2017 NFL Off-season Thread (Draft, Injuries, Firings & Police Blotter Edition)

Sad to say it looks bad for Teddy Bridgewater as it looks like he is out for all of 2017 too. This was stated as a possibility considering the damage he had.

http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/NFL/2017/01/27/Report-Teddy-Bridgewater-also-out-for-Minnesota-Vikings-2017-season/1131485545835/

Don't think it got posed, but of course Adam Pacman Jones kinda blew the late career maturity angle and got the Bengals off season off to a roaring start in one fail swoop.

man that is brutal.

is there any reason, beyond appeasing gamblers, why the league is so interested in richard sherman and leveon bell's injury reports?

That is a big reason, there is a whole lot of money bet on football. I'd think holding back on a guy like Bell being really barely able to play on a report could swing a line a couple points easy and also keep national betters away from the Steelers to cut profit.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4T5t9ZXAAE0sEf.jpg

smart kid

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C40wpscVYAEngKa.jpg

revis otm

didn't realize he could still hit that hard tho

Vince Young is wanting to make a comeback or at least his bank account probably wishes it could happen. Jeff George sits by the phone waiting.

http://i.imgur.com/LcgLeDj.png

lol at the browns tagging a 36yo (and then 37yo) kicker

http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Referee-Knocks-off-Jay-Cutlers-Helmet.gif

rip

lol the ref's expression always gets me

@AdamSchefter
Stunner: Texans trade Brock Osweiler AND 2018 2nd-rd pick to CLEV for Browns to take Osweiler contract off Houston books, sources tell ESPN.

lol

what the

amazing. a real pick too. jesus christ

these are the picks the browns still have this season, too:

First round: First pick.
First round: 12th pick.
Second round: First pick, 33rd overall.
Second round: 20th pick, 52nd overall (via trade with Titans in 2016).

of course the next level here is to use the pick they got for taking on his contract towards getting the qb that they actually want. that would be p brutal

it's totally wacky out there right now. i can't remember nfl free agency day ever being this good.

HELL YEAH ALSHON TO PHILLY
https://twitter.com/JosinaAnderson/status/839945333425778689

1 year deal is interesting. i'm surprised he went for it. also i think the torrey smith signing is underrated, ppl are holding 2 years with the 49ers against the guy. the package of jeffrey plus smith as a foil is a huge upgrade. we'll see if wentz actually has anything to him

“We’re really excited to acquire a second round draft choice in this trade,” said Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown. “Draft picks are extremely important to our approach in building a championship caliber football team."

wentz has gotta be excited to have jeffrey to throw to. 1 drop on something like 92 targets last year iirc.

hatcats gonna hatcat

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18867665/scot-mccloughan-washington-redskins-fired-general-manager

Browns also signed a huge deal for c/g Kevin Zeitler to go with Joe Thomas on the o-line.

browns 'chief strategy officer' is my boy paul de podesta who got ran out of town as GM of the dodgers because the moronic local sportswriters were offended he dare used 'data' and 'computers' in his evaluations. fuckin nerd.

You want to have a young QB look like he knows what he is doing, put him behind a good O-line. I think it is a major reason guys like Prescott and Wilson were able to shine out of the gate - of course those clubs were pretty much loaded, not quite there on the Browns. That said, I think they seem to be on the right way to build.

this was posted on garoppolo IG: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6jLGwxV0AAmUK7.jpg

now claiming that it was a prank/hack but my guess is that his "team" was queuing it up for later and jumped the gun.

Oh yay - the Niners get Brian Hoyer.

The niners should have a Garcia rule that bald qbs should have to wear #5.

so...mike mayock is being reported as a candidate for the washington gm job

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7IZN50WwAE7kp-.jpg:small

bofa is right

https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2017/03/19/robert-kraft-flew-on-air-force-one-with-donald-trump

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7YPoUXU0AEecfn.jpg

lmao

elway just saw kraft/belichick put a guy in the white house and he wants a piece of that action

http://deadspin.com/nfl-developing-new-way-to-drain-all-joy-from-sport-for-1793517847

Troy Vincent ✔@TroyVincent23
We're developing an educational training video for players to show clear examples of appropriate and inappropriate celebrations.

uh, Key & Peele already made that video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGJb2iLvOKE

I've seen articles tagging on Cleveland for stating they are looking elsewhere than QB for their first pick. Seems that with Watson and Trubisky as the two big QBs, that seems a smart move to me. They 'might' be pretty good - but those two also look like high candidates for bust city too.

