— There are only nine head coaches this season who are starting their 5th+ season as that team’s head coach.
— There are 10 new head coaches this coming season; six of those 10 coaches have never been NFL head coaches before. NFC North is only division that didn’t have a coaching change.
— Six of the 14 fourteen teams that made the playoffs in 2024 didn’t make the playoffs last year.
— Of the 32 quarterbacks expected to start in Week 1 this year, 24 were picked in the first round of the draft, three more were taken in the second round.
The other five:
Jacoby Brissett, 3rd round
Malik Willis, 3rd round
Kirk Cousins, 4th round
Dak Prescott, 4th round
Brock Purdy, 7th round……three of those five do not play for the team that drafted them.
— Long time ago (2017-20) Deshaun Watson went 38-37 as QB of the Houston Texans, starting three playoff games (1-2). He was traded for six draft picks (three first round picks) and then signed a huge contract with Cleveland (fully guaranteed $260M) but the wheels came off.
In the last five years, Watson was 9-10 as Cleveland’s starter; 19 games in five years, not great, but he still has one year left on that contract, and his salary cap hit would be $80M if they cut him.
Last year, Browns started 40-year old Joe Flacco four games and two rookie QB’s six/seven games; going to be very interesting where Watson fits in on the team this season.
— Baltimore Ravens are 3-5 in playoff games in eight years with Lamar Jackson at QB, playing in only one AFC title game, which is why John Harbaugh is coaching the Giants now.
— Harbaugh is Giants’ fifth head coach in the 11 years since Tom Coughlin left; Mike McCarthy is the Steelers’ 4th head coach since 1969.
McCarthy/Aaron Rodgers won a Super Bowl together with Green Bay, but that was 16 years ago, in 2010.
— Famous birthdays, June 16th:
Al Cowlings, 79
Frank Corral, 71
Laurie Metcalf, 71
Darrell Griffith, 68
Wally Joyner, 64
Calvin Schiraldi, 64
Kerry Wood, 49
Justin Jefferson, 27
— There are 20 new offensive coordinators this season, which doesn’t include Buffalo’s Joe Brady, who moved up from offensive coordinator to head coach.
— In 2004, only two NFL quarterbacks ran the ball for 300+ yards; Michael Vick, Daunte Culpepper. Last year, 12 quarterbacks ran the ball for 300+ yards.
— Dallas Cowboys had losing seasons the last two years, their first back/back losing seasons in 23 years. They gave up 59 touchdowns last year in 17 games.
— Kyler Murray was 38-49-1 as the QB in Arizona, losing his only playoff game; now he plays for the Vikings, a team that went 14-3 with Sam Darnold at QB two years ago, but they let him walk and Seattle won a Super Bowl. JJ McCarthy was 6-4 as Minnesota’s QB last year.
Coach Kevin O’Connell is 43-27 in four years with the Vikings, but 0-2 in playoff games; he needs one of the QB’s to emerge as a star so he can get off his playoff schneid.
— NFL has had a 17-game season for the last five years; in only one of those five years has the NFC South champ won 10+ games. Last year, three teams tied for first place, at 8-9.
— Before the Buffalo Bills hired Sean McDermott as their coach, they had missed the playoffs 17 years in a row. They made the playoffs eight of the last nine years but didn’t get to a Super Bowl, so they told McDermott to take a hike and promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-SD/Wsh/Chi
AL: Bronx, White Sox, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-Guardians-A’s
