Camp & Pre-Season | News and Notes

[bigben07MVP]

I would love to swap our 6th for a 4th or something like that for JW.

[Dcash4]

Me looking at that Josh Allen deal knowing the Browns and Ravens gotta pay their QBs and we have super star Haskins on the minimum for 3 years 

[MOSteelers56]

I will say this about Haskins, his arm strength is legit. He’s got talent. He needs to get the footwork down. It seemed like all his throws last night were off platform. That’s fine for when things go bad, but his mechanics need to be repeatable for the vast majority of throws. I don’t think he’s got that yet. If he dedicates himself, he’s got a chance to be really good. 

[Dcash4]

I’ve just been cruising Twitter hashtags and found “baker” as one and clicked it for fun. 

What I have learned is that Browns fans have just learned that the salary cap is a thing in the NFL. 

Im not trying to take anything away from their teams or their fanbases excitement but they have about 1.5 years before it gets so much harder. 

you have to absolutely hammer the draft once you get a QB off rookie deals. So far, we don’t know enough about either administrations ability to do that.

The Steelers are about to go through a transition too, but when people run out the door to crown the Ravens and the Browns because of Lamar and Baker…eh…I think it’s okay to question the longevity of it all. 

[AFF]

54 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

I’ve just been cruising Twitter hashtags and found “baker” as one and clicked it for fun. 

What I have learned is that Browns fans have just learned that the salary cap is a thing in the NFL. 

Im not trying to take anything away from their teams or their fanbases excitement but they have about 1.5 years before it gets so much harder. 

you have to absolutely hammer the draft once you get a QB off rookie deals. So far, we don’t know enough about either administrations ability to do that.

The Steelers are about to go through a transition too, but when people run out the door to crown the Ravens and the Browns because of Lamar and Baker…eh…I think it’s okay to question the longevity of it all. 

It’s all fun and games til you have 1 player eating up 1/7 of your cap room.

[Dcash4]

1 hour ago, AFF said:

It’s all fun and games til you have 1 player eating up 1/7 of your cap room.

I saw a Bills fan on Twitter commenting about the jump in the cap making it meaningless. At no point is $51m cap hit meaningless.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Dcash4

[jebrick]

Sounds like the deal gives them flexibility early and the big hits are late.  Might would out well for them.

[MOSteelers56]

37 minutes ago, jebrick said:

Sounds like the deal gives them flexibility early and the big hits are late.  Might would out well for them.

Yeah, I really don’t think they’re playing with real money at this point. I know it’s far from a hot take now, but it’s different than it used to be. I mean, the Chiefs are paying Mahomes a billion and they still sign every free agent. GM’s have gotten a lot smarter since the days of the rookie QB deal killing a franchise like Bradford. 

[Dcash4]

12 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Yeah, I really don’t think they’re playing with real money at this point. I know it’s far from a hot take now, but it’s different than it used to be. I mean, the Chiefs are paying Mahomes a billion and they still sign every free agent. GM’s have gotten a lot smarter since the days of the rookie QB deal killing a franchise like Bradford. 

There’s always the ability to maneuver with money, but the pain points on those deals will come later. Like the Browns bought an entire defense this year to correct a problem. You cannot do that once Baker hits $40m per. You can’t make mistakes retaining guys and you need to kill the draft. 

Mahomes is in the last year of gravy train money. Josh Allen has this year and next year on nice cap hits. IMO, that’s the key GMs have figured out. They have figured out how to maneuver the cap hits to give them a couple years grace period, but what happens when Mahomes and Allen are $45-50m against the cap will be the interesting part.

I’ll be honest, I’m surprised the Bills did the deal. I enjoy watching Allen so much, but man did you just pay for the outlier year. If he regresses back towards the first two years those cap hits are unsustainable. Mahomes play has been so good talent around him will matter less, but their two real weapons are Hill and Kelce. Kelce has a similarly friendly deal that’s cap number doubles by 2023. Next year is Hills last year at $20m. Your going to have to make a decision on a third deal for hill because of Mahomes jump. If you resign Hill, your talking over $70m in three players in 23. Add in Joe Tuney and your at $91m. That’s when you have to decide if Hill is worth a starter in a meh defense or your drafting has been good enough filling holes to take on a brunt of another big deal. 

As a Steelers fan; this is a life we have lived a long time. We are actually coming out the other side of it in a year or two. But the interesting part IMO is watching if these GMs are capable of making the right calls and being damn good at the draft consistently.

[AFF]

59 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Yeah, I really don’t think they’re playing with real money at this point. I know it’s far from a hot take now, but it’s different than it used to be. I mean, the Chiefs are paying Mahomes a billion and they still sign every free agent. GM’s have gotten a lot smarter since the days of the rookie QB deal killing a franchise like Bradford. 

To an extent...if you look at the Chiefs going forward they have like 5-7 guys with huge cap hits and then no one else with double digit cap hits.

Mahomes contract starts accelerating rapidly starting next year. They had to restructure Kelce and Clark’s deals IIRC to get some wiggle room....not saying they can’t use FA to improve the roster but it’s really gonna be difficult going forward.

[AFF]

36 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

There’s always the ability to maneuver with money, but the pain points on those deals will come later. Like the Browns bought an entire defense this year to correct a problem. You cannot do that once Baker hits $40m per. You can’t make mistakes retaining guys and you need to kill the draft. 

Mahomes is in the last year of gravy train money. Josh Allen has this year and next year on nice cap hits. IMO, that’s the key GMs have figured out. They have figured out how to maneuver the cap hits to give them a couple years grace period, but what happens when Mahomes and Allen are $45-50m against the cap will be the interesting part.

I’ll be honest, I’m surprised the Bills did the deal. I enjoy watching Allen so much, but man did you just pay for the outlier year. If he regresses back towards the first two years those cap hits are unsustainable. Mahomes play has been so good talent around him will matter less, but their two real weapons are Hill and Kelce. Kelce has a similarly friendly deal that’s cap number doubles by 2023. Next year is Hills last year at $20m. Your going to have to make a decision on a third deal for hill because of Mahomes jump. If you resign Hill, your talking over $70m in three players in 23. Add in Joe Tuney and your at $91m. That’s when you have to decide if Hill is worth a starter in a meh defense or your drafting has been good enough filling holes to take on a brunt of another big deal. 

As a Steelers fan; this is a life we have lived a long time. We are actually coming out the other side of it in a year or two. But the interesting part IMO is watching if these GMs are capable of making the right calls and being damn good at the draft consistently.

It’s going to very interesting if this is Ben’s last year. I know Watts and Fitzpatrick deals will eat up some room but they will still a good amount of cap room.

It wouldn’t surprise me if they see how the OL develops this year and and then fix the OL in FA with what doesn’t work out. The vast majority of skill players on offense will still be on rookie deals for the next few years. 
 

They could really set up an incoming rookie QB nicely.

[Dcash4]

I understand it’s a pipedream and won’t help a ton…

But they should feature Washington next preseason game for a long while. Let him put up numbers and make plays to the tune of someone overpaying. 

[MOSteelers56]

Looks like Banner and Chuks are starting with the first team now. Dotson doing individual drills with the team, which is the most he’s done in camp so far. The line is starting to shape up. I want to see Chuks and Moore get a good competition in. 

[August4th]

 

[warfelg]

I hear the resident radio loser is losing it over the revelation that Watt isn’t practicing due to the contract status. 
 

Im willing to bet all sides are in agreement. Would be stupid for him to practice without a contract and risk a NCI. Loser McLoserface showing his loser ways again.