Happy Thanksgiving to all of you as you read this and especially to Barry McBride who I look after because he enjoys and relaxes with his family.
I’m sure he’ll read it first, just to make sure he didn’t start World War III or something in his absence.
Being English, it might be different if this was Independence Day, celebrating Bill Pullman fighting the alien invasion, but Thanksgiving is about football, family and food! Something we can all agree on.
The NFL has blessed us with a number of iffy games, all three have betting spreads greater than seven, which is usually never a good sign for the viewer, but I could never complain when I got extra NFL coverage.
If you haven’t given me a background guide yet, I’ll be rooting for the Lions and 49ers. In the middle of the match, I don’t care who wins.
The biggest news in recent days has been injuries on the defensive side of the ball, something we haven’t really seen all season so far, as some bad news has come on the offensive side, with Chubb, Watson , Conklin and Wills. all landing on injured reserve.
Compare that to the defensive team, where only Mitchell, the fourth-round cornerback, landed on injured reserve. Now that Rodney McLeod has joined, they have signed Duron Harmon.
Going back to my February free agency cheat sheet, here’s what I had to say about him: “He would be a great veteran leader for the room while he isn’t.” I think that’s all.
“It’s a long-term answer and it’s a short-term solution and the draft makes a lot of sense for that position space.
“If they would have taken him as a third safety, I would have been happy. So keep an eye out for his upcoming arrival on the 53-man roster.
Enrollment of veterans in the training group and their subsequent promotion is a common process.
Ward is a real problem and we currently don’t know how long he will be out. Since this is a starting role, how they handle the final nickel spot will be crucial. Harmon, Green or Ford are the main choices.
They can alternate in the group depending on the skills they wish to compete with. I would expect Newsome to play the boundary, but when we saw Ward injured he stayed and Ford took the boundary.
The most important thing will be getting Thornhill healthy for the game, otherwise it could be a tough day for the secondary.
We also saw that Jordan Kunaszyk is expected to return from injury, meaning he has a 21-day window to be released from injured reserve.
In my opinion, Diabate is the most likely candidate who I think will be released and then, if unclaimed, re-sign with the practice squad.
If we go back to the Cardinals game that ended in the fourth quarter, Jim Schwartz switched to backup to give everyone playing time as a reward and thanks.
Every player on defense got nine or more snaps that day, except Diabate, who had two. This told me that he is the most likely candidate.
They don’t think he’s ready, or they don’t want him there because people will see him and he’ll be more likely to claim him because they knew he’d be traded soon.
Kunaszyk is a special teams star that Bubba Ventrone spoke highly of in the preseason, so he will help make that team even better and Schwartz has also been impressed with his defensive play, but I don’t think we’ll see much of him.
If the Browns draft from another team, it’s to their advantage that that team is struggling, which could lead to them picking higher.
The final three weeks of the season could really change the playoff race; some teams will have given up on the season and given more time to fringe players.
To give you an idea of who is favored in each match, I will include the current betting line at the time of writing this article.
AFC playoff game
If the season ends today:
Playoffs
Ravens 8-3
Leaders 7-3
Jaguars 7-3
Dolphins 7-3
Bruins 7-3
Texans 6-4
Steelers 6-4
Worn out
Bills 6-5
Foals 5-5
Broncos 5-5
Bengal 5-5
Thieves 5-6
Charger 4-6
Jets 4-6
Titans 3-7
Patriots 2-8
AFC play-off odds
To paint a picture of where the betting market thinks the AFC’s run will go, here are the current rankings for the odds to reach the playoffs. Last week’s odds in brackets:
1st Leader -15,000 (-10,000)
2nd Raven -5000 (-2500)
3rd Dolphins -3500 (-1200)
4th Jaguars -1400 (-500)
5th Brown -450 (-200)
6th Texans -180 (+100)
7th Steelers -140 (-200)
8th accounts +150 (+170)
9th stallion +210 (+360)
1st Broncos +270 (+525)
11th Magazines +450 (+200)
12th Bengal +550 (+625)
13° Jets +1075 (+525)
14th Titans +1650 (+1500)
15th Marauders +1700 (+700)
16th Patriots +2500 (+2500)
SumerSports – Playoff Odds
This is an analytical look at the playoff race and what happens with each win or loss according to SumerSports.
They have many advanced analysis tools for teams and players.
2024 draft picks
Here are the Cleveland Browns’ 2024 draft picks:
2nd round
3rd round
5th Rounder of Panthers (unconfirmed in Za’Darius Smith trade)
5th Round – Cardinals (Josh Dobbs)
6th Rounder of Texans (unconfirmed in Deion Jones trade)
6th round – Ravens (Andrew Vorhees)
7th round
