Around The League V.2

[Humble_Beast]

18 minutes ago, bucksavage1 said:

All of the sudden, it makes a Chandler Jones FA signing not so bad 

both trash moves

[bucksavage1]

5 minutes ago, Humble_Beast said:

both trash moves

JC jackson

Chandler Jones

Randy Gregory 

All signed in 2022 in AFC west , all cut/traded this week

Jones out of all of them, played the best. Not saying much lol

Edited October 4, 2023 by bucksavage1

[Tank4Drake]

We are finally on the better side of a trade for once. Waller has zero passion for football and looks washed. Looks totally lazy as he has the past few years. I honestly think he started using shortly after Gruden’s firing. 

I told everyone don’t draft him in fantasy this year. He was going in the 5th round for crying out loud. In bestball drafts, 200+ teams, not one Darren Waller share for me. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Tank4Drake

[ronjon1990]

18 hours ago, Jeremy408 said:

I saw him at the only quarterback worth drafting in this class. 
 

It's also partially why I'm always kind of Against just drafting a guy that gets put up through the whole draft pageantry process that makes this a great quarterback class is Caleb Williams. Sure Nathan drake could be pretty good, but he's not the guy of this draft. And then the guy from Washington is now being brought up as like the number three guy. I am usually nervous about drafting the number two or three quarterback in the class because I'm always wondering how much of that is the media bringing someone up. Which is how you get the Zach Wilson's of the world

I don't disagree in principle, but Zach Wilson could be seen a mile and a half away. 

He wasn't very good or productive until the Covid year, where BYU essentially proxied as a SunBelt team and didn't impress against any of their (marginally) better competition. I was practically screaming that from the rooftops- that BYU didn't play an impressive slate and Wilson looked below average against anything beyond bottom barrel defenses. There awas just little else to get hyped about, so the media blew him (and Trey Lance) up HARD. Neither had any business as 1st round picks, much less top 10. 

I don't see that with this class. Aside from Williams, you've got some collection of Maye, Penix Jr, Ewers, Pratt, McCarthy, Nix as the most likely to go somewhere in round 1 (not counting others in the periphery right now). Of those 6, I don't see a Wilson. 

Maye plays in a decent conference and has ups and downs- nothing but up, I question competition level. He's solid. 

Penix was a bit of a stud even at Indiana. He's produced consistently well against good defenses. Injury worries, but nothing about his game. 

McCarthy is a Harbaugh QB and I trust it. 

Pratt may have a bit of Wilsonesque rise, but we've seen him take command in games Tulare simply doesn't match up well in. I love his prospects, bit he's not a perfect one. 

Ewers scares the crap out of me. He's almost nothing but hype about how he's 'supposed to be" good. I haven't really seen it. Texas' skill players haven't helped, but I see a lot of guys get propped up because they were hotshot high school recruits and the narrative was that they were destined for the NFL (anyone else remember Christian Hackenburg and that laughably bad narrative from his freshman year?). But at least he's not a glorified SunBelt QB. 

Despite being an Oregon fan, I'm skeptical of Nix. I just can't fully get behind him, though I understand some liking him more than others. 

I think the top 4 or 5 QBs in the class are all easily worth taking though. Wilson and Lance were so obviously stupid picks for anyone to make because of how inflated their stock was in the absence of other viable QBs and the whole Covid year stuff. Wilson was only good against bottom tier comp, and Lance played what like 6 total games in college? Lol. 

 

[big_palooka]

2 hours ago, bucksavage1 said:

JC jackson

Chandler Jones

Randy Gregory 

All signed in 2022 in AFC west , all cut/traded this week

Jones out of all of them, played the best. Not saying much lol

Remember the AFC West arms race? Year later, it's in competition for worst division in football. 

Another reminder that teams are not built through free agency. You can't buy a team.

So while it's great to have a ton of cap, it's dangerous. You want that cap to resign your home grown stars vs. other teams castoffs. While there are some good buys, most of it is fools gold. 

[big_palooka]

27 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

I don't disagree in principle, but Zach Wilson could be seen a mile and a half away. 

He wasn't very good or productive until the Covid year, where BYU essentially proxied as a SunBelt team and didn't impress against any of their (marginally) better competition. I was practically screaming that from the rooftops- that BYU didn't play an impressive slate and Wilson looked below average against anything beyond bottom barrel defenses. There awas just little else to get hyped about, so the media blew him (and Trey Lance) up HARD. Neither had any business as 1st round picks, much less top 10. 

