NFL offseason thread

I thought the Raiders made a great move by hiring McKenzie as GM. It's not a coincidence that three of Ted Thompson's former assistants are now GMs, although two of them are at places where the coach has the final say over the roster (Reid and Carroll).

But the Raiders have continued to make stupid moves. Hiring Dennis Allen was idiotic. Keeping him for a second season was even dumber, unless they're planning on making him the scapegoat for another inevitable losing season.

I like the Flynn trade, but Oakland's problems stem from wasting so many top 10 picks on guys who were just complete busts. You can almost give them a pass for JaMarcus Russell, because he was the consensus No. 1 that year and he turned out to suck. But there are so many others that are the reason why the team is such a mess. It certainly doesn't help when they overpay for Palmer.

The Raiders almost have to hope that they get better by default, which is seemingly what happened in Detroit. They had so many high picks that even after missing on several, a few actually panned out. Granted, the Lions only made the playoffs once and it remains to be seen if they can do that again, but I think it's safe to say that after the last decade, the next coach to get the Raiders to the playoffs is going to be considered a genius.

 

Lions kicker Jason Hanson calls it a career.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130404/SPORTS01/130404049/detroit-lions-jason-hanson

 

The Lions have had two kickers in the last 33 years. Eddie Murray 1980-91 and Hanson since.
Let that sink in.

 

That's crazy, Dan.

Always thought Hanson had the kind of life and career I would aim for as an athlete -- great money, stay in one place to raise a family, part of the community, no trauma to the head or body. I suppose he could have taken more or gone for the ring at some point, but he did it about right IMO.

 

How many holders did Hanson run through. For that matter, he had to have had at least six coaches, probably more.

 

A kicker I covered said Ford Field was the easiest place in the NFL to kick. I asked him why and he said, "It's indoors and it's not as loud as it is in Minneapolis, St. Louis or Indy."

Hanson was smart not to try to go somewhere else. He had a great career. He's not going to Canton, but he still was able to stay in the NFL for 20+ years and how many can say that?

 

Eight. And the longest tenured coach was his first one, Wayne Fontes.

 

I would think that would have to be a record, at least for a player who played his entire career with the same franchise...

 

It should be said that not having too many "make or break" kicks for a playoff spot or win might have helped. There are many good kickers that have to move on because of an ill-timed miss.

 

Fontes, Ross, Mornhinweg, Mariucci, Jauron, Marinelli, Schwartz,

I had to look it up to come up with Gary Moeller...

 

Agreed.

My point is if Palmer was good enough to warrant that in 2011, he's good enough for that now. You can't just keep changing horses or you wind up like..... well, the Raiders. I hope they will stick with Matt Flynn for the rest of the decade and see what he can do.

 

Yes and no. Yes, their drafting has routinely sucked for a while now. No, under NO circumstances can you waste the top pick in the entire draft on someone you cut for nothing in return three years later. No. 1 picks are supposed to be the foundation of your franchise. You can't afford to mess those up. Get a scouting department, do your homework and figure out how to build a team. People quickly forget that the Patriots sucked for most of a decade as well. It doesn't have to stay that way forever.