2017-2018 NFL thread

[Darth Belichick]

Oh I'm not claiming any kind of 16-0 bull shit. But by the time the playoffs roll around, as long as everyone is relatively healthy, they should be quite the formidable squad.

[xskarma]

As to the newly drafted Saints tackle, hopefully he can play left guard, cuz Peat is sliding over to LT.

Well, that's what you got Peat for a few drafts back, so hopefully he'll hold up. Does make more sense for him to go there and the rookie to play guard.

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I think for most people that have followed the NFL for some time you get an appreciation for how much health means. It's VERY rare for banged up teams to get anywhere.

I mean, not to open old wounds, but imagine Carr not breaking his leg last year, or Mariota. Suddenly very likely that the playoffs look a lot different.


Injuries are the worst.

[Jimmy Thick]

Howard will definitely be up there, but I don't expect Elliot to have a drop in carries, so I'd still take Zeke over anyone. Cam? Eh...too risky. You may very well be right, but I wouldn't take that chance.

Howard is all the Bears have, he had a better yards per carry with a vastly inferior line compared to Zeke and missed the first three games because the bumble head coach decided to start a scrub over him. If Howard starts those three games, he wins the rushing title. I also expect a huge drop off from Zeke because he won't surprise anyone anymore, its what I call the fat man Wade Phillips theory. Once Wade Phillips devises a way to shut down an offense everyone in the league steals his gameplan and it effects that team all season long until that coach figures out the counter punch. That takes a while.

As for Cam, the guy is a top 5 quarterback, year in year out. He vultures rushing td's every year, if he stays healthy we will produce plus he's still significantly young. And thats the rub. The guy will want new paper soon, this will be a huge year for him, bigger than the MVP year, he's a first round pick, if I had the first pick in any draft, I would take him and not look back.

[draynay]

Howard is all the Bears have, he had a better yards per carry with a vastly inferior line compared to Zeke and missed the first three games because the bumble head coach decided to start a scrub over him. If Howard starts those three games, he wins the rushing title. I also expect a huge drop off from Zeke because he won't surprise anyone anymore, its what I call the fat man Wade Phillips theory. Once Wade Phillips devises a way to shut down an offense everyone in the league steals his gameplan and it effects that team all season long until that coach figures out the counter punch. That takes a while.

As for Cam, the guy is a top 5 quarterback, year in year out. He vultures rushing td's every year, if he stays healthy we will produce plus he's still significantly young. And thats the rub. The guy will want new paper soon, this will be a huge year for him, bigger than the MVP year, he's a first round pick, if I had the first pick in any draft, I would take him and not look back.

I wouldn't trust Newton, in 2015 he had 35 TDs passing and 10 rushing, in 2014 and 2016 combined he had 37 passing and 10 rushing. Last year he regressed to his normal numbers after an aberrant season. I'm sure having McCaffery around will help his completion % but will his fantasy numbers make a big leap? I'm skeptical.

What was the surprise with Zeke? He was a top 5 pick playing behind the best OLine in football, oh and the team's top receiver and QB were both injured, I would've thought stopping him would be #1 on every team's defensive gameplan in 2016. If anything, with a healthier Dez and a more experienced Dak, there should be more openings for Zeke. I don't know if his numbers will be the same, but I can't see any obvious reasons to forecast a "huge drop off".

[xskarma]

I also expect a huge drop off from Zeke because he won't surprise anyone anymore

Why does that same logic not apply to Howard? Teams have tape from last year and will sell out to stop him, cause they know the Bears will not be able to consistently win through the air. They'll have figured out Howard just as much.

Honestly though, there's not much to "figure out" with running backs. When you talk about "figuring out" I think of the schemes teams use or maybe a QB's tendencies when faced with certain situations. RB's have so little influence on what happens themselves though that I don;t see how you can really figure anything out about them. It's all down to scheme a team uses, how the QB sets the team up for the upcoming play and how the O-line blocks it. The RB himself doesn't do much.

[Grube]

Newton is terrible if you force him to stay in the pocket. Being a good QB requires being able to throw when you are expected to. He has shown his whole career that he can't do that. If you stop their running game, you stop their offense. He is just a big RB that throws the ball. No idea how that translate to fantasy because it doesn't match the actual game well at all.

[Pendulous]

I take it back. Number one on my fantasy list for running backs is David Johnson. Then Zeke.

[Jimmy Thick]

Removing content for possibly a different thread.

