NFL - Random Opinions

@xinik

Should both Judge and Jones be gone, or do you have a preference for how it goes down that includes one or both remaining with the Giants?

 

@RTTRUTH

The Colts have some serious talent at key positions but it still feels like a team that has enough holes to not be considered a contender in the AFC.

Can you tell me why you disagree, agree, or where changes in the roster could swing in dramatically forward this off-season?

 

To be honest, I think he has had enough talent and time at head coach and just isnt really cutting it. The funny thing is, the Vikings are top 10 in many offensive categories, but a nearly complete disaster defensively at the same time. If he had the defense as coordinated as the offense is, he would have won all those close games, or most anyway.

I like the guy, but not at the head coach position. Ive been harping on the Vikings as being to talented and loaded to be in this position. Just imagine if a Bill Belechick type was in control of a team with Cousins playing as well as he is along with Cook and Mattison in the backfield and oh yeah, Justin Jefferson and Thielen to boot, this would be something real special, in my opinion. By the way, that Patriots defense is rock solid... imagine a stout defense right now on this Vikings squad.

Bottom line for me is - I sure hope the Wilf's and Spielman realize this and are searching/working the field out there now, because this window/opportunity is not going to last forever. Vikings just need to get over that proverbial hump.

 

Well Gase makes for an undeniable caveat i guess, but it feels possibly a tad early for Rhule dont you think? From a less genuine poster this would look like passing the buck. I actually think the situation in Carolina is far more complicated than simply blaming the coaching. Organizationally they are a mess. They have an owner who seems to get way too involved, and HC with a contract way too long(7years) who may or may not have far more influence than he should over personnel decisions.

Can i try to sift through this a little and offer you a counter caveat that Darnold has been failed by GMs more than HCs?


I always felt our debate over Darnold morphed over time into whether or not we liked Darnold himself. To refresh, i was a Darnold fan coming out of college. I thought he should've gone #1, i've said if he'd gone to Cleveland he would've been no worse imo and probably better. My biggest problem with the Darnold trade was always the price paid and the corresponding moves afterwards.


As someone who does a lot of negotiating/haggling as part of my job i feel i understand it very well. I always take a lot of interest in NFL trades and the terms that come with them. The saying that "well if he pans out it'll be worth the price we paid" is one of the most overused and laziest pieces of NFL-related analysis today. I said this at the time, the Panthers got fleeced sideways in that trade with the Jets and THAT was my biggest problem with the Darnold move, moreso than Darnold himself.


The true failure in the Darnold debacle is Scott Fitterer imo. Maybe it was owner Dave Tepper, hard to say given the structure there but for now i'll say GM. Giving up 3 draft picks for 2021 Sam Darnold was obscene. A 2nd rounder alone would've been full price. If it was me and knowing all the leverage points involved i would've offered them the 70th pick(3rd round) and said take it or leave it. If they say no you draft Fields(what i would've done anyway), if they say yes and it doesn't pan out a 3rd round pick doesnt hurt you. As it is the Panthers missed out on 3 other players for this and one of them will go somewhere in the mid 30s overall in 2022. Disastrously expensive.


But Fitterer wasn't done there. You may recall Tim after the Darnold trade me calling Rashawn Slater a lock for #8 overall to the Panthers. And with Slater now looking like a pro bowler what a smart move that would've been. But no. If you're gonna bring in a guy like Darnold the ONE thing you have to do is build him a wall, and given we all knew Darnold was borderline gunshy the ONE-A position you have to cover is his blindside. Instead Fitterer brought in Cam Erving, a journeyman bum who, shocker, has played like a journeyman bum. Its grossly incompetent roster building all round.


Not saying the Panthers OL problems are fully solved by one LT, but these things all add up. A 2nd round interior OL should would've been handy in this upcoming draft, hmmm.....


So thats my long of saying yes, Sam Darnold prob does deserve some caveats given his natural talent. But id go 1 notch higher up the pole. GMs have consistently failed to put the people around Darnold, both sideline & field, to help him be a success.

