Chris Harris Jr., sees plenty of reason for excitement in the 2018 Denver Broncos. The standout cornerback expects improvement resulting from the additions of multiple newcomers, beginning with the Broncos’ first-round draft pick, defensive end Bradley Chubb from North Carolina State.

This offseason, the Vikings set out to not only take better advantage of those single-blocking matchups in the middle but also try to pull some of the additional blockers away from Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter. That was the thinking behind signing free-agent defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson.

Karlos Dansby calls his time away from football this offseason a “blessing,” because it has given the free-agent linebacker plenty of time to do what he loves best. One is spending more time with his children. Otherwise, Dansby has been making sure his 36-year-old body will be in top condition whenever he gets the call to sign with a team.

Tre Boston rattles off his accomplishments: Top five in the NFL with five interceptions last season, first on the Los Angeles Chargers in that category, second in tackles. And yet, there he is, still a free agent.

T.J. Ward is one of multiple NFL veteran safeties who remain unemployed in what he describes as a “strange offseason.”

It’s a favorite line when touting the leadership qualities of an NFL quarterback: First one to arrive, last one to leave. It sounds good, but how much does it really mean? In the view of New Orleans Saints defensive end Alex Okafor is concerned, when that point is made about Drew Brees, it means plenty.

The injuries were one thing. John Ross understood that all he could do with those was recover. The part with which the Cincinnati Bengals receiver struggled the most as a rookie last year was the pain from the criticism and second-guessing about the level of his desire to play in the NFL. Being limited to a mere 17 snaps during the 2017 season was something that bothered him more than anyone could have imagined.

For Washington Redskins outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, what he saw of the team’s new quarterback, Alex Smith, during OTAs and mandatory minicamp has left him smiling.

Mike Mitchell is noticing a clear trend. There are several veteran free-agent safeties, including Mitchell, in the open market.

Michael Irvin doesn’t get it. The Hall of Famer still sees considerable talent in fellow former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant. He still sees someone who can make a significant impact on an offense.

Although John DeFilippo immediately followed Pat Shurmur as the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator this offseason, he did not maintain any of the scheme that was in place. That means wide receiver Adam Thielen and the rest of the incumbents have spent OTA and mandatory minicamp practices learning a new way of doing things.

Chuck Pagano hasn’t forgotten the sheer agony Andrew Luck experienced last season. The former Indianapolis Colts coach realizes what Luck’s not playing last season due to the lingering effects of the shoulder surgery he underwent in January, 2017, had on the team.

When a player changes teams, he doesn’t simply change uniform colors. That’s the point new Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator John DeFilippo drove home about the club’s new quarterback, Kirk Cousins.

Statistically, Jarrad Davis had a strong rookie season with the Detroit Lions last year. Now, with a new defensive-minded head coach, Matt Patricia, and much more offseason time on his hands, Davis is focused on having an even better encore.

What will the New England Patriots do about filling Julian Edelman’s void at receiver during his four-game stretch for his reported suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances? As far as Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan are concerned, the answer is nothing.

James Lofton thinks the New England Patriots’ passing game will lose something because of Julian Edelman’s reported four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy. Edelman is one of the best receivers in the league. And even though he’s returning from the torn ACL that sidelined him for all of last season, he was expected to add to a pass-catching corps that is missing Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks.

Thurman Thomas has yet to stop beaming over the news that the Buffalo Bills plan to retire his No. 34 jersey on Oct. 29, when the team faces the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football. He joins former teammates Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith in receiving the rare honor bestowed by the team.

The mission was to scout the quarterback at Clemson, Steve Fuller, not find a receiver. The problem was there were no receivers around to catch passes from Fuller for the workout Hall of Fame San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh was waiting for to begin on Clemson’s campus. As former Niners president and CEO Carmen Policy remembered for Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan on Movin’ The Chains, Walsh, in looking for someone to join Fuller on the field, happened to come across the seldom-used Clark.

