OT: 2017 American Football Thread

[Devils Dominion]

Where will Cruz sign?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Stills staying in Miami, which I'm sure pleases ZBC greatly.

More terrifying, rumor floating around that the Pats may offer Malcolm Butler to the Saints for Brandin Cooks. I'm mortified at the thought of what he could do in that offense.

yep, very happy that hes back and at that contract. He took less money to stay, which never happens for the Dolphins. The Gase factor.

 

[Edmonton East]

Agree Cooks would be a good fit in the Patriots offense. It's still kind of ironic to trade for a guy that has done the overwhelming majority of his damage only in home games in a dome on turf...when your stadium is outdoors.

Career splits:
Home: 111 rec, 1644 yards, 14.8/rec, 13TDs
Away: 104 rec, 1217 yards, 11.7/rec, 7TDs

I know you can make the argument that's more of an indictment on the Saints offense as a whole, though.

 

[Edmonton East]

Combing through some receiving stats now after referencing the Cooks' info. Pretty interesting Beckham had the overwhelming majority of his receptions come on the left sideline this year. In the past, the majority of his action had been on the right and it's a huge change:

2016
BY PLAY DIRECTION REC YDS AVG LNG TD ATT YDS AVG LNG TD FUM LST
RIGHT SIDE 20 278 13.9 66 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
LEFT SIDE 18 231 12.8 61 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MIDDLE 11 171 15.5 32 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LEFT SIDELINE 28 420 15 45 1 1 9 9 9 0 1 0
RIGHT SIDELINE 19 223 11.7 75 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Would generally expect an undersized, fast WR to either have a fairly even split, or favor the right (because of right handed QBs and more likely to get the ball in the WR hands quickly).

2014
BY PLAY DIRECTION REC YDS AVG LNG TD ATT YDS AVG LNG TD FUM LST
RIGHT SIDE 14 185 13.2 35 3 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0
LEFT SIDE 9 109 12.1 50 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0
MIDDLE 5 121 24.2 80 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0
LEFT SIDELINE 18 180 10.0 29 3 3 28 9.3 13 0 0 0
RIGHT SIDELINE 33 525 15.9 59 4 4 7 1.8 9 0 0 0

2015 was more evenly split, but still leaned right. Can't really draw any conclusions from this without looking into it a bit further, but I found it interesting. My early guess would be that the Giants often lined up Odell on the left with Cruz, Shep, and the TE on the right to get a better read on coverage/isolate Odell.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

whoa!

 

[Edmonton East]

Romo to Texans then? Lol

 

[Better Call Sal]

Unreal, I mean it seems like such a Cleveland Brown move on the surface but they have so much cap space and got a free 2nd round pick.

Now they're reporting he may just get cut and they'll eat his remaining guaranteed salary LOL what a fall from last year, eh Brock?

 

[NJDevs26]

whoa!

Damn I missed that somehow when Twitter exploded in the last hour. That's basically a Marc Savard trade, only with a live cap hit

 

[Edmonton East]

Yea, I agree with that and I wanted one prior to the official Marshall signing. Now I don't see them having the cap and I don't see them taking one of the top 2 TEs.

With limited cap, might as well get a TE capable of helping out in run/pass blocking on the cheap.

Giants sign Ellison, who fits the bill

 

[Emperoreddy]

Giants sign Ellison, who fits the bill

Get some help at LT and they might be onto something.

 

[NJDevs26]

And not that you couldn't see this one coming...but the timing is beyond odd. The Redskins fire their GM - on the first day of FA

 

[Edmonton East]

Giants re-sign JPP 4 years, 62 million, 40 million guaranteed. Gives them some cap room.

I think he's overrated, but that contract is okay. If they had to re-sign him, this is probably the best one could have realistically hoped for.

 

[Devils Dominion]

City of Oakland and Raiders fans in that area got screwed.
As a Raider fan, they belong in Oakland.

 

[tr83]

Yes, the fans got screwed, but the taxpayers of that city didn't get screwed.

Cities are now going to be able to tell NFL to screw off now about their stadiums because there will be nowhere to relocate.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yes, the fans got screwed, but the taxpayers of that city didn't get screwed.

