NFL 2017 Post-Draft Offseason

*Legion* wrote:

And not in the amazing bargain way, like Rainbow Six: Siege at 40% off. Which it is right now in the Steam summer sale.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/WTDnnwE.gif)

It's only day 3 of the sale. There is still much flogging to do.

Legion, no one is interested. It's the Blake Bortles of shooters.

garion333 wrote:

Legion, no one is interested. It's the Blake Bortles of shooters.

Let's see, game had a rough launch, almost went completely into the tank before anti-cheat got put into place, and then rose into one of the top e-sports titles.

Yep, that works for me. Bortles' rise must be coming right up!

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Legion, no one is interested. It's the Blake Bortles of shooters.

Let's see, game had a rough launch, almost went completely into the tank before anti-cheat got put into place, and then rose into one of the top e-sports titles.

Yep, that works for me. Bortles' rise must be coming right up!

Is it garbage time already?

garion333 wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Legion, no one is interested. It's the Blake Bortles of shooters.

Let's see, game had a rough launch, almost went completely into the tank before anti-cheat got put into place, and then rose into one of the top e-sports titles.

Yep, that works for me. Bortles' rise must be coming right up!

Is it garbage time already?

Based on the recent seasons of all* the football teams I follow, yeah technically it has usually started by now.

Spoiler:

*: all except the War Angels! Who were undefeated and made it to the second round of the postseason... before a 1-point loss :(

Tim Tebow has been called up from his single-A ballclub to... a higher single-A club.

Apparently single-A baseball is divided between "low-A" and "high-A", or "Class A Advanced" as it's called in this case.

The irony of an NFL-playing quarterback (flawed as he may be) getting better talent development in a completely different sport should not be lost on anyone. As if you don't all know my minor league rant by heart by now.

So I found a new reason behind the Rams ugly uniform update.

The team is trying to cap their home ticket sales to 70,000 a game, supposedly in order to lighten the load on overcrowded facilities.

*Legion* wrote:

So I found a new reason behind the Rams ugly uniform update.

The team is trying to cap their home ticket sales to 70,000 a game, supposedly in order to lighten the load on overcrowded facilities.

This is a problem? 70,001 people actually want to watch Jared Goff play QB?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

So I found a new reason behind the Rams ugly uniform update.

The team is trying to cap their home ticket sales to 70,000 a game, supposedly in order to lighten the load on overcrowded facilities.

This is a problem? 70,001 people actually want to watch Jared Goff play QB?

And the solution is ugly mismatched uniforms to repel the fans?

Details on Derk Carr's contract should be familiar to most everyone: Essentially a two year deal that wouldn't kill them to get out of after next year with only signing bonuses as dead cap of $7.5 mil, $5 mil and $2.5 mil in 2019-2021.

A fairly team friendly deal that is still great for Carr.

Also, Jared Goff approves.

garion333 wrote:

Details on Derk Carr's contract should be familiar to most everyone: Essentially a two year deal that wouldn't kill them to get out of after next year with only signing bonuses as dead cap of $7.5 mil, $5 mil and $2.5 mil in 2019-2021.

Familiar indeed. This has pretty much been solidified as the league standard starting QB second contract at this point. Basically turning early year salary into guarantees instead (in this instance, roster bonuses, but we've also seen it as guaranteed salary) so that the deal has a reasonably big "guaranteed" number but is really mostly just salary dollars you were never going to cut him before paying anyway.

It's a smart deal, almost as smart as picking up Rainbow Six: Siege while it's 40% off in the Steam summer sale.

garion333 wrote:

Also, Jared Goff approves.

WTF is that headline? "bodes well for Rams quarterback Jared Goff"? Jared Goff is about as far away from securing a second contract as a 1st round drafted QB can be at this point.

I was going to make a joke about how Blake Bortles' agent comforts himself when going to sleep by saying, "at least he's not Goff", but upon further inspection, Bortles and Goff are both* represented by Ryan Tollner of Rep1 Sports. I guess Tollner actually gets to sleep by convincing himself that Roethlisberger will make it to one more contract extension...

*: Goff is actually represented by the team of Ryan Tollner, Ryan's brother Bruce, and Chase Callahan, because turd polishing on that scale is a three-man job.

Tollner also represents Chris Conte.

garion333 wrote:

Tollner also represents Chris Conte.

The Tollner children are going to starve.

*Legion* wrote:

WTF is that headline? "bodes well for Rams quarterback Jared Goff"? Jared Goff is about as far away from securing a second contract as a 1st round drafted QB can be at this point.

I was going to make a joke about how Blake Bortles' agent comforts himself when going to sleep by saying, "at least he's not Goff", but upon further inspection, Bortles and Goff are both* represented by Ryan Tollner of Rep1 Sports. I guess Tollner actually gets to sleep by convincing himself that Roethlisberger will make it to one more contract extension...

*: Goff is actually represented by the team of Ryan Tollner, Ryan's brother Bruce, and Chase Callahan, because turd polishing on that scale is a three-man job.

Well, to be fair, that averages out to each turd being polished by a person and a half. Slightly more efficient.

garion333 wrote:

Tollner also represents Chris Conte.

He must take the jobs nobody else wants. He's like the "guy who cleans the port-a-potties at Sturgis" of professional sports agents.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Well, to be fair, that averages out to each turd being polished by a person and a half. Slightly more efficient.

