2013 NFL Off-Season Thread

[Island_Style]

I am not gonna lie. I thought Roman was as good as a Jag. Whatever, I really like Bradley.

[theSLVRBCK]

I actually am more excited about Bradley than I was about Roman. But then again, I've always been a defense first guy.

However, the sad news is that with this hire, Dan Quinn of the Gators is heading back to Seattle to take Bradley's spot.

[Cujo]

Per some guy at NFL.com:

Bruce Arians to become next Arizona Cardinals head coach.

[DEAD!]

Per some guy at NFL.com:

Bruce Arians to become next Arizona Cardinals head coach.

Based on this season, I say it's a good call. After all, HE was the one who coached the Colts into the playoffs

[dfwabel]

Per some guy at NFL.com:

Bruce Arians to become next Arizona Cardinals head coach.

Based on this season, I say it's a good call. After all, HE was the one who coached the Colts into the playoffs

I am not so sure and it is not any fault of Arians.

Arizona has:

1- No solution at QB or RB.

2- The worst OLine in the NFL as measured by Football Outsiders. A OLine which gave up the 4th most sacks in 2012 (49).

3- Cap issues regarding the salaries of Kolb ($13M), Kerry Rhodes ($6M), Stewart Bradley ($6.5M). Other cap numbers include Larry Fitzgerald ($10M+), Darnell Dockett ($7.7M+) and Adrian Wilson ($5M+). They are currently about $750K over the cap.

4- You essentially have all the same dudes in Football Operations outside of the old GM for numerous seasons. Everybody just moved up the ladder one rung.

[Rockstar Matt]

Yeah, I don't see how Penn State got off "easy"

For the amount of hell Sandusky put those kids through, the whole university system knowing about it but keeping silence, and of their idiotic fan base saying Sandusky and Paterno deserve no blame, Penn State should have gotten a permanent death penalty and immediate stripping of all athletic funds to the university. The whole wiping of 14 years worth of games and their scholarship losses is in my book a "slap in the wrist."

I'm one of those who think Penn St. Football got hit too hard. Punish those who committed and covered up the crime severely (which they did) but don't punish the student-athletes who had nothing, nothing to do with it. That's my only problem with the post-season ban on Penn. St. Those football players had nothing to do with it.

EDIT: Back on topic: I hope Kiffin can coach the Cowboys Defense to a top 10 ranking in yards allowed and points allowed.

[thespleenenator]

Yeah, I don't see how Penn State got off "easy"

For the amount of hell Sandusky put those kids through, the whole university system knowing about it but keeping silence, and of their idiotic fan base saying Sandusky and Paterno deserve no blame, Penn State should have gotten a permanent death penalty and immediate stripping of all athletic funds to the university. The whole wiping of 14 years worth of games and their scholarship losses is in my book a "slap in the wrist."

I'm one of those who think Penn St. Football got hit too hard. Punish those who committed and covered up the crime severely (which they did) but don't punish the student-athletes who had nothing, nothing to do with it. That's my only problem with the post-season ban on Penn. St. Those football players had nothing to do with it.

EDIT: Back on topic: I hope Kiffin can coach the Cowboys Defense to a top 10 ranking in yards allowed and points allowed.

Monte Kiffin took USCs defense and turned it into a laughing stock. I'm not sure how he's gonna get the Cowboys to a top 10 defense when Bob Ryan couldn't.

[Kramerica Industries]

To which I, again, dare you to submit a plausible alternative punishment.

It may suck for the players there who are indirectly punished for crimes and infractions that they had no connection to, but there was no other way the NCAA could punish the university. Besides, all student-athletes had the option of transferring to another university without having to sit out a year. Those that are there are there on their own choice.

[Rockstar Matt]

Yeah, I don't see how Penn State got off "easy"

For the amount of hell Sandusky put those kids through, the whole university system knowing about it but keeping silence, and of their idiotic fan base saying Sandusky and Paterno deserve no blame, Penn State should have gotten a permanent death penalty and immediate stripping of all athletic funds to the university. The whole wiping of 14 years worth of games and their scholarship losses is in my book a "slap in the wrist."

I'm one of those who think Penn St. Football got hit too hard. Punish those who committed and covered up the crime severely (which they did) but don't punish the student-athletes who had nothing, nothing to do with it. That's my only problem with the post-season ban on Penn. St. Those football players had nothing to do with it.

EDIT: Back on topic: I hope Kiffin can coach the Cowboys Defense to a top 10 ranking in yards allowed and points allowed.

Monte Kiffin took USCs defense and turned it into a laughing stock. I'm not sure how he's gonna get the Cowboys to a top 10 defense when Bob Ryan couldn't.

Shhhhh.... I'm trying to make sense of the hire, not listen to reason

[Still MIGHTY]

Bruce Arians was a great coach for Indy and handled Andrew Luck brilliantly.

He's a great hire for the Cards... Except they don't have Andrew Luck.

[FiddySicks]

Yeah, I don't see how Penn State got off "easy"

For the amount of hell Sandusky put those kids through, the whole university system knowing about it but keeping silence, and of their idiotic fan base saying Sandusky and Paterno deserve no blame, Penn State should have gotten a permanent death penalty and immediate stripping of all athletic funds to the university. The whole wiping of 14 years worth of games and their scholarship losses is in my book a "slap in the wrist."

I'm one of those who think Penn St. Football got hit too hard. Punish those who committed and covered up the crime severely (which they did) but don't punish the student-athletes who had nothing, nothing to do with it. That's my only problem with the post-season ban on Penn. St. Those football players had nothing to do with it.

