NFL 2021!

[Harrisown]

Here we go again.

Hall of game game between Falcons and Broncos kicks off tonight.

 

Pre Season starts on the 9th August.

 

Bradys last year?

Browns comeback year?

Is a wide receiver worth $100 million?

Edited August 13, 2021 by Harrisown

[McFly]

Wooot! Looking forward to what Cleveland turn out like on the field

[glb]

Time for the Phins to go 8-8

 

(narrator: they'll go 2-14)

[Rev]

I think this will be the year Cincinnati will surprise everyone and...

 

I can’t back that up. Bless ‘em.

[kiroquai]

I'm pretty excited as a Browns fan. Then again, I am excited every season as a Browns fan and look what happens.

 

All the talk is about the move we made for OBJ (and Vernon) but for me the really important grab was Sheldon Richardson. Of course he's picked up an injury in camp but overall he should sure up our run defence and allow Garrett and Vernon to really go to work elsewhere.

 

Winning the AFC North and get to the playoffs should be achievable. Really keen to see how Baker does in his second year.

[glb]

Brady, 42, signs a $70m two-year extension. Nice work if you can get it.

[McFly]

It might sound ludicrous but hes been underpaid for years, (by chouce kinda and m sure he made it up otherways), compared to other players, especially QBs. 

 

Be interesting to see what Oakland get up to after Gruden ripped up tbeir roster, genius/insanity. At least they signed up Antonio Brown right? 

 

[Corranga]

14 hours ago, McFly said:

It might sound ludicrous but hes been underpaid for years, (by chouce kinda and m sure he made it up otherways), compared to other players, especially QBs. 

 

I preume that's a Belichick / salary cap thing?

 

Looking forward to the season as always, hopefully my NFL Gamepass renewal will work this week as last week my bank saw it as a fraudulant purchase and declined it..

 

Go Hawks!

 

[glb]

17 hours ago, McFly said:

It might sound ludicrous but hes been underpaid for years, (by chouce kinda and m sure he made it up otherways), compared to other players, especially QBs. 

 

Doesn’t sound ludicrous at all really. I expected, given he’s the greatest QB in an era when salaries are lunacy, to have a much higher net worth. Obviously he’s no pauper and sleeps on Egyptian cotton but expected him to be worth $400-500m (not $180m)

[Baring]

How can I watch the Raiders hard knocks? 

 

Also im going for the Browns this year in my works thing. Proper like their line up these past few years, love Baker and his swagger now they’ve signed OBJ, if they make play offs it’ll be first time in a very long time (I think). 

 

I don’t have a team I properly support, I enjoy all 31 underdogs. Proper can’t wait for it to get started. 

[McFly]

21 hours ago, Freeman said:

 

I preume that's a Belichick / salary cap thing?

 

Its a salary cap issue. Its not a weekly limit, "Player X cant earn more than $500k a week, its an annual total of $188.2m. So if Brady takes less it means they can attract or keep a player by paying them more. And conversly, more for one means less for another, its primarily a way of trying to keep parity amongst the league. 

 

Brady is now the 6th highest paid QB in the league and is still some way short of others. And i dont believe his deal is fully guaranteed like Kirk Cousins.

 

@Baring iirc Hardknock was on youtube last year, failing that its on Sky Sports.

[glb]

19 minutes ago, McFly said:

Its a salary cap issue. Its not a weekly limit, "Player X cant earn more than $500k a week, its an annual total of $188.2m. So if Brady takes less it means they can attract or keep a player by paying them more. And conversly, more for one means less for another, its primarily a way of trying to keep parity amongst the league. 

 

Brady is now the 6th highest paid QB in the league and is still some way short of others. And i dont believe his deal is fully guaranteed like Kirk Cousins.

 

Went down a bit of a rabbit hole... American football's contracts are surprising. Like Mahomes 'only' getting $4.4m a year or Dak Prescott being on $2.1m. The structuring involved is complex. Wrongly assumed a QB would be among every sides' highest paid players, just because of the pivotal nature of the position.

[Corranga]

Isn't a lot of the salary stuff about young players being keen to sign long deals, and therefore being paid less for longer as they sign the multi-season deal at draft?

Brady being the exception as described above, is one thing, to allow more talent across the team to keep them competitive year on year, but then money wise, someone is always going to pay Tom Brady to do something, even post career, and I'd imagine his sponsourship deals will be worth mega bucks.

 

 

Teams also seem to want to take QBs young and train them up, building the team arnound them - the 'franchise quarterback' model - which perhaps leads to more QVs hanging around in teams for longer, or teams perhaps taking the long view rather than taking on a new QB and trying to re-engineer their whle team around him, or him around their whole team.

 

[McFly]

A lot of it comes down to you just cant tell whose gonna be able to stay in the league and whose gonna be a bust. 

