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2020 NFL Off-Season Thread


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51 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

Let this be a warning for the fans who say "Character issues be damned!" when it comes to draft time. 

I've always believed that character issues should be taken into consideration, period. Not just drafts. I was less than thrilled when Dallas acquired Greg Hardy and Randy Gregory.

 

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53 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

Let this be a warning for the fans who say "Character issues be damned!" when it comes to draft time. 

Gettleman's been having to eat a lot of crow.  Spoke a lot about the importance of getting high character guys on the team in wake of Kyle Lauletta being arrested as a rookie.  Then last year he drafts Baker who had known character concerns, drafts Dexter Lawrence who missed the college football playoffs after failing a drug test, and drafts Corey Ballentine went on to get shot the day after the draft.  Plus signing Golden Tate who got suspended before ever playing a game.

Yeah you can argue all of them except Baker.  Nobody knows what Ballentine was doing that caused him to get shot.  Lawrence and Tate's failed tests might've been genuine mistakes, and in Tate's case he supposedly failed because he was taking a fertility drug.  But that's still not good for optics.

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1 hour ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

Let this be a warning for the fans who say "Character issues be damned!" when it comes to draft time. 

I would've hoped that Aaron Hernandez would have been the catalyst for people thinking that, but I guess money still talks.

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Extrinsic rewards shouldn't be the reward for doing the right thing but hey fuck it the league's hiring practices are so racist they'd make a 1950s ad agency blush. 

Obviously the last people who should be trying to figure out why this is such a problem are the ones who created it but that's par for the course in the NFL.

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4 hours ago, B-li Manning said:

So now when Eric Bieniemy finally gets the opportunity he should've gotten a long time ago, the accomplishment will feel undermined.

They definitely need to do something, but what they're doing isn't the solution. Its going to make some think a coach only got the job because of their skin color, not because they deserved it. 

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Michael Grieco, the attorney for Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar, said he has "five sworn affidavits from witnesses" that say his client was not involved in an alleged armed robbery that took place in Miramar, Florida, on Wednesday.

The Miramar Police Department issued arrest warrants for both Dunbar and New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker on Thursday along with a 14-page affidavit detailing the alleged crimes that the two NFL players were accused of committing.

Grieco said he provided this information on the "star witnesses recanting within 48 hours" to the Miramar Police Department and advised the state attorney's office, but authorities insisted Dunbar still turn himself in on the warrant.

Police said Friday that the arrest warrants still stand, none of the victims or witnesses has recanted a story to them and neither player has turned himself in.

"We have taped, sworn statements from four victims and one witness. If they are changing their statements, we welcome them to come into our police department and give us a new statement," Miramar Police spokeswoman Tania Rues told ESPN's Brady Henderson.

Grieco said he is looking for another avenue so that his client isn't arrested on what he calls a "bogus case."

"I'm confident that he was there but confident he didn't commit a crime," Grieco said about Dunbar. "He got targeted because of who he was."

Grieco didn't want to speak on the culpability of Baker, whom he said is represented by another attorney and has a different set of circumstances. Grieco did note that the two players aren't tight, despite being South Florida natives who know each other, citing a five-year age difference.

Baker's arrest warrant is for four counts of armed robbery with a firearm and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. Dunbar is wanted on four counts of armed robbery with a firearm.

The alleged incident took place late Wednesday night at a party. According to the arrest warrant, Baker and Dunbar are accused of stealing money and watches with force while armed with semi-automatic firearms. It states that Baker intentionally threatened victims with a firearm.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, multiple witnesses said at one point during the incident Baker ordered another suspect wearing a red mask to shoot an individual who was just entering the party.

The affidavit includes conflicting accounts from witnesses as to whether Dunbar was armed, with some saying they didn't see a gun in his possession.

Grieco cites this as an example of unreliable witnesses and said he believes it is "ridiculous" that Dunbar is still expected to turn himself in.

"I assume this is because Miramar did their virtual touchdown dance on Twitter when they were talking about their arrest warrants. Now they're trying to cobble a case together," Grieco said. "I don't know how they're going to do it."

Rues refuted Grieco's notion that the department sensationalized the story with the way it announced the arrest warrants.

"Our police department did not do a press conference, we have not gone on camera even though I've gotten dozens and dozens of requests for interviews -- we denied every single interview -- we have not gone on radio, we have not given a single interview on radio, we put out a tweet in response to the bombardment of phone calls that we received for public records requests from the warrant and the affidavit," Rues said.

Rues said Grieco's actions were appalling and "just a distraction to what's really going on."

Rues said there is no standard amount of time during which an individual is expected to turn himself or herself in once a warrant for an arrest is issued. It's on a case-by-case basis.

The NFL said Thursday night it is aware of the matter and would have no further comment. The league will review the incident under its personal conduct policy and hand out discipline if warranted.

Baker, 22, was a first-round pick of the Giants in 2019. The Seahawks acquired the 27-year-old Dunbar in a March trade with the Washington Redskins. Both players are from Miami.

"We are aware of the situation. We have been in contact with DeAndre. We have no further comment at this time," the Giants said in a statement on Thursday.

The Seahawks said in a statement that the team was "aware of the situation involving Quinton Dunbar and still gathering information. We will defer all further comment to league investigators and local authorities."

