NFL Training Camps 2015: Updates, Rumors and Analysis for August 17

We're back into a part of the NFL calendar when deflated hopes are the subject of chatter more often than deflated balls. (Maybe? Mercifully?)

The first week of preseason football has ended, and with it comes a continuing parade of injury woes. Dreams and bones can be shattered at any point in the season, but the sting throbs more when a critical player tears something under the August sun.

However, it wasn't all dreary doom coming out of training camps Monday, as the Houston Texans received a healthy injection of smiles when outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney returned to the practice field. In San Francisco, head coach Jim Tomsula asked everyone to smile less when thinking about 49ers running back Jarryd Hayne. And in Washington, Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III went all deep and introspective on us.

There was something for everybody in a grab bag of buzz. Let's dive in.

Jadeveon Clowney Makes His Triumphant Return

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

You’re forgiven if Houston Texans outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney is only a foggy memory. At this point his NFL career can be packaged neatly into a few pieces of viral Internet stimulation. Most notably the seismic backfield disruption he caused against the Atlanta Falcons during his second preseason game.

But we were teased, as the Clowney who delivered those helmet-popping hits didn’t ever truly appear on a field during the 2014 regular season. Football is cold and cruel, and the things that bring us joy are often ripped away. Or just ripped, which is what happened with Clowney when he suffered a knee injury in Week 1 of 2014 a mere 23 snaps into his NFL career.

He missed time and then tried to return in Week 8. But he was a broken man and on the field only in the sense that “Clowney” could be seen on a jersey. Doom soon followed: He needed microfracture surgery.

Going under the knife for microfracture surgery might just be the kingpin in a sport brimming with surgeries that threaten both performance and your quality of life. The estimated nine-month recovery time made it possible Clowney could be on the field for Week 1 in 2015—or at least early in the season—after undergoing the procedure in December 2014.

Monday marked a bounding leap forward in his recovery, as Clowney was removed from the physically unable to perform list and was on the practice field.

His participation was limited, of course, though he didn’t wear a knee brace. He worked through individual drills and won’t be included in team drills yet until cleared by team doctors.

“I felt pretty good,” he told John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. "Just happy to be back out there with my teammates.”

Eyewitness accounts of Clowney’s workout indicate he looked pretty normal, and normal for him is terrifying. Dale Robertson, also of the Chronicle, was amazed at Clowney's ease of movement and noted that his confidence without a knee brace is encouraging.

The entire day was encouraging, as Clowney targeted Aug. 17 as a practice-return day, per Drew Dougherty of HoustonTexans.com, and now he’s met that goal. The next step? A preseason appearance.

Or maybe not, because the Texans will remain cautious with their 2014 first overall pick. If we do get a Clowney sighting this preseason, it’ll be brief, and the plan is still to have him ready for Week 1, per McClain.

That’s when we’ll finally see Clowney paired with Texans human-tank defensive end J.J. Watt. It’s also when opposing quarterbacks will disintegrate immediately after each snap.

Jim Tomsula Says Let’s Maybe Chill Out a Bit with the Jarryd Hayne Hype

George Bridges/Associated Press

Throughout the month of July, I spent time beating up my phone bill for a piece that explored this question and was a whole lot of fun to research and write: What does the future hold for the NFL in Australia?

This will shock you, but in pretty much every phone conversation—from calls with Sydney sports bar owners to a chat with the man organizing Australia’s first professional American football league—Jarryd Hayne’s name surfaced.

Not because the voice on the other end wanted to marvel at Hayne’s superior athletic skill. That’s no secret in Australia after his years of rugby dominance.

No, everyone mostly wanted to talk about Hayne as a sort of football pioneer who can finally smash down a barrier and maybe start a stream of non-punters from Australia making the leap while excelling at the American version of football.

To do that Hayne first has to find his own success as a San Francisco 49ers running back. And his preseason debut did little to halt the chugging hype train.

Hayne ripped off a 53-yard run on only his second touch during a real, actual football game. The beaming pride from Down Under was so strong that Australian media members couldn’t help themselves and violated the sacred "no cheering in the press box" rule, per Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area.

