NFL 2021 offseason thread

[Balta1701]

Just now, Chicago White Sox said:

No way that is their attitude.  They simply don’t want to give up a franchise QB unless they have to and right now they are hoping he’s bluffing.  At some point either Watson caves or this threat becomes very real and they reluctantly move him.

They can play that game up to the draft. If the draft passes and they don’t have a QB, he has leverage over the entire season, and can literally force them to punt on the year. 

[bmags]

2 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

They can play that game up to the draft. If the draft passes and they don’t have a QB, he has leverage over the entire season, and can literally force them to punt on the year. 

Yeah, I mean if you are in this situation, even though you want a haul of picks, this is the only year you can guarantee their value. Presumably, watson will make teams better that aren't the texans.

So is playing chicken longer than the draft and getting a 4 year of picks haul that could all be 16-32 better than trying to do it pre-draft and possibly getting 2 first round picks back, 1 high, or 1 high pick back at least this year (they may prioritize getting 1st and 2nd round picks since they are out both)

Until then, maybe you try and show off in free agency. But I think players with options may start putting screws on them anyway by not wanting to go to houston.

[Balta1701]

29 minutes ago, bmags said:

Yeah, I mean if you are in this situation, even though you want a haul of picks, this is the only year you can guarantee their value. Presumably, watson will make teams better that aren't the texans.

So is playing chicken longer than the draft and getting a 4 year of picks haul that could all be 16-32 better than trying to do it pre-draft and possibly getting 2 first round picks back, 1 high, or 1 high pick back at least this year (they may prioritize getting 1st and 2nd round picks since they are out both)

Until then, maybe you try and show off in free agency. But I think players with options may start putting screws on them anyway by not wanting to go to houston.

Houston’s a mess in terms of cap space, they had the highest payroll in the league last year which means they already have used some of their cap space the next several years.  They have virtually no recent impact draft picks because O’Brien traded them all away. That’s why they are releasing Watt and not tagging Fuller, so that they can get under the cap and have a little space. They are getting worse in FA, not better.

[bmags]

9 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Houston’s a mess in terms of cap space, they had the highest payroll in the league last year which means they already have used some of their cap space the next several years.  They have virtually no recent impact draft picks because O’Brien traded them all away. That’s why they are releasing Watt and not tagging Fuller, so that they can get under the cap and have a little space. They are getting worse in FA, not better.

It actually looksl ike they can create quite a bit of space somewhat easily, esp. since some of their pieces weren't producing to salary.

If they convert tunsil's base into signing bonus, cut cooks, cut david johnson, spotrac says they can create $38 million, which in this free agency could be a decent amount. Without a 1st/2nd, this is really their only shot to improve this year and show off to watson. Now, they just cut Watt, so again, I don't see how they can both hold leverage and address his concerns. So I tend to think Watson is actually in a fairly strong position, but to me I think if you are houston you have to try and show a plan in march, and if it's still at this stage in april, then start the bidding.

But it's hard to get in their heads because they are such idiots.

[bmags]

lotta talk about soldier field during this doldrums after Hoge wrote an article about converting Arlington to the next soldier field in a massive complex.

I am mostly against suburban stadiums, mainly for how often suburban people feel like it will be in a suburb near them and not like, them traveling all the way east to then get on a north highway then back northwest, etc.

But I don't really care with soldier field. A couple reasons:

- The bears history with soldier field isn't even that impressive and I think it's kinda weird how attached people are to it. It's not like sox/cubs or even hawks where you could point to a location it's always been. Bears have just this year had as long of a playing history at Soldier Field that they had at Wrigley.

- Football attendance isn't a casual event. With there being only 8 games a year at home, it's an all day event you want to be there at a stadium/parking lot for. Soldier field is particularly bad at creating this with its lack of tailgating space, and people aren't going to just lug stuff over a LSD from a nearby parking lot. The liveable part of the city it is closest to is not even particularly lively on a Sunday. Basically long way of saying this stadium is on an island within the city. The whole point of soldier field is the lake, and when you are in t, who cares. And when you are outside it, it makes the lake uglier somehow.

- It's lack of seating was a hinderance during the olympic bid, and continues to be a drag for getting some events

- Being an outdoor stadium prevents the bears from getting the super bowl

So, anyway yeah I don't get the nostalgia for it and it prevents a lot of important things for city/franchise. But McCaskeys will overrate the affinity for it when it's just people's lazy status quo preference.

 

[Kyyle23]

2 minutes ago, bmags said:

lotta talk about soldier field during this doldrums after Hoge wrote an article about converting Arlington to the next soldier field in a massive complex.

