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The Combine is in the books, free agency has begun, so we're officially into the new season and hence the new season discussion thread.

Let's start with this one:

Eagles acquire Darren Sproles in trade with Saint for a 5th round pick.

I love the thought of Sproles being an Eagle, but it's not as if we needed another Running Back, so am still surprised by this one.

Some other interesting developments in free agency so far, not least the fact that the Jags actually managed to trade away Blaine Gabbert and get something in return for him.

The Cowboys manage to cut DeMarcus Ware (which I understand financially as we are mis-managed so close to the cap, and he was $16m and not producing like it, but still don't like losing one of my favourite players)

he gets paid more by the Broncos within 24 hours and we replace him with two back ups

Marvellous


the Broncos now have Ware off one edge, von miller off the other..one of them not getting double teamed, and aqib talib out the back

All in for the superbowl next year then



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the Raiders pay $21m for a guard, Saffold, roundly ridiculed for overpaying. He "fails" a physical, gets sent back to the rams where he passes a physical and gets a 5 year contract for half the money

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Revis to the Pats

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Talib to the broncos

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Decker to the Jets


all good fun!



I like the Sproles pick up, chip kelly shoud create some mis-matches for him with McCoy alongside

Figure this is a good place for a story I saw earlier this week about Rashard Mendenhall deciding to jack the NFL in at 26.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rashard-mendenhall/rashard-mendenhall-retirement-_b_4931316.html

He's basically saying the NFL is too much an entertainment medium than a sport any more.

Jets cut Sanchez and bring in Vick.

Problem solved.

 ;whistle;

Raiders bring in Schaub. FML.

Impressive trump, there!

What do you guys think about my team the Dolphins signing Knowshon Moreno from the broncos?

I am really happy with it & can't wait to see him destroy the Raiders at Wembley :)

For the Dolphins its a good signing. They need a decent RB.

As a Raider I hate it. As a fantasy player I hate it even more cos he won't put up the points he did last year as part of that Broncos offence!

He's not really a decent RB the market for him was very weak. Will churn away enough yards but they need a young "make them miss" complement to him. Fortunately this draft has several


The Raiders, Redskins and Bills are amongst those teams in for renowned gang member Desean Jackson, which gives you an idea for which teams might be thinking W Rin the draft......I think Jackson may end up somewhere surprising and go to a contender like the Saints or the Patriots

Pretty meh about it, would have slightly below average starting rb. The way the nfl is going unless you have a special talent (Peterson, McCoy) in the backfield, it is all pretty much of muchness and Moreno has benefitted from being behind peyton manning.

Cowboys went one better...they signed Brandon Weeden!

they get a free look, signed for vet minimum and can be cut for no charge

we were right up against the cap, so shopping in bargain basement


seen far worse signings, in terms of money spent to risk, this free agency season 

Ah, ok. I didnt see the terms just a tweet that said he had gone there. If he was dirt cheap then yeah, not as bad as it looks.

draft day today

as an eagles fan can i expect anything from this?

Anyone watching this Andrew Luck masterclass programme on SS1?

Fascinating stuff.

Completely compelling. It's reminiscent of when Sky do a good cricket one (Shane Warne's masterclass springs to mind)

Turned it on about 10 mins ago, brilliant.

Just confirms that Andrew Luck is a boss

And Neil Reyolds is about 10000 times better at his job than Nick Halling was.

The part where they were going through reading the defensive play was just fabulous.

"So, Coby goes for a seam, then we notice they're going cover two, so he cuts ten inside the nickel"

Obviously.

I am not an expert on American sports but Halling ruins everything for me.  His commentary on the boxing is filth.

I know the program comes on at midnight but what time will the 1st pick be made please ?

About 1am (I think)

Thank you Sir

It's amazing there aren't more interceptions (or at the very least incompletions)

So much depends on the QB and WR deciding what the defense is doing a certain thing and reacting to that.

A misread by either and the whole play is fucked.

When a QB makes 80%+ completions it is absolutely remarkable.

Agreed. Especially when you have Watt or Suh bearing down on you to help you think.

