NFL offseason thread

I'm a little surprised they're giving up on him. I know he's threatening to hold out and wants to be paid like a top 3 or top 5 receiver and has had a lot of problems there...

He's a hell of a player and I can only imagine how the Niners' offense would be with Kaepernick there and Harvin, Gore, Crabtree and James with that offensive line...

He scares me a bit though...

 

There are a lot of great receivers out there... I would think you would be able to get Mike Wallace considerably cheaper than Harvin. I think Harvin is the better player though...

I think Greg Jennings' best days are behind him. It will be interesting to see what happens with Wes Welker. Bowe is out there... I could see someone overpaying to get Amendola.

Boldin may be cut loose...

I read somewhere that the Giants might make Victor Cruz available. I'll believe that when it happens...

 

Wallace cost himself a lot of money this season.

Harvin can make plays. He can flat out make plays. He is not worth top money, but I would not want to play a team that could bring Kaep, Harvin, Davis, Gore and James at you. I'm not crazy about Crabtree, but he is still a good WR.

 

Yeah, I don't think you can dispute that Harvin can be a bigger impact player than the other receivers out there, but when you would have to give up multiple picks and then pay him some insane amount of money, for a guy who gets injured a lot and is considered to be pretty difficult... I don't know...

 

Who the fuck is his agent?

 

What an oddly phrased obituary -- sounds like he got into medical school.

 

Well played, Leslie Frazier. Get that contract extension after making the playoffs with a last-place schedule. Count the millions!

 

The "last-place schedule" involves only two games, both of which the Vikings lost. They also beat the 49ers, Packers and Texans. They won four in a row to end the season.

Maybe he did a good job?

 

The Viking supporters must expect Super Bowl victories from their coaches...

 

Ranking Flacco is interesting. I think the comparison to Eli Manning at the same point in their careers is a good one. There were Giants fans who were down on Manning during the 2007 season, when he ended up being named Super Bowl MVP. But really, until the playoffs that year, Manning was as erratic as ever.

The same goes for Flacco. Anybody who still thinks he is a game manager has no clue at all, but I don't know that anybody would have mentioned him as elite when this regular season ended. He was rightly criticized for his play in the two meetings with the Steelers this year. He didn't play well in either game. He completed less than half of his passes for only 188 yards one touchdown and one interception in the second meeting, a loss at home for the Ravens.

Just as some people are too slow to put aside past perceptions of Flacco, some others are too quick to forget who he was even during this past regular season because he had a great run in the playoffs.

Somebody said he is better than Roethlisberger right now, but Roethlisberger threw more touchdown passes and fewer interceptions than Flacco this season. He averaged more yards passing per game and completed a higher percentage of his passes despite having a dogshit running game while Flacco still has the threat of Ray Rice with him. For the first time in their careers, it's at least worth a discussion, but I don't think Flacco is better just yet.

That said, you can make a good argument that Flacco is better than Eli Manning right now and could easily pass Roethlisberger because he is far more durable.

 

Well, that was fun.

After confirmation that the Vikings and coach Leslie Frazier had agreed to a contract "extension," it seems that was a little misleading. So the Vikings did what teams should do in this situation: They saw everyone flailing away and decided to announce what's going on.

According to the Vikings, they've picked up the option for 2014 that was in Frazier's original contract. So, yeah, technically it's an extension. Just not the extension that we all thought it was

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/blogs/191117961.html

 

I think Roethlisberger is the better player. He's more accurate, he is really hard to sack (or at least he can make plays out of bullshit, whereas Flacco struggles with improvisation frequently when plays break down). He's harder to fool with coverages and frankly he's just more consistent. What Flacco has over him is a stronger arm, a better deep ball, and he's not a whiny diva. I actually think Roethlisberger is one of my favorite QBs to watch in the last 20 years, but I can also tell his teammates are evem a little weary of the drama that follows him wherever he goes, and I'm not even talking about the rape allegations.

Dude needs to lose some damn weight. For real. He looks like a furniture
mover. I get that the Steelers haven't given him much on terms of a running game in recent years, but I've never gotten the feeling he is getting the most out of his talent. He had a very good year detailed by injuries last year, but does anyone think he'll work hard to get in the best possible shape this offseason? How much longer will his body hold up if he shows up every year weighing 265?

In some respects, he and Flacco are a little underrated because of what their teams ask of them. I do think Roethlisberger could throw for 35 or 40 TDs with a different system in a warm weather city and a head coach trying to put asses in the seats instead of trophies in the trophy case. But I'm glad that's not his role. I just wish he had the desire to be great the way Manning and Brady do. Because he could be.