Now that the Cleveland Browns have acquired Mychal Kendricks, their linebacking corps has gone from good to, arguably, great. That’s what former Browns quarterback and SiriusXM Blitz co-host Brady Quinn believes.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is thriving in his NFL career as a starting right guard for the Kansas City Chiefs. But when the day comes, as it does for all players in the league, that he’ll need something else to do for a living, his fallback plan is as impressive as any.

Jonathan Allen is running again. That, alone, is enough to keep the defensive end smiling through the Washington Redskins’ offseason workouts.

A year ago, the Philadelphia Eagles played the no-respect card to the hilt. It went a long way toward helping them win their first Super Bowl. So what will this year’s motivation be?

Jeff Fisher had never had the question asked of him publicly until Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan posed it during Tuesday’s edition of Movie’ The Chains. Has the former NFL coach received any feelers to become a television-network game analyst? “Yes, I have,” Fisher responded.

Jim Daopoulos just doesn’t get it. The former NFL official and current ESPN Monday Night Football Rules Analyst looks at the league’s dramatic rules changes to the kickoff to shrink the space of the play and slow collisions — effectively making it look more like a punt — and shakes his head.

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished 13-3 last season. Although they fell short of the Super Bowl, the Steelers demonstrated their typical dominance. And this year doesn’t appear to be any different.

To say John Mara is cautiously optimistic about the New York Giants’ offseason would be an understatement. The New York Giants’ co-owner won’t allow himself to get caught up in the mostly positive reviews the team has received for an offseason in which it seemed to make a pair of strong hires in General Manager Dave Gettleman and coach John Mara, did solid drafting, and had good attendance for voluntary workouts.

The parameters have pretty well been set. Thanks largely to the five-year, $30-million contract extension quarterback Matt Ryan recently signed with the Atlanta Falcons, the Green Bay Packers now figure to have a clearer path to getting a similar deal done with their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.

The NFL’s head of officiating doesn’t want the league’s ever-increasing efforts to make the game safer to be misunderstood. Yes, the NFL has revamped the rules for the kickoff that reduce the speed and space in which the play is made — effectively making it more closely resemble a punt — with the elimination of double-team blocking and the wedge. Yes, it has banned players from lowering their helmets and making contact with an opponent.

Cornerback/safety Damarious Randle believed he had been productive enough since joining the Packers as a first-round draft pick from Arizona State in 2015 to warrant remaining with them. The Packers had other ideas. And now Randle is ready to contribute to what he believes is going to be a dramatic turnaround for a team that has won one game in the past two seasons.

Baker Mayfield knows all about the stigma attached to being an NFL team appearing on the HBO series Hard Knocks. All of those cameras and microphones capturing practically everything you do and say during training camp. To say the least, it all can be more than a little distracting. And all of those distractions by the annual summer invasion of a massive NFL Films crew have been considered by some as a cause for struggling once the season begins.

Lamar Jackson thought for sure he’d be selected sooner than the final pick of the first round of last month’s NFL Draft. But after waiting and waiting, he finally heard from the Baltimore Ravens, who traded down to the 32nd choice to grab the former Louisville standout.

It’s Nyheim Hines’ nature to try to get a jump on things, so the running back wasted no time looking at his iPad containing the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive playbook before the team’s recent rookie minicamp. When the former North Carolina State standout opened it up, he could barely believe his eyes.

Anthony Lynn kept putting it off. And putting it off. And putting it off. He was close to earning his college degree, but football kept getting in the way. First, it was his NFL playing career, then it was his coaching career, which saw him rise through the ranks to the position he received last year as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.

They were only together for three seasons, but the Chuck Knox’s influence on Brian Bosworth was profound. For Bosworth, a linebacker who played on Knox’s Seattle Seahawks from 1987 through 1989, the recent passing of his former coach at age 86 hit like a “body blow” that Boz said was felt throughout the NFL.

Former NFL executive Bill Polian sees the logic in David Tepper being the likely candidate to become the next owner of the Carolina Panthers, for whom Polian formerly served as general manager. Tepper reportedly is close to a deal to purchase the Panthers from Jerry Richardson.

