2023-2024 NFL Thread

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Meh. Apparently our top target for the O-line coaching job went to the Browns instead, so now we are getting the Assistant O-line coach from the Browns instead, how was not being retained. (The Browns O-line coach is the father of the new Titans HC and has left to coach with his son).

But still, we couldn't get our top target, so we settle for what's left. Story of this offseason for basically all hires except Mayo, and it is a question how much market Mayo had if it wasn't with New England.

It also took several weeks to get the truth out but Eliot Wolf IS the de-facto GM, with control over the 53, and the one making final decisions on everything. No idea why that wasn't communicated straight away, but probably cause it is another hire from within where there's no real competition for the job.

For all my bitching about Belichick not hiring anyone from outside his circle of friends and people he knows, it seems Robert Kraft is just as bad, and I'm starting to wonder if it's not just how the football business operates. It certainly ties into why the Rooney Rule was first instituted, because of practices like this.

It sure sounds like the problem with the Patriots the last few years was Kraft at this point. It's all just promote from within and Patriot Way guys with him.

Tracks honestly, feels very similar to Jerreh at this point. Trying to chase another championship by replaying the hits long after the hits stopped working.

[xskarma]

It sure sounds like the problem with the Patriots the last few years was Kraft at this point. It's all just promote from within and Patriot Way guys with him.

Tracks honestly, feels very similar to Jerreh at this point. Trying to chase another championship by replaying the hits long after the hits stopped working.

Well, no. Up to now was Belichick's work. But Kraft let him work like that. But from his press conference he made it clear that the way Belichick worked wasn;t going to cut it anymore, and Mayo is definitely a step towards that with more communication, more openness and more diversity. But the GM hire they hid and then let pick from his old Green Bay buddies, that IS Kraft letting someone do things the way they feel is best again without interfering.

We'll see if it works out, but this is the first time that anything really comes down to Kraft, and it is 90% in the GM-that-is-not-actually-the-GM promotion. We'll see how that works out.

I will say, since that post of mine it came to light they also brought in a Personnel guy from the Miami college team. So there may have been more movement on the back end than I thought when I made that post and it MIGHT also be that this guy from Miami has a bigger role to play after this offseason has concluded (so after the Draft).

For now I'm just pessimistic cause we didn't get any of the big names in coaching and front office, but we did get a bunch of people who had promise to their careers and are still young-ish for the most part. So maybe they end up being able to thrive in expanded roles? Again, we'll see.

[cubby]

Meh. Apparently our top target for the O-line coaching job went to the Browns instead, so now we are getting the Assistant O-line coach from the Browns instead, how was not being retained. (The Browns O-line coach is the father of the new Titans HC and has left to coach with his son).

But still, we couldn't get our top target, so we settle for what's left. Story of this offseason for basically all hires except Mayo, and it is a question how much market Mayo had if it wasn't with New England.

It also took several weeks to get the truth out but Eliot Wolf IS the de-facto GM, with control over the 53, and the one making final decisions on everything. No idea why that wasn't communicated straight away, but probably cause it is another hire from within where there's no real competition for the job.

For all my bitching about Belichick not hiring anyone from outside his circle of friends and people he knows, it seems Robert Kraft is just as bad, and I'm starting to wonder if it's not just how the football business operates. It certainly ties into why the Rooney Rule was first instituted, because of practices like this.

Chip Kelly is apparently shopping around for a job (holy shit how much would it suck to be an incoming UCLA football player). I guess he's looking at the Seahawks right now though.

[cordrann]

snip

I'm most interested to see where things go with McAdoo at this point. He obviously failed as a HC, but I've read a few articles raving about his ability as a talent evaluator with expertise in every position. I'm kind of thinking they brought him on mostly for personnel stuff but he was only interested in a coaching title.

[Vetali]

Chip Kelly is apparently shopping around for a job (holy shit how much would it suck to be an incoming UCLA football player). I guess he's looking at the Seahawks right now though.

Thats one way to derail my optimism on this offseason, hire Chip Fuckin Kelly to go pass pass pass punt rather than run run pass punt.

[xskarma]

I'm most interested to see where things go with McAdoo at this point. He obviously failed as a HC, but I've read a few articles raving about his ability as a talent evaluator with expertise in every position. I'm kind of thinking they brought him on mostly for personnel stuff but he was only interested in a coaching title.

If things are indeed more collaborative as Kraft and Mayo said it would be, then he might get a chance to speak on the matter, but I doubt they brought him in purely as a personnel guy.

I was mostly encouraged by the fact that he's basically been a yes man his whole life and largely does what he's told, and that at his last stop, in Carolina as the OC, that he just did what Matt Rhule wanted him to do, and that once Rhule was gone, the offense noticably got better from where it had been under Rhule's rule. (but still sucked).

So I suspect that if tradition holds that he'll be fine in an advisory role and at the worst won't hurt the on field production.

[Grube]

Took long enough for Randy Gradishar to make the HoF, but they made up for it with a bad decision with Hester over Gates and Holt.

[ProphetFlume]

Took long enough for Randy Gradishar to make the HoF, but they made up for it with a bad decision with Hester over Gates and Holt.

He’s the best returner in history. He’s exactly the kind of person who should be getting in.

[xskarma]

Is there the same energy out there for Antonio Gates missing out on the HoF in his first year as there was for Hester? Cause Gates deserved it far more. WAY more impact for way longer. The fact he got snubbed for the likes of Andre Johnson is a crime. The only reason they voted in Johnson is cause he's the Texans first guy in. HoF voting is getting just as political as the Pro Bowl, and it stinks.

