Yeah, though, that's a lot of money and a team that should be a playoff team
Yup, I think Arizona is confident with Kyler and Hopkins and Co. they will be able to put up enough points to win. Tampa just won the SB in large part because they were able to rush the passer. Watt isn't the GOAT disrupter that he was in the first half of the 2010s, but he still draws double-teams and makes plays. Invest in defense now while you still can with Kyler on the cheap deal.
Watt also did manage to play 16 games last season, which probably helped him. I don't think the contract is bad at all.
Looks like there will be a 17-game season in 2021. The extra home game will go to the AFC this year and it will follow the 2019 cross conference format. From a Pats perspective, they'll be playing Dallas at home if this goes through. The best matchup of these will be Green Bay-Kansas City.
Here's some of the matchups per Peter King: GB-KC, Pit-Sea, Bal-LAR, Buf-Wash, Mia-NYG, Phi-Jets, Cle-Ari.
There might also be a Monday night Wild Card playoff game and 2 games on Christmas Day(on a Saturday this year).
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/02/28/nfl-17-game-schedule-zach-wilson-fmia-peter-king/?cid=fmiatw
Here's some of the matchups per Peter King: GB-KC, Pit-Sea, Bal-LAR, Buf-Wash, Mia-NYG, Phi-Jets, Cle-Ari.
There might also be a Monday night Wild Card playoff game and 2 games on Christmas Day(on a Saturday this year).
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/02/28/nfl-17-game-schedule-zach-wilson-fmia-peter-king/?cid=fmiatw
Former Pat Kyle Van Noy is being released.
I'd be a fan of him coming back if the dollars worked. I was always a fan of how he played the game.
I'd be a fan of him coming back if the dollars worked. I was always a fan of how he played the game.
Kyle Rudolph released. Not sure what he has left but I'd at least poke around on a short-term deal.
https://www.vikings.com/news/kyle-rudolph-released-contract-terminated
https://www.vikings.com/news/kyle-rudolph-released-contract-terminated
Signing KVN and Rudolph would immediately improve this Patriots' team. They'll probably sign neither, but both would be quite helpful. What this shows me is that teams will be cutting players who would represent real upgrades for the Patriots - and there probably will be a lot of them available this offseason as teams shed salary.
Yup. There are going to be a lot of intriguing cuts this year. Patriots are in a good position to add a lot of useful talent. KVN and Rudolph aren’t guys you commit to early on until you see who else will be out there but both of them would instantly slot in as starters if they were to join.
Also neither would factor into the comp pick formula either as they were both cut not unrestricted free agents.
Yeah, the talk for a while has been that teams like the Patriots with a lot more cap room than the average team are in a buyer's market given that there will be an abnormal number of cap casualties.
Saints
Eagles
Rams
Chiefs
Steelers
Packers
Falcons
Saints, Eagles, and Rams are in the worst shape. Eagles and Rams because they had to eat a ton of money for the Wentz and Goff trades.
https://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/
Reduced pay to $14M and spread it over two years so PIT saved $15M on cap according to Schefter.
View: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1367549758710112261?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1367549758710112261%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fsteelers-sign-qb-ben-roethlisberger-to-one-year-contract-182757658.html
He could have insisted on the full amount. For a guy who really should retire he did have some leverage. This is like Favre on the Vikings.
thanks. Couldnt find initial details.
So his cap hit is still 25m it seems? Or is some of that 20m guaranteed now spread out? Guess will have a cap hit next year too.
Besides reducing cap this year not sure it helps. Ben looked cooked.
Making light of Roth's rapist actions by joking about how he did it is beyond the pale. Let's be much better than that.
Couldn't find a definitive source but looks like the hit is 25M this year and something like 10 next year.
He's paying them back for not cutting his rapist ass when they should have years ago.
Ben was really bad down the stretch last season and then unbelievably horrible in the playoffs against Cleveland, until some gratuitous stat-padding in the second half. Pittsburgh is a pretty good team and while I'm not sure they could upgrade at QB, I think there is a strong case they should have looked somewhere else than to bring back Ben. I could see him dropping off a huge cliff next season; he's old, looked washed down the stretch and hasn't exactly followed the TB12 method.