On the field, Zach Strief helps clear paths for Mark Ingram. Off the field, the New Orleans Saints offensive tackle is no less determined to be as supportive as possible for the running back.

Joe Thomas has seen previous Cleveland Browns rookie quarterbacks fail, time and again, to simply assume things will work out just fine for Baker Mayfield.

Cliff Avril is at peace with the prospect of never stepping onto a football field again. After the Seattle Seahawks released the defensive end with a failed physical designation because of a neck injury, he has focused on recovering and figuring out what to do next with his life.

Maurice Hurst fully anticipated slipping down the respective draft boards of NFL teams. As the former Michigan standout defensive tackle pointed out to Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz, “teams can get kind of freaked out on Draft Day.”

After retiring as an NFL coach after last season, Bruce Arians couldn’t see putting a whole lot of distance between himself and the game that has consumed him for most of his life. That made it easy for the former Arizona Cardinals coach to accept an offer from CBS Sports to become a game analyst, joining Greg Gumbel and Trent Green in the booth while Jamie Erdahl handles sideline reporting.

It was close. The Carolina Panthers had the top two receiver prospects in the NFL Draft, D.J. Moore and Calvin Ridley, closely rated before making Moore, a former Maryland star, the 24th overall choice. The Atlanta Falcons picked Ridley, a former Alabama standout, 26th.

This week marked the 13th annual Covino & Rich Guac Off, and some special guests stopped by to taste test some delicious guacamole.

The Washington Redskins entered the 2018 NFL Draft the way all teams do: looking to add players who will make them better. The difference was, the Redskins took their first major step in that direction on March 14, when they made a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs to acquire veteran quarterback Alex Smith.

Ben Roethlisberger is 36 years old and nearing the end of an amazing career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are confident he can continue to be a top-level franchise quarterback for them, but they also know they eventually have to replace him.

Well before the New York Giants used the second overall pick of the NFL Draft on running back Saquon Barkley, new coach Pat Shurmur took a closer look at what he had at quarterback.

When the head coach is a former high school wrestling standout, it only stands to reason that a college prospect with a similar background is going to have some added appeal. That was the case when Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott took a closer look at Stanford defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, whom the team made a third-round pick in the NFL Draft last Friday night.

The Buffalo Bills addressed two of their biggest needs in the first round of the NFL Draft. Time will tell whether former Wyoming star Josh Allen proves to be their long-term answer at quarterback and former Virginia Tech standout Tremaine Edmunds becomes a fixture at linebacker in a defense that has struggled the past three seasons.

Josh Rosen remembers the stories from his parents. As a baby, he always loved showing off that passing arm that is about to make him a first-round pick in the NFL Draft … and a very wealthy man.

They have been polite, saying the right things and flashing their biggest smiles. But let’s face it. The quarterbacks in this year’s NFL Draft all want the same thing: to be the top overall pick. All the politeness in the world won’t change that.

Every NFL Draft holds the potential for introducing the next superstars of the game, but there’s something so appropriate about holding the 2018 festivities at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This is going to be huge.

To look at the University of Pittsburgh’s Brian O’Neill, all 6-foot-7 and 305 pounds of him, you’d assume he spent his entire football life as an offensive lineman. Not so. ‘I was learning football all over again’ As recent as … Continued

Brady Quinn totally gets it, even if there are many other people who might not. To the former NFL quarterback, Lamar Jackson’s pre-draft visit to the New England Patriots “makes sense for a lot of reasons,” Quinn said while co-hosting with Bruce Murray on the SiriusXM Blitz.

You think 11 weeks was a long time for the NFL to put together its 2018 schedule that was revealed Thursday night? If it were up to the people to assembled it, the dates and times of games wouldn’t come out until after next week’s draft.

Nick Chubb’s journey to the NFL has played out more publicly than those of many other prospects in the Class of 2018. With the notable exception, that is, of his cousin, Bradley Chubb.

Of all of Paul Posluszny’s accomplishments during 11 seasons as an NFL linebacker, the biggest had nothing to do with individual achievement.

