1 veteran at each position to keep tabs on during training camp
Over the next month, players who landed on new teams will start to show us what they can bring to the table this season.
I haven’t let myself fully entertain the idea that this summer will ever end. It’s been two months since I experienced a day when the high temperature wasn’t in the 90s or 100s. I’ve seen rain, like, twice in that same time span. I change clothes about four times a day because of how drenched in sweat I become whenever I dare step foot outside.
I’ve never wanted fall to get here faster. And I’m starting to ever so slightly believe that it’ll happen soon — thanks to football.
Every NFL team has now ushered in the start of training camp, with some players (OK, just the one) engaging in a little Nicolas Cage cosplay. This weekend, NFL Network is going all out (or, depending on your perspective, in overkill mode) for Back Together Saturday, with live coverage from training camps across the league for 13 straight hours.
Next Thursday, preseason play begins with the Hall of Fame Game, this year between the *quickly Googles the answer* … Raiders and Jaguars? Well, I guess it’s only fair to put Jacksonville in this game for the first time in 27 years since Tony Boselli will be the first Jags player ever to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Every year, we’re so thirsty for anything resembling real football that we tend to read a little too much into training camp and the preseason. Remember all that hand-wringing about Ja’Marr Chase’s struggles last August?
Even so, this time of year can offer a hint of what’s to come when the regular season begins. As such, I will highlight one player at each position who’s worth watching over the next month. I want to see more from the rookies and how they’re adjusting to the game before I weigh in on them, but I’d still like to focus on players who find themselves in new circumstances. So, I will pick veterans who, whether through a trade or free agent signing, are on a different team this summer than last.
Let’s get to it.
Quarterback: Baker Mayfield, Panthers
I think most of us expect Baker Mayfield to start for the Panthers at some point this season. Just one day into training camp and he’s making friends and already seems like the alpha of that QB room, especially compared to the more mild-mannered Sam Darnold.
However, don’t be surprised if Darnold remains QB1 for a little while. Mayfield has to get up to speed on his new offense, all while coming back from a shoulder injury. Both factors — how the former No. 1 pick’s recovery is going and how quickly he picks up OC Ben McAdoo’s system — will help determine whether Mayfield earns that starting gig in Week 1 against his former team, or several weeks later, when Darnold is due for another strange injury or his ghosts return.
Wide receiver: Robert Woods, Titans
Like Mayfield, Robert Woods is coming off a major injury and was traded in the offseason. Woods, however, missed half of last season — including the Rams’ run to the Super Bowl — with a torn ACL.
While he will still have to work his way back into game shape, the good news is that he did not start training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. That’ll give Woods time to get acclimated to quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the Titans’ offense in general. Both need Woods healthy and ready to lead an inexperienced receiving corps after A.J. Brown was dealt to the Eagles in April.
Running back: Raheem Mostert, Dolphins
After bouncing around the league for years, Raheem Mostert enjoyed a career season in 2019, when now Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was the 49ers’ run game coordinator. Mostert was limited due to injuries the next two years, including a severe knee ailment that cost him all but one game in 2021. Thankfully, he’s been cleared to resume football activities, according to the man himself:
Mostert followed McDaniel to Miami, which will have a heated training camp battle at running back. Will Mostert’s history with McDaniel give him an edge over the competition, or will he be rusty from his time off? Either way, expect Mostert to carve out a role in the new-look Dolphins offense … so long as he stays healthy.
Tight end: Kyle Rudolph, Buccaneers
Once Tom Brady unretired, tight end soon became the Bucs’ only real weakness this offseason. That was especially true when Rob Gronkowski decided he was done playing football for good. Soon after Gronk’s announcement, Tampa signed veteran Kyle Rudolph, who had been released by the Giants in March after the worst season of his career. He was also saddled with 1) a team coached by Joe Judge, 2) Jason Garrett as his OC, and 3) the ineffective trio of Daniel Jones, Mike Glennon, and Jake Fromme as his starting quarterbacks.
Rudolph has upgraded in every way, and now the question is if he can rebound accordingly or if 2021 was a sign that his days as a productive tight end are in the rearview mirror.
OT, OG, C: La’el Collins; Alex Cappa; Ted Karras, Bengals
Joe Burrow was sacked 70 times last season, playoffs included. Cincinnati’s front office, at long last, got the hint and opened up its wallet during free agency for a few highly rated offensive linemen. Tackle La’el Collins and guard Alex Cappa should solidify the problematic right side of the line, but neither is ready to hit the field just yet due to injury. Center Ted Karras is good to go, which would have given him a little extra time to build his chemistry with Burrow … except Burrow is out right now because of an appendectomy.
