🏈 The Touchdown Collective: Flacco's learning curve
Joe Flacco, Mike Evans and Trey Hendrickson all feature to keep you ahead of the game, one play at a time
In today’s Touchdown Collective there’s the latest on Joe Flacco and the Cleveland QB situation in Press Coverage, Tyreek Hill is the topic of Play Call, Mike Vrabel is all at sea in Get to the Post, while Inside Zone has the scoop on Jalen Ramsey’s future. And it’s all about Ed Reed and the Ravens in Snap!
📰 Press Coverage
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns QB room is one of the most intriguing heading into the 2025 season – and Joe Flacco is fully focused on making sure he plays good football as part of it.
The veteran quarterback, 39, was asked about his role in the dressing room given his experience compared to the other QBs on the team and Flacco gave a refreshingly honest answer as Daryl Ruiter of 923TheFan captured.
“I tend to try to be honest,” Flacco said. “And I’ve said, I’m not a mentor. I play football. In the quarterback room there’s been already a ton of times where there’s learning experiences and I have a lot of experience and I can talk on things. And hopefully they listen. But it’s not necessarily my job to make sure they listen to me... The best way to be a mentor, honestly, is show people how you go to work, and hope that they pick up on that stuff.”
Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes says Travis Kelce is ready to go and doesn’t seem like somebody who is turning up for one last throw of the dice this season.
Speaking to the media at OTAs, the Chiefs QB said: "If it’s the last ride, you would never know. The way he’s talking about football, the way he’s talking about working and trying to be even better this year than he was last year.
“He doesn’t seem like a guy that, it’s his last ride or he’s tired of the job. He’s in here, he’s working.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Mike Evans says Baker Mayfield is a massive part of the reason he has returned for another NFL season.
Evans tied a Jerry Rice record for the most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons last time out and is now in the last year of his contract.
Speaking of his return on Kevin Hart’s “Cold As Balls” – which you can see below – Evans said of his quarterback: “Huge impact. Huge! He's a big reason why I came back.
“The energy he's brought to Tampa after Tom [Brady], that's a huge act to follow and I think he's done an unbelievable job winning two division championships and making it to the postseason. Tampa is in great hands with Baker and I'm sure he'll play much longer than I will, and I look forward to a great season this year and competing for a Super Bowl."
Tennessee Titans
Every day is a tough one in the NFL and none more so right now from a professional point of view than for Will Levis.
The Titans quarterback led his team to a 3-14 record last season, which saw them given the No.1 Draft pick, which they used on landing Cam Ward.
And Levis admits his current situation “sucks”. “Anyone who’s ever been in my situation would agree that it sucks,” he told Main Street in Nashville. “I’m just trying to do the best I can to not let it affect me and just being the same dude every day in the building and being there for the guys however I can and just trying to get better every day.”
Philadelphia Eagles
Cooper DeJean’s star has been on the rise. The second-round Draft pick in 2024 won the Super Bowl in his first pro season, scoring a pick-six on what was his birthday to cap an extraordinary campaign.
But he is not letting any off-field distractions take away from his prep for the 2025 season. He told a press conference: “I don’t think that becoming more popular in the city has changed who I am as a person. I’m still continuing to work and trying to be the best I can be at my job.
“There’s a lot I can get better at coming off last season. Things I can be ready for this season and those are the things I’ve been working on this off-season, becoming stronger, faster, being more comfortable out on the field and working on my techniques.”
Minnesota Vikings
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell says having Justin Jefferson at OTAs has been a huge boost.
The wide receiver spent time on field with QB J.J. McCarthy and O’Connell told the media: “You know, not just for J.J., but you guys know this – he’s an energy igniter of the whole building. And I think he’s come back with a purpose and a mindset.
“I know this is kind of your guys’ first time seeing him, but he’s been here and spent some time here during Phase 2 [of OTAs], just when we’re pitching and catching. You hear his voice, you hear his interaction with team-mates, and they just carry such a long way.”
Cincinnati Bengals
Trey Hendrickson is “extremely dug in” in his desire to get a new contract according to a source of ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The defensive end has been in a standoff with the Bengals over a new deal after he felt he met the markers for a new contract with his performances last season.
Fowler reports Hendrickson could well miss games or even the final season of his current deal if a new one isn’t agreed.
Baltimore Ravens
Coach Jim Harbaugh says the decision to let “arguably the best kicker in the history of the game” go was “multi-layered and complicated” but still a football decision.
Justin Tucker was released at the start of May as the NFL investigate accusations of sexual misconduct, which Tucker has denied, calling them “simply not true”.
Harbaugh spoke to media for the first time, as captured by Fox reporter Morgan Adsit, since that decision and added: “I think if you step back and you take a look at all the issues and all the ramifications, you can understand that we’ve got to get our football team ready and we’ve got to have a kicker ready to go.
“And that was the move that we decided to make. So in that sense, it’s a football decision.”
🗣️ Play Call
The Touchdown Collective’s verdict
Tyreek Hill says he is out to prove himself this season after what amounted to a frustrating end to the 2024 campaign.
I’d wager more NFL fans than not would argue the receiver has nothing left to prove to anybody other than himself but the fact Hill is as focused as I’ve ever heard him at OTAs speaks volumes about his character.
The Dolphins wideout was a star part of Kansas City’s rise to the top of the game along with Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and others.
And while moving on from the Chiefs is a move I don’t think was in his best interests in terms of his standing in the game and how he’ll be viewed 10, 15 or 20 years from now, you can’t argue with his output over his career.
Okay, last season’s 81 receptions for 959 yards and six touchdowns while battling through a wrist injury for the majority of the campaign wasn’t his best in terms of numbers but the 8-9 Dolphins had issues and injuries almost across the board in 2024.
Hill’s mindset, though, is one to be admired. “Every day, you’ve got to prove who you are, and it doesn’t matter how much you’ve earned or how much success you’ve had in this league,” he said. “It’s always the next day mentality.
“That’s something that my grandparents raised me by and that’s something [head coach] Mike [McDaniel] preaches here in this locker room. Every day, I’m trying to prove myself as one of those guys that this team can depend on in crucial moments. I’ma stand on that too, though, just me as a person, as a player, as an individual. I try to carry myself in that way.”
Keep going, Tyreek, the league is more explosive than ever when you are fit and firing at the top of the game.
↗ Get to the Post
New England head coach Mike Vrabel has had his say on that boat video…
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…while TED Talks haven’t made their way to Cleveland yet…
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…don’t mind me, just sat here picking my starting lineup!
Caleb Williams has had his say on the book which detailed his arrival in Chicago. Patrick Finley and Jason Lieser break down his words on ‘Halas Intrigue’ here.
🤫 Inside Zone
Centre Ryan Neuzil has agreed a new two-year deal to stay in Atlanta according to league insider Adam Schefter, per Neuzil’s agents.
San Francisco have signed punter Thomas Morstead to a one-year deal after releasing Mitch Wishnowsky.
Malik Nabers’ toe injury is not thought to be serious as he didn’t fully take part in the New York Giants’ OTAs.
The door is still open for Jalen Ramsey to return to the LA Rams, according to coach Sean McVay.
📸 Snap!
This is what it’s all about. Ed Reed of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates with the Vince Lombardi trophy after the Ravens won 34-31 against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
📩 Who am I? I’m Michael Ham, the Daily Star Sunday and Sunday Express Sports Editor – and an avid NFL fan. I have almost 20 years of experience in sports news journalism and I’m the writer behind The Touchdown Collective. Write to me using this form with your thoughts on anything in this newsletter, things you’d like to see more of, or your view on anything NFL.
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