Cities are now going to be able to tell NFL to screw off now about their stadiums because there will be nowhere to relocate.

They still have delusions about going global with London (although that's seemingly already earmarked for the Jags if someone makes a move there) and maybe Mexico City or Toronto. I don't know what other franchise is an imminent relocation threat, the NFL's already had three of them inside a year. Imagine the ripping if this happened in the NHL

 

[Devils Dominion]

Yes, the fans got screwed, but the taxpayers of that city didn't get screwed.

Cities are now going to be able to tell NFL to screw off now about their stadiums because there will be nowhere to relocate.

Someone will always be there to take a team in.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I thought Romo would play one more season.

 

[Devils Dominion]

NFL draft first round tonight.

 

[Devils Dominion]

How were there 5 worse teams than the Jets last season?

They will be even more putrid next season.

If they screw up their top pick tonight...

OK Jets fans, who do you want Gangreen to draft with their top pick?

 

[ScottyK]

I'm a very happy 49ers fan tonight

 

[Emperoreddy]

Well the Giants got the more playmaking TE to give Eli more options to spread the field.

Didn't address that hole at LB or RT though, which seemed more dire.

Eli has a ton of weapons now though. OBJ, Shepard, Marshall, and now Engram. They have almost completely remade their offense.

Edit: I'm still thrown off by the NFL draft because it really isn't a BPA strategy. Teams absolutely draft for need unlike the NHL

 

[Just Win]

Well the Giants got the more playmaking TE to give Eli more options to spread the field.

Didn't address that hole at LB or RT though, which seemed more dire.

Eli has a ton of weapons now though. OBJ, Shepard, Marshall, and now Engram. They have almost completely remade their offense.

Edit: I'm still thrown off by the NFL draft because it really isn't a BPA strategy. Teams absolutely draft for need unlike the NHL

The big difference is because of difference in player age when drafted and that most NHL picks don't see playing time for 2-3 years after the draft. NFL picks on the other hand can and will often start from day one.
Picking for need would not work in the NHL simply because a team might have very different needs when the player is NHL ready in compare to the needs the team had in the players draft year.

 

[NJDevs26]

The big difference is because of difference in player age when drafted and that most NHL picks don't see playing time for 2-3 years after the draft. NFL picks on the other hand can and will often start from day one.
Picking for need would not work in the NHL simply because a team might have very different needs when the player is NHL ready in compare to the needs the team had in the players draft year.

That's one reason, there are no minor leagues in the NFL so you can't exactly redshirt too many players (why what the Jets did with Hackenberg last year was asinine, you can't afford to redshirt second-rounders in this day and age). The draft taking place after FA begins plays into that too when need's more clearly defined for next season.

Also QB valuation is a bit...hopeful to put it mildly. It's one thing when Winston and Mariota are at the top of the draft but these guys in the first round this year aren't sure things, any of them. If it wasn't for teams' desperation to find A FRANCHISE QB, you wouldn't have seen half the guys drafted in the first round you did this year, much less being traded up for. I'm glad the Jets didn't go in the QB guessing game this early and at least did pick BPA since Adams was an obvious one. They need a lot of stuff even besides QB, hopefully they can address the offensive line at some point. Other positions like pass rushing DE get valued pretty high too compared to the rest.

Plus the other variable for the NFL Draft that doesn't generally exist in the NHL one is the character question. You don't see guys flunking tests with diluted samples days before the NHL Draft, or being involved in violent off-field behavior. Teams treat each case differently and some are more 'lenient' than others. Some of these guys have issues we're not even aware of but the NFL teams hire investigators to look into EVERYone.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Thought Bears gave up too much and would have gotten the QB at 3rd overall.

Never heard of the Giants pick, the TE from Ole Miss.
An off the board pick, let's see how he turns out.
They wanted OJ Howard but he was snagged earlier.

Jets look to have made a good pick with the safety out of LSU.
Though, I think Lattimore will be a better pro.

I don't think any of the QBs in the 1st round will turn into star players.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Engram was the second ranked TE in the draft and is a better pass catching back then the top ranked one.