The Buscher

So many mock drafts having the Giants grab the top tackle on the board with their first pick. And like, I get it. The line is still really bad with Andrew Thomas the lone bright spot. Taking a tackle poses some risk because they'll immediately be kicked out to RT where they might have less experience...but I've expressed my concerns with Evan Neal looking like he's just too slow to play tackle. At the same time, I also can see why Schoen might be hesitant about giving up on the #7 pick within 2 years. This is a guy that was pretty unanimously considered a safe prospect, with Dallas who have been an OL factory for a decade reportedly having him the #1 guy on their entire board. Moreover he took John Michael Schmitz in the 2nd this year, considered one of the best centers in the class and a guy with a projected decent floor, and he's looked awful too. But it's not just Neal and Schmitz. It's basically every OL they've drafted other than Thomas for a decade now. And it's veterans too. Guys like Nate Solder who are still good have come to the Giants and immediately regressed to almost unfathomably bad levels. Mark Glowinski, same thing. Tyre Phillips was on the Giants last year and was mediocre at best, spends the first few months of this season on the Eagles practice squad and comes back considerably improved. To me it feels like it's going on for too long to be a case of just whiffing on talent evaluations over and over again across multiple regimes. There's a legitimate coaching and development problem at the OL position that has existed since Pat Flaherty (their OL coach during the SB runs) left. With all this in mind it feels like you're pretty much setting the draft pick on fire if you go OL. You have to figure out the real problem internally first. Unless they're gonna give Bill Callahan a blank check I'd rather just go for a more immediate upgrade at a skill position.

It takes a combination of a non-QB doing something historic AND the QBs all having underwhelming statlines AND a QB not clearly being the biggest reason for a top seeded team being as good as they are. The latter point makes it nearly impossible to not give the award to a QB on its own. Pretty much by definition the QB is always gonna be the most valuable player on the field at any given time. They really could just rename MVP to Best QB and OPOTY to Best Non-QB and it would more accurately reflect the way the viewers interpret those awards.

Always nice when an emotional hedge bet loses. Fuck Bama.

In my league I really had zero hesitation with starting White. He's been one of the best RBs in fantasy over the last month and a half. I had him and Evans on the same team, never imagined the Baker Mayfield-led Bucs would've gotten me into the title game in the first place. My bigger problem was that I had Mixon and Elliott as my RB2 choice (there's no flex in this league, sadly) and both felt like better plays over Conner. Mixon because he's gonna get a safe amount of work in a close game (which I wasn't sure would happen...silly me thinking the Chiefs could finally have an offensive blowout). Zeke because the Pats offense has little else but to just give him volume. I thought Eagles/Cards could've been a blowout with Kyler having to throw more. Ah well. The guy who really screwed me in multiple leagues was Diggs. Total disappearing act in the last month.

The Giants’ subreddit going nonstop posting Tommy Cutlet memes for 3 weeks only to now be sitting here 2 weeks later bitching and moaning that they’re pretty much locked into the #5 pick (when would’ve been close to a lock for #2 if they’d lost just ONE of Tommy’s 3 wins) is very typical. I joke about tanking but honestly I still don’t think there’s any really excuse to sit there and actively root for your team to lose unless there’s off field stuff (like if your team signed DeShaun Watson) or your coaching/GM etc is so bad that your team getting embarrassed is the only way to ensure a regime change (such was the case at the end of Judge/Gettleman era). The last thing the Giants need is another coaching controversy, and no matter how good Daboll was in 2022 if the team got blown out all season like they did in the first 2 months, there would be questions on how he could’ve let it all fall apart that fast. The team playing competitive football and winning some games is more important IMO. There are players in the top 5, top 10 etc that bust every year. There’s still a crapshoot element to it all. Don’t moan when professionals find ways to win football games.

I had a similar thing in the finals of my other league. Had I played James Conner I would’ve won but barely. But in this case it didn’t really bother me, because I was never seriously considering starting Conner in that matchup when I had 3 other choices that felt clearly better. If it was an actual toss-up I’d have been a bit more mad. The much bigger issue was everyone else scoring under projections. When your highest scoring player is your kicker it’s just one of those days.

Can’t really even begin to do proper mock drafts until the Bears make it clear what they’re going to do with the #1 pick. Panthers traded with them on March 10th and I’d guess a resolution would be sometime around there this time as well. Plenty of rumors out there that Caleb Williams doesn’t want to play in Chicago. Caleb doesn’t have to decide until January 15th but if he truly wants to ensure he avoids Chicago he can stay in college. If that happens the demand for Drake Maye will only increase. They could feasibly sell the pick again for another king’s ransom, possibly to the Giants or another top 10 team. They could decide to take Maye themselves and build around a QB on a fresh rookie deal, even though Fields has played well this last month. Or they could decide they’re committing to Fields by simply drafting him one of the best WR prospects ever in Marvin Harrison Jr.

