The 2018 NFL OffSeason Thread

[caketastydelish]

We are in rebuild mode. We have signed some offensive lineman in free agency and Fant has potential that we don’t know yet. We also got rid of Tom Cable and got a new offensive line coach who doesn’t use outdated schemes. Still, we lost too many great players and we have a pathetically low draft capital. The NFC is ferocious anyway so if we have to be in rebuild mode, let it be now.

It would be funny if the Seahawks draft Lamar Jackson to be our backup QB, but I don’t think it will happen. Buffalo will probably get him. His career depends on his athleticism and risky plays which means he has a high probability of being another RGIII. Which is why backup under Rusell Wilson would be better for him in the long run, but again, that’s too good to be true.

In other news, Arizona has obtained a great QB when healthy. That great QB will be playing under a flimsy O-line and will play Los Angeles and Seattle twice a year. Unless something radically changes, he can kiss it goodnight. If the Cardinals spend the first two picks on anything other than O-line I am puzzled.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

According to the rankings I just looked at there are a grand total of 17 offensive linemen worthy of a third round or better pick. If anyone manages to land two o-line in their first two picks without reaching severely I'd be really surprised. Getting one without reaching would require some amount of luck.

 

[stinkubus]

By the time you get to the third round you are also highly unlikely to draft a player who will be ready to start right away.

For some reason the college ranks just don't seem to produce NFL ready offensive linemen anymore. Back in the day it was one of the easiest positions to plug in a day one starter.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

By the time you get to the third round you are also highly unlikely to draft a player who will be ready to start right away.

For some reason the college ranks just don't seem to produce NFL ready offensive linemen anymore. Back in the day it was one of the easiest positions to plug in a day one starter.

The current day NFL lineman is just too much of a physical freak. There is no way for a college to produce them, they have to be born.

 

[stinkubus]

If you aren't born a freak there's plenty of PEDs. Most of the young linemens struggles in the league seem to be related to poor technique. Ben Muth writes a good column for Football Outsiders where he breaks down OL play for one team each weak during the season. I've learned quite a bit from reading it. Although I do have to concede that being an athletic freak does allow one to get away with having poor form against inferior opposition.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

If you aren't born a freak there's plenty of PEDs. Most of the young linemens struggles in the league seem to be related to poor technique. Ben Muth writes a good column for Football Outsiders where he breaks down OL play for one team each weak during the season. I've learned quite a bit from reading it. Although I do have to concede that being an athletic freak does allow one to get away with having poor form against inferior opposition.

I can only compare it to chess. If you play a million games against people who barely know how to play no amount of diligence on your part is going to make you a really good chess player. You have to sharpen against people of comparable skills. There are seventeen high round offensive linemen in the draft. That's out of how many graduating seniors? Those monsters have never had any significant opportunity to really sharpen themselves because they have always just been monsters.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I predict that Garoppolo will be having nostalgic thoughts about the safety of the New England bench.

Meh... Only 2 games against the Rams. The majority of the rest of their schedule is against the vast middle-grade of the league. I'm hoping for 10-6, assuming two losses to the Rams.

Have the Seahawks really not done anything yet to address their offensive line? That seems like criminal malpractice. I mean, last season their best offensive lineman was Russell Wilson's shoes. How could they have not addressed that, given the pass rushes that have to be faced to be a contender in the NFC?

You answered your own question in the bolded. I'm sure the Seahawks will happily spring for a new pair of shoes for Wilson this year... saves them a ton of money.

 

[caketastydelish]

Jimmy G is also getting paid 100 million dollars. I don’t think he misses “the safety of the New England bench”.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Jimmy G is also getting paid 100 million dollars. I don’t think he misses “the safety of the New England bench”.

Diminishing returns. He wasn't going bankrupt sitting on that nice safe bench. He wasn't getting nine figures rich, but he was getting rich, and how rich do you really need to get? How rich do you feel when you look over a weak center at Suh and Donald in the A gaps? Makes that friendly clipboard mighty attractive.

 

[Serutan]

According to the rankings I just looked at there are a grand total of 17 offensive linemen worthy of a third round or better pick. If anyone manages to land two o-line in their first two picks without reaching severely I'd be really surprised. Getting one without reaching would require some amount of luck.

The Colts at #6 fit that last. But in general, OL reaches are pretty common although not as much as QB reaches.

As to the Seattle OL : According to the Football Outsider writer who lives in Seattle,
Cable had a lot of input into who was drafted. This at least opens the possibility that they will draft better players.
As usual, time will tell.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Diminishing returns. He wasn't going bankrupt sitting on that nice safe bench. He wasn't getting nine figures rich, but he was getting rich, and how rich do you really need to get? How rich do you feel when you look over a weak center at Suh and Donald in the A gaps? Makes that friendly clipboard mighty attractive.

A clipboard is never attractive to a competitor. You want to be out there playing, not hiding/wasting away on the bench.

 

[stinkubus]

The Patriots reportedly had offered Jimmy G starter money to stay with the team and ride the bench until Brady called it quits. He turned them down.

 

[Sommerswerd]

See @Timsup2nothin ? Told ya

 

[caketastydelish]

The Patriots reportedly had offered Jimmy G starter money to stay with the team and ride the bench until Brady called it quits. He turned them down.

They couldn't have possibly afforded to pay him with the 49ers did. Plus, Brady has said he wants to play until he's 45. Billy B doesn't think that's a good idea, but Robert Kraft does and it's his decision. That would take away a large chunk of Garropolo's career. I can't blame him.

 

[stinkubus]

The media at the time made it sound like Kraft overruled Belichick. LOL Kraft if he thinks Brady actually suits up and can still be effective at age 45. I hope the Patriots are terrible for a decade plus because of it.

 

[caketastydelish]

I think Brady wants to play until he breaks Peyton Manning’s record for the most passing touchdowns, so there is no more dispute whatsoever for who is the GOAT. After that I’m not sure if he will still play.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

A clipboard is never attractive to a competitor. You want to be out there playing, not hiding/wasting away on the bench.

You want to be on that bench with a clipboard rather than looking up at however much sky is visible around the edge of Suh's shoulderpads...or the ceiling of a hospital room. You know when Ndomokong Suh gets a free run at him he won't be thinking "sack," he will be thinking "Game changing event, right here right now. I'm killing their franchise on this play." And you can't just double him every play, like he's seen for his entire career, so he is gonna get some runs.

 

[stinkubus]

I am very intrigued to see what Wade can cook up with the personnel he has on defense.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I am very intrigued to see what Wade can cook up with the personnel he has on defense.

Indeed. I'm also interested in seeing what Suh and Donald can do on plays where they draw single blocks. Those guys have both been wreckers playing off double teams. On any given play whichever one isn't doubled is going to put on a show. Throw in the good possibility that the Rams offense has tilted the scoreboard so they can just cut loose on the pass rush? And Suh is on a one year "prove something" deal? Scary.

 

[stinkubus]

One of them will get one on one blocking almost every snap they are both on the field. It's not really possible to double both interior rushers without allowing the defense to send someone else in untouched. They've got Peters and Talib now on the backend if the opposition decides to go with a two or three man pattern or the Rams decide to send 5+.

I think we'll be seeing a 00 Ravens, 02 Bucs, 08 Steelers type of defensive performance out of them next season.