Which Franchise is Most Delusional Right Now

[Malfatron]

1 hour ago, notthatbluestuff said:

Personally I haven't seen any Lions fans buying into the immense hype; it seems to be neutral fans/the media doing that if anything.

Good point.

Thats probably where i got that from

[lavar703]

17 hours ago, brownie man said:

I'd have to say the most delusion franchise in the league right now is the Atlanta Falcons. 

I personally think they're playing themselves if they believe Desmond Ridder is the guy. I don't think he has the talent. 

They've literally just given him the spot. 

Unless they're secretly trying to tank to get Caleb Williams I don't get it. To only bring in Taylor Henicke in my opinion is negligent. 

The only thing I can think of is they're trying to build the offense around him to set it up for a future QB. Like how the Broncos and Jets have done for example. 

If they really believe he's the guy I think they're going to be sadly disappointed. Just like when they took Pitts when they should've drafted Fields. They were delusional about Matt Ryan. I think they're being just as delusional now. 

 

I'd say Raiders are number 2. I have no idea what they're doing. Letting Carr walk for free and signing Jimmy and only drafting Aiden O'Connell. 

Like you're deff tanking, but I would've liked to see some effort in the draft. Like they could've at least drafted a QB with some talent like a Clayton Tune. O'Connell ain't isn't a starting level NFL qb. 

So what exactly were the Falcons other options? I mean, this is the same crap Washington fans deal with concerning Howell. I mean, we just saw a team take Anthony Richardson with a top 5 pick. Teams are reaching insanely and vastly overpaying for QBs so its really not that bad of an idea to put a fair amount of talent on your offense and try to develop a guy who's shown the ability to do it at the collegiate level. If it fails you draft a guy the following year and meanwhile you have the talent built up around that guy when it's time to take over. I really don't think its that big of a deal that the Falcons are rolling with Ridder. 

[scar988]

18 hours ago, brownie man said:

I'd have to say the most delusion franchise in the league right now is the Atlanta Falcons. 

I personally think they're playing themselves if they believe Desmond Ridder is the guy. I don't think he has the talent. 

They've literally just given him the spot. 

Unless they're secretly trying to tank to get Caleb Williams I don't get it. To only bring in Taylor Henicke in my opinion is negligent. 

The only thing I can think of is they're trying to build the offense around him to set it up for a future QB. Like how the Broncos and Jets have done for example. 

If they really believe he's the guy I think they're going to be sadly disappointed. Just like when they took Pitts when they should've drafted Fields. They were delusional about Matt Ryan. I think they're being just as delusional now. 

 

cool. You don’t think he has the talent. People much smarter than you do think he has it. Is he perfect? No. But he was easily the best REALISTIC option for the Falcons this year. The Falcons SHOULD win 10+ games if he’s who they (and I) think he is.  

 

16 hours ago, Steelersfan43 said:

I don't know if delusional is the right word, but I don't understand why the saints still act as a win now team.... Their window was closed a few years ago

Yup. It closed when Brees retired. But Loomis keeps charging the credit card and those interest payments will soon come due. 

16 hours ago, Malfatron said:

With their division, why not try?

Chip and a chair

Saints are closer to finishing last than first in the division tbh. And that’s not homerism for the Falcons and hatred for the Saints speaking. They lost 5 different defensive starters to FA. They have a lot of money tied to a turnstile in Peat. They got an Andy Dalton QB and paid him Big QB money. They’re not going to be good. 

15 hours ago, CP3MVP said:

I feel like Anything less than 9 wins in year 3 of Arthur smith is an abject failure IMO. Especially in that division.

Sure. Barring injuries of course. But they should also be able to win 10 or more games this year. With Ridder starting. And I’ll be here for brownie man to eat his crow. 

