This week in the NFL: Recruiting, relocation and more

by | Dec 15, 2016 | News, Uncategorized |

This week started on a low note as the conversation about cheap shots and player safety reopened following a rough Week 14 filled with three questionable hits, sparking brawls, penalties and likely fines. Not exactly the image that the NFL is trying to portray.

I joined “Outside the Lines” this week to talk cheap shots and the NFL’s attempt to legislate an inherently violent game.

Although there are still two weeks left in 2016, NFL front offices have been gearing up for the upcoming year for months. Starting on January 1, any activity will go towards the 2017 cap. So what does this mean for the teams? I make sense of the salary cap specifics in this week’s column for The MMQB. 

As the playoff race heats up and front offices left in the cold begin looking ahead to 2017’s blank slate, there is another battle brewing: It is go time for agents as the NFL Draft recruiting wave hits its crest.

2016 NFL Draft pick Eli Apple went through this process before the New York Giants selected him as the 10th overall pick. On the night his dreams came true, Eli had those who helped him get to the League by his side, including his family, friends and a crucial member of the team — his agent, Joel Segal. Eli’s mother Annie, a writer and prolific tweeter, joined me on this week’s podcast to reflect on the selection process and all she has learned in her first year as an NFL mom, one filled with ups and downs.

Finally, the NFL convened in Dallas for owners’ meetings this week and relocation was once again the hot topic of conversation. Earlier this year, the Raiders organization and their owner, Mark Davis, walked away from the table big winners: Legislation to provide $750 million in funding to bring an NFL team to Las Vegas briskly made its way through Nevada legislature before being signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval. Davis and his crew are hoping to receive league approval to bid farewell to Oakland and pack their bags for the bright lights of Vegas.

Commissioner Roger Goodell may not be thrilled with the idea of this move either. The League has been trying to distance the game from gambling, and relocating a franchise to the gambling capital of the world certainly wouldn’t help their efforts. Raiders’ Davis will still need the approval of other owners to relocate, but for now he’ll have to wait and see.