NEWSLETTER
A friend text me this morning to celebrate the 16th anniversary of our meeting in the dorms at SIU Carbondale. Sixteen years of friendship is a long time. So if you have a long-time friend you haven’t reached out to recently, I’d suggest you do that. Who knows … it might even make their day.
• This is quite the development:
The @Chiefs are conducting a practice at Arrowhead Stadium with fans socially distanced in the stands and wearing masks. Here's a look from the team. pic.twitter.com/s4BELdTUUT
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 22, 2020
Here’s a look at some of the safety precautions in place at today’s practice. pic.twitter.com/bWplHO1aXk
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) August 22, 2020
Fans are seated in socially-distanced pods on both sidelines and provided with facemasks from our friends at @GEHAHealth pic.twitter.com/vzMmKrmtEe
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) August 22, 2020
• The Kansas City Chiefs are practicing in front of fans today. And as far as I can tell, the Chiefs are the only team to have done this at this point of camp. The defending Super Bowl champs are using today as a test run to see how to operate with fans in the stands. As one might expect, fans attending today’s event are seated in a spread-out fashion and required to wear masks. If things go well, perhaps the Chiefs can go through with their plan to host games at Arrowhead Stadium at 22 percent capacity.
• I’m not holding my breath, but I’ll leave myself open to the possibility of outdoor stadiums hosting games at some point this season. In recent weeks, I’ve seen highlights of overseas baseball games with spread out fans in the stands. So long as all safety precautions are taken (and taken seriously by spectators) there’s a non-zero chance it can happen. Maybe I’m clinging to the tiniest bit of hope – it wouldn’t be the first time – but seeing the Chiefs take necessary measures in an attempt feels like a good start.
• This tweet from Windy City Gridiron’s Robert Schmitz got me thinking:
Through 4 #Bears practices, I don’t know how to feel about the QB situation.
On one hand, Mitch sounds like he’s played better than Foles so far
OTOH, he’s still overthrowing deep passes and running out of bounds (sounds like 2019)
Hopefully one establishes themselves soon.
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) August 22, 2020
• I’ll be honest: I”m a bit lost, too. For starters, it’s a real drag that we’re not going to get eyes on Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles before the season opener. Between closed training camp and canceled preseason games, opportunities to judge the QB competition for ourselves with our own eyes are non-existent. So that stinks. Even if we had eyes on the situation, I’m not sure how I’d feel. We’re just four practices into this thing. I don’t feel great about the situation, but I’m not sure how I was supposed to feel. Can you really feel something after four padded practices? Or would that be considered jumping to conclusions?
• Signing Jimmy Graham as a free agent and drafting Cole Kmet with the first of their two second-round picks were controversial moves in some circles. But to the Bears’ credit, they certainly went above and beyond to rebuild the tight ends room. With Graham and Kmet at the top of the depth chart, it’s fun to see that they’re both rubbing off on each other:
Bears TE Jimmy Graham on his early impressions of Cole Kmet: "His football intelligence and his ability to soak in these plays and understand his assignments and to understand football and defenses is extremely impressive."
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) August 20, 2020
Jimmy Graham said of Cole Kmet: "The amount of potential that the kid has and the amount of talent that he has is truly unbelievable.”
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) August 20, 2020
Jimmy Graham said he sees a lot of his younger self in Cole Kmet. It's high praise for Kmet, who had a Graham jersey as a kid.
Said Kmet of Graham: "As a fan of football and as a player of the game, it's been pretty special for me being able to learn from a guy like that."
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) August 20, 2020
• I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the Cole Kmet hype train to leave the station. Choo-choo!
• Seeing two rookies on the Bears offense take off would be fun. With that in mind, I find myself intrigued by JJ Stankevitz’s (NBC Sports Chicago) latest Rookie Watch update. Some love for fifth-round receiver Darnell Mooney, whose speed could be a game-changer. More importantly, it sounds like he’s carving out a niche beyond being fast. QB Mitch Trubisky said of Mooney: “We’re putting him in different spots and seeing how much he can handle. He’s doing a good job of separating himself and running the routes and being on the quarterback’s timing.” Being fast is important. Speed kills in the NFL. But that Mooney is doing the right thing on routes gives me hope that he can contribute quicker than we might otherwise expect from a fifth-round pick.
• I’d like to call him Chicago’s very own Air-Rob for the next 4-5 years, if you catch my drift:
Just call him Air-Rob. ✈️ pic.twitter.com/PDijm7oNdm
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 22, 2020
• Danny Trevathan opens up on something he clearly thinks is important:
https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1297195958644744193?s=20
• Goooooooooooood:
Arturas Karnisovas Sees Plenty of Opportunity in the 2020 NBA Drafthttps://t.co/JxMzDNUrzX
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) August 21, 2020
• High school football is back. Kinda:
https://twitter.com/GBraggsJr23/status/1297009348317777926?s=20
Socially distanced water bottles. Talked to three Lake Central dads in the stands. Two had masks on, one did not. They are expecting a big crowd. 25 minutes to kick off and it is pretty sparse. pic.twitter.com/G1h6B5pdJv
— Michael O'Brien (@michaelsobrien) August 21, 2020
Lake Central takes the field. It’s a high school football Friday night in Indiana. pic.twitter.com/i05J1r7lHE
— Michael O'Brien (@michaelsobrien) August 21, 2020
• An update from Canada:
NFL players who opted out had their contracts toll, receiving a $350,000 stipend (high-risk) or $150,000 salary advance (voluntary). CFL players who opt out would be released outright, with veterans receiving a stipend of $6,600; players who don't opt out get additional stipends.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 22, 2020
• If you didn’t catch the big Illinois news last night, mobile registration for sportsbooks in Illinois is back for a few weeks (TBD after that), so if you’ve been looking to start sports betting, the details are here. There’s also a deal at DraftKings for tonight’s Cubs-Sox where you can literally get 100-1 odds on a $1 bet on either team. Thanks for checking it out, and for understanding that this is pretty critical to our revenue picture at BN right now.
