Auburn In The NFL Thread

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46 minutes ago, AUBwins said:

Schwartz might get cut.  He definitely doesn't need to be fumbling

Yeah I’ve already seen fans clamoring for him to be cut

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Jaguars Rookie RB Tank Bigsby's Work Ethic Earns Praise from Head Coach and Teammates

Aug 05, 2023 at 03:57 PM

John Oehser

Jaguars Senior Writer

JACKSONVILLE – He's working, and that's showing in a big way.

Rookie running back Tank Bigsby is consistently impressing in multiple ways during Jaguars 2023 Training Camp – and it's no mistake that work ethic and drive are among those ways.

"That's the task coming here, doing whatever I can do to help the Jags win," he said.

Bigsby, a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft from Auburn University, spoke to Jaguars Media Saturday following Day 9 '23 camp practice in EverBank Stadium. Head Coach Doug Pederson earlier that day spoke of multiple positive traits Bigsby has shown early in camp.

Football IQ and desire to learn quicky were chief among them.

"Outside of speed, athleticism, all that … this kid is a sponge," Pederson said. "He's really a smart, young running back. He understands the defense. One of the things, too, that has been impressive is how well he has taken the coaching – whether from [running backs coach] Bernie [Parmalee], myself, even [offensive line coach] Phil Rauscher.

"He's able to take that and apply it to what he's doing. He's just improving every day."

Bigsby's addition gives added depth to a Jaguars backfield led last season by Travis Etienne Jr., who started 12 games in 2022 and rushed for 1,125 yards with five touchdowns. Etienne spoke positively earlier in camp of his relationship with the rookie, saying: "There's no jealousy within the room; everybody's here rooting each other and we're all helping each other try to get better."

"I've seen a lot out of Tank," Etienne said. "I just love his grind; I love his grit. I feel like he's very hungry. That's what I love about him, just seeing his willingness to get better every day. He's a rookie, he's new in the scheme. I've been there, so I'm seeing where he's going and just his willingness to come in every day and learn.

"I love that about him and that's why you're going to see a lot of growth from him early."

Bigsby said that sort of focus isn't new.

"I always believe in putting your best foot forward and focusing on the task," he said. "I've still got a long way to go. We've got the first preseason game coming up. I have to keep getting better every day to become the best I can be and reach my full potential.

"I'm where I expected to be. I have to keep getting better and know my assignments, be disciplined. Now, it's moving fast and getting used to the pace of the NFL."

Bigsby in three seasons at Auburn rushed for 2,903 yards and 25 touchdowns on 590 carries. And while he caught just 62 passes for 448 yards and no touchdowns, Pederson on Saturday said he was optimistic about Bigsby's potential as a receiver.

"They didn't go to him a bunch [at Auburn], but he's a real good pass catcher out of the backfield," Pederson said.

Bigsby smiled at the assessment, saying that Cadillac Williams – the NFL's Rookie of the Year in 2005 who was running backs coach/interim head coach at Auburn during Bigsby's career there – often praised him similarly.

"I'm so glad I can that because I didn't get to show that at Auburn," he said. "Coach Cadillac used to tell me all the time, 'Man, you run some of the best routes I ever saw. You catch the ball really good.' I'm going to keep showing them that I'm more than just a downhill running back. I can catch the ball and do what I have to do."

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Bout to be a jaguars fan

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After a year’s delay, Smoke Monday ready to make his pro debut

• Updated: Aug. 09, 2023, 8:11 a.m.|
• Published: Aug. 09, 2023, 8:00 a.m.
• Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com

By this time last year, safety Smoke Monday’s first season in the NFL was over. After sustaining a torn anterior cruciate ligament at practice, the former Auburn defensive back went on season-ending injured reserve on Aug. 5, 2022.

Despite Monday’s status as an undrafted rookie, the New Orleans Saints kept the safety on their IR all season, and he’s giving training camp another try after recovering from his knee injury.

“I’m just glad to be back, to be honest,” Monday said on Monday. “I ain’t played football in a while, so just to be back out here and compete with these guys, it’s a blessing for me.”

