NFL 2019 Off-Season thread

[HowitzerJoe]

The biggest issue Bortles has and quite honestly in 4 seasons the Jaguars never hired a coach to work on his mechanics is beyond me. But his biggest issue was his long silly wind up throwing motion. A fact that teams could telegraph at times where Bortles was gonna throw the ball. Why the Jaguars never hired a coach to work in off season to fix it since drafting him is beyond silly.

The throwing motion led to a huge number of interceptions etc. Whatever team takes a chance on Bortles will have to work on his throwing motion now.

I think once you get to the NFL, your throwing motion better be in decent shape. Some guys have made changes like Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers, but the accuracy is either there, or it isn't more often than not. Most guys throw the way they have been ingrained to up to that point. Bortles wasn't supposed to be a project, and no one should be drafting a project QB at 3rd overall.

[HowitzerJoe]

Bortles has sort of gotten a raw deal, because the media and fans couldn't help themselves from trash talking him and treating him like a joke even when he was playing well. Even his own teammates never really gave him any respect, after getting them to within a play or two of the Super Bowl, the most praise he could get from Jalen Ramsey is that he "do what he gotta do" which has got to hurt because even as a mediocre game manager, you'd expect your own team to stick up for you a little bit more than that. And when he has confidence and the support of his guys, he is capable of playing well, like when he threw 4 TDs to beat the Patriots all the way back in week 2, though he does seem like the kind of player who starts to unravel when he faces adversity and has no one to back him up.

I mean...respected is earned. Or it should be. Bortles didn't get a raw deal. He had plenty of chances to make it work in Jacksonville. He just wasn't very good period. From the accuracy issues, unnecessary sacks, and trouble reading defenses. He can be a decent backup in the league though. If Bortles confidence is so fragile, that it's going to effect his playing ability, he shouldn't be a starter.

I remember after the Steelers playoff game last season both Malik Jackson and Calias Campbell both stood in his corner after Jurell Casey from the Titans trashed talked him. It's not like Bortles didn't have anyone in his corner.

[HowitzerJoe]

Comically reading articles about how suddenly the NY Giants are so terrible for trading Beckum is kinda...well silly. We have to look at some things here regarding this trade.


- OBJ was becoming a locker room issue and was told to just shut up one season where the team was getting tired of his running his mouth. They were growing tired of the attitude. While Brown over shadowed him with antics off the field for sure ; OBJ was becoming known for his issues with the team. A fact the Giants floated trading him before the Combine and changed their mind once New England had interest.


- What OBJ is the Browns getting ? Are they getting the player from 2014-2016 who amassed 288 receptions for 4,122 yards and 35 TD's ? Or are they getting the OBJ who in 2 seasons has only done 1,354 yards on 102 receptions and 6 TD's ? Because the Browns getting the WR who barely can cross 1,000+ yards in a season doesn't make this a good deal.


- The Browns gave up 2 , draft picks in this draft. The team has HIT on the draft since last season as we saw and could literally HIT again on a WR and other pieces they need. Because the Browns need more pieces around this team. Trading wise the last time they seemed to hit a HR was a player they just cut in Collins at LB. They awarded him a huge contract and watched as his play became ****.


- The Giants now could go in a number of directions. Sterling Shepard played very well and will be counted on as the main WR as they draft or sign someone. They also can draft a QB with their 1st pick now to groom a season behind Eli. Or perhaps trade that 3rd for Rosen to groom. They also got Peppers in the secondary who is younger and really a better player for them than what Collins was at the position last year. (The Giants brought up how he'd have to play near the line and now they can let Peppers play off as a safety like they want to do in this system)

The Giants got their safety they wanted , they now can get their big franchise QB in a trade or draft as well as start drafting WR , OL , Defense etc.

But...what is the endgame? Trot old ass Eli Manning out for one final escapade without the receiver that has been dragging his corpse the last few seasons? Now Barkley is going to see stacked boxes all day long. It's highly unlikely that the Giants get a receiver that produces like OBJ has in his first few years. The hit rate on that is so low. The Giants should have just drafted a quarterback last season when they had the 2nd overall pick. You don't build a franchise around a runningback. This isn't 1975.

Oh, and they got rid of Olivier Vernon, because...reasons???

[HowitzerJoe]

At the end of the day, that was probably what mattered most to Bell.

Except he lost a bunch of money sitting out in Pittsburgh. And his deal with the Jets apparently is worse than what the Steelers offered. Bell took his chances on the market, and lost out.

[Surf]

But...what is the endgame? Trot old ass Eli Manning out for one final escapade without the receiver that has been dragging his corpse the last few seasons? Now Barkley is going to see stacked boxes all day long. It's highly unlikely that the Giants get a receiver that produces like OBJ has in his first few years. The hit rate on that is so low. The Giants should have just drafted a quarterback last season when they had the 2nd overall pick. You don't build a franchise around a runningback. This isn't 1975.

Oh, and they got rid of Olivier Vernon, because...reasons???