I don't see that with this class. Aside from Williams, you've got some collection of Maye, Penix Jr, Ewers, Pratt, McCarthy, Nix as the most likely to go somewhere in round 1 (not counting others in the periphery right now). Of those 6, I don't see a Wilson. 

Maye plays in a decent conference and has ups and downs- nothing but up, I question competition level. He's solid. 

Penix was a bit of a stud even at Indiana. He's produced consistently well against good defenses. Injury worries, but nothing about his game. 

McCarthy is a Harbaugh QB and I trust it. 

Pratt may have a bit of Wilsonesque rise, but we've seen him take command in games Tulare simply doesn't match up well in. I love his prospects, bit he's not a perfect one. 

Ewers scares the crap out of me. He's almost nothing but hype about how he's 'supposed to be" good. I haven't really seen it. Texas' skill players haven't helped, but I see a lot of guys get propped up because they were hotshot high school recruits and the narrative was that they were destined for the NFL (anyone else remember Christian Hackenburg and that laughably bad narrative from his freshman year?). But at least he's not a glorified SunBelt QB. 

Despite being an Oregon fan, I'm skeptical of Nix. I just can't fully get behind him, though I understand some liking him more than others. 

I think the top 4 or 5 QBs in the class are all easily worth taking though. Wilson and Lance were so obviously stupid picks for anyone to make because of how inflated their stock was in the absence of other viable QBs and the whole Covid year stuff. Wilson was only good against bottom tier comp, and Lance played what like 6 total games in college? Lol. 

 

This is spot on with my thought process aside from Nix who is QB 3 or 4 with McCarthy depending on the day. Oregon fan too and I've seen enough from him to trust what I'm seeing will translate.

I think with Nix, some discount him because of his time at Auburn. But that program has fallen off and he turned it around in a big way. 

[Jeremy408]

25 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

I don't disagree in principle, but Zach Wilson could be seen a mile and a half away. 

He wasn't very good or productive until the Covid year, where BYU essentially proxied as a SunBelt team and didn't impress against any of their (marginally) better competition. I was practically screaming that from the rooftops- that BYU didn't play an impressive slate and Wilson looked below average against anything beyond bottom barrel defenses. There awas just little else to get hyped about, so the media blew him (and Trey Lance) up HARD. Neither had any business as 1st round picks, much less top 10. 

I don't see that with this class. Aside from Williams, you've got some collection of Maye, Penix Jr, Ewers, Pratt, McCarthy, Nix as the most likely to go somewhere in round 1 (not counting others in the periphery right now). Of those 6, I don't see a Wilson. 

Maye plays in a decent conference and has ups and downs- nothing but up, I question competition level. He's solid. 

Penix was a bit of a stud even at Indiana. He's produced consistently well against good defenses. Injury worries, but nothing about his game. 

McCarthy is a Harbaugh QB and I trust it. 

Pratt may have a bit of Wilsonesque rise, but we've seen him take command in games Tulare simply doesn't match up well in. I love his prospects, bit he's not a perfect one. 

Ewers scares the crap out of me. He's almost nothing but hype about how he's 'supposed to be" good. I haven't really seen it. Texas' skill players haven't helped, but I see a lot of guys get propped up because they were hotshot high school recruits and the narrative was that they were destined for the NFL (anyone else remember Christian Hackenburg and that laughably bad narrative from his freshman year?). But at least he's not a glorified SunBelt QB. 

Despite being an Oregon fan, I'm skeptical of Nix. I just can't fully get behind him, though I understand some liking him more than others. 

I think the top 4 or 5 QBs in the class are all easily worth taking though. Wilson and Lance were so obviously stupid picks for anyone to make because of how inflated their stock was in the absence of other viable QBs and the whole Covid year stuff. Wilson was only good against bottom tier comp, and Lance played what like 6 total games in college? Lol. 

 

This will be one of those post that'll be interesting to review like 2-3 years from now as its always hard to judge a QB prospect when they are coming out of the draft but what I am speaking to overall is a lot of times it's that number 2 to 3 ranked quarterback prospect that ends up being horrible. Im always critical of that

[big_palooka]

Another thought on the 2024 QB class. The "dual threat QB" trend has reached a fever pitch.

