MichiganCardinal

Back to back truly remarkable offseasons for Brad. He assumed the role of villain last season. Not to get too corny but I think a better mantra is assassin. He sits quietly in the shadows. Lets other teams blow half their cap on the flashy signings. Lets the expensive home grown free agent walk, seemingly endangering the most important position group. And then a week later signs an arguable upgrade to replace him and you look back and every position group of need has been upgraded.

It's crazy when a move you think is obvious actually works out.

When the Eagles drafted Carson Wentz #2 in 2016 and already had Sam Bradford on the roster (whom they had acquired for a 5th round pick in 2015), they held onto Bradford all the way until the 2016 preseason. They ultimately traded him to the Vikings for a 2017 1st round pick and conditional 4th round pick after Teddy Bridgewater tore his ACL. Fields is better than 2016 Bradford, let alone David Blough. I don't think he would have gotten a 1st, but he would have gotten better than a 6th.

I was expecting an extension. Maybe they will take a corner in round one.

DPJ was originally signed to replace Kalif Raymond when he got hurt. Now that I think about, they’re actually probably offering Reynolds WR4 money, because Kalif got WR3 (and return specialist) money last year. So DPJ is really getting “you can compete with Antoine Green and any rookie we draft” money.

I don’t think signing DPJ stops them from bringing either Reynolds back or from drafting a WR3. I think it’s likely that Reynolds is asking for WR2 money and the Lions are offering WR3 money. DPJ got WR4+ money.

I wonder if he knew he would be immediately named as the backup. Bears should have just waited until the fall. When a QB went down in week two, they could have gotten a 2nd or 3rd round pick for him.

@RedRamageyou seem knowledgable about the USFL.... or UFL.... or whatever. How sustainable? Are they about to fold midseason? I have an opportunity to purchase Row 1 season tickets right behind the Panthers bench, and I'm wondering if it's worth it. I'm sure I would go to a game or two. I miss football. But I would also re-sell a few. I just don't want the league to fold on my way to Ford Field lol.

There's a reason it's 1.1. Only room for improvement. 😉

MC Mock Draft 1.1 Chicago Bears (from CAR) - Caleb Williams, QB, USC Washington Commanders - Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU New England Patriots - Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State Arizona Cardinals - Byron Murphy II, DT, Texas Minnesota Vikings (Trade w/ LAC) - Drake Maye, QB, UNC New York Giants - Malik Nabers, WR, LSU Tennessee Titans - Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame Atlanta Falcons - Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama Seattle Seahawks (Trade w/ CHI) - JJ McCarthy, QB, Michigan New York Jets - Rome Odunze, WR, Washington Los Angeles Chargers (Trade w/ MIN) - Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia Denver Broncos - Kris Jenkins, DT, Michigan Las Vegas Raiders - JC Latham, OT, Alabama New Orleans Saints - Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo Indianapolis Colts - Cooper DeJean, CB, Iowa Chicago Bears (Trade w/ SEA) - Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA Jacksonville Jaguars - Jackson Powers-Johnson, C, Oregon Cincinnati Bengals - Taliese Fuaga, OT, Oregon State Los Angeles Rams - Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama Pittsburgh Steelers - Brian Thomas Jr., WR, LSU Miami Dolphins - Troy Fautanu, IOL, Washington Philadelphia Eagles - Nate Wiggins, CB, Clemson Los Angeles Chargers (Trade w/ MIN thru CLE & HOU) - Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas Detroit Lions (Trade w/ DAL) - Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida State Green Bay Packers - Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT, Penn State Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama Cincinnati Bengals (from ARI* thru HOU) - Kamari Lassiter, CB, Georgia New England Patriots (Trade w/ BUF) - Bo Nix, QB, Oregon Dallas Cowboys (Trade w/ DET) - Johnny Newton, DT, Illinois Baltimore Ravens - Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma San Francisco 49ers - Jordan Morgan, OT, Arizona Kansas City Chiefs - Xavier Legette, WR, South Carolina *ARI/CIN Trade includes Tee Higgins 61. Detroit Lions - Kingsley Suamataia, OT/OG, BYU 73. Detroit Lions - Johnny Wilson, WR, Florida State 164. Detroit Lions - Kalen King, CB, Penn State [#201 and a 2025 4th sent to DAL] 205. Detroit Lions - Donovan Manuel, ILB, Florida International 249. Detroit Lions - Joshua Karty, K, Stanford

