The Buscher

The Vikings seem to be positioning to move up even higher but it seems tough to imagine they can get to the very top of the draft. -The Bears are staying put and taking Caleb from all accounts. If they changed their mind they'd probably only move down to 2 or 3, certainly not trading the #1 pick into the division and falling that far in the draft. -The Commies are clearly taking a QB at #2. They just traded Howell, their fanbase's reaction to not getting a QB would make January 6th look tame. It's a QB. -The Pats also have a very clear and obvious need at QB, mercifully got rid of Mac Jones and Jacoby Brissett feels like the quintessential "here's our stopgap QB until the rookie is ready" guy. Maybe they don't like the QB board and will move down but #3 to #11 would be a big drop and they'd need a haul to sell it to the fans as a punt season. -The Cards at #4 clearly want a WR and are staring at a great chance to get the #1 WR on the board. Certainly they wouldn't want to lose out on the top 3 which is a real possibility going down to 11, if the Cards take that deal they'd need to be ready to quickly go back up and it's risky. -The Chargers trading Keenan Allen on top of releasing Mike Williams makes this pick seem like a stone cold lock for WR. Same thing as the Cards, they don't want to fall out of top 3 WR range.

Always a good thing when “HOLY OVERPAY” is trending on Twitter within minutes of a signing being announced.

Pat McAfee confirmed yesterday that the playable co-hosts in the McAfee DLC pack are, in fact, the co-hosts of his show with AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Boston Connor, and Ty Schmit being in the pack with him. So that's 2 former NFL players and his 2 most prominent on-air co-hosts who also are big gamers/wrestling fans. Moreover he said he wouldn't agree to be in the game without them which might explain why he was planned DLC for 2k23 that got cancelled. Random inclusion as they may be, guess I can give some credit to McAfee for getting some money for his guys, this says something about how much 2k or WWE wanted McAfee in this thing to give those other guys royalties. Another tidbit that was said is that they all apparently have crazy moves. So basically this might be their way of getting every AEW/NJPW/CMLL/Whatever else move into the game that they can. Also means there's a chance they're not taking DLC spots away from others because this might've just been a Moves pack otherwise, you just now have some extra guys to beat up on if you want. So all told, pretty harmless. Still a bit annoying this pack comes out 2 months earlier than the one that has Dragon Lee and Jade Cargill, though.

I remember talking with my boss at work (fellow Giants fan) and we both suggested the Giants should call the Jets to see if they had any interest in Tyrod last year. They could’ve been a playoff team had they not just stubbornly plowed ahead with Zach Wilson. Anyway, Rodgers leaving the Jets to be a VP of a doomed campaign and never completing a pass with the team would be hysterical.

Lock is a decent enough backup. Probably not as good as Tyrod, but Tyrod himself is very injury prone which is the last thing the team needs if they're actually running back one more year of Jones. If they do run back Jones again it feels like the season is probably a punt even after handing out a massive Burns contract. To be fair, 2022-level play from Jones which got him the contract in the first place would be totally fine but with all of his injuries it's difficult to see that happening. Moreover, they're in a precarious situation because Jones' contract is set up in a way where they can get out of the deal this time next year very easily, unless he plays and gets hurt, in which case he's got injury protection built in which would move his dead money hit from like $20 million to $45 million. Basically the worst thing that can happen for the Giants is Jones playing and then getting hurt again, which he has every season except 2022. I think taking a QB early in the draft is still in play and I've gotta just trust Schoen and Daboll if they really think "their guy" is there. If this happens I'd expect the rookie and Lock to play in 2024 and the team will just awkwardly carry Jones as a healthy scratch so they can cut bait next year.

I only own two Giants jerseys. I'll wear a jersey when I go to my dad's to watch a game or go to a viewing party but that's it. I'd wear one to an actual game but MetLife is terrible so I've no interest in going to a game in-person. My two jerseys are a home Justin Tuck jersey and a road Eli SB46 jersey. Both jerseys are in good condition, including the Tuck one which is 16 years old now. As long as they stay in good condition there's no reason for me to get another one but if I did it would be a team legend, not a current player since guys move around so much. As long as Tuck or Eli don't do anything terrible they'll always be a safe wear.

