Packers sign Devin Funchess

[British]

7 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

At this point yes, play does have a bit of a factor too, so if Bulaga is an All Pro and someone who signed slightly higher sucks, could see a jump there.

Also have Tramon and Allison who could get deals that would qualify.

Good points.

I guess Bulaga has enough name recognition to make the pro bowl although sadly the comp pick for him is capped at a 5th due to him having played for 10 years.

I do think there is a simple genius in playing the comp picks game. Sign cut players, let your free agents walk and you easily get yourself some decent extra picks. Plus if you sign guys on one year prove it deals you can generate further picks off them the following year.  And then every now and again you can have a year off to make a splash like the Packers did last year. 

[festiveonion]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

Close...

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfls-new-cba-explained-heres-a-look-at-all-the-season-roster-and-salary-changes/

 

I think the new changes with the practice squad greatly benefit those teams who have elite coaching staffs that can develop borderline players into solid role players at worst. I'd like to think we were in that group...

So if I’m reading this right, which I’m probably not...

PS is upped to 12 players. (14 in 2022)
Up to 2 PS guys can be elevated per week...sorta NFLs answer to two way contracts a la NBA 

Game day rosters are now 48 instead of 46

Additional return from IR per year

 

Im not seeing anything that changes the 53... but again I’m an idiot and I might have missed something 

[craig]

On 3/27/2020 at 9:33 AM, Mr Anonymous said:

Article is from last year but since Funchess only played 1 game in 2019, it does bring up some promising tidbits and tells why the Colts were excited to have him before he got hurt...

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2019/03/30/panthers-nfl-free-agency-devin-funchess-colts-andrew-luck-t-y-hilton/

This is article where he's got no drops from slot, but 23 drops from WR.  Which led to some board enthusiasm that he's a stud at slot and that's his future. 

After reconsidering, I'm a bit more hesitant then when I first read that info.  Yes, that may be a real thing, I don't doubt the stats.  And maybe Packers will use him all slot and he'll never drop anything, and something about slot turns him into a stud.  

But, I think there may also be some small-sample factor?  Said he didn't dropping any passes from slot... but in only 55 targets.  In a 5-year career with 164 catches total, and enough targets outside to have dropped 23 of them (over 40% as many drops outside as targets total from slot), it implies he wasn't used that much from slot.  His previous coach mostly used him outside, where he dropped a lot.

Sure, maybe MLF has analyzed this, and will use him very differently, primarily from slot, and in that role he'll be terrific.

But it may also somewhat be that MVS won't use him all that differently from Carolina, and he'll continue to play outside a lot and make drops often?  

And it may also be that his slot-sample is just a small-sample and is much less predictive than his much larger outside sample?  I'd think a guy either has good hands or he doesn't; not sure slot vs wide would really change that?  And perhaps if a big sample shows mediocre hands, and a small-sample slice shows good hands, the real hands are better-represented by the large sample rather than the small? 

I'm not at all trying to rip.  Just thinking that we may be disappointed;

• over the long haul, if it's a lot of slot targets, he may end up dropping his share there, just as he did outside. 
• Second, that MLF might not use him that consistently as a "slot-only" guy, and may use him plenty outside as well, for better or for worse.

[mikemike778]

10 hours ago, British said:

Good points.

I guess Bulaga has enough name recognition to make the pro bowl although sadly the comp pick for him is capped at a 5th due to him having played for 10 years.

I do think there is a simple genius in playing the comp picks game. Sign cut players, let your free agents walk and you easily get yourself some decent extra picks. Plus if you sign guys on one year prove it deals you can generate further picks off them the following year.  And then every now and again you can have a year off to make a splash like the Packers did last year. 

Depends really. 4th and 5th rounders are decent picks - if you get these then you can really beef up positions like OL. When you are talking about 6th and 7th rounders then its not worth worrying about. Ultimately you want to be signing your guys to a 2nd contract if you like them and if you limit your free agency to cut players then you are compromising.

Makes sense this year - was the right time to let Bulaga walk and Gute obviously didn't want Martinez. 

 

[AlexGreen#20]

5 hours ago, craig said:

This is article where he's got no drops from slot, but 23 drops from WR.  Which led to some board enthusiasm that he's a stud at slot and that's his future. 

