Great set of questions in this week’s mailbag, so let’s dive in on some answers.
Cincinnati Bengals
From M (@Four22M): Bengals looking at Kirk? Chiefs looking at Tyreek?
M, in both cases, I’d say nothing is imminent—but there’s time.
For Cincinnati, there’s reason to be confident that Jake Browning can help the Bengals tread water for three months, until Joe Burrow (they hope) returns. Browning went 4–3 in seven starts in 2023 to keep Cincinnati in the race after Burrow sustained a wrist injury. Can Browning do that again? Well, Cincinnati’s Week 15 game against the Ravens is Dec. 14, three months to the date of Burrow’s injury. The Bengals have 11 games between now and then. If Browning goes 6–5, they’ll be 8–5 with the Ravens, Dolphins, Cardinals and Browns left on the schedule.
Now, here’s the thing: I think every year you have to take a quarterback like Burrow into the playoffs is precious and should be protected. Assuming his rehab goes well, Cincinnati still has that chance. So I think it’s on them to preserve that chance. So if it looks like Browning won’t be able to give you enough, I think it is worth calling the Falcons on Kirk Cousins or the Giants on Jameis Winston. Either way, they do need depth.
Regarding the Chiefs and Tyreek Hill, if the Dolphins keep sliding from contention, and Hill continues to show his frustration, this would obviously bear watching. I think a few teams would take the risk, and that it’d almost take someone who has a background with Hill to do it, which, of course, would be the Chiefs. That, of course, is if their receivers struggle, after Xavier Worthy comes back (Rashee Rice is a different type of player when it comes to this conversation). So a lot of ifs there, but not impossible.
Los Angeles Rams
From Zach Fogelman (@FogelmanZach): Are the Rams going to bring in anyone to help the DB room?
Zach, I’ve heard this saying from the forward-thinking Rams over the past few years—and I hope I’m not butchering this too much—corners are more speed bumps than stop signs in today’s NFL. The basic premise is that stocking your defensive front and being able to pressure the quarterback while his receivers hit those speed bumps is much easier than trying to find stop signs for each of the skill players on the field.
Look at the Rams’ recent history, and you’ll see it. Over the past three drafts, L.A. has had nine top-100 picks. GM Les Snead and coach Sean McVay have used five of those nine picks on players for their defensive front (Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Jared Verse, Braden Fiske and Josaiah Stewart), and zero on corners. In fact, since trading for Jalen Ramsey in-season in 2019, Snead hasn’t taken a single corner in the top 100, signifying the shift in strategy.
And the proof that it’s working is showing up in the team’s results. The Rams have effectively replaced Aaron Donald with depth and balance across their front, thanks to the massive investment in defensive tackles and edge players, and have seen a debilitating effect by being less aggressive in stocking the corner spot post-Ramsey.
So, sure, I could see the Rams adding a defensive back. But they’re O.K. at safety with Kam Kinchens, Kam Curl and Quentin Lake, and I’d guess any addition at corner would be to augment, rather than overhaul, what they already have.
Los Angeles Chargers
From idk (@fell0ut): Why didn’t Jesse Minter get a head coaching interview this past offseason, and how can the Chargers continue to keep him a secret?
Hey, Don’t Know, that’s an easy question to answer: It’s because he’s a bright young defensive coach, rather than a bright young offensive coach. And to back that up, I looked at recent history.
• Over the last 10 hiring cycles (2016 to 2025), 24 of the 70 full-time head-coach hires were guys with primarily a defensive background.
• Of those 24, only 11 were first-time head coaches who didn’t play in the NFL.
• Eight of those 11 hires happened in the first six years of this window (2016 to 2021), meaning just three such guys were hired as head coaches over the past four cycles.
What that tells you is that a young defensive coach who doesn’t have the on-field bona fides of a Mike Vrabel or DeMeco Ryans has to be really, really good to get his shot. The three most recent ones were Mike Macdonald (Seattle), Jonathan Gannon (Arizona) and Matt Eberflus (Chicago). And the upshot for Minter specifically would be his tie to Macdonald.
Those two were together under John Harbaugh and Ravens defensive coordinators Dean Pees and Wink Martindale for four years. Then, in 2021, Macdonald went to Michigan and Minter to Vanderbilt. After that, when Macdonald took the reins from Martindale in Baltimore in 2022, Minter replaced him in Ann Arbor. Last year, Macdonald got his shot in Seattle, while Minter followed Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers.
So if Macdonald continues to make his way in Seattle—he won 10 games in his first year, and his second year is off to a promising start—it’ll be easy for owners to wrap their arms around the idea of hiring Minter over someone with head-coaching experience or from the offensive side. And that’s presuming that Minter keeps doing a great job in L.A., which, to be clear, he has since getting there with Jim Harbaugh.
