NFL 2020 Off-Season

[SUPERECWFAN1]

In NFL News the Carolina Panthers have signed Christian McCaffrey (RB) to a 4 year $64 million extension. Making him now the highest paid RB in the league. McCaffrey has had huge seasons since joining the team and had over 1,000+ yards rushing and 1,000+ yards receiving last season.

The big worry is the workload McCaffrey is on as he turns 24 this season and in 3 years has already got 5,000+ career yards on his body. A RB with so many miles won't last long in the NFL.

[worstblogever]

In NFL News the Carolina Panthers have signed Christian McCaffrey (RB) to a 4 year $64 million extension. Making him now the highest paid RB in the league. McCaffrey has had huge seasons since joining the team and had over 1,000+ yards rushing and 1,000+ yards receiving last season.

The big worry is the workload McCaffrey is on as he turns 24 this season and in 3 years has already got 5,000+ career yards on his body. A RB with so many miles won't last long in the NFL.

Well, those who didn't learn from the Gurley and David Johnson contracts are doomed to repeat things.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In NFL News the Carolina Panthers have signed Christian McCaffrey (RB) to a 4 year $64 million extension. Making him now the highest paid RB in the league. McCaffrey has had huge seasons since joining the team and had over 1,000+ yards rushing and 1,000+ yards receiving last season.

The big worry is the workload McCaffrey is on as he turns 24 this season and in 3 years has already got 5,000+ career yards on his body. A RB with so many miles won't last long in the NFL.

A questionable deal to say the least. One thing's for certain, if new head coach Matt Rhule doesn't find a way to cut back on McCaffrey's workload, he'll be a shot fighter long before that contract runs it's course.

[C_Miller]

There's a rock and a hard place situation at play though. He absolutely deserved that contract as he was the entirety of the offense last year. So if they weren't going to give him the money, he definitely would have been within his right to walk and then there in an even worse place hoping that the Teddy Bridgewater/Curtis Samuel/D.J. Moore show can yield results.

[Kirby101]

That contract might also reflect the new CBA and new TV contract.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

In a change of pace from the usual Top 10 draft busts we normally see (Leaf , Russell , etc) this one shows a couple players we never hardly see mentioned.




David Klingler : Usually Klingler is mentioned in passing quick but this examines how things went bad ...quick for him. The Bengals were breaking down on the offensive line and young WR's didn't help him. Combined with Klingler's struggles at QB no wonder he failed.


Art Schlichter : This one usually never gets mentioned at all nowadays. Its one of those you rarely hear when draft busts come up. But Art S. was pretty bad and a lot was due sadly to destroying his entire NFL career over gambling addiction. He would gamble and lose tons of money and his mind wasn't on the game. In fact his career in NFL in 4 seasons : 3 TD's , 11 Ints and 1,006 yards.


Brian Bosworth : Bosworth was a pick out of supplemental league and as shown he really isn't considered a 1st rd draft bust to many. He played 3 seasons but the "hype" Bosworth had for himself and others expected huge things. Comically as brought up Bosworth did not want to play for the Seahawks as he sent letters to teams saying he wouldn't report to camp. He had wanted to play for the Raiders. Also the Seahawks coaxed him to play with a huge deal.

The funniest story was how smart Bosworth was really. He riled Denver fans up by mocking John Elway and they had no clue the 10,000 t-shirts sold they paid mocking Bosworth was actually made by him. Which was pretty funny to learn .

