Lower than per week after interviewing City Meyer on his yacht, Jacksonville Jaguars proprietor Shad Khan has landed the large fish.

Meyer will quickly conform to a take care of the Jacksonville Jaguars to deliver them again to relevancy with future franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He turns into arguably probably the most high-profile college-to-pros coach in NFL historical past since Barry Switzer, bringing with him three nationwide championships and a fame of having the ability to construct powerhouse applications.

The upcoming Meyer rent provides rapid legitimacy and relevancy to a moribund Jags franchise that not even the 2017 AFC title recreation look may earn it. Little doubt Meyer will command a wage within the high 5 of all NFL coaches, however the billionaire Khan has thought of that as an funding he’ll instantly get a return on through ticket gross sales.

Make no mistake: Meyer can have full management of the operation. He is been assembling his teaching workers the previous couple of weeks, as our Jason La Canfora has reported. And it is thought that he will not flip the insides of the crew an excessive amount of early on.

Meyer will not attempt to chew greater than he can chew in Yr 1, and that features hand-picking a GM. As of now, the expectation is Trent Baalke, who has been the interim GM since Dave Caldwell was fired and who has been coming into work day by day since Doug Marrone was fired, will stay because the GM. Baalke has greater than 20 years of NFL expertise as a scout and personnel chief. He ran the 49ers from 2011-2016, the place he and Jim Harbaugh took San Francisco to 3 consecutive NFC title video games and one Tremendous Bowl look.

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Together with interviewing Baalke, the Jags additionally interviewed Jerry Reese, Louis Riddick, Rick Smith, Ray Farmer and Terry Fontenot.

If Yr 1 is not as profitable as these in Jacksonville need it to be, Meyer can pull the plug on Baalke. Then, with a yr of NFL expertise underneath his belt, he can go after the GM of his liking.

However one factor that Meyer ought to demand—or, higher, what the gravity of Meyer’s rent ought to demand—is extra sources poured into soccer operations. Sources across the league instructed me in December the Jags have been on a budget aspect in relation to salaries and perks for members of the soccer operations workers. Longtime Jags defensive lineman Arby Jones petitioned Thursday for improved amenities for the whole operation.

Once more, the cash being spent on Meyer and soccer upgrades pales compared to the cash Khan stands to make from Meyer merely being there, a lot much less changing into a constant playoff contender within the AFC South.

For years, Khan has been efforting Jacksonville’s native authorities for taxpayer funds for developments all through town. Simply this week, the metropolis council rejected a proposal for an leisure district Khan is making an attempt to construct in Lot J exterior of TIAA Financial institution Discipline. The deal would have seen town give the personal builders $208 million in money, and town council’s auditors believed the return on funding would not come wherever near a dollar-for-dollar deal.  

It doesn’t matter what you consider public-private partnerships as they relate to native governments and sports activities franchises, there’s little argument that it is simpler for a successful franchise to get tax {dollars} than one which’s about to choose within the top-10 of the NFL draft for the thirteenth time in 14 years.

Haskins’ subsequent cease

When the Washington Soccer Group launched Dwayne Haskins lower than three weeks in the past, I braced for a waterfall of anonymously sourced tales ripping the 23-year-old quarterback. However they by no means got here.

As it has been instructed to me, Haskins is not a nasty particular person. He is merely immature and did not take his job duties as severely as he ought to have. Staying near house in all probability did not assist, and his father, Dwayne Haskins Sr., had been a thorn in Washington’s aspect from the start. I additionally suppose it speaks effectively to the brand new tradition at Washington’s amenities underneath Ron Rivera. The crew, underneath its earlier title and former regimes, would have been fast to bury somebody like Haskins.

So I wasn’t shocked when the Panthers kicked the tires on Haskins earlier this week, particularly since that crew must be evaluating each choice at quarterback for the following 4 months. Whether or not he suits into Matt Rhule’s “tradition” is one thing Rhule has to determine.

One league supply stated he would not in any respect be shocked if Haskins winds up with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021. Together with Pittsburgh’s apparent must bolster its QB room, Haskins feels an affinity for head coach Mike Tomlin and employed Tomlin’s agent after parting methods together with his personal agent following his Washington launch.

Somebody will scoop up Haskins earlier than the beginning of the 2021 season, and his future will rely wholly on his preparedness to be an NFL quarterback and all that comes with it.

The numbers are in… type of

From the beginning of Week 1 of the 2020 NFL common season to the day of the ultimate recreation, the NFL noticed 240 gamers take a look at constructive for COVID-19 and one other 408 crew personnel staffers take a look at constructive.

These numbers come from the joint statements launched by the league and NFLPA weekly, starting with Sept. 6 and ending on Jan. 2. However absolutely contextualizing that may grow to be difficult.

