RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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When training camps begin, everything is hunky-dory. The grass is green. The players are back and in the best shape of their lives. The new systems are going to help said players reach new heights. No one has lost a game.
And then, as the weeks go on, the bumps and bruises appear. Maybe not every player is going to take that next step. (Duh.) Maybe some even take a step back. Maybe the best-case-scenario outcomes that seemed so likely in late July are looking less and less likely. Every coach wants competition -- for starting spots, for playing time, for roster spots -- but what if those competitions simply aren't up to snuff?
This is the NFL , where a strength one day can be a weakness the next, where hope one day can be worry the next. The rose-colored glasses come off quickly.
The best teams are the ones with the best combinations of talent, depth, luck and coaching, of course, but they're also the ones that can make accurate, level-headed assessments and decisions as the regular season approaches rapidly. What matters and what doesn't in these crucial weeks?
It's important to be urgent but not antsy, and that goes not just for front offices, coaches and players, but for those evaluating all of them as well. As such, we're determining whether some notable training camp storylines are overreactions -- from minor to significant to major -- or not.
The Vikings made official Tuesday what had long been expected: Kyler Murray is the Week 1 starter against the Packers . The path to getting there, though, wasn't the most inspiring. Murray basically beat out J.J. McCarthy by default.
It seemed like McCarthy made up ground over the weekend, per Bring Me The Sports' Will Ragatz , when ESPN's Kevin Seifert said Murray had "hit a wall" . In a way one could view this as Murray simply retaining his position as the favorite long enough for Kevin O'Connell to make a decision.
It's easy to look at Murray's up-and-down training camp -- coming off a strange, underwhelming, injured finish to his time with the Cardinals -- and think the Vikings are in quarterback purgatory again. But that'd be wrong. Last year, the Vikings were among the worst-quarterbacked teams in the NFL. Murray at his very worst has been roughly average.
Murray at his worst is significantly better than what the Vikings produced last year, and one could argue he now has the best supporting cast of his career.
During minicamp, Murray said splitting reps was making his transition to a new team more difficult . If he was always going to be the starter, it makes sense to give him every advantage possible by declaring him the starter even before a preseason game . In fact, Murray had one of his best practices Tuesday, hours after being named starter.
Maybe Murray isn't a great quarterback, or even a good one. But if he can be average, the Vikings, who went 9-8 last year despite awful quarterback play, could get back to the postseason.
The first big headline to come out of Patriots training camp was A.J. Brown dropping a pass and Mike Vrabel ripping into him . The next big headline was how few headlines Brown was producing. It was a slow start for Brown, and going against elite cornerback Christian Gonzalez certainly contributed. The two have been jawing back and forth, and it escalated during one practice last week .
Worrying about that, though, is a classic training camp overreaction, and a short-sighted one at that. Brown looked good in this week's joint practice with the Colts , beating Sauce Gardner on one route ...
A.J. Brown just DUSTED Sauce Gardner in 1v1s🔥 Patriots fans in attendance LOVE IT - @CLNSMedia pic.twitter.com/0g1GBXTSjf
... and scoring a touchdown on a seven-on-seven rep.
Maye to AJB for 6 pic.twitter.com/f6Ezt7R8Bu
Brown fits Drake Maye's game perfectly , but he admitted it was an adjustment.
"It started off a little slow," Brown said , per ESPN. "Obviously because I'm going against Gonzo and [Maye] is getting to know me more and more. But as these practices have been going, me and him have been picking up very good momentum."
Let's put this one to bed quickly. Cousins may no longer be a upper-middle or even middle-tier starter, but he can still play. And he should play Week 1 over Fernando Mendoza . Take it from ESPN's Ryan McFadden :
"He has played solely with the starters, as expected, and has looked better than Mendoza and Aidan O'Connell . Cousins has been efficient and has rarely put the ball in harm's way. On top of that, the players have brought Cousins in as one of the leaders on the team."
Plus, Tom Brady doesn't like rookie quarterbacks playing right away , either.
It behooves Mendoza to sit at least a few weeks, to learn the ins and outs of weekly game prep, to learn what Cousins sees in-game, to not be thrown into the fire too early. Mendoza won't succeed (or fail) because he got his first start in Week 5 rather than in Week 1.
I see a lot of social media posts during training camp because, as I've noted, training camp is a time for reactions -- measured reactions and overreactions alike. Some names pop up more than others, and I don't think anyone has popped up more often in a more positive way than Parker Washington . It seems like he's doing cool stuff all the time.
Every day is Parker day 😮💨 @Dream_Finders | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/GnCwKM30Yd
Notes and unofficial stats from the Jaguars' Teal & White mock game (Teal won 19-12): QB Trevor Lawrence was 15 of 29 passes for 212 yards and 3 TDs. Parker Washington, Brian Thomas Jr., and LeQuint Allen had TD catches. Washington had six catches for 118 yards and TD.
That's because Washington is a really cool player and, more importantly, a really good player. Last year, he led the NFL in contested catch rate, per Pro Football Focus , despite standing 5-10. Over his last four games (including postseason), he had 26 catches for 454 yards and three touchdowns.
For all the good news surrounding Brian Thomas Jr . and all the good thin...
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