MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Hey, @gidion72 ,

What did you do with all that money?

 

I bought you a pair of balls .

 

This is just as much NFLPA as it is Watson. They wouldn't let him go on a non-appeal, even if he wanted to, which I'm sure he doesn't.

This doesn't bode well for those theorizing that it is going to be a light sentence. If they already had their lawyers draw up the plan to sue, they must be expecting the worst. You don't waste lawyers fees until it has to be done.

 

Then spit them out of your mouth and send them to me.

 

Iirc... the NFL was/is already on record as going for a 1 year/season suspension and the NFLPA is probably just being prepared/cautious... we'll see soon, but this could all be far from over.

 

I don't think the NFL is too concerned about being sued. In regards to discipline not sure they've lost one yet.

 

Fred Warner: Trey Lance is ready for it



Trey Lance will start at quarterback for the 49ers this season. The question is: How will he play?

The 49ers constantly have expressed their faith in the second-year quarterback, but what other choice do they have? He became the team’s franchise quarterback the day the 49ers used the third overall choice on Lance in 2021.


49ers kicker Robbie Gould recently expressed his confidence in Lance.

On Monday, linebacker Fred Warner did the same.

“I continue to say, man, how much I’ve admired the way Trey has taken on just all the criticism, all I guess you could say all the pressure people are trying to put on him,” Warner told Rich Eisen on the Rich Eisen Show. “He’s been super professional about it, especially with how young he is. (He’s) very mature for his age.

“And so, just the things that you see from him and the small things that everybody else outside of the building sees from him, that should give you a good sense of like the maturity for such a young player, and if given the reins, the way that he would handle it. I can continue to sit here and tell you how great of a person and player that he is. I’ve already spoken on that. But whatever it may be, I know that he is, for sure, if given the reins, that he’s ready for it. He’s very professional, and mature and ready for whatever he is given.”

Eisen was intrigued by Lance’s use of “if given the reins” as Jimmy Garoppolo is not expected to remain with the team. The 49ers are Lance’s team now.

“Kyle’s (Shanahan) the brains of the operation,” Warner answered. “I let him handle all that kind of stuff. My job as the middle linebacker for our defense is to make sure I’m ready to go and at the top of my game for this side of the ball, and let them handle that side. I know it’s a big operation to operate as a team, and so I’m just making sure I’m doing my part in the puzzle.”

The 49ers have a roster ready to win now. They reached the NFC Championship Game in 2021 with Garoppolo. Again, the question is: How will Lance play?

“He’s fit in with the group since Day 1,” Warner said. “I think he’s come in with the right mindset, the humility. The front office continues to bring in guys that love the game. They love football. They are good people. And Trey’s continued to work hard. And that’s how you build respect amongst your teammates and your peers, is by putting in the work, day in and day out, and guys seeing that.

“And seeing that confidence build within him, going into his second year, being out there during OTA workouts and practices, continuing to do that in training camp, like I know he will, he for sure has the respect amongst his teammates.”

PFT

 

With one week until camp opens, no news on a new Kyler Murray deal



It’s been an awkward, at times, offseason for the Cardinals and quarterback Kyler Murray. As of today, the offseason has one week left.

The Cardinals’ veterans report for training camp next Tuesday. On Monday, they found out that apparently disgruntled center Rodney Hudson has returned to regular, normal gruntled status, and will be present for camp. That’s good news. The better news would be a new deal with Murray.


The silence from both sides suggests that they’re talking, and that they’ve agreed to talk only to each other. No leaks, no grandstanding, no social-media messages.

It nevertheless remains to be seen whether they’ll get a deal done. It won’t be easy. The range for the highest-paid quarterbacks keeps stretching. The salary cap keeps increasing. Murray keeps presenting real questions regarding how and where he fits in the broader franchise-quarterback analysis.

Yes, the team has been better with him. But how good will it be? What’s the ceiling? It’s hard to forget the fact that, every year, the team slides down the stretch. It’s impossible to forget last year’s playoff loss to the Rams, in which Murray looked somewhat less than ordinary.

The other question is whether that even matters. For most teams, it’s enough to contend on an annual basis. Only one team wins the Super Bowl. The others hope to merely be in the conversation. Murray has brought that to the Cardinals, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t continue.

That reality is balanced by the fact that, when it was obvious that he wasn’t thrilled with the situation in Arizona, no other team made an aggressive push at trading for him. The Broncos made a beeline for Russell Wilson, not Murray. The Browns went all in for Deshaun Watson. Neither the Seahawks nor the Texans tried to backfill their losses at the position by trading for Murray.

Murray has two seasons to go before commencing the franchise-tag dance. He surely wants, and deserves, security against serious or cumulative injury.

