NFL Off-season 2019 (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Well my other dumpster fire team that I'm a fan of traded their diva receiver OBJ to Cleveland for a couple of draft picks and Jabrill Peppers. IMO, this was a good move by the Giants as OBJ would have followed Brown's playbook if they kept him around. Let him be the Browns headache. Now, the Giants should be in full rebuild mode.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Wow! Good move by the Giants to cut ties with that diva (I’ve had my fill of observing these guys who don’t have a clue how to be a part of a team).

 

[Robert Crawford]

Potentially, the Browns should be a playoff team in 2019. That division is weaker now as I think the Steelers, Ravens and Bengals will be less than what they've been beforehand.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Leveon Bell signed with the Jets for a lot less than he wanted originally from the Steelers, and his holdout cost his significant money. Moron.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Potentially, the Browns should be a playoff team in 2019. That division is weaker now as I think the Steelers, Ravens and Bengals will be less than what they've been beforehand.

Well, we know all the experts will be picking the Browns to win that division this season. They were already the "hot" pick before OBJ so with him and with the Steelers saying goodbye to Big Chest and his 15 TDs last season everybody will be all over the Browns. I think it is sort of odd how so many of the experts are expressing "shock" over this trade. The Browns were one of the teams that wanted to add a big time WR. It makes more sense that they made the deal on OBJ because the Steelers likely would have preferred not to trade Big Chest within the division. I guess the shock must be about OBJ being willing to go to Cleveland as that is one of the places in the NFL that is where they exile you to. However, Beckham does have a bunch of buddies on the Browns so maybe he will be OK with it. AT least Beckham (who I guess is not in the country) did not make a bunch of noise and hinder the Giants moving him. He did say at one point though he wanted to be the highest paid player in the NFL...and I guess he wants his deal restructured to report to the Browns.

I am happy for long suffering Browns fans. I mean they have to be really excited coming into this season.

The question is how will guys like Big Chest and Beckham produce on their new teams? Will Mr. Big Chest put up 15 TDs this season for the Raiders? Will Beckham really be the guy that brings the Browns a division title and return to the playoffs?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Leveon Bell signed with the Jets for a lot less than he wanted originally from the Steelers, and his holdout cost his significant money. Moron.

The Jets were hot for Bell last season and stayed after him this entire time. I think the market for Bell dried up. RBs are just not a really hot commodity and you can always draft a young guy at the position in the later rounds. So, it does not make a heck of a lot of sense to overpay for one. Outside of the Jets I don't think anybody was really that interested in Bell.

In the old school approach though adding a bell cow back should help your young QB. I guess we'll see how coach Crazy Eyes does with Bell and Darnold.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I like this Bell signing for the Jets- he definitely will help out Darnold. I think the Jets and Browns situations are kind of similar- they had a lot of cap space, so they had to make aggressive moves to immediately help the team put many years of bad seasons behind them.

 

[Malcolm R]

The question is how will guys like Big Chest and Beckham produce on their new teams? Will Mr. Big Chest put up 15 TDs this season for the Raiders? Will Beckham really be the guy that brings the Browns a division title and return to the playoffs?

It seems like once a player signs a big money contract, they seem to regress in production. They now have the big payoff, so they seem to kick back and relax a bit. So I'm looking for them to turn in lower stats than what they produced in their last season.

I would also watch for a clash of egos between Mayfield and Beckham, and possibly Brown and Gruden.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Mayfield and OBJ- that seems to be a boom or bust waiting to happen. Either they will get along well, and light up the league, or they will butt heads, and their difficult relationship will drag the team down. The Browns look to have a nice offensive team on paper- it’s all up to how those guys want to work together.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I like this Bell signing for the Jets- he definitely will help out Darnold. I think the Jets and Browns situations are kind of similar- they had a lot of cap space, so they had to make aggressive moves to immediately help the team put many years of bad seasons behind them.

I think Brown will produce in Oakland, but I am more skeptical of Bell with the Jets. Bell has a few things going against him: (1) he has been sitting out for a year, so who knows what kind of shape he's in; (2) He got about half the money he was originally looking for, so will he be motivated?; (3) He will be playing in a completely different offense with an inexperienced QB instead of a future Hall of Fame QB and a really good offensive line like he had in Pittsburgh; (4) he is nearing that age where most running backs fall off a cliff in terms of production --running backs do not age well in the NFL.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Dave Gettleman gets a massive F for his work. He has taken a bad situation in New York and made it much worse. Not so much for trading Beckham, but for his timing with that and his utterly awful 2018 moves. Gettleman gave Beckham a huge contract making him the highest paid WR in the NFL and adding big money to his cap...so he eats the cap money, hands him a 20 million dollar bonus and trades him. Oops.

To make matters even worse when Gettleman sat at the top of a good QB draft and had several to choose from he passed on a QB and drafted a RB instead...at the top of the draft. A position where you can typically get quality players late in the draft. Basically, he could have passed on a QB and drafted another position but RB was the very last place he needed to go with the second pick in the draft.