No sport sees players going straight to a division rival more than the NFL. Not really surprising given the familiarity these teams have with rival players but yeah, it does get annoying. Even when you make what you feel is the right call in letting someone go, when they go straight to a division rival you can pencil them in for an anytime TD score next meeting.

Brian Burns to the Giants for a 2nd and a 5th (they had an extra 2nd from trading Leonard Williams last year). And they immediately lock him down to a 5-year, $150 million deal with $87 million guaranteed. A legit pass rusher to pair with Thibs and Dexter Lawrence. Love it.

Barkley talked so much about what he wanted his legacy to be in New York. Not that I ever took his word for it, but that legacy is complete garbage now. 6 years of injuries and mostly losing, now goes to the Eagles. Had he stayed here for life Mara probably puts him in the Ring of Honor just for sentimental reasons, that's out. Given the Eagles beat the Giants at like an 80% clip this doesn't really change much in terms of 2024 outlook between the teams. The team needs an OL before they invest heavily in a RB. I'm breathing a sigh of relief Schoen didn't pay him that kind of deal.

Kirk Cousins to the Falcons on a 4-year deal

License Plate Guy (Giants megafan who clearly has sources in the org given how often he drops hints about things) tweeted out "PISSED" just minutes after noon. Would not be the least bit shocked if the Eagles are about to sign Saquon Barkley and/or Xavier McKinney.

I know the rumors of the Fields/Atlanta trade were being kicked around last week but there's even more reports today that the Bears have decided on Caleb Williams and, in turn, the Fields trade could happen as soon as the league year opens. Along with that, they're said to have similar valuations on all three of the top WR (Harrison, Nabers, Odunze) and they would be willing to move up from #9 to secure one of them if it comes to it. Given there might be as many as 4 QBs going in the top 10 right now the Bears could be in a spot where they won't even have to do that.

The franchise stream, as expected, didn't reveal much of anything in the way of new features. Everything they've added is relatively minor. Maybe the biggest franchise feature is they have a pre-existing injury thing ala Madden where you can choose to ensure players hurt right now will be hurt in-game when you start a franchise (so some guys are already out for the year, etc). Logic was basically limited to just "we always go under the hood and make some changes every year" but nothing in detail. Given people have been screaming about bullpen logic for ages, not specifically addressing that doesn't fill me with much confidence that much was done to it. And that would be really a shame because you can tell instantly the CPU manages the same way every game and kills the same long relief pitchers dead. Guess we'll see when the game releases and we get reactions on OS. On to smaller things, I'm no developer but when I see something that's been requested by the community for well over a decade now like a coach editor. Nothing flashy, just the ability to edit a game-generated-coach just as you can edit the game-generated players. Change name, jersey number, whatever. And it's still not in there. Is it more complicated to add than I think, or do they just not see the value? Because my god I can't tell you how irritating it is to sign a new 3B coach and then every time I hit a HR I have to see him slap hands with the hitter and remember that my coach is wearing a retired number, or the same jersey number as one of my star players. And I can't do anything about it. I know it's small but it's just basic immersion stuff.

I’ve barely absorbed any RT content in a decade but the old podcasts and Let’s Plays had me in stitches at times and gave me some running jokes with my friends.

Yeah whenever they don't mention franchise at all it means the mode is basically a copy and paste job from the year prior. I'll grant that there's only so much more they could do to the mode in terms of new features and I'm sure there are spatial limitations (that they're still making PS4 might be a bit of a hold back in terms of adding, say, Class A). But there are definite under the hood adjustments that would make the mode better. I only just got 23 at Christmas so I wasn't rushing out to the buy this one, but I just have this looming sense that within the first day of release I'll see a post on OS about bullpen AI logic still being broken. I'm not willing to spend the time doing 30 team control reconfiguring rosters so they'll manage a bullpen realistically. So I've just had to create a headcanon in my world where some of the best set up guys in baseball are injury prone and that's why they only pitch 15 innings a year, and just accept that it's standard practice in this world for teams to carry multiple SP in the bullpen and have them eat nearly all the innings. It's dumb, but too much work for me to fix myself. Hell it's not just the bullpen. I'm in May in my franchise and I've seen teams carry 24-year old B rated prospects on their bench, accumulating a month of service time and playing in just 2 games instead of having them play every day in the minors. And nobody ever uses the DH spot logically either - for as long as I can remember Nelson Cruz has been playing RF in the Show and the game refuses to keep him at DH. And this is a legacy issue - definitely remember years where the Red Sox in my game didn't roster a backup 1B which meant David Ortiz played 1B every day. Why can't DH be its own position at this point? There's literally a DH Silver Slugger, so the game can and does track who is taking their ABs at DH.

