2024 NFL Off-Season thread

[LL!]

3 hours ago, FestiveJack said:

Tweet's almost a week old and I think Philladelphia is number 1 now but what on earth are Dallas doing?

DON'T WORRY! WE ARE FINE.

[Lineker]

 

[The Buscher]

My issue with that mock is if the Giants don't get a QB in the first 2 rounds they really shouldn't draft one at all.  Nothing against Michael Pratt but it feels like a developmental project QB is a waste of a pick given the other needs on the roster.  You draft a guy you know you are playing next year or you don't bother.

The top 6 QBs (Caleb, Daniels, Maye, JJ, Penix, Nix) are all guys that I could buy taking with the express intent of playing this season.  Realistically the latter 3 are the only ones they have a chance at getting and I have different reservations on all of them.  But I could at least see the vision.  The rookie is either starting week 1 or sitting for a brief time while Lock plays.  But the other ripple effect is they drag out Jones' rehab with a plan on making him inactive all season and getting out of that contract.

Mid-round QBs rarely ever work out.  Again nothing against Pratt, Rattler, etc but if you draft one of them you're still banking on Daniel Jones playing week 1.  And when he inevitably gets hurt again you're not only throwing your QB project into the fire before they're ready, but you're also completely screwed for 2025 cap-wise since Jones has an injury protection clause that will trigger.  You can only avoid this by taking someone where you can justifiably bench Jones from the jump. 

I'll never root for the Giants to lose.  Winning is always way more fun in the moment than losing.  But the Tommy DeVito run, while a lot of fun, undoubtedly screwed this franchise.

[DMN in the House]

The Dallas Cowboys have already moved from ALL IN to ALL OUT.

[Lineker]

 

[Lint]

22 hours ago, FestiveJack said:

Tweet's almost a week old and I think Philladelphia is number 1 now but what on earth are Dallas doing?

@Maxx usually sums it up very well with this

 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

I guess Robert Kraft didn't manage to reach out to McAfee about how he couldn't trust BB.

[Chris2K]

I'm genuinely interested to see if Belichick will be as monotone and unforthcoming as he was a head coach now he's working for the media, the people he hated so much for all those years.

That said, as I'll be working on the Friday, I'll be recording the draft and fast-forwarding most of the panel discussion.

[Your Mom]

Pat is hosting the draft?? I guess I can watch it on mute  

[Adam]

54 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Pat is hosting the draft?? I guess I can watch it on mute  

Nah I think it's just that Belichick is joining McAfee's own show for his Draft coverage.

[The Buscher]

46 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Pat is hosting the draft?? I guess I can watch it on mute  

On YouTube and probably an alternate ESPN feed.  The regular guys (Kiper etc) will presumably be on the main ESPN feed.  And I'll be watching on NFL Network as I normally do.

2 hours ago, Chris2K said:

I'm genuinely interested to see if Belichick will be as monotone and unforthcoming as he was a head coach now he's working for the media, the people he hated so much for all those years.

That said, as I'll be working on the Friday, I'll be recording the draft and fast-forwarding most of the panel discussion.

Belichick's saltiness in press conferences is a combination of A) not liking having media obligations in general, he's the coach and wants to spend his time watching film, planning etc....B) never wanting to give the media any information his opponents could run with which is why he avoids answering most questions and C) the biggest one, the media often asks really dumb bullshit

I've posted it before but when someone asked him about why long snapper is its own position and they don't just have a regular player doing that job, his eyes lit up and he went on a 12-minute filibuster about the history of the position.  Anything to do with football history he loves discussing.  He was brilliant on the NFL 100 coverage a few years ago, knew everything there was to know about every player on that list.

I watched his appearance on McAfee yesterday and he was again really forthcoming and insightful because he has no team to protect, he's going over his scouting theories, his thoughts on the new special teams rules etc.  He's super affable when he's actually talking about football.  I know he probably will try to latch on to the Eagles or Cowboys next year to get the Shula record but part of me hopes he realizes it's just way more fun to be a media guy and stays there.

