NFL 2015: Offseason: Training Camp / Preseason

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Training camps are opening now! Preseason is coming soon! The long national nightmare is ending.

Time for a new thread.

Hall of Fame game kicks off preseason on August 9th.

Hard Knocks starts August 11th.

*yawn*

Brought over from the other thread...

*Legion* wrote:
billt721 wrote:

The NFLPA really needs to step up their game.

Baseball... that's the sport with a team that's paying Bobby Bonilla $1.19 mil a year up until 2035, right?

No, I'd argue that the last thing football needs to do is do anything like baseball.

Football gives up the guaranteed contracts and top end paydays, but they get a league of all financially solvent teams that can pay for full rosters, and not so much money tied up into retired or unproductive players.

Whether or not 'football' needs to be doing anything like baseball, the NFLPA sure is doing a worse job for its members than the MLBPA is. That's the only statement I was making.

As for being financially solvent... there isn't a professional team in the US that isn't financially solvent. In baseball there are sh*tty owners who try to play poor after getting the public to hand them a new stadium (the Marlins guy -- Loria?), and there's the case of the Mets where they're screwed because of non-baseball litigation... but that's really it. Neither of those are related to paying average players more money than stars in the NFL are getting.

As for being financially solvent... there isn't a professional team in the US that isn't financially solvent.

Three MLB franchises have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the past 6 years alone.

the NFLPA sure is doing a worse job for its members than the MLBPA is

MLB players get less than 40% of league revenues, down from a peak of 56%.
NFL players get 58%. Fixed number.

An NFL franchise has more than double the number of players of an MLB roster. Double the number of players per MLB team and things might look a whole lot differently for individual players.

Legion nailed it.

I'd be interested in seeing what would happen if there were NO cap and no roster size limit.

The obvious thing would be that new money owners and Jerry Jones would destroy the market and small market teams would be at a huge disadvantage (so long, Steelers!). But it'd be interesting to watch a truly unfettered market take hold and junk this socialism stuff in American pro sports - how much would Aaron Rogers really get in that market? Andrew Luck?

And is it just me or am I reading the thread title pic as, "School of Hard Knockers":

*Legion* wrote:

An NFL franchise has more than double the number of players of an MLB roster. Double the number of players per MLB team and things might look a whole lot differently for individual players.

Only at the major league level. Also, the roster structures of baseball teams are much more complicated than NFL teams. There's the 40 man roster but not all are available for the big league. No idea how this affects revenue sharing amongst players.

The NFL team also has a 10 man practice squad, with a $112k salary per player, which is nearly 3x the $41k minimum salary of a first-contract minor leaguer on the 40-man roster.

Things like guaranteed contracts and lack of revenue sharing have turned MLB into a league where teams like the Yankees and Red Sox compete every year, while small-market teams have to hope to put together runs in brief windows. It sucks, and the NFL's hardcore rejection of that is something I absolutely support in every way.

I recall reading something once about the big difference between the NBA and NFL is in the NBA you market the player, and in the NFL you market the helmet. Who's under the helmet doesn't matter nearly as much. If the NFLPA drew a line in the sand again and went on strike, the NFL would bring in replacement players, and I would wind up watching those games because I'm rooting for the helmet anyways.

The NFLPA just doesn't have vaguely the leverage the MLBPA has.

Another former Eagle believes Chip Kelly's not a fan of black football players.

So how is former Rugby League player Jarryd Hayne getting on? anybody know?

The first day of 49ers training camp was yesterday, so the real push to make the team has just started for Hayne.

There will probably be 5 running backs on the roster. Four of those spots are pretty much accounted for, barring injury: Carlos Hyde, Kendall Hunter, Reggie Bush, and 4th round pick Mike Davis. Hayne is in the group of players fighting for that 5th spot.

Thanks. Always a shame when someone leaves rugby league but at least it wasn't to join the dark side (union)

Brandon Boykin was traded to Pittsburgh for a 5th Round Pick in 2016 (conditionally a 4th rounder) and immediately accused Chip Kelly of being a racist.

Charles Pierce on Deflategate:

"Ever since January, this endless, misbegotten hootenanny has been more than a test of Tom Brady’s character. It’s been a test of Roger Goodell’s leadership, and he has proved to be the Gregory Hines of stepping on hidden rakes."

I'm not endorsing Pierce's take. I just liked that particular turn of phrase. Lots more clever writing at the link.

A tweet I saw a few days ago:

@joeyrkaufman wrote:

It's probably a win for the NFL that this offseason's dominant storyline was Tom Brady, not Chris Borland, and by a mile.