[Grube]

He’s the best returner in history. He’s exactly the kind of person who should be getting in.

He's not even close to being the best kick returner in any metric. He has the most punt return TDs, but isn't top in anything else. If Hester is in, then Cordarrelle Patterson should be when he's eligible. Plus returners are usually guys that suck at other positions so they don't get moved off of it. It's very rare for teams to keep important starters as a returner. There are so many more impactful players at positions good players actually play their whole career that should be in instead.

[Vetali]

Leon Washington had the record for TD returns on kickoff until Patterson did it, and Leon played in the same era as Hester but didn't do punt returns. Hester just did it in the post season.

[draynay]

Is there the same energy out there for Antonio Gates missing out on the HoF in his first year as there was for Hester? Cause Gates deserved it far more. WAY more impact for way longer. The fact he got snubbed for the likes of Andre Johnson is a crime. The only reason they voted in Johnson is cause he's the Texans first guy in. HoF voting is getting just as political as the Pro Bowl, and it stinks.

I have never been able to take any NFL honors seriously. They somehow manage to get these things wrong even worse than baseball, which is really saying something. Gates is a better HoF candidate than Hester, these results are comical, but not unexpected.

[eschatological]

They gave Joe Flacco Comeback Player of the Year over Damar Hamlin.

The joke going around Buffalo today is that playing for the Jets and then the Browns is a fate worse than death.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

They gave Joe Flacco Comeback Player of the Year over Damar Hamlin.

The joke going around Buffalo today is that playing for the Jets and then the Browns is a fate worse than death.

There was a weird amount of pro-Browns BS this year. Amazing how fast this franchise went from scrappy underdog to "I can't stand these guys" since the Watson trade.

Also didn't Flacco say he literally did not want the award over Hamlin a few weeks ago? That's just got to sting.

[eschatological]

Yeah, he did.

Damar got electoral college'd. He received 21 first place votes to Flacco's 13, but Flacco got nearly all the 2nd place votes as well, so it seems apparent that those who voted for Flacco for 1st voted Baker 2nd, because they don't really believe Damar came back?? The common sentiment going around is that Damar's comeback didn't have much of an impact because he was a backup safety and he played like a dozen snaps all season, so they're somehow judging the quality of football play in the comeback, instead of the quality of the fortitude needed to come back in the first place (in which case coming back from dying on the field is obviously harder). But that becomes harder to swallow when Alex Smith came back from that gruesome leg injury that required 12 surgeries, and sucked shit afterwards (obviously through no fault of his own), and won CPOY.

Obviously the award needs some sort of consensus in re: what it's really about: the balls to comeback in the first place, or the impact of the comeback.

Edit: ultimately I don't think I care that much, but it sucks for Damar if he puts any stock in it. Maybe it just flows off his back, who knows.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Yeah COPY is about as consistent these days as what a catch is. Some years it's just "QB cut by former team manages to start 17 games for new team" and some years it's "QB had terrible injury and comes back to play even a single snap."

Either way, feels like it's starting to suffer from the MVP problem where QBs are just inherently predisposed to win it over non-QBs.

And yeah I don't care as much about CPOY as I do the fact Stefanski somehow stole CotY from DeMeco Ryans.








Anyway what's this I just saw about Amazon getting a playoff game next year? I guess at least Amazon has a real track record of NFL games now with TNF compared to Peacock.

[Grube]

No one in the top 3 even makes sense. Flacco and Mayfield didn't come back from anything, Flacco only played 5 regular season games and Hamlin didn't even do anything on the field worth mentioning. Someone like Breece Hall that actually came back from something and performed is who it would have made sense to give it to.

Only award they got right was fan of the year. Even the MVP being 49 votes for Jackson is stupid. They just voted for the QB on the team with the best record.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Only award they got right was fan of the year. Even the MVP being 49 votes for Jackson is stupid. They just voted for the QB on the team with the best record.

MVP should have been CMac and it shouldn't have been close.

[ProphetFlume]

Is there the same energy out there for Antonio Gates missing out on the HoF in his first year as there was for Hester? Cause Gates deserved it far more. WAY more impact for way longer. The fact he got snubbed for the likes of Andre Johnson is a crime. The only reason they voted in Johnson is cause he's the Texans first guy in. HoF voting is getting just as political as the Pro Bowl, and it stinks.

Serious question, is it possible for politics to not be involved in any award chosen by people? They’re entirely politics. Above you can see people arguing that entire positions don’t matter because x, y, z, or that comeback player suddenly has to be from an injury even though it regularly goes to people also reviving their career. That’s politics. Does longevity matter or being the best of your era for a few years? Politics.

[eschatological]

Even the MVP being 49 votes for Jackson is stupid. They just voted for the QB on the team with the best record.

This is the only one which bugged me. You can make the case Lamar was the MVP, but him getting 49 out of 50 first place jokes is kind of a joke. Every Baltimore fan is upset he didn't get a unanimous MVP in a year when the MVP was the widest open it's been in awhile. He was worse than Josh Allen in every category except rush yards (he had 800+ to Josh's 500+), and Josh came in 5th. Mahomes was better than him this year and only 4 voters even threw him a vote. CMC should have probably been MVP but RBs don't get it any more and he split votes with his own teammate, who was only in the conversation because he was the QB of the team CMC was carrying.