[Your Mom]

I forgot I don't even watch it on ESPN either Screw you Pat!  

[Lineker]

New Detroit uniforms have leaked:

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Those will look great contingent on how many varieties of pants colors they have and what they decide to pair with what.

[GhostMachine]

10 minutes ago, Lineker said:

New Detroit uniforms have leaked:

 

And the Browns are bringing back the classic white facemasks.

[The Buscher]

Some of the more reputable "insiders" on the Big Blue Interactive boards have weighed in.  Like anything else it's total speculation but those guys have been alarmingly accurate with Giants draft buzz back to 2017 or so, they get it right most every year not just with the Giants but with whatever teams they have ramifications for with trades and seemingly do have an actual front office connection somewhere.  So grain of salt of course but fun to share anyway as it's a bit against the grain from what most others are saying:

-Probably the biggest takeaway from their own digging is that Drake Maye is not anywhere near as high on the boards as the media thinks, at least among the teams most often projected to be drafting him.

-The Pats supposedly have both Nix and Penix rated higher than both Maye and McCarthy.  They feel Maye's too inconsistent and McCarthy's got too small a sample size.  To that end, they'd take Marvin Harrison Jr. if they stayed at 3 but ultimately they are likely to trade down as the offers to get a QB there will be ridiculous.

-The Vikings and Giants both have McCarthy over Maye and both have put out smokescreens on interest in Maye that they've sussed out.  They both want to get to #3 and the Giants' pick swap would be higher but the Pats want to load up specifically for this draft, not next.  So the Vikings' 2 first rounders is almost certainly gonna win out especially since they'd still be able to land one of their preferred QBs later in the 1st round.

- If their intel was wrong about the Pats and they stay put and take anyone but McCarthy, the Giants do feel confident they could trade up to #4 for the Cards for him.  The Cards don't want to fall out of the range of the top 3 WR and the likely cost to trade for the Giants would be the pick swap, their 3rd round pick, and next year's 2nd rounder.

-The Giants don't agree with the Drake Maye/Josh Allen comps.  Josh Allen was raw and didn't really have a QB coach.  Maye had the coaching and so they view his inconsistencies with a lot more red flags, as do the other teams apparently.  Neither the Vikings nor Giants are concerned about McCarthy's sample size because of the prevailing thought that Harbaugh handcuffed him.  He didn't need to do more than what the team around him required.

-All told the Giants believe the top 5 picks will be Williams to CHI, Daniels to WAS, McCarthy to MIN, Harrison to ARI, and Nabers to LAC.  If it plays out like this they will likely trade down especially if another team really wants Maye or Odunze.  They like Odunze and would take him if nobody was willing to go up to #6 but they feel they'd be better off stockpiling more picks and taking another WR from a deep class later.

---

My thoughts:  I've said all along I'll trust Schoen and Daboll until given a reason not to.  Personally I really would love Drake Maye and I think just drafting him would guarantee both guys get job security for a while.  But if they don't think he's going to live up to the hype, so be it.  But if it plays out like this and the offense is still a trainwreck and Maye looks serviceable, they should be gone.  They cannot afford to stay in this QB black hole any longer.

[GhostMachine]

I'd take Penix over Maye, but I'm not sure about McCarthy. 

[Szumi]

I fully expect Maye and McCarthy to go the way of Darnold or Rosen than a Josh Allen. McCarthy especially I think is ridiculously being overrated.

[The Buscher]

Penix is someone that in theory I’d love to take but I think in the specific case of the Giants it would be too risky.

First off his injury history is alarming, even though he’s been healthy the last couple of years.  Daniel Jones is already injury prone as hell so taking another QB with a robust injury list is going to raise concerns off the bat.

Second, they’re paying massive money to Andrew Thomas to be a franchise left tackle.  For Penix you either have to move him to the right side where he hasn’t played since freshman year of college, or you have to entrust Penix’s blind side to Evan Neal who has been trash.

[DragonCore]

I assume the Patriots will just take the best available QB at 3.  However, I simply cannot shake the idea of them trading down.  BB may be gone but my fears remain, lol.