What is the line for number of 1st round picks who will be in the starting line up for their team in the 1st match ?

Is it wrong that I would love to have some sort of College Fantasy Football as well? Would help to get international fans to know the drafted players more bar the 1st round...

I haven't seen a line for this, but most will.

Quaterbacks and skill position players are sometimes given a little more time. Also successful teams from the previous season sometimes drafts reserves for top players who are nearing the end of their careers and might not start them immediately.

But from 32 picks, I'd estimate 25 will start game 1

Thanks again

Serious question

I like the sky coverage as i have mentioned before (probably because i no very little and i can follow it okish)

But is Kevin C ok tonight? seems very stuttery

Certainly was a strange start to the show.

I think he's ok now.

thx camel

just didnt want to offend if he had an illness or something

These Luck features are excellent

How long do I have to wait to see who the first pick is gonna be?

Think it's about 1am, Chompy.

Not enjoying the pre-amble then chomps? :)

The only tft tip i managed to get on was Robinson (20/1 guy anyway) so routing for him as unlikely as it now seems

Will give it till 1am I guess.

Time to research how the East European countries voted in Dana International's year. Doesn't get more fun that that.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft2014/story/_/id/10902082/houston-texans-locked-not-expected-trade-top-pick

Lets hope that he is the guy who likes Mack

I've got to be up pretty early, but I fancy sweating this for a while. How long does it normally go on for tonight?

The only chance Mack goes at 1 is if Houston stay there.

If they trade, Mack is 20/1 to be number 1

10 minutes per pick, so about 5 hours.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnJWWNkCQAAPai4.jpg:large)

Beckham Jr, Robinson, Manziel and Clowney

Of course, we're just punting on it after Tighty posted about it the other night :)

bleacherreport.com/articles/2056619-sneak-peak-at-nfl-draft-prospects-walk-up-songs?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-league?is_shared=true (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2056619-sneak-peak-at-nfl-draft-prospects-walk-up-songs?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-league?is_shared=true)

Walk on music announced

Ha, might have to rearrange my diary tomorrow then :)

Thanks!

Great time to take a break

Joe Cole sick of not getting opportunities in the Premier League has started to sing some tunes?

america innit.

The program finishes at 4.30am.

Surely they will stay until the end ?

I'm just amazed no one went for Money For Nothing or something really inappropriate like Living Next Door to Alice

My Old Man's a Dustman would be my pick

Clowney done.

(http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/article/media_slots/photos/001/529/491/9643e9abda77479782f3e757e3ac1412_original.png?w=476&h=275)

And so to bed. Enjoy all.

At least they gave us the full slowroll :D

Could have got him a hat that fit.

This just got interesting.

lmao at Bortles to the Jags........incredible pick......

Hmmm...if the Browns draft well they could be worth a punt next year and definitely worth a punt next season after that trade. 9th pick this year + Bills 1st & 4th round next year...

Sigh. Can forget this unless somehow Manziel or Carr fall to 26.

Is this going the way anyone thought?

(http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Kristen-Wiig-Bill-Hader-No-Reaction-Gif-On-SNL.gif)

Never does.

Trades always screw people's predictions.

And when one team make an unforeseen pick, it also changes the plans of other teams.

Jacksonville picking Bortles meant Mack was available a lot later than expected and went to the Raiders who were expected to pick Evans etc etc

Watching Manziel is reminding me of sports before I got to upper school :D

Damm tonight's draft not on sky where do I go for my fix?

At
The
Damn
Hopeful
Event
period in between
Totally
Obvious link in my message ;)

The Jacksonville front office must feel like suckers today.

Drafted Bortles way too early and missed out on one of the premier players in the draft (either watkins or Mack).

Could have traded up from their second round spot to a place in the 20s and pretty much got their pick of QBs.

The only reason to have taken Bortles at 3 is if they think he is going to be a Rivers or a Luck.

Somewhat doubtful.

