Saints Michael Thomas likely to miss start of season plus To

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If I sound tired today, it's because I stayed up all night, which is my own fault, because that's what you get when you make a bet with yourself that you can't count every diamond in the ' new Super Bowl ring.If you haven't seen the rings, let me just say this: There are a lot of diamonds.As a matter of fact, there are so many diamonds that I'm pretty sure each ring is worth more than a small house. Of course, the upside of staying up all night is that it means I was also able to watch the opening ceremonies at the Olympics. However, this isn't an Olympics newsletter, so I'm not going to bore you with details of that because we have way too much NFL stuff to talk about today.Not only did the Buccaneers get their Super bowl rings, but might mi s the first few weeks of the season. We'll be covering both of those things plus more in today's newsletter, so let's get to the rundown. As always, here's your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the Pick Six newsletter. To get your friends to sign up, all you have to do iswith them. The newsletter is truly the gift that keeps on giving, so I'm sure they'll appreciate it if you sign them up. 1. Today's show: Burning training camp questions for the NFC EastThe NFC East was definitely the worst division in football last season so if there's any good news for the division heading into 2021, it's that I don't think there's any po sible way it can be worse than it was last year.On paper, every team seems to have gotten better: The will be getting back , Washington and the will both have new Week 1 starting quarterbacks while the added a bunch of offensive weapons for . Basically, there's a lot to talk about with the NFC East so we thought we would use Friday's episode of the Pick Six Podcast to answer one burning question for each team in that division.We'll cover our biggest question for the Cowboys here, but if you want to hear Steven Souza Jersey the rest of our questions, you'll have to listen to the podcast (You can ).Can Dan Quinn fix the Cowboys defense?The return of Prescott is the big news in Dallas, but even if he plays like an MVP this year, it might not matter if the Cowboys can't fix their defense. I mean, just look at what happened last year: Prescott was healthy for four full games and even though he was putting up huge numbers, the Cowboys still went 1-3 in those games because their defense gave up an average of 36.5 points in those four games. The Cowboys know the defense has to get better which is a big reason why they used their FIRST SIX PICKS on defensive players in the 2021 NFL Draft (and eight of 11 overall). Now, it's going to be up to Quinn to make the unit better.Quinn was the defensive coordinator for the ' Legion of Boom defense in 2013 and 2014, so if anyone can turn things around, it's him. The biggest upside for Quinn is that he doesn't have to make the defense great; if he can just get them up to average, that should be enough to help the Cowboys win games thanks to the strength of their offense.By the way, the best part of today's episode is that it featured ME -- plus Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson. Not only did we talk about the Cowboys, but we also spent plenty of time talking about the Giants, Eagles and Washington, so if you're a fan of the NFC East, you're definitely going to want to check it out. To listen to today's episode -- and to follow the podcast --. 2. Buccaneers unveil Super Bowl ringsWhen you're handing out a Super Bowl ring, it's not easy to impre s someone who has already won six of them in his career, but that's exactly what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did with on Thursday night.The Buccaneers' new Super Bowl ring was so absurdly amazing that even Brady was wowed by it. "I think this is by far the most incredible ring that's ever been made," Brady said.The ring, which looks like it weights more than a small cat, has some wild features on it.Tons of diamonds. The ring, which includes 15 karats of white diamonds and 14 karats of yellow diamonds. The 319 wasn't a random Trevor Richards Jersey number either; the Buccaneers picked it to commemorate their 31-9 win over the .Lots of gold. The rings consist of more than 140 grams of gold with the gold being both yellow gold and white gold.The top comes off. The Buccaneers wanted to commemorate the fact that they were the first team to win a Super Bowl in their home stadium, so the ring was created with a removable top that shows Raymond James Stadium underneath it. If you want to see a picture of the removable top or if you're just wondering how it works, .Buccaneers buck tradition. Most teams go to Jostens (a company that created 36 of the first 54 Super Bowl rings) or Tiffany (a company that has created seven of 54), but the Buccaneers decided to do things differently. To make the ring, the Buccaneers eschewed tradition and went to Jason of Beverly Hills.If you want to read more about the ring plus see a bunch of pictures, then . Brady now has seven rings in his collection and if you want to see what all of those look like, . 