 

Monday played in 50 games at Auburn. He recorded 172 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, six sacks and five interceptions.

 

Monday returned three of his interceptions for touchdowns – 29 yards in a 48-45 victory over Alabama on Nov. 30, 2019; 100 yards in a 30-17 victory over Tennessee on Nov. 21, 2020; and 36 yards in a 34-24 victory over Georgia State on Sept. 25, 2021.

 

But after his active career at Auburn, Monday spent his first season in the NFL rehabbing his knee injury and working on his football IQ.

“For me, it was just mental,” Monday said. “I never really had an injury like that, so for me to go down with that type of injury, it was just all mental for me. But I had people like Tyrann (Mathieu), Marcus Maye, older guys keeping me up – just made sure I stayed focused and I stayed in the playbook while I was down. That was really one of the main things. …

 

“An ACL, that’s hard to bounce back from, so I had to get my mind right for that long journey. And then also the football side of it, just staying on top of the plays, stack up every week, still picking the brains of the older guys getting what I can while I can.”

 

Monday was able to find the silver lining of his season on injured reserve.

 

“It definitely helped because I got to see it live,” Monday said, “watch the guys prepare for games and see how these older guys go through the week taking care of their bodies, also staying in the playbook, so it was a lot of things that they taught me throughout last year.”

Monday said he’s put that learning into practice by working as strong, free and dime safety in training camp.

 

The Saints have Mathieu and Maye returning, as well as former first-round pick and Las Vegas Raiders starter Johnathan Abram, fifth-round rookie Jordan Howden and former first-team All-Pro special-teamer J.T. Gray available at safety.

 

The existing depth means Monday’s path to the regular-season roster must include a role on special teams.

 

“I know (special-teams coordinator Darren Rizzi)’s got me in a lot of positions right now,” Monday said. “I’m playing a little (personal protector), I’m playing a little left wing, so as many positions as you can play on the special teams, that’s a win, so whatever they need me to do, I’m going to go out and do it to the best of my abilities.”

 

The Saints will kick off their three-game preseason schedule against the Kansas City Chiefs at noon CDT Sunday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. NFL Network will televise the game.

Monday is in line to make his pro debut in the contest.

 

“I definitely think I’ve shown what kind of player I am,” Monday said of his training-camp work. “Just continue to go out and get better every day, that’s the main thing.”

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Anders Carlson and Colby Wooden playing tonight on the NFL Network. The Packers are going up against the Bengals. Carlson has made two extra points. Wooden's in the game now.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Paladin

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Pushed an extra point attempt to the right... 

Pushed another extra point to the right... 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Paladin

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Cmon Malik!

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Unfortunately the game, with a 4pm CDT kickoff, will not be broadcast on The NFL Network. 

 

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Bigsby has 52 yards on 9 carries Midway through the second quarter. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Paladin

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In the first exhibition game of 2023, Daniel Carlson picked up where he left off at the end of last season. He drilled field goals of 53 and 46 yards. He was also 4/4 on extra points. 

 

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Anders Carlson trying ‘to fix the tempo’ as Green Bay’s kicker

Published: Aug. 16, 2023, 9:00 a.m.

By Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com

The concerns coming out of Green Bay’s training camp about rookie kicker Anders Carlson spilled into public view in the Packers’ preseason opener.

After hammering through three extra points and a 45-yard field goal, Carlson pushed point-after attempts to the right after Green Bay’s final two touchdowns as the Packers pulled away to a 36-19 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday night.

“I don’t want to look too far into it,” Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said during his postgame press conference. “It’s one game, but as long as you learn from it and get better and make the necessary adjustments, then a lot of times you come back stronger from it.”

Kicks missed to the right of the uprights have been the troublesome aspect in the former Auburn standout’s first NFL training camp. Carlson sees that as correctable.

“You don’t want to go right, left, right because then you’re just kind of lost,” Carlson said. “I like my mindset. I’ve just got to fix some technical things.”

The adjustment, Carlson said, is to stop rushing into his kicks like an anxious rookie.

