2019 NFL Offseason thread

Time to get ready to play that favorite off season game; Where's That Quarterback?

I think the number one player on the roulette wheel of free agency has to be Joe Flacco. He meets both major criteria; there's no way in the world his present team is keeping him, and he will draw interest from at least a couple somewheres, if not a whole bunch of them.

Second bouncing ball would be Nick Foles. Or not. The guy was ready to retire until he got to go back to Philadelphia. Is it possible that he let's potential stardom that is more likely getting beaten up playing for a bad team pass and stays with the comforts of the Eagles bench? Maybe. If he doesn't there will be buyers.

Ryan Tannehill. A giant pile of money that has had his shot. If Miami opted to pay him his giant pile of money they would have to ask themselves "what do we do if he finally has that great year?" One great year might make it hard to let him go, but also might lead to them having to give him a new contract at even greater expense and being stuck with a one year flashing dud. I'd say good chance he goes, though not a sure thing like Flacco. I'd say he also gets plenty of "short term to prove yourself" offers at substantial though not eye-popping money.

I think Bridgewater would attract more attention than Tannehill, but is a lot less likely to be out there. Case Keenum is as likely to be out there but won't attract near as much attention. Blake Bortles is an ever looming enigma. A new coach wanting a new quarterback might put an end to Andy Dalton. Anyone else?
 
I'm not quite sure what is enigmatic about Bortles - any GM that signs him as a starter should be fired immediately if not sooner.
Which makes him a perfect signing for Snyder now that he has Sexy Rexy in the house.

Alex Smith stands a decent chance of being gone through not fault of his own.

Is this the offseason the Titans have to make a go/no go decision on Mariota?
If so, I think it is not guaranteed that it would be 'go'.

Eli could go, but he would probably head straight to pasture unless...

Carr is a possiblity; God only knows how much of a possibility but a possibility nonetheless. If Gruden does drop kick him through the goalposts of life, he will either draft someone or sign Eli Manning if he get cut.

Stipulating all our speculation comes to pass, this would leave the following teams in search of a starter ;

Jags
Bengals
Redskins
Raiders
Dolphins
Broncos
Giants
Titans
 
A different situation in Carolina could play into the hands of Flacco/Foles/Bridgewater - if the specualtion that Newton's
shoulder surgery could cause him to miss all of next season is true. In that case one of them could sign what would be a 1 year
prove it deal to show that they deserved real starter money.
 
I'm not quite sure what is enigmatic about Bortles - any GM that signs him as a starter should be fired immediately if not sooner.
Which makes him a perfect signing for Snyder now that he has Sexy Rexy in the house.

That's not Sexy Rexy, That's Blobbie Robbie...

As to Bortles...there is almost certain to be some "if he was on the right team with the right coach he could flourish...and I am that coach" type interest out there. Despite Snyder, maybe Jay Gruden actually is.

Smith is most likely gone, through no fault of his own, but not gone looking for another team, just flat gone.

This is Mariota's option year, which has been picked up. The Titans are facing the decision of long term contract or playing 'show me something but if you show too much you might FA on us' roulette.

I don't think "Carr is a possibility" is even remotely a possibility. Gruden went through the "I have no QB I'll have to draft one" cycle and one thing he said many times while dismissing possible returns to coaching is that he would never want to do that again. If he wasn't prepared to stick with Carr I don't think he'd have taken the job.

I think if Eli were going to retire he'd have announced it already. I predict the Giants are more likely to go the Patrick Mahomes route than they are to throw a rookie to the wolves if Eli lets them avoid it. But I could be wrong there.

Yes, there is a very strong rumor that Carolina is talking about an "Andrew Luck year" for Cam Newton. I could see Foles taking that job.
 
Teams I see in the market:

Washington.
Giants-draft only.
Panthers-one year deal.
Bucs-to push Winston on a short leash.
Dolphins-rumor has it they plan to not get one in an effort to tank.
Bengals-maybe, to match the Dalton maybe.
Broncos.
Jags.

I don't see any of those as terribly attractive jobs. Figuring that Flacco is the biggest dog in the yard, if I were him I'd be angling for...what? The Broncos job maybe? Washington? I dunno.
 
Yes none of them are plum jobs, and I for one certainly don't have any feel for how it will all fall out.
 
So, coaches are final. Zach Taylor, Rams QB coach, goes to the Bengals. It seems like his qualifications consist of "he's young, offense oriented, and has been around Sean Mcvay so maybe the same thing will happen. Brian Flores, Patriots Linebacker coach and unofficial defensive coordinator to the Dolphins. Will being Billy Bellyache's sock puppet be more effective for him than it seems to have been for Matt Patricia? :dunno:

Whatever.