41 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

So what exactly were the Falcons other options? I mean, this is the same crap Washington fans deal with concerning Howell. I mean, we just saw a team take Anthony Richardson with a top 5 pick. Teams are reaching insanely and vastly overpaying for QBs so its really not that bad of an idea to put a fair amount of talent on your offense and try to develop a guy who's shown the ability to do it at the collegiate level. If it fails you draft a guy the following year and meanwhile you have the talent built up around that guy when it's time to take over. I really don't think its that big of a deal that the Falcons are rolling with Ridder. 

Will Levis

trading for Tannehill

signing Carr

or sticking with the guy they have invested a year in, has great intangibles, knows the offense and while he isn’t elite in any single aspect outside of intangibles, he has above-average to good skills everywhere else. Sounds a lot like an early Matt Ryan but more athletic. 
 

what I don’t get is it feels like Washington gets a pass for Howell comparatively. The Falcons get treated like they should have spent #8 on a guy like Will Levi’s who’s an abject weirdo. 
 

Also, it used to be commonplace before the modern era to draft a QB in the 2nd or 3rd round and then try to develop him before throwing him to the wolves. Arthur Smith is pretty old school with a lot of what he does. This really isn’t any different. But because these are the only starters in the NFL not drafted in the first:

Russell Wilson

Jalen Hurts

Dak Prescott

Kirk Cousins

Derek Carr

Desmond Ridder

Sam Howell

Brock Purdy

Geno Smith

 

people seem to think that the teams aren’t trying to put the best guy out there. No one’s mind is going to change on this til the season anyway. But I’m tired of seeing this idea that the Falcons honestly could have gotten a better QB than Ridder this off-season without mortgaging a future for one in the draft or trading for Lamar (who was literally never on the block to be traded) or taking the 4th best QB in this draft. The only argument is the fields thing, but Ryan still looked like he had 2 years worth of juice left in 2021 so they stuck with him. Hindsight being what it is, maybe things worked out for the best. 

[Superduperman]

3 hours ago, notthatbluestuff said:

Personally I haven't seen any Lions fans buying into the immense hype; it seems to be neutral fans/the media doing that if anything.

I mean, we're hopeful... It's not delusional to think they're assembling a good team of young players, and are probably starting a several-year window of being competitive. I don't see many Lions fans taking it for granted that they will be SB contenders right away, but I don't think we're out of bounds to believe they can get there in time

[Spartica4Real]

18 hours ago, Steelersfan43 said:

I don't know if delusional is the right word, but I don't understand why the saints still act as a win now team.... Their window was closed a few years ago

We absolutely are a win now team, just not a very good one lol, barring Carr returning back to peak form away from that dysfunctional organization. Our entire core roster is aging and this squad is definitely win now, especially in this division. 

[kingseanjohn]

Browns and Jets by far. Jets would be less delusional if they played in a weaker division.

[brownie man]

2 hours ago, scar988 said:

cool. You don’t think he has the talent. People much smarter than you do think he has it. Is he perfect? No. But he was easily the best REALISTIC option for the Falcons this year. The Falcons SHOULD win 10+ games if he’s who they (and I) think he is.  

 

 

These same people are the ones who thought Matt Ryan had gas still left in the tank and drafted Kyle’s Pitts over Justin Fields AND just drafted a running back in the top 10. No sir your front office is actually not making smart moves. They’ve been making delusional decisions for years. 
 

If y’all drafted Fields in 2021 like you were supposed to y’all wouldn’t be in this situation. He would’ve developed behind Matt Ryan for a year and y’all would’ve been good to go. 
 

But no y’all played yourselves thinking he had ability left. THEEENNNN y’all try to trade for Deshaun and literally set a grenade on yall selves then you panic and have to get Marcus Mariota. 
 

Y’all been playing yall selves since you gave Ryan that horrible contract. Been making bad moves since. 
 

Even if Bijan goes all pro you do not take runningbacks to 10. You guys are going to regret big time passing on Jalen Carter and Christian Gonzalez. 

Edited May 29, 2023 by brownie man

[Soko]

2 hours ago, scar988 said:

cool. You don’t think he has the talent. People much smarter than you do think he has it. 

This is always the lamest excuse on this message board. 