So while we wait for Collins, Cappa, and Burrow to return, it might take longer for this new and improved OL to jell.
Edge: Chandler Jones, Raiders
For the first time since 2016, Chandler Jones finds himself in new surroundings. He’s coming off another double-digit sack season — his sixth in seven years (the streak ended in 2020, when he recorded just one sack in five games). Now, Jones will pair his pass-rushing prowess with Maxx Crosby, the Raiders’ 24-year-old burgeoning edge defender who had 108 pressures but only eight sacks in 2021. There shouldn’t be much concern with Jones’ ability to pick up the new system; his defensive coordinator in Vegas is Patrick Graham, one of his former coaches with the Patriots.
There might be some concern with his age, though. Jones is 32 and last year’s sack total, 10.5, was the least he’s had in a 15+ game season. Not to mention that five of those sacks came in Week 1 alone (that was a rough day for Ryan Tannehill). The Raiders traded last year’s sack leader, the younger Yannick Ngakoue, to the Colts in March and need Jones to not only fill that void (and then some, ideally), but also disrupt things so much that Crosby can spring free and increase his sack total as well.
Jones, for his part, is enjoying his time with the Zoomers:
This next month, we should get a glimpse of how well he’s fitting in, and if he is or isn’t slowing down.
Linebacker: Myles Jack, Steelers
Myles Jack looked like the Jaguars’ star defensive player of the future when he put together back-to-back excellent seasons in 2017 and 2018. He signed an extension in 2019, but then never quite lived up to that two-year high again. Despite leading the Jags in tackles last season, Jack had issues with missed tackles, though he remains an athletic, skilled playmaker who is just 26 years old. So it’s no surprise that after his release, the Steelers scooped him up. Jack will have better coaching across the board in Pittsburgh than he had in Jacksonville and has a great chance to bounce back on his new team.
The Steelers signed Jack to help boost the run defense and also tutor former first-round pick Devin Bush. Can Jack make an immediate impact not just on the defense, but also on Bush as he enters a make-or-break year?
Defensive tackle: D.J. Jones, Broncos
Like the Steelers, the Broncos struggled against the run in 2021 (both defenses ranked in the bottom third of the league in rush DVOA). And like the Steelers, the Broncos snapped up a young free agent who can provide that support.
Denver had a need at defensive tackle when it shipped Shelby Harris to the Seahawks in the Russell Wilson trade. The presumption is that Jones — fresh off a career season with the 49ers — will play at nose tackle in Denver’s 3-4 defense, just as he did in San Francisco’s 3-4 defense. But with Mike Purcell still around, DC Ejiro Evero might decide to leave Purcell as the starting nose tackle and slide Jones to defensive end. Jones has already made it his goal to improve his pass rush and rack up five sacks this year. Where he lines up most of the time could factor into whether he reaches that mark or not, so it’s worth monitoring how the Broncos decide to use him.
Cornerback: Stephon Gilmore, Colts
While most eyes will be on Matt Ryan in Indianapolis, I don’t think his performance leading up to the start of the season will tell us anything we don’t know. He’s a good quarterback! A lot better than Carson Wentz! Instead, I’m looking at the other side of the ball, where Indy’s secondary has seen a few changes, such as the departure of Xavier Rhodes, Rock Ya-Sin, and Khari Willis (the latter of whom surprisingly retired).
Stephon Gilmore remained unsigned until late April, when the Colts’ usual “The Tortoise and the Hare” free agency approach paid off. Gilmore is just a couple seasons removed from winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors, but injuries have sidelined him for almost half his games since then. Though he made the Pro Bowl last year while appearing in eight games for the Panthers, he allowed a 78.6 passer rating when targeted, a high for him over the last four seasons.
Now 32, it’s not a guarantee that Gilmore can regain his status as a top-tier coverage man, but if he can even maintain last year’s form — and stay healthy — he could bring some much-needed stability to the Colts’ secondary.
Safety: Marcus Maye, Saints
Tyrann Mathieu, another new Saints safety, might get more attention in his return to Louisiana than Marcus Maye. But Maye is the more interesting player to me because he has more to prove. He’s full go for training camp after tearing his Achilles last November, and these next few weeks should let him ease back into things and find his footing in Dennis Allen’s defense.
Maye hasn’t always been the most consistent safety, but then again, he spent his entire career until now on the Jets. Maye is certainly capable of playing at a high level, when used correctly. In New Orleans, he’s joining a defense that has been ranked at or near the top of the league each of the last five seasons. To uphold that standing, the Saints need both Maye and Mathieu to figure out their role in the secondary and help overcome the losses of Marcus Williams and Malcolm Jenkins this offseason.