[worstblogever]

As the Cardinals honk around these parts... here's Arizona's Top 10 Draft Busts of the modern era (the past 25 years, and there are some real noteworthy ones, from an impact standpoint):

• NUMBER TEN
  Hasson Reddick, LB, Temple... #13 overall in 2018. The jury is still out on Haason Reddick, but if he's a bust, it's likely because he arrived with the Cardinals at the peak of their current misfortune. While Arizona became a bottom feeder for a couple years... Arizona cycled through a different defensive coordinator and coach each of his first three seasons. And in each of those defenses, Reddick was moved around from in a 3-4 defense at strong-side MLB, to weak-side MLB, to OLB, to MLB in a 4-3 defense... to OLB in a 4-3, and then back through OLB and MLB last year. Did I mention that Reddick's strong point in college was as a pass-rusher, but in the NFL, he's too small for that? So Arizona had to hope that he would get better in pass coverage. Arizona gave up a TD a game last year to opposing TEs... and that had a lot to do with the fact that they had Reddick struggling to learn how to cover, something he didn't do much, or well in college. This year will be the first season of his career that Reddick will have the same DC and coach for two straight years, but the question is if Vance Joseph and Kliff Kingsbury can make him respectable enough of a player to earn a second contract with the team.
• NUMBER NINE
  Beanie Wells, RB, Ohio State... #31 overall in 2009. Arizona thought they needed to improve on their running game the year after they went to the Super Bowl, snagging Wells late in the first round and thinking they had grabbed the best running back in the draft. The problem was... Beanie sucked, and his college career was predicated on running behind a highly talented Buckeye offensive line against mostly mediocre teams in the Big Ten (Michigan's squad being perhaps the one talented team they had to face all year.) With Arizona, Wells had a mediocre O-Line at best, and never seemed to be able to be used in the passing game with Kurt Warner, or any of the disastrous signal-callers that would follow him after his retirement. The most depressing Beanie Wells statistic was that in his final 15 games in the NFL, he had ZERO broken tackles. After what had been a disappointing fourth season through those 15 games, including getting only 4 yards against Chicago in Week 16... prior to Arizona's final game, Wells declared that his final game with the Cardinals "would be his audition for the other 31 teams in the league", so Ken Whisenhunt just benched his ass and made him a healthy scratch. He went to Baltimore to work out to see if he could get on the Ravens' roster in the 2013 offseason, tore his Achilles in that workout, and never played in the league again.
• NUMBER EIGHT
  Robert Nkemdiche, DT, Ole Miss... #29 overall in 2016. Arizona was picking late in the first round coming off a loss in the NFC Championship game, and took a chance on a player with a history of substance abuse. Only years after the team had struck gold by taking a chance on Tyrann Matthieu in Round Three of the draft, they thought they had a Top 5 talent late in the first round, and in all their interviews, GM Steve Keim and Team President Michael Bidwill bought into Nkemdiche's claims that he had his priorities straight. Bidwill, now owner, likes to boast about being a former prosecutor and a great judge of character... well, he also talks about how great his former high school classmate, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is... so keep that in mind when we finish this story by saying Mkemdiche spent three years in the league only, constantly was out of shape, and played in only 30 games over 3 seasons before being cut in year four of his career after a failed physical. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins, but never made it to the field for them in year four and is already out of the league. He'd be higher on this list, but again... LATE first round.
• NUMBER SEVEN
  Jonathon Cooper, G, North Carolina... #7 overall in 2013. Cooper looked like a future Hall of Famer in his first two preseason games, but then on a play in his third where he was 10-15 yards downfield blocking on a run like a beast... he horribly broke his left fibula in a compound fracture. The player that came back after that injury was a shadow of the monster Arizona drafted, and always played like he was scared of getting injured again. And he did. Arizona gave up on him after third injury plagued season, including him in the trade with the Patriots that netted them Chandler Jones. New England saw him get hurt, and let him go. Since, he's bounced to Cleveland, then San Francisco, then Dallas, and is likely on his way out of the league with only a handful of starts in the NFL to his name. No guard had been selected as early in the draft since 1986, and Cooper proved why. This pick would be more of a failing for Arizona's front office and GM Steve Keim if it wasn't for a sudden injury history being the reason for his failure.
• NUMBER SIX
  Tom Knight, CB, Ohio State... #9 overall to the Cardinals in 1997. Chosen to play opposite of Aeneas Williams... and was thus obviously going to be targeted rather than throw at Aeneas, who was one of the best corners of his era. Knight was such a liability compared to Williams that it helped birth the legend's status as "the lonliest man in the NFL" for never having the receiver he was covering thrown at, while teams racked up first down after first down throwing at Knight. In five years in Arizona, Knight only had 3 INTs, which was a lower number than the number of separate times he went on the injured list.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[worstblogever]

CONTINUED...

