N-F-L… I don’t know if there is any other acronym in the US of A that rings truer to it’s meaning(s) than this one. Of course, we all can feel the power of The League when we say or hear these letters roll off the tongues of true fans and believers of the gridiron. Even when you think of the phrase, “The National Football League”, you probably hear it in some smooth but sturdy announcer’s voice in your head.
As we head into another year, it seems these off-seasons get weirder and weirder – some turning even messy, NBA-like (sorry Russ, Kyrie, Ben, KD, Harden – dang, 3 of you were on the same team…yikes!). Personnel moves, team activity, coach hiring/firing has been kinda crazy to say the least. It’s all got me to thinking about how the league constantly represents the unmistakable identity it holds as the N-F-L.
NOT FOR LONG
Any true NFL follower has definitely heard this term on at least a few occasions. Most of the time we are referring to the career span of an NFL player. That number usually hovers around 3.5 years or less – ouch! This off-season was a little different though. What about Tom Brady pulling that N-F-L retirement, lasting just over a month? I don’t know if that’s the kicker for the story. Could be said it didn’t take too long for Brady to lose the love for the Pats either, not even mentioning them in his retirement speech/post. It doesn’t stop there… How about how long Brady would be in training camp? Answer: N-F-L. Dude was there for a few weeks or so, and has been missing for the last couple of weeks. Add to him another QB Deshaun Watson, and you’ve got quite the N-F-L speech. Really didn’t take long for the Browns to get Watson and offer him the mutha-load of deals considering his off-season woes. Then the league tried to pull it’s own N-F-L by handing down a very N-F-L-E(nough) suspension. Will be interesting to see who survives that move down the road.
NEW FOUND LOVE
What’s going on with all these WR1 moves? I thought Mahomes and Tyreek Hill would be together for about as long as Montana and Rice… Wrong! Bye Tyreek! He doesn’t waste time declaring his love for the Dolphins and Tua either. Then I figured Aaron Rogers would retire before we saw Davonte Parker in another uniform… See ya! And who knew there was this bromance brewing from an old college connection with Derek Carr? Then what about Brady unretiring and picking up Julio Jones in Tampa? I guess Tennessee said they don’t have anyone to consistently throw to him. But Brady, man, gets all the roster breaks. I swear I saw heart emoji’s flying over the southeastern tip of the US when this happened. The last time that dude picked up a high caliber, big WR (his name was Moss) like this he went 18-1 (lost the Super Bowl though).
NO FREAKIN LOSERS
I don’t care who you are, if you lose in the League, you’re moving on, then out. Fangio, Judge, Nagy – run along. Zimmer: what have you done for me lately? Well, bye. Then there are the QBs. Matt Ryan has moved on and so has Carson Wentz. Add to them Baker Mayfield, who was replaced by a dude that will bring disdain from fans and spend a year on suspension after they gave him $230M – wow! If I was Mayfield, I would be like Rocky 4; somewhere in Russia training in the snow to prove I belong. That dude should have a chip on his shoulder the size of Mount Everest. At least he’s not Jimmy Garoppolo. It’s bad when your coach comes out before training camp and declares the team belongs to the guy that backed you up and will be in only his second season. That’s after you’ve taken your team to the NFC title game. Hopefully, all these guys understand they’ve moved on. The next step is to move out
This is the NFL we know and love. One more week!