NFL: News and transactions

CantKeepmedown

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Friggen Chris Simms man........


Here is the full context of Simms’ comments, and it’s not better. He starts by saying it’s a nice gesture and a horrible thing, but then immediately goes into “he trolled me a lot.” Florio then goes into saying it’s better to be trolled than ignored because people are interacting with you. Simms clearly disagrees but says it’s “a deep subject and he won’t go into it because he’ll get in trouble.” Florio responds by saying it’s not that deep they’re just being fans. Simms again disagrees and says “we’re also setting an example of hey here’s money to a guy who was very negative.” Chris Simms literally said he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to donate money to Eric Carmona because the TuAnon account trolled him on Twitter. Disgusting.
Quick backstory.....Eric Carmona was the founder of "Tuanon" a group of Dolphins fans who are huge Tua Tagovailoa fans. The group and Eric himself took great pleasure in trolling Simms whenever they could. Mostly due to Simms' low rankings of Tua but also because Simms is pretty easy to rag on. Anyway, Carmona died tragically last week in a motorcycle accident. A GoFund me was set up which Tua himself and other Dolphins players donated to. Mike Florio donated as well. Well, Simms didn't like that too much. He apparently believes that people are setting a bad example by giving money to someone who was negative. Doesn't matter that they just died and left behind a wife and 4 kids.

He could have just left it as being a kind gesture and a terrible tragedy. But no, poor Chris is so thin skinned and bitter that he couldn't stop himself. What a POS.
 

ManicCompression

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It's kind of incredible that Florio goes to great lengths to save him from humiliation by pivoting the conversation to talking about trolling being a sign of passion, but Simms still can't resist from returning to the topic and saying the guy was a bad person again.
 

dcdrew10

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Friggen Chris Simms man........




Quick backstory.....Eric Carmona was the founder of "Tuanon" a group of Dolphins fans who are huge Tua Tagovailoa fans. The group and Eric himself took great pleasure in trolling Simms whenever they could. Mostly due to Simms' low rankings of Tua but also because Simms is pretty easy to rag on. Anyway, Carmona died tragically last week in a motorcycle accident. A GoFund me was set up which Tua himself and other Dolphins players donated to. Mike Florio donated as well. Well, Simms didn't like that too much. He apparently believes that people are setting a bad example by giving money to someone who was negative. Doesn't matter that they just died and left behind a wife and 4 kids.

He could have just left it as being a kind gesture and a terrible tragedy. But no, poor Chris is so thin skinned and bitter that he couldn't stop himself. What a POS.
If Chris Simms thinks we shouldn't give people money for being negative why hasn't he quit his job?
 

Van Everyman

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Friggen Chris Simms man........




Quick backstory.....Eric Carmona was the founder of "Tuanon" a group of Dolphins fans who are huge Tua Tagovailoa fans. The group and Eric himself took great pleasure in trolling Simms whenever they could. Mostly due to Simms' low rankings of Tua but also because Simms is pretty easy to rag on. Anyway, Carmona died tragically last week in a motorcycle accident. A GoFund me was set up which Tua himself and other Dolphins players donated to. Mike Florio donated as well. Well, Simms didn't like that too much. He apparently believes that people are setting a bad example by giving money to someone who was negative. Doesn't matter that they just died and left behind a wife and 4 kids.

He could have just left it as being a kind gesture and a terrible tragedy. But no, poor Chris is so thin skinned and bitter that he couldn't stop himself. What a POS.
Simms alluding to what a “deep” issue this is almost suggests to me that there might’ve been another layer to his relationship with Carmona over DMs or whatever that got more personal than we knew.

Maybe Simms is just being an incredibly thin-skinned dick. But I wouldn’t underestimate how toxic some of the online chatter can get and why a recipient of some of that behavior might have a hard time getting over it, even in this situation.
 

sodenj5

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Simms has always come off as a privileged baby. Guys like Carmona are the only reason he has a job, which Florio is quick to point out.

