NFCN Rivals 2024

[dll2000]

12 hours ago, Mdpackfan22 said:

All of them were rookies or 2nd year players last year. Watson, Wicks, Reed, Musgrave and Kraft all have shown potential to be pro bowl caliber players. Doubs is no slouch either and our OL should theoretically be better. People don't appreciate how young and inexperienced the Packers were last year on offense. Someone can fact check me but I believe we were the youngest team since the 0-16 Browns.

And Love still finished 2nd in the league in TD passes with Watson, Aaron Jones and Musgrave missing half the season. With expected improvements from all the young guys, offense on paper has potential to be best in the league. We'll see if they get there, why the games are played 

They are collectively good.  

My opinion is early, but the only potentially elite player I see thus far from your list still on team is Musgrave who has to stay healthy. 

I think the team will miss Jones considerably who was underrated nationally and borderline elite.   He bailed them out of many situations.  Jacobs is potentially a solid replacement though.

The big investment in team has been in defensive front 7.  Their success will hinge on them.  

[Mdpackfan22]

10 hours ago, dll2000 said:

They are collectively good.  

My opinion is early, but the only potentially elite player I see thus far from your list still on team is Musgrave who has to stay healthy. 

I think the team will miss Jones considerably who was underrated nationally and borderline elite.   He bailed them out of many situations.  Jacobs is potentially a solid replacement though.

The big investment in team has been in defensive front 7.  Their success will hinge on them.  

Wicks is Davante Adams lite. Can take PFF with a grain of salt but they speak very highly of his advance stats. Probably the WR packers fans are most excited about for the future

Watson has the highest ceiling. You can't teach 6'5 4.3 with a knack for the endzone. He's by far the biggest question mark though because of health. 

Jayden Reed just put up 10 TDs as a rookie. I'm not sure there's a good comparison out there for him. Closest in how we use him would probably be Deebo. Though he's not as big or physical as him, think he has a higher ceiling from a pure WR standpoint.

 

I will admit i'm a Packers homer so I'm biased, but all 3 of the above have the potential to be top 10 WRs. Will they get there? Well that's why the games are played

[Spartacus]

On 5/7/2024 at 1:41 PM, BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW said:

It's really funny trying to be analytical about the Bears.  I feel like there was genuine reason to expect them to be good last year and we know how that turned out.  But pretend you hate the Bears,  what are your reasons to think they're going to be ****e again?

1. Pass Rush: The defense is pretty stacked especially in the secondary and against the run. I'm not overly concerned about the pass rush however and frankly I think that is where teams were able to take advantage last year at times. Certainly they struggled creating pressure against the Packers. 

2. Offensive coaching is still possibly worse in the division. 

3. Rookie QB. The weapons are good but how many times do you see rookie QBs come in and play like Stroud? More than likely there will be a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. Personally I thought both Andrew Luck and Trevor Lawrence were better prospects than Williams coming out and both had up and down first years.

4. Interior OL is still questionable.

5. Depth. I know "Because he might get injured" is a meme but I don't see the depth on the Bears to be able to take on many injuries especially across the trenches and still be effective. 

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

9 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

1. Pass Rush: The defense is pretty stacked especially in the secondary and against the run. I'm not overly concerned about the pass rush however and frankly I think that is where teams were able to take advantage last year at times. Certainly they struggled creating pressure against the Packers. 

2. Offensive coaching is still possibly worse in the division. 

3. Rookie QB. The weapons are good but how many times do you see rookie QBs come in and play like Stroud? More than likely there will be a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. Personally I thought both Andrew Luck and Trevor Lawrence were better prospects than Williams coming out and both had up and down first years.

4. Interior OL is still questionable.

5. Depth. I know "Because he might get injured" is a meme but I don't see the depth on the Bears to be able to take on many injuries especially across the trenches and still be effective. 

