I hate to do that popping out of the weekend, however I’ve to begin off right now’s publication with some unhealthy information: For the thirty first straight 12 months, EA Sports activities is not going to be placing a kicker on the quilt of its newest Madden recreation.

I do not know who’s going to be on the quilt, however EA launched a teaser video right now and after watching it 19 instances, I am now 99.9% certain that the participant (or gamers) on the quilt this 12 months is not going to be a kicker. The teaser video options two goats and I will allow you to do the maths to determine who it should be. 

You recognize what, I like math, so I will go forward and do it: goat = G.O.A.T = Biggest Of All Time = Tom Brady goes to be on the quilt. Nonetheless, there are two goats within the teaser video, so I am assuming there will probably be two gamers on the quilt or possibly two variations of Brady: one for the Buccaneers and one for the Patriots. 

Anyway, the quilt of the sport will formally be popping out on June 17, not that I care although, since a kicker will not be on the quilt. Alright, that is sufficient online game speak, let’s get to the rundown. 

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1. At present’s present: Monday mailbag

Through the NFL offseason, we prefer to spice issues up every week on the Decide Six Podcast by including a listener mailbag each Friday and since we did not really do one this previous Friday, we did one for right now as an alternative. 

Our mailbag episodes are fairly easy: We learn listener questions throughout the present after which reply as a lot of these questions as potential. Questions may be about actually something. I imply, I am fairly certain there was one time the place we spent the complete podcast debating which baseball guidelines would work in soccer. If you wish to submit a query, all you must do is go to Apple Podcasts (click on right here) and depart a five-star evaluation.

Here is one query that we answered in right now’s mailbag: 

Q:  If you happen to may create a ‘tremendous workforce’ however utilizing solely gamers from one division, which division would you select? Solely rule: It’s a must to take a good variety of gamers from every of the 4 groups and never simply the highest workforce. Bonus query: If all 8 divisions did this what division would win a ‘tremendous workforce’ type playoff match?

A: If I’m requested to create an NFL workforce, I do not care what the principles are for creating that workforce, the primary participant I am going after is Patrick Mahomes, which signifies that for this query, I am taking the AFC West. An lively NFL roster has 53 gamers and as famous within the guidelines of the query, every AFC West workforce has to have at the least 13 gamers on the divisional tremendous workforce. To make my tremendous workforce, I am principally going to take the Chiefs whole offense, then use the Chargers and Broncos for the protection. After that, I will use my 14 Raiders gamers for particular groups functions and to fill the backend of the roster. As for who would win a divisional tremendous match, Will Brinson made a robust case for the NFC West and though I like my AFC West tremendous workforce lots, I believe he may be proper. 

To hearken to the remainder of the mailbag — and to comply with the podcast — you should definitely click on right here. 

2. Packers CEO retains saying odd issues concerning the Aaron Rodgers state of affairs

Lower than 10 days in the past, Packers CEO Mark Murphy wrote on the workforce’s web site that in relation to the Aaron Rodgers state of affairs, “the much less either side say publicly, the higher.” Apparently, Murphy has determined to not take his personal recommendation as a result of he appears to have one thing new to say about Rodgers each time he opens his mouth in public. 

• On June 5, Murphy mentioned that the Rodgers state of affairs is dividing the workforce’s fan base. If you happen to’re attempting to get on somebody’s good facet, that is positively not the way you do it. 
• Over the weekend, Murphy referred to as Rodgers a “difficult fella” as a result of former Packers common supervisor Ted Thompson used to name him that. If you happen to’re attempting to get on somebody’s good facet, quoting somebody who handed away in January in all probability is not the best way to do it (Thompson died on Jan. 21 at age 68). 

CBS Sports activities NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has been watching this example intently and he thinks that the Packers are being petty AND performing in poor style.  

Here is JLC on the Packers from his column right now: 

“It is virtually like they really feel as if one way or the other every foolish assertion and misstep goes to shift public opinion of their favor. It is like they maintain doubling down on a shedding wager, going out of their approach to additional alienate one of the crucial storied members of their iconic franchise exactly on the time when this already-sensitive state of affairs is headed to its most delicate stage.

It is like they assume their followers and “shareholders” are fools. It is like they can not assist themselves, getting of their little pictures and taking part in their little passive-aggressive video games and offering fodder and gas at a time when they need to be displaying grace and sophistication, behind the scenes and in entrance of the digicam. Is that this some sort of recreation for Murphy? Is the Packers president and CEO having fun with this far an excessive amount of? Honest inquiries to ask after the most recent antics out of Inexperienced Bay.”

With out Rodgers, La Canfora thinks the Packers are a six-win workforce at finest. If you wish to take a look at his whole scathing tackle how Inexperienced Bay has dealt with the state of affairs with Rodgers, you should definitely click on right here. 

