2021 NFL Off-Season Thread

[Lineker]

4 minutes ago, livid said:

Indy's the perfect spot for him between Reich and having a good OL. I'm not convinced he can't still be a decent starter in the league so that was about as good of a spot as he could end up at. Add a WR or two and they're in really good shape. 

They need to replace their left tackle, who's just retired. This trade will be a bust if they fail at to succeed at that.

[gunnar hendershow]

I hear there's a LT who could be made available for a 1st rd pick.

[livid]

3 minutes ago, Lineker said:

They need to replace their left tackle, who's just retired. This trade will be a bust if they fail at to succeed at that.

They do but the rest of the OL is still very good. Drafting one or trading for Zeus Jr shores it up immediately. 

[Lineker]

 

[Krabby]

I dont necessarily blame the Colts for going after Wentz rather than Watson. I'm sure the asking price from the Texans includes the divisional rival tax which may have been prohibitive. 

[Lineker]

 

[Maxx]

37 minutes ago, JMarushin said:

I dont necessarily blame the Colts for going after Wentz rather than Watson. I'm sure the asking price from the Texans includes the divisional rival tax which may have been prohibitive. 

There's no tax, it just wouldn't happen.  They're well on their way to killing their fanbase already, but trading Watson to a division rival would murder it outright.  If they did that, they might as well just leave Houston entirely again.

[Lineker]

The only way he could stay in the division would be if the Jags traded for him and that enabled them to replace him by drafting Lawrence.

 

A non-starter, though.

 

 

[Lineker]

That's mad.

 

 

[Lineker]

 

[Lineker]

Quote

The NFL has informed teams that the 2021 salary cap will be no lower than $180 million, a slight increase from last year's previous agreement between the league and the NFL Players Association.

The league told teams in a memo Thursday morning that $180 million is not the final 2021 cap figure, just an adjustment of the cap "floor" established last summer in negotiations between the NFL and the NFLPA.

The final 2021 cap figure, the memo says, "will be set following review of the final 2020 revenue figure and other audit and accounting adjustments." The new league year and free agency are scheduled to begin March 17.

Sources familiar with the negotiations told ESPN that the final number is likely to be between $180 million and $185 million, though almost certainly on the lower end of that range.

"As you know, one aspect of the agreements negotiated last summer with the NFLPA to address operations during the pandemic provides that the 2021 Salary Cap will be no less than $175 million," the memo said. "Following discussions with the union that addressed both actual 2020 revenues and projected attendance for the 2021 season, we have agreed to increase the minimum Salary Cap for the 2021 League Year to $180 million. We will promptly advise all clubs as soon as the Salary Cap is set."

Last summer, while negotiating the terms under which the league would proceed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL and the NFLPA agreed to that original salary cap floor of $175 million per team for 2021. This was to guard against revenue losses sending the cap even lower.

One source said Thursday that the revenue numbers on which the cap is annually based would have led to a salary cap of roughly $160 million per team, which would have been a disastrously large drop from the $198.2 million cap under which teams operated in 2020.

With the floor now set at $180 million, the cap will be roughly $20 million higher than it would have been otherwise. That $20 million or so will have to be "borrowed" against future caps, and the manner in which that will happen is a subject of ongoing negotiations between the league and its players union.

To use a rough example: If revenue projections deliver a $220 million salary cap in 2022 and a $230 million cap in 2023, the sides could agree to reduce those numbers by $10 million each of those two years to make up for this year's $20 million discrepancy.

The final 2021 cap figure could take some time to finalize, as the NFL continues to negotiate new contracts with its TV network partners. New TV contracts would obviously affect revenue projections and could lead to an expansion of the NFL regular season to 17 games as early as this year.

But one source close to the talks said the best-case outcome of those negotiations still likely wouldn't raise this year's cap beyond about $185 million.

Teams are allowed to roll over cap room from previous years, so any extra room teams had under 2020's $198.2 million salary cap can be applied to 2021's cap.

Total attendance this past season was 1.2 million, down from 17 million in 2019. Thirteen teams didn't allow fans in the regular season; other clubs limited crowd size to provide social distancing in compliance with health and safety regulations in their state.

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Here come the ESPN terrible takes:

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=30929828

This guy talking must not be aware that Peyton Manning, generational talent/franchise QB/Hall of Famer did not beat Florida once in the four years he spent at Tennessee. I told ya they'd play up Zach Wilson to the moon and poo-poo on the surest thing this draft has. 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

They need content and Zach Wilson provides that because he's an unknown to a lot of people. Lawrence and even Fields are known quantities to a lot of fans.

[Maxx]

I don’t think Wilson is going to be good.  I’d still take him over Trey Lance, who seems like a long term development project that you’d want to grab in the 4th round but has somehow become a potential top 10 pick.

[GhostMachine]

19 hours ago, Meacon Keaton said:

Here come the ESPN terrible takes:

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=30929828

This guy talking must not be aware that Peyton Manning, generational talent/franchise QB/Hall of Famer did not beat Florida once in the four years he spent at Tennessee. I told ya they'd play up Zach Wilson to the moon and poo-poo on the surest thing this draft has. 

 

Peyton Manning not beating Florida is the reason Charles Woodson won the Heisman over him. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Charles Woodson should have won anyway. He was absolutely incredible. Way too much Heisman bias for QBs and RBs when there's plenty of defensive players who should have won instead over the award's history.

Like that was the first season I went from watching college football to following college football and I remember thinking how amazing everything Woodson was doing was.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, Woodson earned his. And Suh, like him or not, should’ve won it from the defensive tackle position. But that was in the middle of the “quarterbacks and running backs only” run.

[gunnar hendershow]

I was on the Honey Badger bandwagon in 2011, but I also can't say RG3 didn't deserve it after the season he had that year. Really similar to Chase Young in 2019 where the guy was amazing but you also were dealing with one of the best seasons ever by a college QB.

Ingram over Suh was really the most egregious of recent memory.

And while it's not a QB over defensive player... Jason White beating out Fitzgerald. Yikes.

[VerbalPuke]

23 minutes ago, damshow said:

Charles Woodson should have won anyway. He was absolutely incredible. Way too much Heisman bias for QBs and RBs when there's plenty of defensive players who should have won instead over the award's history.

Like that was the first season I went from watching college football to following college football and I remember thinking how amazing everything Woodson was doing was.

He was fucking amazing, one of my absolute favorite football players.

[Szumi]

32 minutes ago, damshow said:

I was on the Honey Badger bandwagon in 2011, but I also can't say RG3 didn't deserve it after the season he had that year. Really similar to Chase Young in 2019 where the guy was amazing but you also were dealing with one of the best seasons ever by a college QB.

Ingram over Suh was really the most egregious of recent memory.

And while it's not a QB over defensive player... Jason White beating out Fitzgerald. Yikes.

I was honestly okay with Jason White winning the Heisman, and still am. What that guy could do after 2 major reconstructive surgeries - one on each knee - was great to see. It's not right, I know, for White to probably win based on sentiment, but I think that everyone knew he would never play in the NFL played the biggest role in why he won the Heisman. Fitzgerald was always going to go on to bigger and better things while sadly, this was always the best possible ending for White (well, if he won the National Title game too).