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers still wants to finish his career with the Green Bay Packers, but he knows that became more difficult when his team traded up to No. 26 to select his possible replacement, Utah State quarterback Jordan Love, in last month's NFL draft.

Rodgers admitted Friday he was surprised and not "thrilled by the pick, necessarily," but he added, "I understand."

"I think it was more the surprise of the pick, based on my own feelings of wanting to play into my 40s, and really the realization that it does change the controllables a little bit," Rodgers said during a nearly 40-minute conference call. "Because as much as I feel confident in my abilities and what I can accomplish and what we can accomplish, there are some new factors that are out of my control. And so my sincere desire to start and finish with the same organization, just as it has with many other players over the years, may not be a reality at this point.

"And as much as I understand the organization's future outlook and wanting to make sure they're thinking about the team now and down the line -- and I respect that -- at the same time, I still believe in myself and have a strong desire to play into my 40s. And I'm just not sure how that all works together at this point."

Rodgers, 36, is under contract for four more seasons via the $134 million contract extension he signed in August 2018, and on Friday he reiterated his desire to finish out that contract and then perhaps play beyond it.

The Packers could begin to reap salary-cap savings on Rodgers' deal if they moved on after the 2020 season, but it would be small; they would save only $4.76 million on the cap and have $31.556 million in dead money. Rodgers has a cap number of $36.3 million in 2021 and $39.9 million in 2022. After the 2021 season, the Packers would save $22.648 million in salary-cap space by making a move, but would have to count $17.204 million in dead money.

Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for three years before Favre briefly retired following the 2007 season. By the time Favre expressed a desire to return for the 2008 season, the Packers told him they had moved on to Rodgers and traded Favre to the New York Jets. Favre then finished his career with two seasons for the rival Minnesota Vikings.

Favre said recently that he thought the Love pick meant Rodgers also would finish his career with another team.

"I think what it does is just reinforce kind of the adage that you can only control what you can control," Rodgers said. "It's always been a mantra for myself, but I think any great athlete there's things that are just out of our control. That obviously is something that's very important to me, but I think is definitely telling at this point that is truly something that's out of my control. What I can control is how I play and making that decision at some point a very hard one. You know, if I were to retire in the organization's timetable, then it's an easy decision. But if there comes a time where I feel like I can still play at a high level and my body feels great, you know, then there's other guys that have gone on and played elsewhere."

The Packers went 13-3 and reached the NFC Championship Game last season, despite Rodgers playing below his previous MVP standard. He posted his lowest career Total QBR (50.4) in the regular season and had 10 games with a Total QB under 50 (second most among starting quarterbacks, behind only the Bears' Mitchell Trubisky with 11). In a sign that his mobility and willingness to run have waned, he held the ball for an average of 2.88 seconds (the sixth highest in the NFL last season, according to Next Gen Stats data).

His leadership, however, was key to getting players to buy into new coach Matt LaFleur's system.

"I totally understand where he's coming from," LaFleur said Friday during a conference call shortly after Rodgers spoke. "I think he's very motivated, and he doesn't need external motivation. He's one of the most competitive people I've ever been around. And you guys, you can see that competitiveness every time we step out on that field. So I don't think it's going to drive him any more than if we would've drafted somebody else. I just think that's who he is, that's how he's wired, that's why he's achieved the things that he's done throughout his career."

Rodgers' relationship with Favre was icy at first, although the two later grew close. Favre famously said: "My contract doesn't say I have to get Aaron Rodgers ready to play. Now hopefully he watches me and gets something from that."

Rodgers, however, initiated the first conversation with Love the day after the Packers picked him, and said Love isn't at fault for the situation.

"I've had great relationships over the years with [backups], and I'd expect that same type of relationship with Jordan," Rodgers said. "You know, again, he didn't get asked to be drafted by the Packers.

"He's not to blame at all. He's just coming in excited about his opportunity. We had a great conversation the day after the draft, and I'm excited to work with him. He seems like a really good kid with a good head on his shoulders. Similar story, not heavily recruited out of college. Kind of made his way at Utah State and we've had some great conversations."

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On 15/05/2020 at 10:21, VerbalPuke said:

I told my brother this when he was pissed when we passed on Reuben Foster for Jarrad Davis. 

Guess it also depends on "character" issues as well. 

Reuben Foster is a bit of a different situation from a lot of these guys. He made a bad choice in terms of a partner and it's stuck to him and haunted him, but he's not the character issue a lot of guys are. There's the guns in California and the weed in Alabama stuff, but you flip those and it's no big deal, so I'm not going to kill him when dudes are out here beating their girls and kids. He just slept with crazy, it happens to the best of us.

On 15/05/2020 at 12:54, livid said:

Interesting ideas

 

On 15/05/2020 at 12:56, Lineker said:

I mean, how sad is it that they even need to be actively incentivized?

Ugh, I hate, hate, hate that as an incentive. I agree that something, unfortunately, needs to be done, but I'd really prefer the competition aspect of it be kept out of it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what could be done.

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13 hours ago, DMN said:

Ugh, I hate, hate, hate that as an incentive. I agree that something, unfortunately, needs to be done, but I'd really prefer the competition aspect of it be kept out of it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what could be done.

I feel like there should be a financial penalty. For every year you go without a minority in your coaching/managment staff, you have to pay X million dollars to revenue sharing.

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