I am mostly against suburban stadiums, mainly for how often suburban people feel like it will be in a suburb near them and not like, them traveling all the way east to then get on a north highway then back northwest, etc.

But I don't really care with soldier field. A couple reasons:

- The bears history with soldier field isn't even that impressive and I think it's kinda weird how attached people are to it. It's not like sox/cubs or even hawks where you could point to a location it's always been. Bears have just this year had as long of a playing history at Soldier Field that they had at Wrigley.

- Football attendance isn't a casual event. With there being only 8 games a year at home, it's an all day event you want to be there at a stadium/parking lot for. Soldier field is particularly bad at creating this with its lack of tailgating space, and people aren't going to just lug stuff over a LSD from a nearby parking lot. The liveable part of the city it is closest to is not even particularly lively on a Sunday. Basically long way of saying this stadium is on an island within the city. The whole point of soldier field is the lake, and when you are in t, who cares. And when you are outside it, it makes the lake uglier somehow.

- It's lack of seating was a hinderance during the olympic bid, and continues to be a drag for getting some events

- Being an outdoor stadium prevents the bears from getting the super bowl

So, anyway yeah I don't get the nostalgia for it and it prevents a lot of important things for city/franchise. But McCaskeys will overrate the affinity for it when it's just people's lazy status quo preference.

 

Arlington park is on such a unique stretch right there, I would hate game day traffic but I have to think it would work better than the current situation plus the train stop is on the front doorstep.

I dunno, I'm really bummed that Arlington Park seems dead forever, but I would much rather that space become a new bears stadium instead of another outdoor mall

[bmags]

1 minute ago, Kyyle23 said:

Arlington park is on such a unique stretch right there, I would hate game day traffic but I have to think it would work better than the current situation plus the train stop is on the front doorstep.

I dunno, I'm really bummed that Arlington Park seems dead forever, but I would much rather that space become a new bears stadium instead of another outdoor mall

Sundays at arlington on a beautiful day were the best.

[Kyyle23]

9 minutes ago, bmags said:

Sundays at arlington on a beautiful day were the best.

My uncle lives on the opposite side of Euclid with the back side of his property looking directly at the park, we would go there for Fourth of July fireworks and Labor Day if they had fireworks too, my wife worked there for two years, I have been up there so many times.   It will really be a sad day when that place is gone 

[CentralChamps21]

I would like to see the Bears build a retractable roof stadium at at different site. It would bring more college football games and possibly a Super Bowl to Chicago.

Plus, it would free up Soldier Field to be converted to a BASEBALL STADIUM!!

[Kyyle23]

4 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

I would like to see the Bears build a retractable roof stadium at at different site. It would bring more college football games and possibly a Super Bowl to Chicago.

Plus, it would free up Soldier Field to be converted to a BASEBALL STADIUM!!

After the tug of war that ended up with one of the smallest stadiums in the league on the day it opened, I'm really not interested in seeing whoever owns the Sox start negotiations with Chicago parks service again LOL 

[bmags]

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

After the tug of war that ended up with one of the smallest stadiums in the league on the day it opened, I'm really not interested in seeing whoever owns the Sox start negotiations with Chicago parks service again LOL 

That area could be good for a baseball stadium if it was allowed to build up amenities around it, but friends of the parks has made clear that the history of the waterfront began in 1993 and ended in 2004, and even if it is currently a parking lot it is a parking lot with a lot of important history to friends of the park.

[CentralChamps21]

47 minutes ago, bmags said:

That area could be good for a baseball stadium if it was allowed to build up amenities around it, but friends of the parks has made clear that the history of the waterfront began in 1993 and ended in 2004, and even if it is currently a parking lot it is a parking lot with a lot of important history to friends of the park.

Is all the newish stuff in the South Loop not close enough to count?

[bmags]

35 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

Is all the newish stuff in the South Loop not close enough to count?

I think the separation of the park due to LSD and the train line, just makes that whole vibe of integrated city-stadiums much less real and apparent. It's a long, windy walk to get off at the green line at roosevelt to get to the stadium. Yes, there are places you can stop on the way. But it's not like drinking at cork & kerrys or turtles and walking down the street to Grate, or certainly clark st. and controversially, I'd say it even feels way different than madison.

[CentralChamps21]

JJ Watt going to [a team that used to play in] Chicago.

 

[Chisoxfn]

24 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

JJ Watt going to [a team that used to play in] Chicago.