Goes to show that Florio has significantly more self awareness than Simms. “This guy said mean things about me online, so screw his widow and kids.”

Tua donated 10k, Tyreek donated 7k, and even Florio himself donated.
 

sodenj5

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Simms gave $1K, albeit after he got flamed for this segment.
Simms is more than fine with poking Dolphins Twitter and Tuanon when he’s doing things like ranking Tua the 30th best QB in the league because he knows it will drive views and clicks and retweets and engagement.

But if people say mean things about him online, it’s a deeper societal issue. Glad he decided to make a donation, but yea, he looked like a massive baby.
 

BigSoxFan

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It’s nice to know I actually did have this prick pegged from the moment he stepped onto UT’s campus. Just a miserable person.
 

joe dokes

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Simms alluding to what a “deep” issue this is almost suggests to me that there might’ve been another layer to his relationship with Carmona over DMs or whatever that got more personal than we knew.

Maybe Simms is just being an incredibly thin-skinned dick. But I wouldn’t underestimate how toxic some of the online chatter can get and why a recipient of some of that behavior might have a hard time getting over it, even in this situation.
Generally speaking, "this subject is too complicated for the time we have" is the standard dodge of people who either have no idea what they are talking about, or who know they are in a hole of deep shit and *finally* realized that they should stop digging.
 

Van Everyman

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That logo is so much cooler.
Yeah, sucks that Brady never got the chance to wear it.

Generally speaking, "this subject is too complicated for the time we have" is the standard dodge of people who either have no idea what they are talking about, or who know they are in a hole of deep shit and *finally* realized that they should stop digging.
I agree, but given what we are talking about here--a guy who was a *rabid* online sports fan who was known for trolling at least one commentator--I think there's more than a non-zero chance that this was more than just Simms being thin-skinned. Put another way, if Carmona had taken the conversation with Simms offline and done anything threatening or sik'd other fans on Simms--and we know this happens all the time today--I can completely imagine Simms being unwilling or unable to forgive and forget, even after the guy died tragically and left behind a young family.

None of which is to say, "Oh Simms did nothing wrong here" -- I think his belated $1,000 donation suggests even he realizes his comments there were a bad look. But when we are talking about the toxic world of online trolling and sports commentary, I'm usually expecting the worst and surprised when it isn't. My gut tells me there may be more to the story here but we will never know because the guy is dead, his family is destroyed and no one wants to make it worse for them.
 

joe dokes

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Yeah, sucks that Brady never got the chance to wear it.


I agree, but given what we are talking about here--a guy who was a *rabid* online sports fan who was known for trolling at least one commentator--I think there's more than a non-zero chance that this was more than just Simms being thin-skinned. Put another way, if Carmona had taken the conversation with Simms offline and done anything threatening or sik'd other fans on Simms--and we know this happens all the time today--I can completely imagine Simms being unwilling or unable to forgive and forget, even after the guy died tragically and left behind a young family.

None of which is to say, "Oh Simms did nothing wrong here" -- I think his belated $1,000 donation suggests even he realizes his comments there were a bad look. But when we are talking about the toxic world of online trolling and sports commentary, I'm usually expecting the worst and surprised when it isn't. My gut tells me there may be more to the story here but we will never know because the guy is dead, his family is destroyed and no one wants to make it worse for them.
Fair enough. But if Carmona's bad stuff was offline (private) Simms's response should have been as well. So maybe he's just a moron and not a bad man.
 

Van Everyman

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Fair enough. But if Carmona's bad stuff was offline (private) Simms's response should have been as well. So maybe he's just a moron and not a bad man.
Completely agree. Which is what I think Florio was trying to do there, but Simms couldn't let it go. Seems like that conversation probably continued after the microphones were off.
 

RedOctober3829

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deep inside Guido territory
Let's hope.