• NUMBER FIVE
  Wendell Bryant, DE Wisconsin... #12 overall in 2002. For perspective, Arizona passed on Jeremy Shockey, Ed Reed, and Albert Haynesworth to make this pick. Bryant only played 3 years as a DE, and got only 1.5 sacks in his first three seasons. His fourth NFL season never happened, because he was busted by the NFL's substance abuse policy. He turned up one more time in 2010... for the UFL's Omaha Nighthawks. He was only slightly more disappointing than our next pick, who can't even blame his shortcomings on off-the-field issues. He went to rehab for his drug problem, and has been brought in by the NFL as a cautionary tale to speak at their annual rookie symposium.
• NUMBER FOUR
  Andre Wadsworth, DE, Florida State... #3 overall in 1998. Wadsworth played a total of only 30 games over 3 seasons, managing just 72 total tackles and 8 sacks in those games. He had as many knee surgeries as he did years in the league. Arizona passed on a couple players you may have heard of named Charles Woodson and Randy Moss to make this pick. The only reason he's probably not more renowned as a bust was because the Cardinals traded DOWN from #2 to #3 and let the Chargers draft Ryan Leaf. Still, Wadsworth is arguably worse than our next bust, because of being taken so high overall... but the next few guys are bad because of what they were supposed to be for the team.
• NUMBER THREE
  Matt Leinart, QB, USC... #10 overall in 2006. Everyone thought Arizona had found a franchise QB as a steal that dropped to them just inside the top ten. Instead, they found a guy who was still daydreaming about his college glory days winning the Heisman on someone else's back, and still had the default instinct to check-down to the RB to do all the hard work and keep moving the ball for him. Except, instead of that RB being Reggie Bush in his prime or Lendale White in his, it was whatever veteran Arizona could sign for cheap, or Beanie Wells (who went down on first contact like the Hindenburg whenever touched) and couldn't pull off the miracles to make Leinart look good. He started a total of 17 games for Arizona, mostly for Denny Green, which having him under center against an Urlacher defense had a lot to do with a blown 19 point lead on Monday Night Football and Green's legendary "THE BEARS ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!" meltdown. (Seriously, re-watch that game and see Leinart cough up what should have been a comfortable win because he cracked under the pressure.) When Green got fired and replaced with Ken Whisenhunt, the latter stumbled into Kurt Warner's renaissance, and split time at QB between the resurgent Warner and Leinart before giving the starter's job to Warner and knowing Leinart just didn't have the goods. When Warner retired after the Bountygate Saints left him severely concussed in the 2009 post-season... Leinart felt the starter's job was finally his right in 2010, showed up to training camp to spend more time s***-talking his coach under palm trees than he did trying to throw more than ten yards, and got cut in the preseason... in favor of DEREK ANDERSON, which is like the team chose to get stabbed over shot, in terms of QB decisions. Still, it was the right one, as Leinart spent most of the next few years holding a clipboard before going on to be a broadcaster on college football halftime shows.
• NUMBER TWO
  Levi Brown, OT, Penn State... #5 overall IN 2007. He was supposed to be a "can't miss" franchise left tackle. He was anything but. In his time with Arizona over 81 games he gave up 55 sacks, 302 pressures, and 37 penalties. He also has the statistic of 6 fumble recoveries, which is less impressive when you think about it and realize it meant he was recovering strip sacks caused by defensive ends he couldn't block that destroyed his QB and left him scrambling to at least try and mitigate the damage his incompetence caused. A local sports talk radio host literally paid for a limo to take Brown to the airport when the team finally cut ties with them to get him out of town faster. The most depressing thing about this pick? Arizona's GM's office ignored then scouting director Steve Keim, who was adamant the team should take Adrian Peterson. But Adrian had a college injury that scared off GM Rod Graves. So... think about this for a second... the Cardinals' 2008 Super Bowl team could have had Adrian Peterson at RB, Kurt Warner at QB, and at WR they would have had three 1,000 yard potential guys in Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston. Just... Levi Brown hurts more for just the "what could have been".
• NUMBER ONE
  Josh Rosen, QB, UCLA... #10 overall in 2018. Alright, I don't want to be the guy that jumps up and points at a team's most recent bust as their WORST bust... but Josh Rosen was a HUGE miss. There were pundits around the NFL dumbfounded that he was the fourth QB taken, and had him rated higher than Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, or Josh Allen. And yet, there was Rosen as the Cardinals were desperate for an heir-apparent to Carson Palmer and their current replacement option on the roster was a highly overpaid Sam F***ing Bradford. So Arizona gave up a 4th round pick to move up five spots where Oakland was picking, and take Rosen. The UCLA star's scouting report said that he could be aloof or get disinterested depending on his situation, and Arizona knew he still might be a bit raw... so they wanted first year coach Steve Wilks to play Bradford for a year until Rosen "would be ready". The Bradford experiment lasted an embarrassing two and a half games before Arizona realized he should have just retired rather than play another year and was only there for a paycheck. So Rosen was thrown immediately into the fire, and proceeded to go 3-10 as a starter in Arizona's what is considered their worst season in team history. He threw for 2278 yards, 11 TDs, and 14 INTs in that rookie campaign, and when Arizona had the #1 pick in 2019... they traded Rosen to the Miami Dolphins and got only a 2nd round pick in return. That's right, they traded the guy they traded up for a year earlier, defying all logic of how a team should handle draft strategy... and it looks like it was absolutely the right decision. Rosen was immediately thrown into service for the Dolphins without any team around him, again (no line, no targets, as the team had a fire sale before the start of the 2019 season), and they benched him after only 3 lopsided losses where he threw for a miserable 1 TD and 5 INTs. His career QB rating in two seasons is 63.5, and he throws for less than 150 yards per game. Miami is expected to use one of their three first round picks in 2020 to draft another QB, and it is believed that Rosen will soon be searching for a third team to play for in three years... and there might not be a single taker, based on his tape. We'd say he could prove himself in the XFL, but that just went out of business. Maybe the CFL. But for a first round pick QB to burn out in two years would be something you usually only see in Cleveland. It's looking like Rosen's going to be Arizona's worst first round pick, ever.

