People find pre-season not so fun. When I first watched a full pre-season game, I thought to myself, 'how can a football game be so boring?' Wins and losses don't matter in preseason, so what's they point of watching it? Then one day, I was watching First Take on ESPN, and I heard Skip Bayless's view for preseason games. Skip Bayless, who is now a member of Fox Sports said, that he doesn't look for overall stats or wins and losses record in preseason games. He looks for the players who spark on his tv. He looks for young players who play with a lot of energy and make play after play throughout the season. Since then, I have been watching preseason games as Skip does! Believe it or not, I now enjoy watching it. I now look forward to watching preseason games. Last year, I wanted to see how Jimmy Garaopplo and Jacoby Brissett of the Patriots were going to perform in the preseason. This year, there are five players that I want to see play in the preseason. Let's talk about them!
Is Dalvin Cook going to be good for the Vikings?
Last year, Dalvin Cook was taken by the Minnesota Vikings with the 41st pick in the second round. The Vikings drafted him to replace Adrian Peterson as their star running back. Cook got to play only the first four games of the 2017 season before he got hurt and was sidelined for the remainder of the season. In the four games that he played, he didn't get to put extraordinary numbers or just wow people with his talents as a running back, but he did get to show some flashes of a good running back. His best game as a pure-runner was the first game of his career. In week one against the New Orleans Saints, Dalvin Cook had 22 carries for 127 yards, and he averaged 5.77 yards per carry. However, his best overall game was the week three game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in which he had 169 yards from the scrimmage, as he ran 27 times for 97 rushing yards, and caught five passes for 72 receiving yards. While his yards per carry weren't as impressive as week one, but he did get to catch all five passes that were targeted in his direction.
Eric Decker is here in New England! Can he be as good as Chris Hogan?
In 2017, the receiving core was not a problem for the New England Patriots. They had Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan, Brandin Cooks, Malcolm Mitchell, and Rob Gronkowski to throw the ball to. From the first week of the offseason until now, the Patriots haven't gotten any good news for their receiving core. In the offseason, the Patriots lost Brandin Cooks and Danny Amendola to other teams, then later they got the news of Julian Edelman getting suspended for the first four games of the season, and then they had to cut two receivers, including Malcolm Mitchell, because they were just physically broken down. However last week, the Patriots' fans finally got some good news at the receiver position, after the team signed Eric Decker to a one-year deal.
Eric Decker? How is he going to be a difference maker for the Patriots? He isn't what he used to be! Absolutely, Eric Decker isn't what he used to be, but he is still a very smart player. He does possess a big body. Decker has been to the playoffs four times in his career; three times with the Denver Broncos and one time with the Tennesse Titans. He has won playoff games with average and below average quarterbacks, such as Tim Tebow and Marcus Mariota. In the preseason, we should watch how Decker is running the routes that Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels want him to run. We should also look for what kind of chemistry he is going to build with Brady, and if he is capable of becoming as good of a fit for the Patriots as Chris Hogan has been. Chris Hogan has caught some big passes from Tom Brady and has had several big playoff games for the Patriots. If Decker can somehow match that, the Patriots will end up finding another diamond in the rough!
What is going on with Martavis Bryant?
Another receiver to keep an eye on this preseason is Martavis Bryant. There was a time when it would be laughable for anyone to say that Martavis Bryant might not be good enough to make the roster for a team. In 2014 when Bryant was a rookie, he caught 26 passes for 549 yards and eight touchdowns in ten games. Yes, the numbers don't sound that interesting but he did all that that as a third option in the Pittsburgh Steelers' high-flying offense. He then went on to have a decent 2015 season, but then he missed the entire 2016 season due to suspension. That was the beginning of the end for Bryant's time in Pittsburgh. After having a mediocre 2017 campaign, he was traded by the Steelers to the Oakland Raiders for a third-round pick. Many of us believe that Jon Gruden and the Oakland Raiders will get to turn around the career of Martavis Bryant.