Now, why did he do this? The only reasonable explanation for spending his pick on Barkley is he thought he had a Super Bowl contending team in 2018 and likely 2019. So, adding Barkley would be the piece he needed to push him over the top. Your prime years with a top RB tend to be the first 4 years of his career. So, to pick a RB with the second pick you had to believe you had a team that was ready to contend. Otherwise, you are wasting Barkley's prime years in a rebuilding phase. So, what does Gettleman do? He cleans house and has been trading off and letting go of talent after taking Barkley with the 2nd pick. He has basically completely screwed Barkley.

He still does not have his replacement for Manning and there is the potential that the Giants could release Manning. Not a lot of reason to keep Manning at this stage and you can't trade him. I think the Dolphins had a mild interest in Manning as a bridge QB if he is released. So, Barkley played year one on a horrible team. Now most of the talent on that team is gone, Manning is in serious decline, so Barkley will play year two on an even worse team where he will likely be the focus of opposing defenses so he will take a real beating. Next season the Giants will still be rebuilding and likely searching for a QB so that's year three wasted for Barkley and again another year where he will take a severe beating.

So, when Barkley is in year 4 he will need to hope that the Giants have a QB and have added talent around him or year 4 is another wasted year. More than likely Gettleman has doomed Barkley to playing his prime years on a horrid team. So, really what Gettleman should do is release Manning and trade Barkley while he can still likely get solid compensation for him. The Giants don't need Barkley unless they get a kick out of seeing the kid get the crap kicked out him because you have a QB that rates worse than Blake Bortles when Beckham is not on the field since 2014 and Beckham is now in Cleveland. Gettleman destroyed the Giants for several seasons when he picked Barkley. The next F Gettleman gets should be fired.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Wow, so some of the "experts" are already saying that Cleveland landing Beckham makes them the second favorite behind New England to be the AFC representative in the Super Bowl. Don't think I agree with that. I knew they would pick them to win the division but the Super Bowl too...really?

 

[Jeffrey D]

The Browns will probably win the division, but will be behind the Patriots and Chiefs as the favorites in the AFC (the Patriots have proved to everyone that they can’t be counted out until the
clock actually says 0:00, and the Chiefs will likely load up on defense for a run this upcoming season).

 

[Robert Crawford]

Dave Gettleman gets a massive F for his work. He has taken a bad situation in New York and made it much worse. Not so much for trading Beckham, but for his timing with that and his utterly awful 2018 moves. Gettleman gave Beckham a huge contract making him the highest paid WR in the NFL and adding big money to his cap...so he eats the cap money, hands him a 20 million dollar bonus and trades him. Oops.

To make matters even worse when Gettleman sat at the top of a good QB draft and had several to choose from he passed on a QB and drafted a RB instead...at the top of the draft. A position where you can typically get quality players late in the draft. Basically, he could have passed on a QB and drafted another position but RB was the very last place he needed to go with the second pick in the draft.

Now, why did he do this? The only reasonable explanation for spending his pick on Barkley is he thought he had a Super Bowl contending team in 2018 and likely 2019. So, adding Barkley would be the piece he needed to push him over the top. Your prime years with a top RB tend to be the first 4 years of his career. So, to pick a RB with the second pick you had to believe you had a team that was ready to contend. Otherwise, you are wasting Barkley's prime years in a rebuilding phase. So, what does Gettleman do? He cleans house and has been trading off and letting go of talent after taking Barkley with the 2nd pick. He has basically completely screwed Barkley.

He still does not have his replacement for Manning and there is the potential that the Giants could release Manning. Not a lot of reason to keep Manning at this stage and you can't trade him. I think the Dolphins had a mild interest in Manning as a bridge QB if he is released. So, Barkley played year one on a horrible team. Now most of the talent on that team is gone, Manning is in serious decline, so Barkley will play year two on an even worse team where he will likely be the focus of opposing defenses so he will take a real beating. Next season the Giants will still be rebuilding and likely searching for a QB so that's year three wasted for Barkley and again another year where he will take a severe beating.

So, when Barkley is in year 4 he will need to hope that the Giants have a QB and have added talent around him or year 4 is another wasted year. More than likely Gettleman has doomed Barkley to playing his prime years on a horrid team. So, really what Gettleman should do is release Manning and trade Barkley while he can still likely get solid compensation for him. The Giants don't need Barkley unless they get a kick out of seeing the kid get the crap kicked out him because you have a QB that rates worse than Blake Bortles when Beckham is not on the field since 2014 and Beckham is now in Cleveland. Gettleman destroyed the Giants for several seasons when he picked Barkley. The next F Gettleman gets should be fired.

