2023 NFL offseason thread

He’s had the best oline a running game in the league, he wasn’t playing with nobodies.

 

Short is so overplayed. You can either play or you can't. Drew Brees was short. He could play. Kyler Murray is short and it looks like he can't. Mayfield got his shoulder busted up and has a confidence problem as a result. This idea that you have to be 6-5 to be an NFL QB is a little overcooked. How many small guys even get a chance? By your logic, Dan McGwire should have been a Hall of Famer. Mayfield's shortcomings are all between his ears and some guys never get past those. He can forge a nice 12- to 15-year career toting a clip board if his ego can deal with it. He had a chance to be a good starting QB but that got derailed. This year will be his last chance to prove he can be the guy, which I'm guessing he can't.

And JC, you're mostly right about who he had with him. But one of the scrub receivers he had, Anthony Swartz, short-armed his attempt to catch a perfectly thrown ball and it got picked, after which Mayfield got hurt making the tackle, setting this crap in motion. For the 18 games of 2020 and the first two of 21, Mayfield looked like the real thing. He didn't just forget how to play.

 

Well, the two ideas - short and never really learned how to play in the pocket - are connected, and serve as a contrast to Brees.

I mean, to some degree, Brady's the GOAT for a couple reasons:

*He understood the game at the very highest level and could coach it on the field.

*He had a very strong arm. Accurate, yes, but strong.

*He became a master of playing in the pocket, keeping all routes alive as designed, which is harder for a defense to defend.

*His height helped. Of course it did. It helped Manning. It certainly helped Big Oaf Ben, funny-throwin Rivers, and the like.


Yes, indeed, Mayfield has other issues. He holds on to the ball too long because he sometimes wait for guys to get to the finishing portion of their routes rather than throwing them open. He doesn't seem to understand - and no one was better than Brady and Brees at this - that the goal is to repeatedly get rid of the damn ball, to an open receiver, and, in doing so, even if it's a 6-yard gain, you're beginning to work the defense.

What he can be good at - what the idiot for the Jets* was good at on occasion, what Wentz was good at - were these long, athletic rollouts throwing the ball 28 yards downfield to a receiver. That stuff looks cool, and plays like that are important. But you'd either be Steve Young - who could do all of it - you'd better have the guys to throw to, and it helps even more to have the playcaller. Mahomes is an unalloyed joy to watch, but if he had Matt Patricia calling his plays, and not Big Red, everybody'd notice the difference quickly.

*I don't mean Aaron Rodgers, but Zach Wilson.

 

Steve Young wasn't Steve Young until he had guys to throw to and the right system with the 49ers.

 

I also think that the short card is overplayed. I have no idea why ...

 

QB Jackson has requested trade from Ravens

 

I'm not exactly the first to bring this up, but...

Dude needs an agent.

 

Agreed. Also, doesn't he need to sign the tender for the Ravens to trade him?

 

Can he not agree to a contract like Watson did? And aren't teams already making it clear they won't want to pay him Watson-like money, let alone kick in a few first-rounders on top of that? Not happening. This is a fascinating saga.

 

Ravens opted to let the market speak and he doesn't like what he's hearing. What an unnecessary mess.

 

Of all the people on Twitter to bust out this particular bit of virtue signaling on ...

 

The tweet says he requested the trade before the Ravens tagged him.