NFL - NEWS & NOTES

I believe Matt Ryan was asked to take only 20.7 to save on cap space. He agreed because he is a team player kind of guy.

 

Half a dozen teams have shown interest already, so I'd say it's newsworthy....Colts, Steelers and Ravens, among others.

 

Amazing. Matt was looked at as taking a discount and being a team at $20.7M but in that same year, and after, everybody repeatedly said Flacco was greedy and bankrupted the team at $20.6M fresh off a superbowl win.

 

Looks like he's headed to the dark side...
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-browns-released-veteran-cornerback-joe-haden

 

Ryan obviously didn't bankrupt the team. The Falcons were NFC Champions. Who is getting all of the dough on the Ravens' roster?

 

I'm not saying he did. I'm saying that, in 2013, the perception of him vs the perception of Flacco, fresh off a superbowl win on a historic playoff performance, were vastly different

 

Sure it does but it didn't get there overnight. When Rodgers signed in 2013 it was 123M. Two years later when Ben, Eli, Rivers and Cam signed it was 143M. It still didn't elevate their salaries. Is that by chance? Or is it the franchises tasked with re-signing those guys being much better negotiators / decision makers?

I agree. That's how it used to work. Two years later we saw the same thing. The guys above all signed for slightly less than the best QB in the NFL. Then the following year the drug addict in Indy goes on a two month twitter tirade talking about how he was going to set the market for QBs when they got the Luck deal done and it's been followed by even more idiotic behavior in Oakland and Detroit.

It's now an artificial market not unlike we've seen in the past with guys like Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson and it's unsustainable. Just because the Lions don't have enough sense to slow things down doesn't mean other franchises are going to fall into the same trap and start paying guys 30M per year. It simply can't continue this way.

I agree completely which is why I take issue with the narrative that it's just the going rate for QBs. I believe common sense will prevail.

 

I believe some of it had to do with the fluidity of the salary cap. Yes, it increased significantly over a few years period, but it could have also went down after that which could have really effected many teams situations.

Now that it has increased again, the salaries are beginning to catch up.

It is just that the QB situation in the NFL is the easiest to separate the top from the bottom and the top is a LOT smaller than the bottom, thus the demand from all teams in the league and the need to pay more and more each year.

 

Actually the Falcons went on a really bad run right after they signed Ryan. They were 18-30 in the next 3 seasons. They've clawed their way out with some really fine drafting and early contributions from the '15 and '16 classes. Great drafting will counter poor financial health every time but it has to be sustained.

 

WE have plenty of good veterans, too. That plus good drafting and free agent signings have made the Falcons a contender.

 

The major network contracts were signed in 2011 and run through 2022 with staggered increases each year - which is the driving force behind league revenue. Everyone knew salaries were going up. The idea that they could go down was not possible with the CBA also locked down for 10 years. Dumb franchises make dumb decisions and the savvy owners stay ahead of them every step of the way. Irsay isn't the owner of the Colts because he's a genius. He was born into it. I don't know much about the Ford's in Detroit but they have made lots of questionable decisions over the years - not the least of which was hiring Matt Millen to run things. This seems like more of the same.

 

They've done a nice job grabbing up some under the radar guys and plugging them in roles but the defense that really gelled at the end of the year last year was home grown. They did a helluva job drafting defensive players over the last 3-4 years.

 

Yep. Our new DE is looking great so far.

 

I don't recall that as being the narrative when Flacco signed the first deal. I can recall most people saying it was dumb on the Ravens part not to sign him the previous summer over what amounted to 1M in the final year of the deal. But most people thought Joe was entitled to his first deal because he bet on himself and then had one of the greatest SB runs ever for a QB.

Now the second contract three years later brought a lot of the criticism you're describing above as it should have. And the Ravens deserved it as well for putting themselves in that situation three years later.

 

If it's more than league minimum no thanks.

 

NFL cancels Texans-Cowboys game

 

The Steelers have seen a lot of cornerback Joe Haden over the years when playing the Browns and there’s a lot of talk that they’d like to see him in their uniform now that the Browns have cut Haden loose.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Steelers are considered the favorite to sign Haden when he’s eligible to join a new team at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Schefter’s colleague Josina Anderson also reports strong interest from Pittsburgh while Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Media reports “advocates” in the building including wideout Antonio Brown think Haden has plenty left in the tank.


Schefter previously reported the Saints and Chiefs were expected to have strong interest in Haden as well, but staying in the AFC North with a team Haden knows well may have more appeal.

 

Wise move

 

Today's news from Flowery Branch: the Falcons reached an injury settlement with OT prospect Kevin Graf, who was a candidate for the swing tackle role before he hurt his ankle in the third preseason game. The team added free agent lineman Austin Pasztor about 10 days ago, but he's also dealing with an injury and has yet to play with his new team.

The starting right guard has not been decided yet, but both Wes Schweitzer and Ben Garland have been doing well. That leaves the swing tackle role as the biggest remaining question mark for the roster, as no healthy candidate has stood out.

 

Nope. Believe me on this. It was your narrative that they should have signed him a year earlier, one I don't disagree with. But after Joe signed, there were negative comments all over. Comments about him not deserving more than Brees. There were online picture jokes that were captioned "The only players the Ravens can afford" with the team photo, only everyone was edited out except Joe. Every time a player wasn't resigned that offseason, or traded in Boldin's case, it was quickly met with comments about how they couldn't afford the player because of Flacco's contract.

And I'm not even getting into the madness from actually Ravens fans after that point. And for 3 consecutive years, if any big name player was a free agent, you'd see a comment about how they can't afford said player because of Flacco