With the way Curtis Samuel’s career has gone, I fully expect Ron Riviera to join the Bills’ coaching staff and continue to fail to use Samuel properly. He is a smaller version of Christian McCaffrey and has never been used properly
The funniest part of the Ravens is that Mala isn't even the person penciled in at LG, it's 7th round redshirt rookie Andrew Vorhees, who has yet to see the practice field.
Filling out the O-Line with Faalele, Cleveland and Vorhees is terrifying, but as Mike noted -- that's the game the Ravens play.
Had to read the Packer section at work here; I'll read the rest this evening. Josh Jacobs was a great grab for the Packers. He's a higher carry guy than Aaron Jones and may avoid the injuries that nagged Jones. Watching Jacobs' highlights, he's certainly more a Jones-type runner than another AJ Dillon. I'm excited to see Jacobs fit the LaFleur offense. The Packers will assuredly take an RB in the draft. I'm thinking a flier on Texas RB Jonathan Brooks in 4th or 5th round. The talent gab between Jacobs and backups Dillon/Wilson is too great to not draft another back.
You should've done some more research on the Bengals, man.
1. Tee Higgins isn't going anywhere. He's on the tag. He either plays or he doesn't get paid (and stays on the tag). Nobody wants to be Le'Veon Bell. So count him in, and re-do the analysis.
2. Think of Mike Gesicki as Tyler Boyd's replacement. Whether they run more 12 personnel or just line Gesicki up in the slot, they know he can't block and aren't counting on it. Drew Sample was resigned to do that.
3. Joe Mixon was a terrible fit for the Bengals' post-2021 run scheme. Zack Moss is a great fit, and Chase Brown needs more carries. Mixon, despite all the mileage, fits much better in Houston's scheme.
4. DJ Reader (if healthy) is a better player than Shedon Rankins. But they don't play the same position. If you wanted to ding the Bengals, you would have pointed out that while they've improved their interior pass rush (a big weakness) they went backward on one of their biggest defensive weaknesses (run defense).
5. "And a 9-8 team that wasn’t playing all that well when Burrow was available..." Joe Burrow was healthy for five full games (weeks 5-10). During that stretch, they went 4-1, beating SF, BUF, SEA, and AZ, by a combined score of 106- 68, and lost to HOU by 3. In the rare cases where Burrow, Chase, and Higgins were all on the field, they had (by far) the most productive offense in the game.
The Ravens lost 800 guys and signed Derek Henry: "C-plus, because they do other things well."
The Bengals address several key weaknesses and tread water in other places: "C-minus, because Tee Higgins might get hit by a bus."
I think a lot of things can be true at once with Fields.
1) Ryan Poles might well have misplayed the market. If another team offered a 2nd or 3rd prior to going in another direction, and Poles turned it down, that’s a big red mark on his record. We don’t know that.
2) He certainly devalued Fields by saddling him with Eberflus and Getsy for two years. Even working from the assumption that there was no scenario where Fields would have excelled enough to get them to pass up Caleb Williams, if he’d been better it’s entirely possible the trade market would have been significantly better. I blame him for that more than anything (and I think he has gone a long way down the path of ruining Williams already by retaining Eberflus).
3) I don’t think anyone is arguing that Poles “doing right by Fields” meant that he passed up a significantly bigger offer. It’s been reported that Fields thought Pittsburgh was a good landing spot for him and wanted to go there. Let’s say that there was another team interested in Fields and they were willing to give up a 6th this year, or a 5th next year that could turn into a 4th. Those would technically be better offers, but not significantly, and in that case I think it’s plausible for Poles to feel like the goodwill with other players and agents might be worth more than the difference between two late round picks.
Terrific stuff Mike, thanks. Presumably Dan Morgan’s inner monologue continues “AM I RIGHT OR AM I WRONG? MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?”
With the way Curtis Samuel’s career has gone, I fully expect Ron Riviera to join the Bills’ coaching staff and continue to fail to use Samuel properly. He is a smaller version of Christian McCaffrey and has never been used properly
The funniest part of the Ravens is that Mala isn't even the person penciled in at LG, it's 7th round redshirt rookie Andrew Vorhees, who has yet to see the practice field.
Filling out the O-Line with Faalele, Cleveland and Vorhees is terrifying, but as Mike noted -- that's the game the Ravens play.
Did Denver get Asante Samuel? Online it says he’s still on the Chargers.
Had to read the Packer section at work here; I'll read the rest this evening. Josh Jacobs was a great grab for the Packers. He's a higher carry guy than Aaron Jones and may avoid the injuries that nagged Jones. Watching Jacobs' highlights, he's certainly more a Jones-type runner than another AJ Dillon. I'm excited to see Jacobs fit the LaFleur offense. The Packers will assuredly take an RB in the draft. I'm thinking a flier on Texas RB Jonathan Brooks in 4th or 5th round. The talent gab between Jacobs and backups Dillon/Wilson is too great to not draft another back.
You should've done some more research on the Bengals, man.
1. Tee Higgins isn't going anywhere. He's on the tag. He either plays or he doesn't get paid (and stays on the tag). Nobody wants to be Le'Veon Bell. So count him in, and re-do the analysis.
2. Think of Mike Gesicki as Tyler Boyd's replacement. Whether they run more 12 personnel or just line Gesicki up in the slot, they know he can't block and aren't counting on it. Drew Sample was resigned to do that.
3. Joe Mixon was a terrible fit for the Bengals' post-2021 run scheme. Zack Moss is a great fit, and Chase Brown needs more carries. Mixon, despite all the mileage, fits much better in Houston's scheme.
4. DJ Reader (if healthy) is a better player than Shedon Rankins. But they don't play the same position. If you wanted to ding the Bengals, you would have pointed out that while they've improved their interior pass rush (a big weakness) they went backward on one of their biggest defensive weaknesses (run defense).
5. "And a 9-8 team that wasn’t playing all that well when Burrow was available..." Joe Burrow was healthy for five full games (weeks 5-10). During that stretch, they went 4-1, beating SF, BUF, SEA, and AZ, by a combined score of 106- 68, and lost to HOU by 3. In the rare cases where Burrow, Chase, and Higgins were all on the field, they had (by far) the most productive offense in the game.
The Ravens lost 800 guys and signed Derek Henry: "C-plus, because they do other things well."
The Bengals address several key weaknesses and tread water in other places: "C-minus, because Tee Higgins might get hit by a bus."
Gabe Davis wasn't cut, he just became a free agent when his rookie contract expired.
I think a lot of things can be true at once with Fields.
1) Ryan Poles might well have misplayed the market. If another team offered a 2nd or 3rd prior to going in another direction, and Poles turned it down, that’s a big red mark on his record. We don’t know that.
2) He certainly devalued Fields by saddling him with Eberflus and Getsy for two years. Even working from the assumption that there was no scenario where Fields would have excelled enough to get them to pass up Caleb Williams, if he’d been better it’s entirely possible the trade market would have been significantly better. I blame him for that more than anything (and I think he has gone a long way down the path of ruining Williams already by retaining Eberflus).
3) I don’t think anyone is arguing that Poles “doing right by Fields” meant that he passed up a significantly bigger offer. It’s been reported that Fields thought Pittsburgh was a good landing spot for him and wanted to go there. Let’s say that there was another team interested in Fields and they were willing to give up a 6th this year, or a 5th next year that could turn into a 4th. Those would technically be better offers, but not significantly, and in that case I think it’s plausible for Poles to feel like the goodwill with other players and agents might be worth more than the difference between two late round picks.