Monday night was the latest example of it, with the Chargers’ defense dominating, even after Khalil Mack went down with a wrist injury.
Tom Brady
From John Richardson (@JohnIsaac55): Are the owners upset at the level of inside information Tom Brady is getting as a minority owner?
John, there’s definitely annoyance with it, particularly from the teams in direct competition with the Raiders. I asked one rival exec about it, and he said, “Even though he doesn’t go to production meetings, he does observe a lot as a broadcaster. That, combined with his vast knowledge, probably does help them somehow.” I then told him that Brady is in production meetings this year. The exec responded, “Well, that’s more of a challenge!”
One ownership source was more direct about it.
“The first question, when he got a couple of percentage points in that team, was going to be, What sort of involvement is going to have?” he said. “We now know he’s very involved. He’s in the coaches’ booth. He sat in on all the coaching interviews and essentially hired the new guys. So with that being the case, the second question is, Is it an advantage to be in the production meetings? And, of course, it is. So you can’t dispute he’s very involved, and you can’t dispute he has an advantage. So should the league not allow him to do it?”
Over the years, in big-picture discussions I’ve had with 49ers GM John Lynch, he has often referenced how much he learned through his job as a color guy on Fox broadcasts, with most of his information coming from production meetings where he’d get to know the ins and outs of how coaches and front office people run their organizations.
Then, there’s the access Brady has to players and staff that could help the Raiders down the road in free agency, trades or even with coaching and front-office hires. In that area, Brady essentially is allowed to do what wide-ranging tampering prevents every other team from doing, which to me is as big a deal as any week-to-week strategic advantage the Raiders get.
So why would the league allow it? Well, the league office itself is most concerned with the entertainment product, and having Brady under that tent is considered a huge plus. Think of why ESPN had to break the bank for Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. The NFL wasn’t letting Disney into the Super Bowl rotation unless they had a broadcast team that could make the big game feel even bigger. So, now, you should understand why the NFL is bending over backwards for Brady.
That said, Monday was a peculiar look for the league. And if enough owners are upset over it, then we could see some change.
Houston Texans
From Michael (@micon0224): The hysteria surrounding C.J. Stroud during his rookie season has now turned to crickets regarding his significant regression (comp%-INTs) in 2024 and now this season. What’s the assessment of Stroud’s performance in NFL circles?
Michael, I’d say the reaction is he’s like almost every other young quarterback: beholden, to a large degree, to the circumstances around him.
When he was a rookie, he was playing in a quarterback-friendly system run by Bobby Slowik, a protégé of Kyle Shanahan, behind a veteran offensive line anchored by All-Pro left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Last year, defensive coaches caught on to Slowik’s scheme, things got toxic in the offensive-line room (Tunsil wasn’t the primary culprit, but also wasn’t the solution), and injuries plagued the receiver group (Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell were only together for four games, and combined to miss 21 regular-season games).
With that in mind, the Texans overhauled the offensive coaching staff, with Nick Caley taking the reins from Slowik, and have tried to empower Stroud with more control at the line of scrimmage. They gutted the offensive line room, with rookie Aireontae Ersery taking Tunsil’s all-important spot. And they tried to get younger at receiver, drafting Iowa State teammates Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel in the second round.
So, Stroud had a great rookie year under extraordinary circumstances, took a step back when his luck changed in 2024, and now is working out the kinks as he helps lead the reboot around him. Is it fair to judge him now? Well, he’s an NFL quarterback, and these guys are always microanalyzed that way. I think it’d be smart to wait a bit on drawing any sweeping conclusions on where he is in his development.
Quarterbacks
From Mike Madden (@Mike__Madden): Seriously, why are J.J. and Caleb being fried already but Trevor Lawrence, aka Peyton/Luck spawn, has been average at best for years?
Mike, because J.J. McCarthy and Caleb Williams play in intense major markets where the NFL team is king, and Trevor Lawrence plays in a smaller market in a college football-obsessed area. I think that’s the long and short of it, and that Lawrence would be under plenty of fire if he were leading the Vikings or the Bears.
But to be fair to Lawrence, when we’re discussing quarterbacking circumstances, his certainly haven’t been ideal. He’s in his fifth season, and already on his third head coach, third offensive coordinator and third offensive system. The talent around him has been middle-of-the-pack at best. So let’s see what he can do with Liam Coen and Grant Udinski coaching him, and Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter to throw to, over the next year or two.
Kansas City Chiefs
From Ronnie (@Tray4o): How concerned should we be with the Chiefs this season?
Ronnie, am I concerned that they will be out of the race in December? I am not.
Am I concerned they might not quite be in the same stratosphere as they have been? Sure.
Still, I think it’s awfully early to sound the alarm. Xavier Worthy got hurt in the opener. Rashee Rice is suspended for the first six weeks of the season. Josh Simmons is a rookie. With health, reinstatement and growth in those three cases, respectively, we could be looking at a much different offense in November than what you have right now, and the defense has been fine thus far.