When Denzel Ward was a cornerback at Ohio State, he didn’t have to go very far to find top-level competition.

There were plenty of reasons the Los Angeles Rams improved from 4-12 in 2016 to 11-5 last season, but Todd Gurley knows who the driving force behind it all was.

If James Washington has his way, he’ll continue following in the path of fellow former Oklahoma State standout Dez Bryant all the way to the Dallas Cowboys, who parted ways with Bryant Friday.

Dion Lewis believes he and his new backfield partner, Derrick Henry, will be plenty productive for the Tennessee Titans this season.

James Lofton, a Hall of Fame receiver and SiriusXM NFL Radio co-host, thinks the best result for the meeting between Dez Bryant and team owner Jerry Jones would be for Bryant to remain with the Cowboys.

After the New York Giants traded away defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, conventional wisdom strongly suggested they would select the draft’s top-rated player at Paul’s position: Bradley Chubb of North Carolina State.

Eric Ebron knows that Andrew Luck is still working his way back from shoulder surgery. However, the Indianapolis Colts’ recently acquired tight end leaned on his faith that he will eventually be catching passes from Luck when he chose his new team.

For safety Landon Collins, one of the discouraging parts of the 2017 season he doesn’t want to see repeated is the acrimony among members of the Giants’ secondary. Collins told Bruce Murray and Phil Savage on the SiriusXM Blitz that steps have been taken among the team’s defensive backs to mend any lingering hard feelings and create cohesion.

The Los Angeles Rams acquired wide receiver Brandin Cooks to be another difference-making component to their explosive passing game. They are likely to get much more.

For cornerback Orlando Scandrick, the decision to sign with the Washington Redskins after 10 seasons of facing them as a member of the Dallas Cowboys had nothing to do with jumping to an NFC East rival to spite his former team.

Brady Quinn continues to pay close enough attention to the Browns to believe they were wrongfully called out by Manziel for failing to recognize he wasn’t mentally prepared to do what was necessary to live up to the first-round draft pick they invested in him in 2014.

Knowing an overhaul to the Chicago Bears’ coaching staff was inevitable, guard New Dolphins guard Josh Sitton saw what he hoped would be an ideal landing spot after his imminent departure as a free agent. Wherever his two favorite former Bears coaches ended up, of course.

Ryan Jensen signed a record contract for an NFL center with the Buccaneers ($42 million over four years), in part because they’re a team he believes provides the best chance for immediate success.

After being medically cleared to return from a concussion while sitting out the 2017 campaign, safety Su’a Cravens was ready to return. And on Thursday, the Redskins traded him to the Denver Broncos.

NFL former head of officiating Mike Pereira doesn’t like the idea the new lowering-the-head rule, nor does he think it’s the solution to the NFL’s efforts to remove the helmet as a tool/weapon when initiating contact.

Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard is struggling to wrap his mind around the league’s new rule that calls for a 15-yard penalty and possible ejection if a player lowers his head and makes contact with another player.

In a surprise move, the NFL announced at its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., a new rule that calls for a player to be penalized 15 yards and possibly ejected whenever he lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.

As far as Jay Gruden is concerned, the Washington Redskins’ offseason has been a success. It began with the trade that sent quarterback Alex Smith from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Redskins.

Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden is not among the coaches who believes that the NFL’s proposed change to the catch-no catch rule provides a solution to making more correct calls.

Travis Kelce is ready for a significant change to the Kansas City Chiefs’ passing game in the 2018 season.

Jason and Devin McCourty were football teammates in Pop Warner, high school, and college. Then, once they reached the NFL after forming a cornerback duo at Rutgers University, the twin brothers went their separate ways … for nine seasons. Now, they’re back together.

There was a lot of talk about the rain, that it helped Sam Darnold prove to NFL talent-evaluators he can handle adverse weather. Brady Quinn, for one, wasn’t buying that.

When you’re presumed to be one of the top quarterback prospects in the NFL Draft, you tend to draw a lot of attention. That’s the case with former Wyoming standout Josh Allen, especially as he gets ready for Friday’s Pro Day in Laramie.