49ers head coach Jim Tomsula is excited too. But he’d like it if we could all just simmer down a touch and remember that as impressive as Hayne's debut was with 63 yards on five carries, he’s still played all of 15 snaps as a professional football player.

“I just want to temper everything,” Tomsula said in a media conference call, via Maiocco. “We don’t need to put undue expectations (on him). That’s unnecessary to me, to put that on his plate right now. I just want him to stay focused on getting better. The guy is a world-class athlete.”

Tomsula added that there are still nuances of the running back position Hayne is working on, which is certainly expected at this stage.

“The things we got to stay on is when you get into those tighter quarters and seeing the little creases. That’s where the improvement is. That’s where he has to keep working. Not that he’s bad at it. He’s not, but we’ve to keep improving there.”

Hayne’s best chance at winning a roster spot will likely come on special teams at first, as the 49ers’ running back depth chart is crowded while led by Carlos Hyde, Reggie Bush, Kendall Hunter and fourth-round pick Mike Davis. Which is fine, as Hayne also showed ability as a kick returner against the Texans, bringing one kickoff back 33 yards.

He may have already done enough to land on an NFL roster somewhere, even if it’s not with the 49ers.

Brandon Marshall: 'Geno Smith Did Nothing Wrong'

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Early in life we all learn an important lesson about the root of conflict. Perhaps for you it happened during kindergarten when some kid took your dump truck, leading to a minor sandbox kerfuffle.

A fight of any kind—verbal or physical—requires participation from two willing parties.

But often it’s still clear one person was the instigator. Maybe that’s not always the case, though usually I’ll side with the guy who has a broken jaw when determining which combatant was more at fault.

New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith is currently dealing with a puffy face after being sucker-punched by a former teammate during training camp, linebacker IK Enemkpali. He’ll be out for six to 10 weeks, and now Ryan Fitzpatrick is under center for the foreseeable future.

Strangely, sources within the organization told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News that Smith “deserved it” because he was being aggressive and pointing close to Enemkpali’s face. Even if that's true and Smith isn’t an innocent victim, breaking the quarterback’s jaw is incomprehensibly stupid regardless of the circumstances.

But it’s not true, according to Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

“I was sitting right there and I would say this without going into too many details because we’ve already moved past it: Geno Smith did nothing wrong,” Marshall told Fox TV on Monday (h/t Mehta). “He did nothing wrong. … And that’s all I’m going to say about that because we have to move forward and I don’t want to be a distraction to our team, but Geno Smith did everything the right way.”

Marshall is speaking some football media language there with lines like “we have to move forward.” But his telling of the events as a witness still contradicts Mehta’s previous report.

None of it really matters now. Smith is out, Fitzpatrick is in and a young quarterback may have lost his final starting chance with the Jets because of some locker room idiocy.

Demar Dotson Goes Down, Leaving Jameis Winston Without a Primary Protector

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie quarterback Jameis Winston looked like, well, a rookie quarterback during his preseason debut against the Minnesota Vikings.

He made some bad decisions, threw an interception and chucked balls far away from friendly hands. He also connected on a 40-yard deep ball to wide receiver Vincent Jackson as part of a scoring drive.

Quickly, however, we were reminded of a problem that’s out of Winston’s control: He’s playing behind a brutally feeble offensive line that allowed 52 sacks in 2014 (30th). And quickly the barrage of pass-rushing bodies he’ll face as a rookie is about to get worse.

Buccaneers right tackle Demar Dotson crumbled with a knee injury during Tampa’s preseason opener. Fears of a lost season were quickly set aside when further testing revealed an MCL sprain that will keep Dotson out for roughly six weeks, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

While it’s nice that normal breathing can resume and Dotson isn’t gone for the year, he’s still set to miss likely three to four games, depending on how his recovery progresses. What the Bucs are left with then is life without their best pass-blocker for possibly the first month, all while a rookie (Donovan Smith) is assigned to protect Winston’s blind side.

In 2014 Dotson was the only stable force along Tampa’s offensive line. He gave up only 28 total pressures, per Pro Football Focus, which ranked 12th out of the 54 tackles who played at least 50 percent of their team’s snaps.

His injury forced Tampa to scramble and sign former Indianapolis Colts tackle Gosder Cherilus to a two-year deal, per the Associated Press (via FoxSports.com).