[C_Miller]

I don't believe Rosen has been given a fair shake in either setting that he's been in, on top of the being on two teams in two years. He didn't show much in the way of promise, but the Cardinals who was the worst team in Football, then going to the Dolphins in the middle of a rebuild (the most transparent rebuild I've ever seen) doesn't really set you up for success. Plus, the Cardinals and the Dolphins had two of the worst O-Lines in football in 2018 and 2019 respectively, which really hurts pocket passers.

Again, I'm not saying that Rosen is the second coming of Tom Brady, but I think he still has potential. That said, the longer he gets pushed around and passed from team to team, the less of a chance he has to tap into that. And also, the Cards only won two more games with Murray than with Rosen.

[Scott Taylor]

There's a rock and a hard place situation at play though. He absolutely deserved that contract as he was the entirety of the offense last year. So if they weren't going to give him the money, he definitely would have been within his right to walk and then there in an even worse place hoping that the Teddy Bridgewater/Curtis Samuel/D.J. Moore show can yield results.

Essentially teams are paying their RBs for their rookie performance that will never happen again. RBs tend to fall off after those first couple of years into a more steady, workman status. Right about the time they are owed their first pro contract. Its set up for them to fail to live up to expectations, especially if you base those expectations on their paycheck.

Part of this is that football has changed alot since the days of the marquee RB. The game is set up to foster the big passing game.

