NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Im not a fan of Pete Carroll and its about high-time he's gone, but my choice is Matt Rhule.

 

I repped Carolina in the mock, and I passed on the chance to trade for Mayfield for role-playing reasons - mainly that the team would not put a huge investment into Mayfield in the same draft as much of their investment in Sam Darnold. And they didn't.

But wow.... the cost to Carolina ends up being $5M in 2022 cap space and at worst a fourth round pick in 2024 (not even 2023). Yeah, I'd jump on that too.

Carolina's GM Scott Fitterer might have just saved his job for another year. It would become absolutely hilarious if McAdoo corrects Sam Darnold's footwork and positioning, Darnold shows improvement in the preseason games, and some other team ends up trading Carolina a 2023 fourth rounder or 2024 third rounder for Darnold either in preseason or before the trade deadline.

 

Might be a technicality in play here... he said "after the season". Will Rhule make it through November, even with Mayfield?

 

lol... After getting Mayfield and having Darnold too, it still isnt enough in Carolina. They have other issues in my opinion. Im a huge fan of the work-horse backfield led by McCaffrey, Hubbard and Foreman with my point being... thay have the talent, just not the leadership, but thats just a personal opinion/observation.

 

Falcons sign former Bears DL Eddie Goldman to one-year deal

The Atlanta Falcons bolstered their defensive line with a veteran addition Wednesday, signing Eddie Goldman to a one-year deal.

Safety Brad Hawkins and punter Dom Maggio were released in corresponding moves.

Goldman, 28, was released by the Chicago Bears ahead of free agency after seven years with the club. The defensive lineman started 73 of 81 games played for Chicago, racking up 175 combined tackles and 13 sacks over his career. Goldman signed a four-year extension with the Bears in 2018, but was cut with one year remaining on the pact.

He is the latest former Chicago player to be signed by Atlanta this offseason, which marks the first with ex-Bears general manager and current Falcons senior personnel executive Ryan Pace in the organization. Others include running back Damien Williams, receiver Damiere Byrd, offensive linemen Germain Ifedi and Elijah Wilkinson and linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski. Pace selected Goldman to the Bears in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

The veteran defensive tackle will join Grady Jarrett, Anthony Rush, Vincent Taylor, Marlon Davidson, Ta'Quon Graham and others on the Falcons' front line.

NFL.com

 

The other noteworthy item is that Edwards and Mariota worked together in camp / preseason with the Raiders. They already have a head start on chemistry and timing. Edwards will have a real shot at becoming the #2 this preseason.

If so, Mariota might have a lot of plays with Kyle Pitts (1000+ yards as a rookie) at TE, speedster Damiere Byrd in the slot, Cordarelle Patterson (RB slash WR) coming out of the backfield, and Edwards and top draft pick Drake London on the outsides. That beats the heck out of the WR trio of Tajae Sharpe, Russell Gage and Olamide Zaccheaus.

 

I’m a fan of what they are putting together in Atlanta!

 

When I posted that the Falcons might be the most changed roster in the NFL this season, I said I was expecting at least one more new addition to come aboard. The defensive line is the main group that I had in mind, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they make another addition to the DL before the regular season. Among the players named in the article, Vincent Taylor is also a new signing, while Anthony Rush came up from the practice squad late last season. Ta'Quon Graham was one of last year's draft picks who might be in line for a larger role this season.

 

It really does show that Dimitroff (two time Executive Of The Year) was overrated as a GM. What Terry Fontenot has done this offseason is quite impressive. The real achievement is that he's getting the team completely out of Dimitroff's ever-deepening cap hell, with a clean slate for 2023. Having a potentially competitive roster in 2022 is the cherry on top.

The blocking will be the make-or-break point. If the line comes together well enough to be a middle-of-the-pack unit, this offense is going to surprise a lot of people. If nothing else, they definitely have a lot more depth on the line than last year.

 

It's news Irish. And you have posted on the subject extensively. Just because you had it all wrong doesn't mean we have to stop talking about it.

p.s. I don't think you want me to start talking about Josh Allen.

 

There will be more than one, but I think Pete Carroll is as good a guess as any.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to stop talking about Mayfield/Panthers/Browns etc.., I meant stop posting the same post in several places. You posted a few times about them having the #1 and #2 most INT in the league since 2018... Yeah, we get it. Once will suffice. Gid... I don't know if he was drunk or what, but he was posting the same thing on several boards. That's what I meant.

For the record, I said so many things, I don't think you can say I had it all wrong, lol. For ONE, I said there is ZERO chance they would cut him...well...

Honestly, this gives me a little peace that he is finally gone and I can just go ahead and write this season off. To be honest, I might go ahead and turn in my Browns card to boot. The team gives you hope, time and time again, only to do some absolutely stupid shit to just turn it right back into a dumpster fire. At my age, I just can't take it anymore. Changing coaches every 1-2 years is one thing, when you know sports success is built on continuity and it's impossible to build that with 1-2 years. But selling the soul of the team in the middle of such high controversy, personally, I need to draw a line somewhere, and that is my line. I can't root for Deshaun Watson, so defacto, I can't root for the Browns. I would have given it one more year if Watson was suspended and Mayfield led them for one last hurrah, but knowing what this season is going to be like with Brissett.. I just can't care anymore.