I had a $50 preseason parlay I placed for the Niners, Chiefs, Eagles division winner parlay. Like a $230 payout and it honestly in preseason felt like free money. And until November I didn’t feel it was in any threat. This week, I could’ve cashed out early for like $140 but didn’t see the need because surely the Eagles wouldn’t lose to the Cardinals or Giants. Welp.

Conversely, Dalton is living the dream. There's a reason these veteran QBs hang around as long as they do. A handsome payday to hold a clipboard and not get injured is awesome. Milk it as long as you can.

Wander Franco's been dodging law enforcement seeking to bring him into court for questioning. Dude knows he's done for. Imagine being a Rays fan. Yes, they're great at building a winning club year over year. But as a fan it's still gotta be grating to know that most of your top players will be there 5 years tops before getting traded because they won't pay anyone. Tough to form an emotional attachment to a player when you run your team that way. Then they find a young star whose ceiling seems like it'll be a perennial top 10/borderline MVP candidate. They actually pay someone, locking said star up for his entire prime. At long last, you have someone you know will be there for the long haul. Just imagine how many Rays fans felt like they could finally go buy a player jersey since there was no concern his time with the team would be short lived. And now those jerseys may as well be set on fire because he's a disgusting piece of shit and his career's basically over at 22.

Immediate induction into the HOF. Even while active. They didn’t even do that for Brady but I didn’t see Brady leading Cleveland to the Super Bowl! In all seriousness though I would love if Browns vs Ravens happens in the playoffs. That would be some great cinema.

As I've said for a few years I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the HOF debate room when Eli is eligible, which he is next year. The modern era HOF QBs go in first ballot a lot more than they don't with Warner being the one somewhat recent exemption. 2 Super Bowl MVPs feels like the kind of thing that would make you a lock on its own especially with that old adage "if you can't tell the story of the NFL without him, he belongs in the HOF". Finishing his career top 10 in the accumulating stats + the iron man streak + the Manning legacy clout/bias + NY bias all play into his favor. But there are a lot of writers who won't overlook him only having a .500 career record as a starter, everyone knows the team around him was a dumpster fire but the idea of course is a HOF-level QB should elevate mediocre/bad teams. Objectively he was never a top 5 QB in the league even at his peak and solidly outside of the top 10 for a good chunk of his career. My best guess is that yes, he'll go in immediately. But if he doesn't he's not likely to go in until 2026 at the earliest. Brees is a surefire 2025 lock. Rivers is eligible in 2025 as well and if the committee were to take a 2nd QB it's a matter of deciding what matters more between Eli's rings or Rivers' better statline and better consistency with team results. If they turn Eli down the first time because of his .500 record they'd likely opt for Rivers in that case. If he's not in by 2026 he might just never go in as Roethlisberger and Brady will be in subsequent classes and at a certain point the bar might just be moved too high for him to go in under the current structure. Might be a Senior Committee guy like Stabler years down the line.

RE Gradishar, McMichael, Parker, and Powell...they're essentially all locks. The Senior/Contributor/Special Committee finalists almost never get turned away. They already had to go through a lengthy nominee process just to get to that point to be the final candidates for their group. The voters don't have to debate them like they do with the modern era guys - it's a simple yes or no majority vote and with all the due diligence already done to whittle down the finalists there's really no reason they'd ever say no. Only person from one of those committees I can remember getting rejected was Tagliabue who the writers wanted to send a message for his CTE negligence, but then they simply put him through a year or two later. The Modern Era guys can go in a million directions. Just guessing I'd say Jared Allen, Willie Anderson, Antonio Gates, Devin Hester, and Torry Holt but you really never know what direction the wind will be blowing with the voters.

I can’t help but think he might retire after this year. He’s always been a fiery guy on the sidelines but he seems angry/unhappy nearly every time they cut to him. Nagging injuries probably mounting, slowing him down a bit. Maybe the Swift relationship has him thinking more about life after football. Jason too probably. Nearly retired this year. Kelce brothers going out together would be fitting, both have HOF spots locked up and their podcast is popular enough to give them something to do in retirement.

