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Adrian Peterson is back with the Vikings after missing final 15 games following abuse scandal.
The NFL has put the roman numerals in storage for the golden anniversary Super Bowl on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara. And with training camps opening this week, the Daily News presents the 50 hottest summertime storylines and predictions on the road to Super Bowl 50 .
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Tom Brady
1.Tom Brady reports to camp Wednesday and will be taking first-team snaps at the Patriots first practice Thursday morning. Roger Goodell may even have a ruling on his appeal by then. Brady wants exoneration and elimination of his four-game suspension. He’s reportedly willing to accept a fine for not cooperating with Maxwell Smart in the league’s $ 5 million investigation. That would not impact his legacy. If Goodell retains any of the suspension, Brady is prepared to seek an injunction putting it on hold while he sues the league. The NFL’s record in court is as bad as the Knicks record on the court. Jimmy Garoppolo is warming up in Bill Belichick’s bullpen.
Patriots Nation to Goodell: Do Your Job.
2. The Seahawks are the best team in the NFC, but can they psychology get past Russell Wilson throwing away the Super Bowl on the single dumbest play-call in the history of sports? Wilson should have overruled Pete Carroll who should have overruled Darrell Bevell who should have just given the ball to Marshawn Lynch.
3. Adrian Peterson, not allowed to play in the final 15 games last season after he was charged with beating up his four-year-old son with a tree branch, will be back on the field Sunday for the Vikings’ first practice. AP is 30 years old, but was still an elite back going into last season. If the time off refreshed his body rather than reduced his skill set, then young QB Teddy Bridgewater and the Vikings could make a run at the Packers in the NFC North.
4. Ray Rice’s suspension was overturned the day after Thanksgiving but he’s still without a job running the football. He’s training hard, spending time back at New Rochelle High School mentoring kids, but no NFL workout. Why did Greg Hardy get a second chance when Jerry Jones signed him and why was Peterson welcomed back by the Vikes but Rice hasn’t even received a tryout? There is no video of Hardy beating up his ex-girlfriend or Peterson beating his son with a stick. If any team has the courage to sign Rice, the elevator video of him punching his future wife could haunt them.
5. One of the Jets’ season ticket holders cashed in points in Gang Green’s rewards program for a Darrelle Revis autographed football. The ball arrived deflated. No kidding. I saw it myself. Revis, of course, played for the Deflatriots last year. Were the Jets taking a shot at New England? Could it be time for Goodell to commission another $ 5 million investigation by Ted Wells?
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Jason Pierre-Paul
6. Jason Pierre-Paul tried to put on his own Macy’s July 4 fireworks show in Florida and needed to have his right index finger amputated. The Giants report to camp Thursday, which starts the JPP Watch. He is not expected to show up and sign him $ 14.8 million franchise tag until he can pass a physical. Only he and his doctors know if or when that will ever happen.
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7. The Jets love Sheldon Richardson but will be without him the first four games after he tested positive for marijuana. Here’s the scary part: If Richardson tests positive again, he will be suspended 10 games. If it happens again, he will be suspended an entire season. According to the drug policy, this was at least the third time, and possibly the fourth, Richardson violated the substance abuse policy in his two years in the NFL — you have to be a multiple offender to get suspended. The Jets are going to have to be very careful before investing in Richardson’s second contract.
8. Training camp edition of coaches who should be on the hot seat: Sean Payton (Saints), Jay Gruden (Washington), Marvin Lewis (Bengals), Joe Philbin (Dolphins), Gus Bradley (Jaguars), Jeff Fisher (Rams), Chip Kelly (Eagles).
9. Kelly, clearly a genius, plans to start Sam Bradford at QB. Bradford tore his left ACL in the seventh game in ‘13. He did it again in the third preseason game last summer. But Kelly is well protected. He reunited Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, since it worked out so well with the Jets in 2013. Tebow is expected to beat out Matt Barkley for the No. 3 spot. Programming alert: If Bradford is not ready, or gets hurt before the third game, the Eagles depth chart on Sept. 27 at MetLife against the Jets will be: Sanchez and Tebow.
10. Kelly is either going to get run out of Philly or be riding in a Broad Street parade. He has won 10 games in each of his first two seasons, but after emerging from a power struggle with GM Howie Roseman after last season, with full control of personnel, he blew up the roster by trading Nick Foles and LeSean McCoy and didn’t re-sign Jeremy Maclin and cut Evan Mathis and desperately tried to trade up for Marcus Mariota, his QB at Oregon, even after trading for Bradford. Kelly wants to be Jimmy Johnson. Big difference: Johnson won the lottery with the Herschel Walker trade.
11. Unless they are complete flops, Jameis Winston (Bucs) and Mariota (Titans), the first two picks in the draft, will start against each other in the season opener at Tampa. Edge: Winston. He will be throwing to Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans. Mariota will be throwing to Kendall Wright and Harry Douglas. No worries: The Titans signed ex-Giant Hakeem Nicks and ex-Jet Clyde Gates.
