Joe Knows ... Equality

   The 2020 no.1 overall pick, of the NFL draft, and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow took to Twitter, early August 27, the day after the NBA decided to boycott playoff games due to continued acts of social injustice in America. Four words were so powerful out of what Burrow tweeted and that was "I stand with you" (speaking to the African American race).

Burrow's tweet:

https://twitter.com/JoeyB/status/1298963580948221952?s=20

Burrow is getting a lot of good reviews and press coming out the Bengals camp, early on. There is a word that is used frequently to describe Burrow by his coaches and teammates, that word is LEADERSHIP. Burrow has high expectations on the field from beings fans and the Cincinnati media. But, for a rookie to come out and be able to give a message like this it's very telling of what type of character he has. However, this isn't uncommon from Burrow. He also tweeted out after the death of George Floyd speaking of standing with the African American community  . Also, Burrow is partnering with the Athens Food Bank to fight hunger and poverty in southeast Ohio. 

Will Burrow bring a championship to Cincinnati? I'm not sure. But, as a rookie, he's already making a huge impact off-the-field. The Bengals play their season opener on September 13 at Paul Brown Stadium vs the Los Angeles Charges (No fans will be allow in the stadium for this game)

Is The Pressure On For Baker Mayfield?

 
  The 2020-21 NFL season has already tainted by the Coronavirus, as they have officially announced that there will not be any preseason games this season. This season could apply more pressure to some teams and players, no player may be under more pressure than the Cleveland Browns' quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield, 24, the 2018 no.1 overall draft selection showed a lot of promise and potential his rookie season after finishing second to New York Giants running back, Saquon Barkley. In his rookie campaign, Mayfield passed for over 3,700 yards(led rookies) with 27(led rookies) touchdown passes and completed over 63 percent of his passes, all while going through a change in the head coach-- The Browns fired Hue Jackson and promoted defensive coordinator Gregg Williams half way through the season. The 2019 season would lead to high expectations for Mayfield and the Browns after finishing the 2018 season with a record of 5-2 in the final 7 games. He got more weapons too. With the addition of Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry returning and the Browns naming former offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens as the new head coach. These all lead to an even bigger Sophomore season, right? It was the exact opposite. The Browns didn't live up to the preseason expectations of most analysts and writers. They struggled to really find their rhythm in the passing game -- Mayfield passed for more than 3,800 yards, 22 touchdowns and 21 interceptions and completed 59 percent of his passes. There seemed to be turmoil through the season between players and the coaching the staff, and after  a disappointing season they Browns would let go of Kitchens after just one season as the head coach with a record of 6-10.

Entering into his third season, Mayfield and the Browns have a lot to prove. Under new head coach, Kevin Stefanski, who was the former offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, this has to be the year that Mayfield helps lead the Browns to the post season or at least a record of .500 or better. With a second year of Landry and Beckham, the addition of tight end Austin Hooper, running back Nick Chubb coming off a season eclipsing 1,400 rushing yards (2nd in NFL). The third season is often the most important for players on their rookie deals, it could make a difference between a player signing an extension and a player becoming an unrestricted free agent the following season.

The Cleveland Browns have a tough road ahead, battling in a very heavy AFC North division; The Ravens are strong favorites to win the division again, the Steelers are always a tough team to beat and in the playoff conversation, the Bengals look to be much improved. However, the Browns just signed Myles Garrett to an extension, they drafted one of the top offensive lineman to help protect Mayfield and they hope Stefanski can help with the progress of their star quarterback like he did with Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. But third season brings an intense amount of pressure for their Browns and their quarterback in the 2020-21 season ... The question is, can they live up to the expectations?

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I talk about the return of baseball and what it should mean for the MLB in 2020.