I'm not precisely saying the NFL is handling DeflateGate in a particular way to drown out the scarier storylines the NFL wants to avoid... but if they were doing so, I imagine their handling of it would be pretty darn consistent with what they have done in reality.

Not only has it drowned out the concussion retirements (and some of the talk of the upcoming Will Smith movie), but it's also drowned out rehashing the domestic violence crisis of last season, and the new instances of it in the offseason (Ray McDonald getting a new job, and then losing it on a new violence / child endangerment charge, came and went comparatively quietly). Even players blowing their f-ing fingers off can barely crack through the DeflateGate media coverage for more than a day.

onewild wrote:

Thanks. Always a shame when someone leaves rugby league but at least it wasn't to join the dark side (union)

Union is great!

The best quote from that piece was:

Meanwhile, Goodell’s strong support of the NFL’s own decision gave every preening moralist within reach of a keyboard a chance to yell about “cheating” and what ever can we tell the children? More than a few people advised Brady to suck it up and take the penalty because you can’t fight City Hall, overlooking the fact that, in this particular case, City Hall is presided over by a guy who couldn’t pour juice out of his loafers if the instructions were written on the heel.

Charles Pierce clearly has a lot of respect for Goodell. A lot.

PFT has a story where Jimmy Graham says he's okay with blocking on 75% of plays. I can't help but feel that while he's going to have to do more blocking that this is just smoke and mirrors.

First off, Graham isn't a blocker. By all (I think) accounts he kinda sucks at it.

Secondly, it'd be stupid of the Hawks to not utilize him more, especially in light of extending Wilson. You don't pay a QB to hand the ball off.

The Hawks have to know the Lynch train is gonna slow at some point. They traded their center to get Graham, that there should tell you the times are a changing.

Does that mean a titanic scheme shift? Nah, but if they're relying on Graham to significantly block on run plays they may be in for a rude surprise.

I think they brought him in to line up off the line, spreading the opposing defense out a bit more instead of stacking in the box. That's what he's done before, that's where he excels.

The smoke blowing is in full effect. Real football is upon us.

According to The Twitter, Arian Foster suffered a groin injury during practice today.

Rat Boy wrote:

According to The Twitter, Arian Foster suffered a groin injury during practice today.

Sure, it happens to him and it's national news, but I pull my groin in public and they ban me from that Applebee's for life.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

According to The Twitter, Arian Foster suffered a groin injury during practice today.

Sure, it happens to him and it's national news, but I pull my groin in public and they ban me from that Applebee's for life.

Is it really so bad since they ditched the all you can eat chicken strips?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

According to The Twitter, Arian Foster suffered a groin injury during practice today.

Sure, it happens to him and it's national news, but I pull my groin in public and they ban me from that Applebee's for life.

At least it was only that one Applebee's. You can still go to the one three blocks away.

garion333 wrote:

PFT has a story where Jimmy Graham says he's okay with blocking on 75% of plays. I can't help but feel that while he's going to have to do more blocking that this is just smoke and mirrors.

First off, Graham isn't a blocker. By all (I think) accounts he kinda sucks at it.

Secondly, it'd be stupid of the Hawks to not utilize him more, especially in light of extending Wilson. You don't pay a QB to hand the ball off.

The Hawks have to know the Lynch train is gonna slow at some point. They traded their center to get Graham, that there should tell you the times are a changing.

Does that mean a titanic scheme shift? Nah, but if they're relying on Graham to significantly block on run plays they may be in for a rude surprise.

I think they brought him in to line up off the line, spreading the opposing defense out a bit more instead of stacking in the box. That's what he's done before, that's where he excels.

The smoke blowing is in full effect. Real football is upon us.

When those safeties come up to watch Beast Mode, Graham is going to go straight down the middle of the field, one of Wilson's favorite areas. He just lofts the ball right into the receiver's hands.

Like to Kearse in OT in the NFC Champs.

@PriscoCBS wrote:

Sounds like Arian Foster ripped the groin muscle off the bone.
That's bad for a RB.

That's the injury Fred Taylor suffered in 2001, it's a pretty gnarly injury.

What's really dividing locker rooms during this training camp: Game of Thrones spoilers.

Kindle version still "coming soon". Go faster!

Hard Knocks schedule released

Episode 1, August 11, 10 p.m.
Episode 2, August 18, 10 p.m.
Episode 3, August 25, 10 p.m.
Episode 4, Sept. 1, 10 p.m.
Episode 5, Sept. 8, 10 p.m.

And it will be on HBO Go and HBO Now.

Awesomeness from The Draw Play:

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More (Eli, Doucheface Rivers, Kaep) here.

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