NFL Preview Week: The top 10 brewing controversies
The NFL is basically a soap opera for many of its fans, and what’s a soap opera without some drama?
Hopefully we’re beyond circular debates about deflated footballs, but we’re likely to hear all about some other juicy controversies throughout this season. Some will be totally out of the blue, but some we can kind of see coming. So let’s try to anticipate which storylines will get the NFL world buzzing this year.
Here are the top 10 brewing controversies in the NFL:
10. When does Johnny Football play?
This is the most predictable one. Unless you think Josh McCown plays really well all season (and aren’t you the eternal optimist!), Johnny Manziel will loom. Manziel looked good in preseason before an elbow injury sidelined him for the final two preseason games. Every time McCown struggles, there will be calls to try Manziel. He’s going to play this year — and should — it’s just a matter of when.
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9. Chip Kelly something or another
Another pretty easy pick is that Kelly is going to make someone mad. The Philadelphia Eagles coach just has that kind of effect on people. He does things his own way, and that bothers a lot of people in the conservative NFL. And Kelly gave his critics a lot of fodder with some extreme offseason moves. If the Eagles struggle, it’s not going to be a quiet ride in Philly.
8. Backlash at 49ers ownership
Speaking of controversial offseasons, the 49ers had perhaps the worst offseason in NFL history. It started when the front office and ownership pushed Jim Harbaugh out. if the 49ers, who still have plenty of players who remember what it was like to compete for Super Bowls, bottom out as many think they will, who is going to point the finger back at the folks in charge?
7. The Los Angeles fiasco
Yep, I’m still in “I refuse to believe it until I see it” mode on an NFL team in Los Angeles. There’s a reason it hasn’t happened in 21 years. That doesn’t mean we won’t see a billion stories written about it, each one more breathless than the next, which the NFL enjoys as it extorts cities in need of a new stadium for tax money. All that said, at some point the Raiders need a home and Oakland has been very slow to come up with a plan. But we’ll see. If the Raiders can’t get a stadium in Oakland and end up anywhere other than Los Angeles, I never want to see another “The NFL is coming back to L.A. FOR REAL THIS TIME!” story again in my life.
7a. The St. Louis Rams potentially being a lame duck
An offshoot of the Los Angeles issue, tensions seem to be rising in St. Louis over the Rams and owner Stan Kroenke’s plans. He doesn’t seem to really want to stay in St. Louis. There was an announcement posted at Edward Jones Dome banning fan signs, which might be new this season (h/t to Post-Dispatch writer Jim Thomas) and might be an indication that even ownership knows the whole thing is about to get ugly.
6. Seattle Seahawks players vs. management
Not everyone on the Seahawks can get paid. Strong safety Kam Chancellor is one of the best defensive players in the league (yet probably like the fourth or fifth best on the Seahawks), and he wants a new deal. His holdout has now lasted the entire preseason. There are other Seattle players whose contracts are coming up. It’s a salary-cap sport and the Seahawks can’t keep everyone happy. Will there be any unrest? Or will Chancellor’s absence extend so long that it affects the defending NFC champs? How about both?
5. John Fox harnessing Jay Cutler
Fox inherited Cutler in Chicago. We saw one head coach, Marc Trestman, get so fed up with Cutler last season that he benched him for Jimmy Clausen. “FoxBall” is basically a derogatory term for Fox’s conservative nature, but it’s accurate that he can be really conservative. It’s hard to imagine him putting up with Cutler’s careless mistakes.
4. Cowboys running back unrest
When you make an extreme strategic decision, it invites criticism. Letting the NFL offensive player of the year walk and doing almost nothing to replace him is an example. DeMarco Murray is out. The Cowboys were fine rolling with unproven Joseph Randle, brittle cheap addition Darren McFadden and whoever else slots in behind them like Christine Michael, who the Seahawks practically gave away. Murray was extremely valuable last year; the Cowboys built their approach around his workhorse ways. If running game struggles behind that great offensive line, there is going to be a lot of heat on Jerry Jones for messing with what worked.
3. The NFL vs. the Patriots
We all know by now how the NFL flubbed deflate-gate. A lingering effect of the NFL so publicly taking on the Patriots (and the Patriots defiantly talking back) is that every one of the league’s moves that involve the Patriots will be under extreme scrutiny. What if there’s another Patriots player suspension or fine issue, for something like an illegal hit? What happens if the NFL doesn’t like some injury-report designation by the Pats and takes action? Even worse, what if another story is leaked that looks bad on the Patriots this season — will everyone wonder if it’s coming from the league office? Everything the NFL does that includes the Patriots for at least this season will be looked at through the lens of “Is the league really being impartial here?”
2. Peyton Manning vs. Gary Kubiak
John Elway had a choice after last season: Hire a coach to fit Manning, or have Manning fit in with his new coach. Elway chose the latter, hiring former teammate Kubiak. That’s not wrong, especially considering Manning is 39. But Manning had three very successful seasons with the Broncos, and now their offense is a lot different. Denver’s offense didn’t look good in preseason, whatever that’s worth. If the offense continues to struggle into the regular season, will there be issues?
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1. (Fill in the blank) in Washington
Copy and file away for use during the season …
Boy, that was crazy how (player or coach) really embarrassed the Redskins this time around, wasn’t it? Daniel Snyder has sure made a mess of things! You thought that Washington couldn’t top itself with (September controversy), but then (October controversy) happened, then all the leaked stories to the media led to (November controversy) and here we find ourselves now talking about the really strange (December controversy). How can the Redskins top that?
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
