2018 NFL Off-Season Thread

[The Buscher]

I’ve always enjoyed watching college football and watch a ton during the season, yet I’ve never been able to achieve the same level of emotional investment that I have with the NFL.  Probably doesn’t help that my “teams” are Army and UConn, and I went to a Division III school that was miserably bad for the entire time I was there.

[gunnar hendershow]

Not having a team helps me in college. I can find a program, a coach, or players to fall in love with and root for them and then 2-3 years later root against them because I found someone better.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, I love Notre Dame but there’s tons of programs I enjoy and coaches I like or hate. Like I will root for PJ Fleck in Minnesota, Bill Snyder in Kansas State, and Bob Davis in New Mexico, but I want Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, and USC to lose every game there ever was. So I root for their opponents every week (except when Ohio State plays Michigan and then I have to want the Buckeyes to win 🤢)

But I grew up with college football (and ND in particular) being a much bigger focal point in my family than the NFL. 

[GhostMachine]

I'm with you on all those teams losing, but....I'll take Michigan over Ohio State all day, every day. And I can't stand Notre Dame. My worst-case scenario is an Alabama-Notre Dame national championship game. (I'd be for the Irish, but would be holding my nose. My two favorite teams are the Tennessee Volunteers and whoever's playing against Alabama.)

[Maxx]

You’d think one of your college football lovers would start a thread to talk about it this year

[GhostMachine]

Someone might, when it's actually time for the season to start. Or there's some really significant college football news....

[Meacon Keaton]

6 hours ago, Maxx said:

You’d think one of your college football lovers would start a thread to talk about it this year

I just assumed Lineker did a few months ago and I couldn’t find it.  

[The Buscher]

Eric Decker is working out for the Patriots.  Definitely has everything the Pats look for in a wide receiver.

[livid]

11 minutes ago, Busch Luck Fale said:

Eric Decker is working out for the Patriots.  Definitely has everything the Pats look for in a wide receiver.

Lack of melanin? 

[The Buscher]

Real scrappy, lunch pail kind of guys.

[VerbalPuke]

I like college football and I guess I’d say I’m a Michigan fan. But I’m not a die-hard, and honestly I kind of hate Michigan and Michigan State fans. They’re both twats.

Loyalty is to the Lions. Which isn’t easy...

[munky]

Jack Mewhort retired after 4 seasons.

 

[Pooker]

On 30/07/2018 at 10:30, thatshortguy said:

He may be onto something, though.  Nobody seems to quite understand how that rule is going to be called.

The NFL released a "fact sheet" on the new helmet rules. Boils down to that a player cannot lower ther helmet to make contact. Doesnt matter where it is on the other player, just matters if your helmet is lowered or not. 

[The Buscher]

3 hours ago, munky said:

Jack Mewhort retired after 4 seasons.

 

[The Buscher]

DeAngelo Hall Retires, Says He'd Be in HOF If He Played Against Jay Cutler More

[Pooker]

Wouldn't we all?

[Lineker]

I don't care if it's just the Hall of Fame game - FOOTBAW is back!

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm just watching to see some Lamar Jackson.

[Lineker]

Quote

The erasure of Colin Kaepernick from the National Football League took an unusual turn on Thursday when it was revealed the quarterback’s name has been censored from a song on the soundtrack of EA Sports’ forthcoming Madden NFL 19 video game.

The song, Big Bank, the second single off Compton rapper YG’s latest album featuring 2 Chainz, Big Sean and Nicki Minaj, is one of 30 tracks that appears on this year’s soundtrack for the best-selling gridiron simulation, which hits shelves on 10 August.

The third verse on the uncensored version of the song includes a broadly innocuous lyrical reference to Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback whose protest of racial injustice and police brutality have left him jobless since his contract expired after the 2016 season: “You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick” raps Big Sean.

But a video shared Thursday on Twitter and given wider exposure after it was retweeted by Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab, showed the “clean” version of the track as it sounds in the game: with Kaepernick’s name scrubbed from the recording in the same way as if it were profanity or a racial slur.

Pro Football Talk confirmed Kaepernick’s name was removed from the track on their advance copy of the game.

EA Sports did not immediately return a request for comment from the Guardian.

Big Sean addressed in a tweet later Thursday, describing the decision as “disappointing and appalling”. Shortly after Kaepernick shared the statement, thanking him for his support.

Kaepernick, who came off the bench as a mid-season injury replacement and helmed San Francisco to Super Bowl XLVII before the league caught up to his running-and-passing style, opted out of his contract with the 49ers in March 2016 but has remained unsigned. A number of NFL players, including former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, believe he is being blackballed by NFL teams for his political protest.

Sherman told ESPN last year that Kaepernick’s remaining unsigned has little to do with the quality of his play and everything to do with his national anthem protest of last year. “It has nothing to do with football. You can see that,” Sherman said.

Asked why Kaepernick had not yet been picked up by a new team, Sherman said: “It’s difficult to see because he’s played at such a high level, and you see guys, quarterbacks, who have never played at a high level being signed by teams. So it’s difficult to understand.”

Kaepernick completed 59.2% of his passes, averaged 6.8 yards per attempt and threw 16 touchdowns with four interceptions in 12 games for the 49ers in the 2016 campaign, his last in the league. But his refusal to stand for the anthem in the name of his principles became a far bigger story than his on-field performance.

The only recent hint of interest from an NFL team came in April when the 30-year-old was briefly linked with the Seahawks, but an ESPN report indicated the invitation for a try-out was rescinded when the quarterback would not say whether he planned to consider kneeling.

A 2013 feature on the Madden video-game franchise published by CNN reported that Electronic Arts, which has published a new installment to the popular series every year since 1990, pays the NFL and the players’ union a total of $50m to be the exclusive video game licensee, also noting the series has collectively generated upwards of $4bn in revenue with more than 100m copies sold.

Petty AF.

[Meacon Keaton]

33 minutes ago, Lineker said:

I don't care if it's just the Hall of Fame game - FOOTBAW is back!

sloppy as F footbaw