“I need to go back to my tempo and get a little slower,” Carlson said. “I get maybe a little too excited, so it’s something to watch for and it’s something I know. I need to fix the tempo.”

Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst selected Carlson from Auburn in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on April 29 and resisted re-signing Mason Crosby, who served as the Packers’ kicker for the previous 16 seasons.

“No concerns right now,” Gutekunst said when asked about Carlson’s training-camp performance before Green Bay’s Family Night practice. “I do think it’s one of those things that this is the National Football League, you’ve got to perform at every position. At the same time, we went into this kind of knowing that rookie kickers will have some struggles with the thought process. There’ll be some patience there.”

Carlson rewarded Gutekunst by making 9-of-10 field-goal attempts in front of the crowd at Lambeau Field at Family Night. But the kicker said his position doesn’t allow for a learning curve.

“As a kicker, you don’t really have a rookie year,” Carlson said on Monday. “It’s kind of like you’ve got to get into it and you’ve got to perform like any other kicker would in the league, so for me, it’s encouraging everyone around me, and I think we’re taking the right steps. But I know it’s the first year, but it’s got to be right.”

Carlson knows about impatience with rookie kickers. His brother Daniel Carlson preceded him as a kicker at Auburn and in the NFL.

After being selected in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, Daniel Carlson missed three field-goal attempts, including two in overtime, in a 29-29 tie with the Buffalo Bills in his second regular-season game.

The next day, Minnesota waived Carlson, and Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said it was a “pretty easy” decision.

Carlson landed with the Oakland Raiders later in the 2018 season. He tied for the NFL scoring lead in 2020 and 2021 and earned first-team All-Pro recognition in 2022, when he set an NFL record with 11 field goals of at least 50 yards.

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Seattle Seahawks ‘really like the heck out of’ Derick Hall

Updated: Aug. 15, 2023, 1:11 p.m.|

Published: Aug. 15, 2023, 1:00 p.m.

By Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com

Former Auburn standout Derick Hall made his pro debut on Thursday night as a starter at outside linebacker for Seattle in the Seahawks’ 24-13 preseason victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

Hall did not record any stats in the game, but Seattle coach Pete Carroll still spoke highly of the second-round draft choice after the contest.

“He’s doing really well,” Carroll said. “Give him the month that we need right here, he’s going to be in the midst of the rotations, I think, because he’s just too physical, runs too fast, has a great head on his shoulders about playing defensive football, and we really like the heck out of him. It’s just a matter of time, honing his game down.

“And special teams as well, he’s going to have big factor on special teams. He’s got one of the really, really good attitudes about playing defense. You love his heart, what he wants to do, how he wants to play. He’s really one of the fellows.”

Against the Vikings, Hall was on the field for 27 defensive snaps and nine special-teams plays.

While he didn’t have any stats, Hall drew an offensive-holding penalty against Minnesota tight end Josh Oliver on the second snap of the game that backed up the Vikings to their 7-yard line.

Later, Hall forced a hurried throw and an incompletion from Minnesota quarterback Nick Mullens, a former Spain Park High School star.

The Seattle depth chart shows Hall as the backup to Uchenna Nwosu at one of the outside-linebacker positions. A five-year veteran, Nwosu tied for the Seahawks’ lead at 9.5 sacks with Darrell Taylor in the 2022 season. Taylor is listed as the backup at the other backup linebacker spot to Boye Mafe, a second-round rookie in 2022.

Seattle will play the second of its three preseason games at 9 p.m. CDT Saturday, when the Dallas Cowboys visit Lumen Field.

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First drive of 2nd half for Bengals tonight, they were peppering Shed Jackson! He looked good in a 12 jersey.  He had a 26 yard catch and run that was called back for a penalty.  Hope they at least sign to practice squad.  Just too many receivers on this team above him. 

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He is also 2/2 on extra points. 

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The one-two punch with him and Etienne is gonna be so nice. I was already intrigued in the jags after last season but now with him and Seth. This team is on my watchlist.

Edited August 20, 2023 by WFE12

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