The beginning of September is bittersweet for many golf fans.
On one hand it’s the end of a PGA Tour season and the start of a long, 18-day offseason.
On the other, however, it’s the start of football season, and NFL Insider Ian Rapoport joined GOLF’s Subpar co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s podcast to look ahead at the NFL season.
Rapoport, who is entering his 14th year covering the league, gave the pair three teams he’s paying attention to this fall.
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Under performing Expectations
This season could be a big year for the Miami Dolphins. The team made a blockbuster trade for star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, formerly of the Kanas City Chiefs.
With Tua Tagovailoa entering his third year in the league, the Dolphins and new coach Mike McDaniel have apparently chosen to building around the Alabama quarterback. Rapport thinks they might be the team with the most at stake to prove itself this season.
“They have Tua now and there’s obviously some question marks about whether he’s a franchise quarterback or not,” Rapoport said. “You know, that’s the one I’m sort of keeping an eye on as far as, like, are they going to live up to their expectations?”
Over performing Expectations
Rapoport said much of the focus in the AFC West goes to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. But that can make it easy to overlook another star quarterback on the West Coast: the Las Vegas Raiders’ Derek Carr.
“A team that I would just say to watch out for is the Raiders,” Rapoport told Knost and Stolz. “They made the playoffs last year, so it’s not that much of a surprise. But they have a new coach. They have a quarterback that in that division is always overlooked. They should be really good.”
Carr finished fifth in passing yardage last season as the team was enthralled in controversy with the exit of head coach Jon Gruden and the arrest of wide receiver Henry Ruggs III.
Yet the team rebounded from a 5-5 start to finish the year 10-7 before ultimately losing to eventual the AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the playoffs.
Don’t Laugh at the Patriots
It’s no secret things are different in Foxborough, home of the New England Patriots.
Long gone are the days of Tom Brady slinging it around for the evil empire, but emperor Bill Belichick still precedes over the team and Raporport thinks the team will be just fine this season, especially after making the postseason in year two post-Brady last season.
Quarterback Mac Jones now leads the team and the Alabama product is now entering his second year as the signal-caller.
“Everyone has spent the last you know, everyone has spent the last month or so laughing at the Patriots about their miserable offense,” Rapoport said. “And I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’re always fine. There’s nothing funny. They just they do things differently.”
It’s inevitable Bellichick will find someone for Jones to throw the ball to who you have never heard of, and get the Patriots to January once again.
For more from Rapoport including the top golf courses he’s played and golfer he would switch places with, check out the episode below.