NFL 2016 Offseaon: free agency freakout

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

1 minute ago, James Arryn said:

The Browns can always lose a trade when their return comes in the form of draft picks.

Solid counter. Damn, I guess this thing is a possibility.

[Joe Pesci]

1 hour ago, James Arryn said:

The Browns can always lose a trade when their return comes in the form of draft picks.

History proves this to be 1000% accurate. I still expect "Wild Thing" Rick Vaughn to get drafted by the Browns this year...

[l2 0 5 5]

5 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

No he's done. He tried to appeal for reinstatement and was denied by the NFL. I dont think he has any loopholes around that .

No, it's 60-90 days, which is why I am confused.

[DireWolfSpirit]

My bad I guess I didnt get the facts straight on Gordons status

[Nictarion]

So the league scheduled one of the Bengals/Steelers games week 2, during Burfict's suspension. Shocker.

[DanteGabriel]

On 3/28/2016 at 11:43 AM, Jaime L said:

And thanks to the Simmons podcast, I'm now aware of Robert Kraft and Donald Trump having a 30 year bromance dating back to Trump's USFL days. I'd post some of the revolting pictures of it, but the board has rescinded that privilege for me. 

Once again, I'm calling on Dante to comment. 

Somewhat belatedly, I am trying to listen to the podcast you referenced. I just listened to the Olbermann one because I thought it would be on there, but no luck. Can you give me an episode number or other guests? Was it the Duchovny one?

[Tywin et al.]

16 hours ago, l2 0 5 5 said:

No, it's 60-90 days, which is why I am confused.

They should have reinstated Ol' Sticky Fingers Gordon on 4/20.

[Jaime L]

2 hours ago, DanteGabriel said:

Somewhat belatedly, I am trying to listen to the podcast you referenced. I just listened to the Olbermann one because I thought it would be on there, but no luck. Can you give me an episode number or other guests? Was it the Duchovny one?

Think it was the one with Mike Tollin. They talk about the 30 for 30 Tollin did about the USFL and the absurd interview he had with Trump about that (which is worth listening to for that alone). IIRC, the Kraft-Trump friendship came up as an aside in that conversation. 

[Joe Pesci]

4 hours ago, Nictarion said:

So the league scheduled one of the Bengals/Steelers games week 2, during Burfict's suspension. Shocker.

That was the first thing I looked at when it came out. Though I figured on it being in Cincy so it might not have been as inflammatory with no Burfict there. But they still want the primetime drama with a late season night game, doubling down that the season long build-up of the rematch and Burfict being on the field will get the ratings like the wild card game did.

To me, it's like the NFL almost wants a repeat of the playoff disaster with how they scheduled these two games...

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 Baalke and Chip Kelly supposedly butting heads in Santa Clara...

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25555045/report-49ers-gm-is-already-having-problems-with-chip-kelly?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

 

/Color me shocked. Jim Harbaugh seen laughing his ass off in plush new Michigan workout facility.

[Mexal]

11 minutes ago, Joe Pesci said:

That was the first thing I looked at when it came out. Though I figured on it being in Cincy so it might not have been as inflammatory with no Burfict there. But they still want the primetime drama with a late season night game, doubling down that the season long build-up of the rematch and Burfict being on the field will get the ratings like the wild card game did.

To me, it's like the NFL almost wants a repeat of the playoff disaster with how they scheduled these two games...

Yup. That's exactly right. NFL really does hate the Bengals. This is the 7th straight year that the Bengals have opened on the road and they're one of 4 teams that opens with two straight road games, one of which is at Pittsburgh. I have other issues with their schedule that are more personal (Giants on MNF when I have tickets and now might not be able to go) or just sucks (SNF in week 15 then Saturday night game in week 16) but opening on the road yet again, especially when the Reds aren't in town, just blows. 

Oh well, at least I get to go to London for their game this year. That'll be fun.

[James Arryn]

13 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

 Baalke and Chip Kelly supposedly butting heads in Santa Clara...

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25555045/report-49ers-gm-is-already-having-problems-with-chip-kelly?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

 

/Color me shocked. Jim Harbaugh seen laughing his ass off in plush new Michigan workout facility.

I think he's been laughing for a while now, tbh. His comment when asked about the leak campaign against Kaepernick was 'I saw it and recognized the pattern.'

The thing is, the whole leak/undermine before dumping approach won't change so long as it works, and it does work. Even when identifying the pattern, fan opinions still change in the short term, and that seems to be the battle our FO wants to win. Part of that is the tendency fans always have to favour organization over coaches/players no matter how wrong the former might be, but some it is also the 'smoke/fire' assumption. It's so far in the rear view mirror now that I think we forget how many fans grew 'fed up' with Harbaugh at the time of the leaks, and wanted to move on trusting in our talent.

