Mr. Scot

So apparently the Dolphins initiated the trade talk. Doesn't take anything away from Fitterer, mind you...just interesting.

Speaking of Fitt...

He's not the only one. I'm not that familiar with him but I've heard good things attached to his name.

Pompei didn't say Newton "fell short". That sentence was referencing Michael Vick and Randall Cunningham. His quote about both Newton and McNabb was that they "helped their teams get to Super Bowls, but couldn't get past inferior athletes". McNabb of course also has the dubious distinction of losing his lunch on the field

Are we sure that's an upgrade?

Pretty sure that gives us two but I'd have to look it up.

Somewhat related: Dan Pompei just posted a pretty good article to The Athletic (centered around Justin Fields, but with a mention of Newton) about how quarterbacks who are "the best athlete on the field" often struggle to win championships. Quoting... There’s a lesson in what happened with Jackson and the Ravens regarding Fields. A quarterback who is the best athlete can make his team significantly better. But he might not be able to achieve the ultimate goal of winning a championship unless he relies on more than athleticism and unless he has a complement of players and coaches around him who perform with consistency and excellence. Other “best athlete” quarterbacks whose teams fell short include Michael Vick and Randall Cunningham. Cam Newton and Donovan McNabb helped their teams get to Super Bowls, but neither could get past inferior athletes — Newton lost to Peyton Manning, and McNabb was one of Tom Brady’s seven opposing quarterback victims. He goes on to mention guys like John Elway and Steve Young who achieved championship victory, but only after their respective teams did a better job of building around them. It's a good read for subscribers (link)

The growing sense among Patriot beat writers is that they might be "saving" his shoulder when it comes to the regular season too.

Inconsistency was always Newton's biggest weakness. Used to say he could throw a pass that made you go OMG then follow it up with one that made you go WTF. That's a big reason why I always compared him to Brett Favre. (John Elway was like that too)

The Seahawks? They're known for trading down in the first round, but I can't recall them trading away future first rounders with any kind of frequency. That kind of move is typically part of trading up. The guy I recall being most famous for doing it several years in a row was Bobby Beathard when he was with the Chargers. (and of course, he had a certain associate who picked up on that tendency)

If we never again trade away a future first rounder, that won't bother me at all.

Ever watch Brett Favre?

Mono is said to be crazy contagious. My ninth grade year we had two what I suppose you'd call "power couples" at my school (attractive, popular, smart, etc). The boy from one of the couples and the girl from the other got mono. Whispers and sideways glances were made

T96 brought that up as well. And yeah, it's a valid argument.

Fair point...

A 35 year old tackle who's looking for big money... Not my preference either, but it's not difficult to connect the dots as far as possibilities.

I'm not really sure.

I haven't seen anybody else say that though. Kunkel is a good source, I just haven't found any corroboration for what he's saying. At least not yet...

What team does Brown play for again? Do we know anybody that has connections there?

Agreed. I hate using trades for short term fixes. Reading between the lines, it sounds like the staff really doesn't want to move Taylor Moton unless they have to. Moton himself seems fine with the idea, but I think the coaches worry about it being a "robbing Peter to pay Paul" situation.

Will Kunkel said that's who it was, but I haven't seen that from anyone else yet.

Like going 10 for 21?

An old friend of ours...

The guy who's about to be indicted by a grand jury while also being the subject of an FBI investigation and who would require crazy trade compensation to acquire? Yeah, sure. I mean what could go wrong?