Latest news with #JoriEpstein
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Should players care more about potential NFL-NFLPA collusion?
Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz, senior NFL reporter Jori Epstein and senior NFL reporter Frank Schwab discuss the reports of potential collusion between the league and players association in preventing fully guaranteed contracts from being offered to players. Hear the full conversation on 'Inside Coverage' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen. View more Advertisement Video Transcript I didn't need a judge to tell me there was collusion. I knew it when Lamar Jackson was sitting out there on a franchise tag saying, hey guys, I'm one of the 10 best quarterbacks ever and I'm in my prime. Anybody want to talk to me? And everybody's like, No, we're good with Desmond Bishop, we're fine. The fact that the NFL is so dug in on this whole guaranteed contract situation is telling. They're like, it's bad business for the NFL, but they never get penalized for their missteps and labor negotiations, because the union is always weak. It's not the baseball union, it's not even the basketball union, which are very strong and the players know what's going on, and they're all aware of this. Advertisement I think it's a bad look for everybody involved, and it is a big, big story, but it's not a big story if the NFL players aren't making it a big story. Again, if this happened in the NBA, oh my goodness, you would see a completely different reaction. I have a hard time believing that any fan should give a damn about any negotiations between owners and the NFL Players Association, they're weak. Because the people that are in the actual union itself don't care. And I will loudly scream, guys, I've been a member of SAG-AFTRA, which, by the way, represents 160,000 different people in entertainment. I've been in talks, I've been in arguments over money, but nobody ever goes to a Journey concert and sits down and says, wow, does the drummer have healthcare? Advertisement They don't give a damn. And you just have to accept at some point that people don't care. I think it's genuinely fine if people don't care about negotiations between the players and the owners because the players themselves don't stand on anything long enough to give a damn about it themselves. If they don't care, why should we? Fans will say, if the players do start fighting for this, stick to sports. Focus on sports. Why are you distracted from your craft? The reason you dropped the ball in week 4 is because you're focused on this union stuff. But then when they don't actually talk about it, it's like, oh well, you don't care about it. Advertisement Well, I would argue that they're giving agents a reason to think they're not united. You see what I'm saying? But anyway, stick to sports. Focus on your craft and keep your head in the game. what, 3%, 6%, a very large percentage of their contract to care about this for them. Lloyd Howell's approach so far has been be the anti-DSmith. De Smith was the lawyer, he was the fighter. When we negotiate, we're going to go all out. We're going to call the NFL out for everything. And Lloyd Howell, as a businessman, is like, well, I want a more collaborative approach, and that is what we talked about when I talked to him. Advertisement But there's this idea of like, I don't believe that fighting is the best way to get things done, and I too would agree personally that fighting isn't necessarily the best way to get things done, but I do think you have to advocate for yourself and you especially have to advocate for your players because that's what they hired you to do, and that's what they're paying you over $3 million a year to do for them.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What's the Cardinals' ceiling with Kyler Murray under center?
Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz, Jori Epstein and Frank Schwab discuss the outlook this season for Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals. Hear the full conversation on 'Inside Coverage' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript 8 and 9 last year, over under 8.5. Advertisement The Cardinals uh mired in the sea of mediocrity usually. Where are you, Joey, today on the Cardinals versus a year ago right now on the Cardinals? I feel like I just don't think about the Cardinal Cardinals much. Maybe that's like an obnoxious national reporter thing to say, but I would say I think that retreat because I feel like a couple of years ago we did feel like, hey, they've got, or not a couple of years, like a couple of years ago they had. They were only winning 4 games, but it's kind of like, oh, but you kind of could see what the plan was that they were doing. Then they get Marvin Harrison Junior last year and you're like, well, now Kyler might have the guy, and they still had a losing record. Advertisement And so I, I just have a lot of questions about can they put all the pieces together I felt like they had the pieces last year that they should be able to take that big jump, and they didn't, and I don't think that their division is going to make it any easier now that the Rams are actually quite strong, and I will get to them. I'm just kind of, I guess, repeat on the Cardinals. They're one of those teams that. It's just they're just kind of stuck in the middle. Like, I don't see there being a higher ceiling for them. Now, I will say this, Jonathan Gannon, I think is a really, really good defensive coach, and he hasn't had much talent, so what do they do this offseason? Advertisement They pounded the draft, even free agency, defense, defense, defense. I think the defense is going to be a lot better than it has been the last couple of years, but my question is Kyler Murray, what's his ceiling really? What's his team ceiling with him? It's not like Kyler Murray hasn't played a lot of games already. He's played a lot and just kind of been One of those quarterbacks who's OK, he's fine, but he didn't get the most out of Marvin Harrison last year. He didn't really elevate this offense like I thought he would. I thought Kyler Murray coming back from the ACL, he played really well late two seasons ago, 2023 season. Advertisement I thought, OK, 2024, he's gonna have a really big season. Again, Marvin Harrison's there, he's and it just didn't happen, and now you get to a point in Kyler Murray's career where you just wonder, is this it, this is as far as we're gonna go with Kyler Murray. I think the Cardinals are gonna be slightly better, like, they did approve a lot last year, especially in the win loss column, but kind of to Joy's point, it's one of those improvements where you're like, uh, do I really think the next step is gonna be 10 wins, 12 wins? I don't. I, I think they're gonna be just kind of slightly better, we're gonna get to the end of the year, kind of just say, this is what the Cardinals are, they're gonna be hovering around 500, they're gonna be OK, but really, I just don't see there being another big step for them with this core.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Are the new-look Seahawks still an NFC West contender?
