Hey there football fans! Here are five things from Saturday that you need to know to start off your Sundays:
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers released kicker Roberto Aguayo on Saturday. The news was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud.
Tampa Bay selected Aguayo in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft, but the former Florida State player was never able to live up to his draft stock, as he missed nine of his 31 field goal attempts last season. As a result, Aguayo converted just 71.0 percent of his kicks, which was last among the 35 kickers who have played in at least three games in 2016.
Aguayo slightly made up for his errors on field goals with his kickoffs, as only 30.4 percent of his kickoffs were returned (tied for eighth-lowest rate in the league). In addition, the average starting position of Tampa Bay’s opponents was their own 23.1-yard line following Aguayo’s kickoffs, fifth-best among kickers.
The Buccaneers are now expected to go into the season with veteran kicker Nick Folk, who was tied for the ninth-best field goal conversion rate with 87.1 percent last season. Furthermore, Folk converted 25 of his 27 attempts inside the 50 for a conversion rate of 92.6 percent.
Pittsburgh Steelers first-round pick edge defender T.J. Watt made his preseason debut Friday night. Watt impressed, playing 62 total snaps during the 20-12 victory over the New York Giants.
Watt’s 62 snaps were the most by any player during the game and he earned the highest grade of any player in the game with an overall PFF game grade of 86.1.
Watt impressed rushing the passer, of his 33 pass-rush snaps Watt pressured the QB six times including two sacks and a hit. His six total pressures are tied for the most in a single game so far this preseason. Watt had a pass-rush productivity of 25.0 during the game (pass-rush productivity measures pressure created on a per-snap basis with weighting toward sacks). As impressive as the numbers were his two sacks — one came via a clean-up and the other unblocked.
Mike Klis of 9News in Denver reported that Denver Broncos defensive lineman Derek Wolfe was carted off the field at Broncos training camp Saturday. Klis later tweeted that Wolfe “has an ankle injury (that is) not as serious” as it originally appeared to be.
Wolfe took his game to a new level in 2015, finishing as PFF’s ninth-ranked interior defender with a career high grade of 88.8. Last season, his overall grade was 80.8, 27th out of 125 qualifying interior defenders.
Wolfe is a versatile player that Denver uses in multiple spots on their defensive line, with 344 of his snaps coming at tackle and 295 at end in 2016. He led all 3-4 defensive ends with at least 200 run snaps in run-stop percentage (percentage of a player’s run defense snaps in which he was responsible for a stop) at 9.6 percent.
Baltimore Ravens WR Tim White is out for the season after sustaining a thumb injury that requires surgery in the Ravens preseason win over the Washington Redskins. White, an undrafted rookie free agent, was reportedly impressing as in training camp both as a receiver and on special teams. The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec reported that special teams coach Jerry Rosburg called White one of the team’s two best gunners.
In the Ravens first preseason game, White was tasked with returning punts and kicks as well as receiving. He had a quiet night as a receiver until 4th string QB Josh Woodrum found him for a 33-yard touchdown.
At Arizona State, White excelled after the catch in making defenders miss in the open field. He forced 13 missed tackles in 2016 (29th among NCAA receivers) and on 113 receptions over his two-year career, averaged 8.1 yards after the catch per reception.
The Rams, Jets, and Cardinals all notched wins to start off their preseason slates.
The Rams beat the Cowboys 13-10, behind an early touchdown drive from QB Jared Goff and a late field goal. Rams CB Michael Jordan had the game’s highest grade, at 91.2, while Dallas TE Rico Gathers scored his second touchdown in as many preseason games.
QB Josh McCown threw a touchdown pass to WR Charone Peake for the game’s only touchdown as the Jets beat the Titans 7-3. Jets QB Christian Hackenberg notched a 74.1 grade in extended action, though he did it with a 5.0-yard average depth of target.
WR Brittan Golden led off the scoring for the Cardinals as they beat the Marshawn Lynch– and Derek Carr-less Oakland Raiders 20-10. RB Andre Ellington had a strong performance, notching a 77.1 overall PFF grade behind 31 receiving yards, 20 rushing yards, and strong pass protection.
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