2024 NFL Offseason, Free Agency, and Draft Talk

[stevew]

Someone should pay Belichick a million bucks for a 1 hour discussion on how to strategize the kick return.

[bronconick]

EA's pissed that they have to code a new kickoff in instead of just reskinning Madden 24. That's like 4 minutes of work that'll add $10 more on the price tag.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by stevew

Someone should pay Belichick a million bucks for a 1 hour discussion on how to strategize the kick return.

Yeah, that's where I got the idea ged say we're going for an onside kick and then kick it deeper (like a popup kick) over the head of the returning team (who probably have all 11 players close to the 10 yard mark, after all an onside kick has to travel 10 yards to be recovered by the kicking team, it doesn't say it can't be recovered say 40 yards down field

[Ksyrup]

They should have implemented the 4th and 20 from the 20 "onsides kick" in coordination with this new KO rule.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

They should have implemented the 4th and 20 from the 20 "onsides kick" in coordination with this new KO rule.

Or, you know, do neither and stick to football instead of this Mickey Mouse minor league horseshit

[Ksyrup]

Eh, the changes they've made to the onsides kick have basically taken it away as even a remotely viable option. The 4th and 20 option has a virtually identical success percentage as the onsides kick under the old rule. So I'd have no issue with it.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by bronconick

EA's pissed that they have to code a new kickoff in instead of just reskinning Madden 24. That's like 4 minutes of work that'll add $10 more on the price tag.

[SirFozzie]

Actually, they already neutered the squib kick as well.

Any non-onside kick that lands outside the 20 yard line is ruled down and the ball moved out to the 40.

Everything to know about NFL's hybrid kickoff rule change - ESPN

[JonInMiddleGA]

I think I've got a workable solution figured out

1) blindfold all 22 members of the kicking and returning team
2) place the kicker in the center of a diamond shaped pattern of teed up footballs
3) spin the kicker around rapidly at least 5, but not more than 15, times before he is allowed to kick
3) he can then kick any ball anywhere in any direction and the return may be made by the first person to gain possession of the kicked ball

If the play extends beyond :30 without clear possession, the action will revert to picture in picture to allow for additional commercial segments

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I think I've got a workable solution figured out

1) blindfold all 22 members of the kicking and returning team
2) place the kicker in the center of a diamond shaped pattern of teed up footballs
3) spin the kicker around rapidly at least 5, but not more than 15, times before he is allowed to kick
3) he can then kick any ball anywhere in any direction and the return may be made by the first person to gain possession of the kicked ball

If the play extends beyond :30 without clear possession, the action will revert to picture in picture to allow for additional commercial segments

This has already been added to Maximum Football.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I think I've got a workable solution figured out

1) blindfold all 22 members of the kicking and returning team
2) place the kicker in the center of a diamond shaped pattern of teed up footballs
3) spin the kicker around rapidly at least 5, but not more than 15, times before he is allowed to kick
3) he can then kick any ball anywhere in any direction and the return may be made by the first person to gain possession of the kicked ball

If the play extends beyond :30 without clear possession, the action will revert to picture in picture to allow for additional commercial segments

How about the Aussie Rules style where the referee bounces the ball at midfield, and one man from both teams jump for it.. once it's touched, the ball is wlive.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

This has already been added to Maximum Football.

The ball going into the beer tent(s) adds an entire 'nother level to strateregy

[cuervo72]

Too lazy to search it out, but what happens in the case where it's windy and you need a holder?

[SirFozzie]

you can use a kicking arm to hold the ball

[stevew]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Too lazy to search it out, but what happens in the case where it's windy and you need a holder?

They have kicking sticks to hold it.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Yeah, that's where I got the idea ged say we're going for an onside kick and then kick it deeper (like a popup kick) over the head of the returning team (who probably have all 11 players close to the 10 yard mark, after all an onside kick has to travel 10 yards to be recovered by the kicking team, it doesn't say it can't be recovered say 40 yards down field

I assume they would fair catch a pop up kick with the deep man

[CrimsonFox]

2024 NFL Draft rumors: Commanders receiving calls for No. 2 overall pick; potential teams who could trade up - CBSSports.com

Washington getting lots of calls. Presumably about how stupid their name is.