Pass rush, yeah we have one guy.  It's not ideal.  Really curious to see how the defense handles better QBs than they beat up on last year.  We also had some really good luck with takeaways last year, which usually doesn't carry year to year.

OC, I have no idea.   Wish I knew people that watched the Seahawks to give me some idea of whether this guy is any good.

Our rookie QB is already doing weird **** at a Russell Wilson level (Bear Claw) leave him alone

We at least have a lot of guys?

I think we have good depth on IOL, which we'll probably need, good LB, DB depth. Love our WR room.  Not even sure we have an entire starting DL much less depth guys. 

[dll2000]

5 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

1. Pass Rush: The defense is pretty stacked especially in the secondary and against the run. I'm not overly concerned about the pass rush however and frankly I think that is where teams were able to take advantage last year at times. Certainly they struggled creating pressure against the Packers. 

2. Offensive coaching is still possibly worse in the division. 

3. Rookie QB. The weapons are good but how many times do you see rookie QBs come in and play like Stroud? More than likely there will be a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. Personally I thought both Andrew Luck and Trevor Lawrence were better prospects than Williams coming out and both had up and down first years.

4. Interior OL is still questionable.

5. Depth. I know "Because he might get injured" is a meme but I don't see the depth on the Bears to be able to take on many injuries especially across the trenches and still be effective. 

1.  True. Though improved a lot in second half of season as Sweat had a huge multiplier effect. 

2. This remains to be seen.  It’s all new aside from OL coach.  Unless you are basing it off Seattle. 

3. I think even as a rookie this is our best QB since Cutler.  He’s better than Trubisky and Fields from jump IMO.  He will struggle with turnovers early I think. Most of the greats do. 

4.  LG Jenkins for some reason laid an egg against Pack, he is a strange guy and has his days I think mentally.  But at his best this guy is a mauler at an elite level, why he is a fan favorite.  He was also playing his 3rd position in 3 years.  

RG Davis was good in TN which is why he was signed.  He lost his mom last summer and it really affected his play, probably due to lack of offseason prep.  Which is reportedly reason TN was okay with him leaving.  He doesn't love to practice.  We will see if we see a different guy this year. He is talented. 

C is new.  Hard to go down from our C play in recent years as it has been awful.  We traded for Bates to fill that role.   He didn’t start in Buffalo, but he is talented and our GM is high on him.  This is a mystery box right now.  

5. This is a problem for everyone in NFL and can bite any team at key positions.  

[AZBearsFan]

21 hours ago, Mdpackfan22 said:

I will admit i'm a Packers homer so I'm biased, but all 3 of the above have the potential to be top 10 WRs. Will they get there? Well that's why the games are played

Well at least you admit it lol.

Top 10 is an incredibly tough group to crack. DJ Moore had 1364 receiving yards and 9 total TDs last year and has 6500 yards in 6 years despite the fact that Fields (a subpar passer) is probably the best QB he’s ever played with (late career Newton was terrible), and Moore is not even for sure a top 10 WR in the league right now.

In no particular order:

Hill

Jefferson

Chase

Lamb

Adams

St. Brown

Metcalf

Evans

Brown

Moore

That’s the 10 guys I’d have top 10 in some order, and it doesn’t even include Deebo, Aiyuk, Devonta, Diggs, Higgins, McLaurin, Waddle, Cooper, Kupp, Allen, Nacua or Pittman. That’s a dozen more. If any of the GB even crack that group of 22 guys then that’s a dude. 

[Mdpackfan22]

3 minutes ago, AZBearsFan said:

Well at least you admit it lol.

Top 10 is an incredibly tough group to crack. DJ Moore had 1364 receiving yards and 9 total TDs last year and has 6500 yards in 6 years despite the fact that Fields (a subpar passer) is probably the best QB he’s ever played with (late career Newton was terrible), and Moore is not even for sure a top 10 WR in the league right now.