I’ve made this comparison before, and I’ll make it again—these Chiefs are what the Patriots used to be, and part of that is using the first month of the season to work things out and figure out what kind of team they need to be in that given year. To illustrate the point, I’ll give you a couple of interesting facts about New England’s teams. In their six championship years, they went a combined 14–10 over the first four weeks of the season. And through their run of eight consecutive AFC title games from 2011 to 2018, there were four 2–2 starts.
For the Chiefs, the next few weeks will be about survival. Between now and their Week 10 bye, they have games against the Ravens, Lions, Commanders and Bills. If they can get there at 6–3 or even 5–4, Worthy gets healthy, Rice returns, and Simmons ascends, I think Kansas City will be just fine.
Tush push
From Ben (@samuelslim2): How does the league not crack down on what’s been happening with the tush push? Multiple penalties almost every time but somehow rules don’t apply for that play?
Ben, I’m starting to come around on this.
My initial position, which I’ve maintained until now, is that (within reason) a rule should not change based on the overwhelming success of a single team. Thus, I’ve been pretty staunchly against any change to ban the tush push, particularly because I don’t think you’d legislate an innovation in the passing game the way you’re trying to in this case.
What changed for me was what Fox’s Dean Blandino pointed out on the broadcast: This play has become way too hard to officiate. The players on offense were clearly jumping the snap. On top of that, there was the loose ball that Drue Tranquill came out of a pile with against the Eagles. Because the players’ splits are so tight, and the play is so bang-bang, it’s tough to call false starts. Because the end of the play resembles a pileup on a freeway, there was no angle on a potential Jalen Hurts fumble.
So, allowing the play has given the offense a free step on the defense and taken away one of the few ways the defense can combat the strategy (by knocking the ball loose).
Then, again, maybe I’m just sick of talking about this topic.
Chicago Bears
From Logan Franz (@LivingLikeLogan): At what point is it acceptable to press the panic button? For all struggling teams, but particularly the Bears?
Logan, you have a new head coach, new offensive and defensive systems, a second-year quarterback, a revamped offensive line, and you just lost your best defensive player in the second quarter of a game against one of the NFL’s most talented offenses.
I understand that “just give it time” doesn’t work when we’ve got airtime and column inches to fill. But it doesn’t seem like two weeks is enough to make any final determinations.
From WindyCityTwins (@WindyCityTwins): Record prediction for Bears based on shaky 0–2 start? What do you think Ben Johnson does if it continues as far as roster adjustments?
Windy, I’ve felt all along that they’ll be in the seven- or eight-win range. I think the offense will get better over time, and the defense is a lot better than it showed in Detroit.
Cleveland Browns
From Just Mark (@ElleryCelereee): What are the Browns’ plans for QB next season? Are they looking to draft one?
Just Mark, the Browns’ top guys traveled to see a few of the top college quarterbacks over Labor Day weekend, and I’d expect that to continue. That doesn’t mean this season won’t get to a point where Cleveland wants to take a look at Dillon Gabriel or even Shedeur Sanders. I have a hard time envisioning something happening with either of those two over the next four months that stops the Browns from taking a quarterback high in next April’s draft.
Of course, there needs to be a quarterback there that Cleveland deems worth taking in the first round, and the Browns will need to be picking high enough to get him (or high enough to be in range to trade up for him). What will help is having the extra first-rounder they got from Jacksonville in the Travis Hunter trade, which gives them a second swing at having a high first-rounder, and the capital to move up.
New York Jets
From alise (@ajdavis22800): If Tyrod plays well on Sunday, do the Jets bench Justin?
Alise, no offense, but what were you saying six or seven days ago?
Justin Fields looked great in the opener. He didn’t look great against the Bills on Sunday. And what I’ve heard from everyone who’s coached Fields going back to college is that he needs runway to play. Based on the contract the Jets gave him, it’s been their intention to give him that. So I can’t imagine one bad Sunday will change all that, even if I would say we’ve already seen that Aaron Glenn’s going to do things his own way.
Detroit Lions
From doug mccready (@dgmccready): The Lions chose not to add an edge player and were sticking with Marcus Davenport. He is hurt once again. Could this cost them?
Sure, it could, Doug. The Lions loved what they were getting from Marcus Davenport over the summer. And this isn’t a season-threatening situation. Yet, staying healthy has always been the most significant question with Davenport. And here we are, two weeks in, and it’s the question again.
So my guess is just like last year, when GM Brad Holmes scooped up Za’Darius Smith from Cleveland after the Aidan Hutchinson injury, edge rusher will be on the Lions’ radar when they’re looking at in-season additions over the next couple of months.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bengals’ Best-Case Scenario Until a Possible Joe Burrow Return.