Since Jon Gruden became the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, he has done everything to make the offense favorable for his young quarterback, Derek Carr. He brought in two known receivers in Jordy Nelson and Bryant, who are going to join Amari Cooper in the Raiders' wide receiving core. Recently, one of the reporters asked Jon Gruden about how Martavis Bryant has been doing in his offense. Gruden's response wasn't so optimistic at all, as he said.., "He (Bryant) needs to show up to work." When he first said that, I thought Bryant was just not showing up to training camp and other team practices, but what he meant was that Bryant wasn't giving his hundred percent. Today, James Jones who has played as a wide receiver for the Raiders before said, that Bryant is having a tough time understanding Jon Gruden's playbook. That is not a good sign at all if you are Martavis Bryant! Hopefully, he gets to understand the playbook once the preseason gets going, and find a way to not miss a roster spot with the Raiders. After all, the Raiders gave a third-round pick to acquire him in the offseason.
Is Saquon Barkley the real deal?
There was a buzz when Adrian Peterson was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the first-round in 2007. There was a buzz when Todd Gurley was drafted by the St.Louis/LA Rams in 2015. There was a lot of noise when Ezekiel Elliott entered the 2016 draft and got selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the fourth overall pick. In this year's draft, the New York Giants made noise by drafting Saquon Barkley with the second overall pick. Many are saying that Barkley is going to be the savior of the Giants and their below-average offense from the past three seasons. Some are saying that he is going to be even better than Tiki Barber who played ten seasons for the New York Giants. However, one of the greats of all-time, Eric Dickerson said that he is not buying the Saquon Barkley hype. His reasoning is that Penn State, where Barkley went to school, doesn't have a history of producing even good running backs, let alone great running backs.
Tomorrow against the Cleveland Browns, we will get to see Barkley's potential. We might not get to see everything that Barkley has to offer, but we will get to see few things that he can. Do you remember Ezekiel Elliott's preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks? In one of his runs, Elliott made a contact against Kam Chancellor, who is one of the NFL's hardest hitter. That collision didn't bring Elliott to the ground right away. He ran for a few more yards before he went down to the ground with Chancellor. Most runners avoid getting tackled by Kam Chancellor. Elliott wanted to get hit by Chancellor and show that he is not afraid of anybody. That's the type of attitude we should expect from Saquon Barkley if he wants to be the next great running back.
Baker Mayfield needs an amazing preseason!
Baker Mayfield hasn't played a down in the NFL yet, but I'm already his fan. I'm not a fan of his antics on the field and the mistakes he has made away from the field. It's his attitude that I like. It is his faith and believe in himself that I like. Recently he went to two shows on Fox Sports 1. He first did a segment on 'Undisputed' with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe, and then a segment on 'The Herd' with Colin Cowherd. During his segment on The Herd, Colin Cowherd asked Baker Mayfield some tough questions. Baker answered all of them confidently while looking straight into Colin's eyes. Colin also made some statements in which he said to Baker's face that he can never be as good as Russell Wilson. For his response, Baker politely stated that people who make such remarks about him don't know him. He also went onto say that before he got drafted number one overall by the Cleveland Browns, many thought that he might not even be drafted in the first round. Finally, he admitted that he has made mistakes throughout his high-school and college career, but he has definitely learned a lot from them.
Baker Mayfield has done a lot of talking, but now it's time to prove himself on the field. He did have a great college career, had great numbers, and won the Heisman Trophy in 2017. However, he failed to win the big college game for his Oklahoma Sooners against the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2018 Rose Bowl. Even after losing the big game that Baker and his Sooners should have won, the Cleveland Browns decided to pick him number one overall. They see a lot of potential in him and they believe he is the leader who the Browns need to succeed in the NFL. He might not win a Super Bowl for them in the next five years, but with his leadership skills, he can make the Browns a competitive franchise. If he wants to be the starting quarterback from week one of the regular season, then he will need to have an excellent preseason. I think he will light it up in the preseason and put the pressure on the Browns coaching staff to start him over Tyrod Taylor. If you are a Browns' fan, then you want Baker Mayfield to start from day one.
Dalvin Cook, Eric Decker, Martavis Bryant, Saquon Barkley, and Baker Mayfield are the five players that I'm most excited to see in the preseason. That doesn't mean I'm not going to watch other players in the preseason. There are many players I want to see and play well in the preseason. I encourage you all to watch it and enjoy all the players giving their best effort to make the final 53-men roster.
So glad football is back!
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