 

It really never made much sense. One thing about the Bears anyway - I've come to learn that the media usually doesn't have much of a clue what their front office is doing - they tend to operate in a bit more of a stealth mode than other front offices.  I'm not saying that is good or bad - just that directionally speaking - it feels like what you see with those that cover the Bears is even more "speculation" vs. "fact" than most other orgs (speculation always runs high around NFL - so its what I call higher relative speculation - in my very scientific terms).  

[Chisoxfn]

Bears hired the former Texas Longhorn Head Coach, Tom Herman as an analyst. Not sure what to think of this - I know Herman didn't succeed as HC at Texas but he was always thought of as a good offensive mind.  

[bmags]

6 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Bears hired the former Texas Longhorn Head Coach, Tom Herman as an analyst. Not sure what to think of this - I know Herman didn't succeed as HC at Texas but he was always thought of as a good offensive mind.  

Yeah, I think it's a guy to help advance their play designs. Nagy may not know how to put it all together, but I remember a few articles during/after his first year that he was one of the nfl coaches consistently reaching out to college level, picking brains on how college coaches were advancing the offensive attack.

[CentralChamps21]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/02/28/nfl-17-game-schedule-zach-wilson-fmia-peter-king/

" A note about how the league configured the extra game: When the NFL was choosing options, the formula that prevailed—follow me now—was AFC versus NFC, cross-conference matchup from two years ago, 2021 matchup based on 2020 standings. Now that you’re totally confused, here’s an example: The four AFC West teams played the four NFC North teams in 2019. In 2020, Kansas City finished in first place in the AFC West, Green Bay first in the NFC North. So in 2021, it’s AFC West against NFC North, and 1-versus-1 from ‘20 becomes Green Bay versus Kansas City."

This is the first I've seen defining the 17th opponent for 2021. Based on this formula, the Bears 17th opponent would be the 2nd place team from the AFC Division the Bears played in 2019, which makes the Oakland Las Vegas Raiders the Bears' opponent. AFC is supposedly hosting all of these games, so the game would be in Vegas

[bmags]

51 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/02/28/nfl-17-game-schedule-zach-wilson-fmia-peter-king/

" A note about how the league configured the extra game: When the NFL was choosing options, the formula that prevailed—follow me now—was AFC versus NFC, cross-conference matchup from two years ago, 2021 matchup based on 2020 standings. Now that you’re totally confused, here’s an example: The four AFC West teams played the four NFC North teams in 2019. In 2020, Kansas City finished in first place in the AFC West, Green Bay first in the NFC North. So in 2021, it’s AFC West against NFC North, and 1-versus-1 from ‘20 becomes Green Bay versus Kansas City."

This is the first I've seen defining the 17th opponent for 2021. Based on this formula, the Bears 17th opponent would be the 2nd place team from the AFC Division the Bears played in 2019, which makes the Oakland Las Vegas Raiders the Bears' opponent. AFC is supposedly hosting all of these games, so the game would be in Vegas

Derek Carr Revenge game

[bmags]

Sure is a lotta smoke that Wilson and Seattle is really at breakup level.

[TheTruth05]

21 minutes ago, bmags said:

Sure is a lotta smoke that Wilson and Seattle is really at breakup level.

I hate how much I'm starting to believe Pace can pull this off and get Russ, just a perfect storm in order to get a future HOF QB to Chicago. Kyle Long and Adam Rank both sound like guys who know something. 

[Kyyle23]

8 minutes ago, TheTruth05 said:

I hate how much I'm starting to believe Pace can pull this off and get Russ, just a perfect storm in order to get a future HOF QB to Chicago. Kyle Long and Adam Rank both sound like guys who know something. 

 

[bmags]

9 minutes ago, TheTruth05 said:

I hate how much I'm starting to believe Pace can pull this off and get Russ, just a perfect storm in order to get a future HOF QB to Chicago. Kyle Long and Adam Rank both sound like guys who know something. 

Hey! It's another believer!

Regardless, he's the type of guy that even if you weren't in the mode to make that type of splash you make room for.

But the Bears are absolutely in the mode for needing a guy like him.

[bmags]

Kyle Brandt is on the score now on why he has bears get a good QB hype and I'm dying laughing. He's so good.

[TheTruth05]

15 minutes ago, bmags said:

Regardless, he's the type of guy that even if you weren't in the mode to make that type of splash you make room for.

But the Bears are absolutely in the mode for needing a guy like him.

This is really it, and the fact Russ named the Bears is a huge win but I'll be honest, The saints scare the crap outta me. I can see them pulling whatever strings necessary to get someone like Russ because they're a well run, smart franchise and that's just what they do. Raiders have the ammo but I can see them not wanting to overpay someway,somehow. 

Edited March 4, 2021 by TheTruth05