NFL 2014 Offseason

Nice article at SI on the Harbaugh situation. I like that Banks brings up something I have thought
for a couple of years: That Harbaugh has a style that will wear out its welcome,
probably sooner rather than later.
 
Now with the combine over, I think it is high time we start talking about the DRAFT! Who is your safest pick , guaranteed bust, most underrated/overrated? And of course the most talked about topic, who should the Texans draft #1 (assuming they do not trade down of course, for the sake of argument).

I will kick it off:

Safest pick: Jake Matthews (TAMU) His family has more NFL pedigree than the Mannings.

Guaranteed bust: Jeremy Hill (LSU) but the NFL scouts may be catching on to this development. Watch his stock drop in the coming months.

Most underrated: Brett Smith (Wyoming) Should have gotten an invite to the combine. May go undrafted but will be a a priority free agent.

Most overrated: I'm going controversial. Jadeveon Clowney (the other USC) He is a physical freak, no doubt about it. What worries me is what is going on between the temples. I do not know why or what was the reason he would disappear or "take plays off" last season. Bit that is always troubling to me. But it is the expectations everyone has for him that put his name in this category for me. I think they are higher than the QBs's of this class.

Who are the Texans taking #1? My gut tells me Johnny Football.
 
I would take the Auburn tackle (Robinson?) or Clowney #1.

Guys like them don't come around very often :scan: .
 
So apparently there's talk the salary cap is going to be much higher than it was projected to be a while back, somewhere around $133 million, possibly up to $135. That 's huge for some teams, especially Dallas. I'm a Saints fan and it's a huge help for us too, though we're not remotely close to Dallas' situation; we are technically under the cap right now and a bigger cap the next few years would help keep guys like Graham and Jenkins rather than just one of the two depending on the contract structures, though imo Brees still HAS to have a Bradyesque extension to not have that nightmarish $27 mil cap figure or whatever it is in 2015. I'm still a little torn on Jimmy Graham though; people talk about how he didn't do squat in some big games, which is true, but it's hard to play well against a dominant D like Seattle when you're playing through a torn plantar fascia in both games. I just don't think he should be paid like a WR because the TE position just isn't what it used to be.

Although he really does need to work on his blocking. He sucks at it and I would take a healthy Gronk's blocking ability all day. I remember the AFC Championship a few years ago where Gronk just DESTROYED Terrell Suggs.

Also apparently Joe Banner wanted the offensive and defensive coordinators to report to him instead of Mike Pettine. Good riddance if that's true, he absolutely deserved to be fired.
 
So apparently there's talk the salary cap is going to be much higher than it was projected to be a while back, somewhere around $133 million, possibly up to $135. That 's huge for some teams, especially Dallas. I'm a Saints fan and it's a huge help for us too, though we're not remotely close to Dallas' situation; we are technically under the cap right now and a bigger cap the next few years would help keep guys like Graham and Jenkins rather than just one of the two depending on the contract structures, though imo Brees still HAS to have a Bradyesque extension to not have that nightmarish $27 mil cap figure or whatever it is in 2015. I'm still a little torn on Jimmy Graham though; people talk about how he didn't do squat in some big games, which is true, but it's hard to play well against a dominant D like Seattle when you're playing through a torn plantar fascia in both games. I just don't think he should be paid like a WR because the TE position just isn't what it used to be.

Although he really does need to work on his blocking. He sucks at it and I would take a healthy Gronk's blocking ability all day. I remember the AFC Championship a few years ago where Gronk just DESTROYED Terrell Suggs.

Also apparently Joe Banner wanted the offensive and defensive coordinators to report to him instead of Mike Pettine. Good riddance if that's true, he absolutely deserved to be fired.

The sad thing is, a higher cap is just going to be squandered by Jerry Jones. Its what he does. And by sad, I mean everlastingly delightful.
 
Also, imagine how much better the panthers would be if they hadnt put so much money into middling RBs.
 
Also, imagine how much better the panthers would be if they hadnt put so much money into middling RBs.

Yup - they stand a good chance of losing their best pass rusher because of that.
 
Also, imagine how much better the panthers would be if they hadnt put so much money into middling RBs.

Or they could actually give them the ball and block for them :mischief: .
 
i think bortles will go #1. what everyone else does is dependent on what the rams do. i think the market is starting to warm up that a team desperate for bridgewater/clowney will give up a fair amount (not anything like the rg3 ransom, necessarily) to move to #2. jacksonville is actually in a relatively comfortable position, imo, as they're guaranteed to get one of bridgewater, bortles, or clowney.
 
For those of you who would like some football related entertainment,
Sports on Earth is running a
"GM for a Day" series in which their writers tell us what each team should do with
free agency, the draft, and the cap. Obviously YMMV with respect to their assertions.
 
T.J. Ward, Aquib Talib and Demarcus Ware signed with the Broncos. With Caldwell also staying, obviously Erick Decker is as good as gone. I like the signings in defense, which should be #1 priority.
 
Talking about going all in...it'll be interesting to see how many of these guys are cut in 2016 when Peyton retires and Denver falls off a cliff, especially Talib.

I'm hyped about the Saints picking up Jairus Byrd, but I do wonder how in the world they're going to keep even one of Brian de La Puente or Zach Strief(who imo wouldn't be a gigantic loss, i've seen him get consistently beat by guys like Avril, Justin Houston, and Chris Long), though I suppose they can play more numbers with the caps in 2015 and 2016 expected to have huge spikes.
 
Talking about going all in...it'll be interesting to see how many of these guys are cut in 2016 when Peyton retires and Denver falls off a cliff, especially Talib.

I'm hyped about the Saints picking up Jairus Byrd, but I do wonder how in the world they're going to keep even one of Brian de La Puente or Zach Strief(who imo wouldn't be a gigantic loss, i've seen him get consistently beat by guys like Avril, Justin Houston, and Chris Long), though I suppose they can play more numbers with the caps in 2015 and 2016 expected to have huge spikes.

rapidly increasing cap number.

if the cap is going to increase ~15mm in the next few years that's two solid starts or a star player each team could afford. but the problem is that the class of '12 qbs are going to literal contracts that are going to be very close to insanity. imagine luck getting 25mm even 30mm per year?!

i'm imaging the nfl is rapidly increasing the cap number to prevent the squeezing of solid veterans who can't command a large enough contract and get signed at the end of free agency to small deals. but the thing is that teams like the saints and broncos are going to spent the extra money on big name players now and still feel the squeeze. this is why the nfl really needs to increase the veteran minimum or take a page from the nba and institute a maximum contract (latter will probably never happen since the nflpa is way too strong to let that happen). but if you drastically increase the veteran's minimum you can't just spend blindly on big name guys and then fill in with minimum guys.
 
T.J. Ward, Aquib Talib and Demarcus Ware signed with the Broncos. With Caldwell also staying, obviously Erick Decker is as good as gone. I like the signings in defense, which should be #1 priority.

It'll be interesting to see if they can do it. It would be kind of a tragedy if Peyton got injured and the team was near useless on offense
 
T.J. Ward, Aquib Talib and Demarcus Ware signed with the Broncos. With Caldwell also staying, obviously Erick Decker is as good as gone. I like the signings in defense, which should be #1 priority.

It'll be interesting to see if they can do it. It would be kind of a tragedy if Peyton got injured and the team was near useless on offense
 
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