NFL 2021: The offseason and draft thread

One of the things I love about the Saints' QB situation is they have two QBs who are bad, but they are bad in excitingly different ways. You'll never know exactly what's going to cause Payton's head to explode on the sideline. Gadget play not working out vs. 5th INT of the half? Your choice.

I don't really know what the Patriots are doing right now but it is something. They refused to pay Gronk elite money all those years now they are just throwing it around like crazy. Very un-Belichick like.

Edit: I read that they spent around 400m in the last 10 years and then this happened:

" Patriots make seventh new signing, Jets DL Henry Anderson (report)
Patriots sign veteran WR Nelson Agholor to two-year, $26 million deal (report)
WR Kendrick Bourne signs 3-year, $22.5 million deal with New England (report)
Deatrich Wise re-signs with Patriots: Free agent frenzy includes holding onto DE (report)
Patriots sign DB Jalen Mills: Free agency splurge continues to secondary (report)
Patriots sign Pro Bowl pass rusher Matt Judon four-year, $56 million deal (report)
Patriots sign DT Davon Godchaux to 2-year deal (report)
Patriots sign Jonnu Smith to massive four-year, $50 million deal (report)"

+I just saw TE Hunter Henry , 3-year, 37.5, 25 guaranteed.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Someone please explain to me the money Jacksonville is throwing around for mediocre players.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/wQSt1xI.jpg)

Rayshawn Jenkins is a good signing.

Roy Robertson-Harris is... OK. I mean he's a bit of an underrated, ascending player, but $8m a year means he's got to take the step up from rotational to solid starter. Still, the team is seemingly switching to a 3-4 front and has to find defensive ends.

Philip Dorsett? Jamal Agnew? Rudy Ford? I don't know what's going on there.

Re-signing Dawaune Smoot for 2 years at $7m/yr? He generates decent pass rush but he's part of why the Jags run D has been so bad. Not sure where he fits on the 3-4 front.

Also have to laugh at the team paying day 1 free agency money to get Carlos Hyde after having traded for Carlos Hyde in midseason 2018 and then dumping him at the end of the season after getting 189 yards in 8 games from him. (Hyde then went and rushed for over 1000 yards in Houston the next year.)

When you've got a bargain on your roster at RB because you found your starring guy in undrafted free agency, I don't know why you go and spend $3m/yr for a backup for him.

Hyde was in Seattle last year, and is exactly the kind of 2-down up-the-gut back they like over there, so this move has Seattle Coach Voltron written all over it.

There it is.

EvilDead wrote:

I don't really know what the Patriots are doing right now but it is something. They refused to pay Gronk elite money all those years now they are just throwing it around like crazy. Very un-Belichick like.

Edit: I read that they spent around 400m in the last 10 years and then this happened:

" Patriots make seventh new signing, Jets DL Henry Anderson (report)
Patriots sign veteran WR Nelson Agholor to two-year, $26 million deal (report)
WR Kendrick Bourne signs 3-year, $22.5 million deal with New England (report)
Deatrich Wise re-signs with Patriots: Free agent frenzy includes holding onto DE (report)
Patriots sign DB Jalen Mills: Free agency splurge continues to secondary (report)
Patriots sign Pro Bowl pass rusher Matt Judon four-year, $56 million deal (report)
Patriots sign DT Davon Godchaux to 2-year deal (report)
Patriots sign Jonnu Smith to massive four-year, $50 million deal (report)"

+I just saw TE Hunter Henry , 3-year, 37.5, 25 guaranteed.

Their drafting has been bad and without Tom Brady to make the offense fly they're finally opening the pocket books. They've got little to no money sunk into the QB position, so why not beef up the rest of the team?

Damn, Hunter Henry also? Guess I can drop their young TEs from my Dynasty roster now...

Feels like they are overpaying a bit, and setting precedent, that will come to bite them in the ass when they need to re-sign their own guys in the years to come. Maybe Bill plans to be retiring soon so he won't have to deal with that part

Josh is doing all the signings then? Lol

Oh, there's almost certainly some overpaying there, but perhaps they fit the mold they're looking for. Despite there being a plethora of WRs still available who I'd rather sign (like John Brown and Golladay), their WR locker room is definitely better than it was last week. Overpaying for Agholor is simply funny on its own.

Clearly NE doesn't care about compensatory picks this year so that may be what's going on.