And that’s where the pressure point will be. Beyond the annual average that Murray eventually will secure, how much of the deal will be guaranteed at signing?

That’s where the Watson deal becomes a major complication for the Cardinals. They have a quarterback who isn’t necessarily injury prone but, given his size, he’s more prone to being injured than other quarterbacks. Would the Cardinals be willing to guarantee four or five years of salary given the possibility that Murray will lose a step or two of his uncanny speed and acceleration?

He suffered an ankle injury in Week Eight last year against the Packers. He missed several weeks. When he returned, he still seemed to be bothered by it. A fully-guaranteed deal therefore requires the Cardinals to take a more significant risk, one that most teams don’t take with more traditional quarterbacks who: (1) are larger; and (2) don’t rely so much on running and the threat of running.

So the talks presumably continue. If a deal is coming, it should come this week. Otherwise, the question becomes whether Murray would hold out of camp — or whether he’ll show up and hold in, declining to practice until he has his second contract.

Either way, answers are coming soon. Maybe this week. Maybe next week. Maybe at some point before Week One.

PFT

 

It’s amazing how no news is headlining news this time of year.

 

Browns quietly brace for eight-game Deshaun Watson suspension

If the reasonably expected range of punishment for Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson does indeed fall in the range of two to eight games, the team that employs him currently is expecting the higher end of things.

Per a league source, the Browns privately are bracing for an eight-game suspension of Watson.


That obviously doesn’t mean anything as to the eventual outcome. It only means that the team has come to the subjective conclusion, one it would never admit publicly, that it expects to not have Watson for eight of 17 games in 2022.

The next question becomes whether they’d fully entrust the starting job to Jacoby Brissett for those eight games, or whether they’ll try to acquire someone else.

There’s apparently some chatter about the possibility of the Browns adding Cam Newton, in the event that Watson isn’t available for the full season. Would Newton be an option for half of the season? Would he be the backup to Brissett or the starter?

There are plenty of questions that will need to be answered regarding the Browns’ plans for playing without Watson. The first answer that needs to arrive will be the specific number of games, if any, that he’ll miss.

PFT

 

Report: Jimmy Garoppolo will be fully cleared in the middle of August



The clock keeps ticking on the 49ers and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. And the 49ers may not have much time, when it’s all said and done, to swing a trade.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the current expectation is that Garoppolo will be fully cleared after offseason shoulder surgery in mid-August. That will give the team roughly a month to find a trade partner for Garoppolo, unless someone is willing to trade for him before he receives final clearance to practice and play.


It also will limit Garoppolo’s opportunity to compete for a starting job by Week One. Although the problem will be solved for both the team and Garoppolo if a starter elsewhere suffers a season-ending injury during training camp or the preseason, starting quarterbacks rarely become lost of the year before the regular season begins. Between not being exposed to contact in practice and barely playing in the new three-game preseason, the wort-case scenario for one of the other teams (and, in turn, the best-case scenario for the 49ers) isn’t likely to occur.

So what will happen? Once Garoppolo is cleared, his $7.5 million injury guarantee for 2022 evaporates. He will be guaranteed nothing unless he’s on the Week One roster. Would the 49ers pay him that money at a time when they’re trying to turn the team over to Trey Lance?

It’s all pointing to the 49ers eventually offering Garoppolo a dramatically reduced deal to remain as the backup (and cutting him if he declines) or just releasing him outright. Either way, he’ll be in a far worse position than Baker Mayfield, who will have a full opportunity from the opening of camp to position himself to have the kind of season that sets him up for a starting job in 2023.

That doesn’t mean it’s over for Garoppolo, but 2022 could end up being a lost season if he doesn’t land in a place where he can work his way onto the field. Which means that he’ll potentially sign a modest deal with a quarterback-needy team in March, and then sweat out the very real possibility that his team will use a first-round pick on a new quarterback.

And that would put him in the same position he was in last year in San Francisco, forced to fend off a young player to whom the team has pinned its future hopes for some or all of the season.

PFT

 

Derek Carr: No one thinks anything of us



One of the leading storylines of the offseason has been the move of talented players from around the league into the AFC West.

The Broncos hired Nathaniel Hackett as their new head coach before trading for quarterback Russell Wilson, the Chargers added edge rusher Khalil Mack and cornerback J.C. Jackson to their defense and the Raiders traded for wide receiver Davante Adams and signed edge rusher Chandler Jones after hiring Josh McDaniels as their new head coach. All of those teams have eyes on ending the Chiefs’ run as division champions after Kansas City parted ways with wide receiver Tyreek Hill and safety Tyrann Mathieu.


