2017 General NFL Transactions and News

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Stitch01

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Yeah I dont think a 31 year old running back who sat out a season moving to a team outside the AFC East is particularly concerning.

Oakland is good, but their record last year was a bit fluky. If Denver ends up with Romo Id pick the Raiders third in the west as of now.
 

TheoShmeo

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It's also cowardly of fans to be hush on the likes of domestic violence, drugs/steroids, etc. GM's and owners try to put a winning product and players on the field that the fans will support. Fans supported pacman jones and even guys like big ben. There is no difference between the majority of fans and majority of owners. They won't boycott successful players. Ray Rice is the only one i've seen blackballed and he wasn't that great.
Rice was downright bad. He averaged 3.1 yards per carry in his last season, 2013. It's convenient for him to think he lost his job because he clocked his wife but his on field suckery undoubtedly played a massive role. Few things are binary and the off field stuff likely played some role, too. GMs probably said: "Why take a chance on a guy who had a terrible year and might lead to a distraction/protests because of his personal stuff?" But Rice and Kaep would have had a lot easier time finding work if they weren't bad on the field.
 

Al Zarilla

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LA Tlmes' Sam Farmer thinks the Marshawn Lynch deal will get done in Oakland.
{He wants it, lives there, Reggie is friends with Schneider, etc.} Not good for Pats.
Talk about a perfect Raiders fit...went to Cal, now lives in Oakland. Kind of far out there. Perfect. I saw him play a couple of games at Memorial Stadium when he was at Cal. In one of them, there was a teammate wearing the same number as him (#10). I was like WTF, what division school is this? Kind of crazy right there. Sign him up.
 

Gunfighter 09

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Plus Oakland has been a net loser in free agency losing Malcolm Smith

I wouldn't call Malcolm Smith playing for the 49ers "losing" for the Raiders. He was horrific last year, essentially serving as a human "throw it here" sign in coverage.

The Murray and Andre Holmes losses are concerning, but Corradelle Patterson should replace much of Holmes receiving and special teams production, and we have already seen that there are many running back replacement options available.
 

tims4wins

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I wouldn't call Malcolm Smith playing for the 49ers "losing" for the Raiders. He was horrific last year, essentially serving as a human "throw it here" sign in coverage.

The Murray and Andre Holmes losses are concerning, but Corradelle Patterson should replace much of Holmes receiving and special teams production, and we have already seen that there are many running back replacement options available.
Fair enough. This is probably more applicable to the Raiders thread, but you feel they have had a fairly neutral offseason to this point, assuming a Lynch signing?

Edit: you beat me to it
 

lambeau

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Jalen Richard and deAndre Washington are scary fast--but only 5'8" --and Lynch could be Lynch in a rotation with them--add Cordarrelle Patterson and Jared Cook to Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree and that O-line and that's a balanced offense.
 

j-man

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Eh do you think he really makes them that much better than Murray did? Plus Oakland has been a net loser in free agency losing Malcolm Smith
oakland been a big winner in FA getting patterion J Jenkins Cook Lynch 70% change plus carr back if NE Stumles somehow it couild be a OAK/SEA sb
 

H78

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Yeah I dont think a 31 year old running back who sat out a season moving to a team outside the AFC East is particularly concerning.

Oakland is good, but their record last year was a bit fluky. If Denver ends up with Romo Id pick the Raiders third in the west as of now.
Is this something you'd be willing to place a bet on? Proceeds to charity? Because the Raiders are going to win that division next year.

Barring major injuries or a sudden Brady regression, New England and Oakland are your #1 and #2 seeds - in either order - regardless of where a sure-to-be-disappointing Tony Romo ends up.
 

Stitch01

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Done betting on this website so no, but I dont see how the Raiders are head and shoulders above the rest of the good AFC teams.
 

bakahump

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Yea the West is the Anti-East. :)
Everyone in the West is fair (SD) to really good (Raiders). While the Jets Jet, The Bills Bill, and the Dolphins take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back one year then 2 forward and 3 back the next.

Pretty easy to see anyone of KC, Den or Oak/LV winning the division based on an injury here or a weird bounce there. With them all being good they also beat each other up Wildcard wise.
 

Sox and Rocks

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I agree that Oakland, Denver, and KC all have strong teams and each can win the division. Oakland's big edge is at the QB position, which is obviously the most important position in today's NFL and the fact that Carr is already a top 5-10 QB and still, seemingly, getting better is something Denver and KC don't have. Also, Oakland's core, in general, is quite young. Thus, there is still room for growth based on the current roster alone, more so than KC and Denver.
 

Sox and Rocks

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Oakland really needs some linebackers though. Right now the middle starters in their modified 3-4 are Ben Heeney and Cory James? That's terrible. I guess Nairon Ball and Jelani Jenkins could be starters, but I wouldn't want to count on that.

I don't know why they didn't sign Minter. He seems an ideal fit for their defense and clear upgrade.
 

dbn

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2016 out-of-division records of AFCE and AFCW teams, you guess which is which:

9-1
6-4
6-4
3-7

9-1
7-3
6-4
4-6

Just because the Patriots dominate the AFCE (and the AFC, and the NFL) doesn't mean the rest of the AFCE is/has been weak.
 
