Sports Time Radio

Now being that I’m old I don’t know a ton about social media. Now I do have a Facebook page and I am on Twitter @Burketime, but that’s the extent of my social media presence. I guess at my age social media just isn’t that big of deal for me like it is the younger generation, but I have to tell you I am enjoying the way Tom Brady has handle himself on social media lately.

It started just before the Super Bowl when Brady posted a photo to what I believe was his Instagram account. The photo showed Brady walking either in or possibly out of a darken stadium and everyone started thinking that he was going to be announcing his retirement. Well as this turned out that photo was the start of a Super Bowl commercial for Hulu.

Then yesterday there was an announcement on one of the social media platforms by the NFL. They let everyone know that the Los Angeles Chargers and Philip Rivers where planning to part ways after 16 seasons. Brady liked this tweet or the post or whatever it ended up being; so of course everyone thought that this means Brady will be signing with the Chargers.

I don’t believe that Brady will be singing with the Chargers as I fully believe he’ll end up back with the New England Patriots, but it’s been a whole lot of fun for me to watch people jump on everything Brady posts on any social media platform.

I’m very much hoping that Brady likes or tweets about something involving any team that might be looking for a quarterback just to see how people would react to each and every post he makes. Are you following Brady on social media?

Going back to Rivers and the Chargers. Rivers has started every game at quarterback for the Chargers since 2006. He made 224 consecutive starts at quarterback for the Chargers. Believe it or not the last quarterback to start a game for the Chargers was Drew Brees.

Rivers went 123-101 as the starter for San Diego and then Los Angeles. Rivers played in 11 post season games with the Chargers and went 5-6.

Now there are some starting quarterback jobs out their that Rivers could be a good fit for. Rivers did just move his entire family to the Tampa Bay area and the Buccaneers just happen to have an opening at quarterback. Jameis Winston is a free agent and Tampa Bay hasn’t really made it clear if they intend on trying to resign Winston.

If Tampa Bay did bring in Rivers he’d be able to work with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin at wide receiver as well as O.J. Howard at tight end. Tampa Bay has been waiting for Howard to become the break out tight end they thought they’d be getting when they spent a 1st round pick on him in the 2017 draft. Rivers has a pretty good history of working with tights ends; I’m sure you remember how well Rivers and Antonio Gates worked with each other. Howard has never caught more than 34 passes in a season, but if he could stay healthy and with Rivers as his quarterback would you be surprised to see him double that number of receptions. Of course that is if the Buccaneers decide to sign Rivers.

Now what might the Chargers do at quarterback? Well they do have the 6th pick in the upcoming draft and there will be quarterbacks available if that’s what they’d like to do. I have seen multiple mock drafts that have the Chargers selecting Justin Herbert out of the University of Oregon. Herbert is coming off of a down season in 2019 and you have to wonder if he can step in and start Week 1.

The Chargers do have Tyrod Taylor on their roster. Taylor was the Buffalo Bills starter from 2015-2017 starting 43 games going 22-20. Taylor did appear in 8 games for the Chargers last season. He threw 6 passes completing 4 of them for 33 yards and 1 touchdown. Taylor also an the football 10 times, but only gained 7 yards. Is it possible that Taylor could start the season as the Chargers quarterback until Herbert or whoever the Chargers might possibly draft could take over as the starter.

On the first day that veterans could be release the Carolina Panthers let tight end Greg Olsen go. Olsen did play in 14 games last season, but he had battled some injuries the two seasons before that. Olsen had posted three 1000 yard seasons in his career and has also had two 80 reception seasons. Olsen has a career 718 receptions and 59 touchdowns.

By releasing Olsen the Panthers freed up $8.1 million dollars in salary cap space, but Olsen is owed a $3.7 million dollar bonus.

Olsen hasn’t made a decision of if he’ll play one more season or if he’ll start his broadcasting career. Olsen did do play by play this weekend for Fox on their XFL broadcast.

Olsen joins the likes of Hunter Henry, Jason Witten, Eric Ebron and Austin Hooper as free agent tight ends. Henry and Hooper could both possibly receive a tag from their teams and if that happens it would really shorten the available free agent tight ends.

As for the Panthers; Olsen’s departure represents another major change for the organization. Luke Kuechly surprisingly decided to retire at the age of 28. Then there’s also the unknown status of quarterback Cam Newton. Carolina fired Ron Rivera after eight seasons as head coach and hired Matt Ruehle and Ruehle brought in his own coordinators Joe Brady and Phil Snow from the college ranks.

The Panthers seem to be in transition and it’s going to be interesting to see if they attempt to rebuild the organization on the fly or if they do a complete tear down and rebuild the team that way. There’s a chance we might know what direction Carolina is going to go when they make the 7th selection in the upcoming draft.

Don’t forget to listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you want.

Like I mentioned early you can follow me on Twitter @Burketime