NFL 2016: Offseason: Pre-Draft / St. Louis Trolling

They save $8 mil this year on his cap hit this year, which is a significant amount.

I don't know how else they would've structured his contract. They're clearly committed to him, for all that means.

Definitely would rather be paying the money to Aaron Rodgers than Joe Flacco, but they do have the same amount of Super Bowl rings.............. I hate that metric.

*Legion* wrote:

The comparison to Aaron Rodgers' contract is disingenuous; were Aaron Rodgers signing a new extension in 2016, it would be for a sh*tload more than what he got in 2013, prior to this jump in the cap.

When aren't PFT articles making poor comparisons?

Looks like there is a better than 50% chance that the Ravens will get either Joey Bosa or Jalen Ramsey. Hoping that solves most of our defensive problems.

Adrian Foster going to be released by Texans. Guy had a good run but he's basically a giant injury waiting to happen at this point.

Curious to see what effect the Flacco deal has on the Luck negotiations later this year. If he gets one cent less than $24m/year, I will be really surprised.

Paleocon wrote:

Curious to see what effect the Flacco deal has on the Luck negotiations later this year. If he gets one cent less than $24m/year, I will be really surprised.

Considering what Flacco and Kirk Cousins are getting, $24m/year is probably a pretty darn low figure for Luck.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Curious to see what effect the Flacco deal has on the Luck negotiations later this year. If he gets one cent less than $24m/year, I will be really surprised.

Considering what Flacco and Kirk Cousins are getting, $24m/year is probably a pretty darn low figure for Luck.

I agree that Luck (as young as he is and has much promise as he has) is likely to get a huge payday, but I think it is a bit unfair to lump Flacco in with Cousins.

Cousins has 11 career wins and one disastrous playoff appearance and managed to snake a contract way outside his range. Bradford did roughly the same thing in Philly.

Flacco otoh holds the following:

NFL records

First rookie quarterback to win two playoff games[49]
Most wins by a quarterback in first six seasons: 62 (regular season only)[50]
Second-most combined regular and postseason wins in first three years as a quarterback: 36 (tied with Dan Marino)[51]
Only quarterback to start and win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons[52]
Most touchdowns in a postseason: 11 (tied with Joe Montana and Kurt Warner)[39]
Most touchdowns without an interception in a postseason: 11 (tied with Joe Montana)[40]
First quarterback to have a passer rating over 100 in all four games of a single postseason[4]
Most consecutive playoff games with at least two passing touchdowns: 8
Most consecutive playoff games with at least three passing touchdowns: 3 (tied with Bernie Kosar, Kurt Warner, and Aaron Rodgers)
Most consecutive road playoff games with at least one passing touchdown: 7 (tied with Donovan McNabb and Brett Favre)
Most consecutive road playoff games with at least two passing touchdowns: 5
Fastest quarterback to record five touchdowns in a game: 16:03[53]
Most road playoff wins for a quarterback: 7[54]

And yet...

It took the Bronco defenders basically losing their minds for the Ravens to even advance to that Super Bowl.

Oh, I would take Flacco over Cousins at that price point easily; he is definitely a case where the franchise tag is working for everybody. Washington gets to see if he can repeat one good year, and Cousins makes a chunk of money. I'm far from sold on the Kirk Cousins experiment. I very much want Washington to give him a huge contract, just because I don't think he is a guy who's going to be really good consistently, and I just love the idea of Dan Snyder failing.

Flacco's a reasonably good QB, and he's being paid like one thanks to how QB-reliant the league is. He's expensive, but everybody is expensive if you can vaguely throw the ball. Luck is very much a guy who can be one of the singly best QBs in the league (presuming he ever gets anything resembling protection), and he should get a massive chunk of money. He'll be the highest-paid QB in the league when he signs the contract.

TheGameguru wrote:

And yet...

It took the Bronco defenders basically losing their minds for the Ravens to even advance to that Super Bowl.

Yes, but that doesn't discount how insanely well he played that offseason.

garion333 wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

And yet...

It took the Bronco defenders basically losing their minds for the Ravens to even advance to that Super Bowl.

Yes, but that doesn't discount how insanely well he played that offseason.

Or how he came one missed field goal from going to the Superbowl the previous year. One in which the Ravens would likely have DESTROYED the Giants.