Cheers

 

Little to none. The Eagles need to exhaust the trust in Hurts to know if they should move on. He's got limitations sure but let's also not forget that Minshew came in as a surprise starter vs arguably the worst team in the league. Plays he made were nowhere outside of Hurts' capabilities.

 

How big a hill? It's as big as Tom Brady. Now I know how all of you in the AFC North felt. You just can't turn your back on this guy!

No. I don't think that Winston's the answer. They just signed Hill to a 4 year extension. Not sure of the wisdom in that. Can they find another Brees/Bridgewater type of guy on the NFL scrap heap? What are the odds. I think their going to have to get a QB the old fashioned way. Draft one and hope. But I don't see a lot of joy in NOLA over the next few years. We got spoiled! That's for sure.

 

1. If you could switch out any head coach situation in the NFL that you think would result in an immediate Super bowl contender, which team would it be and which coach are you pilfering?

Sean Payton on the Bears. Best offensive mind in the game, hands down for my money. He would do a lot with Fields and the talented backfield the Bears have. Payton also makes productive players out of no name receivers.

1. You only get one chance to take a player from any roster and move him to another team to change the entire outlook for that roster. Who do you got and where are they going?

Aaron Rodgers on the Steelers would equal a SB title.

1. You have to kill off one franchise in the NFL and move them to another city with another team name. Who gets the axe, where are they going and what are you naming them?

Move the Jets to Toronto. Rename them the Beavers. Fuck you New York...if you want two teams one of them needs to be good.

1. Final question is big picture - You can make one rule change that you believe will change the game forever in a positive fashion. What's the rule, what's the change and why?

Two part change. Remove the illegal man downfield rule. It stems from a time that the game was different. Also tackles are eligible to catch passes on every down unless lined up covered by a TE or receiver. If you're at the end of the line...you're automatically eligible.

 

Use the bump in cap next season to eat some dead money and gut the defense. Hicks, Goldman, Trevethan all walk. Use Quinn's resurgent season to make a trade. Take something for Mack if you can. Send Eddie Jackson to tackling school.

Draft or sign a center. Resign James Daniels.

Sign a cheaper, bigger receiver to replace ARob and find a way to procure a pass catching tight end. When you install an actual competent offensive coach this offense won't be so bad.

Use the following offseasons reinvest and revamp the defense.

Virginia McCaskey passes away....idiot kids sell the team. New owner takes over and good energy all around. Fields blossoms. Bears win a SB.

 

Baker Mayfield is a gamer. He plays with heart. Been in a funk but I see a rebound coming.
Have you ever seen when a Browns player scores? #6 is ALWAYS right there celebrating with his teammates in genuine fashion. Most teams wish they had that in their QB. Baker will be fine IMO. His commercials are hilarious btw. Dude wants to win and he will obviously do whatever it takes (see tackle in game vs HOU)....He's hurt.

I threw in the commercial bit just to piss off the anti Mayfield legion. They are swarming these days.

I don't think the Browns need to worry. #6 is signed through 22 so lets see what happens...

Do you think the Browns should bail on Bake?

 

1Belichik to the Steelers
2 Justin Herbert to the Steelers
3 The Browns to Baltimore, wait that’s already been done. The Jaguars to Portland Oregon 420’s
4 I don’t know about positive for the fans but the league would get more viewers. Let the fans vote on instant replay to decide the call.

 

Tomlin deserves a couple of years to replace his QB.

 

Of all the questions/predictions Tim put out there in this batch, this was the one that most surprised me it didn't come true..

 

Im not sure how much can really be turned around in the short term tbh, at least in terms of wins and losses. Ryan Pace has put the Bears in a hole where they have limited draft picks, very limited cap space and bloated contracts all over the place. If they even can sort it out it will take the vast majority of Fields rookie contract to do it.


I love good defense, but personally i would bite the bullet and accept that the D is gonna have to be bad for some time. Its one of the oldest units in the league, its a black hole for cap space and there are just way too many guys not earning their paychecks. It must be gutted.


