NFL 2021: The offseason and draft thread

But of course the OC would have stolen a name for San Luis Obispo and stuck "Rancho" at the front so it'd all be cool.

But I thought you were Jonesing for some Mac?

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

But I thought you were Jonesing for some Mac?

If the Niners don't draft him, Jones was a ridiculously overrated prospect who was never seriously a candidate for the #3 pick, and it was all football media running wild with nothing.

If the Niners do draft him, Mac Jones is the perfect QB for the Shanahan offense and was always the obvious choice.

So there was a MASSIVE article released on The Athletic a couple of days ago, detailing the internal strife that brought the Eagles down from Super Bowl winners to poop.

It's really some of the best team self-destruct drama since Baalke v. Harbaugh and Coughlin v. Everybody.

Some quotes:

The Tuesday tribunals with team owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman were a weekly occurrence during Pederson’s five-year tenure as Eagles head coach. In the meetings, Lurie and Roseman questioned Pederson about all aspects of his game management the week prior. Fourth-down decision-making, play calling, personnel choices — everything was on the table.

(...)

Apparently, that wasn’t good enough. Lurie, who has long advocated the use of analytics, wanted to know why Pederson hadn’t called more passing plays. The interrogation was the same after another win that season — this time in Buffalo on a day with 23 mph winds.

“(Pederson) was ridiculed and criticized for every decision,” one source told The Athletic. “If you won by three, it wasn’t enough. If you lost on a last-second field goal, you’re the worst coach in history.”

(...)

“The fact that Doug had the success he did with all the sh*t going on in the building, sometimes I look at our Super Bowl rings, and I’m like, ‘Holy cow, I don’t know how we did it,'” one source said.

(...)

Sources say Pederson was beaten down by the constant second-guessing. “They treated him like a baby,” one said.

(...)

According to multiple sources, Lurie devours tape of college prospects and is an “active participant” in the pre-draft process.

(...)

Roseman has the final say over the roster. Any draft pick, trade or signing — good or bad — is on his record. Yet behind the scenes, there’s lingering ambiguity about how decisions are made. For an organization that publicly touts collaboration as if it’s offering a TED Talk on intraoffice cohesion, the lack of collaboration became a common refrain among those with knowledge of the decision-making process.

Coaches wanted their evaluations taken into account or felt like certain players were forced upon them, scouts didn’t understand why picks didn’t correspond with an established methodology, and other staffers were unsure how their analysis was being applied in decisions. Departments became siloed — or even pitted against each other — and the lack of collaboration made finger-pointing easier.

(...)

Roseman is known to keep his own draft board, and scouts who spend months on the road evaluating players can feel marginalized when the rankings they’ve helped assemble are not followed.

May they enjoy the crown the Browns once held.

You guys forget that Eagles fans lived through an owner who almost lost the team to a gambling addiction to then an owner who was largely MIA and siphoned cash from the team to other businesses while he lived most of the year in France.

We are scared when things are good because we only really know disfunction.

Washington is polling season ticket holders with possible team names.

Names spotted in these polls:

Washington Aces
Washington First City Football Club (FCFC)
Washington Archers
Washington Beacons
Washington Belters
Washington Redtails
Washington Razorbacks
Washington Defenders
Washington Monarchs
Washington Presidents
Washington Wild Hogs
Washington Riders
Washington Capitol City Football Club (CCFC)
Washington Redwolves
Washington Aviators
Washington Wayfarers
Washington Ambassadors
Washington Griffins
Washington Warriors
Washington Armada
Washington Rising
Washington Swifts
Washington Commanders
Washington Pilots
Washington Rubies
Washington Renegades
Washington DC Football Club (DCFC)

I have to comment on some of these.

Spoiler:

Washington Belters

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/cBWLAW1.jpg)

Washington Griffins

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/1I6mZo3.png)

After a few years, they become the Washington Cousins

Washington Swifts

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/aOQ3BM9.png)

Washington Beacons

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/KgdYD03.png)

Washington Rising

I'm not even going to put a picture. This one is just asking to be a joke every time there's a DC sex scandal.

Washington Pilots

I was going to make a joke about the Washington player wearing #21 being "Twenty One Pilots", but #21 was Sean Taylor's number, and the team has had it on unofficial retirement since Taylor's death.

*Legion* wrote:

Washington Archers

I on February 23rd wrote:

Washington Pinkskins, with Scott Bakula as the mascot.

I'm taking the win on this.

I missed the part at the bottom of my article link that said the Demon Cats is another name in play.

"Demon" anything would send the religious wingnut camp into a frenzy, so this is officially my preferred name.

Some might find the name redundant.

How many of those names are real? It's clear they're hiding real ideas among...Swifts.

I like Redtails, but I personal want "FCFC" because that's what WFT fans have to say all the time already anyways. Saves them time, very efficient.

Tommy Shaw is going to enjoy a nice bump to his royalty checks if they choose Renegades.

Oh, in more WFT news, Dan Snyder is pointing the finger at Bruce Allen, accusing him of being a source for the stories that ended up in the Washington Post.

*Legion* wrote:

Tommy Shaw is going to enjoy a nice bump to his royalty checks if they choose Renegades.

Real shame the Washington Robotos didn't make the final cut, Dennis De Young has to be crushed.