12. Now that Rex Ryan is in Buffalo, the Jets made lots of folks happy (players and fans) by ditching Cortland and moving camp to their year-round facility in Florham Park. Ryan likes camp away from home to promote bonding. That made the Jets the most bonded 4-12 team in the NFL last season. As soon as Ryan was gone, so was Cortland. As recently as 2000, just five of the 31 teams (16%) held camp at home. Now, 20 of 32 (62.5%) have camp at home.
13. Wilson is the best bargain in sports. He beat Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl back in 2014 and nearly beat Brady six months ago. He is making $ 1.542 million in the final year of his four-year $ 3 million rookie contract. Negotiations are stalled. If Wilson plays for the $ 1.5 million rather than accept a new deal, he’s leaving around $ 16 million on the table in 2015 that he may never make up. The Seahawks can franchise him next year.
14. In other Wilson news that could prove to test his patience even more, his girlfriend singer Ciara says the couple will remain Sexless in Seattle until they get married. Or, as she put it, “until the deal is sealed.”
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Johnny Manziel
15. Johnny Manziel had the Dawg Pound in a frenzy a year ago, but he was so bad on and off the field as a rookie that the Browns signed 36-year-old journeyman Josh McCown to start. McCown was 1-10 for the Bucs last year. Manziel spent two months in a rehab center in the offseason and has been tutored by Jon Gruden leading into training camp. It’s only his second year, but this could be his last chance to prove he belongs in the NFL.
16. How do the Cowboys make up for DeMarco Murray’s franchise record 1,845 yards? Joseph Randle, competing with Darren McFadden to be the No. 1 back, said “there was a lot of left meat on the bone” by Murray last year, just as Randle left some underwear on the table after he was arrested last year for shoplifting undies and cologne from a department store
17. Robert Griffin III has the second most important job in Washington, but for how much longer? He’s been awful ever since tearing his ACL in a playoff game against Seattle his rookie year in 2012. He’s lost his job at various times to Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy. He is Washington’s starter going into camp, but Jay Gruden and new GM Scot McCloughan inherited him, so RG3’s job security is near the bottom of all QBs.
18. New coaches: Todd Bowles (Jets), Ryan (Bills), Jim Tomsula (49ers), Dan Quinn (Falcons), Jack Del Rio (Raiders), Gary Kubiak (Broncos) and, John Fox (Bears). Who has the best chance to win? Kubiak has Peyton Manning.
19. Mike Tannenbaum and Ryan were one floor apart in the Jets offices as they tried to figure out a way to beat Belichick and Brady, who won the division all four years Tannenbaum and Ryan teamed up (the Jets did beat them in the playoffs in 2010). Now they are 1,360 miles apart with Tannenbaum running the Dolphins and Ryan driving around Orchard Park in a truck decorated with Bills logos. They will try to do on their own what they couldn’t do together: Win the AFC East.
20. Whose moving vans reach Los Angeles first? The Chargers have the shortest trip up I-5, but the traffic is paralyzing. The Raiders can take the scenic route down the Pacific Coast Highway. The Rams just need to hop on I-70 West to I-15 South and just keep on going until they see the ocean. Of the three, this feels most like a lame duck season in St. Louis.
21. The Steelers hired Chuck Noll in 1969. He coached 23 years. Then Bill Cowher was hired in 1992 and coached 15 years. Mike Tomlin was hired in 2007 and last week received a two-year extension through 2018. Pittsburgh’s had just three head coaches in the last 45 years. Ryan is the Bills’ third coach in the last four years. Buffalo has not made the playoffs since 1999, the longest drought in the league.
22. The 49ers couldn’t wait to hire Jim Harbaugh in 2011 — they beat out the Dolphins, Broncos, Raiders, Stanford and Michigan — and then couldn’t wait to get rid of him. Harbaugh was the first to leave, but not the last. Jim Tomsula, promoted from d-line coach, takes over a depleted team: Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, Justin Smith and Anthony Smith retired. Frank Gore signed with the Colts and Michael Crabtree signed with the Raiders.
23. Brett Favre was welcomed back into the Packers family last weekend. He was inducted into their Hall of Fame and his No. 4 was retired. He’s eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time next year. No word yet if he’s going in as Jet.
24. The Patriots will travel to practice against the Saints at their training camp in White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia on Aug. 19-20 before they play each other in New Orleans on Aug. 22. DelateGate vs. BountyGate. Belichick and Payton can discuss how much they like Goodell.
25. Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh must play lights-out to justify his six-year $ 114 million contract with nearly half guaranteed. The way to beat Brady is with pressure up the middle. That’s how the Giants did it in the first Super Bowl and the Jets did it in the playoff game. Suh is unblockable, but he’s always one foot stomp from getting suspended.