Oh...it's about their pick.

sigh...the top 3 picks are going to draft quarterbacks. UGH STOP IT STOP IT. STOP drafting a qb just to start them

[Brian Swartz]

Bad teams are often bad teams because they don't have a decent QB. Wouldn't that mean in a draft that most people think has more NFL-quality QBs than usual that drafting one of them is exactly what they should do?

[CrimsonFox]

Steelers get ANOTHER Quarterback. Kyle Allen from the Bills. SO the two teams have basically swapped backup QBs.

There is effectively a power trio now. They'll probably put out a couple punk albums

[Kodos]

They got the wrong QB Allen! They just fell for a classic Bill's prank!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Kodos

They got the wrong QB Allen!

There's also a reasonable (definitely non-zero) chance that he's also the best QB in the Steelers room right now.

[stevew]

David Tepper should retweet all this P Diddy nonsense and be all like, “see Panthers fans, there was a worse option”

[stevew]

Diddy, Steph Curry among group bidding for Panthers - Sports Illustrated

[CrimsonFox]

Broncos having meetings with JJ McCarthy....

uhhhhh how legal is that...

[bronconick]

100% legal. Are you confusing free agency with the draft?

[RainMaker]

The kickoff rules are unnecessarily confusing and also really dumb. Can't we just go back to how it was or get rid of them altogether? Having 50 rules for a fucking kickoff is just dumb.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Broncos having meetings with JJ McCarthy....

uhhhhh how legal is that...

Yeah, now that everything is slotted there's no negotiations to do really (unlike the old days when the first team on the clock could pre-negotiate in order to figure out who to draft in some cases)

[sovereignstar v2]

Go back to how it was? Sounds like genocide of special teams players. How do you sleep at night, sir?

[flere-imsaho]

Honestly, it kinda looks fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eChnUrXXV9s

[CrimsonFox]

[stevew]

I’m watching clips of new Chiefs international signee Louis-Rees Zammit and I could see him possibly making a team. He played rugby for Wales and has a bit of a McCaffery type run style. He’ll probably never play a meaningful snap but whatever.

[bhlloy]

Eh, as somebody who has watched a lot of Wales rugby, he's probably a top 10-20% athlete in the NFL but without having played the game his entire life, I can't see how he ever plays meaningful snaps either. The guys who come through the international pathway who have a chance at success are the bigger guys who instead of being top 10% athletes might be in the top 1-2%. There are just too many RB/WR who can run a mid 4.4 at 210+lbs.

[flere-imsaho]

These new kickoffs are a lot like rugby, though, so there's that.

[molson]

The NFL has survived and thrived after the last 500 definitely, for sure this time, league-killing rule changes. Everyone will get used to it and we'll go forward.

[flere-imsaho]

I mean, it looks like only ~20% of kick offs were being returned anyway. It looks like this will be a lot more interesting, with the added advantage of less likelihood of major injuries.

Touchbacks way up, kickoff returns way down with new fair catch rule - NBC Sports

[CrimsonFox]

How many days til football starts?

[cartman]

Ex-NFL CB Vontae Davis found dead at age 35 - ESPN

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by molson

The NFL has survived and thrived after the last 500 definitely, for sure this time, league-killing rule changes. Everyone will get used to it and we'll go forward.

I think that's true to a degree, but I also think we've reached a point where I have no idea how a defender is supposed to tackle anyone. Can't go low, can't go high, and now you can't go in between either. We're not at the 'just ask them nicely to take a knee' point, but not that far away either.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I think that's true to a degree, but I also think we've reached a point where I have no idea how a defender is supposed to tackle anyone. Can't go low, can't go high, and now you can't go in between either. We're not at the 'just ask them nicely to take a knee' point, but not that far away either.

I'd be wiling to enter into a friendly wager that there will be tackles made in the upcoming season. And that we won't have tackles replaced by "asking nicely to take a knee" at any point during the season.

And also that the league will make it through the next season without going out of business, not "to a degree", but completely - they'll make a ton of money and dominate TV ratings.

The league is way more lucrative now than 25+ years ago when when it was first "turned into flag football" or whatever.

[JPhillips]

The league estimated that there is currently one tackle per game this rule would impact.

[molson]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

The league estimated that there is currently one tackle per game this rule would impact.

I remember years ago there was a thread here with a title of something like "RIP NFL", and it was about that new penalty targeting running backs who put their head down outside the tackles to initiate contact.

I think it ended up being called 3 times that year.

The funny thing is that the other alarmist take you used to hear all the time, though not so much anymore, was that the league was doomed because of awareness about concussions. And there are fewer kids playing high school football. The league has tried to mitigate that damage in a lot of different ways (all criticized as turning the league into "flag football"). And I'm sure a lot of older people prefer the 1980's version of the NFL, but, lots of old people feel that way about every sport (and everything else in culture). The league hasn't been hurt at all by any of those changes, and it certainly does have fewer injuries, head or otherwise, than they would have had if they never tried to do anything to evolve the sport.

You hear all the time, "you can't hit high, you can't hit low, you can't fall on the QB, it's impossible to sack them" - but somehow defense players still managed over 1,000 legal sacks last year, basically the same as any other year.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

The league estimated that there is currently one tackle per game this rule would impact.

Based on a hindsight, "these are the kinds of tackles that should be flagged" instructional analysis, not an "on the fly, split-second, that tackle looked bad enough that I better throw the flag" reality, IMO. It's just like how many stupid QB flag get thrown and the excuse is "we're erring on the side of caution." Guys get laid out with perfectly valid hits every game, and flags are thrown simply because the hit looked bad. I don't see why this would be any different.

[RainMaker]

I think they need to make personal fouls reviewable. We already have games decided on sketchy roughing the passer penalties. Now we're going to have more decided on sketchy hip tackles. Those penalties are so big to a game they have to review them to be sure.

[flere-imsaho]

I really don't think these hip tackles are going to be a problem to police. They're really freaking obvious when they're done. It's going to be like horse-collar tackles.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

I really don't think these hip tackles are going to be a problem to police. They're really freaking obvious when they're done. It's going to be like horse-collar tackles.

Ok then. Explain what clearly separates a legal hip drop tackle and an illegal swivel hip drop tackle and explain how officials can differentiate between the two on the fly? What clearly makes one illegal while the other remains legal?

[Ryche]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Ok then. Explain what clearly separates a legal hip drop tackle and an illegal swivel hip drop tackle and explain how officials can differentiate between the two on the fly? What clearly makes one illegal while the other remains legal?

The tackler dropping down on the offensive players legs from behind. That's what makes it illegal. Rugby has already outlawed this tackle and dealt with how it's called.

[SirFozzie]

Cardinals will have to pay $3 million to one of their execs for taking an unverified bit of information, not checking its veracity, and publishing it publicly (allegations of abuse and failing to pay child support that turned out to be untrue). The arbitrator found it amazing that the statements were STILL up at the time he turned in the judgement

[CrimsonFox]

I've never heard of Vontae Davis. Anyone? anyone?

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by molson

I'd be wiling to enter into a friendly wager that there will be tackles made in the upcoming season. And that we won't have tackles replaced by "asking nicely to take a knee" at any point during the season.

And also that the league will make it through the next season without going out of business, not "to a degree", but completely - they'll make a ton of money and dominate TV ratings.

I agree with all of that. I also know that we are at a point where players have - this isn't speculation, it's been happening for a while now - asked for clarification from the league on what is/isn't a legal tackle after getting fined/suspended, and they can't get a straight answer. There are a number of types of plays, one example being when a receiver dives to catch an overthrown ball and a DB is closing in coverage, where there is basically no acceptable way to try and break up the pass. If the DB dives as well, high chance of a helmet-to-helmet or similar, and if they don't do that, then they are allowing the play to proceed unopposed, in which case why are they even out there?

Facts about popularity don't mean a whole lot to me. Many things are popular which are not good, and many things are good which are not popular.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Cardinals will have to pay $3 million to one of their execs for taking an unverified bit of information, not checking its veracity, and publishing it publicly (allegations of abuse and failing to pay child support that turned out to be untrue). The arbitrator found it amazing that the statements were STILL up at the time he turned in the judgement

And the Commisioner will do nothing to the Cards owner/team i'm guessing.