Big Blue Huddle

Maybe it's just me because I'm looking at the stat sheet and feel that Belton had way more of an impact than it suggests.  A sack yesterday and another tackle for loss, two picks last week.  Really seems to have made the most out of the extended playing time he got in the last few weeks where before that he wasn't on the field more than 15-30% of the time.  Don't want to make a big deal out of very limited sample size but he just LOOKED the part to me the last few games.

With a Patriots win, Commanders win and Cardinals win (and a Giants loss).

Jets @ Patriots - Belichick almost never loses to the Jets in what should be a miserable game.
Cowboys @ Commanders - fingers crossed, both teams will have plenty of motivation with Dallas looking to clinch the East and the Commanders looking to play spoiler.  Also, the Cowboys on the road are a vastly different team.
Seahawks @ Cardinals - division game.  Seattle looks good but the Cardinals have been competitive of late. 

With all that said, I'd love nothing more than to spoil the Eagles' chance at the division depending on the outcome of the Cowboys/Commanders game.

Wonder why offense and scoring are down?  This is over a third of the league, and we're only at the half-way point of the season..

Bears - Justin Fields, Tyson Bagent
Browns - Deshaun Watson, PJ Walker
Cardinals - Joshua Dobbs, Clayton Tune, Kyler Murray (soon)
Colts - Anthony Richardson, Gardner Minshew
Falcons - Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinecke
Giants - Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor, Tommy DeVito (soon)
Jets - Aaron Rodgers, Zach Wilson
Raiders - Jimmy Garapolo, Aiden O'Connell
Rams - Matt Stafford, Brett Rypien
Titans - Ryan Tannehill, Will Levis
Vikings - Kirk Cousins, Joshua Dobbs

Maybe it's simply my disdain for these 3 quarterbacks who suffer from hubris, but there's mounting evidence that quarterbacks who want to play coach/GM in addition to playing quarterback don't work out all that well, except for Tom Brady.  Let's also not forget that Tom Brady (and Peyton Manning back in the day) were both free agents when they signed with their second team, and did not cost draft capital to acquire.

Aaron Rodgers season lasted all of 4 snaps before his body gave out on him.  The Jets now stare down the prospect of an offseason where their 40 year old quarterback might mull over simply retiring.  Let us not forget they also grabbed the free agents Rodgers wanted like the over-the-hill Randall Cobb, Allen Lazard and Dalvin Cook.  They gave up 2 2nd round picks for that and are on the hook for 50-70 million in dead money depending upon when his career ends.

Russell Wilson worked his way out of Seattle after (allegedly) demanding input on personnel and asking for Pete Carroll and John Schneider to be fired.  He has now started 17 games for the Broncos and the team record in those contests is 4-13, with Wilson having a 21/12 TD/INT ratio.  He's also taken 63 sacks over those 17 games, the most in the league.  Realistically the Broncos need to keep him for at least 3 more years as his current contract doesn't have a palatable "out" until the conclusion of the 2025 season at which point they will have "only" 31 million in dead money.  They traded two 1st round picks, 2nd round picks and a 5th round pick for this. 

DeShaun Watson completed his suspension time last year and has subsequently started 8 games for the Browns, wherein they are 4-4.  He has a completion % below 60, a TD/INT ratio of 9/7.  Because his contract is fully guaranteed, the Browns have 200 million in monies remaining to be paid, or dead-cap money depending upon if/when he were to be cut.

I have a feeling most people here know roughly what a piece of trash this man is but I wanted to underscore some of the career highlights.  I hope the sale of the team doesn't allow for any indemnity on the outstanding investigation the NFL is still running.  You can read blow-by-blow accounts at some of the links below, but these are my "favorites":

- Snyder became the first NFL owner to charge admission and parking fees for training camp.
- Snyder put gallons of ice-cream on defensive coordinator Mike Nolan's desk to melt and indicated he "does not like vanilla".
- Snyder declares that the Redskins' Extra Point Mastercard will be the only credit card season ticket holders are allowed to use to buy season tickets.  He back-tracks 2 days later after a fan revolt.
- Snyder sues a 72 year old woman, a season ticket holder who could no longer afford her season tickets and wanted out of the contract.  This was at the height of the 2007 recession.  He wins a $60k judgement that, because the woman is a Christian, goes uncontested and sends her into bankruptcy.
- Fedex Field sells peanuts from the defunct Independence Air airline.  They were, at minimum, 6 months past expiration. 
- Snyder demands the cheerleaders perform in a "making of" featurette, including topless videos which he later asks the video department to create a montage of, along with his favorite songs in the background.  He has this video labeled "For Executive Meeting".


https://sports.yahoo.com/dan-snyder-and-the-commanders-a-timeline-of-dysfunction-and-scandal-201722850.html
https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/221900/the-cranky-redskins-fans-guide-to-dan-snyder/

The ongoing negotiations between Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, ostensibly over a fully guaranteed contract, have really got me thinking about what would/will happen hinging on the outcome of this.  You can surely expect the next group of quarterbacks that are up for an extension to beat the drum if Jackson doesn't get it, or to demand it if he does.  So what happens?  What would the NFL really look like if theres a slow (or fast) change to fully guaranteed contracts?  How would teams react?  What would the impact be on the "average" player?  This is a pretty seminal moment in NFL history.