Actually, Steve Young had a very good right tackle in Harris Barton, who was first team all pro two different years and a starter at right tackle for most of his 10 years, all with the 49ers. Steve Wallace was also very good at left tackle, and also a long time 49er. Of course, 49er ownership didn't spare any bucks in those before salary cap years. Must have been great fun for Montana and Young leading those teams. Also, most of Steve Young's runs were scrambling à la Fran Tarkenton rather than designed, as I recall. He was bigger, stronger and faster than Tark too.
Nothing to do with the Patriots in this post, sorry.
I was just wrong about Barton. Honestly, I quickly scanned some of the 49ers rosters and just didnt recognize his name. He was, by all accounts, a very good RT.
As for bootleg vs scrambling - teams arent ripping off 15 bootlegs a game. They're strategically called throughout. But they're key staples to certain offenses. When Charles Haley was prepping to face his former team in the '95 NFC championship, he highlighted its importance.
``I saw that bootleg play a million times in practice when I was with the 49ers,″ Haley said. ``They won’t fool me with it any more. I should have been ready for it back in October. I will be ready for it Sunday.″
Thanks for finding that article, KFP. I guess I plumb forgot those planned runs for Steve Young.
His best run with the great 49er announcer Lon Simmons on the call.
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LbPwwmEcws0
His best run with the great 49er announcer Lon Simmons on the call.
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LbPwwmEcws0
The context here is that the 49ers played Dallas during the 1994 regular season and Young repeatedly gashed them with bootlegs to take advantage of Haley's aggressiveness. Young had 8 carries for 60 yards in that game: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199411130sfo.htm. That was somewhat unusual though: it was his best rushing game of that year. Usually they called the bootleg only a couple of times per game, and it wasn't really a pass rush counter, it was more a counter for when the defense started cheating too heavily to the front-side run game (kind of a proto-version of the read option).
Fullback (Rathman?) gets out in front of him and misses all three Vikings in the vicinity. But the wide receiver blocks were great
I can see why a blindside block is illegal. But the rule is basically (if I understand it right, which I might not) that if the defender's back is to the LOS and is running downfield, you can't block him. You can get in the way, but you can't deliver a crushing block - even if you're clearly in his line of sight and even if he has, like, ten yards to prepare for you. NE got called for one of those this year - I think it was on a Gunner punt return TD - that was absurd...technically against the rule but it highlighted just how awful that particular application of the rule is.
Fair. All of this is true.
Which is why I already said it all in my post
"Bootlegs aren't run 15 times a game." And they are absolutely made to take advantage of lines aggressively sliding.
But if a bootleg is run 5 times a game - and the teams that run bootlegs that often today are running it about that much - that's 15 - 20% of pass attempts. It's a lot. And it also involves a deeper play action fake than most other play actions. Most other play actions still have the offensive line taking their first step backwards for pass protection. They're used to slow the first step of the back 7, not the front 4. But bootlegs require the line to also engage as if it were a run so they can "help" the weakside defensive linemen down the line. As long as they don't get too far downfield and engage with the linebackers, they won't be whistled for illegal man downfield.
All of this is to say that, not just are these plays run 15% of pass plays, but in order to capitalize on the sleight of hand involved in the play, they need to be set up appropriately. So, are they run 15 times a game? No. But offenses still build their game plans around them. They can take the top of the defense for a big strike. They can move the chains in pivotal 3rd downs. They can keep the defense honest against strong side runs in short yardage situations. The most important plays of an offensive game plan aren't necessarily (and usually aren't) the ones that are run the most often. They're valuable because, if leveraged appropriately, they get you what you need when you need it. Not because it dominates your play calls.
Carlos Dunlap released by the Seahawks. Any reason with all of their cap space the Pats shouldn’t be in the bidding?
He'd be helpful for sure. Would cost pretty good $$, and he's already expressed that he wants to go back to Seattle. Letting him go was just a way to keep him at a lower price, and he seems to understand that and be good with it.
Whenever I think of Carlos Dunlap, I think of Jermaine Cunningham who the Pats drafted one spot before Dunlap in the second round of the 2010 draft. Cunningham had 3.5 sacks, and Dunlap is still playing and has 87.5 sacks. Of course, the Pats drafted Gronk in the second round that year. The draft is an inexact science.
No free pass on that one. I watched a lot of Gators games that year and the dominance of Dunlap was unquestionable. He just spent so much time in the backfield. Cunningham was a one trick pony. BB must have just fallen in love with the speed. It was great speed but it was the only thing he had. I remember being excited that Dunlap was available and feeling like we missed out when we went with JC.