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InstaFace

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How do those look over the 5-year span since Manning got to denver, or the 4-year span since Reid got to KC? I definitely remember some punching-bag years out of division.
 

dbn

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How do those look over the 5-year span since Manning got to denver, or the 4-year span since Reid got to KC? I definitely remember some punching-bag years out of division.
Code:
 Out-of-division records
Team   2016   2015   2014   2013   2012       Total
NE     9-1    8-2    8-2    8-2    6-4        39-11
MIA    6-4    5-5    5-5    6-4    5-5        27-23
BUF    6-4    4-6    5-5    3-7    4-6        22-28
NYJ    3-7    7-3    3-7    5-5    4-6        22-28
Total                                         110-90

DEN    7-3    8-2    6-4    8-2    7-3        36-14
KC     6-4    6-4    6-4    9-1    2-8        29-21
SD     4-6    4-6    7-3    5-5    3-7        23-27
OAK    9-1    4-6    2-8    3-7    2-8        20-30
Total                                         108-92
 

Sox and Rocks

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While interesting, much of this information is dated when analyzing the current state of the teams/conferences. In particular, the Raiders were horrible until the last year or two when Carr and Mack became dominant players.
 

dbn

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Sure, S&R, which is why I put up the data without comment. That said, even looking at just 2016 the divisions seem quite similar.

The only point I want to make is that the AFCE isn't as bad as many people tend to think. MIA+BUF+NYJ seem like a bad franchise combo mainly because they've played in the same division as the NEP for the past 16 years.
 

tims4wins

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If you remove NE, the AFC East is 71-79.

If you remove Denver, the AFC West is 72-78.

If you remove the best out of division record each year for the AFCW, the division is 68-82.

So from that perspective the AFC East has also been better.

Overall pretty damn comparable.
 

InstaFace

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Code:
 Out-of-division records
Team   2016   2015   2014   2013   2012       Total
NE     9-1    8-2    8-2    8-2    6-4        39-11
MIA    6-4    5-5    5-5    6-4    5-5        27-23
BUF    6-4    4-6    5-5    3-7    4-6        22-28
NYJ    3-7    7-3    3-7    5-5    4-6        22-28
Total                                         110-90

DEN    7-3    8-2    6-4    8-2    7-3        36-14
KC     6-4    6-4    6-4    9-1    2-8        29-21
SD     4-6    4-6    7-3    5-5    3-7        23-27
OAK    9-1    4-6    2-8    3-7    2-8        20-30
Total                                         108-92
Thanks DBN. Very interesting. Clearly your point stands.
 

Van Everyman

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Whoah, perhaps I'm just being naive but Schefter seems to be doing way more than reporting the news. In that article, he's got players calling him directly to gauge the market for their services and price. And, he's doling out advice:

11:09 a.m.
In the middle of Schefter’s flurry of calls, Alshon Jeffery (49 Markman points) rings him, wanting to know how much money the other free-agent receivers are making. Players sometimes contact Schefter with questions like this because he likely has that information even if he hasn’t reported it, as is the case here. Indeed, as they talk Schefter receives a text saying that Torrey Smith will be signing with the Eagles.
Schefter goes through the contract numbers on Smith, Jackson and Pierre Garçon, slowly, so Jeffery can apparently write them down. “It’s all about the guarantee, Alshon,” Schefter says. “It’s all about the guarantee … Your average per year could be $100 million. It doesn’t matter. If they’re going to guarantee you the majority of the contract, that’s what you want.”
Schefter asks where Jeffery is going. Jeffery doesn’t have an answer yet. Schefter asks that Jeffery notify him when he does make a decision and leaves the conversation at that.
He goes on to say that he hopes by giving players advice they will reciprocate with scoops but man, that seems kind of dodgy at first glance.
 

Van Everyman

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yeah, he'll never get certified as an NFL agent now!
So you don't think it's odd for a reporter to be inserting himself into trade negotiations? As in, "Hey, here's what everybody else is making"—shares combination of public and non-public information—"you should ask for X."

I mean, listen, reporters are used all the time in the free agency process. That's not news. But to my knowledge, most of them don't have a bevy of information that no one else has. Maybe some information but not all. Even in the highly quid pro quo world of sports reporting, what Schefter is doing seems to be highly unusual.

Edit: My bad, PP -- I meant FA negotiation, not trade negotiation. Not sure it really changes my underlying point, however.
 
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E5 Yaz

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So you don't think it's odd for a reporter to be inserting himself into trade negotiations? As in, "Hey, here's what everybody else is making"—shares combination of public and non-public information—"you should ask for X."

I mean, listen, reporters are used all the time in the free agency process. That's not news. But to my knowledge, most of them don't have a bevy of information that no one else has. Maybe some information but not all. Even in the highly quid pro quo world of sports reporting, what Schefter is doing seems to be highly unusual.
Maybe it seems unusual because we rarely get this glimpse behind the scenes.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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So you don't think it's odd for a reporter to be inserting himself into trade negotiations? As in, "Hey, here's what everybody else is making"—shares combination of public and non-public information—"you should ask for X."