Jason Fitz, Jori Epstein & Frank Schwab give their thoughts on the Seattle Seahawks and whether or not they think an overhaul of the offense and coaching staff can keep them relevant in a tough NFC West division this fall. Hear the full conversation on 'Inside Coverage' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen. Advertisement View more Video Transcript Big changes for Seattle at the quarterback position, 10 and 7 last year, over under on this is 8.5. Frank, are you rise, repeat, or retreat on Seattle? I think a little bit of retreat, just because I was, I was pretty high on the Seahawks last year, and they weren't bad, like, by any means, they, they won a lot of games, they were in a playoff race, but they also had some confounding losses that that were bothersome, and now you you trade, like Geno Smith is not a bad quarterback, you trade him away, you trade DK Metcalf away, which does not help your offense. If you're, if you think that Seahawks are gonna be a playoff team. Advertisement And take the next step. It's because you trust Mike McDonald to kind of be better in his second year with his complicated scheme and teaching it and implementing it. And I can see that path, but at the same time, I'm like, I don't know if Sam Darnold's really a big upgrade on Geno Smith. I know that whoever they're going to get to replace DK Metcalf in that offense is not an upgrade. And where do the Seahawks go from here? I just think they're kind of their their team like the Cardinals to me where they're Just kind of are who they are. They're good, they're they're not bad in any way, but do I see them having the ceiling of the Rams or the 49ers? Advertisement I just don't. I think they're, they're good, they're solid. I do like Mike McDonald as a coach still, but I don't think there's some 12 win season coming. I think they're just gonna be kind of in the playoff race, probably not make the playoffs, and that's who they're going to be in the next few years. It's just, I, I don't see there being much more here for them. I would say rise not from where they ended the season again, but from where they were going into the season, because I think there were a lot of question marks in terms of what were the coaching staff going to do. They had Ryan Grubb coming from the college game, and they were hoping that would work offensively. Advertisement Now they have Clint Kubiak who does have a little bit more of an NFL background. He also has a similar offensive background to what Sam Darnold had, including an overlapping year in San Francisco. And so I think that even if the pieces aren't necessarily stronger in terms In terms of what the roster looks like, which I don't feel better about the roster. I do feel better about the cohesiveness of the coaching staff being able to maximize the roster than I felt like they would be able to do in the first year. Yeah, I'm also gonna rise because 2nd year under Mike McDonald, woo. Uh, as their head coach, as my Doy Brothers impression, uh, we'll make that, uh, defense even better. So I'm rise on the Seahawks, but from where I was a year ago, but I think they're about the same team, 10 and 7 feels about right.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
1st & North: Vikings schedule analysis
Is the NFL International Series unfair for some teams? | Inside Coverage Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz, senior NFL reporter Jori Epstein and senior NFL writer Frank Schwab discuss the league's release of the upcoming season's international games - which includes the Minnesota Vikings having to play overseas on back-to-back weeks in two different countries. Hear the full conversation on 'Inside Coverage' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen. 2:17 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
2025 NFL rule changes: Lions scrap playoff-reseeding proposal ahead of vote due to lack of support
The NFL playoffs are staying the same ... for now, at least. The Detroit Lions scrapped a proposal that would drastically alter how the playoffs were seeded ahead of a league vote Wednesday, according to multiple reports. Could NFL shift playoff format in future? Yes. League office strongly interested in making late regular-season games make meaningful ahead of selling next media rights support for current proposal not there. Playoff structure stays for 2025 season. — Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) May 21, 2025 Detroit did not have enough support for the proposal, and opted to take it off the table before team owners voted on it. The proposal aimed to change how the NFL seeded the playoffs. If the Lions' proposal was accepted, the teams with the best records would get the highest seeding in the playoffs. That's a massive change over the current format, where division winners get the top-4 seeds in each conference. Wild-card teams are then seeded based on their records. The Lions' proposal sought to reward teams with better regular-season records. Under the current playoff-seeding system, a division winner with a 10-7 record would be seeded higher than a wild-card team that went 14-3. Despite having a better record, that wild-card team would have to go on the road for its first playoff game. That's exactly what happened last year, as the wild-card 14-3 Minnesota Vikings had to go on the road to play the division-winning 10-7 Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the playoffs. The Vikings lost that contest. The Green Bay Packers would have faced a different road in the playoffs under the Lions' proposal. Despite winning 11 games last season, the Packers were the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The team had to go on the road to face the No. 2 seed Philadelphia Eagles in round one. Under the Lions' format, the Packers would have been the No. 5 seed. The team still would have gone on the road for its first-round playoff game, but would have faced an easier opponent. While the Lions' opted to scrap their proposal ahead of Wednesday's vote, it's possible the idea gets revived in the future. The proposal could draw more interest if the league adopts an 18-game schedule in the future, per Ian Rapoport. An 18-game schedule is not on the table Wednesday. Team owners were expected to vote on the Lions' playoff proposal and a proposal that would ban the tush push Wednesday. While the playoff-reseeding proposal is off the table, team owners are expected to move forward with the tush-push vote. On Tuesday, team owners voted to approve a measure that will allow NFL players to take part in flag football at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
