2012 NFL News
NFLPA Rookie Premiere Behind the Scenes
We've been taking a look over the past few days at some of the content coming out from the SB Nation video production team from the NFLPA Rookie Premiere. Today, we get a little more behind the scenes, outtake style stuff from Amy K. Nelson and Dan Rubenstein. It's not the most indepth, informative stuff you will ever see, but it is fun, both with the two SB Nation types as well as the NFL rookies.
Hope you enjoy!
2015 Power Rankings From ESPN
ESPN released what may be the worst look at the NFL ever, disguising the effort as "Future Power Rankings." These power rankings are supposed to represent what the league will look like in 2015, three years from now. ESPN set up the process by having Bill Polian develop a scoring system looking at five areas of a team - the roster (minus the quarterback), the quarterback, the draft, the front office, and the coaching staff. After that, ESPN turned the development of the "future" power rankings over to a panel of "experts," Trent Dilfer, Mel Kiper, Gary Horton, and Matt Williamson.
These "experts" then proceeded to give a score to each of the five areas Polian established, then used those scores to rank the 32 NFL teams - again, focused on where the team will be in three years.
NFL Rule Changes: Trade Deadline, Injured Reserve, and Others
The NFL owners are meeting this week in Atlanta, discussing several items, to include some rule chaneg proposals. These changes are primarily the by-law adjustments that were discussed during the league meetings in March, but tabled until these meetings. Included in the proposals were the movement of the trade deadline from after Week 6 to after Week 8, allowing one player per team to return from injured reserve later in the seasons, and making thigh and knee pads mandatory for all players.
All three of those proposals passed follwing an owners vote. According to the Associated Press:
The owners also voted to move the training deadline from after Week 6 to after Week 8, and to allow one "marquee" player placed on injured reserve to return to practice after the sixth game and to the lineup after the eighth game. That player must be on the 53-man roster after the final preseason cut.
All of these rule changes had been recommended by the NFL's Competion Committee heading into the March owners meeting.
NFL Players Would Support Openly Gay Teammate
"Football players have long been cast as some of the most homophobic men in our culture." With that statement, Outsports.com, a member of SB Nation, author Cyd Ziegler, Jr. began a look at the feelings of current and former NFL players with regards to the possibility of having an openly gay teammate. Maybe surprisingly, the overwhelming sentiment of the players interviewed by Ziegler was that players would support and welcome an openly gay teammate, just like they would any other member of the team.
Former Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jevon Kearse summed up the majority of the comments, stating, "In the game of football, it's like a war out there. Once you get out on the field, all that stuff is to the side. You're on my side. I played in the NFL for 11 years, I'm sure there were at least one or two guys along the line that were gay."
NFLPA Files Collusion Claim Against NFL and Owners
The NFL Player's Association have filed a collusion claim against the NFL and the owners stemming from the league's punishment of four teams for violating an informal 2010 salary cap, despite the league year being an "uncapped" year. The NFLPA contends that the league and the owners colluded to design the salary cap, thereby keeping players salaries lower than they could have been.
The filing of the complaint was accompanied by a press release from the NFLPA, which you can read below.
2012 NFL Playoff Predictions from the Phinsider Community
Over the past 10-days or so, the Phinsider Community has predicted the 2012 NFL Playoffs. We started by looking at the AFC and NFC playoff teams from last year. Then, using the average 50% turnover from year to year that seems to have become standard for the NFL postseason, we eliminated the six teams, three per conference, that made the tournament last year.
After that, we took a poll of the 10 remaining teams from each conference (3 in the playoffs, 3 out of the playoffs, and 10 left to give us the 16 teams per conference) to see which teams would fill the holes in the playoff picture.
Now, it's time to look at the 2012 NFL Playoffs, as predicted by the Phinsider Community in May.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sign TE Dallas Clark, Trade Kellen Winslow
Bucs have announced acquisition of Dallas Clark while also announcing, in same news release, that they've traded Kellen Winslow to Seattle.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) May 22, 2012
NFC Playoffs - Team Most Likely to Join 2012 Postseason
Over the past week, we've taek look at the teams most likely to miss the 2012 NFL Playoffs despite making it in 2011. With a 50% turn-over rate in the NFL's playoffs every year, there will typically be three teams from each conference that join the playoffs, having not been there the year before. After the vote post yesterday for the AFC, it's now time to turn our attention to the NFC.
The NFC saw the following teams make it into the playoffs last year:
- Green Bay Packers
- San Francisco 49ers
- New Orleans Saints
- New York Giants
- Atlanta Falcons
- Detroit Lions
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