I mean, listen, reporters are used all the time in the free agency process. That's not news. But to my knowledge, most of them don't have a bevy of information that no one else has. Maybe some information but not all. Even in the highly quid pro quo world of sports reporting, what Schefter is doing seems to be highly unusual.
Well, it's not a trade negotiation, to begin with. It's the FA market and Jeffrey is basically just taking the quick route over following all the tweets and rumors and other shit that gets spewed out by the minute. What's the difference between him or his agent talking to 'sources' or following the market and just going to the most trusted source? It's basically just a clearing house.
 

InstaFace

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yeah, plus my point was that whether it's unusual or not (certainly, Schefter's centrality to the NFL information marketplace is unusual in itself), calling it "dodgy" is weird. I mean, what's the concern here? That Schefter will give a player poor negotiation advice?
 

bakahump

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I think its funny that he evidently had to, or at least felt the need to, tell Jeffrey that its all about the guaranteed money. Thats a pretty basic concept in the NFL. Hell any agent worth his salt should have sat his guy down and explained that there will be 2 numbers the reported number and the guaranteed (and or LTBE) number. That conversation makes it at least sound like Jeffrey was kinda surprised by that concept.

Inferring alot from 5 words but I I wouldn't want Alshons agent. Hell maybe we now know why the dude only signed for a year.
 

Zososoxfan

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I think its funny that he evidently had to, or at least felt the need to, tell Jeffrey that its all about the guaranteed money. Thats a pretty basic concept in the NFL. Hell any agent worth his salt should have sat his guy down and explained that there will be 2 numbers the reported number and the guaranteed (and or LTBE) number. That conversation makes it at least sound like Jeffrey was kinda surprised by that concept.

Inferring alot from 5 words but I I wouldn't want Alshons agent. Hell maybe we now know why the dude only signed for a year.
Is there an explanation for why contracts aren't announced by guaranteed money rather than max possible earnings? IIRC, agents wanted to use these numbers to inflate the value for the headlines (honestly don't even remember if this was specific to football), but after that shtick was outed, why didn't the industry go by guaranteed numbers like the other major American sports?
 

Van Everyman

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yeah, plus my point was that whether it's unusual or not (certainly, Schefter's centrality to the NFL information marketplace is unusual in itself), calling it "dodgy" is weird. I mean, what's the concern here? That Schefter will give a player poor negotiation advice?
I can think of several ways that something like this could be misused -- where owners or the league use Schefter to somehow drive down salaries or drive collusion-like behavior around certain players. Like, think about what's going on with Kaepernick right now -- is it possible he league could be using Schefter further the sense that any team that signs him would be tarnished by the White House?

Don't get me wrong: I really like Schefter and think he's generally one of the more stand-up guys in his profession. I just think giving advice to players based on what is almost proprietary information seems to venture well beyond accepted reporting norms and ethics.
 

pappymojo

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Arthur Jones was released by the Colts. I know he has an injury history, but at the right price, I would be happy to see him in a Patriots uniform.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Arthur Jones was released by the Colts. I know he has an injury history, but at the right price, I would be happy to see him in a Patriots uniform.
Arthur Jones may have age, injury, and substance problems. Usually I root for these types of signings but there may be one too many red flag, pappy.
 

dcmissle

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He also has missed 10 games a year the last three years and served a PED suspension. What's not to like?
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Bengals release Rey Maulauga. Career low in tackles last year (27) but relatively healthy with 14 games played.

Had 75 combined tackles as recently as 2015. Not sure if there is room with HT and Elandon Roberts but could be another decent depth veteran signing, no?
 

dcmissle

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ADP reportedly wants $8 million in 2017. Lots of luck with that.
Bleacher Report piece summarizing interviews with a half dozen NFL execs. Consensus is that burst is gone, and he's basically a fullback. Anonymous talk is cheap, but the point has been made elsewhere, including here.
 

Rudy's Curve

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Bengals release Rey Maulauga. Career low in tackles last year (27) but relatively healthy with 14 games played.

Had 75 combined tackles as recently as 2015. Not sure if there is room with HT and Elandon Roberts but could be another decent depth veteran signing, no?
He's still a decent thumper and might be a better fit in a 3-4 if the Pats run some of that. However, he really can't play in nickel which is where a majority of the game is.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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He's still a decent thumper and might be a better fit in a 3-4 if the Pats run some of that. However, he really can't play in nickel which is where a majority of the game is.
Was hoping you'd chime in, Rudy. Thanks.

Since BB had signed Spikes as recently as June of 2015, I guess a slow run-stuffing thumper could still have a place on this roster.
 

Super Nomario

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Was hoping you'd chime in, Rudy. Thanks.

Since BB had signed Spikes as recently as June of 2015, I guess a slow run-stuffing thumper could still have a place on this roster.
Doesn't Roberts fill this role already?

I'd think a reserve LB has to give some special teams value. Maualuga played like 12% of Cincinnati's ST snaps last year; I'd think they'd want more, which probably means a younger player.
 
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