NFL 2012 Draft Thread

There's no way I want anyone to replace Josh Scobee, but if it somehow happened with the new kicker the Jags are trying out, with a name like that, I would absolutely buy his jersey.

*Legion* wrote:

There's no way I want anyone to replace Josh Scobee, but if it somehow happened with the new kicker the Jags are trying out, with a name like that, I would absolutely buy his jersey.

In short, Ding is the longest of long shots.

He had fun writing that sentence.

I can only assume that with Guy Whimper, Pat Anger, and Long Ding, that the Jags are hoping for a modification to the CBA where you get bonus points for having really awesome names.

RotoWorld is reporting the Texans released Jacoby Jones ten minutes ago.

Also, I would make a snarky comment to Fed about the Aggies having more players drafted than the Longhorns this year, but frankly I'm surprised any got picked up. Hats off to the Aggies.

bighoppa wrote:

RotoWorld is reporting the Texans released Jacoby Jones ten minutes ago.

Also, I would make a snarky comment to Fed about the Aggies having more players drafted than the Longhorns this year, but frankly I'm surprised any got picked up. Hats off to the Aggies.

Saw a cool stat earlier: Boise State had more players drafted this year than Texas and USC combined.

And that's with Kellen Moore going undrafted and not counting toward that total.

bighoppa wrote:

RotoWorld is reporting the Texans released Jacoby Jones ten minutes ago.

Apparently, no corn dogs were forthcoming.

And thanks for your classy kudos to the Ags. I doubt we have as many drafted next year, and yes, I know the Longhorns are young right now.

GioClark wrote:

Raiders sign Matt Leinhart... It's like they want me to hate them.... They're begging me to... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.....

He looked good for the fraction of a game he played between Schaub's injury and his own!

Raiders sign Matt Leinart... It's like they want me to hate them.... They're begging me to... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.....

The hammer has come down. Four players suspended for the bounty violations, including Jonathan Vilma for the entire year.

Holy sh*t.

Hmmm, four players? Sounds like they cherry picked to make a point. Not sure if I consider that fair. Not sure I have enough info to make a decision, so I'll just say WOW.

garion333 wrote:

Hmmm, four players? Sounds like they cherry picked to make a point.

I would imagine availability of evidence being a limiting factor - there's probably players they suspect were involved but don't have any hard evidence to point to.

Of coure, I have no idea what, if any, evidence they have against these guys. But I imagine they have to have something solid to point to, because it'll need to stand up to scrutiny from the NFLPA.

In your heartwarming NFL story of the day, the Bucs have signed former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand to a contract. It's a purely symbolic gesture, as LeGrand was paralyzed a few years ago while playing for Great Schiano at Rutgers. I will just say I was really apprehensive about Schiano being hired as I knew nothing about him, but I like him more every day. He lacks the flash and arrogance so many college coaches do when they come into the NFL, he's all about hard work, and then there's stuff like this.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

In your heartwarming NFL story of the day, the Bucs have signed former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand to a contract. It's a purely symbolic gesture, as LeGrand was paralyzed a few years ago while playing for Great Schiano at Rutgers. I will just say I was really apprehensive about Schiano being hired as I knew nothing about him, but I like him more every day. He lacks the flash and arrogance so many college coaches do when they come into the NFL, he's all about hard work, and then there's stuff like this.

Very, very cool.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

The hammer has come down. Four players suspended for the bounty violations, including Jonathan Vilma for the entire year.

Holy sh*t.

Ridiculous.. I feel sorry for NO fans that have to put up with the fact that their team has been hand picked by the NFL to be made an example of.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

In your heartwarming NFL story of the day, the Bucs have signed former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand to a contract. It's a purely symbolic gesture, as LeGrand was paralyzed a few years ago while playing for Great Schiano at Rutgers. I will just say I was really apprehensive about Schiano being hired as I knew nothing about him, but I like him more every day. He lacks the flash and arrogance so many college coaches do when they come into the NFL, he's all about hard work, and then there's stuff like this.

I don' t know well Schiano will coach in Tampa, but he is loyal.

That is an awesome thing he just did. Right on.

It still ridiculous no matter the actual impact.. I'm done with Goodell.. can't stand him.

TheGameguru wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

The hammer has come down. Four players suspended for the bounty violations, including Jonathan Vilma for the entire year.

Holy sh*t.

Ridiculous.. I feel sorry for NO fans that have to put up with the fact that their team has been hand picked by the NFL to be made an example of.

Funny thing is, this will barely hurt the Saints.

Vilma has been one of the worst interior linebackers for the past 2 years. His level of play has tanked. And now the Saints have replaced him with one of the best interior linebackers in Curtis Lofton.

If anything, the NFL gave them a gift there - all the excuse they need to bring in someone better to play that position.

Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita are no longer Saints.

The only real loss is Will Smith for 4 games.