Former Seahawks wide receiver Paul Richardson is thrilled to be joining the Redskins, who have both the role that suits his skills and the quarterback in Alex Smith who can take advantage of them.

For Allen Robinson, there never was much of a question about which teams showing interest in him as a free agent would provide the best landing spot. It was always the Chicago Bears.

Kyle Williams’ hunger to win a championship with the Buffalo Bills drove him to return to the team for a 13th season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers cut Cameron Brate not once, not twice, but three times.

K.J. Wright can’t hide the emotional pain. Two outstanding teammates, and close friends, are gone from the Seattle Seahawks.

DaeSean Hamilton didn’t run the 40-yard dash at the recent NFL Scouting Combine, saving that event for his March 20 Pro Day at Penn State. Hamilton isn’t concerned about the one question some scouts have about the sort of impact … Continued

Pat Kirwan sees no way the Miami Dolphins can afford to pay the $8.5 million guaranteed roster bonus defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is scheduled to receive if he’s on their roster on March 19th.

As a pending free agent, guard Jack Mewhort can’t be certain of the identity of his next NFL employer, assuming there is one. He would like to remain a member of the Indianapolis Colts, with whom he has spent the past four seasons, but he realizes that anything is possible.

For Saquon Barkley, his best showing at the NFL Scouting Combine last week wasn’t on the field. It was what he did behind closed doors during the 15-minute interviews with each team that requested one with him.

As far as new Houston Texans General Manager Brian Gaine is concerned, everything about Deshaun Watson’s second season with the team looks to be encouraging.

The whirlwind that has been Mike Vrabel’s first month as coach of the Tennessee Titans has seen him pull off one of the more impressive moves by anyone to hire a defensive coordinator. Vrabel managed to land one of the best in the business by convincing Dean Pees to end the retirement he began only four weeks earlier as a member of the Baltimore Ravens’ staff.

John Elway sees no point in resisting the trend. Quarterbacks emerging from college football mostly work from spread-type offenses with ample run-pass option (RPO) plays.

Jon Gruden is ecstatic with his quarterback. And why wouldn’t he be? Derek Carr has shown difference-making ability for the Oakland Raiders.

Steve Wilks is a new NFL head coach, but he has been around the league long enough to fully appreciate how vital it is to find the right quarterback.

Following a devastating loss in Super Bowl LII, would it be fair to say that the culture has changed within the New England Patriots organization?

The NFL Scouting Combine is under way in Indianapolis, and many of the nation’s top college prospects are in for a rigorous stretch of long days spent meeting with team representatives, going through medical examinations, participating in drills, and taking tests. For former Alabama safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the challenges might not be as great as they are for other players.

By the start of the 2018 NFL season, Josh McCown will be 39 years old. He doesn’t see that as a deterrent for continuing to play quarterback in the league.

Wyoming coach Craig Bohl loves the arm strength of his former quarterback, Josh Allen, but he also recognizes the largest flaw in his game.

Reggie Wayne is tired of seeing the team with which he was a part of so much success wallow in so much failure. The former standout Indianapolis Colts wide receiver believes there’s a way for the Colts to return to strength, and it’s obvious: Quarterback Andrew Luck must get and stay healthy.

Frank Reich won’t start digging into the type of team he has until next week. That’s when the new coach of the Indianapolis Colts plans to start “exhaustively” watching videotape and studying all of the details of his roster along … Continued

Baker Mayfield is really tired of hearing Johnny Manziel’s name when evaluating the former Oklahoma quarterback’s downside heading into the NFL Combine and Draft.

After eight seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Morgan Burnett feels the sort of attachment to the team that won’t be easily broken. At the same time, he wants to keep playing in the NFL. He’d like it to continue … Continued

In the midst of all of the euphoria since hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy earlier this month, the Philadelphia Eagles want it known that they have no intention of this being a one-time thing. As safety Rodney McLeod recently pointed … Continued

The relief is tremendous. Larry Fitzgerald is more than a highly talented wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals. He is standard setter, the catalyst, the difference-maker on and off the field. ‘I kind of thought it was going to go … Continued

Saquon Barkley knows that many NFL draft prospects before him and some in the Class of 2018 don’t believe that working out at the Scouting Combine is a good idea. The former standout running back at Penn State wholeheartedly disagrees with that perspective.