Guys are getting propped up because of their athletic ability, arm talent and highlight plays out of structure. But they are lack the mental part of the game. The decision making, pocket awareness, anticipation, etc. are all being overlooked in search of the next Mahomes, Allen, etc.

Guys like Rattler, Daniels, Ward, etc. are not serious QBs in my book. These are day 3 developmental guys getting eyes because of the trend. When this lot gets thrown in early round consideration, you get your Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, etc. misses. 

[Tank4Drake]

Can we talk about Jets vs Chiefs? I have not seen a game that lopsided among the refs in years. Jets received many calls that were not penalties, or usually no-calls. While the Chiefs held, a blatant hold, basically every few plays and didn’t get called. Crazy. 

Taylor Swift is the most popular artist in the world and bringing millions of fans to the sport (literally). NFL couldn’t risk Zach Wilson of all people, beating Travis Kelce, on primetime in front of the world. 

Before anyone says “you’re stupid games aren’t rigged”. When people think of rigged, they think the refs are in on it, and players are in on it. Neither is true. All the NFL has to do is tell the refs “Hey, lighten up on the Chiefs a bit, we don’t think those are clear holds” and also “Make sure you put emphasis on the Jets holding, they are getting away with a lot!”. It’s really that simple. It only takes a few bad penalties to change an outcome. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Tank4Drake

[Darbsk]

4 hours ago, bucksavage1 said:

Christian Gonzalez out for the season

Such a shame, he was playing really well.

Just watched the Pats v Cowboys and Mac Jones is basically an ugly Garoppolo, they are really struggling to get anything going too.

[Darbsk]

6 minutes ago, Tank4Drake said:

Can we talk about Jets vs Chiefs? I have not seen a game that lopsided among the refs in years. Jets received many calls that were not penalties, or usually no-calls. While the Chiefs held, a blatant hold, basically every few plays and didn’t get called. Crazy. 

Taylor Swift is the most popular artist in the world and bringing millions of fans to the sport (literally). NFL couldn’t risk Zach Wilson of all people, beating Travis Kelce, on primetime in front of the world. 

Before anyone says “you’re stupid games aren’t rigged”. When people think of rigged, they think the refs are in on it, and players are in on it. Neither is true. All the NFL has to do is tell the refs “Hey, lighten up on the Chiefs a bit, we don’t think those are clear holds” and also “Make sure you put emphasis on the Jets holding, they are getting away with a lot!”. It’s really that simple. It only takes a few bad penalties to change an outcome. 

I don’t think it’s that tbh. I think some teams do get preferential treatment in pretty much all sports, but it’s because of reputation I believe, Refs have a preconceived idea and it influences subconsciously how they ref the game. I’ve seen it in Football, soccer, rugby, some teams just get the benefit of the doubt and some teams the refs are looking for penalties on. Man Utd will get a 50/50 penalty kick whereas Southampton wouldn’t, or the All Blacks will get away with a foul  whereas Italy will get a player yellow carded for example. The Chiefs will get away with a hold whilst the refs are looking at the Raiders for roughing or PI.

I think we suffer from reputation, Refs are aware we’re usually around the leagues most penalised teams and hence it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

Who’s this Taylor fellow anyway 🧐😁

[ronjon1990]

53 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

This is spot on with my thought process aside from Nix who is QB 3 or 4 with McCarthy depending on the day. Oregon fan too and I've seen enough from him to trust what I'm seeing will translate.

I think with Nix, some discount him because of his time at Auburn. But that program has fallen off and he turned it around in a big way. 

Guilty as charged. 

I lived in Alabama during "Bo Nix Sux". 

I've enjoyed watching him at Oregon, no doubt, but yeah the skepticism remains for me for that exact reason. 

[RaidersForever]

29 minutes ago, Tank4Drake said:

Can we talk about Jets vs Chiefs? I have not seen a game that lopsided among the refs in years. Jets received many calls that were not penalties, or usually no-calls. While the Chiefs held, a blatant hold, basically every few plays and didn’t get called. Crazy. 

Taylor Swift is the most popular artist in the world and bringing millions of fans to the sport (literally). NFL couldn’t risk Zach Wilson of all people, beating Travis Kelce, on primetime in front of the world. 