In no particular order:

Hill

Jefferson

Chase

Lamb

Adams

St. Brown

Metcalf

Evans

Brown

Moore

That’s the 10 guys I’d have top 10 in some order, and it doesn’t even include Deebo, Aiyuk, Devonta, Diggs, Higgins, McLaurin, Waddle, Cooper, Kupp, Allen, Nacua or Pittman. That’s a dozen more. If any of the GB even crack that group of 22 guys then that’s a dude. 

1. I think DJ Moore is a top 5 WR in the league. Only WRs i'd clearly take over him currently are Hill and JJ. He'd be a household name if he had consistent, top QB play like some of the other WRs on this list

2. I'm not saying our young are top 10 currently or will be top 10 this year, but they all have the potential to be there one day. Each of them has a special aspect of their game. 

[SodeeWater_Cheezburger]

On 4/26/2024 at 8:17 AM, dll2000 said:

Morgan was an interesting and surprise pick by Packs.  I honestly know nothing about him. 

Detroit has been drafting well under this GM.  I don’t like it.  

MN has great coaches.  Their current GM kinda sucks at drafting. Maybe worst in NFL.  I will say they got lucky they had to give up nothing for JJ.   But it shows they didn’t read the market and their intelligence network failed.   Now they have few picks next year. AND I believe their true target was Drake Maye and they didn’t get their man.  So they settled.  I don’t know about settling at QB.  Maybe just punt. They waited at least a year too long to move on from Cousins.  Just bad strategy. 

 

I think it was all part of their plan.  They know the draft is being held in Green Bay next year, and they figure if they trade all their picks away before that, then they don't have to bother going over there.    That's what I'd do. 

 

[SodeeWater_Cheezburger]

On 4/26/2024 at 8:43 AM, vike daddy said:

hmmm... you're pretty much the only "analyst" who feel our GM didn't do his job extremely well last night...

 

The relatively boring night—outside of Atlanta’s shocker—worked out in Minnesota’s favor. After New England held onto the third pick and took North Carolina QB Drake Maye, it looked as if the Vikings would have to make a desperate move up the board to jump in front of other QB-needy teams to land their guy. If Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had been reading the same mock drafts (with trades!) that I had been reading for the last few months, maybe he would have felt pressured into making such a deal. But he didn’t need to.

“Obviously, there were a lot of things outside of our control, so we wanted to make sure that we were ready for every scenario,” Adofo-Mensah said of Minnesota’s night. “We’re through the moon with what happened. We were able to add a cornerstone piece of the franchise in a quarterback who’s got a lot of potential, a lot of ability, who’s won at a high level in a lot of different places.”

The best part: Minnesota didn’t have to give up any Day 1 or Day 2 picks on Thursday night to get McCarthy. The Vikings went on to draft Dallas Turner with the 17th pick after swinging a trade with the Jaguars to move up six spots—a deal that may not have been possible if Adofo-Mensah had traded up for McCarthy in the top five. Brian Flores will surely be happy about adding Turner. The blitz-happy defensive coordinator needed more talent along his front, and the team just delivered a do-it-all edge defender with the athleticism to drop into coverage.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/4/26/24141127/winners-losers-nfl-draft-first-round-michael-penix-atlanta-falcons-caleb-williams-chicago-bears

I have to agree with this.  I think Kwesi did a very good job.  My guess is that the Vikings had Drake Maye as the guy they wanted the most, and would have been willing to give up the 3 first round picks for him, but New England decided they didn't want to pass on him, so they just stayed and made the pick.

I was thinking that McCarthy was their #2 most wanted, and they would have been willing to give up this year's two first round picks if they had to in order to get him.  Instead, Kwesi did a great job reading the market and had the fortitude to hold tight until MM fell further down the board. 

Some people say he paid too much to move up one spot to #10, but I don't blame him there.  Bill Belichick said that if he's your guy and you really want him, you do what you have to do to make sure you get him.  There were a few teams to worry about possibly leapfrogging you, including Denver, New Orleans, and maybe even a surprise move by Dallas or someone like that.  As it turned out, you gave up a couple of mid round picks, but ended up getting McCarthy AND the best pass rusher in the draft in Dallas Turner.  That was just some "Kwesi-good" work by your GM!

