Mr. Scot

Absolutely...

The article goes on to explain that one of the reasons the league became beholden to Amazon in this issue is because nobody else wants the Thursday night package. The inconvenient truth for the NFL is that Amazon stepped up for the league at a point when it was having trouble finding anyone willing to pay its price for TNF. (Fox willingly walked away from the package.) Likewise, selling off Sunday Ticket wasn’t easy, and it took a long time for the league to get to where it wanted to be with YouTube. And if the league believes these streaming partners are the future of broadcast media (and it does), it needs to make those partners happy, especially considering these packages are up for bid again in seven years. Which means the NFL needs its product to be a needle-mover for streaming partners to get more services in and bidding on its different packages. So on Tepper’s question, it’s not in Amazon’s best interest for the streaming service to get a game-changing boom for the many bucks it gave the NFL. It’s imperative for the league that Amazon receives that sort of impact too, to set up its future in that space, and to get companies like Apple—companies that weren’t all that enthusiastic the last time around—interested. And then, on the other side of this, you’ve got the players, many of whom already consider playing on Thursday a heavy burden (older players especially, with some younger players liking the extra time off on the back end). McCourty told me that, just to get himself in position to play on a normal Thursday, he’d have to start planning for Sundays ahead of time. He was always worried about getting out of the previous Sunday’s game healthy.

At this point, I'd say you can probably unpin this topic. Our free agency push looks the mostly be over. All the focus now is on the draft.

We don't know where they have them graded, but system fit is part of that equation.

King is very good at reporting on things that happen. Football analysis? Not so much. Hell, he spent years trying to keep Art Monk out of the Hall of Fame.

We're talking about players that aren't on the team yet though. If you're picking between two players and one of them requires fewer adjustments than the other, that's the one you take.

Albert Breer's latest MMQB explains where David Tepper stood on the issue: When it got there, Giants owner John Mara was first to speak—giving an impassioned, sometimes-angry speech about how there isn’t any need to do this, and how it’d only alienate the league’s most avid fans (those who actually attend games). Bucs owner Joel Glazer, a member of the broadcast committee, countered him, while Steelers owner Art Rooney II and Bears chairman George McCaskey spoke up to back up the points Mara made. After that, Panthers owner David Tepper asked a simple question: Is Amazon complaining? It was then explained that the league had seen the audience numbers during the season’s stretch run, and there were games where the ratings weren’t just low—there were games people weren’t tuning in for at all. Tepper then told the room that he’d vote for it if the league could promise 28 days’ notice not that a game could be moved, but that it would be moved (the proposal, again, only offered 15). NFL chief media officer Brian Rolapp responded that the league couldn’t promise that, because of agreements with Fox and CBS. Broncos CEO Greg Penner then said he’d only vote for the proposal with 28 days’ notice. The Vikings’ Mark and Zygi Wilf then asked whether the league could guarantee that, with the changes, no team would be forced to play away on Sunday and again on Thursday. They were told that’d be a difficult thing for the NFL to promise. After that, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt stepped in and offered another compromise: Instead of four weeks of TNF flexes in 2023, the league only do two weeks. Others then asked whether they could get 28 days’ notice and just two flexes for Year 1. That calmed the room down, and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie proposed splitting the proposal apart and voting on the two aspects of it separately. That left everyone where they are now—with the prospect of having to play on multiple short weeks in 2023, without knowing yet whether they’ll have to do it on the fly.

We are now in draft month

From The Observer's latest mock (Link) Even if you ignore the size narratives with Panthers head coach Frank Reich, Stroud is still the most logical fit for the play-caller. Stroud’s ball placement, accuracy and consistency are phenomenal. Those traits will help Reich and offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, as they look to create an offense that relies heavily on spacing and yards-after-catch opportunities. Alabama’s Bryce Young — who would also be a fantastic pick here — is probably the better prospect, but Stroud feels like the better team fit with this current staff. The Panthers traded all the way up to No. 1 to nail this pick, and Stroud fits like a glove. ... Legendary hockey coach Herb Brooks was famously quoted as saying "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right players" when picking the team to go against the Russians. Kaye applies a similar principle here talking about the Panthers. System fit is definitely a consideration In the sense that Stroud would require the fewest adjustments to the system. And while I know Kaye technically refers to taking height out of the equation, you realistically can't. The truth is adjustments that might be necessary to compensate for Young won't be needed for Stroud. I suppose you could somewhat say that takes height out of the equation because it's not a factor based in a fear of Young being fragile but on more practical terms.

I do...and I do...

Hopkins reportedly doesn't want to be on a team with a rookie quarterback.

I don't think we did. Have a really tough time imagining us drafting Richardson or Levis...

Second only to the Bears... (don't ask me how)

We're not in a position to be "polishing" anyone. That's a project for a team who has someone that can start for a couple of years while you're waiting on the rookie.

I guess that's a better response "than that's what she said"

Deciding between Stroud and Richardson means picking Stroud.

No, we don't. Not that it matters anyway because Reich and Fitterer are making the pick.

I kinda got the impression it was only a partial comparison too.

That I wouldn't hold my breath on

I get the impression you're a bigger fan of imagining meltdowns than I am

Our buddy John's analysis... For the record though, John wasn't a big fan of the comment that Stroud could wind up being better than Lawrence.

Runningback or linebacker? Yeah that was vintage Hurney

I don't really think too many people expect him to go to us.

True.

At my age, nothing keeps me up at night. Sometimes not in the daytime either