26. David Caldwell was the Jets’ first choice to be GM in 2013 but he elected to take the Jaguars job, leading Woody Johnson to hire John Idzik. Caldwell is 7-25 in two years and Idzik was fired with a 12-20 record in two years. So, naturally, Caldwell hired Idzik as his special assistant. To create level playing field for Jets, Belichick should have hired Idzik.
27. Ryan took the only job where he downgraded at QB from Geno Smith. Buffalo’s big battle: EJ Manuel vs. Matt Cassel vs. Tyrod Taylor vs. Matt Simms. The Bills are going to have to play great defense and run the hell out of McCoy. Sound like a familiar Ryan formula?
28. There could be a coaching competition around the Giants: Ben McAdoo vs. Steve Spagnuolo. If the Giants go deep into the playoffs and Tom Coughlin retires, John Mara and Steve Tisch will likely decide between McAdoo and Spags as the new coach. McAdoo is a rising offensive star. Spags is one of the best defensive coaches in the NFL.
29. Coughlin’s two Super Bowl titles helped him survive back-to-back 7-9 and 6-10 seasons, the first time a Giants coach has had consecutive losing seasons since Dan Reeves in 1995-96. Reeves was then fired. Can Coughlin survive a third straight losing season? Will Mara and Tisch “suggest” he retire?
30. When will Washington’s Daniel Snyder change the name of his team that offends so many Native Americans? The pressure is building, but only when it starts to cost Snyder enormous advertising money or ruins his effort to get a new stadium at the site of RFK Stadium will Snyder shows signs of flinching.
31. Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy gave up his play-calling responsibilities to offensive coordinator Tom Clements. After the way the Packers choked in the NFC title game and McCarthy was super conservative early when he had a chance to bury the Seahawks, change is good. But he should just let Aaron Rodgers call his own plays.
32. How much patience will John Fox have with Jay Cutler in Chicago? He just came off three seasons with Peyton Manning, who craves coaching. Now he gets Cutler, who gets coaches fired. Problem: Jimmy Claussen is the backup.
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Peyton Manning
33. Is Peyton Manning done? Not really. He was bad down the stretch and then was one-and-done in the playoffs for the ninth time — more than twice as many as any QB in history. A painful thigh injury suffered in December sabotaged what had been a good season (he had 39 TDs, third most of his career). This could be Manning’s last season, but as long as he stays healthy, he’s still in the top group with Brady, Rodgers, Andrew Luck and Drew Brees.
34. Luck has made the playoffs in each of his three seasons. He’s lost in the wild-card game, the divisional round and then the AFC title game. If you subscribe to the progressive step theory, the Colts will be in the Super Bowl. Warning: It’s hard to get there without a defense. Indy would have given up 45 points to the Patriots in the AFC title game even if they were playing with deflated Nerf balls.
35. Mike Maccagnan is off to a red-hot start with the Jets, but let’s wait on the Canton induction until we see what he does in the next year at QB, okay? He had $ 50 million in cap room and Woody Johnson was hot for Revis and Revis wanted to come back home, so how hard was that? Then Leonard Williams, the best player in the draft, falls to him at No. 6. Trading for Brandon Marshall will help. But Smith is still at QB.
36. Ryan opens the season at home the first two weeks against Luck and then potentially Brady. He might have Goodell on speed dial suggesting he not allow Brady back before week three.
37. Shane Vereen will be the perfect fit for Eli Manning. Brady loved throwing to him out of the backfield — he had 11 catches in the Super Bowl. He’s Tiki Barber catching the ball without the big mouth.
38. I have 15 seconds in the pool for how long it takes Coughlin to get mad at the first question about Odell Beckham’s hamstring on Thursday.
39. Revis’ two years away from the Jets were productive: He rehabbed his torn ACL, made $ 16 million with the Bucs, $ 12 million with the Patriots and won a Super Bowl ring and signed a contract with $ 39 million guaranteed to return to the Jets. As a source close to the former Ryan regime said, “Revis wanted to come back last year but John Idzik signed Dimitri Patterson to be the No. 1 corner.”
40. lt’s the battle of the Brady Backups in Houston with Ryan Mallett competing against Brian Hoyer with Texans coach Bill O’Brien, the former Patriots offensive coordinator, sure wishing he had Brady instead. This is one of only two QB controversies — a loose interpretation here. Ryan has the other.
41. The pressure is always on the QB and there’s a handful of new starters going into camp: McCown (Browns), Bradford (Eagles), Foles (Rams), Winston (Bucs) and Mariota (Titans).
PREDICTIONS
42. NFC East: Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Washington
43. NFC North: Packers, Vikings, Lions, Bears
44. NFC South: Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Bucs
45. NFC West: Seahawks, Cardinals, Rams, 49ers
46. AFC East: Patriots, Jets, Dolphins, Bills
47. AFC North: Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Browns
48. AFC South: Colts, Texans, Titans, Jaguars
49. AFC West: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders
50. Super Bowl: Seahawks vs. Colts
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