I saw they put J&J Security in the game but not really - they're blurred out of the WM31 footage and it's basically just 2 NPCs that are reasonable facsimiles to J&J without being them. Kinda like how they handled Tyson in a previous game. Anyway I only say this because it's wild that somehow the only game Jamie Noble ever got to officially be in was Raw 2 in 2003. The SmackDown games had smaller rosters back then, maybe 50 or so active roster and then legend spots for the rest and Noble, even when he was Cruiserweight Champion, topped off at someone who was probably in the final round of cuts. The cruiserweight division in general was always underrepresented - Nunzio never got to be in one, Funaki was only ever in SD2, etc. Used to annoy me having to create the same guys every year. I was definitely that guy who as far back as HCTP was yelling to get rid of the legends to put in the undercard current roster.

For the first time ever, you can play as a woman in RTTS. Awesome addition.

I got the THPS remake on Christmas 2020. By about May 2021 I figure I'd topped out my ability and assumed I'd never platinum. About a year later I picked the game back up, played the hell out of it and, against all odds, actually beat all of the really hard "get-there" challenges to earn a trophy only 0.2% of players get, and then went through the grind of earning the platinum (only 0.1% do it) before putting it away. Couple weeks ago I had the urge to play again after almost 2 years, popped the game into my PS5 and spent the 10 bucks to download the graphically enhanced PS5 version. Thought to myself "well I already platinumed the game once, least I don't need to do those awful get-there challenges again" ...I did the challenges again they suuuuuuck but after knocking a few out the desire to see if I could do them all again took hold. So now I've earned the hardest of the trophies in the game. Still would need to grind through like 25 levels which takes a long time if i'm gonna get a 2nd platinum but no real reason I can't get there with the one brutal trophy over and done with. Love this game. Still bums me out the 3 and 4 remake got nixed due to Activision's dumbassery.

Arch Manning has decided to not be in the game because "he is focused on playing football on the field". There's gonna be players who opt out of course but it's hilarious to give a reason that implies signing a document and getting a check for $600 is some massive distraction to getting ready to play the real season. Most guys who opt out are doing so because they want to take a stand about it not being enough money for likeness rights or whatever. Knowing the Manning Family I can quite easily imagine them not wanting his image attached to like a 75 OVR backup QB that players can transfer to Coastal Carolina.

That is an awesome feature. I honestly struggled finding the motivation completing MyCareer a few years ago because I was getting so sick of tag matches. Was just ridiculous you had to hit someone with their finisher, then change focus to knock the opponent(s) off the apron, and hope they didn’t jump off the apron first. If they did jump off the apron there was no point in going for a pin, they would break it up.

This line from Richard Lewis is one of the best in the history of the show.

With only 5 modern era HOFers getting in per year it's hard to ever really know who will be a first ballot HOFer outside of QBs. But "best of all time at your position" usually pulls some heavy weight in the selection meeting, plus he'll likely be an even bigger media name by then which will also help. Very good chance he'll go straight in with the class of 2029.

Oh yeah I see it now. Pack doesn’t drop until November. Mr. Perfect and The Great Muta are in it. Muta’s awesome but the rest you’re paying for guys who have been in the game before - this isn’t even the first time DDP and Luger have been DLC in the last decade. Plus the tendency is that DLC guys are in the base game the next year, so paying to play as guys in November for 4 months when they probably end up in the next game.

DLC Packs confirmed Pack 1 (May 15): CM Punk, Terry Funk, The Sandman, and The Dudley Boyz Pack 2 (June 26): Post Malone, Honky Tonk Man, Sensational Sherri, and The Headbangers Pack 3 (July 24): Pat McAfee and “Playable Co-Hosts” Pack 4 (September 20): Dragon Lee, Kairi Sane, Carlito, Nia Jax, Jade Cargill, Lyra Valkyria, Michelle McCool - - - Love that you have to wait 6 months after release to get a bunch of current roster members because I guess people were itching to play as AJ Hawk, Boston Connor, and Ty Schmitt in a video game.