One league source on the Dak Prescott deal: "You know what this is? This is Jerry Jones tipping off the extraordinary TV deal that is coming."

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 9, 2021

𝒥𝒾𝓂 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉@Jim_Everett
Be prepared for most #nfl teams to make a few “not so popular” player cut/trade decisions since the 2020’s salary cap of $198.2M drops to $185M this year for 2021.

The $13.2 difference will come from one or two restructures or contract(s) releases.

Ed Werder@WerderEdESPN
The #Cowboys announce they have reached contract agreement with QB Dak Prescott. That means he will not charge $37.7M against the cap as if he had played on franchise tag.

Analysis: NFL’s very rich owners about to get much more rich

https://sports.yahoo.com/analysis-nfls-very-rich-owners-204857754.html

There are some very rich people about to get a whole lot richer. Who else but NFL owners?
Probably within the next week, those 32 multi-millionaires/billionaires will see their future earnings increase exponentially. The league is on the verge of extending its broadcast deals with its current partners, and with a new full-time rights holder in Amazon likely acquiring streaming rights.
The astronomical numbers figure to double in many cases, displaying once more that despite a pandemic, lower ratings for the 2020 season, and the waves of viewers finding alternate ways to watch games, the NFL is the most desirable of all commodities for broadcasters.
“There is so much interest in the NFL coming back in broadcasting and digital and all the ancillary programming and fantasy leagues and sports gambling,” says Marc Ganis, co-founder of Chicago-based consulting group Sportscorp and a confidant of many NFL owners. “Nobody wants to leave the NFL right now.”

That’s particularly evident when it comes to television. Though the networks, mainly Disney-owned ESPN/ABC, may have balked at the rights fees the NFL is seeking over the next decade, they also pretty much are swallowing hard and ponying up.
ESPN spent the most in the current deal at $1.9 billion annually — increased to $2 billion once it got a wild-card playoff game. That provided it the Monday night showcase and the playoff representation. The league is eager for some of the Monday nighters to land on free-to-air ABC, while Disney is even more eager to get back into the Super Bowl mix on ABC.
The price tag probably won’t approach $2 billion per season, but it will increase substantially. And only ESPN’s deal ends after the upcoming season; the rest go through 2022.
Fox currently has a Sunday afternoon package of primarily NFC games and the Thursday night package at $1.76 billion per year. Amazon — with cable’s NFL Network, owned by the league — is in line to grab the prime-time portion, but Fox’s fee for the Sunday games could double from $1.1 billion.
CBS, which once had the Thursday night package, is paying $1 billion a year for the Sunday afternoon AFC-dominated telecasts and also seems headed for doubling that.

NBC, which has next February’s Super Bowl — potentially in the middle of the Winter Olympics that the network also broadcasts — has been paying $950 million a year for the prized Sunday night deal. That, too, could double in rights fees.

Amazon’s buy-in is projected in the $1 billion range. And then there’s the DirecTV Sunday Ticket package of out-of-town telecasts, which is at $1.5 billion annually and figures to jump to $2 billion or so — with several bidders lined up.

So, from $7.185 billion a year to, say, $12 billion is in the ballpark.

Why is the league so eager to get the broadcast extensions done now? The NFL’s business year begins March 17.
Well, most stadiums were fully empty for all of 2020, and team expenses skyrocketed during the pandemic-impacted season. The loss of incoming revenues means a reduced salary cap this year (to about $183 million), and would have heavily impacted future caps without the upcoming tidal wave of rights fees profits.
There’s also the financial security the new contracts will provide. Not that Jerry Jones or Robert Kraft needs to worry where his next dollar is coming from. But they soon will know where their next millions of dollars are coming from.
The players, who wisely agreed to a new labor deal a year ago before the COVID-19 pandemic hit full force, will see the fruits of that pact throughout the decade. Not this year, when the new broadcast deals won’t have much effect. But definitely down the road paved with gold.
And despite how much they will be shelling out, the broadcast partners will benefit. Just look at the TV ratings for 2020, the newsiest of years with the pandemic; a stormy presidential election campaign and aftermath; and a racial and social awakening in America. Yes, the number of eyeballs watching on television dropped for the NFL, but the league still brought in an average of 15.6 million television and digital viewers during the regular season, according to the league and Nielsen.
As general managers or coaches like to say after making a trade, “It’s a win/win for everyone.” In this case, that’s almost certainly true.

===
Amazon to Partner With the NFL for Exclusive Game Broadcasts
Many football games would appear on Prime Video if the deal goes through.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/03/04/amazon-to-partner-with-the-nfl-for-exclusive-game/

Inside sources told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday afternoon that the NFL and giant technology company Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are in the process of working out a deal for exclusive game broadcasting on Prime Video. While the details are still being worked out, the new plans could be finalized sometime during the week of March 8, according to the unnamed sources.
Amazon is specifically zeroing in on the NFL’s Thursday night games. Many of these games, under the terms of the agreement, would thereafter appear only on Prime Video and on local television networks in the area where the game is being played. Fidelity notes even if the partnership is finalized, Amazon won’t gain exclusive Thursday night game broadcast rights until some point following the 2022 season, when Fox Corporation’s (NASDAQ:FOX) broadcasting contract for those games ends.

Yeah that was a good interview.

I like how Ramsey couldn’t come up with an answer to the question, what was the craziest thing AD did that you saw in a game. Ramsey was like, there’s something every game.

