NFL 2018 OFF-Season thread

[SUPERECWFAN1]

With the Philadelphia Eagles winning the last Super Bowl , we can now move onto the off-season of 2018 and build to the season ahead. Times are changing for the NFL as the big question marks are ahead.








- How will Chiefs & Redskins do with the trade ?

The big trade dominated headlines in the week before the Super Bowl as Pro Bowl QB , Alex Smith was traded for a 3rd round pick and 2nd year CB. The Chiefs will hand the job to Patrick Mahomes this season . So how will the Redskins fare with moving on from Kirk Cousins and how will the Chiefs do with Mahomes now expected to start in his 2nd season ?



- New England loses 2 coordinators in quick order :

Usually Bill Belichick has a plan in place before losing valuable coordinators. But this time things seem a bit off. In 2011 when replacing Bill O'Brien , he had Josh McDaniels on deck waiting again. This time there is no one seemingly on deck. Also on defense he lost Patricia who had been a coach with the team since 2004. That is 14 seasons of being there. Both men will be hard to replace and New England has to do that.



- How will Josh McDaniels and Mike Patricia do as coaches ?

Both men are moving to franchises that aren't in New England's league. The Colts have so many holes its a question on whether McDaniels can rebound them or not. Andrew Luck didn't play in 2017 due to a bad shoulder and he hasn't been the same QB since 2014. Patricia meanwhile has to help a Lions team make the playoffs after missing them a couple seasons.



- What teams will take QB's in 2018 NFL Draft ?

A lot of draft experts are predicting as many as 4 QB's in the 1st round and 7 in the 1st 2 rounds that could go ! Teams like Cleveland , Denver , Miami , New York Jets and Arizona maybe in play for QB's.



- Cleveland Browns , can they repeat 0-16 ?


Stories coming out are the Browns have continued their bumbling ways as they had a chance to trade for Alex Smith but suddenly stopped due to the fact they didn't want to give Smith an extension and pay him big money. Its the same way they cut Joe Haden last year. At this rate the Browns may repeat 0-16 again.



- Who will start in Minnesota ?

The Vikings are approaching 2018 with a big QB question as Case Keenum took them farther than any QB in recent memory. Sam Bradford was once the chosen one who suffered another career injury and former 1st round pick Terry Bridgewater hasn't played in 2 seasons. So which QB starts in 2018 ?



- Where does Kirk Cousins end up ?

Cousins is a hot commodity at QB right now and will demand between $25-30 million a season at best. Which team gets his services ?

[The Whovian]

Cousins is a hot commodity at QB right now and will demand between $25-30 million a season at best. Which team gets his services ?

I don't see how the Skins can franchise tag Cousins when they don't have enough cap room. Don't they have to have that money available under the cap to actually apply the tag?

And who in their right mind would trade for Cousins when they know the Skins can't keep him, so if no one trades for him, they would be forced to remove the tag and let him become a FA. Any team trading for him would be stupid, because they could get him without giving up picks.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Just got an alert from Bleacher Report saying McDaniels turned down the Colts job and will stay in New England.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Just got an alert from Bleacher Report saying McDaniels turned down the Colts job and will stay in New England.

NFL.Com has confirmed this.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...s-coaching-job

That is a SWERVE FOLKS.....Josh McDaniels likely decided that his future best lies in New England. Now what do I mean by this ? Its likely Belichick will only coach a couple more seasons. And the team will be handed to him. He gets to learn at the feet of Belichick a few more seasons and take over the franchise. That to me is what they told him and he decided ...its best to stay.

[C_Miller]

This upsets me as a Bills fan, but we'll see what McDaniels is like as a head coach in New England. He wasn't all that successful in Denver, but he'll have been back with the Hoodie for 6 years now and will most likely be almost a decade by the time he takes over again, a lot can change in that time.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

In a 1st , the Carolina Panthers may have an interim GM be a woman right now. As the team put the last acting GM Marty Hurney on paid leave due to spousal abuse allegations his wife made.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...laced-on-leave

Right now before the Panthers hire any GM , the current one running day to day operations is a 20 year employee named Tina Becker who is the CFO of the team.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

McDaniels quick change of heart now has put the Colts in a terrible spot and they basically won't have the best coaches to look at. They will have to restart the interview process and hope to get it resolved quick because in a month Free agency begins. Not a good spot for the Colts.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...iels-backs-out

[Surf]

Indianapolis Sports talk radio is going to be fun today, it's already started.