SCENE: Wide receivers meeting room in Patriots headquarters. Belichick sits in the room, alone.

The door opens. N'Keal Harry enters the room.

HARRY: "Coach, you wanted to see me?"

Belichick, with the smallest amount of motion possible, wordlessly gestures Harry to a chair. Harry sits.

HARRY: "Coach, what's up?"

Belichick picks up a remote control and turns his head toward the room's projector screen. It flashes to life.

A button on the remote is pushed. The video feed on the projector kicks into motion. A play from a Patriots game this past season. A throw to N'Keal Harry, the ball hits his hands, then falls to the ground.

Belichick turns his head to Harry. His gaze locks directly into Harry's. Without breaking eye contact, Belichick lifts a phone to his head. After a brief pause, Belichick growls into the phone:

BELICHICK: "Sign Jonnu Smith".

Belichick sets the phone down, his eyes still locked onto Harry's.

Harry, nervous in the face of Belichick's emotionless stare, breaks the silence.

HARRY: "Hey, that's great. We definitely could use the help at tight end."

Belichick's hand presses a button on the projector remote again. Henry notices the video starting to move again and cautiously breaks eye contact to watch. Belichick does not. He knows what's on the screen. Another play from last year. N'Keal Harry runs the wrong route, the anticipatory pass sails unchallenged into the arms of a defensive back.

The video stops at the end of the play. Harry reluctantly looks back towards Belichick, whose gaze has not moved. Belichick again holds the phone up to his head.

BELICHICK: "Get Hunter Henry."

The phone is set down. Belichick's stare remains. Harry, always a bit slow on the uptake, doesn't quite understand what is happening, but he knows enough to be afraid. He doesn't speak.

Again the projector remote button is pushed, and a play rolls. Harry is afraid to break from Belichick's stare, but knowing that the video is for him to watch, he dares not miss it. Another play from last year. Harry makes a low-effort attempt at a block. The cornerback effortlessly glides by Harry and blows up the run play, a 2 yard loss on 3rd-and-1.

Belichick lifts the phone to his head again.

BELICHICK: "Get Kendrick Bourne."

Harry, finally managing to catch something, catches on.

HARRY: "Coach, I know I haven't done well yet. Being hurt my rookie year set me back! I'm working on it, I swear. I've started reading the playbook. For real!"

Harry's tone takes on a pleading nature as he speaks. Belichick shows no reaction, again reaching for the projector remote. It kicks into motion again. Another play. Harry onscreen runs a deep go route down the sideline. The throw is there. Harry's futile bobbles seem to stretch on forever, until the ball haplessly falls to the ground, uncaught.

Belichick's head has not moved an inch. He reaches the phone to his head again.

BELICHICK: "Sign Nelson Agholor."

HARRY: "AGHOLOR?!? He drops the ball more than I do...."

So they're tanking, eh? Lol

I'd like to insert a slow clap gif here, but feel it would dirty up the page and detract from your masterpiece.

Jags finally find a high tier free agent willing to come to their sh*tshow, sign CB Shaquill Griffin.

He plays defense and does so well, so I'm not sure how I could tie him to The Voltron. Maybe this is good. Maybe he can warn TLaw about what he's in for.

Hah, poor Harry. Sounds like they are shopping him but how much are they really going to get back. I would rather have him fight it out in camp.

*Legion* wrote:

Jags finally find a high tier free agent willing to come to their sh*tshow, sign CB Shaquill Griffin.

He plays defense and does so well, so I'm not sure how I could tie him to The Voltron. Maybe this is good. Maybe he can warn TLaw about what he's in for.

The Jags also signed TE Chris Manhertz from the Panthers. He'll help keep Trevor Lawrence upright. I just hope Trevor doesn't think he'll actually run routes and catch passes or anything like that.

Jacksonville fans should be familiar with Manhertz's style of TE play, because it's basically the same as Marcedes Lewis. You want a 6th offensive lineman? He's the guy.

Jags sign Tyson Alualu and Marvin Jones.

Alualu is a LOL simply because they drafted him in the first place, and then he went to Pittsburgh and started playing like his draft position. He was PFF's #9 graded interior defender last season, and he was nearly as good in 2019. He's about to turn 34 though, so this is kind of a final hurrah.