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The Bengals Should Take A Chance on Another Ross In the Near Future

  The Cincinnati Bengals have announced that they will be not being picking up the fifth-year option on the former first-round pick, speedy wide receiver, John Ross. Maybe that means they have opportunity to take a chance on another Ross in the 2021 NFL draft... Clemson's Justyn Ross

  Justyn Ross was the no.1 wide receiver out of Alabama coming out of high school in 2017, ironically he chose to attend Clemson. Since arriving to Clemson, Ross has lived up to the hype. In his first season, as a true Freshman, he [Ross] caught 46 passes for 1,000 yards (led team) and 9 receiving touchdowns (2nd on team). Also, in the National Championship he had 6 receptions for a career-high 153 yards receiving and a touchdown as the Tigers defeated Alabama. In just two seasons at Clemson, Ross has racked up over 1,800 yards receiving on 100 receptions with 17 touchdowns.

It was just announced in late May 2020, Ross will miss the 2020-21 season after undergoing an off-season neck surgery. Ross' career could be in jeopardy depending on his recovery and rehab goes but there's a chance that he returns to football.

In the past, neck injuries, usually means the end of football careers. However, with determination and a great trainer and maybe an entire year removed from football, maybe there's a chance that Ross makes a full recovery and his football career resumes. If this happens and Ross is cleared to return by doctors, I believe that the Bengals should show interest (considering he enters the draft). They will be moving on from wide receiver John Ross, more than likely. Also, it's possible, they could be moving on from veteran A.J. Green as well. They just drafted his former Clemson teammate Tee Higgins in the second round of the 2020 draft. With the depth that they have in the wide receiver room, the Bengals will have opportunity to take chance drafting. If Ross can get back to at least 80% of the player he was and he falls to the later rounds of the draft, the Bengals could be a perfect landing spot for him. As of right now, obviously, I can only speak hypothetically because there is still so much that is unknown. But, it would be interesting for both the Bengals and Ross.

Justyn Ross took to Twitter on June 5, 2020 to announce that his surgery went well. He just recently posted a video, rehabbing in the pool with his neck brace on. NBC Sports posted an article about Ross and his recovery, check it out.

The most important thing for Ross is his healthy first. But, think about how fun a team with Burrow, Higgins, Joe Mixon, Tyler Boyd and Justyn Ross would be in the year 2021 or 22?

There Is One Thing The National Football League Still Hasn't Done

  The National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement on May 30, 2020 in regards to the protests that have been taking place across the country due to George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, MN., being murdered by the police on May 25, 2020.

NFL Statement via Twitter

By their tweet, Goodell and the NFL would lead you to believe that they stand behind the black community as they look to gain civil justice and equality, following the murder of another unarmed African American. However, their actions have proven otherwise over recent years. The tweet that they are still missing is a public apology to former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

In 2016, the 49ers' quarterback led the way, as players exercised their American right to a peaceful protest, by taking a knee during the National Anthem before games. This blew up across the media and it gained a lot of steam through the league and a more and more players began to participate. This form of protest got a lot of criticism and was taken out of context by many. They accused Kaepernick and others who took a knee of being unpatriotic and going against the military and protesting the US flag. In reality, this was never about the military nor the flag. Kaepernick clearly explained many times that this was about police brutality against unarmed/innocent black people and civil injustice.



The NFL made created a rule stating that players are not allowed to take a knee during the National Anthem. Players who violated this rule would be disciplined. A lot of teams started to implement this rule themselves, also, because they didn't want to be fined by the league due to player breaking this rule.

At the conclusion of the 2016 season Kaepernick would become a free agent, no team would look to sign him either. There was a lot of talk that teams didn't want the "media circus" that came with signing him or the famous excuse of "he's a distraction" but in reality were those ever really valid reasons to not sign a quarterback who was in his prime and just three years removed from taking his team to the Super Bowl? It seemed like the NFL had pretty much black-balled the outspoken quarterback for his take on the governments lack of civil justice for the black community and equality that still plagues America today.

The last game Colin Kaepernick played in was on January 1, 2017. The 49ers would come up short again the Seattle Seahawks 25-23; Kaepernick was 17-22 for 215 yards and 1 passing touchdown.

The National Football League and Roger Goodell can't expect for people actually buy this support as sincere and pure, when just a few years ago they penalized players for standing against these civil matters. If they want to anyone to buy their condolences and apologies to the family of George Floyd, others who had come before him like Michael Brown or Sandra Blatt... They need to start with an apology to Colin Kaepernick.

