NFL 2014

[sickrubik]

Not surprising, but still sucks... Broncos releasing Bailey.

[WayAbvPar]

From the Broncos to the AARP. He has been done for 2 seasons at least.

[Merusk]

Why do you want to hurt me like that? I mean really... what kinda monster are you?

Could be worse.  Could be a photo of Art Modell's mug.

[Chimpy]

Why do you want to hurt me like that? I mean really... what kinda monster are you?

Could be worse.  Could be a photo of Art Modell's mug.

You mean that isn't? 

[K9]

Looks like Chicago are going to release Hester; this isn't a surprising move, but it's a bit of a sad one. He's only one return TD away from the record, and it would have been nice to see him set it as a Bear. But really he's far too expensive for a return specialist, and he's not viable in other positions.

[Draegan]

Oh cowboys. Released Demarcus Ware.

[Paelos]

We're run by a wildcatting madman. I don't know what to do other than just expect 8-8 at best.

[Ingmar]

31, starting to get injured more often, due to make a ton of money. It's not the most surprising cut I've ever seen, but I think I'd probably have given him another year to see if the injuries were a fluke.

[HaemishM]

He was counting a good bit against the salary cap and the Cowboys are already bumping up against it. Still, he was offering to take less money.

And yeah, 8-8... that's probably accurate.

I will say it seems like the salary cap is really biting team's in the ass all across the league but more than that, it's biting veterans. If you're a guy that is even close to 30 and cost your team a lot against the cap... you are fucking gone come March. You got 1 player on every team (the QB) who, if he isn't a rookie in his original rookie contract, is likely taking up almost 1/5 of your salary cap space every year. Almost every team is just dumping vets, signing 2-3 big contract guys and relying on the draft to fill any holes. I think the players may have fucked themselves on the last CBA.

[01101010]

So the Browns get rid of Jackson and Ward and pick up Dansby and Whitner. Dansby I can see as a minor upgrade but he's 33. Whitner is probably even with Ward so I have no idea why they didn't keep Ward. Unless of course he was asking more than what he'll eventually get.

[Paelos]

At this point of the salary cap we can ask ourselves these questions:

Is your QB relatively cheap against the cap?
Is your QB top half of the league in passer rating?
Do you have a solid defense?

If the answer to any of those questions is no, I'm not sure how you can win a Super Bowl going forward.

[HaemishM]

I'm not sure most teams can make the playoffs with those conditions a no.

[ghost]

#1 seems fairly subjective. 

[Bunk]

Bears picked up Lamarr Houston from the Raiders. More combined tackles than anyone on the Bears D Line last year. In some cases, more than two of them had combined. I'm happy.

[Phildo]

Jonathan Martin got a new job after all, with the 49ers.  Interesting.

[Hoax]

Did he play under Harbaugh at Stanford or Shaw?

[Nebu]

Bears picked up Lamarr Houston from the Raiders. More combined tackles than anyone on the Bears D Line last year. In some cases, more than two of them had combined. I'm happy.

To be fair, part of the reason that he got so many tackles was because the Oakland D was on the field A LOT. 

[01101010]

Did he play under Harbaugh at Stanford or Shaw?

Harbaugh.

[Paelos]

Falcons are trying to make a bunch of line moves to shore up their gigantic trench problems.

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, Harbaugh.  I don't like Harbaugh (I mean who does!), but I bet he runs a tight ship, might be just the place for him.  Of course, Harbaugh may not be around for long.

[Paelos]

I believe the loser of the NFC championship game has missed the playoffs 7 times in the last 12 seasons.

[MrHat]

Ware to Broncos.

Really stacking the deck for the next 2 years.  Still going to get spanked in every Superbowl.

[Trippy]

I believe the loser of the NFC championship game has missed the playoffs 7 times in the last 12 seasons.

The Niners have gone to the NFC Championship 3 times in a row now under Harbaugh, losing twice. So they've already bucked the odds twice.

[K9]

How are the Broncos affording all these players? 

On paper their defense looks pretty scary, but I guess we'll see.

In other completely unsurprising news, the Browns cut Brandon Weeden, and the Bucs cut Revis. Revis will land somewhere quick, but he's going to have to take a fairly hefty paycut I'm guessing.

Also Josh McCown to the Bucs; I'm happy the guy got paid, and a little sad to see him leave Chicago. I'm not sure he'll see the same success without Marshall and Jeffrey, and with Lovie as his HC rather than Trestman. Hopefully he can have a solid couple of years and retire to take care of his family, like he said he always wanted to.

[WayAbvPar]

Golden Tate to the Lions, where Seattle WRs seem to go to die (or crash their cars when eating pizza).

[HaemishM]

McCown to the Bucs is HILARIOUS. The only reason McCown did so well with the Bears is Trestman's offense. Also, the Bears had weapons. The Bucs... do not. And the Bucs are in Lovie Smith's offense which is marginally better than... no, let's face it, it's pretty goddamn terrible. Trestman added like 10-15 points per game over Smith's offense with mostly the same skill players AND McCown instead of Cutler for almost half the season. That is a failboat waiting to happen.

[K9]

Sounds like Peanut will be following him

[Nevermore]

McCown to the Bucs is HILARIOUS. The only reason McCown did so well with the Bears is Trestman's offense. Also, the Bears had weapons. The Bucs... do not. And the Bucs are in Lovie Smith's offense which is marginally better than... no, let's face it, it's pretty goddamn terrible. Trestman added like 10-15 points per game over Smith's offense with mostly the same skill players AND McCown instead of Cutler for almost half the season. That is a failboat waiting to happen.

$5 million a year for just 2 years doesn't seem like a big investment for McCown if he doesn't work out.  Jeff Tedford will be running the offense in Tampa, not Lovie.  How good Tedford's offense is at the professional level remains to be seen, of course.  The Bucs do have more weapons than you think, though.  Vincent Jackson is an excellent receiver and by all accounts they have one of the better offensive lines in the league.  With Doug Martin, Mike James and Bobby Rainey they should have plenty of running game.  What Tampa really needs is an upgrade at #2 receiver and TE so there's more than just Vincent Jackson to throw to.  Mike Williams has some size but I've never been a fan of his.  He tends to disappear for long stretches too often.

[Ingmar]

Tedford's offense is fine as long as you aren't inside the 20. 

[Paelos]

I believe the loser of the NFC championship game has missed the playoffs 7 times in the last 12 seasons.

The Niners have gone to the NFC Championship 3 times in a row now under Harbaugh, losing twice. So they've already bucked the odds twice.

I think they've bucked them once. We'll see if they can buck them twice. I think it's hard to stay at that high of a level that long.

[Trippy]

Once they went to the Super Bowl. The other two times they lost.

[Ingmar]

Revis cut. Interesting to see where he'll end up.

[Paelos]

Once they went to the Super Bowl. The other two times they lost.

Right what I'm saying is that the loser of the NFC Champ game didn't make the playoffs next year 7 of 12 times. SF lost the first time, and they made the playoffs next year thus bucking the trend. SF won the second time and went to Super Bowl. SF lost this time which is the 3rd time. So if they make it back to the playoffs in 2014, they will have bucked the trend a second time.

[Trippy]

Right, sorry.

[Shannow]

Revis cut. Interesting to see where he'll end up.

<insert pic of Bill B slying grinning>