It's only Goff that has the 3-headed agent monster. Bortles is Ryan Tollner's alone.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

He must take the jobs nobody else wants. He's like the "guy who cleans the port-a-potties at Sturgis" of professional sports agents.

Think about it: landing Bortles and then Goff, two QBs drafted in the top 10, he must have been on cloud nine, thinking he had his next Roethlisberger.

And, of course, he will, once Bortles begins his impending meteoric rise. But right now probably doesn't feel great for him.

*Legion* wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Well, to be fair, that averages out to each turd being polished by a person and a half. Slightly more efficient.

It's only Goff that has the 3-headed agent monster. Bortles is Ryan Tollner's alone.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

He must take the jobs nobody else wants. He's like the "guy who cleans the port-a-potties at Sturgis" of professional sports agents.

Think about it: landing Bortles and then Goff, two QBs drafted in the top 10, he must have been on cloud nine, thinking he had his next Roethlisberger.

And, of course, he will, once Bortles begins his impending meteoric rise. But right now probably doesn't feel great for him.

You are the Raiderjoe of Blake Bortles.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

You are the Raiderjoe of Blake Bortles.

Then what does that make me of Dontari Poe?

So apparently that call up to high-A ball that Tebow got wasn't exactly on merit.

You know, I read that article and then looked at his stats. His stats looked good enough. He's striking out far too much, but his wOBA is over .300 so he's still useful.

But, yeah, he sells seats.

The Draw Play takes aim at the thread's favorite player.

Spoiler:

No, the other one.

I'm in the third episode of the new All or Nothing about the Rams and there hasn't been any screen time for Greg Robinson. Not sure I'm gonna watch anymore.

garion333 wrote:

I'm in the third episode of the new All or Nothing about the Rams and there hasn't been any screen time for Greg Robinson. Not sure I'm gonna watch anymore.

Dude you can't quit now. They are 3-2 at that point. They only win 1 more game the rest of the season, and there are *five* episodes left.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

I'm in the third episode of the new All or Nothing about the Rams and there hasn't been any screen time for Greg Robinson. Not sure I'm gonna watch anymore.

Dude you can't quit now. They are 3-2 at that point. They only win 1 more game the rest of the season, and there are *five* episodes left.

So, I finished the series this weekend and ... the Rams aren't quite the dumpster fire I thought they were. Their offense clearly sucked, big time, but I can't help but think a large part of that is because of the offensive staff. The OC was a TE coach who, outside of a couple seasons at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
over a decade ago, had never called plays and by the looks of it will never do so again.

The defense was clearly worn down halfway through the season and, barring a few key injuries, they have a loaded defense. It's going to be interesting to see if the switch from 4-3 to 3-4 will hurt, say, Aaron Donald's productivity. I doubt it, but stranger things have happened. Is Alec Ogletree a fit for a 3-4? Robert Quinn? Do they have any legit safeties on the roster? Etc.

I have a lot more faith that McVay will get the offense in shape than what they put on the field last season, that's for sure. Tavon Austin's contract is an albatross on the WR payroll, but it doesn't matter when the OL is so bad. Greg Robinson is gone. Andrew Whitworth is in. They tried to snag a new center in FA, but had to settle for the aging John Sullivan. They drafted a bunch of pass catchers this year, but not a single offensive lineman, which is nuts to me. Granted, this draft was renowned for being bad for OL, but there had to be someone they could've added for depth. Instead they drafted a TE with their 1st pick and now have two young, developing TEs. Give that Goff kid a reliable and developed target already!

Anyway, what I also came away with was the sense that Todd Gurley is a bit of a Female Doggo. I don't know what was up with him this last season, whether he was a little banged up or it's all the OL + stacking the box, but he was a captain and all I saw was a young kid who was used to being amazing pointing fingers at other people. Okay, I'm reading a bit more into the few cuts of Gurley in the locker room, but it's clear he earned that captaincy based on his draft position and a few great games in 2015. I'm still glad I passed on him in the Dynasty draft.

tldr I'm actually rooting for the Rams now. Maybe not so much the ownership, but for the players. They were saddled with a head coach who came off really well in the show, but who was trying to run a team like it was still 1985. Now they've got someone absurdly young, but with a modern mind and it's gotta be a step up from last year. That GM is likely on the ropes, ya?

Oh, and John Fassel seems like a great guy. Wish they had gotten a win for him.

garion333 wrote:

Oh, and John Fassel seems like a great guy. Wish they had gotten a win for him.

He seemed like a good guy but also in way over his head.

EvilDead wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Oh, and John Fassel seems like a great guy. Wish they had gotten a win for him.

He seemed like a good guy but also in way over his head.

When he was made coach, certainly. I'm glad it didn't tank his coaching career.

garion333 wrote:
EvilDead wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Oh, and John Fassel seems like a great guy. Wish they had gotten a win for him.

He seemed like a good guy but also in way over his head.

When he was made coach, certainly. I'm glad it didn't tank his coaching career.

Agreed. I thought, for sure, he was going to be out of a job.

garion333 wrote:

the Rams aren't quite the dumpster fire I thought they were

That's pretty much the truth of any NFL team really, I think. It's a razor thin margin between playoff teams and 4th in the division. And a lot of that margin is in QB play. So if you're not getting good QB play, you can be a 9-7 caliber ballclub and go 4-12 pretty easily.

Few clubs are really disasters (Niners in the post-Harbaugh crater, Browns most of the time), most are just teams missing a QB and a couple key gamechanging players.

Nice summary Garion, and I agree with you about Gurley.