Dozens and dozens of people “much smarter”, much higher paid, and with much better resumes, make atrocious decisions everyday in every different sports league. If this was a valid excuse, then literally nobody here would have any ground to stand on to criticize anything anyone does in the NFL, whatsoever. How lame is that?

[Soko]

Some of the teams in the NFCS maybe, but that division is wide open so you almost can’t fault them. I think the Jets have a little “dream team” to them, but I wouldn’t push it that far yet. I expect them to be quite good. I don’t think the Lions are delusional with more talent on the roster + no more Rodgers in Green Bay. 

My answer’s actually the Chargers. Even though Moore had some power struggles in Dallas and Dallas had high productivity from the offense, I think it’s probably noteworthy that they were just cutting Moore loose like that. I also think Staley is the perfect example of coach-purgatory.

[lavar703]

3 hours ago, scar988 said:

cool. You don’t think he has the talent. People much smarter than you do think he has it. Is he perfect? No. But he was easily the best REALISTIC option for the Falcons this year. The Falcons SHOULD win 10+ games if he’s who they (and I) think he is.  

 

Yup. It closed when Brees retired. But Loomis keeps charging the credit card and those interest payments will soon come due. 

Saints are closer to finishing last than first in the division tbh. And that’s not homerism for the Falcons and hatred for the Saints speaking. They lost 5 different defensive starters to FA. They have a lot of money tied to a turnstile in Peat. They got an Andy Dalton QB and paid him Big QB money. They’re not going to be good. 

Sure. Barring injuries of course. But they should also be able to win 10 or more games this year. With Ridder starting. And I’ll be here for brownie man to eat his crow. 

Will Levis

trading for Tannehill

signing Carr

or sticking with the guy they have invested a year in, has great intangibles, knows the offense and while he isn’t elite in any single aspect outside of intangibles, he has above-average to good skills everywhere else. Sounds a lot like an early Matt Ryan but more athletic. 
 

what I don’t get is it feels like Washington gets a pass for Howell comparatively. The Falcons get treated like they should have spent #8 on a guy like Will Levi’s who’s an abject weirdo. 
 

Also, it used to be commonplace before the modern era to draft a QB in the 2nd or 3rd round and then try to develop him before throwing him to the wolves. Arthur Smith is pretty old school with a lot of what he does. This really isn’t any different. But because these are the only starters in the NFL not drafted in the first:

Russell Wilson

Jalen Hurts

Dak Prescott

Kirk Cousins

Derek Carr

Desmond Ridder

Sam Howell

Brock Purdy

Geno Smith

 

people seem to think that the teams aren’t trying to put the best guy out there. No one’s mind is going to change on this til the season anyway. But I’m tired of seeing this idea that the Falcons honestly could have gotten a better QB than Ridder this off-season without mortgaging a future for one in the draft or trading for Lamar (who was literally never on the block to be traded) or taking the 4th best QB in this draft. The only argument is the fields thing, but Ryan still looked like he had 2 years worth of juice left in 2021 so they stuck with him. Hindsight being what it is, maybe things worked out for the best. 

Nah man, we don't lol. We were getting hammered for not attempting to trade for Jackson or going out and signing Carr. Also got beat up on for not drafting Levis at 16. 

[Forge]

1 hour ago, Soko said:

This is always the lamest excuse on this message board. 

Dozens and dozens of people “much smarter”, much higher paid, and with much better resumes, make atrocious decisions everyday in every different sports league. If this was a valid excuse, then literally nobody here but Forge would have any ground to stand on to criticize anything anyone does in the NFL, whatsoever. How lame is that?

Assuming just an oversight

[Jakuvious]

It's a little tough to say in some cases without actually knowing how teams feel about their current situation. You can gather a bit from how they act in the draft/free agency, but not entirely. Like, if the Raiders think they're competing this year with or without Jimmy G, or if the Giants think they're going to win a super bowl with Daniel Jones, or if the Cardinals still truly believe Kyler is going to carry the franchise, I would probably call those teams delusional. But I'm not sure they do think those things, they're just doing what they can with what they've got at the moment. If the Giants just think Jones is better than a mid-round rookie or something, I can sympathize with that. If the Cardinals just know they have no choice but to stick with Murray for now, yeah, that's fair.

