NFL 2013 Post-Draft Offseason Thread

Got my SI in the mail yesterday and started checked through the previews. Teams are ranked 1 to 16 by conference, not by division. I figure, hmm, Panthers, OK, I'll start at No. 8. Nope, not there.

9? Nope. Not 10th or 11th or 12th.

Huh. Maybe I overshot them.

So I flip back. 7th? 6th? 5th? 4th? No, no, no and no.

So I reverse direction yet again and find Carolina at ... No. 16?!

That's dead last in a conference that, last I checked, included the Eagles, Bucs, Rams, Cards, Tony Romo, and, yes, the Deeeeetroit Lions.

I take back any nice thing I ever said about Peter F****ng King. Jerk.

Seeing as how SI's ranking have no intelligence or stats behind them I wouldn't sweat it. Now having Football Outsiders say that the Carolina Panthers will be the team that pops this year and becomes a competitive playoff team is something worth betting on. Hmm isn't it about time for us to start making outrageous claims/predictions about how the season will go?

Jacksonville has to be listed last in the AFC*, right? Last-place brothers!

* even though they are clearly superior to Oakland.

Peter King is good when he's using all his sources to get an inside view on the situation. He's utterly terrible in every other situation.

I think Carolina in last place is possible, but not likely. My votes for other potential worst teams include Tampa (who I honestly think could also be one of the best teams in the conference, depending on Freeman and injuries, the most WTF team in the league), Philly (once Vick goes down, Nick Foles gets to run that new offense, plus that awful defense), Arizona, Detroit, or Minnesota.

There's about five unquestionably good teams in the NFC, and then a huge "around .500" group that will swing either way. That group is almost the whole rest of the conference.

Make your informed/misinformed predictions here.

*Legion* wrote:

* even though they are clearly superior to Oakland.

Yeah I have seen several different sources confident that Teddy Bridgewater will get stuck in Oakland in next year's draft as the 1st pick.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

I think Carolina in last place is possible ...

Indeed. The NFC is loaded, and the Panthers have a rough schedule. I just hate hearing it said out loud.

Another thing that's interesting about the SI piece: The Panthers got dinged for their WRs. Fair enough. As a group they're just average on a good day.

SI is high on the 49ers, who are missing a lot of their receivers right now. (I'm not sold yet on Boldin. We'll see.) Their Super Bowl pick is the Pats, who are missing pretty much their entire receiving corps from last year. At this point I wouldn't trade either teams receivers for the Panthers' receivers.

Their Super Bowl pick is the Pats, who are missing pretty much their entire receiving corps from last year.

Unfortunately, who the receivers are doesn't matter as long as Brady is the QB.

Enix wrote:

Another thing that's interesting about the SI piece: The Panthers got dinged for their WRs. Fair enough. As a group they're just average on a good day.

SI is high on the 49ers, who are missing a lot of their receivers right now. (I'm not sold yet on Boldin. We'll see.) Their Super Bowl pick is the Pats, who are missing pretty much their entire receiving corps from last year. At this point I wouldn't trade either teams receivers for the Panthers' receivers.

Tight ends factor in, too. With SF and NE, you're talking about teams whose base offensive look is 2 TE, whereas Carolina is not. Vernon Davis and Gronk will be their team's primary targets. SF spent their 2nd rounder on a receiving TE / H-back type in Vance McDonald, and it looks like he'll do a lot more than Delanie Walker did. New England... well, we'll see what their solution at 2nd TE is, but Gronk is probably the most dangerous receiving threat on any of the three teams we're talking about.

Of course, Greg Olson also boosts the Panthers' receiving targets outlook, but I think the other two teams give themselves some separation from the Panthers once you're factoring in TEs.

Enix wrote:

I'm not sold yet on Boldin. We'll see.

Has he not been around long enough for you to decide how you feel about him?

So, who is stepping up to relieve me of pick'em duties this year? Shall we collaborate on combining content for the top post of the weekly threads?

*Legion* wrote:

Gronk is probably the most dangerous receiving threat on any of the three teams we're talking about. ...

I should have probably been more clear and said "receiving corps" instead of just receivers. Problem with Gronk: He's hurt. The Pats apparently won't put him on the PUP, but that doesn't mean he'll play much the first few weeks. But, yeah, what Jay said, it probably won't matter much who the Pats line up to catch passes. It helps that the Pats play in the weaksauce AFC East.