Vegas, baby

welp hope the Texans had a Plan B:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000797371/article/cowboys-tony-romo-set-to-retire

A source informed of the situation told Rapoport that Romo will land with CBS this season to replace Phil Simms as an analyst with Jim Nantz on game broadcasts.

our long national nightmare is over

not until Joe Buck is gone too

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zKJ7fXbf5nA/maxresdefault.jpg

Tony Romo is now #1 analyst at CBS taking over for Phil Simms!

Shit no wonder he retired, that is a way better gig than qb of the Texans.

Good riddance to Phil Simms! Now if they can just get his smug ass off of Inside the NFL...

idgi for cbs. with no experience, romo's unlikely to be better than trent green or even dan fouts. and no one watches a game because of the announcer -- if they want to capitalize on romo's star power, such as it is, they should put him on the studio show

then he too could call bill cowher 'coach' until the end of time

Dan Fouts is pretty good, especially on radio.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/business/media/amazon-stream-nfl-thursday-night-football.html

i feel like the plan was just to put simms out to pasture

i think the converse is true too where no one *doesnt* watch cuz of the announcer so room there will just be much more trending/relevant than someone w actual experience

*romo not room jfc

agree with that for sure but interestingly also have seen a couple folks mention how romo was seen as a charismatic hot property for transition to tv and networks already had the red carpet prepared.

Urgh, is it April 27th yet? So sick of seeing useless "sources say" misinformation and mock draft shit on my Twitter feed.

Phil Simms had a nice long run, I think at some point you just have to change it up to change it up unless you got Madden/Summerall. People are talking like he is done in broadcasting... Phil Simms can call ball games for another 20 years, it's just not the #1 nfl game on a network.

Thing is, you got to be able to work the mike in those games. Joe Montana couldn't do it. Lots of huge Star name players couldn't do it. I think it is much more subtle thing to do than maybe given credit.

You know all the networks were waiting on Peyton Manning, he probably could have any gig he wanted in TV and you KNOW he would be good in it. Still might be, but he might be wisely taking a bit of time off before giving it a try.

Oh jeezus, Todd Heap ran over his 3 year old with his car.

yeah, horrific story :(

Aaron Hernandez killed himself

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/04/19/us/aaron-hernandez-suicide/index.html

Ok wow

wow.....the timing of this is so weird

I know right.

I was just reading a lengthy piece about how his lawyer speculated he might be able to get him a new trial for the previous conviction, too.

his lawyer is Baez, the Keystone Koppy defense lawyer from the Casey Anthony trial.

idk what's wrong with baez, he annihilated the prosecution's case on the double murder charge.

sad end to a truly strange life.

just from the casey Anthony case, baez does seem incred sleezy/unscrupulous, even for a defense lawyer

baez is skillful slime

aaron hernandez definitely murdered those two dudes though.

o def

btw per deadspin:

Through an obscure and rarely invoked Massachusetts legal principle called abatement ab initio, because Hernandez had not exhausted all his appeals on his murder conviction, that conviction is essentially now voided. The practical effect of this is that evidence from Hernandez’s criminal trial cannot be used in any potential civil trials against his estate.

damn, baez found the loophole

The Onion already has a caption of "Man who should have stuck in school, now stuck in Cleveland" with a picture of Myles Garrett.

bears still committed to being terrible

Yeah...I'm sure fans will say Trubisky doesn't have a good game face after the Bears sxxt offensive line (w/nearly a decade of incompetence) gets him ground into hamburger.

lol @ eagles fans booing goodell every time he walks out on stage

actually most interesting thing about the draft - lets see if eagles fans boo the next person on stage! a 14 year old cancer survivor? how about a baby? will eagles fans boo a baby?

oh eagles fans would totally boo a baby

they already booed Bradford iirc

For all I know, Gareon Conley could be clean as a whistle, but this seems like an Al Davis pick from beyond the grave.

Also, lol Bears

Browns had a GREAT first round. Finally we have a front office that knows what they're doing and doesn't panic. Myles Garrett, Jabril Peppers, David Njoku, and Houston first next year!

that does seem good

honestly not to be a jerk, but I just found it striking - the date of the last browns road win - 10/11/2015

http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/last-nights-winner-was-this-packers-fan-at-a-bears-draf-1794738481

that's a delight

Kevin Clark‏ @bykevinclark 3m3 minutes ago

Wow, can't believe the Bears paid the full $12,000 for Fyre Fest.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/highlight/mitchell-trubiskys-twitter-account-is-insanely-good

sample: 'tunnels are legit'

Kevin Seifert‏
@SeifertESPN

Wow. Per @mortreport, even @ChicagoBears coach John Fox didn’t know about plan to draft QB Mitchell Trubisky until a couple hours before.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-jVABeWAAI_pyF.jpg

super happy about iggles draft so far

Seems a bit odd to fire your GM during the draft, but that is what the Bills did. I'm guessing something must have gone down in the background.

