Rob Maaddi, FISM News
[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
NFL drama is coming early this year, as star quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Baker Mayfield, and Joe Flacco will face their former teams in the first week of the season.
Wilson was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Denver Broncos in the offseason and then received a five-year, $245 million contract extension last week. The eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback will play his first game for Denver in his old home, as the Broncos travel to Seattle for Monday Night Football.
Some of his friends on the Seahawks, including wide receiver Tyler Lockett, look forward to his return.
You get attached to people and you meet people, you meet their families, you become best friends and great friends. Then all of a sudden, they just leave. It’s hard because we have to learn how to adapt every day. In the NFL, it’s kind of different because you see people come and go all the time. But in my career, Russ has always been here. So of course it’s weird that he’s leaving and stuff like that, but that’s when you have to renew your mind and shift your mind and be able to understand that you’re still celebrating him for who he is and you’re still cheering him on. It’s just, you don’t get to see him every day like you used to, but it doesn’t mean that the friendship doesn’t stay. You still have the friendship, you still have the brotherhood, and you know that he’s being able to lead his team the way that he led us here.
Tickets for the Broncos-Seahawks game are the most in-demand of all the games on this week’s schedule, per various reports. Lockett hopes Seahawks fans give Wilson a welcome reception.
“I have no idea because I can’t control what anybody else says or what anybody else does,” he said of his expectation. “I know that when I see him, I’m going to give him a hug. Russ has done so much for this community. It’s football, it’s competitive, and you never want to see people leave, but you have to understand that everybody has to do what’s best for them. And that’s what you have to be able to learn about this life is you got to cheer people on.”
Mayfield, Panthers host Browns
Baker Mayfield was traded by Cleveland to the Carolina Panthers after the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson from Houston. Unlike Wilson, Mayfield didn’t win a Super Bowl for his former team. Mayfield gets to face the Browns on his new home turf, however, as the Panthers host Cleveland on Sunday afternoon.
Mayfield admitted he’s looking forward to “smack talking” with his former teammates but wouldn’t say anything negative about the Browns.
“I’m grateful for my time in Cleveland,” Mayfield said. “I started my career there and it ended abruptly and unexpectedly, but we’re here now and everything happens for a reason. I’m rolling with the punches.”
Former Super Bowl MVP hosts his old team
Joe Flacco will step into the starting lineup for the New York Jets, replacing the injured Zach Wilson. The Jets host the Baltimore Ravens, where Flacco played his first 11 seasons and led the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory following the 2012 season.
The Super Bowl MVP signed a six-year, $120.6 million contract a month later, becoming the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history at that time. Perhaps the Ravens shouldn’t have tied so much money into the contract of a quarterback whose only Pro Bowl invite ever came after six other QBs passed in 2016 due to injury or playing in the Super Bowl. The Ravens made the playoffs just twice in the following six years, never making it past the divisional round, before trading Flacco to Denver for a 4th-round draft pick prior to the 2019 season. Notably, Flacco passed on his sole Pro Bowl invitation in 2016 because his wife was due to deliver their child five days before the game.
Flacco is 0-5 as the starter for the Jets.
“Obviously, there’s going to be some different emotions that I haven’t experienced before this one,” Flacco said. “I think at the end of the day, it is like every other game. Once, kind of, the dust settles and the game gets going, it’s a football game.”
A personal reunion
They’ll also be a reunion when the Washington Commanders host the Jacksonville Jaguars. Carson Wentz will play his first game for the Commanders while Doug Pederson makes his coaching debut for the Jaguars.
Pederson and Wentz teamed together in Philadelphia, helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl in the 2017 season. Wentz led the team to an 11-2 record before a knee injury ended his season and Nick Foles led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl victory.