I really liked what Cleveland did, got Buffalo's top pick next year (probably top 20) to move down and pick a corner

then moved to get Manziel, who could be brilliant but at the very least ignites excitement amongst a pretty downtrodden fanbase

then they have two early picks today to get a rb and an ol

so next year if it all works they have

manziel throwing to josh gordon and jordan cameron protected by joe thomas with a top rb in this draft coming tonight

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i really liked the rams too. yes it needs sam bradford to finally mature but you got the top ol to protect him, and the defensive front seven now has quinn, chris long, ogletree and aaron donald to go and get kaepernick and russell wilson

nasty nasty division

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the third winner i had was the vikes. replaced jared allen and then traded back in to get bridgewater. again a tough division but it looked to me that they got more competitive last night, at last have someone who in theory can lead the passing offense and get it cordaralle patterson a lot and make it less one dimensional than relying on adrian pieterson

Cleveland have already signed Ben Tate who would have been a legit starter at virtually any team apart from Houston who have a top 5 rb.

If Manziel is as good as advertised they could be a force in a division where both Pitt and Balt appear to be on the downgrade.

i agree

Tate, yes. forgot that.

should be going places, really

cincy in that division are still missing a quarterback that you can trust to take them all the way too

Wonder if Cincy will take a QB in the second round if Carr, Savage or Garoppolo falls that far

Why are the teams in the same order for all the rounds, rather than reversing?

worst team the season before gets the best pick in each round

all to maintain competitive balance, give the weakest team the chance to make the quickest turnround

i like it, a couple of good drafts and some free agency moves and any team can go right up quickly, withnessed by over half the sides making the play offs one year not doing so the next

of course if a team is managed badly, drafts badly eg raiders, bills etc etc it might never happen

Sorry. Poorly phrased question.

In the fantasy draft, the team that picks first in the first round picks last in the second round, first pick in the third round, last in the fourth and so on. I assumed that was the case in the real thing, too.

well in a fantasy draft everyone starts with nothing, no players ona  roster. you want everyone to have the same value in their picks, to make it a fair contest

the nfl draft is specifically not designed to be equal, its designed to give the worst teams first crack (if they scout and select correctly) at the best players so they can catch up..so it would make no sense to give houston pick 1 then pick 64, they get 1, 33 and so on

the nfl in its processes is inherently socialist, in the most capitalist industry, there's the dichotomy

Thank you.

Surprised on the one hand that the bills have gamble so much on watkins. Figured we would go for Benjamin tbh.

On the other hand, making potentially poor draft choices shouldn't be that much of a surprise...


Speaking of inspired trades...

Adam Schefter tweeted:

STL haul for RGIII: Michael Brockers, Janoris Jenkins, Isaiah Pead, Rokevious Watson, Alec Ogletree, Stedman Bailey,Zac Stacy, Greg Robinson

the bills have new owners

these coaches presumably think they have to win now, or else they'll be binned

no problem making a splash and losing next years first round draft pick, because if it goes wrong they won't be around to deal with it!


i like the bills roster now, you've got spiller, watkins/woods and co and a decent defense.

it all rests on ej manuel, will he justify last year's pick and give them a shot at improving past the patriots?

The ownership situation is a mess. The heirs want to sell but there's now concern about whether we can keep the franchise in Buffalo. We could end up with Donald Trump as owner and in London!

Sign him up!

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnOYZ7RIMAEJp0e.jpg)

LeBron drafted in as cover for Gordon? :D

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnOn0l8CIAAZ8JZ.jpg)

Did you hear that Bang?

That was Cleveland's chances of making the playoffs ending.

Josh Gordon tested postive again.

Facing a year long suspension.

Anyone got a link to the draft I can watch on my iPad?

Cowboys trade up to second for...

Demarcus Lawrence (DE)

It's on at www.nfl.com Iron

Am following updates on here: http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/tracker/by-round#dt-by-round-input:2/dt-tabs:dt-by-round

Like an upmarket ceefax

What mugs some of these boys are...

He's been busted for hash, which is now legal is many states.

Somewhat surprised it is a banned drug, especially out of season.