[worstblogever]

I don't believe Rosen has been given a fair shake in either setting that he's been in, on top of the being on two teams in two years. He didn't show much in the way of promise, but the Cardinals who was the worst team in Football, then going to the Dolphins in the middle of a rebuild (the most transparent rebuild I've ever seen) doesn't really set you up for success. Plus, the Cardinals and the Dolphins had two of the worst O-Lines in football in 2018 and 2019 respectively, which really hurts pocket passers.

Again, I'm not saying that Rosen is the second coming of Tom Brady, but I think he still has potential. That said, the longer he gets pushed around and passed from team to team, the less of a chance he has to tap into that. And also, the Cards only won two more games with Murray than with Rosen.

Out of the 13 losses they had in 2018 with Rosen, EIGHT were blowout losses (over two TDs). They had a -233 point differential.
Out of the 10 losses Arizona had in 2019, only one was a blowout. -81 point differential with Murray.

Trust me, Kyler's a big improvement. He threw for over 1,200 yards more than Rosen, 20 more TDs, and rushed for 500 more yards than he did. He just didn't get any help from the defense all season.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I will look at Kansas City's worse draft picks and go back to at least 1980. This was a nice deal to see listed and yeah Rosen sadly got the short end of the stick in 2 places. Honestly Miami should release him and let him try at New England to see if he has anything.

[TriggerWarning]

NFL is making contingency plans for a shortened season and playing in empty stadiums.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Kansas City Chiefs worst 10 draft picks in 40 seasons ...yes I go back to 1980 til now...



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- #10 : Anthony Hancock (WR) -1982 1st rd #11 Hancock was considered a deep threat WR at Tennessee and was supposed to give KC's offense a legit #1 WR to stretch the field. Instead for 5 seasons all Hancock did was catch over 1,200+ yards and his best season was 1983 where he had 500+ yards receiving. Hancock never could beat out Carlos Carson or Henry Marshall at the WR spots. Also what makes the pick worse is further down the draft in 1st rd the Philadelphia Eagles selected Mike Quick (WR) a 5 time Pro Bowl WR.




- #9 : Paul Palmer (1987 1st rd #19) , Harvey Williams (1991 1st rd #21) , Greg Hill (1994 1st rd #25) : Kansas City has never drafted good 1st rd RB for a 7 year stretch. Its almost insane to see how many shots at a RB they went to in 7 seasons. Always missing by a mile. In fact career wise Palmer (who clashed with coaches and Marty Shottenheimer and was released 2 seasons in) , Harvey Williams (who left in free agency) and Greg Hill have a combined near 4,000+ career rushing yards in Kansas City. All of them finished their short careers elsewhere.

Also what is wild all 3 never could beat out older RB's. Palmer never could become the main RB as Christian Okaye had that role . Williams never could become the main back due to him and Barry Word. Then Greg Hill never could take the job fully from Marcus Allen in end of his career.


- #8 : Ryan Sims (2002 1st Rd #6) : Sims was considered a big time DT coming out of college and Kansas City thought they had the 2nd coming of Warren Sapp given the hype for him. Instead in 5 seasons they got him in 59 games with 65 tackles , 5 sacks and 1 forced fumble. What is insane is the Chiefs in that 2002 NFL Draft could have had 2 long time Pro Bowl players in Dwight Feeney (DE) or Ed Reed (Safety) . Reed is in the Hall of Fame. KC would trade Sims away after 2006.



- #7 : Glenn Dorsey (2008 1st rd #5) : Glenn Dorsey was another projected monster DT coming from college. As the Chiefs were rebuilding their defense in late 2000's they basically drafted Dorsey to be a difference maker up front. What they got in 5 seasons was 4 sacks. Also what didn't help was in 2010 the team shifted Dorsey to DE in a 3/4 scheme which some say this placed him out of his natural position. After 2012 Dorsey would leave in free agency.