Luck won't get out of bed for anything less than $25 mil/year. That's the baseline. Indy already put that on the table in previous talks. I expect he'll creep up towards $26 mil/year, even after such a down year. If anything, the down year just gives Indy some leverage to make Luck be willing to settle for only $25m.

If Indy offers a penny less than $25 mil a season, Luck's agent will seriously put walking away and waiting for free agency on the table.

So that's why I hate getting out of bed in the morning. No one's paying me $25 mil/year to do it.

Von Miller may be the only name you recognize on the upcoming season of Dancing With The Stars.

A few signs have started to point to the Titans seriously considering drafting Jalen Ramsey at #1 if they can't trade back. I was listening to the local sports radio a few days ago and they had Titans GM Jon Robinson on and when asked about if they thought Jalen would be better at safety or corner he said "Vertille guys like that don't come around very often, we'll probably play him at corner" he also said later "Not a big fan of having a young O line, needs to be built up through free agency"

Not sure if it was a slip or smoke and mirrors but it was interesting. Personally I'm ok with taking Ramsey #1. I watched him just down the road in high school and at FSU he was a beast. He's made it no secret he would love to come home to Nashville if given the chance.

Gumbie wrote:

"Not a big fan of having a young O line, needs to be built up through free agency"

Uh . . . really? Is there a franchise that's built a good offensive line in recent memory by picking up lots of free agents?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Gumbie wrote:

"Not a big fan of having a young O line, needs to be built up through free agency"

Uh . . . really? Is there a franchise that's built a good offensive line in recent memory by picking up lots of free agents?

I think he was talking about having a ton of your starting O line guys being young and inexperienced. He's really big on O line chemistry. The Titans have a sh*tload of young guys there now. He just meant having a solid veteran or two on the line.

I think I that woukd be a mistake, unless their evaluations of the top tackles are more negative than everyone else's. It is MUCH easier to find FA secondary help than tackles. Big men go early and if they're any good, they don't get a whiff of free agency.

If they evaluate Ramsey much higher than they do the tackles, then OK, but the "young O-line" thing is asinine. The league's best offensive line is exactly that, a bunch of high recent draft picks.

Please show me the offensive line that is all guys who are in their first couple of seasons and successful. It doesn't exist.

The Cowboys line, young as it is, still had Doug Free. I think that's what we're talking about here.

The Titans have Taylor Lewan and Chance Warmack from recent 1st rounds. This article talks about it.

I don't know where they expect to get a vet RT but I'm sure they can find some interior vets to help mentor the line.

garion333 wrote:

Please show me the offensive line that is all guys who are in their first couple of seasons and successful. It doesn't exist.

Well for one, Lewan is going into year 3 and Warmack into year 4. These guys aren't rookies anymore.

The Cowboys line, young as it is, still had Doug Free. I think that's what we're talking about here.

That's because most teams don't act like Tennessee and go from 2006-2012 without drafting an offensive lineman in the top 3 rounds (and if they do, it's because they managed to find some gems in later rounds that removed the need). They don't have to go digging through free agency for that offensive lineman, they already have him around because they drafted him.

Let's put it this way: the "best" offensive tackle that changed teams last free agency period was the guy the Titans were getting rid of, Michael Oher. Which is how they ended up with Byron Bell.

The point is, veterans are great and all, but if you're passing on an elite tackle prospect at the top of the draft because you don't like having a "young O-line", you are a moron and have no place having the job as general manager. Which probably isn't far off the mark when you get the job because you're the only one willing to keep Mike Mularkey.

That said, I don't (yet) believe that statement has any truth behind it, but rather is just an attempt at smokescreening.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Please show me the offensive line that is all guys who are in their first couple of seasons and successful. It doesn't exist.

Well for one, Lewan is going into year 3 and Warmack into year 4. These guys aren't rookies anymore.

Right, but they didn't really have a, say, Marshal Yanda or Joe Thomas helping them along recently. When did Roos retire? 2013? That's the element they've been missing. Plus injuries put young people out there too soon. I believe they stayed two rookies for most of last season.

And yes, the problem there is a lack of draft choices in the past.

Anyway, we're talking about something that isn't likely to come to pass. Who drafts a CB 1st overall? No one.

Let's put it this way: the "best" offensive tackle that changed teams last free agency period was the guy the Titans were getting rid of, Michael Oher.