Didn't want him to disclose their draft plans to other teams.

Some writers seem to think it was a smart move as they also didn't have to have a GM coming up with all the research in a few weeks.

Bears Trubiskygate gets even more hilarious when Glennon was asked specifically to come out to Soldier Field to sign autographs for fans at a stadium event as the Bears new QB only to have to be there as this whole thing went down.

Fun fact: Patriots UDFA DT Josh Augusta was a 320-lb. wide receiver in high school. This isn't even fair. https://t.co/vYxIpTduzF pic.twitter.com/qw1e2OEWxX

— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) May 9, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Vvy9w70ao

always <3 vince

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19446657/seattle-seahawks-cornerback-richard-sherman-let-go-problem-nfl-2017

i wonder what's going to happen when sherman turns in to revis

Seahawks should just deal him to the Ravens, that team loves loudmouths with no filters.

http://wate.com/2017/06/05/trump-attends-washington-theater-gala-manning-receives-award/

Trump said it was also a “special pleasure” for him to watch as two of his friends, former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and businessman and philanthropist Ronald Perelman, received the Lincoln Medal. The theater’s society gives the medal to individuals whose body of work, accomplishments or personal attributes embodies Lincoln’s legacy.

https://www.facebook.com/amazonfireTV/videos/10156264210938362/

The vince young where are they now piece in SI was such a bummer

This time of year is torture. You know you're an addict when you start craving preseason games to watch.

the clinton portis thing was also a bummer

darrell green & southeast jerome = the only good hatcats

i missed the portis piece. football is awful.

https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football

I think compared to where some football stories end, those Young and Portis things were a bit more hopeful than some all things considered.

I'm going to need to start rooting for the Panthers again:

Now go back and read the first word of our tweets from the last three days

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) July 7, 2017

hahahahaha

and that is how you earn your social media coordinator paycheck during the offseason

Bruce Arians said on Sirius today that he had to get his stomach pumped twice when he was younger from drinking paint. That's something.

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) July 12, 2017

lol the follow up says he drank the paint deliberately because he thought it would make him "harder to tackle in neighborhood football games"!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DEj53JUXsAATXkI.jpg

wow

lmao

had no idea bout this gettleman stuff, seems like players hated him

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000820283/article/expanthers-stars-revel-in-dave-gettlemans-dismissal

i guess he's not good at breakups. talented drafter tho.

Really dumb move on the Panthers part, imo. Players don't need to like the GM. In fact I'd prefer it if they don't.

so, against all odds (TALAMN) this is a fairly interesting take on one of the most boring conversations in football

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20096209/nfl-coaches-execs-rank-best-quarterbacks-modern-era-2017

Got to admit considering team history, it is pretty funny that the Cowboys cut the guy that it turned out on review actually did not do a crime.

and the way they have circled the wagons around zeke elliott at every opportunity

this le'veon bell thing is ugly

i mean, he's making $12m this year and will probably make $14m next year, so he'll be mostly okay. but i agree, he should be making a lot more, right now. but given the artificial salary cap, the steelers would be crazy to give him a big long-term deal -- he'll be 27 when those two franchise tags are gone, and running backs simply don't last much longer than that.

in baseball, players are drastically underpaid their six seasons and the stars, at least, make up for it by being overpaid later in their careers. (there are over 100 baseball players making at least $12m this year.) most football players don't have that kind of time, but RBs especially so.

they really need to go on strike, dammit

There are always quite a few retirements this time of year, but it does seem like a few more than usual. Definitely a few guys walking away early.

Three years after using two first-round draft picks and a fourth-round draft pick to acquire him, the Bills are moving on from Sammy Watkins.

Watkins, the talented but so far disappointing wide receiver, has been traded to the Rams. To replace him, the Bills have acquired receiver Jordan Matthews from the Eagles.

The Bills announced that they’ve shipped Watkins and a sixth-round draft pick to the Rams for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a second-round draft pick. Separately, the Bills announced that they sent cornerback Ronald Darby to the Eagles for Jordan Matthews and a third-round draft pick.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/08/11/bills-trade-sammy-watkins-to-rams-get-jordan-matthews-from-eagles/

Zeke suspended for six games

the report

http://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/photo/2017/08/11/0ap3000000828569.pdf

i want every player to sit for every anthem all season

That's not good. #Jets #Hackenberg pic.twitter.com/W4ljH0aftT

— New York Jet Fuel (@NewYorkJetFuel) August 20, 2017

Life comes at you fast, especially if you're a Jets QB

(Video via @viral__sports) #NYJvsDETpic.twitter.com/IlaWxiiBZC

— YourSports (@YourSports) August 20, 2017

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/21/cleveland-browns-national-anthem-protest-giants