With the coaching carousel ground to a final halt, free agency is the next big event. I have a bit of super bowl hangover and I'm finding it hard to care...but anyone hearing anything interesting yet?
 
What will happen with the Pittsburgh duo?
Will the Bears sign another moral disaster in Hunt?
 
So, coaches are final. Zach Taylor, Rams QB coach, goes to the Bengals. It seems like his qualifications consist of "he's young, offense oriented, and has been around Sean Mcvay so maybe the same thing will happen.

I think it was Tanier that made the crack that anyone who had had a cup of coffee with McVay in the last year was now a head coach prospect.

Brian Flores, Patriots Linebacker coach and unofficial defensive coordinator to the Dolphins. Will being Billy Bellyache's sock puppet be more effective for him than it seems to have been for Matt Patricia? :dunno:

There are a lot of dead limbs on the Darth Hoodie coaching tree. But the Pats keep winning so Pats assistants keep getting hired - somewhere Einstein is sadly shaking his head.

With the coaching carousel ground to a final halt, free agency is the next big event. I have a bit of super bowl hangover and I'm finding it hard to care...but anyone hearing anything interesting yet?

Like rah said, the Next Big Thing will be what happens with Bell and Brown. Also IIRC Eli has a roster bonus coming up before long.
 
The dark horse running with Bell and Brown is Lawrence. The Cowboys obviously want to resign him, and there hasn't been any indication from him that he has any desire to leave...but he is clearly worth a huge pile of money and he and his agent are certainly well aware of that. He may not take a good offer from the 'pukes without testing the waters first so I think the only way they sign him is with a great offer, and I don't know if they will make one.

Here's another dark horse name: Cedric Ogbuehi. When a moderately crappy team with a weak O-line drafts a tackle in the first round they are looking for a hero, and this guy wasn't that so Cincinnati is content to call him a bust and move on. However, put this guy in a strong O-line room with a good coach, on a team that has a winning atmosphere, and I'll bet he flourishes...and he'll be a cheap sign even in a year with a limited draft class and not much else available in free agency. Once all the flash is out of the pan some people might be looking back at him as the best signing of 2019. Or, of course, maybe the Bengals are right and he's a bust...but c'mon, when's the last time "well, the Bengals are right" was a good guideline to follow?
 
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The Cowboys would be dumb to not sign Larence. Possibly the only reason why they even made the playoffs is because their defense stepped up in a big way. They won't get a first round pick (which could have been used to upgrade their defense even more). Without a solid defense, they aren't even a competitive team.
 
The Cowboys would be dumb to not sign Larence. Possibly the only reason why they even made the playoffs is because their defense stepped up in a big way. They won't get a first round pick (which could have been used to upgrade their defense even more). Without a solid defense, they aren't even a competitive team.

Oh, there's no question that they want to sign him. Even need to sign him. No doubt there's even a strong possibility that they would tag him if they can't sign him. Gonna take a whole lotta money though. Not Aaron Donald or Khalil Mack money, but a whole lot. The question in his mind is "can I get more?"...and that's a hard question to buy out of there.
 
Today's hot rumor:

If the Rams can find someone willing to give them something decent and take the cap consuming contract off their hands they would trade Todd Gurley.

Today's other hot rumor:

Gurley didn't really recover from his knee injury but the Rams kept him off the injury report in an illegal attempt to mislead their opponents. This one counters the first one in the form of 'they can't trade him because he can't pass a physical.'

Bottom line, all the superhyped new Rams fans have awakened to the brutal realities of cap space. The Rams have to either gut their defense, ignore the necessity of preparing their roster for the upcoming massive cap drain of keeping Jared Goff, or find some money somewhere. Find some money somewhere probably would mean trading Gurley and his 14 million dollar cap hit.
 
Bottom line, all the superhyped new Rams fans have awakened to the brutal realities of cap space. The Rams have to either gut their defense, ignore the necessity of preparing their roster for the upcoming massive cap drain of keeping Jared Goff, or find some money somewhere. Find some money somewhere probably would mean trading Gurley and his 14 million dollar cap hit.

Or they have decided they're not keeping Goff. Not saying it's likely just not impossible - especially if McVay
not letting him audible is due of a lack of trust in decision making..
 
Or they have decided they're not keeping Goff. Not saying it's likely just not impossible - especially if McVay
not letting him audible is due of a lack of trust in decision making..

Personally, I wouldn't complain too much if it's both. I think holding the defense and the O-line together are the keys to long term success. Gurley has a lot of talent (if his knee comes all the way back) but I think they can get 90-95% of his production out of a four million a year back so paying him fourteen million a year just doesn't have enough marginal return to make any sense at all. Goff should be approached with a "we made you, we can make another just like you, if you want to go find another Jeff Fisher offense to play in for a bunch of money go ahead and no hard feelings." Exercise his fifth year option and trade him after four.
 