I Still Believe in Josh Rosen

 

The 2018 quarterback class was full of potential and big names. However, at this point, none may be more interesting than former UCLA Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen.

Rosen, 23, was the no.10 overall draft selection in 2018 to the Arizona Cardinals and some analysts felt like he was top-5 talent. In his rookie season Rosen didn't have the greatest showing and his record showed as the Cardinals finished with the worst record in the league which landed them the no.1 overall pick for 2019. He [Rosen] appeared in 14 games completing less than 58 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions for his rookie campaign. At the end of the 2018 season things would take an unsuspected turn in Arizona. Head coach Steve Wilks was fired after just one season after the team finished with a 3-13 record.

 The team would hire former Texas Tech head coach, Kliff Kingsburry to replace him. The young, Offensive-minded coach had plans for the team that wouldn't include Rosen, as he [Rosen] would be traded to the Miami Dolphins after the team drafted the Heisman-winning quarterback Kyler Murray.

When he [Rosen] went to the Dolphins it seemed to be a second chance, fresh start, breath of fresh air that was needed for the young quarterback as he still tried to position himself in the league after a disappointing rookie campaign. However, things didn't turn out great for him in Miami either, he would lose the battle for the starting position to veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick after an abysmal start to the season. Behind Rosen, the Dolphins started the season with an 0-6 record. Ryan Fitzpatrick would become the full-time starter and the Dolphins would finish the season with a record of 5-11 and the no.5 overall draft selection for 2020. And just like Arizona the year prior, Miami would draft the best quarterback prospect available selecting Tua Tagovailoa out of Alabama.

Now, heading into the 2020 season, I start to wonder where does Rosen fit into the league... Is considered a bust? is he a good talent that has just been dealt a bad hand? Will he ever get the chance to show he was worth taking with the no.10 overall selection in 2018?

There are several teams/situations that I believe Rosen could resurrect his career with, they don't all include immediate playing time either. Well, honestly, most of them don't. I think it's more important that Rosen in a system that fits his strengths and build his confidence back up.

These are several situations I feel would be best for the resurrection of Rosen:

• Atlanta Falcons -- Matt Ryan is nearing the end of his prime and they need a successor to the under-appreciated quarterback. Rosen has a similar build, arm strength and could learn a lot from the former NFL MVP; with the young talent that they have in Atlanta on offense, they wouldn't have to worry about a rebuild for a while and wouldn't have to worry about missing a beat on offense. 
• Pittsburgh Steelers -- People talk about Pittsburgh needing another Ben Roethlisberger, which I believe is one of the many false narratives around the NFL. The Steelers need another good quarterback, they would get that in Rosen. Mike Tomlin hasn't had to worry about the future of his quarterback room until the past two or three years. With Big Ben returning in 2020, after hurting his should in 2019, the Steelers don't need Rosen to start... They just need him in the quarterback room to learn. This would put him [Rosen] in the division with Baker Mayfield and the 2019 NFL MVP Lamar Jackson who were both apart of that famous 2018 quarterback class.
• New England Patriots -- While I do believe that the Patriots are eyeing the 2020 draft for a quarterback. I do believe that this is a great offense for a young quarterback like Rosen to play and learn in. The system helped to build the legacy and legend that is Tom Brady. It could do the same for Josh Rosen, who was a better prospect coming out of high school and college than Tom. I would even argue to say he has better arm talent. This is the only of the three situations that I see Rosen starting and needing to start. 

The future of Josh Rosen is unknown at this point; he is currently the third-string quarterback on the depth chart for the Miami Dolphins, behind Tua and Fitzpatrick. However, I believe that his story is far from over in the National Football League. I still believe Josh Rosen can be a starter in the league. I still believe he can be successful, also. 

New Podcast

Make sure you check out my podcast that I do every week with Eric Walker. We relaunched Tunnel Vision Podcast... it’s back and better than ever. https://anchor.fm/mario-deramus/episodes/Episode-2-ee2utk