2023 NFL offseason thread

https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/08/15/nfl-business-owners-taking-power-from-players

Good article about owners screwing players more and more.

 

I used to think Rodgers would be a fit for Progressive, but now I'm not so sure.

 

The NFLPA continues to be weak and the owners keep finding ways to take advantage. I wonder if Joe Burrow and his agent will push back harder on the trend of more team-friendly contracts for the quarterbacks. Lamar Jackson tried but didn't really pull it off, but the injury concerns didn't help him there.

It was interesting that they so quietly changed the language to formalize the fact that owners are not held to the same standards as players when it comes to personal conduct. That is some seriously shady shit. Adding the potential for harsher penalties for the players, including the ability to address behavior before they joined the league, seems a bit like closing the barn door after the animals escaped. Perhaps they expect more cases like Deshaun Watson.

 

Former third (edit) overall pick may be on the chopping block

 

Boston talk show proposal of the afternoon was trading Bailey Zappe and a third-rounder for Lance. Shanahan has a problem with quarterbacks akin to Don Zimmer's problem with pitchers, except that as far as I know, no QB ever almost killed Shanahan. Bet a few wanted to, though.

 

would they give him michael bishop's number

 

The 49ers treatment of Trey Lance is just unbelievably weird. Nothing about it has made any sense.

 

He must have really not shown any progress in camp. Which is about the only thing that can explain it. He redshirts behind Jimmy G, which isn’t a terrible thing considering Jimmy wasn’t bad and had led them to a Super Bowl in 2019 and the team suffered without him in 2020 for half the year. So Lance learns in 21, is given the keys in 22 but gets hurt in Game 2. His backup’s backup shines bright and steals the job despite getting hurt. Niners then expect Brock Purdy wouldn’t be back by the start of the year so they bring in Sam Darnold as a backup plan.

Then ???

Purdy back quicker than expected and Darnold wins the No. 2 job.

Lance is as much a victim of not lack of reps as anything. It’s unfortunate but it’s the breaks.

 

I'm still disappointed they caved so quick and signed the CBA extension at the start of the pandemic. I thought (maybe naively) they had some power there if they held off and let the owners sweat out the early days of the pandemic.

 

They had an opportunity, but they lacked the vision, skill, and/or courage to take advantage of it.

 

Even given all that...

They traded three first round picks to move up to get him. That's a massive investment to get a star player. Once they made him the starter he got two starts -- one in a mud bog during a monsoon, and in the other he suffered a season-ending injury like three plays in.

That's it? That's all you're giving a guy after trading three first round picks to get him?

They may think they have seen enough to know he simply can't play. But if that's the case... why the hell did they trade for him in the first place? They have this little interest in making it work with a guy they traded so much for? I can't think of any QB picked as high as Lance to get less of a chance at the job, and that's not even factoring in the trade. JaMarcus Russell got 25 starts in the league. Ryan Leaf got 21.

(And to be clear -- I have no idea if Lance has potential to be a solid starter, and I have no issue with starting Purdy if they think he gives them a better chance to win. But Darnold is the number two?!? Seriously, the Lance trade and pick is looking like a massive failure by the Niners, and people seem to just shrug it off.)