To set the stage, there are generally 3 types of "guaranteed" monies in an NFL contract.  A signing bonus is fully guaranteed at signing, and pro-rated by year across the length of the contract.  Injury guarantees protect the player so that if they are unable to physically perform, and the team cuts them, they are entitled to the balance of their salary for that season.  Lastly, there are "practical" guarantees, which are not an actual guarantee, but a machination of looking at a contract and evaluating the dead money hit a team would endure by cutting a player, thereby all but assuring the player will remain on the books.  Think of the last like people who refuse to divorce their wife because "it's cheaper to keep her". While there are other guarantees, these are the 3 that really matter.

To date, with the exclusion of one-year franchise deals, there have only been two fully guaranteed contracts in NFL history - Kirk Cousins and DeShaun Watson.  If Lamar Jackson gets one, there will be a deluge of other QBs getting it as their contracts come up (or sooner) - think Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, etc.  It likely would not stop there.  It would bleed into tackles and edge rushers next, followed by skill-position players, etc.  What would that do?

I think it could potentially be a bad thing for the league, and for the average player.  Imagine a quarterback on a fully guaranteed contract suffering a Joe Theisman-esque injury in year 2 of a deal.  The remaining monies in the contract are all on the books, and count towards the salary cap in the event that you cut him.  If you cut him, all the future guaranteed monies are accelerated and count towards this years cap, unless you get fancy and do it as a spread over 2 years via a June 1st cut, but either way the damage to your ability to compete would be lasting and crippling to a franchise.  If you have your best 3-5 players on fully guaranteed contracts, it could be a nightmare with regards to injuries or increased ineffectiveness as a player ages.  Teams would probably start throttling back the dollar amount on contracts in order to mitigate risk and keep their cap situation in a position to handle adversity via injury.  Average players and backups would likely be squeezed out and see their guarantees evaporate so that the team can accommodate the upper echelon players.  How long would the union stand by while the rank and file get paid less and less or become increasingly more interchangeable?  Would the NFL look to expand the draft to ensure the steady flow of cheap, non-guaranteed players.  Would teams be more willing to part with a budding super-star that outplays their rookie contract simply because signing them would hamstring them for several seasons?

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1642903193880346624

To recap: Jalen Carter and his agent (Drew Rosenhaus) are declining visits to any team without a top 10 selection in the upcoming draft.

I wanted to be sympathetic for a young man who made a mistake.  A big mistake, that while potentially not criminal, was definitely a contributing factor in the deaths of a teammate and recruiter.  It certainly played a role in his disastrous Pro Day workout.  Anyone who has dealt with that level of grief and guilt could sympathize.

All of that goes out the window now for me.  Instead of "coming clean", and making a statement regarding his role in the death of a teammate, he's opted for silence and now is doubling down, through his agent that he's still the same player and there should be no concerns regarding his character.  To compound that by refusing to visit to teams outside of the top 10 tells me all I need to know - he's delusional and can't illustrate contrition - if he even has any.  I doubt he makes it too far outside the top 10, if at all, but buyer beware.

Just looking at some of the movement and deals within the past few days it seems like there is gonna be much less drama over the coming days/weeks for the quarterback situations.

The Giants wrapped up Daniel Jones.
Derek Carr went to New Orleans
The Jets appear to be imminently trading for Aaron Rodgers per a few sources.
Green Bay will stick with Jordan Love.
The Panthers, Texans, Colts and Falcons are all sitting pretty with top 10 picks in a draft that looks like it could see 4 QBs go very early (Stroud, Young, Levis, Richardson).
Jimmy Garapolo went to Las Vegas

The only outstanding teams that seem to be listless at QB are Washington (16 in the draft) and Tampa Bay (19).  This becomes intriguing if one of them, especially Washington, signs Lamar Jackson to an offer sheet.  They have the draft capital to do so, and it would be very Snyder-esque to stick his successor as owner with a fully guaranteed monster contract. 

Is now a free agent. I'd sign him in a heartbeat. He's still among the best linebackers in the game and has a couple years left in the tank I imagine. Would be a good mentor to our young group lb as well.

