2019 NFL: News & Transactions

InstaFace

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Other than Bobby Wagner, I'm not sure there's a LB in the league more of a difference-maker on the field than Kuechly was. He just jumped off the screen at you, his mobility, his instincts, his closing speed, his toughness.

He played 8 seasons, and you take out his rookie year, his final season, and the one year he was injured, he was 1st team all-pro all of the other 5 years. Top AV on his team in 2013 and 2014. If only Cam Newton hadn't lost 2 fumbles when it mattered most (and Mike Tolbert a third), he might have a ring, too. Just a shame that his teams kinda sucked except for that one year.
 

Marciano490

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I wonder if the money getting thrown at Romo is another incentive for early retirement for some of these guys.
 

azsoxpatsfan

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Maybe who it turned out to be is stunning, but at this point we are seeing 1-2 star players retiring every year when they could still be playing. This is the current NFL. Guys are leaving when their mind and body are just mostly fucked up instead of completely.
I’m not saying this isn’t true but up until last year was star players retiring young really a consistent thing that could be considered normal?
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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I’m not saying this isn’t true but up until last year was star players retiring young really a consistent thing that could be considered normal?
Gronk, Luck, Calvin Johnson, Patrick Willis, DBrickashaw Ferguson, Lynch (before his multiple comebacks) plus some older examples like Tiki Barber, Robert Smith, Barry Sanders.

I even found an article saying this shouldn't be surprising anymore: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5707c4d5e4b0c4e26a2273fa/amp
 

DJnVa

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Don't know if there's a solution, but it cannot be viable long-term for the NFL to have guys like Kuechly and Gronk retire at 28 and 29.
 

Koufax

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And then there was Jim Brown at 30, although for a different reason.
 

Bowhemian

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Don't know if there's a solution, but it cannot be viable long-term for the NFL to have guys like Kuechly and Gronk retire at 28 and 29.
Why wouldn't it be viable? It's not like there isn't a shortage of players coming out of college every year.
 

InstaFace

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An issue for whom? Not for the fans or TV networks.

QBs are the protagonists of the NFL, and the good ones have long careers. As fun as Gronk and Kuechly are, they are far more replaceable than a Peyton or Brady. If Mahomes retires at 28, I'll join in your concern.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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An issue for whom? Not for the fans or TV networks.

QBs are the protagonists of the NFL, and the good ones have long careers. As fun as Gronk and Kuechly are, they are far more replaceable than a Peyton or Brady. If Mahomes retires at 28, I'll join in your concern.
Like Andrew Luck?
 

Bowhemian

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I don't mean economically.

When you're brightest stars are retiring early because they are afraid they might be vegetables later in life, it's an issue.
I thought you meant viable as in eventually having a shortage of players/potential stars.
I don't think there will ever be a shortage of players.
 

johnmd20

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I don't mean economically.

When you're brightest stars are retiring early because they are afraid they might be vegetables later in life, it's an issue.
Alternatively, it's a positive for the NFL. It shows you can have a massively successful, short career and get out of the game before it breaks your body or your mind, or both. And you can make a ton of money in the process. This is a positive for the NFL, not a negative.

Luke is now way less likely be shooting himself in the chest in 2030 so science can study his brain. Those are the stories that are an actual problem for the NFL.
 

bigq

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Alternatively, it's a positive for the NFL. It shows you can have a massively successful, short career and get out of the game before it breaks your body or your mind, or both. And you can make a ton of money in the process. This is a positive for the NFL, not a negative.

Luke is now way less likely be shooting himself in the chest in 2030 so science can study his brain. Those are the stories that are an actual problem for the NFL.
I’m not certain any of this is true. I can’t squint hard enough to see how NFL stars retiring at or near their physical peak due to grave long term health concerns is a positive for the league but perhaps it doesn’t really move the needle. Also keep in mind that Aaron Hernandez had advanced CTE and he was done playing well before age 28.
 

johnmd20

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I’m not certain any of this is true. I can’t squint hard enough to see how NFL stars retiring at or near their physical peak due to grave long term health concerns is a positive for the league but perhaps it doesn’t really move the needle. Also keep in mind that Aaron Hernandez had advanced CTE and he was done playing well before age 28.
He was also a hard core gangster who had probably been in 100s of fights.
 

djbayko

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Alternatively, it's a positive for the NFL. It shows you can have a massively successful, short career and get out of the game before it breaks your body or your mind, or both. And you can make a ton of money in the process. This is a positive for the NFL, not a negative.

Luke is now way less likely be shooting himself in the chest in 2030 so science can study his brain. Those are the stories that are an actual problem for the NFL.
I'm not so sure about this. Don't most people assume that the reason these guys are leaving the game they love - something that has been central to their lives for as long as they can remember - is because they feel they have probably already reached a breaking point of sorts? I know I do. Gronk talks about concussions, crying, being able to poke a finger into his head,etc. And that's ignoring his chronic back and whatever problems. Not good.

Sure, if they continued, it would get worse, but we can't sit here an say that they haven't already experienced severe, lasting damage, some of which may not materialize until later in life.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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If Carolina ends up trading or cutting Cam, they might be the leading contender in the Tank for Trevor race. They were 1-9 over their last ten games with a -163 point differential and losing their best defensive player to retirement.
 