EDIT: Back on topic: I hope Kiffin can coach the Cowboys Defense to a top 10 ranking in yards allowed and points allowed.

Monte Kiffin took USCs defense and turned it into a laughing stock. I'm not sure how he's gonna get the Cowboys to a top 10 defense when Bob Ryan couldn't.

Shhhhh.... I'm trying to make sense of the hire, not listen to reason

As a Bucs fan, I think it's a great hire. Half of the problem Kiffin had was that he was coaching a college team that was under severe restrictions, so it was basically impossible to get players with enough speed to run his defense. A lot of those problems should go away in the NFL. Sure, the Tampa 2 isn't what it used to be, but it's a system that is heavily dependent on finding the athletes who can properly run it.

[The_Admiral]

And opposing teams that don't throw lots of five-yard slants.

[tBBP]

One thing people need to understand is that no matter what base defense you run, it inherently has some weakness somewhere. By virtue of the way the Cover-2 is designed, slant routes are often available—and again, by design (it's a zone scheme, meaning that 7-yard bubble can be exploited). If you go look back at all those Tampa defensive statistics from like '96 to '02, you probably won't see too many impressive passing yards-against stats. Here's why: it's a bend-but-don't-break system, designed to keep everything underneath and inside—and in Tampa's case, if you watched the angles they took, even those were designed to funnel ballcarriers back to the inside.

The key, however, is upfront pressure. That's also precisely how the Steelers of the past 10 years or so, with all that great front-seven pressure, managed to hide the relative weakness of their defensive secondary all those years—outside of Polamalu, the only half-decent DB they had was Ike Taylor. Those games in which Polamalu didn't play proved it...only in more recent years have more people began to realize that, though.

Back to the point, though...any successful defensive scheme is dependent on having the right people to run it. Noe I don't know the specifics of Dallas' defensive personnel right now, but if they don't have the right kind of people, don't expect all that big a jump, if any at all, come next season. (And even if they do, they still have to learn the nuances of the system if they've never played in it.) & That's called being realistic.

[Sport]

And the Bengals hang onto Mike Zimmer and Jay Gruden for another year. I could take or leave Gruden, but Zimmer is one of the best D-Coordinators in the NFL. He would've tough to replace.

[chuckymack]

^^^ Agreed. Glad we kept Zimmer.

[Island_Style]

I am so stoked on Bradley. I like this guy a lot. I am so happy Kelly found his way to Philadelphia. Yeah, I know, he needs talent. I like Caldwell too. I like the future of my team. I haven't felt this good in awhile. I was livid about the Mularkey hire and was sour on Del Rio since 08.

[Mings]

Agreed with Zimmer. Gruden, I would have been ok if he left. It feels like he isn't getting the best out of the talent the team has on offense.

[pmoehrin]

Now its Marty Mornhinweg's turn to try to fix Mark Sanchez.

I actually don't think its a bad hire, but I'm not sure if the Jets offense could be fixed even if they were allowed to hand pick their offensive coordinator.

Rumors are starting to fly they might go out and get Michael Vick, but I actually think there's a pretty good chance he could stay in Philly if the Eagles don't see anybody they like in the draft that could start right away and outside of Geno Smith I really don't see anybody that could be that person. They would have to rework his contract, but from Vick's perspective I don't see a better fit for him then Philly if they offer him the starting job.

[CS85]

Bleacher Report (yeah, I know, bleh) is saying that if the Browns want to get backup Patriots QB Ryan Mallett, it would take the 6th overall pick in this year's draft to do so.

I have no idea what any of this means. The article is really thin and speculative (re: Bleacher Report), but it's something to further make Browns fans have another twitchy night.

[pmoehrin]

Bleacher Report (yeah, I know, bleh) is saying that if the Browns want to get backup Patriots QB Ryan Mallett, it would take the 6th overall pick in this year's draft to do so.

I have no idea what any of this means. The article is really thin and speculative (re: Bleacher Report), but it's something to further make Browns fans have another twitchy night.

My opinion of the Browns is that they are the closest team to making the playoffs then most people think. I really don't look at them as the same old sorry Browns.

That being said I really don't know what to think about this move. On one hand drafting Brandon Weeden in the first round was a mistake. The Browns significantly overestimated his value and already I would say its cost them. If they were that desperate for a QB, then why not offer the Rams a similar package to the one the Redskins offered them, or trade up to draft Ryan Tannehill, or draft Brock Osweiler or Russell Wilson? Any way you cut it, drafting Weeden was a major mistake on their part.

That being said, They do need a QB for the future and Mallett is one of those players where there's alot of pros and cons to. Had he had his head screwed on right no question he would have been the number one pick in the '11 draft. His arm is as good as any starting QB in the NFL today, he's starting enough games in college and played in a pro style system as well.

The cons are is willing to put in the work to become an elite QB? That's a much tougher question to answer and you need both in order to be an elite QB in the NFL.

My question would be who would the Patriots be looking to draft in the Browns spot and the two guy that stick out to me are Damontre Moore and Bjoern Werner. So you you have to ask yourself how much do they value those two players and that will tell you what they think of Ryan Mallett, because Tom Brady has maybe five years left in him. My guess is if they were really that convinced Mallett was the man, the wouldn't be trading him for a defensive end.

I wouldn't do it if I were the Browns. I would take the pick and make do with either Weeden or another QB for at least a year. My view is that if the Patriots were that convinced Mallett was as good as what they are demanding for him then they would double down and be looking for offers for Brady as well. Plus why would you draft a QB and then look to trade him before ever putting him in a game? I think they already realize they made a mistake drafting him and are hoping Bill Belichick's reputation as a talent evaluator is enough to rip off at least one team.