After reconsidering, I'm a bit more hesitant then when I first read that info.  Yes, that may be a real thing, I don't doubt the stats.  And maybe Packers will use him all slot and he'll never drop anything, and something about slot turns him into a stud.  

But, I think there may also be some small-sample factor?  Said he didn't dropping any passes from slot... but in only 55 targets.  In a 5-year career with 164 catches total, and enough targets outside to have dropped 23 of them (over 40% as many drops outside as targets total from slot), it implies he wasn't used that much from slot.  His previous coach mostly used him outside, where he dropped a lot.

Sure, maybe MLF has analyzed this, and will use him very differently, primarily from slot, and in that role he'll be terrific.

But it may also somewhat be that MVS won't use him all that differently from Carolina, and he'll continue to play outside a lot and make drops often?  

And it may also be that his slot-sample is just a small-sample and is much less predictive than his much larger outside sample?  I'd think a guy either has good hands or he doesn't; not sure slot vs wide would really change that?  And perhaps if a big sample shows mediocre hands, and a small-sample slice shows good hands, the real hands are better-represented by the large sample rather than the small? 

I'm not at all trying to rip.  Just thinking that we may be disappointed;

• over the long haul, if it's a lot of slot targets, he may end up dropping his share there, just as he did outside. 
• Second, that MLF might not use him that consistently as a "slot-only" guy, and may use him plenty outside as well, for better or for worse.

There's definitely the possibility that the small sample size plays a part, it might also be that the route tree in the slot is different than the boundary and he has issues tracking the ball over his shoulder leading to more drops on the vertical routes that are more common on the outside. 

Could be that he saw more tight coverage on the boundary. Lord knows he has a tendency to wear these CBs and isn't the best at pulling away from them. Could be in the slot that he gets more opportunities to zone bust and settle in rather than trying to make a contested catch.

I don't think anybody knows the answer.

[British]

It do find it remarkable that a year ago Funchess got a $10m deal with incentives to get it to $13m. Since then he got injured in his first game and now we have him for £2.5m with incentives to get it to $6m.

It's not like he played badly last year, and the injury isn't like a recurring hamstring injury or concussion.  Seems like a very tidy bit of business for Gute. 

[coachbuns]

1 hour ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

There's definitely the possibility that the small sample size plays a part, it might also be that the route tree in the slot is different than the boundary and he has issues tracking the ball over his shoulder leading to more drops on the vertical routes that are more common on the outside. 

Could be that he saw more tight coverage on the boundary. Lord knows he has a tendency to wear these CBs and isn't the best at pulling away from them. Could be in the slot that he gets more opportunities to zone bust and settle in rather than trying to make a contested catch.

I don't think anybody knows the answer.

Regardless if he is or isn't, it was relatively cheap to find out.  If he can man the slot and helps .. a steal.  If he can't/isn't "helping" the team - he's gone.  

Edited March 29, 2020 by coachbuns

[gopackgo972]

58 minutes ago, British said:

It do find it remarkable that a year ago Funchess got a $10m deal with incentives to get it to $13m. Since then he got injured in his first game and now we have him for £2.5m with incentives to get it to $6m.

It's not like he played badly last year, and the injury isn't like a recurring hamstring injury or concussion.  Seems like a very tidy bit of business for Gute. 

2.5mil quid? That’s a steal

[TransientTexan]

Does anyone know what the $3.75m incentives are for? That’s looking like it could be a math error or misunderstanding from a reporter.

Spotrac only shows $250k of incentives total. Not $250k per active game. They say it’s $15,625 bonus per game, and then say “$250k” next to it (because $15,625*16= $250k). So $250k is the maximum of the incentive if he plays 16 games. They show the cap hit as $2,265,625 with the 1 game LTBE, and can go up to $2.5m if he plays all 16.

it looks to me like the reporter mistakenly thought it was a $250k per game incentive, so added $250k to the $2.25m for the one-game LTBE to get $2.5m, and then said there was an additional $3.75m of incentives because 15g*$250k= $3.75m.

 

I know a lot of GB blogs are all just referencing the same tweet, which might be misinformed.