The league started its testing program on Aug. 1 throughout coaching camp, and since then they’ve administered greater than 900,000 assessments. In case you embrace the constructive instances from camp and the 25 whole positives from gamers and personnel throughout wild-card weekend, you’d get a positivity fee of .075% when whole positives in opposition to assessments.

If you wish to look merely at what number of gamers and workers examined constructive for COVID-19 relative to what number of are within the league, that proportion will get nearer to double digits.

Every week, about 2,400 gamers and 4,600 personnel workers members had been examined every day. The personnel group would have remained principally unchanged, save for some teaching adjustments all through the season and random firings and hirings of lower-level positions. The two,400 participant group modified lots, although. Groups culling the underside of their roster and follow squads makes discovering precisely who obtained examined day by day of each week very tough. Have been there 3,000 individuals who in the end obtained examined within the participant pool, with a number of hundred coming and going from crew to crew or getting lower? Extra? Much less?

Moreover, we do not know what number of gamers and personnel contracted the virus from March till the beginning of camp. We do not know for certain how lengthy the antibodies final, so we won’t safely assume somebody catching the virus in June could not catch it later within the yr.

However simply taking the spherical (and possibly low) variety of 7,000 gamers and personnel examined every day from the beginning of Week 1 to the tip of the season, the 648 positives characterize 9.2% of the league catching the virus. The 240 participant positives out of two,400 gamers can be 10% and the 408 personnel out of 4,600 staffers can be 8.9%. However once more, it is probably these percentages are barely decrease.

Odds and ends

• Did you additionally must stifle laughter when Eagles proprietor Jeffrey Lurie talked Monday about his current involvement in soccer selections? “I’d say my involvement has been the identical for about 25 years. I believe that what I are inclined to do is to ask a whole lot of questions and to know the place we’re coming from strategically and performance-wise.” Ask former offensive coordinator Mike Groh and former broad receivers coach Carson Walch, each of whom had been fired final season shortly after Doug Pederson met with Lurie on the finish of the season, whether or not Lurie simply asks a whole lot of questions.
• The Washington Soccer Group has put in requests to interview 49ers VP of participant personnel Martin Mayhew and Titans VP of participant personnel Ryan Cowden. Together with inside candidates Eric Stokes and Kyle Smith, WFT will probably additionally interview former Texans GM Rick Smith if he is nonetheless obtainable. Former Panthers GM Marty Hurney can be the chief for the job right now.
• In regular years the NFLPA releases the projected wage cap figures for the following season across the time of the Tremendous Bowl. That’ll in all probability be delayed a number of weeks as either side attempt to determine the monetary fallout from the pandemic. We all know the cap flooring is $175 million, and the union will quickly be releasing the cap rollover numbers. For planning functions, a prudent crew should not anticipate something greater than $175 million plus their carryover for 2021.

Divisional spherical picks

Rams at Packers

4:35 p.m. ET, Saturday, FOX

I am salivating at this matchup between the Packers offense and Rams protection. QBs have a 61.9 passer ranking when throwing at Jalen Ramsey this season, so Aaron Rodgers beware. However the Pack had been enjoying wonderful soccer in December, had per week off and get to play at house in opposition to a crew with an injured quarterback and injured defensive sort out.

The decide: Packers

Ravens at Payments

8:15 p.m., Saturday, NBC

I wish to decide the Payments so badly. I truly suppose they’re the higher crew, and in the event that they win I am going to hardly be shocked, particularly in the event that they get to play in wintry climate. Josh Allen is a way more correct quarterback than he was in 2019 when he accomplished simply 43.6% of his passes in opposition to a suffocating Ravens protection, and he has Stefon Diggs now to assist make the Baltimore D play extra zone. However I used to be let down by Buffalo’s rush protection within the fourth quarter in opposition to the Colts, the place they gave up three runs of 20-or-more yards. That will not do in opposition to the most effective speeding offense within the league.

The decide: Ravens

Browns at Chiefs

3:05 p.m., Sunday, CBS

Spoiler alert: I will not be selecting in opposition to Patrick Mahomes this postseason. What the Browns did final week was astounding, however Pittsburgh was ready to be knocked out of the playoffs. The Chiefs are constructed for January, and so long as they deal with the soccer (which they have not completed so effectively within the closing weeks of the season), they will win this one by eleven-plus factors.

The decide: Chiefs

Buccaneers at Saints

6:40 p.m., Sunday, FOX

That is the thirty third time a 2-0 crew confronted the loser a 3rd time within the playoffs, and that winner has gone 20-12 within the earlier matchups. That’d bode effectively for the Saints if this was the identical Bucs crew from Weeks 1 and 9. However Tom Brady has his deep ball now. Tampa must be higher on second downs to keep away from unimaginable third-and-long conditions in opposition to this Saints protection, however I believe they will pull off the upset within the Superdome.

The decide: Buccaneers