Opinions vary about how the teams will stack up as a result of all that shuffling, especially since the Chiefs still have the likes of Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. While the Raiders made the playoffs last year and were in the thick of that offseason activity, quarterback Derek Carr thinks that the football world is discounting them at the expense of the other teams in the division.

“It’s going to be fun,” Carr said, via Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com. “No one thinks anything of us and I think that’s what makes it fun is you always have to put the ball down and play the football games. . . . You get frustrated when you see other people’s names on things and this and that. And you’re like, ‘We’re here, too. We feel like we got better, too.; I thought we made the playoffs.”

The nobody believes in us approach feels like a stretch given the Raiders’ circumstances, but Carr went on to say that the team is carrying a “chip on their shoulder” so it seems that it’s going to be a line of thinking that remains in place as they get ready to take the field in September.

PFT

 

Cardinals, Kyler Murray agree to terms on contract extension



The Cardinals and quarterback Kyler Murray are putting an offseason of drama behind them.

According to multiple reports, Murray has agreed to terms on an extension that will make him one of the league’s highest-paid players.


It’s been clear that Murray was unhappy with his contract since February, when Murray first deleted all Cardinals references from his social media. And then his agent put out a lengthy statement to say he had presented the Cardinals with a detailed extension proposal.

The two sides went back and forth for months, but General Manager Steve Keim said in May that he thought Arizona and Murray would come to an agreement over the summer.

Now, that has come to fruition.

Murray’s deal will reportedly keep the quarterback under contract with the Cardinals through the 2028 season.

Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, the deal is worth $230.5 million with $160 million guaranteed. Murray now has the second-highest average annual value of a QB contract at $46.1 million per year.

PFT

 

Report: AJ McCarron, Josh Rosen working out for Browns



The Browns may need an extra body at quarterback for the start of the 2022 season and they’re reportedly looking at a few options this week.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that two of those options are AJ McCarron and Josh Rosen. Jacoby Brissett and Josh Dobbs are the current backups to Deshaun Watson, who is facing a potential suspension under the Personal Conduct Policy.


McCarron tore his ACL while playing for the Falcons in the preseason last year. The 2014 Bengals fifth-round pick appeared in 11 games and started three times during his time in Cincinnati before moving on to stints with the Raiders and Texans. He also started one game in Houston.

Rosen was the 10th overall pick in 2018, which put him nine spots behind former Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. The Cardinals picked him, but traded him to the Dolphins after picking Kyler Murray the next year and he wound up in Atlanta as Matt Ryan‘s backup after McCarron’s injury last season.

PFT

 

Jason Peters: Once Justin Fields’ offensive line is set, he’s going to be special



The Bears have a new regime in place for 2022 with Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus replacing Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy as G.M. and head coach, respectively.

But the team still has quarterback Justin Fields, who the team traded up to select at No. 11 overall in 2021.


It’s a big year for the young signal-caller, who displayed some flashes in a middling rookie season. But one of his former teammates believes Fields has what it takes to succeed.

In a recent interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, free-agent left tackle Jason Peters — who started 15 games for Chicago last year — said Fields got better with every game he played.

“He got hurt right there in the middle of it,” Peters said. “He’s going to need his offensive line to block for him, give him some time — because he’s young — to go through his reads. Once he gets older and gets into the groove, because right now he’s going to be like a rookie with the new system pretty much with a new coaching staff, I’m pretty sure they’ve got a whole new system for him, new plays.

“As long as the offensive line gives him some time, he’ll do OK this year. Once he gets that offensive line set, that guy’s going to be special because he can throw, he can run, he can make all the plays he needs to make.”

Fields was sacked a stunning nine times in his first start against the Browns in Week Three. He also fumbled 12 times, losing five of them.

In his 12 appearances with 10 starts, Fields completed 59 percent of his passes for 1,870 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

PFT

 

I kinda figured Murray would get paid soon with Camps approaching, but his deal far exceeded what I thought he would receive. Thats a hefty contract... he did well for himself. Now, he better stay healthy.

 

Lamar Jackson is getting a Federal Reserve bank account. Their the only ones that can handle a deposit that large. Glad he waited because now the ravens are going to have to pay him 60 million a season,

 

Over the Cap projects 2023 QB franchise tags to cost a fully guaranteed $31.5 million.

A second Franchise tag is 120% of the first tag, so another year would cost them $37.8 M

A third franchise tag is 144% of the second tag, so another year would cost them $54.43 M

That's an average of $41.24M per year... in 2023, 2024, 2025... 2022 is only $23 M

I'm not sure they are in any hurry....

 

Im real curious what Lamar is going to get and that should be coming soon... very interesting.