Can Lamar Jackson go back-to-back? Ben Solak weighs in, plus potential big-name trade targets, Brock Purdy's weakness and more NFL trends.
WNBA players opt out of CBA: How it will impact 2025 season, free agency -- and what players are asking forBen Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a national NFL analyst. He previously covered the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Green Nation and The Draft Network.Every Tuesday, I'll spin the previous week of NFL football forward, looking at what the biggest storylines mean and what comes next.
This is not just a clean pocket -- it's also an open window. And the Ravens have been enjoying plenty of those this season. Jackson's average target against the Buccaneers had 5.3 yards of separation, which is the best number in a single game this season per NFL Next Gen Stats. In his September matchup, 86.7% of his passing attempts went to an open window, which is the biggest single-game number in the NGS database.
Jackson has gravity. Even as the scheme and the playmakers around him have improved, you can still tell that the offensive universe in Baltimore is heliocentric, held together by the sheer force of Jackson. What is happening in Baltimore is different than when 49ers quarterbackbeat Mahomes in a couple games in 2021. The difference is in the miracle plays that no other quarterback could conjure.
If trading Olave is a hard"no" for New Orleans, good for the Saints. I'd move right on to asking about cornerbackBourne is far from a splashy name, but I'll forever love a receiver with good size, hands, blocking and route running. He isn't superlative in any one area, but as a do-it-all No. 3 receiver, you could do far, far worse.
Woody Johnson bought the Jets in 2000, and since then, the Jets are 170-224 . They've made two conference championships and zero Super Bowls. The last time they were in the playoffs was 2010. Evaluating ownership is always hard over small samples, but over large ones, the cream rises to the top -- and the Jets have been at the bottom. If anbecause it's particularly embarrassing to you in front of your friends, well ... I'm not sure I trust the way you run the team.
The Chiefs aren't the only team trying to press the 49ers, either. Seattle pressed them on 36.7% of Purdy's dropbacks; the Rams pressed them 34.6% of the time. Both are season highs for those respective defenses, and both had some success and some big failures in press coverage. But unlike the Seahawks and Rams, the Chiefs have been living in a press coverage world for years, and they have drafted to that end. Even when starting outside cornerback.
The press coverage isn't going away, and it isn't totally a Purdy failure. The 49ers' offense as a whole needs better answers. But whenever a defensive coach hops on a microphone and gushes praise about the opposing QB, I promise you it's because he thinks he has him pegged.NFL Next Gen Stats are unique and insightful nuggets of data that are gleaned from tracking chips and massive databases. Next Ben Stats are usually numbers I made up. Both are below.
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