SmokinwithWilly

The most compelling game of the week.

We have A QB but no way to know if he's going to be worthy of the title franchise QB. The offseason goal with new coaches, centuries of NFL experience, trading for the 1st pick, all of it, was done with the idea that while the team may not have a winning record, we would be improved. Right now, if I didn't know, I'd think we were in Rhule's 4th season in Carolina. The Bears getting a top 5 pick would be a strong indication that this franchise is headed in the wrong direction, and giving up high level picks and your WR1 doesn't make reversing that direction any easier.

If players could have an option of a developmental league and skip the college thing all together it could potentially work. Also would get rid of the BS academic qualifications we all know are a joke anyway. If a player is balling out in the developmental league, he could just be signed by a team and not have to go through the draft process, etc.

The one thing fantasy football has done I think that has really hurt RB contracts is break down all the metrics of that position into excruciatingly painful detail including who tends to get hurt most (RBs), the usage vs injury, and at what point to expect the drop off. Guys like CMC, Saquan, Bijan have very unique skillsets that let them do more than the average back, but injuries still bite more often at the RB position than any other. There really are no more bell cow backs in the NFL anymore with only a couple of exceptions. It's just a sad fact that these guys take an obscene amount of punishment on often very low paying contracts vs other positions, and one injury and their career is over. James Robinson comes to mind. It's just all come down to numbers.

So Covid or post wedding sobriety.

Zavala about to have a very long day.

They've probably gone back and watched the game tape of Julio Jones burning us for 300 and that's now the game plan.

It starts and ends with him because he's the one acting as team president. This is his FO. He's made the hiring and firing decisions without the benefit of having experience in the operations of a football team. He got taken by Hurney. He got taken by Rhule. He got taken by Fitts and right now it doesn't look promising for Reich. He's been involved in pushing for players he wanted, much like Snyder did. His wife is on the phone making a trade during the draft. He took out the grass field so he could install turf and use the stadium for concerts and soccer despite what the players of his team want and the studies have shown regarding injury. People are blaming Tepper because his fingerprints are all over this sloppy mess and it looks like one big shitshow because that's what it is.

Better question. Would they want Frank as part of the trade?

Actually there is. This is about winning. If the 12 year vet is playing better than the rookie, the rookie needs to sit. When we're officially out of playoff contention, play the rookie. But until that point, the goal should always be making the playoffs.

When you don't know poo about the workings of a football organization and you're making the decisions on HC, GM, which players to pursue, having your wife make trades, etc, you're meddling. What he's doing is basically the equivalent of trying to build 50 million dollar mansion being his own GC when his real job is a dentist.

Don't really care to emulate another team. This team needs people running it that can see what's on the horizon and be a step ahead instead of a mile behind. We knew a decade ago when they limited contact on receivers at the line that the NFL was transitioning to a more offense friendly league. We've hired coaches from the 80's mindset and haven't wavered really. A youngish visionary that really understands what it takes to build a front office and organization. That's what I want in a president/ceo. The rest can come from there.

Fantasy football and Vegas heavily influence the way the game has changed IMO. Multi billion dollar business focused around another multi billion dollar business that feed each other. It's going to stay that way until consumers start getting bored, then expect some new rule changes.

This off season sealed the deal for me on Fitts. I thought maybe it was Rhule influencing the picks, but he did the same poo again. He panicked and reached for a guy when he screwed up taking Mingo. Nothing against Mingo, but edge rushers are harder to come by than WRs. You have to know the value of certain positions in the draft. Who knew that there would be a run on edge rushers? Oh I don't know. Maybe everybody.

You said there was never any sign of him putting the littlest finger on influencing the team to sign any players contract. Tepper may not have signed that contract but he was definitely forcing everything leading up to it before not pulling the trigger. There was an offer on the table from Carolina when Watson dropped the Panthers from places he would be willing to play. Just because Tepper didn't want to hand over 180m to a guy that might never take another snap in the NFL , because the NFL hadnt handed down their ruling yet, doesn't mean he wasn't involved in decisions for the future of the team. Would you hand over $50m a year to someone who might never be at work on Monday? I'm not saying he made the BY decision. I have no idea. I do know that he's made his opinion well known throughout the building before, and as an employee, when your boss is pressing his influence, you tend to listen to keep your paycheck, whether you agree or not. But to say there's no sign he's ever pushed his influence into decisions regarding players against the best interests of the team is naive because we've seen him do exactly that very thing.

I hate you based on sheer principle.

Or two 2nds can be Davonte Adams and Ryan Khalil. Teams build through the draft. You need to get those players on rookie contracts. Trading costs. FAs costs. Draft picks are cheap. 1st and 2nds are gold when building a team.

Is Michael Jordan still a FA? *sarcasm* but not really. Maybe sorta.

KB is going to always be one of those what ifs. Everyone reacts differently to grief and combined with the knee injury, the guy just imploded.

Don't forget, Hurney was trying to trade up for him too.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/panthers-moving-on-from-nfl-trade-deadline-interest-in-deshaun-watson-sources-say/ "Panthers executive Steven Drummond is very close with Texans top exec Jack Easterby, the Texans would prefer to ship Watson to the NFC, all things being equal, and Tepper's motivation to land Watson should not be overlooked. He has made it clear throughout his organization for some time that he covets the Texans' franchise QB." https://nfltraderumors.co/panthers-owner-david-tepper-reportedly-highly-motivated-to-land-deshaun-watson/ "According to Jason La Canfora, Panthers owner David Tepper is consumed by the prospect of landing Texans QB Deshaun Watson if and when Houston makes him available via trade." https://catcrave.com/2021/02/18/deshaun-watson-david-tepper-final-say/ However, the influence of David Tepper cannot be understated. The team owner has been bold with his moves since buying the franchise from Jerry Richardson and if the billionaire has any say in the matter, Watson will be on the Panthers next season. Doesn't sound at all like an owner that's not heavily involved in the process, now does it?

When you're talking about the face of a billion dollar business, that decision isn't being pushed without the owner. You said there wasn't a whisper of Tepper putting any influence into that. I'm calling BS. There's no way in hell I allow a man accused of 24 counts of sexual misconduct to be the face of my business, especially when every other owner is sitting quiet, without being heavily involved and influencing that decision. All this was happening before the settlement agreements. He was willing to do this without knowing what the outcome was going to be. Do you know what that would do to the image of this franchise and its value? I don't give a poo how good the meatballs are, no way Tepper is letting Rhule cost him potentially billions without being heavily involved in the decision making process.

The 9ers got fuging lucky and there's no denying it. Mr. Irrelevant just happened to end up being the best QB on their team. If they didn't have Purdy, they'd be fugged.

It does count because he made it very clear that the franchise stood behind him when every other team in the NFL wanted nothing to do with him during that whole mess. We restructured contracts and made a crap ton of room for a player that never said he was coming here or even wanted to. Watson said he would play in Carolina if he had to, but he never actually wanted to play here. I'm sorry, but as a franchise, you don't stand behind an accused sexual predator with that many accusations without the owner's backing. No freaking way.

Seattle is another artificial turf field. Soft tissue injuries just keep piling up.