Mr. Scot

A little bit of free agent related news this morning. Former Panther Andrew Norwell took a pay cut to stay with the Jaguars. He won't be a free agent. The Ravens agreed to terms with guard Kevin Zeitler who'd been released by the Giants.

This one might take a while. Mind you, there could be surprises, or we could bring back one of our own.

You sure about that?

Granted it's David Newton, but he's probably right. Well, partially right since the legal tampering period doesn't officially begin until Noon.

Well understood Mentioned to somebody else that with the news I got a while back, I didn't know if I would be around this year, but I am and we're trying to get a house. Hence why I get a chuckle out of people thinking I'm grumpy

Lady Cowboy Fan and I have a busy couple of months ahead, but I'll still be following the football news pretty closely.

From Albert Breer's latest MMQB... The Cam Newton news is not worth Patriots fans freaking out over. Contracts will always tell you what a team—and to some degree, the league—thinks of a player. And if you dig into the details on Newton’s deal to return to New England, it’s not hard to read this one. Newton gets $2 million to sign, a $1.5 million base for 2021 that’s fully guaranteed, $1.5 million in per-game roster bonuses, $8.5 million in incentives and a $100,000 workout bonus. And going through the incentives, here’s the rough translation: • He’ll get $3.6 million if he doesn’t make the team. • He’ll likely get at least $5.1 million if he does, and stays healthy (they won’t put him on the roster to make him a gameday inactive). • More realistically, he’ll probably earn either $5.6 million or $6.1 million (based on playing time triggers), if he makes the roster, because I can’t imagine they’ll keep him as a backup. • If he hits any of the remaining $7.5 million in playoff and awards incentives, then the decision to bring him back will have been a success. Now, here’s the thing—when the cap was set last week, the Patriots had about $68.2 million to work with. That’ll come down a little with the Trent Brown trade, but the bottom line is that allotting $6 million of that space to give yourself a placeholder at the position (and maybe he’ll be more than that, we’ll see) is a worthy use of that resource. And if he’s really good, it’ll be worth it to dump a few million in incentives into next year’s cap. Fact is, Newton had a horrific situation around him in 2020, with a skill group worse than Alabama’s or Ohio State’s (no exaggeration), had barely played any football in a year and a half going in, was coming off significant shoulder and foot surgeries, and got COVID-19 after a promising start. So I have no issue with the Patriots taking another flier on Cam, so long as they make him compete for the job with another vet and/or a rookie coming in.

Nope. He's agreed to terms with the Ravens.

To those hoping for an Andrew Norwell return, bad news. He agreed to a pay cut in order to stay with the Jaguars.

From Albert Breer's latest MMQB column, comments from two general managers and an offensive coach regarding Lance's workout, including a comparison to Justin fields... General Manager 1: “He was really impressive. You look at him, you can feel his presence when you talk to him, and that’s a big thing for quarterbacks. And the ball just jumps off his hand. His deep ball was awesome, he has tremendous arm strength. His accuracy was a little hit-and-miss. But once you saw him get in a rhythm, he started hitting guys more consistently. He’s just a really talented guy. … This was a big day for him, and he handled it really well. He’s an impressive guy, he did a really nice job today. People might b---- that he threw high to this guy, or behind that guy, but you saw everything you needed to see physically.” General Manager 2: “He looks the part. He’s a big, long athlete, has a good look in his eye. I like the poise he showed in the workout, when he missed a throw it didn’t faze him. The ball jumped off his hand. I think he helped himself. The arm looked strong on tape, and that checked out. He has a really good arm, not a Josh Allen arm, but really good. The workout was efficiently run. He missed some throws—his accuracy’s not elite for a high first-round guy, but neither was Josh Allen’s or Lamar Jackson’s. He’s gotta clean up some fundamentals. But he’s a really smart kid, he played in a pro offense, he can do that. He does lock on to his primary [receiver] at times. But the upside and makeup are there. He might have to modify something, but he’s got a chance to be really good.” Offensive coach: “He threw it better than I expected. He didn’t show signs of the big loop you saw on tape. He tightened that up and it wasn’t forced, just watching him throw. He threw it really well. He’s got some stiffness, because he’s a big, muscular guy, but showed what he needed to. He misses throws, and there’s some of that because of the stiffness. I just think he gets tight in how he throws. But he, to me, looks like a more natural passer than Josh Allen did coming out. I was more worried more about Josh’s accuracy—and I was wrong on that. In comparison, a guy like [Justin] Fields is a more fluid athlete. This is more an overpowering athlete, not as smooth, just a big, strong, fast, physical guy.”

Because Norwell wasn't a free agent. He was a potential cut. As of this morning though, he's not anymore. Norwell accepted a lowered salary to stay with the Jags.

Someone pointed out it matches what Russell Wilson signed a few years back. I don't get the point either.

It's valid. Just an extremely weird ass structure.

I got the gist but it's still insane.

The hell?

Texans also traded the Patriots for tackle Marcus Cannon.

Nobody played a home Super Bowl until last year either. It's far from impossible, especially not at a time when everything is a little off-kilter.

Seasonal honors? He barely played half the season last year Norwell was overpaid on his last contract but if anybody's "disappeared", it's Turner.

Full breakdown...

Honestly, no. Norwell? Yeah. Turner? Nope.

I'm not looking so much at what that says about Brady as what it does about Wilson.

Not a bad chunk of change either...

McDermott continues to look like he's getting better mileage out of our former players than Rivera ever did.

Only kinda sorta free agent related but damn...

Unrestricted free agent