BigSoxFan

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If Carolina ends up trading or cutting Cam, they might be the leading contender in the Tank for Trevor race. They were 1-9 over their last ten games with a -163 point differential and losing their best defensive player to retirement.
I don’t bet on sports much at all but that seems like a potential juicy situation.
 

sezwho

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I wonder if the money getting thrown at Romo is another incentive for early retirement for some of these guys.
Maybe, but Romo is even better in the booth than he was on the field (which was pretty good too imho).

Gronkowski on the other hand is a train wreck on TV. He has some charisma and is an extremely lovable character in these parts, and not least by me, but the world isn’t turning in for his wordsmithing :)
 

Bosoxen

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Maybe, but Romo is even better in the booth than he was on the field (which was pretty good too imho).

Gronkowski on the other hand is a train wreck on TV. He has some charisma and is an extremely lovable character in these parts, and not least by me, but the world isn’t turning in for his wordsmithing :)
I think Booger Macfarland is a far better comp for this phenomenon than Romo. Guy is a total fucking train wreck and everyone hates him but he's still, for some reason, the voice of Monday Night Football despite not being in the booth.
 

E5 Yaz

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I think Booger Macfarland is a far better comp for this phenomenon than Romo. Guy is a total fucking train wreck and everyone hates him but he's still, for some reason, the voice of Monday Night Football despite not being in the booth.
Wasn't Booger in the booth this season, post-Witten?
 

Bosoxen

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Wasn't Booger in the booth this season, post-Witten?
Maybe? I avoided all MNF broadcasts this year so I would have missed that transition. That being the case, my point is still valid since that only invalidates my "not being in the booth" qualifier. He's still a train wreck and unfortunately something former players could aspire to be.
 

E5 Yaz

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I actually think Booger could become much better with a PBP guy who a) could set up his observations better; 2) knew how to manage a game; and 3) was a solid pro.

Someone from the Don Criqui mold; or, among today's broadcasters, Ian Eagle.

Tessitore is so bad that he either doesn't know or doesn't care to play to his analyst's strengths
 

BaseballJones

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I actually think Booger could become much better with a PBP guy who a) could set up his observations better; 2) knew how to manage a game; and 3) was a solid pro.

Someone from the Don Criqui mold; or, among today's broadcasters, Ian Eagle.

Tessitore is so bad that he either doesn't know or doesn't care to play to his analyst's strengths
Excellent point. On radio, PBP guys need to do most of the talking for obvious reasons - they have to be the listener’s “eyes” and describe what’s happening. But on television, the picture is doing that and so most of the talking should be done by the color commentator, which means that the primary job of the PBP guy is to set the color guy up well.
 

67YAZ

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Bears hire Bill Lazor to coordinate the offense. I don’t fucking get it. Everyone from GM Ryan Pace on down has their jobs riding on Trubisky becoming a competent QB within a system that generates at least a league average offense in 2020. Why you’d hitch your wagon to Bill Lazor?
 

InstaFace

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Never understood the jokes about Rivers. He has a bunch of kids and by all accounts seems to be a great father and husband. So what?
I'm not sure they're mean-spirited jokes.

The contrast between his placid, down-to-earth family man demeanor off the field, and his raging, cursing-like-a-sailor demeanor on the field, is pretty funny though.
 
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BaseballJones

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Never understood the jokes about Rivers. He has a bunch of kids and by all accounts seems to be a great father and husband. So what?
I never got the hate for Rivers either. Seems like a good dude. Excellent QB during his career. Never seemed to cause any problems. Furthermore, he never seemed to beat the Patriots, so it's not like we should hate him for ending our season.
 

InstaFace

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Yeah, but he's also a stark raving lunatic out there, so the actual content of the words matters less to the demeanor. Compare to, say, Andrew Luck.
 

Marciano490

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Never understood the jokes about Rivers. He has a bunch of kids and by all accounts seems to be a great father and husband. So what?
I like Rivers. He objectively has a lot of kids with him. Moving a very large family is more difficult and telling than if it was just him, his wife and a 17 year old kid.
 

Hoya81

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Have to assume there wasn’t going to be much of a market for him with a glut of veteran QBs likely to be available.

It’s weird, but I could never conjure up much dislike for Eli, even with the SB wins over the Pats.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Hard to have a strong reaction to Eli one way or another as a non-Giants fan.

He has the obvious signature moments and amazing durability, though he was never a top 5 (or 10?) QB in the league. Wasn’t terribly efficient and turned the ball over a lot, which helps explain. he .500 regular season record as a starter.
 

BigSoxFan

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Hard to have a strong reaction to Eli one way or another as a non-Giants fan.

He has the obvious signature moments and amazing durability, though he was never a top 5 (or 10?) QB in the league. Wasn’t terribly efficient and turned the ball over a lot, which helps explain. he .500 regular season record as a starter.
Clearly wasn’t a HOF from a talent or production standpoint but he’ll get in due to the memorable SB finishes against the Pats. The only people who should be annoyed by this are the QBs of the era who were better than him but didn’t have the postseason luck. We’ll see how the voters treat the guys like Romo, Rivers, Ryan, etc.
 

RedOctober3829

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Clearly wasn’t a HOF from a talent or production standpoint but he’ll get in due to the memorable SB finishes against the Pats. The only people who should be annoyed by this are the QBs of the era who were better than him but didn’t have the postseason luck. We’ll see how the voters treat the guys like Romo, Rivers, Ryan, etc.
I'd rather have a number of QBs from this era. Brady/Peyton/Romo/Ryan/Rivers/Big Ben/Cam/Brees/Wilson to name a few.