- #6 : Sylvester Morris (2000 1st rd #21): Morris is a case of , WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN. In fact Morris had a very solid rookie season at WR where he had 48 receptions for 648 yards and 3 TD's. He sadly never played again. So what happened after a solid rookie season and why isn't Morris ranked higher ? Well unlike Palmer who clashed with coaches or Hancock who never performed as a #1 WR. Morris suffered 3 knee surgeries in each season that followed where it cancelled his seasons. He finally was forced into retirement...having only played 1 season. What is wild is Morris had the NFL size (6'3) and ability to be a star WR. He just never got the chance.


- #5 : Matt Blundin (1992 2nd Rd #40) : Matt "Werewolves of" Blundin as Chris Berman nicknamed him was one of Kansas City's highest QB draft picks in years. In fact the Chiefs wouldn't go higher than the 2nd rd to get a QB til 2017. And this is one case where its likely why they waited so long on Pat Mahomes to arrive.

Blundin had a great senior season at Virginia where he threw for 1900+ yards 19 TD's and 0 Ints. Yes folks...0 INTS. This impressed KC who saw his 6'7 size and strong arm and then ...watched as he never took the field in 3 seasons. In fact he threw for 15 yards in 3 seasons and 1 Int. YIKES...



- #4 : Brian Jozwiak (1986 1st Rd #7) : Kansas City was trying to build an offensive line in the mid 1980's. They had selected All-Pro tackle John Alt in the 1st rd 2 years earlier and Jozwiak himself was an All-American coming out of WVU. He also had the size (6'6 , 300+) to form a good tackle combination with Alt. Instead what the Chiefs got for 3 seasons was 3 starts and him appearing in 28 games before a hip injury ended his career in 1988.


- #3 : Percy Snow (1990 1st Rd. #13) : The Chiefs had nailed 2 straight drafts of 1st rd picks with Neil Smith (1988) and then Derrick Thomas (1989) . So with Percy Snow they thought they would nail a 3rd straight draft defensively. Instead sadly the same situation seemed to play out like it did with Morris. After a solid rookie season in 1990 , Snow was injured on a scooter in 1991. His knee was injured and he never played in 1991. He only had 1 start the final 2 seasons of his NFL career.


- #2 : Trazelle Jenkins (1995 1st Rd. #31) - Nicknamed the "House Cat" by his Michigan team mates Jenkins was considered a major reach with his selection. He had huge size (6'7 , 320) and many felt that Art Shell who was a Hall of Fame Offensive lineman himself and coach of the Chiefs offensive line would transform Jenkins into a dominant tackle. Instead Jenkins was a complete bust in his 3 seasons in the NFL (he never played anywhere else) and appeared in 9 games and only started 1. Shell never could make Jenkins work and according to Yahoo sports writer in mid 2000's ; Jenkins is considered the worst #31 draft pick in the NFL draft ever.


.......#1 coming....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

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#1 : Todd Blackledge (1983 1st Rd. #7) : Todd Blackledge is considered really the biggest Chiefs blunder in history. Given where he was selected and the famous QB draft class involved. In 1983 the Chiefs were on the clock. The 1st QB selected was John Elway and he would be traded to Denver. Then KC had their chance to select their QB of the future. There waiting was 2 future Hall of Famers : Dan Marino and Jim Kelly.

Even Blackledge was stunned when he was selected by the Chiefs at #7 as he was projected as a middle 1st rd QB at best. Marino was also stunned at this as he was thought of a high 1st rd QB and was falling draft wise. But the Chiefs looked so bad doing this and then they passed on middle of the road QB's in Ken O'Brien and Tony Eason as well that 1st rd who were selected !

Blackledge was the ultimate bust in Kansas City and once threw 3 , pick six Ints to the Seahawks in a game comically. He would never throw for more than 1800 yards in a season or throw over 14 TD's in his 4 seasons with Chiefs. This draft pick would haunt Kansas City and they wouldn't select a 1st rd QB in the draft for the next 34 years. (til Pat Mahomes)