It one thing to be good when it counts, but a whole 'nother to be good in practice
2 years, 24 mil? Apparently the knock on him is he wasn't showing up enough in big games, so maybe BB can change that. Would be cool to get him and so not have to use a top draft choice on a receiver - plus he's still only 27
Will take way more than that, I think. He did disappear a decent amount this year but some of that may just be due to being on a stacked team. He also seems to get a lot ot soft tissue injuries, which would concern me.
It sounds dumb, but it's pretty standard coach-speak to keep a young kid grounded and getting better. It's obviously tough to be much better than he was, but there's always room for improvement. And it's not like Simmons is some hotshot coach trying to make a name for himself with a catchy quote - he's the longest-tenured ST coordinator in the league by a wide margin (and it's not a Marvin Lewis situation) and produced some pretty good units the last decade-plus without a big-legged kicker until this year.
Yeah this is a huge deal and I fear not going to be the last. Sports betting has become so easy and common.
I mean yeah, I get why he shouldn't be doing it and why it's against the rules, but I can't drum up any OMG WHAT AN OUTRAGE type of take. Would definitely be interested to see what specific bets he made though. Was he betting on Falcons games? Other games? Was it player / prop bets, or outcomes / O/Us, etc.? These types of details make a difference in terms of how bad this is, IMO.
Yeah this is what I was thinking. If he's betting on the outcome of non-Falcons games, it doesn't really damage the "integrity of the game" very much IMO. Whatever, the league has to do this in terms of setting a precedent, but I really don't give a shit.
Honestly, they kind of had to do that, unless they wanted to be considered persona non grata to the entire NFL
So? This statement could probably be made of 50-100 other ex Bama players who aren’t in the NFL. Are they banned from gambling too?
What exactly is your pushback here? NFL players are not allowed to gamble on NFL games. He did. Who are you arguing against?
Again, I get why you can't bet on the NFL if you play in the NFL. It was a ridiculously dumb move on his part. I just don't see it as a big deal in terms of this particular case.
His contract tolls and his $11.116 million salary will come off Atlanta's books this season
But he wasn't "not in the NFL." He was just on the injured list. I realize the statement from the NFL says "he was away from the team, he didn't use inside information," but honestly, does anyone expect the "Shield" would tell us the truth and risk the image of the NFL and it's integrity as a competitive sport by saying "Yeah, he bet on games, he talked to his teammates and other NFL players all the time, and he may or may not have funneled money to buddies of his based on the results of his bets?"
It's probably much easier to detect today than it was before gambling started being legalized. Before you could just go to a bookie and easily go undetected. The NFL is never going to be able to stop a player who REALLY wants to gamble on the NFL and, given they have never had to to this point, I don't think they need to. There's only so much they can do without becoming big brother.
Oh I’m in complete agreement. It is definitely a valid slippery slope argument.