Goff has put up pretty good numbers. Not in the Super Bowl, obviously, but Peyton Manning also had an awful game in one Super Bowl. Does that mean he doesn't deserve to be a franchise quarterback as long as he's not too old?

They should pay him. He's not going to get a huge contract like Aaron Rodgers, Rusell Wilson, or Patrick Mahomes, but he should be paid handsomely. There's not even necessarily someone that good in every draft and even if there is, the Rams almost certainly won't get a near top of the draft pick. Not unless they sacrifice a lot to trade up... but would that really be better in the long term than just paying Goff?

I'm not sure I agree with your assertion about not paying Gurley either. IF what you are saying is true that he played through an injury (and that him at 100% would have been far more effective) than they could have perhaps even won the Super Bowl. Suh and Talib will be cut but that's not a huge deal because of their age regardless.
 
I wonder how long Brady will deteriorate before he finally calls it quits. The level he is at now is a couple notches below last year, at least, and at that rate he's going to be a punch drunk bum next year or the year after...but if he doesn't pull the cord himself he is going to remain the starter in New England. He knows where too many Cheatriot skeletons are buried for the team to make him do anything he doesn't want to do.

I think it will go similarly to how it went for Manning. Continued subtle decline, then a cliff.

If Brady can't maintain his fast decision-making + fast release he's not going to want to stay on the field much longer after that as he'll get blasted with consistency he hasn't experienced for most of his adult life.

As for free agent QBs, I rate Foles > Flacco at this point, and don't see how the Eagles could keep him. Looks like a tag and trade per recent news, asking for a mid round pick. I could see Jacksonville doing something like that.

Bortles is a backup QB going forward in my mind. Bad as he was as a starter, that's pretty well in line with typical backups (maybe even slightly better) so he'll probably find work. Flacco too, though I think Flacco is mostly done.

One that isn't getting much attention is Teddy Bridgewater. He had a few good seasons prior to injury and while he didn't look good in a garbage game in New Orleans, reports out of Jets camp with him were pretty positive. Someone needing a starter should take a flyer on him in case he winds up being a ~12th best QB or so.
 
One that isn't getting much attention is Teddy Bridgewater. He had a few good seasons prior to injury and while he didn't look good in a garbage game in New Orleans, reports out of Jets camp with him were pretty positive. Someone needing a starter should take a flyer on him in case he winds up being a ~12th best QB or so.

I suspect there isn't much talk about Bridgewater because even though his contract has an automatic void date he is technically under contract until it does. I'm not really sure, but I think that means that he doesn't have to wait and could be negotiating a deal with the Saints right now. I'm thinking that the Saints would love to sign him to some sort of renegotiated deal before anyone else has a shot, if that's possible. The question that comes out of that, of course, is what they would have to pay, which is related to what Bridgewater would expect to be worth if he did hit free agency. Nobody knows better than Bridgewater just how fast and hard things can go bad, so maybe a long term deal with strong money early and big money after Brees' deal runs out would be more inviting for him than a short term prove it deal even at a fairly big number.
 
I suspect there isn't much talk about Bridgewater because even though his contract has an automatic void date he is technically under contract until it does. I'm not really sure, but I think that means that he doesn't have to wait and could be negotiating a deal with the Saints right now. I'm thinking that the Saints would love to sign him to some sort of renegotiated deal before anyone else has a shot, if that's possible. The question that comes out of that, of course, is what they would have to pay, which is related to what Bridgewater would expect to be worth if he did hit free agency. Nobody knows better than Bridgewater just how fast and hard things can go bad, so maybe a long term deal with strong money early and big money after Brees' deal runs out would be more inviting for him than a short term prove it deal even at a fairly big number.

Maybe. I was under the impression the Saints were hurting for cap room but if they're not maybe they can keep him.
 
Maybe. I was under the impression the Saints were hurting for cap room but if they're not maybe they can keep him.

They aren't in great shape cap wise, and they sure can't keep him under his current contract since if they exercise the option and don't void it they are on the hook for 22 million. But maybe something like a five year deal with the first two at...six? and jumping to twenty at the end of Brees current contract with some sort of guarantee? They might be able to swing that...if they can swallow the reality that it means whether Brees is done or not he is on his last deal in NO. Since, unlike Brady, Brees appears to still be getting better year over year they may not be able to bring themselves to that either.

Cap space, at this point, can look pretty grim compared to reality. Both the Eagles and Saints, as of this moment, are showing 20 million dollar plus hits for quarterbacks that they most likely won't have at all and most certainly won't be paying twenty million dollars. Those are extreme examples, but there's a lot of similar stuff on the books for every team.
 
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