If it were me i'd be putting the vast majority of resources into the Offense, over there you at least have youth and potential. They HAVE to give Fields every chance to be a success. I see a hit there but another season like this and they'll ruin him. Montgomery is the most under rated RB in the league and they have a great 1-2 punch at the position. Its not flashy, but you improve the O-Line and you start consistently moving the ball. It would be "Browns-Lite" in year 1 but its a start and would take a lot of pressure off Fields.


The big debate is which is worse the WR room or the OL room. Both are horrible but there's no question to me you finally need to fix the O-Line. I've been howling at the moon about the OL for well over a decade now, i remember former poster 3rd & Long and I writing post after post about it. Successive Bears GMs have failed to get that foundational truth that it all starts up front.


The C position for the Bears is arguably the worst on the entire team. Even now i am nailed on for taking an interior OL with the Bears highest pick(2nd rd) unless an incredible value WR falls. The Bears drafted 2 Tackles in April, a really good C has the potential to lynchpin a strong OL. It won't be great, but it can be top half of the league, that would be enough for Monty. I don't like being pidgeon-holed for C at the top of the draft, its too niche a position. Both the Bears G's have played C the last couple of years which at least gives you some flexibility in the draft. If its not there at C at pick 40ish then you can go G as a fallback. Not ideal but workable.


WR is gonna be weak as F. I don't like that one bit but they simply cant fix everything. They're gonna have to throw either a 3rd or 5th rounder(or both) at the position and hope they get a hit.


But my overall feeling is that it will take the Bears 2 years to un-Pace themselves.

 

Final question is big picture - You can make one rule change that you believe will change the game forever in a positive fashion. What's the rule, what's the change and why?

Im cheating. Im adding 3. Sorry. They are linked tho so there's that.

Disclaimer: Rules 1 & 2 will never happen, but you did ask what I would do. Also, this might piss people off which is a bonus reason for saying it.

Change 1 wouldn't be about on the field as much as basic eligibility to be allowed the privilege of playing in the NFL. Every player entering the league and all currently present must now sign a disclaimer waiving their rights to sue the NFL at a later date for injuries sustained while making millions of $ playing in the NFL.

IMO fear of lawsuits are a primary driver of the now out of control push for "player safety" in football. IMO moves to introduce ever increasing player safety is the primary driver behind the product getting worse as it has in recent years, either through an avalanche of blown calls by officials or general pussification among players. There are other factors involved here of course. The NFL doesnt want star players getting injured for FF/ratings/money purposes. Fuck those money whores. (I told you it wasnt going to happen).


Freed up by Rule 1, Rule 2 will be almost all rules re player safety are to be rolled back other than deliberate targeting of the head/neck with helmet to helmet collisions(i am open to further suggestions on this). A DL's hand will once again be allowed to brush a QBs helmet, a player will not be punished when they cant avoid landing on a QB during a sack or are blocked into going low on a sack. DB's will be allowed to break up passes. DBs, when coming up in run support will be able to go down low on an oncoming pulling lineman who has over 100lbs on them. Welcome back horsecollar. Football will once again become fair for Defenses. Yes there will be less points scored in games. I dont care.

Additionally, cut blocks will be allowed. Players will be allowed to line up over the snapper. Punters can be touched. Kickoffs will be moved back, mini-wedges will be considered. Kickoff return TDs will become a thing again. Onside kicks will be made makeable again. The clothesline will remain banned however.

Football is a violent sport, thats what it is. You dont wanna watch a violent sport? No problem, there's the door. You dont wanna risk physical injury? No problem at all, goodbye millions hello office/construction/shelve stacking job. The NFL is trying to have its cake and eat it and its failing! Stop failing.


Rule 3: Alter cap rules so that no single player's wage can exceed a certain % of the teams overall cap. I believe some QBs account for approx 25% of their team cap, that is obscene for many reasons not least they are also the most protected people on the field. The league minimum pay would also go up by (hopefully)nearly double. Not sure what exact % you put on this but the goal is to get more money flowing to the players at/near the league minimum, which is a lot. These are the people who are fighting and clawing to stay in the league, the guys often doing the dirty work but the guys you actually need for it all to work. And they've just signed a waiver on injuries, SO PAY THEM MORE.