In other news, Niners again facing toughest SoS season, but I'm fine with it. Hopefully this time we don't pull off the extra unlikely late wins which only serve to drop us a crucial few spots in the draft order. The Leafs this season are really the only time in recent memory my terrible teams didn't pull off late cosmetic victories and sabotage their own rebuild...the Raptors in particular always went on a late run by riding regulars vs. opposing teams' benches in the closing week or 2, losing tons of lottery balls in the process. I really hope the Niners don't grit out meaningless wins, though at this point next year's qb class seems even weaker than this one, so this might take a while.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

4 minutes ago, Mexal said:

Oh well, at least I get to go to London for their game this year. That'll be fun.

Damn. Check you out. I would love to go to London. That's awesome.

[Joe Pesci]

DP

[Joe Pesci]

1 hour ago, Mexal said:

Oh well, at least I get to go to London for their game this year. That'll be fun.

That is pretty sweet. My issue with the Steelers schedule is fucking home on games on Christmas day and New Years day. Being a season ticket holder has its perks, but this is a real bitch. It'll be tough to go, and even tougher to sell them for maybe half of face value. Happy Holidays indeed.

[Tywin et al.]

So how has Denver not gone out and gotten a decent starting QB?

Is Elway and the Broncos' D trolling the rest of the NFL by saying, "You thought it was impressive that we won a Superb Owl with Ol' Noodle Arm playing prevent offense? Watch us defend our title with Sanchize McButt-Fumble."

[James Arryn]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

So how has Denver not gone out and gotten a decent starting QB?

Is Elway and the Broncos' D trolling the rest of the NFL by saying, "You thought it was impressive that we won a Superb Owl with Ol' Noodle Arm playing prevent offense? Watch us defend our title with Sanchize McButt-Fumble."

It wouldn't completely surprise me if The Sanchize gives them more than what Manning gave them last year. 

[Red Tiger]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

So how has Denver not gone out and gotten a decent starting QB?

Is Elway and the Broncos' D trolling the rest of the NFL by saying, "You thought it was impressive that we won a Superb Owl with Ol' Noodle Arm playing prevent offense? Watch us defend our title with Sanchize McButt-Fumble."

Elway got lucky that Peyton was on the market in a time when they had the room to get him. What made Peyton an interesting acquisition was 3 things

1. He was elite

2. He wanted control of the offense

3. He was being replaced and his previous team was going in a completely different direction

Which mean that not only did he want a ton of moolah and a chance to win, but also a ton of power that most teams werent willing to give him. Elway just happened to be able. But a situation like this is very rare and good qb's rarely hit the market anyway.

[DanteGabriel]

3 hours ago, Jaime L said:

Think it was the one with Mike Tollin. They talk about the 30 for 30 Tollin did about the USFL and the absurd interview he had with Trump about that (which is worth listening to for that alone). IIRC, the Kraft-Trump friendship came up as an aside in that conversation. 

Just listened to it. The Tollin story about the Trump interview was great, and I definitely need to find that 30 for 30. But I didn't hear that much about the details of the bromance, did I miss something? Is there a link to the pictures you referenced earlier? I am legitimately curious.

As to Trump-Kraft friendship, I don't like it. I do believe I once described Kraft as "one of the least objectionable billionaires I know of." This probably downgrades him on the list -- but honestly, who are the good billionaires? I think Bill Gates has done a lot of great things with his piles of money, but his fortune's built on some moral depravity too, right? Trump is a worse billionaire, who seems to have gotten there more with slimy weasel cunning and a highly stacked launching point than the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of the world, so there are gradations in billionaires, obviously. But the very rich have more in common with each other, whatever business or national culture they come from, than they ever will with the schmucks in the stands or watching on TV, and that's something we should all remember when thinking about our support for our local sports owner.

A lot of Pats fans think Kraft sold us out by initially agreeing to comply with the Ballghazi penalty, whether or not it was calculated to buy mercy for Brady, but I think it's delusional to think Kraft would have really fought the league that hard. I know I wanted him to go scorched earth, Al Davis on them, at the height of the furor, but that wasn't rational. He's a billionaire and he hangs out with billionaires and he thinks and does business things like a billionaire that would be objectively awful things for me to consider doing in my own life. And contributing to the bottom line of these guys is one of the shitty things that all of us NFL fans have to eat as a part of the price for our fandom.

Also, Trump is friends with Roethlisberger, so there.

[Tywin et al.]

@Red Tiger

Thank you for that very serious response to my obviously mocking question. 

4 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

It wouldn't completely surprise me if The Sanchize gives them more than what Manning gave them last year. 

It's hard to know exactly what kind of trade off there will be with a more physically capable but still limited QB who isn't anywhere near the same player mentally as Peyton was.

But I do know this. Once you've seen the butt fumble, you can never unsee it.