Brady Quinn remembers both the teammate, but especially the man with whom he spent one season as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. Derrick Johnson evokes those kinds of feelings for what the linebacker did on and off the … Continued

The Detroit Lions had more than one candidate to fill their head-coaching opening. Nevertheless, it was going to be difficult for someone to have anything approaching the connection that General Manager Bob Quinn had with the man he hired, former New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.

Proud doesn’t do justice to describe the way Marv Levy feels about Frank Reich becoming the new coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Levy, who coached the Buffalo Bills when Reich was the backup quarterback behind Jim Kelly, is absolutely ecstatic.

Josh Rosen thinks he knows the biggest questions he’ll have to answer for NFL teams leading up to the draft. They’re the same as the ones pretty much everyone else who has been evaluating the former UCLA quarterback has.

In the end, Pat Kirwan thought Jimmy Garoppolo received maybe $1 million more than he expected, but was hardly surprised that the San Francisco 49ers signed the quarterback to a five-year, $137.5-million contract making him the highest-paid player in the … Continued

Former coach Charlie Weis reacted the way so many others did to Tuesday night’s news that New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was backing out of his agreement to become head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. “I was befuddled,” … Continued

Until the former standout linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens heard the knock on his hotel room door from Pro Football Hall of Fame president Dave Baker, who would inform him that he had been chosen, Ray Lewis felt as anxious as his fellow finalists.

Nick Foles went from backup quarterback to Super Bowl MVP. What’s next for the NFL journeyman?

Randy Moss had the numbers that said he should be a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. What the star receiver wanted to make clear Saturday after being voted in as a first-ballot finalist was what was behind … Continued

Nick Foles knows that the New England Patriots are notorious for playing mind games with opposing quarterbacks. That’s why the Philadelphia Eagles’ QB intends to do his very best not to allow him to get sucked into that little cat-and-mouse … Continued

James Harrison didn’t struggle with having to adjust his mindset from being a linebacker with the Pittsburgh Steelers for virtually the entire 2017 season before suddenly signing as a free agent with the New England Patriots.

How much do the folks in Minneapolis actually know about the Super Bowl? Jenny McCarthy roamed the Mall of America to find out.

A little cold weather couldn’t stop SiriusXM from going all out for Super Bowl LII between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.

Talk about a wild ride. One day, Jay Ajayi was a member of the Miami Dolphins, the team that made him a fifth-round draft pick in 2015. The next, he was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are seeking their sixth Super Bowl victory with the Patriots, which would only enhance their already historic stranglehold on winning the big game. But Brady wants to make one thing clear: he takes nothing for granted when it comes to the chance to hoist yet another Lombardi Trophy.

Brandin Cooks has any number of number of teammates who can tell him all about the Super Bowl experience.

They’re looking at the basics. Not simply the ones that apply to all that happens on the football field — blocking, tackling, running and throwing — but also those that are vital to what takes place in daily NFL off-field live. Such as meetings.

The Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots are set to face off in Super Bowl LII in Minnesota next Sunday, but before then some of the biggest names at SiriusXM are taking a trip to the cold to give listeners the first-hand experience leading up to the big game.

Terrell Owens knows the perception around him, but that’s not going to stop him from speaking his mind.

Once again, Terrell Owens is a finalist for selection into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Once again, his candidacy will be discussed during the Hall’s annual selection committee meeting on Feb. 3 in Minneapolis, the day before Super Bowl LII.

They have been doubted. And they have fed off of that doubt. Now, the Philadelphia Eagles find themselves facing the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Early in the season, the New England Patriots’ five-year, $65-million contract for free-agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore hardly made Bill Belichick look like his football-genius self.

