2017 NFL Off-season Thread (Draft, Injuries, Firings & Police Blotter Edition)

There are always quite a few retirements this time of year, but it does seem like a few more than usual. Definitely a few guys walking away early.

Three years after using two first-round draft picks and a fourth-round draft pick to acquire him, the Bills are moving on from Sammy Watkins.

Watkins, the talented but so far disappointing wide receiver, has been traded to the Rams. To replace him, the Bills have acquired receiver Jordan Matthews from the Eagles.

The Bills announced that they’ve shipped Watkins and a sixth-round draft pick to the Rams for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a second-round draft pick. Separately, the Bills announced that they sent cornerback Ronald Darby to the Eagles for Jordan Matthews and a third-round draft pick.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/08/11/bills-trade-sammy-watkins-to-rams-get-jordan-matthews-from-eagles/

Zeke suspended for six games

the report

http://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/photo/2017/08/11/0ap3000000828569.pdf

i want every player to sit for every anthem all season

That's not good. #Jets #Hackenberg pic.twitter.com/W4ljH0aftT

— New York Jet Fuel (@NewYorkJetFuel) August 20, 2017

Life comes at you fast, especially if you're a Jets QB

(Video via @viral__sports) #NYJvsDETpic.twitter.com/IlaWxiiBZC

— YourSports (@YourSports) August 20, 2017

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/21/cleveland-browns-national-anthem-protest-giants

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20419408/eric-winston-nflpa-president-says-care-nfl-dies-20-years-work-stoppage

gets it

former espn titans guy paul kuharsky just started a homebrew patreon. he will be friends with you for $100/mo

You get a site subscription plus major perks in the form of access to me. You’re invited to four get togethers a year where I will buy the first round and we will build a circle of trust and talk about a lot of stuff that doesn’t wind up in print. These events may feature special guests. You’ll get me and my bad golf game in your foursome once a year, or if you don’t golf we’ll find a comparable way to get together. You’ll get a spot in a Pick ‘Em pool where we will all pick every game all season long against the spread and see if we can fare better than a coin flip. (I’ve lost to the coin before.) You’ll get my cell phone number and be part of some group texts in addition to being able to text me within reason.

what if there is no reason to text?

here are my football bets this year so far:

Cowboys over 9.5 wins
Jets over 4 wins
Stafford to throw over 23.5 TDs
Ben Roethilsburghergh to play less than 14.5 games

Big Ben one seems like free money but I'm reluctant to throw more on it

roffles one does seem like easy money but the others all make me a lil uncomfortable. certainly i don't want to be the guy betting on the jets to win games. but good luck!

Cowboys I got locked in right after the Zeke suspension dropped the line by a full game. They've got a tough schedule but I think they're actually going to be quite good, plus Zeke's probably only getting at the most 4, likely only 2 or 3

Jets - yeah I don't wanna be that guy either, but the line was good (+160) and I still split on 4-12. It's kind of difficult to project with any accuracy that a team is going to lose 13 games. Granted Jets do seem to be on that trajectory, but if I squint hard enough I can almost see them being better than last year ??? IDK

Stafford one is entirely up to him staying healthy. He doesn't throw as many TDs as I thought he did but I think the Lions will have to rely heavily on his arm as always, they're probably gonna be behind a lot which usually inflates those numbers

for sure i can see any of those coming in. nfc east seems like it might be strong this year so 10 wins might've be hard for dallas to find with a full zeke season. cue the nfc east being hot garbage now i have said that tho. stafford line is so well set, career wise 24 looks like an average season for him, but i think where he is at now 24 is actually a good season. but that's a good point about them maybe having to throw from behind more.

Jamaal Charles looks like Jamaal Charles
Charean Williams,ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports 12 hours ago

Jamaal Charles looked like Jamaal Charles in limited work Saturday night in his preseason debut.

a man runs the ball

Time was a man run the ball down the street

Workshop an ilnfl post: I want to write a post about how I feel bad for vontaze burfict that he got suspended 5 games for a hit that might not even have been illegal, and I can't decide whether to end it with '...not!' or 'sike!'

I guess the most important thing is fuck that guy

meanwhile:

This is the coldest move by a punter I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/TBlGStBsvi

— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) August 27, 2017

niiiice

no joke - Matt Stafford is now the highest paid player in NFL history
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20491086

not all that surprising - he ain't great, but he's above-average, and a lot of teams would pay out the nose for someone above average at the QB position

his career earnings must be thru the roof too.

Jets starting QB week 1- wait for it - Josh McCown.

fortunately they'll be able to supplement their stable of garbage qb prospects with a top 5 pick in the next draft

shut up guys they're going 5-11

lol

i don't really know where their defense is supposed to be at this year but it feels like they've drafted approx 1m defense players in the last few drafts so maybe that will all come together for them

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/08/20/nfls-bennett-brothers-show-two-sides-of-activism-for-martellus-bennett-thats-political-cartooning
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX9HeDhguqS
super trenchant

tbf, he appears to be a better cartoonist than a lotta guys currently publishing in newspapers

would be much better if the can said "Bepis"

this is p interesting, on the evolution of qb evaluation

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/8/31/16231484/quarterback-problem-evaluation-spread-dak-prescott-derek-carr

Random Aaron Rodgers fan kisses him on the head and he looks at the camera like he's in an episode of The Office 😂 pic.twitter.com/4XNhqmM2uK

— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) September 1, 2017

nfl twitter is extremely excited about patrick mahomes

mostly because of this

http://i.imgur.com/pvZHfzn.gif

personally i want to know why he looks backwards at one point

jets trade sheldon richardson to seattle for jermaine kearse and some loose change. seattle gets even stronger in a position of strength and looks to be left with a shallow and fragile wr corps. meanwhile, frogbs's 5 wins for the jets is starting to look like everest.

The Cleveland Browns are releasing quarterback Brock Osweiler, sources confirmed to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The Browns owe Osweiler $16 million, but Cleveland does get Houston's 2018 second-round pick as part of the offseason trade between the two.

going back to the broncos apparently.

Lol