[Spartacus]

1 hour ago, SodeeWater_Cheezburger said:

I have to agree with this.  I think Kwesi did a very good job.  My guess is that the Vikings had Drake Maye as the guy they wanted the most, and would have been willing to give up the 3 first round picks for him, but New England decided they didn't want to pass on him, so they just stayed and made the pick.

I was thinking that McCarthy was their #2 most wanted, and they would have been willing to give up this year's two first round picks if they had to in order to get him.  Instead, Kwesi did a great job reading the market and had the fortitude to hold tight until MM fell further down the board. 

Some people say he paid too much to move up one spot to #10, but I don't blame him there.  Bill Belichick said that if he's your guy and you really want him, you do what you have to do to make sure you get him.  There were a few teams to worry about possibly leapfrogging you, including Denver, New Orleans, and maybe even a surprise move by Dallas or someone like that.  As it turned out, you gave up a couple of mid round picks, but ended up getting McCarthy AND the best pass rusher in the draft in Dallas Turner.  That was just some "Kwesi-good" work by your GM!

I have never liked a Kwesi draft and I this one is no different. I don't understand what the Vikings are going for outside of being as close to 8-9 as possible. 

[SodeeWater_Cheezburger]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:57 PM, Spartacus said:

I have never liked a Kwesi draft and I this one is no different. I don't understand what the Vikings are going for outside of being as close to 8-9 as possible. 

Are you just not a fan of McCarthy?  If so, I can understand your feeling that way about their draft.  IMO, how he turns out will go a long way toward determining if this was a good draft or a bad one for them.  Personally, I think they guy they really wanted was Drake Maye, but New England was just not going to move off of the pick. 

McCarthy seems like a decent prospect, even though he had more limited action in college.  I think the fact that Kwesi didn't panic and give away multiple first round picks for him showed a lot about Kwesi's moxie.  Ending up with the QB and then getting possibly the best pass rusher in the draft and also saving next year's first round pick was smart.

We will all probably just have to see how McCarthy turns out.  Only one thing is 100% certain, and that is that Kwesi and O'Connell know more about all this stuff than I do.   

[Spartacus]

1 minute ago, SodeeWater_Cheezburger said:

Are you just not a fan of McCarthy?  If so, I can understand your feeling that way about their draft.  IMO, how he turns out will go a long way toward determining if this was a good draft or a bad one for them.  Personally, I think they guy they really wanted was Drake Maye, but New England was just not going to move off of the pick. 

McCarthy seems like a decent prospect, even though he had more limited action in college.  I think the fact that Kwesi didn't panic and give away multiple first round picks for him showed a lot about Kwesi's moxie.  Ending up with the QB and then getting possibly the best pass rusher in the draft and also saving next year's first round pick was smart.

We will all probably just have to see how McCarthy turns out.  Only one thing is 100% certain, and that is that Kwesi and O'Connell know more about all this stuff than I do.   

I think McCarthy is a 2nd round talent who went in the first. I also think Turner went exactly where he should have went. I don't see the upside to Turner that some do. I have never liked a CB that the Vikings have drafted. 

I also just don't like there general strategy this draft. If they were Detroit and were a win or 2 from the superbowl sure trade up but I dont think they are near talented enough to not be stacking draft picks. Just overall not a huge fan of the players or the strategy.

[dll2000]

Lions spending some money now.

 

[dafreak]

17 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Lions spending some money now.

 

Jordan Love, you are on the clock...

[HuskieBear]

1 hour ago, dll2000 said:

Lions spending some money now.

 

Jared Goff was very good for the lions last year. he also still doesn't really scare me. I'm ok with them cutting their available cap space for next year in half with this