This is more short sighted than I expect from you. Two names: Veldheer and Penn.

Yes, I know they were an aberration.

I said last free agency period, those two were two years ago. And don't get me started on Veldheer. I still can't put that one into words. And Penn for that matter. That was some weird-ass sh*t.

The Titans were sitting on the 2nd most cap space while those move were happening, while we're at it. And Roos had just retired. Different GM, I grant you. The new Titans GM was busy helping dump Donald Penn as director of player personnel in Tampa.

I know you said last FA, that's why I was giving you a hard time for being short sighted with such an obvious counter to the previous year.

Admittedly, Penn wasn't exactly hot sh*t when he left but then performed better than recent memory.

Really, maybe the tackle market is heating up compared to the past. This year we've got Osemele who can play T, while Cleveland would be stupid to let Schwartz leave. Right there is better than Veldheer and Penn imho simply because they're both so damn young.

garion333 wrote:

I know you said last FA, that's why I was giving you a hard time for being short sighted with such an obvious counter to the previous year.

Admittedly, Penn wasn't exactly hot sh*t when he left but then performed better than recent memory.

Really, maybe the tackle market is heating up compared to the past. This year we've got Osemele who can play T, while Cleveland would be stupid to let Schwartz leave. Right there is better than Veldheer and Penn imho simply because they're both so damn young.

There were a couple factors for Penn; (A) he hadn't played particularly well the prior year or two, (B) he was going to be very, very expensive, and, tragically, (C) post-Schiano explosion of the team. He was replaced with Anthony Collins, which was supposed to be a good move. IT WAS NOT.

garion333 wrote:

I know you said last FA, that's why I was giving you a hard time for being short sighted with such an obvious counter to the previous year.

Admittedly, Penn wasn't exactly hot sh*t when he left but then performed better than recent memory.

Really, maybe the tackle market is heating up compared to the past. This year we've got Osemele who can play T, while Cleveland would be stupid to let Schwartz leave. Right there is better than Veldheer and Penn imho simply because they're both so damn young.

Osemele is a great guard, but he graded negatively at PFF for that final month where he slid out to tackle when Monroe hit IR. I would be wary of signing him with the intent to play tackle, though I would have no problem throwing him a lot of money to play guard.

Schwartz is a right tackle, which is what makes his value equation a little different from Veldheer and Penn, but that aside, I'm having a hard time imagining the Browns letting him get away. Especially with Alex Mack most likely out the door. If they don't at least take some of that money they were spending on Mack to retain Schwartz...

Peyton to announce retirement tomorrow.

:sarcasticshock:

Josh Freeman released by the Colts, who also got rid of Hasselbeck. I guess they are really hoping Luck stays healthy. Will Freeman get another shot to hold the clipboard?

RG3 released. No word if he's being replaced on the depth chart by BB-8 yet.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Josh Freeman released by the Colts, who also got rid of Hasselbeck. I guess they are really hoping Luck stays healthy.

Rat Boy wrote:

RG3 released.

Indy, you know what to do.

Random De'Anthony Thomas trade rumor pops up before Chiefs free agency starts

This came out of the blue. A trade rumor out of the Bay Area has surfaced regarding De'Anthony Thomas. John Middlekauf of 95.7 The Game is reporting the Chiefs and 49ers have talked about a possible DAT trade.

Surprise, Chip Kelly is looking at an Oregon player. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised because DAT's second season in Kansas City was really weird. He suffered a concussion midseason and then never came back. The Chiefs said eventually it wasn't because of the concussion and placed him on the non-football illness list near the end of the season. DAT said it was because of the concussion and so we never really cleared all this up. So, yeah, I guess I'm not that surprised this rumor has popped up.

That said, DAT's on his rookie contract which means he is cheap. And he has a neat skill-set that the Chiefs can still use. It's always difficult to find a spot for these gadget players but DAT has some use in Kansas City. Basically, I'm not convinced adding a seventh offensive lineman or fifth receiver on game day is more valuable than having DAT returning punts or running a couple of jet sweeps each game.

Kansas City talking to San Francisco about a trade.

So which QB is it?

Thomas makes sense for the Kelly offense in SF. Carlos Hyde is the guy to run the bread-and-butter inside zone and power, but they don't have that speed guy to run the outside zone and sweeps.