Gettleman isn't the problem with the Giants, it's the ownership. Gettleman is as cutthroat as you can get as an NFL GM. If he had his way, he would have "shit can" Eli last year and traded OBJ too. IMO, I think ownership which was too loyal to Eli has finally given him the ok to rebuild this team. I'm not going to write some long dissertation on why I feel that way. I will just say my conclusion is based on 55 years of following the Giants team and how their ownership has operated since I started being a fan of the Giants back in 1965 when they stunk with Allie Sherman as HC and them drafting Tucker Frederickson with the first pick in the 1965 draft and passed on Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus and Joe Namath.

The problem with the Giants has always been the Mara family. Family squabbles and being too hands-on has plagued this organization forever. Bad ownership is the worst thing that can happen to any sports organization. Perhaps, the Maras aren't bad like James Dolan is with my beloved Knicks, but they're not exactly good either.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Interesting point you make about the Giants being too loyal sometimes, Robert. They sure seemed to give former GM Reese too long a leash and too many failed drafts.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Wow, so some of the "experts" are already saying that Cleveland landing Beckham makes them the second favorite behind New England to be the AFC representative in the Super Bowl. Don't think I agree with that. I knew they would pick them to win the division but the Super Bowl too...really?

That's banking a lot on Baker Mayfield being the next great young QB. Not sure I'm ready to anoint him just yet.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Gettleman isn't the problem with the Giants, it's the ownership.

I did not know that. I thought Gettleman was the guy that was "shopping for the groceries" as Parcells used to say. I thought the Maras were thought of as some of the better owners in the NFL.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I did not know that. I thought Gettleman was the guy that was "shopping for the groceries" as Parcells used to say. I thought the Maras were thought of as some of the better owners in the NFL.

The Maras are overrated as owners because of what they did back in the early 1960s, when along with George Halas they decided that the TV money should be equally divided among the teams which helped level the playing field, revenue-wise for small market teams like Green Bay. That financial decision was one of the reasons why the NFL grew into what it is today.

As owners, the Maras have managed to win 4 Super Bowls despite their incompetence in hiring the wrong people to run their football operations and/or coach their team over the last 60 years or so. They passed on one of their own Vince Lombardi and did so twice. The same with Tom Landry, who was their defensive coordinator when Lombardi was their offensive coordinator. After those bad decisions the Mara family feuded for many years and ran the franchise into the ground until Pete Rozelle had to step in and save them from their own incompetence by insisting they hire George Young as their GM which led to the Bill Parcells era. They then allowed Parcells to leave and hired some other bozos to coach the team. Hell, they had an opportunity to hire Belichick as HC and passed. Everybody knows that Belichick has a soft spot for being the Giants HC and yet, after the Browns made the mistake in firing him, the Giants didn't hire him. The rest is history in that regard. Luckily, for the Giants, Ernie Accorsi became the GM and built up the organization again along with Tom Coughlin and they won two more Super Bowls. Unfortunately for them, Accorsi retired after the first time they beat the Patriots in the SB. He left the Giants with the cupboard full with talent, but Accorsi's successor Jerry Reese couldn't sustain the influx of talent because he kept having terrible drafts for ten years and now we have what we have with the Giants. Sure, Reese would draft a OBJ or one or two good players, but overall his drafts were awful as he couldn't fill his 52 man roster with Giant draftees that were good NFL players. By the way, the Senior VP of Player Personnel during those years was Chris Mara, John's brother and father of Kate and Rooney Mara. He's still there and was at Kyler Murray's Pro day on Wednesday.

Mara got involved in the Eli snafu, but Reese and the poor schmuck Ben McAdoo took the blunt of the criticism. So after firing those two guys, he hires Gettleman as GM and Pat Shurmur as HC, but only after telling them he doesn't want to tear the Giants down and rebuild, but wants to try to win another SB with Eli as QB. They made their sad attempt last season and painfully found out their team is lacking in talent overall and that Eli's QB skills have decline too much along with an offensive line they couldn't fix in one offseason.

I'm hoping that Gettleman has finally convinced Mara along with Steve Tisch, the other Giants co-owner that it's time to rebuild this roster and the basic way to do that is through really good drafts and then filling in the blanks with effective free agent signings. After this upcoming season in which they're going to stink again, they can finally cut Eli loose and hopefully achieve a third consecutive good-great draft next April with Eli's successor firmly in placed on their roster as their starting QB going forward.

I am still concern that Mara and Tisch are still in denial so I'll be watching carefully what they do and say over the next six weeks leading up to the draft and even afterwards.

 

[Malcolm R]

Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill to the Tennessee Titans to backup Marcus Mariota:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/03/15/titans-trade-for-ryan-tannehill/

 

[Jeffrey D]

The Titans probably should move on from Mariota- too inconsistent, hurt a lot, and he just doesn’t look like a franchise QB that can take a team anywhere. Instead of doing what they should do (start over with a different QB), they bring in another guy who’ll never win anything. Too afraid to make an aggressive move with an eye on the future.
This Tyreek Hill news- if anything about this proves to be true, then he’ll sit out for a year. Too bad for the Chiefs fans- some teams just don’t have the luck.