As far as the veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis is concerned, the Jaguars are in good hands with Blake Bortles behind center. He couldn’t be more impressed with how he has watched Bortles grow and develop into the passer and, especially, the professional he has become.

Say what you will about the absence of star power among most of the quarterbacks in Sunday’s conference championship games. For Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen, there aren’t enough good things he can say about his quarterback, Case Keenum.

It has become a source of humor, something that allows the Philadelphia Eagles to laugh at something that would seemingly have been feeling a bit less than jovial.

All of the controversy caused by ESPN’s bombshell story seemed like a distant memory after the New England Patriots took care of business with last Saturday night’s 35-14 divisional-round playoff pounding of the Tennessee Titans that caused them to advance to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The doubters were many, and their voices provided ample fuel that helped drive the Jacksonville Jaguars to their divisional-round playoff victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday. Yet, no one’s voices apparently did more to propel the Jaguars to their 45-42 triumph than those of the Steelers, some of whom made it clear they were looking past the Jaguars by talking about facing the New England Patriots.

New Orleans defensive end Cam Jordan believes the melding of the team’s younger defensive players with the rest of the unit has gone a long way toward helping the Saints advance to the divisional round of the playoffs.

New Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy had the chance to thoroughly study his quarterback, Mitch Trubisky, while Nagy was offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs.

One of the bigger questions surrounding the Oakland Raiders giving Jon Gruden a second chance to guide their team is how his aggressive, in-your-face coaching style will work with the players. In particular, one player: Quarterback Derek Carr.

Rumors have been circulating lately that Bill Belichick might be interested in coaching for the New York Giants.

Dean Blandino has great empathy for the man who replaced him as the NFL’s vice president of officiating.

The Tennessee Titans needed a lot of things to go right to rally from an 18-point deficit in their wild-card playoff victory against the Kansas City Chiefs. Finding the necessary grit to get the job done was one of them.

Mark Dominik isn’t the least bit surprised to learn the Oakland Raiders have called a press conference Tuesday to introduce Jon Gruden as their new head coach.

Bill Polian isn’t a fan of widespread discussion the presumed top three quarterbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft are going to be “franchise” players. The Hall of Fame general manager thinks that the media has gotten carried away with talking up the respective potential of USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Sam Rosen and Wyoming’s Josh Allen.

It was a one-two punch to the gut that Arizona Cardinals center AQ Shipley figures he will feel awhile.

Ted Thompson’s exit as general manager of the Green Bay Packers has created an opportunity for someone to overhaul a team that, with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, still very much has a chance to be a contender.

The Arizona Cardinals might very well find themselves scrambling for a replacement for Bruce Arians, who announced his retirement from coaching Monday.

Unlike at least one other NFL coach who criticized the league’s decision to move games involving teams in the playoff race from 1 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. ET, Dan Quinn is thrilled the Atlanta Falcons’ game against the Carolina Panthers has been shifted to the later time.

Bud Dupree was expecting that fellow outside linebacker James Harrison would serve as a good example to him and Harrison’s other younger Pittsburgh Steelers teammates. That never happened.

Dean Blandino once sat on the hot seat that Al Riveron occupies as the NFL’s Vice President of officiating. He fully understands how much hotter it has become since Sunday, when Riveron reversed an on-field ruling of a touchdown catch by Buffalo Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin in the Bills’ loss at New England.

It goes without saying but we’ll say it anyways: It was a great year to be a sports fan.

It could have easily gone the other way, which would have been something the Carolina Panthers would have lamented for a long time. Panthers cornerback Daryl Worley knew his team wasn’t giving the sort of inspired effort that they usually did in Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After six seasons of being a playoff spectator, New Orleans Saints linebacker Craig Robertson is finally getting a chance to see how the other half lives.

Kareem Hunt thinks every team facing the Kansas City Chiefs should expect to have its hands full. And as far as the rookie running back is concerned, that’s especially true of the Chiefs end up reaching the postseason.

The Minnesota Vikings have a chance to clinch the NFC North championship against the Green Bay Packers Saturday night. What they don’t have is a crack at one of the NFL’s all-time great quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers.