2014-15 NFL Discussion thread

[Tal]

Per ESPN:

With a fourth-quarter collapse, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earned the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft.

The Bucs lost to the New Orleans Saints, 23-20, despite carrying a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter. The collapse happened with the Bucs (2-14) playing a lot of backups, and it led to questions about whether the team "tanked" to get the No. 1 pick. Coach Lovie Smith strongly denied that.

"It had nothing to do with substitutions," Smith said. "You look at how we played. To me, I'm going to go back, we're moving the ball fairly well even in the second half. They played a lot better. We played a lot of guys the first half also. Vincent Jackson only played a few reps. That happened in the first half also, and the team we put on the football field had a chance to win right up until (the end).

"Yeah, we didn't have some of our best players there right in the end. But the guys we had in there we felt like we could move the ball and be able to win."

The Bucs played the fourth quarter with three young offensive lineman that aren't starters, lots of changes on defense and without their starting wide receivers. Quarterback Josh McCown said the Bucs were playing to win.

"It's unfortunate, I don't think anybody tanked it," McCown said. "We played the guys we played to rotate guys in to give them a look. As far as players are concerned, the draft and that stuff isn't relevant to us as far as how we're playing. We play and execute the plays that are called. That's our job. All that other stuff is for people to try to speculate about all those things. We competed hard and that's the main thing."

Having the No. 1 pick could end McCown's days as the Bucs' starting quarterback. There already is lots of speculation that the Bucs will draft Oregon's Marcus Mariota or Florida State's Jameis Winston.

Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said on the team's pregame radio broadcast that he plans to attend the Rose Bowl, which will feature Mariota and Winston. Licht said Smith also may make the trip to California.

The Bucs haven't had the No. 1 overall pick since 1987, when they selected Vinny Testaverde.

Tampa Bay had won its previous 24 regular-season games in which it led by at least 13 at the start of fourth quarter, with their last loss in such a situation coming against theIndianapolis Colts in 2003, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

The Buccaneers entered the day 72-2 in regular-season games when leading by at least 13 points to start the fourth quarter.

The Tennessee Titans, who lost 27-10 to the Colts, also finished 2-14 but will pick No. 2 in the draft due to tiebreakers with the Buccaneers.

[Marky147]

Haha, comedy!

[LEXUS]

Not if you had Saints -4

[Marky147]

Not if you had Saints -4

You can wipe your tears away, with a few of the 20s that you picked up on Floyd first TD

[Tal]

Ok, usual HC clear out today...

But Kyle Orton retiring? What's going on there? Can't see the Bills trading for a first round pick, as they'd need to get in the top three to stand a chance of getting Winston. So that leaves an experienced alternative from elsewhere.

Who would be a realistic option? I'm assuming EJ Manuel will at the very least need an experienced support guy.

[TightEnd]

No QB, no first-round-pick (Cleveland have it for Watkins) and the best free agent options are Mark Sanchez, Brian Hoyer and Jake Locker. Good luck Bills. A shame as the defense is very very good

[Marky147]

Tebow time

[Tal]

No QB, no first-round-pick (Cleveland have it for Watkins) and the best free agent options are Mark Sanchez, Brian Hoyer and Jake Locker. Good luck Bills. A shame as the defense is very very good

What's the plan then? Draft/trade the best guards available (Spiller likely going), hope Fred Jackson stays fit and the young WR crop improves?

Doomed

[TightEnd]

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/buffalo-bills/

there is about $30m in cap space. c$8m for rookies reduced because no first rounder

you can play around with who might be released or extended to see what sort of money might be available

Draft well rounds 2-7

strengthen OL via free agency

run a low risk offense knowing your defense will keep you competitive


--

i like the next few months, seeing who teams hire and sign and seeign how they all deal with their issues

franchises who need a quarterback in a year with only two draftable, without a top 3 pick and with not a lot in free agency (there are quite a few) are in a spot...but its a perennial problem..if you are good enough to get an 8-8 record you'll never pick high enough to get a franchise quarterback unless you strike lucky eg russell wilson.

[AndrewT]

franchises who need a quarterback in a year with only two draftable, without a top 3 pick and with not a lot in free agency (there are quite a few) are in a spot...but its a perennial problem..if you are good enough to get an 8-8 record you'll never pick high enough to get a franchise quarterback unless you strike lucky eg russell wilson.

On this topic, how did the Patriots manage to find Tom Brady in the sixth round of his draft? Was he a late developer - did the Pats make him a great QB, why was he ignored for so long?

[TightEnd]

franchises who need a quarterback in a year with only two draftable, without a top 3 pick and with not a lot in free agency (there are quite a few) are in a spot...but its a perennial problem..if you are good enough to get an 8-8 record you'll never pick high enough to get a franchise quarterback unless you strike lucky eg russell wilson.

On this topic, how did the Patriots manage to find Tom Brady in the sixth round of his draft? Was he a late developer - did the Pats make him a great QB, why was he ignored for so long?

drafting is an imperfect science. there are no guarantees high picks will work and there are always players who don't scout well (perhaps they are late developers, perhaps performed poorly at a pro day, perhaps poor film from college)

Brady, Romo (undrafted) are one extreme

Manning (number one pick) is the other

someone like Rodgers was only picked 23rd and sat behind Favre for three years. he sat on draft dray as 22 teams passed up the chance to draft him

its why its such fun to watch

[Marky147]

Tighty will be pleased to hear that Suh has been given the day off next week...

[Ironside]

who gets the better draft spot next season

the eagles as they didnt make the play offs or the panthers as they performed worse over the season?

[Ironside]

also with the contracts do teams not try to extend contracts before they become free agents
some pretty big names out of contract just now

[Marky147]

Just saw this on ESPN, and don't understand exactly what it means...

In a deal turned into the NFL office Monday, quarterback Tom Brady restructured his contract to give the New England Patriots $24 million more in cash to spend this offseason, according to league sources.

Under the new deal, Brady changed the $24 million in "skill" guarantee to only "injury" guarantee, meaning that Brady now would get the guaranteed money only if he were injured.

Brady also now can be released by the Patriots without any liability, but he then would become an unrestricted free agent, free to command the type of guaranteed money he has agreed to surrender.

Brady will receive a $1 million bump in each of the three remaining years of the deal. His base salaries will now be $8 million in 2016, $9 million in 2016 and $10 million in 2018.

The move frees up cash for the Patriots to use on other players. New England needs the cash to help re-sign some of its own free agents, including cornerback Darrelle Revis, safety Devin McCourty, tackle Nate Solder and running back Shane Vereen, among others.


Obviously he's never gonna get through all his dough anyway, but is he essentially taking a paycut, so that the team can strengthen?

Seem to remember reading something similar last year, or the year before, or was I dreaming?