Michael Brockers admits Matthew Stafford is “a level up” from Jared Goff

I am not sure I like the idea of a defensive player from a unit that played poorly in its last playoff game saying the issue is all about the qb.

Not sure that’s quite the right attitude. I like Brockers but I don’t think that remark is well-thought out. Not because what it might be saying about Goff, but about what kind of attitude it conveys. There are only 3 times in NFL playoff history since the merger when a team scored on its 1st 5 possessions, and the Green Bay game was one of them.

In terms of Stafford being a cut above? Well he better be–😎 …he’s a 13 year vet with a lot of talent and a lot left in the tank.

In fact what past Rams qb is he NOT a cut above? Maybe Warner…though I dunno, maybe Stafford has more at qb than Warner did. (Though I am only counting their qbs since I first started following them in the late 70s.)

In terms of what is being said about Goff, yeah I know a lot of guys were down on him, but I am not one of them. But the trade is the trade and I look forward to seeing the Stafford Rams offense in action.

I am not sure they are doing themselves any favors by crowning themselves this early though. A lot more than just qb has to go right for this to be a trophy year. Maybe those other things will play out right, maybe they won’t all play out right.

I mean…it's the Cycle, but the Rams cornered themselves in here.

When you go 10-6 and win a playoff game and then "upgrade" at QB to the cost of two 1sts and a 3rd, you're not afforded any wiggle room. https://t.co/lT5skuz5yQ

— BTHRams (@BTH_Rams) March 6, 2021

London Fletcher is one of the most underrated players in NFL history

▪️2,039 career tackles (second most since NFL started tracking in 1987)
▪️Super Bowl Champion
▪️16 NFL seasons without EVER missing a single game@LFletcher59 is the IRONMAN pic.twitter.com/851C99LJX5

— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) March 5, 2021

The Los Angeles Rams stand in solidarity with the Asian American + Pacific Islander communities.

We condemn these acts of racism, hate + xenophobia against the AAPI community. #StopAsianHate x @trapp07 pic.twitter.com/9KW6MBr3x2

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) March 5, 2021

Jalen Ramsey doesn’t see any other CBs doing what he does on a weekly basis

Cameron DaSilva

* https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/03/05/rams-jalen-ramsey-cornerback-best-season-2020/

Jalen Ramsey earned his second first-team All-Pro selection last season after putting together a stellar campaign in the Rams secondary. His impact goes well beyond the box score, consistently locking down No. 1 receivers and forcing opposing quarterbacks to go elsewhere with the ball.

Looking back on his 2020 season, Ramsey would consider it his best year yet. It’s hard to argue with that fact, too. He allowed a career-low completion rate of 50.7%, gave up a passer rating of just 68.1 in coverage and shut down Pro Bowl receivers such as DK Metcalf, DeAndre Hopkins and Allen Robinson.

And as well as he played last season, he still sees a lot of room for improvement.

“I would put this up there as my best season yet,” Ramsey said on the “Huddle and Flow” podcast. “I have a lot of improvements to make still, especially if I’m going to continue playing inside, outside, moving around and playing different positions a little bit more – things I had never done in the past. And that just came to show you how much the Rams value me and how much they knew what type of player I was and wanted to use all of my skill sets and not just pigeonhole me with one specific thing or certain coverages.”

Ramsey became a different type of cornerback last season than he was in previous years. He played the nickel (or “star) role more often than he ever has, he blitzed off the edge at times and consistently matched up with No. 1 receivers.

When he looks around the league, he doesn’t see any other cornerbacks doing what he does on a weekly basis. He knows there are versatile corners out there, but none that is blanketing No. 1 receivers one week and making big plays from the slot the next.

“I’m a football fan so I look at a lot of football as well, but I’m not seeing guys go out one week and guard the No. 1 receiver on the team, who was probably a Pro Bowl receiver or an All-Pro receiver and essentially lock him down, and the next week go play nickel and make plays in the backfield or on the edges and not even really guard the No. 1 receiver that game,” Ramsey said. “I’m not seeing too many guys do that and still make an effect on the game. I’m not really seeing any guys do that, if I’m being honest with you. And there are other versatile guys in the league. I’m not saying there isn’t any other versatile guys in the league. But there isn’t really anybody in the league who’s guarding a No. 1 receiver, locking him down like I am, and then playing the nickel and making an impact on the game as I am. And within all of that, as well, kind of elevating my teammates around me, elevating the secondary guys around me, making sure they’re ready to take advantage of their opportunities when their opportunities present themselves just because at a certain point in games and the season, teams will avoid me.”

Ramsey is just getting started with the Rams and if he plays the way he did last season, he’ll be an All-Pro again in 2021. He’ll be playing under a new defensive coordinator, however, after Brandon Staley left to become the Chargers’ head coach. He’s excited about Raheem Morris, but Staley is someone Ramsey once again called “a genius.”

Morris has said he just doesn’t want to screw up the way Ramsey and Aaron Donald are playing, so expect to see much of the same from both players next season.

With Gerald Everett on his way out, we’re doing a deeper dive on Brycen Hopkins — and we have a feeling he’ll be a threat with Stafford.

He’s technically sound in every area. His ability to exploit zones and make contested catches is uncanny. Think he’ll be an upgrade. pic.twitter.com/poCLyZ5PMW

— Rams Brothers (@RamsBrothers) March 5, 2021