There was an interesting dynamic that started 3 seasons ago when Tom Brady and the Patriots mutually agreed to part ways.  Brady was immediately courted heavily by a number of teams, ultimately landing with the Bucs because he thought they had the best supporting cast, a head coach who essentially agreed to tailor everything to Brady's desire, and a front office that essentially allowed him to act as GM - bringing back his buddy Gronk and adding free agent pieces like Leonard Fournette and Antonio Brown.

It had immediate ramifications that resonated across the entire NFL landscape.  NFL quarterbacks, especially those with established resumes and Superbowl wins, started clamoring for similar treatment.  They wanted a myriad of things - guarantees against drafting quarterbacks high, fully guaranteed contracts, insisting on adding wideouts early in the draft, a say in most personnel matters offensively, the right to act as their own offensive coordinator, etc.  Whether this was Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson or DeShaun Watson - everyone wanted to create their own "Tompa Bay", especially after the year 1 results in Tampa earned them a Lombardi.  Everyone was certain that if they were head of football operations in addition to being a QB, they'd bring home the bacon.  Call it QB empowerment, I called it hubris. 

I was pessimistic about the dynamic at the time, and while you can't deny it "worked", at least for one year, with Tom Brady, you could also argue they caught lightning in a bottle and were very much on the verge of not even making the playoffs with only a few games left that season.  How is it working elsewhere on different timelines?

- The Packers finally turned the keys to the franchise over to Rodgers, giving him a small extension that was mostly cosmetic, 4 of their first 6 draft picks were spent on offensive lineman and wide receivers, they brought back Rodgers' old drinking buddy and wash-out Randall Cobb.  End result - they are 7-8 and looking at an uphill climb to grab a wild-card in a division that they once dominated year in and year out.

- The Seahawks decided they didn't want to give Russell Wilson the level of power he craved.  There's reports that the phrase "we couldn't wait to drop him off at the airport" was used.  They dumped him for 3 players, two first round picks and two second round picks.  The Broncos threw an extension at him that was unwarranted but showed the good faith they had that as an empowered QB he would lead them to the promised land.  End result - The 3 win Broncos sport a QB who throws for less than 1 TD per start and has looked as offensively lost as any team in recent memory.  They just sacrificed a rookie head coach in the middle of a season, a move nearly without precedent that it's only happened 5 times in the history of the league.

- Even before Deshaun Watson was embroiled in a scandal involving 40+ women accusing him of sexual assualt, Watson was clamoring for the door, after feeling jilted that the team didn't consult him when they hired a new general manager and coach.  The Texans had to wait a year to get their pound of flesh before shipping him off for 3 first round picks and 3 mid-round picks.  The Browns signed him to a fully guaranteed contract, almost inexplicably and to the ire of many owners/GMs around the league.  End result - too early to tell given that Watson's suspension of 11 games only ended a few weeks back, but the early results are not good.  The Browns do have a 2-2 record with Watson as a starter, but he has only 2 TD throws in those 4 games (to 3 ints) a QB rating under 70 and a bottom of the barrel 5.7 yards per attempt.

I'm hopeful that these misfires will temper attitudes around the league. Teams (and fans) like to point to Brady and Peyton Manning as guys that switched teams and still found success.  The problem is those 2 guys are probably the two greatest QBs to ever grace the game.  If I'm a fresh-faced GM, I'm taking a page from before the days of QB movement, and trying to homebrew a team that wants to be where it is.  And if the QB starts to think they're above the team - there's the door. 

Multiple outlets reporting Frank Reich got fired and they named Jeff Saturday as interim head coach.

I won't weep for Reich - his switch from Matt Ryan to the new kid was a laughable attempt to save his skin and it failed.  That said - under what planet is Jeff Saturday qualified to be a head coach?  To my knowledge he's never been a coordinator or position coach.  This feels very much like the "Suck for Luck" campaign back in 2011 when they were throwing trash out there at QB to intentionally lose every week, get to 2-14, draft Luck and dump Manning.

We are rapidly approaching the 10th anniversary of the Giants victory in Superbowl 42 over the Patriots.  The 2007 Giants meant so much to me personally.  I was 24 years old, living at home, and football was my total passion.  The 10 subsequent years, coupled with marriage, a career, a home, and starting a family have eroded the amount of time I can invest in football.  I still remember feeling the similarities, if one could be so naive, between myself and that team.  We were young, we were inconsistent, and we had a level of arrogance only the young can possess because they don't know any better.  But we worked hard, and if we were directionless, we were still going 100 MPH in that direction.

Over the coming weeks I'm going to post a player retrospective - 1 player per day and discuss who they were, what they meant to the 2007 team, and what became of them after - I've always been a sucker for those still images at the ends of movies with a small blurb telling you what that person did later in life.  I encourage all to weigh in on the player of the day, their memories, and memories of the 2007 Giants in general.