I would echo those who list the Saints here. Plenty of teams have gone all-in in recent years, and some of those have been very successful. The Pats won a late one with Brady when they were starting to push cap out to keep things rolling. The Bucs definitely went all-in cap wise once they then got Brady. The Rams here recently. The Eagles definitely have had an all-in mentality the past offseason or two. Even the Bills with a move like getting Von Miller. KC definitely tried to run it back in 2020. Like, plenty of successful teams, whether that's been a superbowl win or just generally high end success, have gone all-in in recent years and done well with it. But these teams have also generally understood that a reset is going to have to come off the back of it. Tampa is tanking their cap this year. New England did in I think 2020. KC has had more conservative draft-heavy offseasons in 2021/2022 after keeping everyone around for 2020 didn't work as well as hoped. Wouldn't surprise me to see Buffalo scale things back in a year or two with some of the vets if it doesn't happen this year (guys like Morse, Dawkins, Hyde, Poyer, etc.) The Saints though are the team that just keeps going. Keep pushing it down the road, no matter what. And they should have hopped off this train when Brees retired, let things settle for one year, get a new QB and go back at it after he financial recovery. But for some reason they keep trying to stay all-in with Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton and Derek Carr. And that is absolutely delusional. And it's not like they have to completely sack everything. But stop giving void year deals to guys like Tanoh Kpassagnon, Bradley Roby, and Juwan Johnson. Do what you have to to keep like Cameron Jordan and Marshon Lattimore and Ryan Ramczyk, sure. But like, why do you have dead money for Ian Book? The cost of your 9-8 season in 2021 is the fact that you're still paying for Malcolm Jenkins. Like....stop.

Otherwise, for me it would be basically any team that has a mid-tier QB that likes their chances to win the superbowl by paying said QB. But it's hard to tell what the teams actually think of their guys internally. Like, if the Giants or the Lions or the Seahawks are like hey, we're making progress, team culture is improving, we're building back from a kind of rough spot, and we just don't want to tank that immediately by dumping the guy that got us halfway to success, that's fine. If they think they're winning the superbowl with Goff or Geno or Jones or Cousins or Mac Jones or Baker Mayfield....those teams are kidding themselves. Maybe a random NFC team squeaks in there, but so many things are going to have to go right to beat a Mahomes or Burrow or Allen or Hurts at some point in the postseason there.

[brownie man]

33 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

Nah man, we don't lol. We were getting hammered for not attempting to trade for Jackson or going out and signing Carr. Also got beat up on for not drafting Levis at 16. 

I actually think Sam Howell has talent though 

Like compared to Desmond Ridder. I know he went after him but going into their last seasons Howell was getting legit first round hype. He's more talented than Ridder. In my personal opinion I can give them more of a pass. 

Plus the Falcons let the Panthers jump them to go to number 1 when their pick was behind the Falcons. I know the Falcons didn't have a DJ Moore, but still they waited back and did nothing. 

Commanders didn't pick till 16. Falcons picked at 8. I don't think they're in the same conversation. 

[BetterCallSaul]

5 hours ago, scar988 said:

Saints are closer to finishing last than first in the division tbh

No they’re not. They are probably gonna win 8-9 games this season at worst despite having a roster than is uninspiring to say the least. I hate the Saints, but they aren’t gonna be bad. You can argue the merit of taking half measures with their roster instead of rebuilding, but they will be surprisingly relevant—at least within the division scope.

I still think Atlanta wins the division by a hair next year, but the eventual reigning NFC South champs down the road is gonna be the Young-led Panthers. 

[Danger]

I feel like the only one here that believes in the Jets. I could easily see them winning a playoff game, maybe even making the conference championship. Though the SB is probably out of reach.