bigdog44 Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 6 hours ago, e16bball said: When was the last time a top of the league TE hit the market? All the best TEs have pretty much played their entire careers in one place. Gonzalez, Gates, Witten, Gronk, Kelce, Olsen, Ertz, even guys like Heath Miller, Delanie Walker, and Jeremy Shockey, they’ve all pretty much stuck around with one team for their entire prime. I think that’s because TEs are pretty cheap and the good ones are very valuable for the price. So everyone wants to, and can afford to, keep those guys. The only reason a guy like Hooper (averaging over 50 yards a game the last two seasons) is even a possibility to come available is that the Falcons have really mismanaged their cap situation and might have to let some guys walk. If we gave the guy $10M/year, that would match the largest annual salary for a TE in NFL history. That’s basically Jamison Crowder money. That’s a big-time upgrade at a pretty reasonable cost. To be clear I did say top of the market, not top of the league. Hooper isn’t the best tight end in football by a mile, but he’s the best free agent tight end this year, making him top of the market. Apologies if I phrased it wrong. No, a Gronk or a Kelce type talent usually doesn’t move, but guys like Trey Burton, Julius Thomas, Coby Fleener (who someone in this forum was pounding the table for), Jimmy Graham (he might have been traded) have moved for big “tight end money” and failed to meet expectations. The best free agent tight end in a long time is the kid Waller in Oakland and he was found on the scrap heap. I’m just saying I’d rather spend that 10 million somewhere else (corner, OT) and draft a tight end and/or take a shot on a no name free agent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdog44 Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 7 hours ago, turtle28 said: Good point on the corners. I'd love to sign one like Byron Jones or Mackenzie Alexander like you mentioned. If we don't, we should draft one at some point. I like the young corners we have like @RSkinGM said, but I don't think any young corner we have on our roster is a starter opposite Dunny. And, if they are, they certainly haven't shown it enough to my liking Agreed. We can blame the coaching or blame Norman for not really ever being a 1 but as a group the young corners aren’t as far along as they should be. im sure Jerry will find a way to keep Jones so I’d target Alexander. Loved him coming out of Clemson and he’s been soaking up all that Mike Zimmer coaching. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtle28 Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 16 hours ago, bigdog44 said: Agreed. We can blame the coaching or blame Norman for not really ever being a 1 but as a group the young corners aren’t as far along as they should be. im sure Jerry will find a way to keep Jones so I’d target Alexander. Loved him coming out of Clemson and he’s been soaking up all that Mike Zimmer coaching. Alexander it is! I’ll send a telegram to Snyder! 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geno Posted December 25, 2019 Author Share Posted December 25, 2019 (edited) Hooper and Cooper and Byron jones sound good to me we can do that we have the money to pay with 50ms in cuts coming and 40m coming January 1 that 90m Edited December 25, 2019 by Geno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e16bball Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 On 12/23/2019 at 11:53 PM, bigdog44 said: To be clear I did say top of the market, not top of the league. Hooper isn’t the best tight end in football by a mile, but he’s the best free agent tight end this year, making him top of the market. Apologies if I phrased it wrong. No, a Gronk or a Kelce type talent usually doesn’t move, but guys like Trey Burton, Julius Thomas, Coby Fleener (who someone in this forum was pounding the table for), Jimmy Graham (he might have been traded) have moved for big “tight end money” and failed to meet expectations. The best free agent tight end in a long time is the kid Waller in Oakland and he was found on the scrap heap. I’m just saying I’d rather spend that 10 million somewhere else (corner, OT) and draft a tight end and/or take a shot on a no name free agent. You didn’t phrase it wrong, I was playing word games with it to make my point a little stronger 😂 I think for me, I view Hooper as one of those guys that typically would never come available. Not Gronk or Gates or Tony G, but more on the level of a Delanie Walker (Titans version) or even a more durable Jordan Reed. He’s got 68 catches for 742 yards and 6 TDs in just 12 games this season, which comes out to a 90/970/8 pace for 16 games. There are only 8 guys that have ever hit all those numbers in a single season, and their names are Gonzalez, Gronkowski, Witten, Kelce, Ertz, Todd Christensen (a should-be HOFer), Dallas Clark (with Peyton), and Jimmy Graham (with Brees). It’s been a major breakout season for him, and he only just turned 25 last month. The only reason I think we’ve got any shot at this guy hitting FA is because the Falcons are in such a serious salary cap pinch. Per OTC, they’re currently projected to have -$1.6M in cap space next season. Obviously, there are things they can do to free up some cap space, but are they really going to invest the comparatively tiny amount of money they have available into a huge raise for their TE? With how bad their defense is, and how much they’ve already spent on their offense (in terms of money and draft pick investments)? I think there’s a good chance they end up having to make a tough choice and let Hooper go. I think he’d make a big impact on this team. I think with the way Haskins excels at driving the ball on a line down the middle of the field, a TE who can work the seams is the perfect weapon to help him take the next step. I don’t want McLaurin working the middle of the field regularly — there’s just too much injury risk for a WR to be going in there regularly — and I’m not sold that any of our other WRs are going to become that reliable target between the hashes. I definitely understand (and absolutely respect) the idea behind paying the big bucks for the elite player (Cooper) and filling in cheaply around him (with lesser FAs, internal options, and draft picks). That’s typically my preferred approach. But that’s because the top dollar guys are usually the most reliable and most likely to continue at their high level of play when they go elsewhere. But Cooper, I don’t know — I just don’t trust him. The injury history scares me. When a guy is constantly banged-up at 25, I’m really worried about how he’s gonna age. And there just seems to be something weird going on with him the second half of this season, whether it’s just injuries or something behind the scenes. But I think I’d rather diversify than spend big on just him. Give me Hooper + resigning Flowers (about $15-18M combined AAV I’d bet) over Cooper. But I do understand the preference for going the opposite direction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woz Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 On 12/23/2019 at 10:41 AM, Thaiphoon said: Same here. I'm not investing tens of millions on him when we are starting 3 rookie WRs and getting pretty good production out of all of them. If we want to add to our WR corps (yes kids, it's CORPS not CORE!!!) then we can just draft another WR. Well, McLaurin, Harmon, and Sims Jr. form the core of our corps ... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsean21 Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 On 12/23/2019 at 10:36 AM, MKnight82 said: Do we need a WR? Honestly I think we have a lot bigger needs. I would pass on Cooper. I don’t think this is the year I’d invest I’d take this offseason focusing on getting Chase young finishing up the defense and our OL. I’d love to get a game changing TE but I’d sure up our trenches and Defense. Get a great staff and get the FO right get your plan get Young and all the draft capital you can from the guys no longer in the plans and build a tough team. I wouldn’t spend big this offseason. Carry extra cap over next year and see what’s avalible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaiphoon Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 4 hours ago, Woz said: Well, McLaurin, Harmon, and Sims Jr. form the core of our corps ... Everyone...pay attention to what @Woz just wrote ^^^^ THAT is the correct use of CORE and CORPS. The incorrect use gives me Forrest Whittaker eye and a twitch. This is your English lesson for the year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtle28 Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 1 hour ago, Thaiphoon said: Everyone...pay attention to what @Woz just wrote ^^^^ THAT is the correct use of CORE and CORPS. The incorrect use gives me Forrest Whittaker eye and a twitch. This is your English lesson for the year. And I’ll forget by next year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naptownskinsfan Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 1 hour ago, Thaiphoon said: Everyone...pay attention to what @Woz just wrote ^^^^ THAT is the correct use of CORE and CORPS. The incorrect use gives me Forrest Whittaker eye and a twitch. This is your English lesson for the year. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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