Ten Thoughts on the NFL

1) Just in case you missed it, the Miami Dolphins signed former Chicago Bears’ quarterback, Jay Cutler. It was the perfect fit for Miami when you consider the career year that Cutler had when Miami head coach, Adam Gase, was his playcaller with the Bears in 2015.

Adding a starting QB was necessary for the ‘Fins when incumbent Ryan Tannehill went down with a non-contact knee injury to the same knee he injured in 2016. Last year, Tennehill chose to treat the injury without having surgery, but there has been no decision on the best course of action this time.

As far as Cutler goes, he’ll eventually take his familiar place as QB1, with Matt Moore serving as the backup.

"You'll know when I release the depth chart," Gase said yesterday via NFL.com. "I don't have to make that announcement right now but (Cutler) didn't come out of retirement to stand on the sidelines. But we got a ways to go. Get him in here, give him a physical, see where he's at."

1a) ATTENTION NATIONAL MEDIA: This was Cutler cracking a joke.

But since it was Cutler, many in the media ran with the narrative that he’s not ready to play football.

2) Quick question for the masses...

Are quarterback wins a viable stat?

I do reference a team’s record with a particular player under center, but I think it’ silly to frame it as his won/loss record.

Football is a team game.

For the record, I think a pitcher’s wins in baseball is an overrated way to determine a pitcher's effectiveness.

3) Brock Osweiler, whom the Houston Texans sent to the Cleveland Browns in a ‘please take our expensive bad quarterback’ deal, is in line to start for the Browns in the first preseason game.

The Texans sent Osweiler, a 6th round draft pick in the 2017 draft, and a 2nd round pick in 2018 to the Browns, in exchange for a 4th rounder in 2017.

Wouldn’t it be something if Osweiler can revitalize his career as a Brown? Then again, the buzz from Browns camp has been all about rookie QB, DeShone Kizer from Notre Dame, so Brock may be just a placeholder anyway.

4) Vince Wilfork hangs ‘em up?

5) A New Orleans based t-shirt company is planning to erect a billboard near the Atlanta Falcons’ stadium, just to piss off Falcons’ fans.

So SB Nation asks, If you were going to troll your rival NFL team with a billboard, what would it say?

6) Season ticket holders for the New England Patriots received their tickets recently, and there was a little something extra included.

7) With the Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady turning 40 years old, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers was asked what he thinks he’ll be doing at that same age.

"Hopefully right here," Rodgers said standing in front of his locker at Lambeau Field. "Hopefully talking to you guys right here."

I’d rather he not.

8) This is awesome from the Indianapolis Colts.

9) The Jaguars’ Branden Albert retired last week, but is now unretiring, but the Jags may not even want him back. If I ran a franchise, I’m not sure I’d want a guy back that already showed me he didn’t want to play.

10) On chicagobears.com, Dennis K. asked Larry Mayer who the most improved player was at Chicago Bears’ training camp, and his answer surprised me.

It’s pretty interesting that the same name came up when defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and special-teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers recently talked about players who have shown the most improvement. Both of them mentioned linebacker Christian Jones as someone who has made the most strides beginning last season. Fangio said that Jones “has shown significant improvement in his play” and is competing with second-year pro Nick Kwiatkowski for the starting job at one of the inside linebacker positions while Danny Trevathan continues to make his way back from a serious knee injury.

Jones, a former UDFA, has flashed ability in the past as a 4-3 OLB, and the last two years at both 3-4 ILB and OLB. Staying consistent seemed to be a problem for him, and that may have had something to do with the numerous position changes.

Rodgers said that during the 2016 season Jones’ “growth and development was probably as impressive as anybody on the roster, a guy who really improved his game. It was just a noticeable jump how fast he caught on. I’m sure it has something to do with guys maturing in the league, being around three, four years. It was important to him. He sat in the middle of our meeting room the previous year, and he was up front last year. Just everything about him, his growth as a player, was just really impressive. He was one of our better guys last year.”

The 26 year old Jones is entering his fourth year as a pro, so maybe it’s all starting to click for him.