3. Kyler Murray has a hilarious clarification for why he isn’t a Cowboys fan

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was born and raised in Texas, which implies should you needed to guess who his favourite NFL workforce was whereas he was rising up, you’d in all probability assume it was the Cowboys. Nonetheless, that isn’t the case. 

Throughout a current interview with Sports activities Illustrated, Murray revealed that he was not a Cowboys fan whereas he was rising up after which he revealed why and it was sort of hilarious. 

“They had been at all times ass,” Murray mentioned.

Very blunt, but additionally very correct. Murray was born in 1997 and in his lifetime, the Cowboys solely have three playoff wins they usually’ve NEVER performed in an NFC Championship Sport in that point interval. As a matter of reality, the TEXANS have extra playoff wins (4) in Murray’s lifetime than the Cowboys, so if he was going to be a fan of a workforce in Texas, it in all probability would have made extra sense to decide on Houston (For the file, Murray was a Vikings fan rising up). 

In fact, should you pay attention to a different quarterback (Dak Prescott), this may be the 12 months the place the Cowboys aren’t ass. In a current interview, Dak mentioned that two key Cowboys gamers are trying good to date this offseason. 

• On Ezekiel Elliott: “Zeke appears nice. He is in one of the best form of his life — trying quick. Everyone’s seen the clips of him understanding independently together with his working again coach. His cuts, simply how explosive he’s.”
• On CeeDee Lamb: “My expectations are super-high. I am so excited for CeeDee… He is a particular playmaker that we’re privileged to have and he’ll be big-time and positively have a breakout season.”

By the best way, my favourite a part of this whole Kyler state of affairs is that the Cowboys and Cardinals really play one another this 12 months. The 2 groups will probably be assembly up in Dallas in Week 17 and at that time, we’ll discover out if Dak was proper about his teammates or if Kyler was proper concerning the Cowboys at all times being ass. 

4. Predicting each recreation on the Browns‘ 2021 schedule

Now that the month of June is right here, which means the lifeless a part of the NFL offseason is nearly upon us and though issues can get sort of boring throughout that interval, we’ll maintain issues spicy round right here by going via and predicting each recreation on every workforce’s 2021 schedule. 

There are 32 groups and we’ll be doing one workforce per day till we make it via each workforce. At present, we’ll proceed our run via the AFC North by taking a more in-depth take a look at the Cleveland Browns. 

Our Patrik Walker went via Cleveland’s whole schedule and picked out all of the video games the Browns are going to win and all of the video games they’ll lose. 

Here is a take a look at how Walker sees the Browns doing in three key video games: 

• Week 1: Browns at Chiefs. “If the rematch is as explosive as the unique, the NFL is in for a deal with. This time round, it is the Browns determining the right way to end what they almost did in January.” Prediction: Cleveland 34-31 over Kansas Metropolis (Be aware from Breech: The Browns have not gained a recreation in Week 1 since 2004).  
• Week 8: Steelers at Browns. “It is a massive, massive recreation. The Steelers are on the lookout for revenge for principally being bullied at Heinz Subject within the playoffs, however they will not land it within the first assembly with the Browns” Prediction: Cleveland 30-24 over Pittsburgh. 
• Week 12: Browns at Ravens. “That is the primary of two consecutive video games the Browns will play towards the Ravens they usually’ll drop the primary matchup on the street earlier than avenging themselves after the bye — once they’re rested and reloaded.” Prediction: Baltimore 24-20 over Cleveland.

Total, Walker is predicting that the Browns will finish the season with an 11-6 file and if that occurs, they’re going to simply be headed to the playoffs for the second 12 months in a row, which might be sort of a giant deal in Cleveland, as a result of it could mark the primary time because the 1988 and 1989 seasons that they’ve made the postseason in consecutive years. 

Somebody who clearly agrees with Walker’s take is Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce. Over the weekend, Kelce mentioned he thought the Chiefs and Browns had been “neck and neck.”

“They’re positively a contender, undoubtedly,” Kelce mentioned of Cleveland, through the Akron Beacon Journal. “I believe the Browns and Chiefs are positively neck and neck.”

Somebody who would not agree with Walker’s evaluation is the man who wager $700 on the Browns to have the worst file within the NFL this 12 months (Critically, somebody made that wager and if it hits, he’ll make a $175,000 revenue). 

If you wish to see Walker’s prediction for every recreation, click on right here to take a look at his whole story. Coming tomorrow, we’ll be ending up our run via the AFC North by predicting each single Bengals recreation. 