 

Russell wilson, 3rd round so-so prospect won the superbowl with a salary of $500k, not pennies but still a fraction of what hes being paid now thats hes proven himself.

 

Justin Blackmon, a sensational WR from college barely lasted a season. Whereas people like Wes Welker or Edelman who were nobodies are borderline HoF players. 

 

Rookie deals change witj every Union deal each few years. Matt Stafford got 120m iirc as a rookie, andrew luck got a $50m signing bonus and a huge deal but thats very very rare nowadays. Veteran players have a higher minimum salary based on years played which i like as unglamourous role players who let the stars function deserve their share too.

 

Many deals are heavily incentivised too, so the headline amount is a potential total not a "guaranteed" total. Also if players are inhured long-term they dont get full salary, depending on their deal iirc.

 

Its so complex and theres so much psychoanalysis and statiscal analysis involved its mind boggling. And tottally addictive to me.

[glb]

It is absolutely fascinating, and barely scratching the surface in terms of the complexities.

 

As I expect by the end of the year at the latest to be back in a timezone where I can watch games a bit more, will be more invested in this season than probably the previous decade's. Seeing that The Athletic is also offering US sports outside of their freshly-launched UK football site, would be interested in reading a bit more around the game, especially beyond the Guardian's token weekly match reports.

[Baring]

Hard knocks ep 1 on YouTube this evening. 

[Wallpaper]

Speaking of shows theres a new season of All or Nothing on Amazon Prime, this year it's the Carolina Panthers.

The series felt very lightweight compared to previous ones, but it did change my mind on Cam Newton, he seems like a good guy.

[Mallet]

So in an effort to increase player safety the NFL performed exhaustive testing on all the available helmets. They published a list of which models were fit and safe for use for NFL players. This new rule was brought into effect last season but the NFL gave players a year to switch over and by the start of this season all players have to comply with the new rules.

 

Antonio Brown has said that he might retire if he isn't allowed to flaunt the rule and wear his old helmet that the league have determined isn't up to standards 

 

 

[McFly]

Gruden would revert to 2003 Chucky era and kill him and hang him from the Vegas stadium if he did.

[Mallet]

What do people think the open market would be like for Dak Prescott? He has reportedly turned down $30 million a year and I realise the details could be bad, guaranteed money etc but do you think other teams would top that money?

[Baring]

He’s not a world beater. I reckon that’s about the top he’d get it’s insane money. Anyone can hand it off to Elliot  

 

[McFly]

Baring is on the right track I reckon. Dak is good, a bit above average and seems to have his head screwed on generally. However if Zeke wasnt there i dont think he has the ability to dominate without the run threat aswell. If he wants $30m or more per seasson i'd tell him to piss off. And grab SFs back up, Mullens instead.

[BabelRich]

It’s all about that O-line in Dallas. Put Dak behind the Texans line and see if he is worth $40m (the amount I’ve seen suggested he wants) then. I honestly think any decent QB could do a job there. 

 

I really can’t think of a team that would need to pay him that much.

[Mallet]

Andrew Luck has retired.

 

I'm guessing he has enough of being beat into the ground and has made enough to live the rest of his life very comfortably.

[BabelRich]

That’s exactly what he said. His speech was very honest and quite touching. Always liked Luck despite not really being a Colts fan but much respect to the guy. 

 

Who’d have though RGIII would outlast luck. Helps that Griffin doesn’t really play anymore of course. 

[kiroquai]

To see him get booed off the field last night made me genuinely angry. The guy played a game with a lacerated kidney once ffs. He literally put his life on the line for the Colts. I sincerely hope that later down the line he comes back to the stadium and is given the reception he truly deserves.

 

Sad to see him go but truly admire the decision he’s made.

[BabelRich]

Yeah man, the booing was way out of order. Hoping those fans are feeling pretty bad with themselves in the sober light of day after hearing his reasoning. 

 

Be interesting to see how Brissett does as the bona fide starter now. 

[McFly]

Luck was a great player and could have been immense but if youre getting smashed everyweek only to take stick for your efforts i can see why he quit. What he did for Stanford cant be overstated either, super-strict  academic entrance criteria makes it harder than some to recruit players. But with Harbaugh and some decent players they were one of the best college teams since the 2000s.

 

 

 

David Carr at the Texans  was similar, a #1 pick at the expansion Texans who got killed, must be hard to keep going.

 

He had the sack record for a season, 76, until last year iirc. That doesnt include all the hits and non-sacks where he just got nailed

[Mallet]

Yeah, any NFL gan let alone a Colt's fan is aware of what he has went through. To boo him was well out if order.

[glb]

Interesting video about the limits of kicking field goals. 90 yards? The Phins just happy to make extra points.