Byron Jones Scares Cowboys, but He’ll Be Fine

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes a draft need is glaring at you. Other times it screams while kicking and flailing.

That’s what the Dallas Cowboys’ cornerback depth chart was doing back in April when the Cowboys made a smart decision and really the only decision with their first-round pick by selecting Byron Jones.

The Cowboys secondary ranked 26th in 2014 while allowing 251.9 passing yards per game. The worst swinging gate was cornerback Brandon Carr, who finished the season with a 114.0 passer rating allowed in coverage, per PFF.

So you can understand why some hairs were yanked from heads Sunday when Jones suffered a shoulder injury in practice. The physical corner dinged up the same shoulder that required surgery during his final season at Connecticut.

But regular breathing patterns can resume here too, as it seems Jones’ practice mishap won’t lead to much missed time.

“That sure was a concern because that was the shoulder he had fixed,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “If we had to do anything we could probably do some playing, but under the circumstances we’ll just rest him real good, and call it a good thing it worked out.”

Jones will miss a few days of practice and likely the Cowboys’ Week 2 preseason game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, per Davison. But that's only as a precaution, and then he’ll remain on track to replace Carr eventually.

Chip Kelly Knows That 497 Touches Is, Well, a Lot

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

At this point Philadelphia Eagles running back DeMarco Murray should just embrace the number 497 and get those digits on a massive gold chain to wear around his neck at all times.

That’s how many touches he finished with in 2014, his final season in Dallas before leaving as a free agent. Excluding the playoffs, his 449 regular-season touches put Murray in unwanted company: He logged the sixth most single-season touches in NFL history.

Given the examples of inferno-like flameouts by running backs following a season with such a heavy workload, it’s natural to be hesitant about Murray’s 2015 production potential despite his overall dominance. Former Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson went from 2,199 total yards on 457 touches in 2006 to 745 yards on 188 touches in 2007.

The concern grows when we recall Murray’s lengthy medical records, and the 11 games he had missed over the previous three seasons before 2014.

Know that Eagles head coach Chip Kelly shares your fears, and he (hopefully?) has a contingency plan in place.

“I think there is a lot of validity to it,” he said to the MMQB's Peter King. “But how do you manage him going into a season? Our plan all along was to get another running back with him. I wanted to have two running backs, and that’s why we got Ryan [Mathews]. I don’t think you can have a guy carry it 370 to 400 times per season and be successful. We’re going to run it a lot—we always do—but we’ll have more than one guy doing it.”

In theory that plan sounds just fine. Kelly has two power runners who plow ahead with the ideal one-cut running style for his system, and if Murray happens to break something, then Mathews will keep the line moving.

But as far as safety nets go, Mathews is old, frayed and has been chewed apart by rodents. He’s played only one full NFL season over five years, missing 20 games.

And More from Kelly: Nelson Agholor Was Drafted High for a Reason

Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Kelly has spent two seasons as the Eagles head coach, and each offseason a wide receiver who just had his best year statistically was told to find work elsewhere.

First it was DeSean Jackson, who posted a single-season career high 1,332 receiving yards in 2013, proving his secondary-stretching speed is ideal for Kelly’s uptempo system. Then he became a salary-cap casualty when Kelly decided to reallocate precious dollars.

Jeremy Maclin faced a similar outcome after he produced 1,318 receiving yards in 2014 on 85 receptions, both easily career highs. Kelly shrugged, and instead of paying the pending free agent who eventually departed for the Kansas City Chiefs, he targeted a cheaper version of the same explosiveness in the first round.

Sunday we met that high-ceiling replacement: Nelson Agholor.

Kelly’s 20th overall pick in 2015 made his preseason debut against the Indianapolis Colts. He dazzled with a leaping catch to haul in an errant pass from quarterback Mark Sanchez then promptly eliminated tackling angles with his speed for a 34-yard touchdown.

Agholor finished with 57 yards on three receptions, all while looking like the precise route-runner with after-the-catch speed that Kelly craved.

The coach wasn’t surprised.

"You can see when he has the ball in his hands he's a dynamic player," Kelly told Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "What you saw today is one of the reasons we drafted him so high."  