This was the original goal of the rookie wage scale. That largely worked as far as rookies were concerned, but it was intended that that new money would go towards vet minimums. It didn't. Instead it went to Joe Flacco and the first domino fell. Fix this so that the low end guys get more and bitch ass QBs get less.


Sorry for the essay. Thank you for your time.

 

Kyler murry best qb behind big ben

 

I am 100% out on Jones at this point.

Many of you may remember how much I HATED Jones at #6 overall. (I liked Haskins lol -- how was I supposed to know he cared more about his personal branding then his QB career...) I honestly tried to give him a chance. After his rookie season it was relatively easy to understand why Pat Shumer liked him. He sort of fit the system and if you could dumb down the decision making, simplify progressions and create as many easy schemed first read throws as possible... You could make it work with Jones. I have long said though that Jones is a low ceiling, needs to be in the right system, QB. Garrett's offense was a terrible fit for Jones and his development has pretty much stalled out. His eyes are slow, he has to be able to use his athleticism or he is too limited, and when he uses his athleticism he gets hurt.... It goes back to college that he simply can't make it through a full season. I haven't watched any of the QB's yet but based on how much the national media are telling me this is a bad QB class I feel confident I am going to love at least one of these guys... But I don't think the Giants need to force it.

As for Judge... I really think that his fate should simply be up to the new GM. The Giants don't really work that way. Ownership hires and fires the HC -- not the GM. They use a stupid reporting structure where both the HC and GM report to the owner. Mara likes it to be "collaborative" but back in the Jerry Reese / Tom Coughlin days it really led to a whole lot of shade being thrown in public and each guy believing the other one didn't deliver for them. That crap needs to end. Mara basically told us when he hired Judge that he knew there would be growing pains and he was committed to giving him time to work through those. My issue is that Judge doesn't appear to be particularly good at, well, anything. I am not necessarily 100% out on him. But I also don't at all care if he gets fired. My honest to goodness fear is that John Mara still believe Judge is his long term answer (for seemingly no reason) and thus he hires a GM specifically to work with Judge rather than going out and hiring the best possible candidate.

The bottom line though is Gettleman screwed this think up so very badly that 2022 might be a a strait up wasted year. Giants have a flawed roster, no line, and no cap space. He is leaving the team in a worse place than he found it and yet Mara has let him keep running this thing into the ground for 4 years. Getty is going to wind up with a worse win % than Matt Millen by the end of the year and historically speaking he is the worst general manager the Giants have every had. And with the futility that is the Giants "family business" that's fairly impressive.

It leaves sort of everything available as an option. My 100% personal preference if we take ownership out of the equation?

Steal Will McClay and Kellen Moore from the Cowboys as a pair. Hurt a rival and acquire a great personnel guy and a creative offensive minded HC who has shown a proclivity to vary his plan based on the opponent and leaving Dallas with McCarthy and no support structure...

 

At least you have some really nice chips to play in the up-coming draft... hopefully that goes well for the Giants.

 

Yup 2 picks in the top 10 and 5 overall in the top 75.

It could be a transformational draft for the Giants if all goes well. And it is important that all goes well -- because when I look at this roster I see exactly 2 players I think are building blocks. The Giants need to replace 4 offensive lineman, need someone who can reliably create pressure off the edge, they will have approximately 0 TE's on the roster, and despite a huge amount of resources in the WR position have not a single guy who can reliably get on the field and catch a pass.

It's crazy to think but they probably need *more* resources then they have available in this draft. At least needs and depth of the draft sort of align this year. Good year to build the trenches.

 

Agreed. lol, you know your in some deep shit when you look at that Giants draft and still dont see the light at the end of the tunnel, but, i believe, with a good draft the Giants will vastly improve themselves and have ample opportunity to make some headway in turning things around. Personally, I dont believe the product on the field is that far off... I just think its more in the organizational leadership botching what to do with that talent.

 

I don't know I am so disillusioned at this point, and completely don't believe in the leadership the owner provides, that it may take back to back winning seasons before I feel ok about this franchise again. All they have to do is hire the right GM and they can be competitive pretty quickly. But thus far every single meaningful hire John Mara has ever made has been a bad one...