Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor has dislocated the pinky on his non-throwing hand, as Andrew Gribble of the Browns’ website tweets. While his left hand is bruised and sore, head coach Hue Jackson says “he’s going to be fine.”
It sounds like Taylor will be alright for the season opener, so we won’t be seeing Baker Mayfield out there – at least, not yet.
Here’s more from the AFC North:
- It’s unlikely that the Ravens will make a second run at Dez Bryant or another veteran receiver, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic writes. Chris Moore has nailed down his spot as the Ravens‘ fourth wide receiver behind Michael Crabtree, John Brown, and Willie Snead, so the Ravens appear to be set at the top of the order. There’s uncertainty beyond that, but Zrebiec feels the Ravens will not be motivated to get for a veteran WR unless one of their top three guys gets hurt.
- Nine teams are spending more than $50MM per year on their top three players, and the Steelers are one of three clubs in that group to have made the playoffs last season, Jason Fitzgerald of OTC writes. With $53.4MM carved out for Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, and LeVeon Bell, the Steelers have found success with a top-heavy structure.
- The Bengals parted ways with defensive tackle Chris Baker.
If the Bills somehow manage to reach the playoffs again there will be a lot of GMs scratching their heads. While the Steelers have carved out 53.4MM for their top three players, Buffalo is taking the budget approach, committing only 27MM to their top three.
“Nine teams are spending more than $50MM per year on their top three players, [only three clubs] have made the playoffs last season.”
This is why I’ve been screaming about these contracts. Too much money to too few people.
I suspect most GMs would be quite satisfied to accept a 1 in 3 chance of reaching the playoffs. Some GMs would agree with you that a more balanced allocation of dollars is better but as far as success goes, I haven’t seen any data that conclusively proves one approach is significantly better than the other. If there were a magic formula then you can be sure everyone would be using it.
They all make too much $$$.