Ex-fuckin'-actly. Eli ain't going to ever get better at this point. Also the NFC Least has two other hungry dogs in the division getting stronger while the Giants are likely stepping back.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ex-fuckin'-actly. Eli ain't going to ever get better at this point. Also the NFC Least has two other hungry dogs in the division getting stronger while the Giants are likely stepping back.

Just a dumb guess on my part, but I think the Giants were spooked after Ben McAdoo benched Eli for a game two seasons ago and the fans went berserk. Now, the front office is either afraid to move on from Manning who clearly isn't getting better with age like Tom Brady, or they're nursing some delusion that Eli can summon the ghosts one last time before they have no choice but to blow it all up and start the inevitable rebuild which, if you ask me, the Giants should've started last season. PapaShogum is right about Barkley, he's going to be mugged like nobody's business because there's no receivers opponents have to worry about, I pity that kid who's going to be spent after a scant few seasons. Meanwhile, the Giants are shaping up to be the worst team in the NFC going into the new season.

[Scott Taylor]

The Giants were still fairly successful last year with the shift to play-action passing under Shurmur. The OBJ loss hurts (who is going to be their backup QB now!) but he hasn't been the OG OBJ for a couple of years anyhow, plus they did manage to still move the ball and were middle of the pack on offense rankings. But yah Barkely will get hammered unless the Giants can pick up some good folks for Eli to dump off to across the seam especially.

Like PapaShogun, I wonder about their endgame here. It seems obvious that they got rid of OBJ because they did not want a Pittsburgh situation to develop with him. But that doesn't solve their overall problems.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Giants added a younger better safety in the deal that they needed after letting Collins walk. They also have draft ammo to get a top WR , QB and go from there this draft. They did sign Golden Tate today to be that guy who can catch 80-90 passes as usual in his role on the team. But as some analysts brought up Eli Manning no longer has the deep ball to make OBJ a real factor in the offense. And they are changing the offense more to a short passing game and using Shepard and now Tate for that.

But yeah the Giants can trot Eli out one more season after they draft a QB (or trade for Rosen) and groom that guy towards 2020 long term.

[HowitzerJoe]

Giving 30 year Golden Tate a 4 year deal is weird. Is this a rebuild? Tate is best utilized in the slot, but Sheppard already does that well for the Giants.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Giving 30 year Golden Tate a 4 year deal is weird. Is this a rebuild? Tate is best utilized in the slot, but Sheppard already does that well for the Giants.

Likely moving Shepard outside from slot . Draft wise at #6 they could logically draft a WR to be the #1 guy and have Shepard on the outside with Tate working slot role.

[DungeonmasterJim]

Uh-oh, Raiders!

"Another position where a scarcity of free-agent resources impacted market dynamics? Left tackle. Good news for Brown, who signed a four-year, $66 million contract (with $36.75 million fully guaranteed). Making an average of $16.5 million per year, he's now the highest-paid offensive tackle in the NFL. As a member of the Patriots last season, Brown allowed 13 QB hits -- third-most among all tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. Consider that New England gave up just 67 QB hits total (third-fewest, according to PFF), and Brown's issue is even more concerning."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...headscratchers

[HowitzerJoe]

Likely moving Shepard outside from slot . Draft wise at #6 they could logically draft a WR to be the #1 guy and have Shepard on the outside with Tate working slot role.

What receivers are worth taking at 6 in this draft? Metcalf? Might as well trade back.

[HowitzerJoe]

Uh-oh, Raiders!

"Another position where a scarcity of free-agent resources impacted market dynamics? Left tackle. Good news for Brown, who signed a four-year, $66 million contract (with $36.75 million fully guaranteed). Making an average of $16.5 million per year, he's now the highest-paid offensive tackle in the NFL. As a member of the Patriots last season, Brown allowed 13 QB hits -- third-most among all tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. Consider that New England gave up just 67 QB hits total (third-fewest, according to PFF), and Brown's issue is even more concerning."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...headscratchers

Yes, that was a stupid contract. Brady got his boi paid.

[worstblogever]

What receivers are worth taking at 6 in this draft? Metcalf? Might as well trade back.

The kid N'Keal Harry out of Arizona State is a borderline first round pick. He might be who AZ takes at the top of Round 2 if he's still there.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Well the Chiefs GM basically sent a warning to Cleveland and how John Dorsey operates as GM. See the Chiefs have a number of big free agents ahead but spending under Dorsey from his time as GM led to KC paying huge money to Eric Berry , Justin Houston and possibly Dee Ford. The Chiefs new GM realized that a lot of this money would not work as the players got older and would take away from the new core ahead of Mahomes , Tyreek Hill and Chris Jones so he had to take proactive steps to clear the decks and get salary cap under control for 2020/2021.


The Chiefs are trying to get younger and change systems so really they have issues ahead here. The Chargers have to feel great as KC let go of star players sadly to do this. LA Chargers should really walk away with the division as they seemingly kept their defensive core around.