5. Underneath-the-radar gamers within the NFC who could possibly be 2021 stars 

Yearly within the NFL, we see a number of gamers escape and develop into large stars. One factor that is not straightforward is attempting to foretell who these breakout stars are going to be, however our Patrik Walker tried to try this anyway.

Walker went via each NFC roster after which did his finest to select one under-the-radar participant who may develop into a star in 2021. Let’s take a look at a number of gamers from his listing: 

• Cowboys: DE Randy Gregory. “Gregory is basically the starter reverse DeMarcus Lawrence, setting him as much as lastly be what the Cowboys needed once they used a second-round choose on him… Toss in a contract 12 months in 2021 and Gregory is principally standing in a pool of gasoline whereas holding a lit match in his tooth.”
• Packers: QB Jordan Love. “I might be remiss if I ignored the very fact Aaron Rodgers was absent from obligatory minicamp and seems dug in on by no means taking one other snap in Inexperienced Bay. Meaning, except he budges, it is the Jordan Love present in 2021, and whereas the decision is out on if Love could be a franchise QB within the NFL, he is getting the offseason reps and has weapons like Davante Adams and Aaron Jones to assist set him up for achievement.”
• Buccaneers: WR Scotty Miller. “With so many starters returning in 2021 to defend the championship earned in Tremendous LV, it isn’t straightforward determining who may escape for the Buccaneers this coming season, however Scott(y) Miller positively matches the invoice. A sixth-round choose in 2019, Miller was tasked with sharing the load with expertise like Antonio Brown, Mike Evans, Rob Gronkowski, Chris Godwin and regardless of that, he was nonetheless in a position to carve out a distinct segment for himself en path to producing 501 receiving yards with three touchdowns — a 300-yard improve in manufacturing over his rookie season.”

If you wish to see the remainder of Walker’s listing you should definitely click on right here. If you wish to take a look at Tyler Sullivan’s listing of under-the-radar AFC gamers who may have a breakout season, you should definitely click on right here.  

6. Speedy-fire roundup

It was a busy weekend within the NFL and because it’s almost inconceivable to maintain observe of all the pieces that occurred, I went forward and put collectively a roundup for you. 

• Stephon Gilmore skipping minicamp. It is not typically you hear a couple of Patriots participant skipping obligatory minicamp, however that is precisely what Gilmore is doing this week. So why is he a no-show? The nook is headed into the ultimate 12 months of his contract and he apparently needs a brand new deal. Gilmore can also be rehabbing from {a partially} torn quad. The Patriots are allowed to high-quality Gilmore as much as $93,085 if he skips all three days of minicamp. 
• Eagles add one other QB. Nick Mullens is headed to Philadelphia after being signed to a deal on Monday. The previous 49ers QB will be a part of Jalen Hurts and Joe Flacco within the Eagles’ QB room. Mullens began eight video games final 12 months for the 49ers and went 2-6 in these video games. 
• Le’Veon Bell is beefing with Andy Reid. Bell is seemingly upset with Reid for some motive that he will not reveal. Over the weekend, Bell wrote on Twitter that he would slightly retire than ever play for the Chiefs coach once more. For the most recent particulars on this spat, you should definitely click on right here. 
• Dolphins LB lands $39 million extension. It was a very good weekend for Jerome Baker, who signed a three-year, $39 million extension with Miami on Sunday. The 24-year-old’s contract contains $28.4 million in assured cash. The 2018 third-round choose has quietly put collectively a strong profession in Miami, which incorporates main the workforce in tackles in every of the previous two seasons.   
• Rams new stadium appears to have one main downside. The Rams lastly bought a style of what it should be prefer to have followers of their new stadium and it did not style good. Apparently, getting out of SoFi Stadium was a visitors nightmare for the 30,000 followers who attended the workforce’s minicamp final week. As a result of pandemic, this was the primary time the stadium had hosted that enormous of a crowd. Whoever’s in command of the visitors state of affairs in that space goes to wish to get one thing found out earlier than the season begins. 
• Packers threw all the pieces at Jordan Love at minicamp. If Love has to play this 12 months, the Packers wish to be certain he is prepared. Throughout minicamp, Matt LaFleur threw his quarterback straight into the deep finish by making Love run the complete playbook. “We put in our offense and sort of threw all the pieces at him,” LaFleur mentioned. Love took all of the first-team reps at minicamp and he may find yourself getting all of the reps at coaching camp if Aaron Rodgers would not present up. 
• Jets need Jamison Crowder to take a monstrous pay reduce. The receiver is scheduled to make $10 million in 2021, however the Jets need him to chop that in half, in keeping with ESPN. None of Crowder’s wage is assured, so if he would not conform to the pay reduce, there is a good likelihood the Jets will find yourself dumping him. As of proper now, it seems Crowder has determined to simply accept the pay reduce, in keeping with NFL.com.