NFL Offseason Thread

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Randy Moss put his money where his mouth is to come to New England. The wideout accepted a one-year deal worth $3 million, with $2 million in earned incentives. He had been due to make $9.75 million this year and $11.25 million next year, but tore up that deal.

So, to sum: The Patriots essentially traded Branch (and his overpriced contract) for Randy Moss (at max $3m) and the 49ers 2008 1st round pick.*



* I know it was the Pats 1st that went to SF, not Seattle's, but Seattle's 1st is what allowed the Pats to ship their 1st, and the two were pretty close anyway.

[Lord Avalon]

Re: Detroit picking CJ. IMO the point isn't that the Lions drafted the best player, it's that they didn't trade the pick or him for a number of picks. They need a lot of help, more than a potential pro bowl WR will give them.

[-Jrabbit]

I firmly believe the Lions did the right thing. Yes, a trade would have been better, but I'm guessing no one was willing to provide full value for the pick.

[Guynemer]

Then get fleeced. Two starters is better than one, no matter how good he is.

They have needs at every position, but considering they have Williams and Furrey, WR was relatively low on the list.

[SlowwHand]

Cleveland had the best draft, and could have stopped after Round 1 and still had the best draft.

Johnson and Roy Williams starting for Detroit, with whatever as 3rd WR, will be eye-opening. I still wish Detroit had taken a QB. I know, Guy. Defense. Defense they can and could get. They did ok.
Works out well for Quinn. He wanted to stay home in Ohio.

[SlowwHand]

www.nfl.com poll

Which of these quarterbacks taken after the first round will have the longest career?
40%
Detroit's Drew Stanton


25%
Miami's John Beck


18%
Philadelphia's Kevin Kolb


17%
Buffalo's Trent Edwards

Total Votes: 49771

[OzzyKP]

I sure hope they are right.

[SlowwHand]

This is the leading words of the negatives on Stanton.
It could have been written about Favre.

Good competitor, but sometimes tries to carry the weight of the world too much … Generally consistent on all throws, but will force the ball under a fierce pass rush … Makes good decisions on his short and intermediate throws, but most of his interceptions come when he tries to throw the ball down field …

That's negative? Detroit did well, too.

[DanS]

Kevin Kolb might be a sleeper. He played against inferior opposition, but if you take a look at NFL rosters, they are mostly from teams who don't play superior opposition.

He passed for an awful lot of yards in his time.

[SlowwHand]

In all, 17 defensive players were taken, and 15 on offense. Fourteen underclassmen were selected and 11 SEC players went in the opening round.

Let's revisit the SEC discussion.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by DanS
He passed for an awful lot of yards in his time.

So did Ty Detmer .

[Lord Avalon]

So did Andre Ware, also a Houston QB, and he won a Heisman to boot.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Then get fleeced. Two starters is better than one, no matter how good he is.

They have needs at every position, but considering they have Williams and Furrey, WR was relatively low on the list.

Furrey is not exactly a future star. He's older and a converted safety... he had a good year, and my fantasy football team thanks him for the year, but he's not going to be great in the long run.

Two starters are better than one?

Cedric Benson and Rex Grossman, meet (name your player)

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Guynemer
FWIW, of the top 10 players in rec yds last year, only two were top 10 picks.

Also FWIW, there are (currently) a bit over 240 picks in the draft, plus or minus due to compensation picks. So Top Ten is 10/240 = 1/24 = about 4% of the picks.

So 20% of the top 10 players were top ten picks... that's five times the percentage it ought to be When you consider how many WRs were in the top 10 picks in the last 10 years - 100 total picks:
2006 - 0
2005 - 3 (Mike Williams, Braylon Edwards, Troy Williamson)
2004 - 3 (Larry Fitzgerald, Roy Williams, Reggie Williams)
2003 - 2 (Charles Rogers, Andre Johnson)
2002 - 0
2001 - 2 (David Terrell, Koren Robinson)
2000 - 3 (Peter Warrick, Plaxico Burress, Travis Taylor)
1999 - 2 (Torry Holt, David Boston)
1998 - 0
1997 - 1 (Ike Hilliard)
For a total of 16 total top ten picks in the last ten years as WRs. You're complaining that only two of these guys are in the top ten overall passing yards this year? I'd say those aren't bad odds, especially considering if you look at who's lived up to expectations of that list [I exclude 2005 as two of the three still may do so]:
Larry Fitzgerald: Above Expectations
Roy Williams: Above Expectations
Reggie Williams: Slightly Below Expectations
Charles Rogers: Below Expectations
Andre Johnson: Meets Expectations
David Terrell: mandatory Chicago bust
Koren Robinson: Slightly Below Expectation
Peter Warrick: below expectations
Plaxico Burress: Above Expectations (for his all around game)
Travis Taylor: Below Expectations
Torry Holt: Well Above Expectations
David Boston: Below Expectations due to Injury and character

-- Four of the thirteen are above expectations and are standout players at their position, two are complete busts, three more are basically busts, and four are basically doing okay but not outstanding. Not half bad (essentially 1/3 of WR top ten picks turn out substantially positive) compared to QBs ... I'd say RBs are a better bet, unless you're Chicago.

[Jaguar]

Andre Johnson is playing with a huge handicap; he's been stuck with Carr and the crappy Houston offensive line for years, he's the only viable target on his team, he got injured in his third year, and he's still got 4000 yards in his first 4 years. He's a Burress-level player.