I'm hearing 2 assistants have tried to contact McDaniels and have yet to hear back from him.

[Surf]

GM Chris Ballard started his press conference by saying how hard the passing of Edwin Jackson and Jeffrey Monroe has been on the organization putting things in appropriate perspective. He was only 26 years old and the outpouring from the public was so heartfelt. It had been reported earlier Irsay has said he will pay for the funerals of both men.

He said he heard from McDaniels last Tuesday evening and began with "I've got bad news" and Ballard said "give me a yes or no". No other warning before that. Still had a list of participants and everybody always has a perception of time on getting things done and he indicated that it's important to be RIGHT not always first. He was questioned about Luck and Ballard is right, it's never about 1 guy it's about the team. FWIW, those 'issues' about Luck have been there for over a month. McDaniel's bitch ass interviewed once and said yes, interviewed twice and said yes and McDaniels went to PICK assistnats, 2 of which DID sign that will be retained and the rest agreeing to deals and the press conference was scheduled for today, likely on Irsay's plane which did not p/u McDaniels, with no further notice than that. McDaniels and Luck never spoke.

Ballard so far has been a great front office guy with all the downs so far I feel. He believes in Luck (as do I) and however he isn't throwing a football yet he is throwing and working on speed. It is a shoulder after all and it's touchy.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Report: Deflategate plays role in Robert Kraft keeping Josh McDaniels with Patriots

The relationship between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts is still frosty, according to a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft wanted to stick it to the Colts by retaining offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. So even after the Colts had announced the hiring of McDaniels, Kraft intercepted McDaniels by sweetening his deal with New England.

Deflategate, the source of Kraft's bitterness with the Colts, played a role in this strange turn of events.

As the late Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh-In, verrrrry interesting!

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Report: Deflategate plays role in Robert Kraft keeping Josh McDaniels with Patriots



As the late Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh-In, verrrrry interesting!

Doesn't shock me. Costed Kraft a million dollars, his franchise 2 draft picks and an employee he considers to be a son (and this isn't hyperbole, Kraft's actual son Jonathan said he views Brady as a brother) had his name dragged through the mud over a couple of lbs of PSI. He's never getting over that. It was the ultimate screw you to embarrass them and take away their coach after they announced him and got their fanbase excited over his hire.

[Jackmando7]

Doesn't shock me. Costed Kraft a million dollars, his franchise 2 draft picks and an employee he considers to be a son (and this isn't hyperbole, Kraft's actual son Jonathan said he views Brady as a brother) had his name dragged through the mud over a couple of lbs of PSI. He's never getting over that. It was the ultimate screw you to embarrass them and take away their coach after they announced him and got their fanbase excited over his hire.

Well, they shouldn't have cheated.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Well, they shouldn't have cheated.

I'm not going to get too far into this rabbit hole but there's a lot of questions about whether they in fact cheated. Not limited to the NFL in open court admitting they had no direct evidence, the Wells report coming down entirely to a complete guess that a ref was wrong about which gauge they used, most of the Colts balls being under the limit as well, and pretty much every reputable scientific organization that looked into it saying that the weather was the most likely cause.

[DungeonmasterJim]

Well, they shouldn't have cheated.

If Kraft screwed over the Colts because of Deflategate that would be HILARIOUS! We can thank so many games being decided by Pass Interference calls because the Colts whined because the Patriots kept beating Peyton in the play-off's.

Let's think about Deflategate and what it's supposed to mean: an opponent got beat because the Patriots could squeeze the ball a little more. Really, that's it, the ball was more squishy. Let's also not forget Brady beat The Legion of Boom with what must have been the most perfectly PSIed balls ever in the history of the NFL.

One of the more interesting off-season deals I'll be following is if the Steelers franchise Bell or give him a monster contract. He deserves the contract but who knows.

For the draft, I'm trying to think of the last time the Patriots did not have one of the bottom 4 picks of the first round.

[GindyPosts]

The Colts were pretty stupid to announce everything before it was official, I'll give you that.