Before anyone says “you’re stupid games aren’t rigged”. When people think of rigged, they think the refs are in on it, and players are in on it. Neither is true. All the NFL has to do is tell the refs “Hey, lighten up on the Chiefs a bit, we don’t think those are clear holds” and also “Make sure you put emphasis on the Jets holding, they are getting away with a lot!”. It’s really that simple. It only takes a few bad penalties to change an outcome. 

     I'm not gonna die on the Games-Are-Being-Rigged hill, but I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. As the Good Book says, "Money is the root of all sorts of evil." Taylor Swift storyline is making Roger Goodell a LOT of money right now, and she's doing for the NFL what the Paul brothers are currently doing for professional boxing. Is Roger pulling a few strings/calling in some favors for as long as the relationship lasts? IDK, but I wouldn't be stunned.

[ronjon1990]

41 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

Another thought on the 2024 QB class. The "dual threat QB" trend has reached a fever pitch.

Guys are getting propped up because of their athletic ability, arm talent and highlight plays out of structure. But they are lack the mental part of the game. The decision making, pocket awareness, anticipation, etc. are all being overlooked in search of the next Mahomes, Allen, etc.

Guys like Rattler, Daniels, Ward, etc. are not serious QBs in my book. These are day 3 developmental guys getting eyes because of the trend. When this lot gets thrown in early round consideration, you get your Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, etc. misses. 

The athletic QB frenzy is a bit ridiculous for sure. 

Nobody, and I mean nobody, is advocating for a Drew Bledsoe statue as the QB gospel. It's ok to be an athletic QB, plenty have done well- Steve Young, Alex Smith, Mahomes, Rodgers, Wilson for a time, Allen being a far outlier in terms of improvement from start to present....

But there's a huge difference in being an athletic QB and an athlete playing QB. Had Taysom Hill gone to a bigger school and not gone on the LDS mission and made it to the NFL before age 35, he would have been seem as a first round worthy QB nowadays- and we see how that turned out for New Orleans. It's like the old high school theory- lack anyone with arm talent, stick your fastest WR at QB and Mike Vick Madden it. 

That'll work in college where even the best programs have starters who won't play a single snap of professional ball, and the opposing team might have 1 or 2 defensive starters with legit NFL prospects. It doesn't work in the NFL, and won't unless someone takes the time to either:

A. Build up a team that has a defense that's top tier and can keep things from going off the rails during the early trials and tribulations (see: Baltimore with Lamar Jackson) 

Or

B. Have an already solid roster and totally commit to 3+ years specifically leaning on a run game and solid D while the QB *hopefully* rounds it out (see: Philadelphia with Hurts; Buffalo with Allen- though Allen played at such a low end school one could argue he never probably never received any real coaching until the NFL which is, again, a massive outlier) 

[big_palooka]

4 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

The athletic QB frenzy is a bit ridiculous for sure. 

Nobody, and I mean nobody, is advocating for a Drew Bledsoe statue as the QB gospel. It's ok to be an athletic QB, plenty have done well- Steve Young, Alex Smith, Mahomes, Rodgers, Wilson for a time, Allen being a far outlier in terms of improvement from start to present....

But there's a huge difference in being an athletic QB and an athlete playing QB. Had Taysom Hill gone to a bigger school and not gone on the LDS mission and made it to the NFL before age 35, he would have been seem as a first round worthy QB nowadays- and we see how that turned out for New Orleans. It's like the old high school theory- lack anyone with arm talent, stick your fastest WR at QB and Mike Vick Madden it. 

That'll work in college where even the best programs have starters who won't play a single snap of professional ball, and the opposing team might have 1 or 2 defensive starters with legit NFL prospects. It doesn't work in the NFL, and won't unless someone takes the time to either:

A. Build up a team that has a defense that's top tier and can keep things from going off the rails during the early trials and tribulations (see: Baltimore with Lamar Jackson) 

Or

B. Have an already solid roster and totally commit to 3+ years specifically leaning on a run game and solid D while the QB *hopefully* rounds it out (see: Philadelphia with Hurts; Buffalo with Allen- though Allen played at such a low end school one could argue he never probably never received any real coaching until the NFL which is, again, a massive outlier) 

Nailed it right there. Everyone is overvaluing the athlete playing QB.