@ garion: "I'm not sold on Boldin" was a polite way of saying OMG HE'S FREAKIN' ANCIENT. He's long past his best years. But he can still catch 50-60 passes. He's no Crabtree, though, and the Niners will really miss him early.

Elliottx wrote:

Make your informed/misinformed predictions here.

Is this different from the prediction thread (I assume) Legion is gonna make with a whole bunch of stupid ideas, like the 49ers winning the Super Bowl?

I miss RatBoy a lot at times like this...

Yeah that seems to be a "pick the whole season right now" thing. Not our usual weekly 4-5 picks.

I assume that will start on Monday. And that's what Legion mentioned a couple posts up, needing someone to help him either pick which games to pick or help with the writeups or something.

I miss RatBoy a lot at times like this...

So say we all.

Stele wrote:
I miss RatBoy a lot at times like this...

So say we all.

HE LEFT US

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Z0CXCzN.gif)

The Jimmy Clausen era is OVER!

garion333 wrote:

The Jimmy Clausen era is OVER!

As a Bucs fan, all I can say is:

IMAGE(http://nooooooooooooooo.com/vader.jpg)

garion333 wrote:

The Jimmy Clausen era is OVER!

Two thoughts:

(1) No surprise. The new GM came in from the NYG and kept just two QBs on the roster sted 3. Clausen was clearly No. 3 on that roster.

(2) Clausen didn't act like a douche - not when he was he started on a 2-14 team, not when the Panthers brought in Cam, not when he slid to No. 3 on the depth chart and not when he got cut.

I have to say my dislike of his smug ND self has turned into a sort of grudging respect.

@ MMD: Pssst, you. Yeah, you. Wanna a QB? I got one - cheap!

The Tim Tebow era is OVER!

garion333 wrote:

The Tim Tebow era is OVER!

Really the only surprise here is that they waited so long.

And somewhat surprisingly the Packers cut Vince Young after being outplayed by KC's Tyler Bray. My guess is he ends up in Buffalo where they're already running a simplified offense for their QBs. (Edit: Or not as it appears Manuel might be healed up enough to play come week 2. I'm doubting they're going to put him in week 1.)

In some news that only I care about, Gino Gradkowski will be the starting center for the Ravens and Ihedigbo will be starting at SS instead of Matt Elam. The Ravens continue to prefer their vets over rookies, but Elam's still going to see the field unlike, say, Jimmy Smith the past couple of years.

So Geno Smith had a self-safety this week?

Enix wrote:

(2) Clausen didn't act like a douche - not when he was he started on a 2-14 team, not when the Panthers brought in Cam, not when he slid to No. 3 on the depth chart and not when he got cut.

I have to say my dislike of his smug ND self has turned into a sort of grudging respect.

He's the kind of player I would love to see have opportunities to develop in an NFL minor league.

Same with Vince Young, who Mike McCarthy says he wish he had back in April, instead of adding late.

There has to be an outside sit efor the pick em we can use. The pick em really messes up the NFl thread (for me anyway)

karmajay wrote:

There has to be an outside sit efor the pick em we can use. The pick em really messes up the NFl thread (for me anyway)

Well ESPN has a Pigskin Pick'Em where you choose every game each week.

Yahoo has one as well

Yahoo! is what we use for March Madness stuff around here. I supposed it would be just as easy to set up an NFL GWJ pick'em group on Yahoo! and boom.

I created a ESPN Elimination League for GWJ. Where you pick one team to win each week.

We had fun doing this last year. So why not again. I created the league to cut down on effort on updating.

Post for thread and sign up is here

Awesome, thanks.

Happy Tuesday of the opening week of the NFL season.

To get your started, here's all 32 NFL QBs as their team names.

A sample:

IMAGE(http://cdn.ksk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/kaep-459x600.jpg)

WIN:

IMAGE(http://cdn.ksk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/rg3.jpg)

IMAGE(http://cdn.ksk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Flynn.jpg)

This is the only one I can't figure out...

I don't recognize the QB, and I can't figure out the mascot.

edit: That must be Matt Flynn as a Raider. I was looking for an NFL starting QB, not a guy who enters camp as a starter and leaves as a backup.