Chuck Pagano Calls Phillip Dorsett a 'Big Play Waiting to Happen'

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Elsewhere in gushing about absurdly fast wide receivers, here’s Colts head coach Chuck Pagano on Phillip Dorsett after the first-round pick’s preseason debut ended with four catches for 51 yards.

“He’s a big play waiting to happen, but he has to take care of the football,” Pagano told Kevin Bowen of Colts.com.

The blemish Pagano is referring to came at the end of a 20-yard catch when Dorsett didn’t protect the ball and had it poked loose.

Coaches tend to get a wee bit cranky about turnovers, but let’s not allow one mistake to completely overshadow an afternoon featuring two 18-plus-yard receptions. 

Dorsett is another race horse added to an offense that has plenty of them. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.25 seconds at his Miami pro day.

Colts general manager Ryan Grigson elected to create that surplus of speed by investing a first-round pick in Dorsett, even though his clone, T.Y. Hilton, was already rostered. Other needs along the defensive line and in the secondary seemed as though they should have been a greater priority.

Soon enough we'll know if Grigson's failure to address core roster weaknesses while stubbornly sticking to his “best player available” philosophy will hold back championship aspirations. But his critics will be quieted if Dorsett, Hilton and fellow wideout Donte Moncrief are settling under quarterback Andrew Luck’s deep missiles for many years.

Justin Gilbert Is Still Getting Torched Repeatedly

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

There’s a minimum standard of play that comes with being the first name called at any position during any draft. If such a player has reached his second season and he’s still not a solidified starter, he’s failed.

And if such a player is a cornerback getting scorched by an undrafted nobody, he’s living in a cloud of rotten failure.

That’s the existence facing Cleveland Browns second-year cornerback Justin Gilbert right now. He was selected ninth overall in 2014 after the Browns traded back from No. 4 to No. 9 then up again slightly to No. 8 in an effort to secure their man.

At the time it was assumed Gilbert would form the perfect shutdown tandem while playing across from Joe Haden. The Browns are still waiting on that and silently communicated their lack of confidence when they spent money to bring in veteran cornerback Tramon Williams this offseason.

Gilbert continues to get dog walked repeatedly. In a joint practice Monday with the Buffalo Bills he was badly beaten three times during one-on-one drills. That happened over the course of only 15 minutes, according to Joe Buscaglia from WKBW. Worse, he was getting owned by Bills receiver Andre Davis, an undrafted rookie out of South Florida. Of those three beatings, two came on deep sideline routes, per Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland.

Gilbert is still young at 23 years old and still has time to develop. But there’s a reason why he played only 38.6 percent of Cleveland’s defensive snaps in 2014, per PFF. He can’t be trusted.

Robert Griffin III: 'I Feel Like I’m the Best Quarterback in the League'

David Richard/Associated Press

The thing about headlines is they’re short. In an age when information is dissected 140 characters at a time, each headline needs to grab your attention and sell you on the idea that, yes, a click is warranted here.

The one above is a fine example. There isn’t room in a small space to unpack an entire nuanced and intelligent quote from Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. So instead the juiciest piece is often snipped off.

Griffin, who’s gone through his share of hardships since a Rookie of the Year season in 2012, did indeed say those words to WJLA’s Alex Parker during a sort of training camp exit interview (h/t Clinton Yates of the Washington Post).

But the whole quote shows that maybe for the first time in a long time, Griffin’s head is aligned properly.

"

I don’t feel like I have to come out here and show anybody anything or why I’m better than this guy or better than that guy. It’s more about going out and affirming that for me, I go out and I play, I know I’m the best quarterback on this team. I feel like I’m the best quarterback in the league and I have to go out and show that. Any athlete at any level, if they concede to someone else, they’re not a top competitor, they’re not trying to be the best that they can be. There’s guys in this league that have done way more than me. But, I still view myself as the best because that’s what I work toward every single day.

"

Griffin often can’t win because the sports-viewing audience wants candid athletes, and then he’s told to stay silent when speaking his mind.

Maybe there are times when some verbal checks and balances should be in place. But here Griffin is giving us a glimpse into the mind of an athlete, which is a mental space few of us will ever understand.

His approach essentially boils down to this: If you can’t convince yourself that you’re the best, convincing anyone else becomes impossible.