Yeah I am having to watch on tracker my iPad sucks,

So realistically how far down the draft do you go and find players starting? Ie is a 3rd round pick likely going to play much next season?

Supporting the Raiders, I am quietly optimistic that we could have an 8-8 season so far. Liking the Carr pick.

thought it was only legal in 1 state, it's legal in Amsterdam but a Dutch athlete testing positive for it would still get ban in most sports

I'm not sure where it's legal in the US, but I know it is in some states for medical purposes, to help treatment of conditions.

I may be wrong, but I think that you hear more of players failing for recereational drugs than for AAS etc.

Depends on how good the team is already.

Top teams will draft rough players with a great deal of potential who could turn into superstars in 2 or 3 years.

Bad teams will pick players who are ready to start strght away but with less upside.

I would guess about 30% of rd 2 picks would be day 1 starters.

Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick were both second round picks.

It's only legal in two states, Colorado and Washington, I thought it was more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_the_United_States

Wilson was a 3rd round pick, he went after a punter in that draft!

This draft is ridic deep at wide receiver, Marqise Lee doesn't go this late in many drafts, really rate him.

According to Mike Mayock every bloody pick "makes a lot of sense"

Of course it does, that's why it has been made.

Eejit.

I see the eagles got 7draft picks plus 15 rookie free agents this seems a large number will some of these guys be let go before the start of season or will we have  a lot of rookies in squad (is it 80 player squads?)

It's standard practice for all teams to fill up their initial rosters with undrafted free agents (UDFA's) immediately after the draft.  Teams are allowed a roster of 90 players initially, but have to cut this down in stages to 53 by the start of the season, of which 45 can be active on any game day.

After the final cuts, teams are also allowed to have 8 players on their practice squad, who can train with the full squad but can't play (if someone gets injured and is placed on IR you'll often see reports of player X being promoted from the practice squad to the active roster as a replacement).  Practice squad players aren't secure as a part of the team though as they can be picked up by other teams provided they are signed to their active roster as part of this.

Most of the UDFAs signed will be cut as part of the various roster cuts between now and September.  They'll take part in OTAs (organised team activities), mini-camps and training camps and some will see playing time in the 4 pre-season games each team plays.  Some will then get re-signed to the practice squad, but most will drift around in free agency for a while or end up playing in minor leagues such as the CFL or the arena leagues.

Also, for anyone following the Draft for the first time this year, you might not be aware of this, but it's a fantastic tradition.

The last person selected in the draft is referred to as "Mr Irrelevant" and is invited to a week-long Irrelevant Week celebration in his honour, an award going back nearly 40 years which is paid for by an ex-NFL player who started the award in the 70s.

You can see footage of this year's announcement in the attached link:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000349375/article/lonnie-ballentine-is-2014-nfl-drafts-mr-irrelevant (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000349375/article/lonnie-ballentine-is-2014-nfl-drafts-mr-irrelevant)

Reminds me of football team selection at school, although no-one ever invited me to California! :(

Another question if a draft pick doesn't sigh a contract what happens can he be picked up by someone else?

There's virtually no chance of this happening nowadays as the revised contract structure for rookies make the salary figures almost formulaic down the board.  Some will remain unsigned right up to the start of training camp, but everyone will sign them eventually.  The late round picks normally get done first, but the Bears have already agreed to terms with their 1st round pick, which is unusually quick for a 1st rounder.

Effectively, its a similar situation to when veteran players hold out, which does happen every now and then (MJD and DeSean Jackson spring to mind in recent years).  Basically they don't show up for camps and, in a rookie's case, I don't think they're allowed to train with the team until their contract is sorted.  The veteran situations tend to resolve themselves when the player reaches the point in the season where they lose the right to count that season as fulfilled if they don't join the team, as this has an impact on when they're able to become unrestricted free agents in later years (which is their best opportunity to get a big money contract).

Some players from certain colleges (e.g. Stanford) are also delayed in joining their teams due to the rules on graduation.  Andrew Luck was delayed starting camp as Stanford graduated much later than most other colleges and he wasn't allowed to join the team until after this.

