NFL 2023: The preseason / predraft thread

Niners re-sign center Jake Brendel.

That means the Niners are likely to have only 3 new starters from last year. One of which is a massive upgrade (Javon Hargrave at DT), and the other two are the question marks: right tackle and nickel corner.

Pretty impressive continuity, as long as the injured young QBs can avoid setbacks.

Dalton signs with the Panthers. Good combo of a guy who can play, but is never going to really be good enough to threaten a rookie starter.

Rodgers is going to appear on McAfee's show again tomorrow where I guess once again he'll say something that'll infuriate people.

Dalton looked completely washed after the season with the Bears, but last year in New Orleans, he posted his second highest passer rating ever. Absolutely no upside of any kind, but a good pick for bridge starter.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Dalton signs with the Panthers. Good combo of a guy who can play, but is never going to really be good enough to threaten a rookie starter.

BEARDED DARNOLD DALTON

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

It was very logical that Jakobi signed for the Raiders, he already has one passing TD for them.

Man, the Eagles defense is getting disbanded.

Their best interior lineman (Javon Hargrave), their two best linebackers (TJ Edwards, Kyzir White), and now half of their starting secondary (Darius Slay, Marcus Epps) are gone. Fletcher Cox is also not expected to re-sign with the team.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson isn't gone yet, but it sounds like the Eagles are trying to fend off the Bengals in order to keep him.

They might have 7 new starters on defense next year. They managed to hang onto their edge rushers and bring back one good DB, James Bradberry. And they do have Nakobe Dean waiting in the wings to fill one of those linebacker spots. But they're definitely in transition from the "QB on a rookie contract" phase to the "having to make a bunch of space to pay the QB" phase.

Pink Stripes wrote:

Baker to the Bucs.

Reportedly a 1-yr deal worth up to $8.5 million.

For a cap-strapped team, it's hard to argue with that price.

Sounds like the holdup on the Rodgers trade is no longer Rodgers himself, but Green Bay's trade demands.

Green Bay is posturing that they could wait until after the draft to move Rodgers.

This is a bluff. The last thing the Packers can afford is the Jets walking away. The Jets can go sign Jacoby Brissett, chase after Lamar, and/or make a trade-up from #13 into QB drafting position (Arizona would love for a team to offer them what the Niners gave Miami to move up from #12 to #3 to draft Lance). Meanwhile, no other team is trying to jump in-between the Packers and Jets to get Rodgers for themselves.

And now he's said he wants to play for the Jets.

Makes sense to hold out some.

The Jets are not walking away from this unless they are watching Rodgers moan on the McAfee show right now.

Rodgers: I'm not a victim *moan wahhhhhh wahhhhhh*

Can't wait for the Alien Lizard to catch passes from Lamar in ugly green!

The last few years have been fun enough as a Bucs fan that hearing Baker Mayfield is about to become the starting QB earns just a shrug; it's fine. We can be awful for years after the last three seasons.

In other even more important news, Lavonte David is re-signing with Tampa. Thought we were going to have to say goodbye.

Patriots sign JuJu Smith-Schuster for seemingly the same money Meyers got in LV.

Another Raider edge rusher draft bust turns Kris Kocurek reclamation project!

After having resurrected Arden Key's career (who just signed a decent $7m/yr deal in Tennessee), Kocurek is gonna take on an even bigger draft bust, Clelin Ferrell!

Let's see if Ferrell can follow in the footsteps of Key, Charles Omenihu, and Samson Ebukam, all three of whom just signed much bigger deals on their way out of SF than they got going in. The Kocurek conveyor belt continues on...

I hope the Jets sign Lamar and we get a Lions-Jets teeth-gnashing Super Bowl while Qaaron throws a ton of picks and missed the playoffs. Again.

Green Bay has no leverage, but they're acting like they do.

They want a multi-1st round pick trade package. They missed that boat. They had that trade available to them in two straight offseasons. Now, Rodgers is two years older, and Green Bay has a $58m time bomb in the form of Rodgers' option bonus sitting on their cap. You're not getting the same offer that you were getting for a younger Rodgers with more cap flexibility.

When Denver wanted to trade for Rodgers last offseason, they should have taken it.

Can we just be done with this saga? I don't want to hear any more about him or see McAfee and his tank tops. Ye gods.

Top_Shelf wrote:

Can we just be done with this saga?

No. This is the way of the Packer QB, the path blazed by daddy Favre.

In 15 years, we'll be watching Jordan Love flirting with trades and retirement through his MetaWorlds VR avatar. At least we think it's Jordan Love, it could be someone using a deepfake AI Jordan Love voice.

And we'll be hearing about QAron and some NFT/crypto scam stealing money from poor people, like his mentor in Miss.

Sam Howell's got competition. Commanders lost their Heineken, but bought some Brisket.

*Legion* wrote:

Green Bay has no leverage, but they're acting like they do.

They want a multi-1st round pick trade package. They missed that boat. They had that trade available to them in two straight offseasons. Now, Rodgers is two years older, and Green Bay has a $58m time bomb in the form of Rodgers' option bonus sitting on their cap. You're not getting the same offer that you were getting for a younger Rodgers with more cap flexibility.

When Denver wanted to trade for Rodgers last offseason, they should have taken it.

Well they do have leverage it just potentially involves harming themselves.

It's the NFL's version of The Banshees of Inisherin. I'm fine with Brian Gutekunst cutting all his fingers off if it means Rodgers doesn't get what he wants.

I'd be pretty happy if the Jets U-turned for Lamar and the Packers told Rodgers to f*ck off and retire

I think the problem with referencing the Denver deal is it wasn't the Wilson deal. Also once you let Rodgers talk to Denver there's the chance he goes on a podcast and starts playing the victim of how he's being let go and how the Packers are holding up the trade (while he obviously undermines it).

Qaaron has another option; it has a $58 million price tag. It's very easy to say "I will be on the roster to get that bonus, and then I will retire," and the Packers have to decide whether or not he's bluffing. It's all posturing at this point, but the Packers have not exactly put themselves in a notably strong position here.

*Legion* wrote:

Fletcher Cox is also not expected to re-sign with the team.

The unexpected happens, as the Eagles bring back Cox on a 1-year, $10m contract.

Might be that when they were prepared to let him walk, they were expecting to retain more of their defensive core than they were able to.

Be interesting to see if this affects their ability to bring back C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

Jamaal Williams heads to New Orleans.

Makes sense. Alvin Kamara's trial date is right at the beginning of training camp.

Wow. 49ers sign one of my favorite players from the 2018 draft, CB Isaiah Oliver.

He didn't quite become the standout outside corner I envisioned of him, but has instead settled in to being one of the league's better multi-use DBs. He was PFF's highest graded slot corner last season, and the 10th highest graded corner overall, last year.

A (presumably) cheaper and younger replacement for Jimmie Ward. Didn't see this one coming.

*Legion* wrote:

First Swagg Kazekage heads to New Orleans.

Makes sense. Alvin Kamara's trial date is right at the beginning of training camp.

FTFY

Things continue to be weird in Eagles land, as they make yet another about-face, and decide to keep Darius Slay, after having told him he would be released. The two sides worked out a restructure.

Meanwhile, C.J. Gardner-Johnson is still sitting out there, and isn't too thrilled about it. Keeping Slay most likely eats up the cap that would have been needed to sign Gardner-Johnson.

So, maybe 5 new starters on the Eagles D instead of 7. Not quite as extreme, but still kinda interesting how they've prioritized keeping the edges of the defense (edge rushers and cornerbacks), while the middle of the field (interior D-line, linebackers, safeties) has taken the losses.