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20419408/eric-winston-nflpa-president-says-care-nfl-dies-20-years-work-stoppage

gets it

former espn titans guy paul kuharsky just started a homebrew patreon. he will be friends with you for $100/mo

You get a site subscription plus major perks in the form of access to me. You’re invited to four get togethers a year where I will buy the first round and we will build a circle of trust and talk about a lot of stuff that doesn’t wind up in print. These events may feature special guests. You’ll get me and my bad golf game in your foursome once a year, or if you don’t golf we’ll find a comparable way to get together. You’ll get a spot in a Pick ‘Em pool where we will all pick every game all season long against the spread and see if we can fare better than a coin flip. (I’ve lost to the coin before.) You’ll get my cell phone number and be part of some group texts in addition to being able to text me within reason.

what if there is no reason to text?

here are my football bets this year so far:

Cowboys over 9.5 wins
Jets over 4 wins
Stafford to throw over 23.5 TDs
Ben Roethilsburghergh to play less than 14.5 games

Big Ben one seems like free money but I'm reluctant to throw more on it

roffles one does seem like easy money but the others all make me a lil uncomfortable. certainly i don't want to be the guy betting on the jets to win games. but good luck!

Cowboys I got locked in right after the Zeke suspension dropped the line by a full game. They've got a tough schedule but I think they're actually going to be quite good, plus Zeke's probably only getting at the most 4, likely only 2 or 3

Jets - yeah I don't wanna be that guy either, but the line was good (+160) and I still split on 4-12. It's kind of difficult to project with any accuracy that a team is going to lose 13 games. Granted Jets do seem to be on that trajectory, but if I squint hard enough I can almost see them being better than last year ??? IDK

Stafford one is entirely up to him staying healthy. He doesn't throw as many TDs as I thought he did but I think the Lions will have to rely heavily on his arm as always, they're probably gonna be behind a lot which usually inflates those numbers

for sure i can see any of those coming in. nfc east seems like it might be strong this year so 10 wins might've be hard for dallas to find with a full zeke season. cue the nfc east being hot garbage now i have said that tho. stafford line is so well set, career wise 24 looks like an average season for him, but i think where he is at now 24 is actually a good season. but that's a good point about them maybe having to throw from behind more.

Jamaal Charles looks like Jamaal Charles
Charean Williams,ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports 12 hours ago

Jamaal Charles looked like Jamaal Charles in limited work Saturday night in his preseason debut.

a man runs the ball

Time was a man run the ball down the street

Workshop an ilnfl post: I want to write a post about how I feel bad for vontaze burfict that he got suspended 5 games for a hit that might not even have been illegal, and I can't decide whether to end it with '...not!' or 'sike!'

I guess the most important thing is fuck that guy

meanwhile:

This is the coldest move by a punter I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/TBlGStBsvi

— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) August 27, 2017

niiiice

no joke - Matt Stafford is now the highest paid player in NFL history
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20491086

not all that surprising - he ain't great, but he's above-average, and a lot of teams would pay out the nose for someone above average at the QB position

his career earnings must be thru the roof too.

Jets starting QB week 1- wait for it - Josh McCown.

fortunately they'll be able to supplement their stable of garbage qb prospects with a top 5 pick in the next draft

shut up guys they're going 5-11

lol

i don't really know where their defense is supposed to be at this year but it feels like they've drafted approx 1m defense players in the last few drafts so maybe that will all come together for them

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/08/20/nfls-bennett-brothers-show-two-sides-of-activism-for-martellus-bennett-thats-political-cartooning
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX9HeDhguqS
super trenchant

tbf, he appears to be a better cartoonist than a lotta guys currently publishing in newspapers

would be much better if the can said "Bepis"

this is p interesting, on the evolution of qb evaluation

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/8/31/16231484/quarterback-problem-evaluation-spread-dak-prescott-derek-carr

Random Aaron Rodgers fan kisses him on the head and he looks at the camera like he's in an episode of The Office 😂 pic.twitter.com/4XNhqmM2uK

— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) September 1, 2017

nfl twitter is extremely excited about patrick mahomes

mostly because of this

http://i.imgur.com/pvZHfzn.gif

personally i want to know why he looks backwards at one point

jets trade sheldon richardson to seattle for jermaine kearse and some loose change. seattle gets even stronger in a position of strength and looks to be left with a shallow and fragile wr corps. meanwhile, frogbs's 5 wins for the jets is starting to look like everest.

The Cleveland Browns are releasing quarterback Brock Osweiler, sources confirmed to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The Browns owe Osweiler $16 million, but Cleveland does get Houston's 2018 second-round pick as part of the offseason trade between the two.

going back to the broncos apparently.

Lol