The last major issue regarding a player refusing to play for the team which drafted him was with Eli Manning, who was selected No 1 overall by the Chargers, but had already stated that he wouldn't play for them.  The Giants drafted Philip Rivers at No 4 overall in the same draft, and they then traded QBs, with San Diego picking up additional picks in the trade.  I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think the rules on the holdouts state that if the player holds out for a full season then another team can obtain his playing rights in the following season, but I think the team who drafted him is compensated for this in the form of draft picks.

Tighty might know more, but it's along those lines I think.

so there is no chance of a life long bulls fan saying i am not playing for anyone but the bulls
getting drafted by the dolphins and then playing for the bulls by refusing to sign a contract unless
the bulls compensate the dolphins with some daft picks for the next season

If he got drafted by the Dophins, he'd probably still be able to play basketball for the Bulls if he could fit both sports in!

If he wanted to play for the Buffalo BILLS though, then that would be a different matter! :)

The above scenario could only ever play out in a situation like Manning, where he's among the top players in the draft, and nothing like that has happened for 10 years now.  It wouldn't be for reasons of support, but more likely concerns over the competitiveness of a team.

Don't forget that the entire basis of the Draft system is that the worst teams get the best players, so every top 5 prospect in the draft knows that he'll be heading to one of the worst teams from the previous season.

i was actually thinking of the bears LMAO

what happens if a guy lived in Chicago all his life went to college there and didnt want to move away from mummy and daddy

i am trying to think of a situation like in the UK where a guy signs up for his hometown team thats he supported as a boy and
stays there dispite being too good for that time and them never winning anything (Gerard type)

US vs UK is like comparing apples and oranges.  They're entirely different in structure and the NFL draft system survives on the fact that players don't have freedom as to where they go initially (if they did, then the best players would all go to the best teams year on year, and the league would be much poorer as a result).

The closest scenario to what you're describing is a local kid being picked up as an undrafted free agent via open trials.  It does happen, and some do become succesful players, but the odds are very long on this happening.  Victor Cruz is the obvious current example of someone being successful via this route.  Hit the headlines in a pre-season game then disappeared into the depth of the roster during his first full season.  Got a chance to play in his 2nd season due to injuries and was an instant success (ironically, the first big game he had was against the Eagles, which is why I have such painful memories of him!)

i can just imagine someone who has lived there life somewhere like miami or south california having to move to chicago and having to play and live in the snow and ice when they had likely never seen snow before in there life lol

see i am not a massive football fan i used to be and i still follow my team but if i was good enough to play for any team in the UK i couldnt play for certain teams
infact i would be a  le tissier and stick with one of the teams i followed rather than sign for a man u or a chelsea for 4 or 5 times the money

Ok another silly question
You draft a guy but he doesn't make your playing roster does he still get paid and do you get to use him following season or does he become a free agent?

He gets cut.  He then goes through a process called waivers over the next 48hrs, where any other team can put in a claim for him and will pick up his contract if their claim is successful (claims are prioritised in a similar way to the draft, so the team with the worst record gets priority if more than one team puts in a claim).

If he clears waivers he hits the free agent market and is free to sign for anyone.  Any guaranteed money in his contract is still obliged to be paid by the team that cut him, but most contracts have large amounts of conditional payments which don't fall due.  Consequently, if he signs on somewhere else, he'll be entitled to monies from both contracts.

Quite often, if a player is on a big contract and gets cut, teams will be reluctant to put in a waiver claim for him as it obliges them to honour the contract, but once he clears waivers there might be a rush to sign him in free agency, probably for something close to the league minimum salary for that position.

There's been some real-life examples of this happening today, just to clarify the point:

Arrelious Benn has just been cut and re-signed by the Eagles, no doubt on a lower salary than before.  Cut on Friday, no-one put in a waiver claim for him, and re-signed today.  http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000351358/article/philadelphia-eagles-resign-wr-arrelious-benn

Greg Little got cut by Cleveland the other day, and has been claimed on waivers by the Raiders.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000351809/article/oakland-raiders-claim-greg-little-off-waiver-wire