And it's interesting and so not how things are done in Foxboro, not that how things are done in Foxboro is the be all and end all, that McDermott has so openly admitted his angst.
His contract was restructured in March so that he's making over $24 million this year including a $22 million signing bonus. The dead cap hit that would come with a Diggs trade makes it impossible to trade him. So money isn't the issue so what is?

View: https://twitter.com/Jason_OTC/status/1668652711464640513?s=20
 

nattysez

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Let's hope.

And it's interesting and so not how things are done in Foxboro, not that how things are done in Foxboro is the be all and end all, that McDermott has so openly admitted his angst.
I am wondering if this is "very concerned" as in "I'm worried about his well-being." It sounds like Diggs was at the team HQ for medical testing yesterday.
 

Van Everyman

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Diggs also was super unhappy with the team after they lost in the playoffs, right? IIRC it seemed at the time like it was much more than the typical “I’m just upset because we lost” stuff.
 

cshea

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Diggs also was super unhappy with the team after they lost in the playoffs, right? IIRC it seemed at the time like it was much more than the typical “I’m just upset because we lost” stuff.
Then why the re-structure? I'm admittedly not well versed in NFL contracts, but if he was unhappy with Buffalo and the goal was to get paid and get out, wouldn't it have made more sense to demand a trade and then re-structure with the new team to facilitate the deal? Instead it seems he got his money up front but also boxed himself into playing for Buffalo?
 

Mystic Merlin

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Then why the re-structure? I'm admittedly not well versed in NFL contracts, but if he was unhappy with Buffalo and the goal was to get paid and get out, wouldn't it have made more sense to demand a trade and then re-structure with the new team to facilitate the deal? Instead it seems he got his money up front but also boxed himself into playing for Buffalo?
I think BUF converted a large portion of his salary for 2023 into a signing bonus, which NFL teams have the unilateral right to do under player contracts. Diggs didn’t ‘agree’ to it in that sense.

The media constantly mischaracterizes this ‘restructuring’ maneuver as if the player ‘agreed’ to it in that specific instance to help the team.
 

cshea

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I think BUF converted a large portion of his salary for 2023 into a signing bonus, which NFL teams have the unilateral right to do under player contracts. Diggs didn’t ‘agree’ to it in that sense.

The media constantly mischaracterizes this ‘restructuring’ maneuver as if the player ‘agreed’ to it in that specific instance to help the team.
Thanks for the explanation, that makes more sense. He may have been grumpy all along and he had nothing to do with the restructuring.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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I think BUF converted a large portion of his salary for 2023 into a signing bonus, which NFL teams have the unilateral right to do under player contracts. Diggs didn’t ‘agree’ to it in that sense.

The media constantly mischaracterizes this ‘restructuring’ maneuver as if the player ‘agreed’ to it in that specific instance to help the team.
So the NFL equivalent of "Why did Jay Payton sign here?" ?
 

nattysez

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This doesn't sound great in terms of team unity.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/buf/buffalo-bills
Bills quarterback Josh Allen said wide receiver Stefon Diggs' absence from the team's first mandatory minicamp practice Tuesday, after leaving the facility earlier in the day, comes from an issue the team is working on internally.

The quarterback said that he did not think there is a personality conflict between him and Diggs but that there are things that could have gone better last year. Some examples Allen gave of what the Bills can do to support Diggs is incorporating him "a little bit better in what we're doing here" and "getting him the ball or getting more involved in the game plan."

Allen said that it is related to "teamwork" and has to do with more than just football, but he placed some responsibility on himself, saying, "There's things that I could do better to help out with this process and try to get him back here and be the Buffalo Bill that he's meant to be."

"I think as an organization, maybe not communicating the right way with everything," Allen said. "So again, just trying to talk and listen at the same time and hear him out. And like I said, just try to move this forward as quickly and as respectfully as possible."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37847104/coach-sean-mcdermott-very-concerned-stefon-diggs-not-bills-camp
 

Gash Prex

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I’m sure the Bills will work it out - can’t waste this season with their open window.