Truth is, I love college football and I love fantasy football. I will take more joy in picking the best game on and watching, or channel surfing to see my players, than tuning into the Browns. My thirst for football will be clenched, but my blood pressure will be much lower.

 

I’m sorry I went overboard Browns fans. It’s just hard to wrap your head around how poorly the Browns have done with those picks.

 

Browns fans are used to it. Look at what they got from the picks from the Mark Sanchez trades in 2009 (in the end, not much) and the Julio trade in 2011 (pretty much nothing).



I'm with Irish 100% in that I'd be off the bus rather than rooting for the team with Deshaun Watson. If by some fluke chance Michael Vick had beaten the rap and been allowed to return to Atlanta in the middle of the 2007 season, I would have packed it in as a fan rather than root for the team with him remaining at QB. The Australian Rules season would have been over by that point, so I probably would have immersed myself in college football and minor league hockey to get by until mid-February.

I can handle Atlanta's half-century of inept front office work and coaching and still root for whatever muppets they throw on the field, but sacrificing future drafts and paying a fortune to a horrible human being and then asking me to cheer him on is simply not acceptable. It's terrifying to know that Atlanta might have really been in talks for Watson. My understanding is the talks didn't get very far, but it's bad enough that there was any discussion at all.

 

The Steelers were looking into Watson too. Which I just don’t see how they would have made that kind of deal.

 

No I didn't. What is it with Browns fans and their accusations?

 

The other thing about that draft with Garrett is that the Browns traded the pick that KC used to pick Mahomes with. If you guys had held it and drafted Mahomes I wouldn’t call Garrett a bad pick then. I loved Mahomes coming out. I also fell in love with Watt before the draft and was hoping he would fall to the Steelers. This will be the last post about this until next off-season.

 

That's the odd thing about it with Atlanta too. I tried to work out the numbers at the time, and there was simply no way that I could find that would have made it work to fit Watson within the cap.

I know that a preliminary discussion did happen, as that was what triggered Matt Ryan to decide he wanted to go to a contender after all rather than stay with a team forever stuck in cap hell. But the numbers just wouldn't work out. I can't imagine the talks being all that serious simply because the cap situation wasn't feasible.

 

Browns excited by rookie WR David Bell’s ball skills



The Browns are still waiting for word from the league about who will be available to play quarterback for them to start the year, but it sounds like rookie David Bell will be among the players trying to get open for whoever is throwing passes for Cleveland.

Bell caught 232 passes at Purdue, but lasted until the end of the third round in this year’s draft. Questions about his speed may have kept him on the board, but that didn’t stop him from working out of the slot during the team’s offseason program and wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea said that Bell was “one of the best players in the draft as regards to his ball skills.”


“Speed is one thing, but there’s so many things that go into being a great receiver,” O’Shea said, via the team’s website. “It’s body control. It’s an ability to understand where you are on the field and have sideline awareness. All those things are critical in the development of a young wide receiver, and he certainly has a lot of those things that we’re able to work with.”

O’Shea also said that Bell “has the ability to make defenders miss in space and the ability to find the end zone.” Those are abilities that would benefit any offense, so Bell should get the opportunity to win playing time early in his Browns career.

PFT

 

Packers can overtake Bears as NFL’s all-time winningest franchise in Week Two



The Bears have been the NFL’s winningest franchise since before the team was called the Bears and before the league was called the NFL: In 1920, the inaugural season of the American Professional Football Association, the Decatur Staleys won a league-high 10 games. The APFA became the NFL, the Decatur Staleys became the Chicago Bears, and the franchise has always maintained its lead as the team with the most wins.

That can change soon.


The Bears currently have 783 wins, and the Packers are one behind at 782. That means that if the Packers beat the Vikings and the Bears lose to the 49ers in Week One, they’ll be tied at 783 wins. And then the Packers and Bears face off on Sunday night in Week Two, with the Packers having the chance to surpass the Bears for the first time ever.

As noted by NFL researcher Jack Andrade, the Packers have gained a huge amount of ground on the Bears in the last 30 years: Chicago entered the 1992 season with 85 more wins than Green Bay, but since 1992 the Packers have won 84 more games than the Bears. 1992 was Brett Favre’s first season as the Packers’ starting quarterback; they’ve had 30 years of first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks with Favre and Aaron Rodgers since then.

The Vegas oddsmakers think the Packers will win about five more games than the Bears this year: The Packers’ over/under win total is 11.5, while the Bears’ is 6.5. So it’s highly likely that the Packers will surpass the Bears for the franchise win title. Perhaps in a nationally televised prime time game in Week Two.

PFT