NFL offseason thread

49ers hire Mangini as an offensive consultant.

I can only assume this is because Harbaugh wants to prove to the world in a side-by-side comparison that he (Harbaugh) is not, in fact, the biggest raging dickhead in the NFL.

 

He may be a dickhead but I've enjoyed his low-key work on WWL

 

The Raiders fire their PR director because they didn't like that Sports Illustrated article about Reggie McKenzie, which was fairly flattering to McKenzie but not so flattering to Mark Davis or his dad.

They are still the Raiders, after all.

http://blog.sfgate.com/raiders/2013/06/01/raiders-fire-p-r-director-gilbert/

 

I don't think it was harsh toward Mark Davis as much as it was harsh on the organization his father ran. There were a lot of unflattering details in there (the condition of the running track, the lack of direct deposit, etc.) that kind of blew the lid off of the Al Davis is a "maverick" mystique to confirm that he was just out of touch the last decade. He wasn't being daring, just stupid, and no one brought it up because they knew if they did, they'd probably be canned.

 

I posted this on the other thread, but Pete Prisco called the Raiders move "Committment to Excrement" on twitter. I liked that...

 

NFL wants to play three games in London, with an eye on a team (Jaguars?) based there. Time to resurrect the London Monarchs?

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/jason-la-canfora/22357154/london-calling-nfl-wants-uk-team-and-soon-jags-look-like-best-fit

 

Funny that the league seems to want a team in London more than it wants one in LA. And I don't know why they are pushing it. Figure if there was demand in London it would have already happened. Instead, it is the NFL pushing it.
I think the NFL in London would take about as long to get going as the MLS has in the U.S. Though I think the appetite for soccer in the US is more intense.

 

Ochocinco set to plead guilty for violating probation, get no jail time. During court, Ochocinco slaps his attorney on the butt. Judge isn't amused. Ochocinco going to jail for 30 days.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9360765/chad-johnson-serve-30-days-jail

 

I used to think he was harmless, just someone who was trying to be funny, but would sometimes go too far, but needless to say, I haven't thought that way in a few years...

What a dipshit.

 

One of the national columnists (Mike Florio, I think) wrote last week that the NFL wants to move the Jaguars to London and having them play games there for a few years is planting the seeds.

That is nuts to me. It's one thing to play a few exhibition and even regular season games there, where you can say "OK, you've watched us on TV and bought the merchandise. Now come out and pay $300 per seat to see an NFL game in person." It's the novelty act. But if you move a team there permanently, that novelty wears off fast. How will London do if their team has a bad few years? And what will be the affect on the rest of the league, particularly teams in the same division who have to travel over there every year to play?

Is London really a better permanent market than Los Angeles, Toronto, Mexico City or even Jacksonville?

 

It's an interesting concept. They will never put a team there permanently. It's just too much of a mess logistically... They want to play 2-3 games there a year and a good way to do that would be to find a team that doesn't draw well at home and "buy" a couple home games from them.

Jacksonville is the most obvious candidate for this. You're not going to take a home game away from a team like the Packers or Steelers, and honestly, most teams draw pretty well. If the Jaguars fight the league on it (which they have not) they might have to do it randomly among a bunch of the (possibly all) teams.

The Raiders would probably be a candidate as well, but it's a longer flight and teams could understandably resist something where a 9-hour flight is involved. When the NFL played a couple games in Mexico awhile back, I think Arizona and San Francisco each gave up a home game. I don't think it's a reach to say it's unlikely to think the NFL will limit which teams would have to travel to Europe to teams that are not in the West divisions. The Lions might be a candidate as well, but if the Ford Family doesn't want to do it, I doubt the NFL would make them.

A smart way to do it would be to have one preseason game and then two regular season games over there. Even if the Jags continue to suck, the NFL will send decent opponents over there and the fans will be happy.

There have been rumors that the Bills might get involved, but right now it seems like the focus is on having the Jaguars do it. I think the other Florida teams have done it in the past as well, and I could see the league asking Tennessee or Carolina to do it if they're having trouble, but I don't think they will. I think the new Jags owner either sees great benefits to playing over there, or he's buttering up Goodell for a big favor a few years from now...

 

HBO should be naming its Hard Knocks team pretty soon, right? Seems like more and more teams are turning down Hard Knocks lately.