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The NFL’s collective

bargaining agreement

expires after the 2020

season. After years of

unguaranteed contracts,

concussion obfuscation,

and bigoted remarks by

multiple franchise

owners, the relationship

between players and

their employers has

never been worse. Which

means this season the

only word you’re going to

hear more often than

touchdown is lockout.

Tom Brady is 42. Drew Brees is 40. Ben Roethlisberger

is 37. This means that the end is nigh for all of them,

and for at least one of them, it’ll come this season.

(Aaron Rodgers turns 36 soon but, as stated, should

dominate.) With any luck, Big Ben will fade f irst. He

has always had better weapons than all the others, yet

he’s the only “unquestioned leader” of his team (in his

GM’s words) who makes a habit of throwing his play-

makers under the bus. Last season alone he publicly

called out wide receiver Antonio Brown and tailback

Le’Veon Bell; go f igure, neither is with the team this

season. Roethlisberger is also the only star QB who

has held his team hostage with a retirement threat to

leverage a new contract. Oh, and he’s also the only one

who’s been accused of rape. Twice. Please let this be

the season that karma catches up with him.

ONE OF THE “GREATEST GENERATION”

QBs WILL FINALLY FALL OFF A CLIFF

42

35

37

40

Tom Brady

Aaron Rodgers

Ben Roethlisberger

Drew Brees

20

15

16

19

AGE

YEARS IN THE LEAGUE

THE LABOR

WAR IS

COMING

AT LEAST ONE TERRIBLE TEAM FROM LAST SEASON

WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS

The Browns don’t count because they were

basically a playoff team down the stretch, after

handing Baker Mayfield the keys to the franchise.

The Raiders won’t make the playoffs, since they’re

still the Raiders. The 49ers are the trendy pick,

thanks to the return of very handsome QB Jimmy Garoppolo

from a knee injury—except that Garoppolo’s injury is also the

reason why it won’t be the 49ers. It’ll be Tampa Bay, because

they already had talent and now they’ve got Bruce Arians, one

of the league’s most creative and charismatic head coaches.

2000

20.0

20.5

21.0

21.5

22.0

22.5

23.0

23.5

2005 2010 2015

Bill Belichick managed to shut down the

Rams’ explosive offense in the last Super

Bowl. But that doesn’t mean defenses

have figured out how to slow scoring. In

2001, the NFL’s points-per-game average

was 20.2; in 2018, it was 23.3. Most of the

jump came in the past decade from

passing. Fans love it. The league loves it.

And if defenses ever do figure out how to

limit scoring, the league will just change

the rules to goose it up again. You want

more points? You’re getting more points.

SCORING WILL JUST KEEP CLIMBING

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