Junior Seau found dead with a gunshot wound. I always like him when he played for the Pats. It sounds like his life got pretty crazy after he retired.

EvilDead wrote:

Junior Seau found dead with a gunshot wound.

And thought to possibly be self-inflicted. Wow.

I wonder if this is another Dave Duerson situation. Hard to escape the comparison, especially with the gunshot to his chest, preserving his head.

Very sad.

Now that he's done throwing the book at the Saints, maybe Goodell will get back to work on the concussion and retired players issues.

EDIT: @si_vault on Twitter is digging up and posting Seau pictures from the SI archives.

*Legion* wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

The hammer has come down. Four players suspended for the bounty violations, including Jonathan Vilma for the entire year.

Holy sh*t.

Ridiculous.. I feel sorry for NO fans that have to put up with the fact that their team has been hand picked by the NFL to be made an example of.

Funny thing is, this will barely hurt the Saints.

Vilma has been one of the worst interior linebackers for the past 2 years. His level of play has tanked. And now the Saints have replaced him with one of the best interior linebackers in Curtis Lofton.

If anything, the NFL gave them a gift there - all the excuse they need to bring in someone better to play that position.

Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita are no longer Saints.

The only real loss is Will Smith for 4 games.

Yeah, I breathed a sigh of relief when I read the headline. Vilma's absence will give Spagnuolo a whole year to shape the linebacker corps into a machine all his own, hopefully to the benefit of some of the promising younger guys like Martez Wilson.

*Legion* wrote:

Vilma has been one of the worst interior linebackers for the past 2 years. His level of play has tanked. And now the Saints have replaced him with one of the best interior linebackers in Curtis Lofton.

The only real loss is Will Smith for 4 games.

Just heard one of the Saints beat writers on ESPN radio and he basically said the same thing... well, he wasn't as down on Vilma as you, but positive on the new guys, and he though that Will Smith for 4 was a bigger loss than Vilma for the whole year.

*Legion* wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

Junior Seau found dead with a gunshot wound.

And thought to possibly be self-inflicted. Wow.

NBC sports has changed the headline and complete contents of the story, at least a couple times, since I posted. I'm not sure what is news versus rumors. Great fact checking NBC.

Stele wrote:

Just heard one of the Saints beat writers on ESPN radio and he basically said the same thing... well, he wasn't as down on Vilma as you, but positive on the new guys, and he though that Will Smith for 4 was a bigger loss than Vilma for the whole year.

Fair enough. I'm willing to debate the relative level of Vilma's drop-off over the past two years, but what I think is undebatable is how excellent Curtis Lofton has been and the fact that, regardless of where one realistically places Vilma's recent level of performance, Lofton ranks near the top and Vilma doesn't.

ProFootballFocus in particular is really down on Vilma. Vilma was their dead last ranked interior linebacker in 2010, and third-from-last in 2011, among players taking 25% or more of defensive snaps. I think they may be judging him too harshly, but I do think Vilma has been demonstrably below average for the past 2 seasons, and that fact has been slow to come to light due to the reputation he built earlier in his career.

Speaking of the Saints defense, though, I only recently noticed they picked up Broderick Bunkley. Bunkley played like a man possessed last year for Denver. I don't know if that was just contract year play, but if not, New Orleans got an interior defensive lineman on a level they haven't had much of in a while.

Geez, Junior Seau. One of the greats. Multiple reports about it being self-inflicted by a gunshot wound to the chest. Always admired how the guy played.

Yeah NFL Live was just showing some video of his mom at a press conference or something today. Really hits you then, seeing a mom grieving for her son.

It is just totally unexpected, I thought it was a bad joke when I first read it. He never seemed like a guy with mental problems and you never heard anything about it, at least I didn't. Just wow.

LeapingGnome wrote:

It is just totally unexpected, I thought it was a bad joke when I first read it. He never seemed like a guy with mental problems and you never heard anything about it, at least I didn't. Just wow.

He had the incident in 2010 where he drove his car off a cliff edge and crashed 30 feet below. Some suggested it was a suicide attempt, although Seau denied it at the time - of course in the wake of what happened today, it's looking more and more likely that it was.

Which makes today all the more sad, as it seems like that incident could have served as a warning to those close to him that this was coming. But who knows what the real situation was.

http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2011/12/1994-san-diego-chargers-stricken-by-tragedy-again/

8th Charger to die from the 1994 team, plus one coach's ex-wife and daughter that year.

Jacksonville put a pretty good nickel corner on the market today by cutting Drew Coleman.

Between signing Aaron Ross and the play of Willie Middleton as a replacement for Mathis/Cox last season (before getting injured himself), corner's suddenly a position of depth in Jacksonville.

Still, with Mathis, Cox, and Middleton all bouncing back from injuries, I would have liked to have held onto Coleman. His contract was high for his role, but when the team has $19 million in cap space, you might as well use some of it, even if it's overspending a bit on a role player.