NFL 2022

[SlowwHand]

Cleveland gets Amari Cooper. Cowboys free up money.

[-Jrabbit]

(bumps Lamb and Gallup up on the early draft list)

This will give us the definitive proof that it's Mayfield, not his receivers, that is the Browns' biggest problem.

[-Jrabbit]

Von Miller went to Buffalo. My guess is the Rams are fine with that, since they got a Super Bowl out of the rental (which cost them a 2nd and a 3rd round pick).
TE O.J. Howard also signed with the Bills.

It's Win Now in Buffalo.

[SlowwHand]

The current rage.

[SlowwHand]

Maybe Cleveland has it figured out, but I think pushing Mayfield out is a mistake.

[-Jrabbit]

No way would he stay after signing Watson. Kind of messes up his advertising career as well.

[-Jrabbit]

QB carousel continues: Atlanta trades Matt Ryan to Indy, then signs Marcus Mariota for 2 years.
Also, New Orleans re-ups with Jameis Winston in a 2-year deal.

ESPN on the Ryan trade...

ATLANTA -- After 14 seasons and becoming the best quarterback in franchise history, Matt Ryan is moving on from the Atlanta Falcons.

Atlanta traded Ryan on Monday to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a 2022 third-round draft pick, the team announced.

The Falcons then quickly added Ryan's likely successor, agreeing to a two-year contract with quarterback Marcus Mariota, who is familiar with coach Arthur Smith's offensive scheme from their time together with the Tennessee Titans. Mariota's deal is worth two-year, $18.75 million.

Smith and Mariota worked together in multiple capacities in the five years they were together with the Titans, including Mariota's six games as a starter during the 2019 season. That was Smith's first year as the Titans' offensive coordinator.

The Colts traded Carson Wentz to the Washington Commanders for third-round picks in 2022 and 2023. Matt Ryan will be the Colts' seventh different Week 1 starter in as many years and the fifth different starting quarterback in coach Frank Reich's tenure.

The third-round pick the Colts are sending the Falcons for Ryan is their original third-rounder, No. 82 overall, not one of the picks they got from Washington for Wentz.

The Colts have been looking for a long-term answer since Andrew Luck retired in August 2019. Ryan will be the second quarterback at the tail end of his career the Colts have acquired in the past three seasons. Veteran Philip Rivers retired at the end of the 2020 season after just one season in Indianapolis. Ryan is signed through the 2023 season.

The Colts' odds to win the Super Bowl improved slightly after the trade, with Caesars Sportsbook moving Indianapolis from 30-1 to 25-1.

Conversations about Ryan's departure picked up at the start of the new league year, when the Falcons became one of the teams inquiring about trading for quarterback Deshaun Watson. Higher-ups throughout Atlanta's organization met with Watson, who is from Gainesville, Georgia, and tried to lure him to the Falcons despite 22 open lawsuits filed by women accusing the quarterback of sexual assault and sexual misconduct.

As part of that pursuit, the Falcons and Ryan pushed back a $7.5 million roster bonus to Monday to both let the Watson courtship play out and allow Ryan to seek out trade partners. Watson waived his no-trade clause to go to the Cleveland Browns, but put the Falcons in a position where they had to publicly seek out a succession plan for Ryan.

The trade will leave a dead-money charge of $40.525 million on the Falcons' salary cap this season. It's the largest known dead-money charge for any player all time, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Atlanta now has more than $62 million in dead money for the 2022 season ($15.5 million from last year's Julio Jones trade, and the rest from releasing Dante Fowler Jr. earlier this year, and a couple of other moves).

Still waiting to see where others (Baker Mayfield, Jimmy Garoppolo) will land.

[SlowwHand]

I don't know about Chicago, but I call that passing into the wind

[-Jrabbit]

Nice! This reminds me of the Rivers signing, trying to leverage experience at QB. Didn't work last time for Indy, but it worked fine for the Rams. (Difference is, Stafford is better and still in his prime.)

Adding Allen Robinson to Cooper Kupp (replacing the injured Woods) is going to make LA even better next year. It'll be the first time Robinson gets to play on a strong offense with a professional QB.

Thinking about it, it would make sense for SF to hang onto Garoppolo (who I think is under contract 2 more years). Make the kid earn his stripes and have injury insurance at QB with a pretty good roster.

[SlowwHand]

Tyreek Hill to Miami for a haul.

[-Jrabbit]

That one was pretty surprising. It'll be interesting to see what KC does with its WR corps.

[Demonbinder]

Crap! The first big FA signing by Bears goes south due to player not passing a physical and then Buffalo matches their offer for Ryan Bates (which most of the articles I read said they wouldn't do).

[-Jrabbit]

Unlucky, but good job rejecting a player you wanted instead of signing him anyway (as some prior Bears regimes have done).
I do like the signing of center Lucas Patrick away from the Packers, and Byron Pringle is intriguing. I think Poles is off to a good start as GM.

[SlowwHand]

It's official. Browns screwed the pooch.
Watson suspended indefinitely.
Mayfield is laughing his ass off.

[-Jrabbit]

The entire Browns front office should be dismissed. Immediately.

[SlowwHand]

Are we having FFL this year?