3. NFL forfeits could actually happen this yearThe NFL that outlines some new COVID-related policies for the 2021 season and the new policies include some potentially harsh punishments for teams with unvaccinated players.Forfeits could happen this year. If a game has to be canceled due to a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players, then the team with the outbreak will be forced to forfeit and credited with a lo s. The forfeiting team would also be required to pay for all the expenses incurred by their opponent along with any shortfall in the league's revenue-sharing pool (If a game is postponed by vaccinated players, the NFL likely won't call for a forfeit and teams won't face a financial penalty). Five games were postponed last year and at least two of them (Ravens-Steelers, Titans-Bills) might have been subject to a cancellation under this new policy.Players will lose money. If a forfeit happens, players won't get paid for that week, which is a harsh punishment because vaccinated players definitely aren't going to be happy if they lose a pay check because of an unvaccinated player.Some players unhappy with new policy. After the new policy was announced, several players complained on Twitter, including . The star sent out a tweet implying that he might not be in the NFL much longer, but then later deleted that tweet. You can .Vaccination rates are up. According there are a total of 16 teams that have at least 85% of their players vaccinated. That's the target number for each team because Nathan Eovaldi Jersey if you hit the 85% mark with vaccinations, your team will have relaxed COVID protocols.The NFL isn't technically requiring players to get vaccinated this year, but this new policy is basically telling players that they need to be vaccinated. 4. star Michael Thomas likely to mi s the beginning of the seasonThe Saints offense could sputter out of the gate this year and that's because there's a good chance Michael Thomas isn't going to be on the field. According to NFL.com, Thomas and he's expected to be sidelined for up to four months. If he sticks to that recovery timeline, that would put him out until October, which means he could end up mi sing the first three or four games of the season. Even if Thomas makes a miraculous recovery, he'd probably still mi s at least two games.Here's what the Saints' early season schedule looks like:Week 1: vs. Week 2: at Week 3: at Week 4: vs. GiantsNot having Thomas would be a huge lo s, especially when you consider that the Saints will be breaking in a new starting quarterback. That new quarterback -- whether it's or -- isn't going to have a lot of good receiving options. Winston throwing to isn't exactly a combo that's going to intimidate opposing defenses.As for Thomas, the ankle that was operated on was the same ankle that was bothering him last year. The Saints receiver mi sed nine games in 2020 due to his ankle. Before last season, Thomas had only mi sed one game over the first four seasons of his career (2016-2019). 5. a sistant coach Greg Knapp tragically dies Long-time NFL a sistant coach Greg Knapp tragically . The 58-year-old's death was caused by injuries he suffered after being hit by a car in California while biking on July 17. Knapp was taken to the hospital on July 17, but never regained consciousne s, his .Knapp, who was beloved by his players, was headed into his 27th season as an NFL a sistant when he pa sed away."Those of us who were so ble sed to have known him, know that Peter Fairbanks Jersey he would have wanted even this moment to be a teachable one," the family said in a statement. "So this is it...'Live every day as if it's your last, and love those around you like it won't last!'" Over the course of his long career, Knapp coached multiple NFL legends.Knapp's first NFL job came in San Francisco with the . After quickly moving up in the organization, he eventually became Steve Young's quarterback coach. Knapp was the QB coach for three seasons (1998-2000) before being promoted to offensive coordinator (2001-03).After leaving San Francisco, Knapp made his way to Atlanta, where he served as the offensive coordinator for a team that featured Michael Vick. This was while Vick was in his prime and during Knapp's time there (2004-06), the Falcons had one of the most exciting offenses in the NFL.In 2013, Knapp was hired as the quarterback coach. During his time in Denver, he went to two Super Bowls while working with for three seasons.Over the past 24 hours, dozens of former players . You can read more . 6. Rapid-fire roundupIt's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL and since it's nearly impo sible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. cuts off extension talks with Packers. isn't the only problem for the Packers right now. Adams, who only has one year left on his deal, has broken off all talks with the Packers, . Apparently, the problem is that the Packers aren't willing to give Adams a deal that would make him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, even though he probably deserves a deal that would make him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL. add . The former Seahawks linebacker has a new home in Miami. According to NFL.com, Griffin has with the Dolphins. The linebacker, who had his left-hand amputated at a young age, spent the first three years of his career in Seattle. reports to training camp.Although there had been some speculation that Stephon Gilmore might hold out of training camp, he (The team isn't required to report until July 27, but injured players can show up early). Gilmore will start camp on the physically unable to perform list, which means he can sit on the sideline while his agent tries C. J. Cron Jersey to hash out a new deal with the Patriots. sentenced. Three years , the NFL linebacker has finally been sentenced. Kendricks was sentenced to one day in jail along with three years of probation and 300 hours of community service. This will likely come as a relief to Kendricks, who at one point was potentially looking at 30 to 37 months in prison. Kendricks has played for three NFL teams since 2012 and will likely soon sign a free agent deal now that he's put his legal i sues behind him.Big Ben's daughter helped him learn the ' new offense.With a new offensive coordinator this year, has a new offense to learn, so he's , "My daughter makes flash cards for me," Roethlisberger said. "We've done that, we've made them together and there have been some quizzes at home. It's become as much of a mental offseason as it has physical in terms of learning new things."