Sounds like Diggs is unhappy with his role in the offense and Allen is standing up for him.
 

singaporesoxfan

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Maybe Diggs has been standing in the end zone at Bills Stadium all this while. Lord knows Josh Allen couldn’t find him there last game they played.
 

BigSoxFan

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Diggs was 6th in targets in the NFL last year behind only Jefferson, Kelce, Tyreek, Davante, and CeeDee.
 

BaseballJones

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I’m sure the Bills will work it out - can’t waste this season with their open window.

Sounds like Diggs is unhappy with his role in the offense and Allen is standing up for him.
Unhappy with his role? He was targeted 154 times, with the next most going to Davis with 93 targets. He’s the unquestioned #1 receiver who the team - and Josh Allen - prioritizes in an enormous way. What more could the guy ask for, in all seriousness?
 

Gash Prex

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I don’t think it’s a rational request - it’s just a WR diva request that needs to be coddled and because of how important diggs is to the Bill offense will be accommodated.

Allen claiming the organization “communication” could be better is pretty difficult to see from your franchise QB for Bills fans. Allen’s sounded like somebody who has spent a lot of time talking with Diggs and is putting his spin on it to show his support.
 

Van Everyman

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For context, here’s a good summary of how the season ended for Diggs.

And here he is in March still upset about it:
"It doesn't make sense," Diggs said. "I'll rack my brain with this shit at this point. ... I think it's more execution than anything. Shit is small little pieces on why it's not going right. ... We've got the players. We've got the plays. Why shit ain't coming together? That's where you draw some of those questions. I never want to question who I am, I never want to question how I am. I'm giving this shit everything I've got. I'm dying on the hill for that."
 

Bowhemian

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Dear Stefon,
Winning a championship in the NFL is hard even if you are the best receiver on the field.

Signed,
Randy Moss and the 2007 Patriots
 

sodenj5

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What the fuck is Allen talking about, and why is he talking about this publicly at all to this level of detail?
Feels like Allen is trying to be a firewall for Diggs and shoulder some of the responsibility publicly, but what does Diggs want exactly?

No one hands you a championship, even if your roster is good and you try really hard. Allen definitely has a tendency to go berserker-mode in big games, but your aren’t complaining about that when it’s winning you games you should be losing.
 

Justthetippett

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Hard to see what Diggs could want but he's mercurial and McDermott is a hard-o so maybe it's as simple as there being a personality conflict and there being bad "communication” stemming from that, about even relatively minor things. Whatever the case goes to show how fragile team dynamics and championship windows can be.
 

DJnVa

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Seems weird that Allen said maybe get Diggs the ball more or more involved in the game plan---he had 150+ targets, good for 4th in the league.
 

Shaky Walton

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None of that makes any sense. Zero.

For it to come to this falls squarely on Sean McDermott.

He has time to put it all back together but one, it's great that Buffalo has this challenge and dysfunction because they are damn good on the field, and two, that they are at this point suggests that the HC might not have the chops to put the genie back in the bottle.

The latter is likely wishcssting.

Pass the popcorn.
 

Van Everyman

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Adding in the Leslie Frazier departure and McDermott taking over defensive play calling and maybe you have something brewing here.

People forget but the Bills were teetering on total collapse two seasons ago after the Pats beat them in the wind game. It's to McDermott's credit that he pulled them back and got them to play well down the stretch. But between all the talent, McDermott being a hard-o, and a lot of expectation, it does seem like the ingredients are there for a volatile situation.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I think it's pretty simple: they've been very very good but haven't been able to get over the hump, and the players and coaches are reacting like fans and getting frustrated (in much the same way the Celtics fans have acted the last couple of years when that team has come up just short). Being so close but falling short is the very quick road to sports madness.

As for Diggs he certainly appears to be yet another immensely talented diva WR. And I've been calling McDermott Coach Hardo for many years, he's a faux hard ass in every way and a fraud and eventually that was going to catch up to him.
 

johnmd20

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Buffalo got killed at home by Cincinnati last year. They barely snuck by the Dolphins with Skylar Thompson at QB.