And now everyone thinks that the Niners are drafting Justin Fields. The betting odds at sportsbooks have slid Jones down and pushed Fields up to the favorite.

Then we've got Ben Allbright tweeting:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/75raV6V.jpg)

Note, despite me having fun with it, I don't consider this buzz any more accurate than the Jones buzz just because I prefer Fields. I simply think it demonstrates how the Jones buzz was based on nothing of substance to begin with.

A few days from now when they attend Trey Lance's Pro Day, his odds will probably improve too if anyone happens to catch Shanahan on camera looking happy.

FWIW, and that isn't much after me saying I wanted Rosen over Mayfield a few years ago, from what I've watched I would take Fields over any QB in this draft. Its close with Lawrence, but I think Fields can be better.

1. Fields
2. Lawrence
3. Lance
4. Wilson
5. Jones

Granted, I watch a lot of Ohio State with where I live and who my wife's team is, but there would be no way I would trade the draft capitol to move up to take a guy who could hit butt-naked open WR. Jones the few times I watched was getting the balls close and the best receivers I have ever seen in college were just balling out.

Seriously, Bama's best receiver got hurt, and their WR. 2 won the Heisman?

I think they should change their name to the Anacostia Snakeheads.

*Legion* wrote:

And now everyone thinks that the Niners are drafting Justin Fields. The betting odds at sportsbooks have slid Jones down and pushed Fields up to the favorite.

Then we've got Ben Allbright tweeting:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/75raV6V.jpg)

Note, despite me having fun with it, I don't consider this buzz any more accurate than the Jones buzz just because I prefer Fields. I simply think it demonstrates how the Jones buzz was based on nothing of substance to begin with.

A few days from now when they attend Trey Lance's Pro Day, his odds will probably improve too if anyone happens to catch Shanahan on camera looking happy.

People are bored and retweeting things with ease. That's one reason this kind of rumor crap works.

However, I'm not above believing the betting markets are driving half of the signal boosting. Someone is making all the smart bets. When Mac Jones was hot, they made Fields and Lance bets. Now, throw the money on Jones!

Meh. Vegas.

The attorney for the guy who got his ass kicked bu Aaron Donald is saying that his client mistook the actual attacker as Aaron Donald and would like to apologize. I 100% the lawyer said this while Aaron Donald was sticking his head in a toilet.

Browns released Sheldon Richardson in a cap savings move since they signed Clowney. Richardson has been solid for them, though they save something like $11 mil on the cap which is hard to argue against.

Still, depth at DL, especially with a half-broken Clowney, is probably important to maintain.

Hey the Jags can sign him to replace Tyson Alualu.

He's above mid-tier still, so not likely, he'll go to a real team instead.

Man, Sheldon was a solid player on the D-line, I don’t know if Clowny at this point can be that. But, for 11mil, I’m guessing we can find someone.

But the Jags!? He is still too good for the Jaguars to make a stupid offer for. Now SF...

So if anyone here involved in a debate over whether now-retired WR Julian Edelman belongs in the Hall of Fame?

I was listening to one of The Ringer's NFL podcasts, and the hosts started out with an appreciation of Edelman but said (I'm paraphrasing) they weren't going to wade into the debate over whether Edelman belongs in the HoF.

Wait, what?! I always thought Edelman was somewhere between OK and pretty good, especially in the playoffs, but I never thought he was anywhere close to the Megatron / Larry Fitz / Julio Jones / DeAndre Hopkins level of WR.

Or am I missing something?

I don't really understand the Edelman HOF talk. Seems very manufactured to me. He only had 3 1000-yard campaigns and 36 total career TDs... Those numbers aren't anywhere near HOF level. He seems like a similar case to Andy Pettitte in baseball where his biggest argument in favor is because of his playoff performance, but even Pettitte had better career stats, comparatively speaking, and he is in the teens on voting percentages.

Yeah, Edelman in the HoF is laughable. Must be a slow news day, everyone is tired of the pre-draft hype machine.

It's Patriots homerism; he had a couple big performances in the playoffs and one of the all-time greatest catches, but WR is already the biggest logjam to get into the HOF. He gets in when he buys a ticket, which is fine; he had a great career, has a few rings, and will be a legend in New England forever.

Vector wrote:

The attorney for the guy who got his ass kicked bu Aaron Donald is saying that his client mistook the actual attacker as Aaron Donald and would like to apologize. I 100% the lawyer said this while Aaron Donald was sticking his head in a toilet.

The best I can piece together from the conflicting accounts is that he pretty much picked a fight with Aaron Donald, who blew him off and left the club they were in. He then chased him into the street where he assaulted Mr. Donald only to get his ass brutally handed to him by Mr. Donald's entourage. Mr. Donald then tried to pull the folks off of him, likely in fear that one of them might get him in Ray Lewis trouble.

It looks like it was plain and simple Ray Lewis style setup for a payout.

I'm glad he got his ass handed to him. And I hope he gets nothing out of it.

tboon wrote:

Everyone is tired of the pre-draft hype machine.

No kidding.

Meanwhile, Legion is running out of time to drop his pre-draft evals.

Which, if I were evaluating:

* High ceiling, with a ton of potential

* Lots of writing and analysis talent

* Slow processing time; late getting the preview out

* Poor work ethic; preview should be done by now