I don't think he's very good. He's no Mahomes or Brady and his career is already on the downhill because his strength is his legs... But I do think that he could have succeeded at a very high level, and fooled a lot of people for a long time, in a better situation. Maybe even in Pittsburgh. It will be interesting to see. Cam Newton and Fields' new teammate Russell Wilson are two who come to mind. Cam was MVP and led the Panthers to a 15-1 season and a Super Bowl appearance. Wilson was an MVP candidate for a season or two and led the Seahawks to two Super Bowls, winning one. I think Justin Fields is on par with either of them. I don't think either are all that great. But they were used masterfully by Ron Rivera and Pete Carroll, who were able to gameplan to their strengths and surround them with the necessary talent. Watch Fields for the first half of the season last year. The Bears wouldn't let him run! In the six games before his injury, he averaged 39.5ypg on the ground. By the time he returned, with the Bears at 3-7, finally Nagy let him run and he averaged almost double that, 79ypg in his final seven games. And they went 4-3 in that stretch (including the game against Detroit that their coaching and defense totally blew in the last four minutes).

When you talk about a franchise ruining a career, look no further than the Justin Fields case study. He could have been an MVP candidate with a more competent franchise.

It exists everywhere to some extent, and it's widespread knowledge among the student body which major it is. Was always funny to me to look at the baseball starting lineup in undergrad and see eight of the nine were Communications majors. Figured there must be significant overlap between the skills of hitting a baseball and the desire to communicate effectively.

Depending on the terms, this could be just an “opportunity to compete” contract. Tweet I saw said “up to” $2MM. I would expect that it’s close to a vet minimum deal with bonuses up to $2MM

That’s my plan. I think I might enjoy the lower bowl seats more in some games, and between the two locations, I’m sure I can at least cover half my cost selling the pair I’m not using any given game.

I don’t think JB would be a good hire, I just think he would be a safe hire. Part of my inclination to be okay re-hiring him is a knowledge that Warde is the one making the decision, and I don’t trust Warde to not set the program back even further. What’s Ray Jackson up to?

I went off the deep end with season tickets. I upgraded my two to two tickets in Club 200, and then added two in a corner, row 9. Just don’t ask about the cost.

Not in 2025 he wouldn’t, but by 2027 he would have something to make it as one and done 10 or 11-seed.

I don’t think it would be stupid but I do think it would be a bandaid over a bullet hole. It’s not like he’d come in and win championships. He’d be respectable and probably make a tournament.

While knee jerk says to do this, Beilein at 71yo is not a long-term answer to the woes of the basketball program. If he was brought in, it would need to be on a three-year plan, where everyone involved knew he was done afterwards. He could provide much needed stability, but a better plan would be needed for the direction of the program. It would be like hiring Lloyd Carr back after firing Rich Rod. Sure, he’ll bring stability, but it’s not going to solve all your problems.

Warde read my post and said "yeah MC is right we don't need another one"

I think this is more the case early in a rebuild and less the case as you go on. In 2021, name the position and we could use an upgrade. Now though, drafting a OT who can't play OG doesn't make much sense. Neither would drafting a QB, TE, or RB. At least not early. I think past the 3rd round or so, yeah, just draft the best player on your board and call them depth. But before that, when your rebuild is where we now are and you have just a few holes to plug, you shouldn't get cute and draft a great backup LB when a starting CB or Edge rusher could be the difference between the NFCCG and the Super Bowl.

You're correct. I had to do some digging, but I found this, from OTC on Luck's retirement. In part: "Luck's contractual rights will remain with Indy as long as they do not terminate the contract. If he returns to play football his contract will kick in again and continue as if he never left." In hindsight, I actually remember this being a slight against Calvin's retirement. He complained about the way he was treated with the money being requested back, but in fact held a lot of leverage over the Lions, both if he had demanded a trade and refused to re-work his contract, and if he had sat out a year and then just reported to camp a year later. His massive cap hit would have just appeared overnight on the Lions' books and they would have been forced to either trade him or cut him very quickly.

In fairness, eight years and no tournament appearances. Haase should have been fired like three years ago.

I honestly thought we already did this, which is what led to the zero tolerance policy... which is what led to doing again for the Sanderson investigation..... which leads to now another independent review of the "culture"? How much money do you need put into independent reviews to tell you that your coach sucks and should have been fired two years ago?