[Packerraymond]

4 minutes ago, TransientTexan said:

Does anyone know what the $3.75m incentives are for? That’s looking like it could be a math error or misunderstanding from a reporter.

Spotrac only shows $250k of incentives total. Not $250k per active game. They say it’s $15,625 bonus per game, and then say “$250k” next to it (because $15,625*16= $250k). So $250k is the maximum of the incentive if he plays 16 games. They show the cap hit as $2,265,625 with the 1 game LTBE, and can go up to $2.5m if he plays all 16.

it looks to me like the reporter mistakenly thought it was a $250k per game incentive, so added $250k to the $2.25m for the one-game LTBE to get $2.5m, and then said there was an additional $3.75m of incentives because 15g*$250k= $3.75m.

 

I know a lot of GB blogs are all just referencing the same tweet, which might be misinformed.

The incentive language is barely ever known. Could be stat related, games played, pro bowls, all pro, etc... With him missing the whole season last year you can do a bunch with incentives and count them as not likely to be earned.

[TransientTexan]

12 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

The incentive language is barely ever known. Could be stat related, games played, pro bowls, all pro, etc... With him missing the whole season last year you can do a bunch with incentives and count them as not likely to be earned.

I’m just saying it’s a strange coincidence that the extra incentive of $3.75m happens to equal exactly what 15g*$250k is.

And if there are other incentives for things like Pro Bowl, Spotrac usually explicitly lists those separately underneath the table rows like they did here:

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay-buccaneers/tom-brady-4619/

Edited March 29, 2020 by TransientTexan

[Packerraymond]

14 minutes ago, TransientTexan said:

I’m just saying it’s a strange coincidence that the extra incentive of $3.75m happens to equal exactly what 15g*$250k is.

And if there are other incentives for things like Pro Bowl, Spotrac usually explicitly lists those separately underneath the table rows like they did here:

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay-buccaneers/tom-brady-4619/

Yeah but the incentives have to leak. Every reporter in the USA wanted the scoop on Toms incentives, I don't think anyone cares about Devin Funchess. Maybe a Packer beat reporter will get ahold of them, probably our only chance.

[Cakeshoppe]

12 minutes ago, TransientTexan said:

I’m just saying it’s a strange coincidence that the extra incentive of $3.75m happens to equal exactly what 15g*$250k is.

And if there are other incentives for things like Pro Bowl, Spotrac usually explicitly lists those separately underneath the table rows like they did here:

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay-buccaneers/tom-brady-4619/

note also what it says below that though:

"Sources: NFL contract specifics generally collected from verified reports."

It sounds like they are going off the same reports that we are, which is Pelissero's tweet:

 

[Mr Anonymous]

3 hours ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

There's definitely the possibility that the small sample size plays a part, it might also be that the route tree in the slot is different than the boundary and he has issues tracking the ball over his shoulder leading to more drops on the vertical routes that are more common on the outside. 

Could be that he saw more tight coverage on the boundary. Lord knows he has a tendency to wear these CBs and isn't the best at pulling away from them. Could be in the slot that he gets more opportunities to zone bust and settle in rather than trying to make a contested catch.

I don't think anybody knows the answer.

Yeah in the article, the attempted explanation for the zero career slot drops is analysis from Frank Reich that Funchess' two best routes are curls and outs. Extrapolating from there, I'd guess that Funchess is one of those guys who struggles with over the shoulder catches and on balls where his back is to the QB. If he can get his head turned and facing the throw he seems to catch the ball. Didn't James Jones have the same issue if I recall?

[TransientTexan]

6 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

Yeah but the incentives have to leak. Every reporter in the USA wanted the scoop on Toms incentives, I don't think anyone cares about Devin Funchess. Maybe a Packer beat reporter will get ahold of them, probably our only chance.

Maybe, but there have been plenty of players they have listed the incentives for. And the only LTBE incentive Funchess could have earned last year is a games-active incentive. So $250k is obviously being treated as only a per-active-game-game bonus, outside of any other bonuses. Unless we are giving him hundreds of thousands just for every 32yd gained. So if there were other incentives outside of active games, it would be *in addition* to the $3.75m.