2014 NFL off-season thread

I don't think any of the FA quarterbacks are anything other than a short-term solution, but I will be curious if any of the teams picking at the top of the draft, who are rumored to be looking at QBs take a flier on any of them.

 

McAfee is good, but he's also getting paid because he's insanely popular in Indianapolis. He's all over local media, including a weekly, in-season show he hosted for The Indianapolis Star. (An idea that worked well enough that the Star got George Hill to do one during the Pacers' season, and just announced James Hinchliffe for one during Indy 500 season.) The dude has done more to cash out on a drunken incident (his dive into the Central Canal) than anyone since Dean Martin.

 

I am only forecasting the worst-case scenario here, but even if he hits free agency the 49ers can block him from going anywhere with the franchise tag or, if they're very worried about it, the exclusive franchise tag. Costs a little more, but it precludes him from going anywhere. And if he's talking about averaging $20M anyway, the 49ers wouldn't lose any ground on it.

If they franchise him TWICE (after the 2014 and 2015 seasons), he gets an automatic 20 percent bump in 2015. And even with that, his three-year take comes to about $42M.

He just doesn't have the leverage to be asking for the kinds of numbers he's asking for. Now, watch me be proven wrong tomorrow when they sign him for 6/120 with 45M guaranteed, but it would not make sense at all for a franchise that has been built around the idea of cap discipline and not spending big into the unforeseeable future.

 

It's a great situation and a horrible situation at the same time for a team.

I think if they start drafting QBs in the third round in the next couple of years, they might be showing their hand a bit.

 

If they're going to make Harbaugh earn his extension, they should do the same thing with Kaepernick.

If they sign both today, they could probably get Harbaugh for $7 mil and Kaepernick for $17M. If they win the Super Bowl next season, Harbaugh will be between $8M and $9M and Kaepernick will be over $20 mil.

I'll be perfectly honest though, I'm a lot more sold on Harbaugh than I am on Kaepernick.

 

Agreed.

 

Schefter tweeted out something last night about how something like a third of all Super Bowl QB starters since free agency began were signed as free agents from other teams...

So I'm sure a lot of teams are frantically looking for the next Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Jake Delhomme, Chris Chandler, Stan Humphries of the world, although Rich Gannon and Kurt Warner are included in that group as well.

 

Of the 48 Super Bowls played, 36 were won by teams using QBs they drafted out of college. Only 12 of 48 have been successful using QBs drafted by other teams.

I might be off one or two either way, but the point stands.

 

No. But the point is valid that it doesn't always require a HOF level quarterback to have at least short-term success.

At any given point in history, you're only going to have about, maybe 20 percent or less, of the players who you would consider elite. If your team doesn't happen to have one of those, you get the best guys available and history shows you can have some success that way.

 

In other news, New Orleans is likely to release Darren Sproles as well as WR Lance Moore. I suspect it's salary cap related, as so many of the moves this time of year seem to be. I think Sproles still has some productive years left and will surface somewhere.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/running-back-rashard-mendenhall-retiring-after-six-nfl-seasons-034548663.html

Rashard Mendenhall retires at 26.

 

His fumble against Green Bay was a huge part in that loss.