Marvin Jones is a good signing, though also another wrong-side-of-30 player. One of the most quietly productive WRs in the league. He's strictly WR2/WR3 material but unlike Jag free agent WRs of yore, he'll actually stay a WR2/3 rather than be promoted to WR1. Chark and Shenault plus Jones is a great set of targets for Lawrence. He just turned 31 a few days ago, and it's a 2-year deal, so a bit less concerned on the age front here.

Jags also traded for Malcom Brown. Jesus how many defensive linemen are they gonna grab? Brown was 34th among interior defenders in PFF grading last year. OK, so... what was the point of signing Roy Robertson-Harris again? Or, if RRH, Brown, and Alualu are your 3-man front, why spend money on Smoot?

At any rate, you can tell how well spending their 2018 1st round pick on Taven Bryan went. (Now watch Bryan go crank out a steady career in Pittsburgh.)

The Jags are doing a little better on day 2 than day 1, but some of these moves are making the day 1 moves even more questionable.

*Legion* wrote:

Jags sign Tyson Alualu and Marvin Jones.

Alualu is a LOL simply because they drafted him in the first place, and then he went to Pittsburgh and started playing like his draft position. He was PFF's #9 graded interior defender last season, and he was nearly as good in 2019. He's about to turn 34 though, so this is kind of a final hurrah.

Marvin Jones is a good signing, though also another wrong-side-of-30 player. One of the most quietly productive WRs in the league. He's strictly WR2/WR3 material but unlike Jag free agent WRs of yore, he'll actually stay a WR2/3 rather than be promoted to WR1. Chark and Shenault plus Jones is a great set of targets for Lawrence. He just turned 31 a few days ago, and it's a 2-year deal, so a bit less concerned on the age front here.

Jags also traded for Malcom Brown. Jesus how many defensive linemen are they gonna grab? Brown was 34th among interior defenders in PFF grading last year. OK, so... what was the point of signing Roy Robertson-Harris again? Or, if RRH, Brown, and Alualu are your 3-man front, why spend money on Smoot?

At any rate, you can tell how well spending their 2018 1st round pick on Taven Bryan went. (Now watch Bryan go crank out a steady career in Pittsburgh.)

The Jags are doing a little better on day 2 than day 1, but some of these moves are making the day 1 moves even more questionable.

Jones is a great pickup. When not hurt dude is a baller. But he gets hurt oh so much.

Taven Bryan. Wow, I forgot about that pick. He's soooooooo boring. Alualu at least was taken high in the draft and generated discussion. Bryan was like, oh, a DT.

How's that Jags OL look? Have they upgraded there at all?

Apparently they were "very aggressive" trying to trade for Russell Wilson, but the Seahawks refused to pull the trigger.

They better pull their heads out of their asses and start making Wilson happy.

Texans sign Tyrod Taylor. One year, up to $12.5 million. Relatively cheap, and feels to me very much like a "screw you, Deshaun, play or don't" move.

garion333 wrote:

How's that Jags OL look? Have they upgraded there at all?

Crappy, and no.

Franchise tagging Cam Robinson was a joke. Jawaan Taylor over on the other side was the worst pass blocking tackle in football last year, though there's at least some potential for him to improve given that was just year 2 of his career.

The interior is better. Brandon Linder is a top 5 center. Andrew Norwell has not come close to playing up to his contract, but he's still a solid guard. A.J. "Trash" Cann was much better last year than the hot garbage years he posted the 3 straight seasons before, but I'm not sure how much to believe it.

There have been zero additions to the group so far. Tackle should be the team's top priority in the draft outside of not misspelling T-R-E-V-O-R L-A-W-R-E-N-C-E on the card, and given the crapload of extra picks they have (one each in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th), they certainly have the ammo to get in a position to target one (or preferably two). So far, it looks like the franchise tagging of Robinson was just to fill the position for 2021, not a precursor to a long-term deal.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Texans sign Tyrod Taylor. One year, up to $12.5 million. Relatively cheap, and feels to me very much like a "screw you, Deshaun, play or don't" move.

It's definitely a move to have someone that's capable of starting week 1. Whether that means "we can wait you out" or "we've got our day 1 starter for our next rookie QB to sit behind" isn't clear to me.

*Legion* wrote:

Rayshawn Jenkins is a good signing.

I'm backing off this somewhat after seeing the money attached to it. I liked Jenkins as a bargain safety, someone stuck on the Chargers depth chart behind two high draft picks. But at $16m of guaranteed money, he's no longer in bargain territory.

