, as is Saquon Barkley. Two players that have had great success that saw their respective seasons end in lackluster performances.

Most people expect CMC to bounce back, but as good as I believe most people think Barkley is, I hear some doubts out there. To be fair to Barkley, Saquon has been way too much of the offense in the past. He’s been too much of the offense because Daniel Jones has not lived up to the expectations.

Saquon has had such high expectations since being taken second overall by the New York Giants in 2018. Barkley primarily lived up to expectation his rookie year, where he won Rookie of the Year.

In 2019 Barkley battled a high ankle sprain for most of the year, then last year in 2020, Barkley tore his ACL and was lost for the season on week two. Before being lost for the season, Barkley averaged 1.8 yards a carry and 17 yards a game, atrocious numbers.

If Daniel Jones can start forcing defenses to respect the passing game, Saquon could be in store for quite the season. Let us not forget the season Adrian Peterson had after tearing his ACL, and Peterson did it much later in the season. As of writing this, there is zero belief that Barkley won’t be 100% ready by the start of the season.

The Giants need Daniel Jones to get those defenses to stay a little more honest instead of selling out to stop Barkley. If he does that and Barkley stops pressing and trying to break the big play on every down, Saquon has a real shot at being a position leader in the NFL.

I expect Barkley to improve upon his rookie stats and finally show what a complete back he is. However, if Barkley blows up, I think he’s capable of it; he should be considered for comeback player of the year.

Fresh Start For Sam Darnold

Another player taken early in the 2018 NFL Draft was Sam Darnold, who was taken third by the New York Jets. Since the draft in 2018, Darnold has dealt with nothing but challenges.

You could argue his largest challenge was being on the team with head coach Adam Gase. I believe that the horror story that we call Adam Gase is overstated, but what isn’t overstated is the impact a coaching staff has over a young developing quarterback.

Sam Darnold now finds himself with what I think is a great coaching staff that Matt Rhule has built under his leadership in Carolina. It’s a fresh start with a team that looks to air it out. I thought this was a perfect landing spot for Darnold.

Another reason why I am so excited for Sam Darnold and his role with the Carolina Panthers is what the Panthers did during the draft. It’s more accurate to say what they didn’t do at the draft.

The Panthers had every opportunity to select a quarterback to either back up their new, unproven acquisition or potential upgrade if the organization thought that was appropriate. Instead, the Panthers didn’t take a quarterback, and they picked up the fifth-year option on Darnold.

You don’t have to read the “tea leaves” to see that the Carolina Panthers have all the faith in the world in Sam Darnold. Surprising since some people have already labeled Darnold a bust. Apparently, Matt Rhule feels much differently because, at this point, they are all in with Darnold for 2021.

Teddy Bridgewater was adequate in that same offense last year, and the organization didn’t think twice from moving on. However, if Sam Darnold somehow puts together an all-pro season, which I realize is a very bold take, he would easily be in line for Comeback Player of the Year.

A New Quarterback Means New Opportunites for DJ Chark

The last player I will mention is DJ Chark. Chark splashed on the scene in 2019. Jacksonville drafted Chark in 2018 but only appeared in 11 games where he had 14 catches on 32 targets. In 2019 Chark had 73 catches for 1008 yards and touchdowns.

Sadly the 2020 season saw Chark essentially go underused, where he caught 53 catches for 706 yards. Chark has not played all 16 games in a season yet. That is a concern. Chark also hasn’t had a quarterback to count on. The rookie Trevor Lawerence will be the eighth quarterback Chark has played with since being drafted.

There are plenty of question marks about DJ Chark and what he can indeed be at the NFL level. But, at the same time, Chark has flashed, and the Jacksonville offense, as bad as it was in 2020, was much better when Chark was on the field.

Jacksonville took one wide receiver in the draft, round six, and they took Jalen Camp out of Georgia Tech. So Chark should be slated into that number one receiver spot, with a legit quarterback under center now.

If Chark can stay healthy, and as much as that offensive presumably will be throwing the ball, Chark could finish the season as a top ten to fifteen wide receiver.

Of the three players, I listed, Chark, in my opinion, has the most to prove if we will call him a comeback player of the year. The player I am betting on to be a comeback player of the year is Sam Darnold. I have high hopes for him in that Carolina offense.

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