[draynay]

IF I GIVE BAD ADVICE I LIKE TO MAKE SURE ITS ALL CAPS

Gilbert suspended for a year, first he is too bad at football to play for Cleveland, now he has a year-long suspension, time to stick a fork in that turkey.

[xskarma]

Calendar for 2017-2018 got released:

Important dates include:

Oct. 17-18 — Fall league meeting in New York.

Oct. 31 — Trade deadline.

Dec. 13 — Winter league meeting in Irving, Texas.

Feb. 20 — First day for teams to designate franchise or transition players.

Feb. 27-March 5 — NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

March 6 — Deadline for teams to designate franchise or transition players.

March 12-14 — Two-day free agency negotiating period opens.

March 14 — The 2018 league year begins, free agency opens and the trade period begins.

March 25-28 — Spring league meetings in Orlando, Florida.

April 26-28 — NFL Draft, TBD.



That last part is interesting. League still hasn't decided where to hold the draft next year. Would think they need to hurry up cause setting everything up for that will take time and planning.

[Vetali]

http://thecomeback.com/nfl/pat-mcafe...n-grigson.html

This is a good one. Not too surprising, but should be newsworthy in this boring period.

[xskarma]

"Former Jets LB David Harris has reached agreement on a two-year deal with...the New England Patriots, source tells ESPN."

Schefter


That's both quite surprising and totally not surprising. Belichick loves to pick up players in the division that have played well against him but I was reasonably sure that BB was okay with the linebackers we had right now. This definitely means that one of Harris, Mclellin, Van Noy or Roberts is out at the end of training camp. There's no way BB keeps that many linebackers. Safeties, sure, linebackers, no way.

Unless, of course they want to switch Hightower to a D-line role in pass rush situations. Cause we definitely have an issue with not enough experienced pass rushers.


We'll know more when financial details about the Harris signing come out. If it's a serious contract he might be penciled in more than the others for the final 53.

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"The #Patriots gave ex-#Jets LB David Harris a 2-year deal worth $5M base value, source said, with $1.25M guaranteed. Up to $6.75M total."

Rapoport


So basically a 1 year deal 2,5M with some 800k incentives on top, of which 1.25M is already guaranteed. Makes him the 2nd highest guarantee among the LB's behind Hightower. Quite likely they want him to stick around it seems.

[draynay]

Carr gets his 5 years $125mil

[xskarma]

Carr gets his 5 years $125mil

Yep. Rumour has it some 70 million in guarantees. Derek Carr just became a rich, rich man.

[Northern Goblin]

Highest contract in NFL history.

Which when you remember how long Oakland have needed a QB, is worth every last cent.

[FobManX]

QBs get paid. You got a good one, you pay him, unless you wanna end up back in 5-11 land.

Hope the Skins follow suit and pay Cousins too.

[draynay]

Washington keeps waiting and the price keeps going up.

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Is Tevin Coleman ready to take over for Devonta Freeman cuz that guy is so full of shit.

Apparently he was cheated out of Super Bowl MVP, he didn't get to play enough possibly because he can't pass block?

[xskarma]

Andy Reid got an extension on his contract. He was heading in to his last year so it makes sense.



In other news, TRAINING CAMP START DATES:





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What the actual fuck. Chiefs sign Andy Reid to a long term extension and about 5 min later news breaks that they are ALSO letting go of their GM Dorsey.

Did they like, extend Reid against Dorsey's wishes or something?



And that on top of all the pretty involved and daring decisions they made with personnel, which obviously must have been done with the okay of Dorsey. What a strange, strange situation.

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OKay, so the initial rumour was that the Chiefs and Dorsey parted ways (I just assumed it wasn;t, and it was the Chiefs decision to not renew his contract and send him on his way) and now it seems confirmed.

"Chiefs and John Dorsey did not agree to part ways, per source. Chiefs dismissed John Dorsey, per source. Their decision."

Schefter.



What the hell did Dorsey do? he was VERY well respected. This makes no sense unless there's either some ind of skeleton in the closet OR some huge disagreement about something. If the latter, you have to assume it's either Andy Reid's extension OR the QB they drafted in April and the more or less not spoken out loud plan to let him replace Alex Smith sooner rather than later.

I'm willing to bet Dorsey is not unemployed for long (unless there actually is a skeleton).

[Pendulous]

Twitch Plays Kansas City Chiefs.

[Grube]

Dorsey might have just not been on the same page as everyone else. If the GM/Owner/HC aren't in agreement on things it makes sense to make a change. Their reasoning probably won't come out though.