Every time my phone dings, I pick it up, hoping that it's going to say that Trent Williams has re-signed with the 49ers. Apparently the Niners are pushing hard, but Williams is the belle of the free agency ball, so it's tough.

Fun but (mostly) meaningless: Marquise Goodwin is a 49er again.

Not on purpose, but the draft weekend trade the Niners made with the Eagles last year has been undone.

Goodwin opted out of the 2020 season, and never took the physical required for the trade. The parameters of the trade not being met, Goodwin now reverts back to the 49ers, who must send their 7th round pick to Philly in compensation (because you can't undo the swap of 2020 6th round picks the teams did).

Goodwin will certainly end up being cut by the 49ers.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

How's that Jags OL look? Have they upgraded there at all?

Crappy, and no.

Franchise tagging Cam Robinson was a joke. Jawaan Taylor over on the other side was the worst pass blocking tackle in football last year, though there's at least some potential for him to improve given that was just year 2 of his career.

The interior is better. Brandon Linder is a top 5 center. Andrew Norwell has not come close to playing up to his contract, but he's still a solid guard. A.J. "Trash" Cann was much better last year than the hot garbage years he posted the 3 straight seasons before, but I'm not sure how much to believe it.

There have been zero additions to the group so far. Tackle should be the team's top priority in the draft outside of not misspelling T-R-E-V-O-R L-A-W-R-E-N-C-E on the card, and given the crapload of extra picks they have (one each in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th), they certainly have the ammo to get in a position to target one (or preferably two). So far, it looks like the franchise tagging of Robinson was just to fill the position for 2021, not a precursor to a long-term deal.

So, Trevie has a Burrow-like rookie year gotcha.

It's a shame they went and spent all their money and can't afford Trent Williams now...

*Legion* wrote:

Fun but (mostly) meaningless: Marquise Goodwin is a 49er again.

Not on purpose, but the draft weekend trade the Niners made with the Eagles last year has been undone.

Goodwin opted out of the 2020 season, and never took the physical required for the trade. The parameters of the trade not being met, Goodwin now reverts back to the 49ers, who must send their 7th round pick to Philly in compensation (because you can't undo the swap of 2020 6th round picks the teams did).

Goodwin will certainly end up being cut by the 49ers.

That's silly and I forgot he was a football player in the one year he took off.

*Legion* wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Texans sign Tyrod Taylor. One year, up to $12.5 million. Relatively cheap, and feels to me very much like a "screw you, Deshaun, play or don't" move.

It's definitely a move to have someone that's capable of starting week 1. Whether that means "we can wait you out" or "we've got our day 1 starter for our next rookie QB to sit behind" isn't clear to me.

I think they believe Watson is gonna sit out and are hedging bets. Practical but I probably wouldn't have done it as it's sending all the wrong signals, I'm sure.

garion333 wrote:

It's a shame they went and spent all their money and can't afford Trent Williams now...

Trent Williams going to the Jags would be the ultimate mixed feeling. Better than the Niners losing him to any other team, but he's such a good fit with Shanny and doesn't deserve to be wasted in the Seattle Coach Voltron offense.

*Legion* wrote:

Jags sign Tyson Alualu and Marvin Jones.

Dang, was too busy today to follow this thread... took nearly 6 hours for me to come on here and make a post.

Go Jags! Have they brought back Bryan Anger yet?

Bears sign Andy Dalton?

The NFC North is too kind to me.

garion333 wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Texans sign Tyrod Taylor. One year, up to $12.5 million. Relatively cheap, and feels to me very much like a "screw you, Deshaun, play or don't" move.

It's definitely a move to have someone that's capable of starting week 1. Whether that means "we can wait you out" or "we've got our day 1 starter for our next rookie QB to sit behind" isn't clear to me.

I think they believe Watson is gonna sit out and are hedging bets. Practical but I probably wouldn't have done it as it's sending all the wrong signals, I'm sure.

I don't think it's possible for the Texans to send any signal Watson would consider good outside of "we're trading you to X team". That bridge appears to have been burned and/or napalmed.

Niners sign Trent Williams! And Alex Mack!

IMAGE(https://media0.giphy.com/media/l3q2B8po92FIG1LNe/giphy.gif?cid=82a1493blu5ddekl5dj8vct36yvc8klane7cth5719p953a5&rid=giphy.gif)