It would be hilarious if Russ filed a grievance with the union. Honestly I wouldn’t blame him. The trade sucked and he was one of the worst QBs in football last year and in the first month this year. But that doesn’t mean he’s not getting screwed in this instance. Multiple things can be true. Probably goes without saying that the union frowns upon teams deliberately curbing playing time to avoid bonuses or incentives. Teams who do this have to cite other reasons. Undoubtedly the Broncos’ official communications will all be “we’re 1-3 in our last 4, may as well try to shake it up” while ignoring that Russ has quietly been playing well for over a month now and these losses are mostly due to the defense being ass. Oh and they’re still mathematically alive for the playoffs, even though the Pats loss made those chances far more slim. So the Broncos would have to sit in front of an arbiter and explain why Stidham is a better play than Russ while avoiding bringing up the aspect of money, which everyone and their brother knows is the real reason they’re doing this. Russ and Payton don’t seem to get along anyway so that would make it a more entertaining trainwreck. Come on Russ, file that grievance!

Las Vegas Raiders vs Indianapolis Colts (3) Atlanta Falcons vs Chicago Bears (5) Pittsburgh Steelers vs Seattle Seahawks (2) Los Angeles Chargers vs Denver Broncos (1) Green Bay Packers vs Minnesota Vikings (4)

Rodgers decided to harp on the vaccine again today and proposed that anyone voicing opinions on him should state their vaccination status first. Aka he doesn’t care about your opinion if you’re vaccinated. Well, I’m vaccinated and my opinion is that it’d be hilarious if he shreds his knee in training camp next July.

I would say tonight might seal up MVP for Lamar but it feels like the current favorite shits the bed every week. Notably, CMC has now moved to +170 and the 2nd favorite behind -105 Lamar. That’s the first actual betting indicator to suggest voters might get beaten into submission into voting for a non-QB.

You can’t convince me the NFL isn’t an easy sport to rig when the refs can willingly ignore blatant pass interference (or throw the flag on extremely borderline calls) Anyway, at least it was a close and watchable game instead of a blowout

Imagine being enough of a lowlife to jump someone during the alma mater.

Ultimately if David Stearns is the wunderkind executive he’s portrayed to be, he should be able to build a consistently competitive ball club without the histrionics, having to pay for aging mercenaries, or having to build a super team. Build a good team the old fashioned way and build up sustainability from within. Of course, I can’t bring myself to just blindly believe this will happen because A) it’s the Mets and B) the same exact thing was said about Chaim Bloom in Boston and that was a spectacular failure

There’s a contingent of Mets bloggers largely reaming Cohen for exactly this. Yes, he took the steps to fly out to Japan to meet him. Yes, he had Yamamoto over for dinner at his house. Yes, he offered Yamamoto the largest contract for a pitcher in the history of baseball. But his “failing” in this case is that he didn’t offer even more from the jump. Basically he needs to realize that nobody really wants to play for the Mets and that won’t change until they prove they can become a consistent winner and not constantly being a laughing stock 8 out of 10 years. So that means you have to spend a lot of money to talk guys into coming here. Like…a lot of money. In the eyes of these bloggers, Cohen blew it by not just laying down a $375-400 million offer from the jump. Billionaires don’t often make money by bidding against themselves, which he basically would’ve been putting out a number like that…but when you’re a shit team and leave your offer in a range a much better team will match, you’ll get burned. Definitely. This is shaping up to be the biggest “win the WS or it was a huge failure and everyone should point and laugh at them” season since the 2000s Yankees.

Mets offered him $325 million over 12 years. Yamamoto took it back to the Dodgers who matched and that was that. So yep. Cohen was used simply to get the bidding up to the team he wanted to go to. Not surprised but it still sucks. David Stearns’ MO is building a competitive team without ever having a sexy offseason and that’s pretty much what he’s gonna have to do here. Still sucks.

Well, he was wrong. Yamamoto is a Dodger and the boring super team continues. Welp, time to see if the Mets just sign a bunch of 1-year crap and punt the season. Will be nice to know I don’t have to waste time on them this season.

Ty Schmit (Pat McAfee’s producer) claiming he’s heard from a reliable source that Yamamoto is a Yankee for 9 years at $326 million. Nearly an identical contract to Cole. He’s a Yankee fan and I don’t think he’d blatantly troll about something like this. He’s gonna get a lot of shit on the McAfee Show if he’s wrong. So I’m willing to believe he does have a source he trusts. But that doesn’t mean the source is right. If 9/326 really is the deal that gets it done it virtually confirms to me he weighed prestige over money because Cohen absolutely offered him more than that.