Buffalo had some issues at the end of the season, Josh's elbow being one of them and obviously Hamlin was a brutal emotional beatdown.

Diggs bitching at the end of the season last year was pathetic considering how badly they got killed by Cinn. What he's doing now is sad and odd.
 

sodenj5

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None of that makes any sense. Zero.

For it to come to this falls squarely on Sean McDermott.

He has time to put it all back together but one, it's great that Buffalo has this challenge and dysfunction because they are damn good on the field, and two, that they are at this point suggests that the HC might not have the chops to put the genie back in the bottle.

The latter is likely wishcssting.

Pass the popcorn.
The other bizarre angle about this is McDermott said publicly yesterday that Diggs wasn’t with the team and his agent said he was.

Calling out your star receiver for not being on the field for OTAs, with the same offensive coaching staff from the previous year, is definitely hard-o stuff.

An attempt to get Diggs to fall in line for sure, and maybe that’s why Allen was out there trying to diffuse the situation between Diggs and “the team,” but maybe more specifically McDermott.
 

johnmd20

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McDermott is a clown and always has been. This may well be the year where he loses control of the whole operation due to his relentless attempts to seem like a tough guy.

Here's to hoping.
This is it for the Bills. Josh Allen's cap hit goes up 30 million from 2023 to 2024. And 9 million more than that in 2025. 39 million is going to have to come from somewhere.

I know the Bills GM threw a shot at Cinncy by saying, "I wish we had cheap studs on rookie deals like Burrow and Chase but we're too good to get great guys in the draft." Another hardo line.

Meanwhile, Josh Allen's cap hit has not been *that* far from Burrow's cap hit. Until next year.
 

Van Everyman

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Again, I wouldn't exactly write the Bills off -- I really thought going into the Pats' bye week in 2021 that they were done. McDermott was throwing guys under the bus and making excuses. Poole and White were giving weird press conferences. They followed up the wind game by losing in OT to Brady and the Bucs. The wheels looked like they were coming off.

And then, they didn't. They rattled off four wins to end the season including a convincing win against us on the road, crushed us in the WC game before the famous loss in OT against KC where Gabe Davis had over 200 yards of receiving. McDermott was a big part of that.

In general, talent wins out and guys who can't get over the hump eventually do. It's the Sabathia rule. But they do look a little wobbly right now and I agree the window gets a little narrower if they can't do it this year.
 

BigSoxFan

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Again, I wouldn't exactly write the Bills off -- I really thought going into the Pats' bye week in 2021 that they were done. McDermott was throwing guys under the bus and making excuses. Poole and White were giving weird press conferences. They followed up the wind game by losing in OT to Brady and the Bucs. The wheels looked like they were coming off.

And then, they didn't. They rattled off four wins to end the season including a convincing win against us on the road, crushed us in the WC game before the famous loss in OT against KC where Gabe Davis had over 200 yards of receiving. McDermott was a big part of that.

In general, talent wins out and guys who can't get over the hump eventually do. It's the Sabathia rule. But they do look a little wobbly right now and I agree the window gets a little narrower if they can't do it this year.
And the division could be as good this year as it’s been in a long time. Even the Pats, who many want to laugh at and write off, could he surprisingly competent. This will be an interesting year for Buffalo.
 

pappymojo

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This is it for the Bills. Josh Allen's cap hit goes up 30 million from 2023 to 2024. And 9 million more than that in 2025. 39 million is going to have to come from somewhere.

I know the Bills GM threw a shot at Cinncy by saying, "I wish we had cheap studs on rookie deals like Burrow and Chase but we're too good to get great guys in the draft." Another hardo line.

Meanwhile, Josh Allen's cap hit has not been *that* far from Burrow's cap hit. Until next year.
I, also, think that Josh Allen’s playing style is riskier than other QBs. Injuries and age may bring his ability back down to earth right as his salary sky rockets. Definitely this year is their best opportunity.