Topic: 🏈🏈 The American Football Discussion Thread 🏈🏈 - page 252. (Read 57572 times)

"Tampa is the expected landing spot for Tom Brady barring anything unforeseen, sources tell me and @JeffDarlington." tweet

I guess it's a done deal then if Adam Schefter is reporting the news...

Bucs extended Mike Evans last week through 2023 season, as tyKiwanuka pointed out Brady will have a lot of options on offense in contrast of what he had last year.

"Super Bowl LV - The game is scheduled to be played on February 7, 2021, in Tampa, Florida." 

Phew, what a shocker. Never thought, this would really happen. I remember how sad I was, when Eli Manning was benched, because it was the start of the end of him (and meant his incredible consecutive starts streak came to an end too). His official retirement last season was not that hard to swallow for me, because I was prepared and tbh he just didn't have it anymore and it was time to move on.
Feeling sorry for the Pats Nation and can imagine what the fans go through now. Such a legend. I started following the NFL only in 2003 and there always was the Patriots with Brady as their goat QB being glued together. Will be really strange to have the Pats without him.

But otoh I am also curious to see what NE can do without him and what Brady can do with another team.

My greatest nightmare as a NE fan has become a reality, Tom Brady is leaving and will play for another team, Brady has not made a decision on what team he will play next but it is definitive he will not play for NE, what a great run we had, most likely it will take a long time before we see anything like the success NE had during the last 20 years on any NFL team, thanks for the memories and for all the joy we experimented over the years and decades.

Lots of stuff happening already

LB Kyle Van Noy and CB Byron Jones are Dolphins now, Stefon Diggs signed with the Bills, Jimmy Graham from Green Bay to Chicago, Colts traded their first round pick for DeForest Buckner , DeAndre Hopkins signs with the Cardinals , Cowboys tagged Dak and gave Cooper five year deal, OT Conklin goes to Browns (too bad, would have loved to see him with the Giants), OG Glasgow to Broncos, NT Jason Hargrave from Steelers to Eagles.

Hard to keep up with all the news and it's just starting

Would like to see TB in TB^^ They already have an explosive offense and I enjoyed watching them last season. Adding Brady should guarantee them a playoff spot as you said. Their defense could benefit from this move as well, since Brady will allow them more rest than Winston did. I still think Winston is a good QB, but a Bruce Arians offense is probably a bit too much for him and his abilities and confidence.

The Titans locked up Tannehill now, so Brady will at least not go to the Titans. TEN will pay him $118mln on paper for four years, which is insane imo. He is a middle of the pack QB in my book, who just happened to have a very good stretch last season and was also helped by an incredible RB and very good quality around him overall. I guess, this is what you have to pay nowadays, but I don't like that deal. If the team doesn't click after last seasons tremendous achievement, TEN will regret that signing very soon imo. Titans will now tag Henry most likely.

With such a narrow margin of victory it is interesting to think that most likely the current world events had a lot to do with the quick approval of the CBA taking into account how many of the most prominent NFL stars seemed to be against it, it seemed as if this was going to be rejected but many of them never gave an explanation for their reasons and it seems the rest of the players decided to accept this deal because we do not know how bad things could get from now on and they took whatever deal they had in front of them.


Tampa Bay has been in the mix of the teams Tom Brady could end up for some time and it makes sense, Winston had 30 interceptions and 5 fumbles lost and they went 7-9 because of it, Brady could easily lead them to go 10-6 or even 11-5, however it is a little bit sad but completely understandable that so many sports cancelled their activities and quite honestly the only thing left for me to be excited about is the NFL Free Agency.

New CBA was voted and approved today by the NFL players with just 60 votes more in favor of the agreement 1,019 to 959.

NFL players approve new CBA, runs through 2030

Some key takeaways from the new CBA:

• "17 regular-season games as early as the 2021"
• "Adding two additional playoff teams"
• "New labor agreement limits teams to using only one franchise tag."
• "The 14-team playoff would have the top seed earning a first-round bye while seeds No. 2 through No. 7 would play on Wild-Card Weekend."
• "The expanded playoff is expected to begin in 2020."

sources and more information:

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-players-vote-to-ratify-new-cba-extending-labor-peace-through-2030-141728474.html
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-players-vote-to-approve-cba-17-game-season-and-expanded-playoffs-on-horizon/

Looks like the 2020 NFL Draft is in danger to be postponed and also Free Agency is being discussed about. With all sports more or less on hold, I have to admit, I am a bit bored and was really looking forward to have at least FA to cheer me up. With some hope left, I had a look at the cap space from each team at spotrac:


From what I read, Bruce Arians is very interested in getting Tom Brady and TB certainly has some cap space available. Should be interesting what trades and signings will be made and tbh I find FA way more interesting than the draft, because apart from a few players, I am not very familiar with those gazillions of college players.

This is without a doubt a mess that could have been avoided, last year they had the opportunity to extend Brady’s contract and it should not have been an issue because that is what Brady wanted as well, at first it seemed that was the case when the first reports indicated that Brady was extended for two years, when that happened I thought that was probably a little shorter than what Brady wanted but it was definitely a step on the right direction, but then when it was revealed those two years will be void then everyone realized it was not really an extension at all.

To me this seems to be a miscalculation, as I have said it seems NE really thought Brady will never consider leaving or taking any offer other than their own and they are discovering too late this is not the case, now in the best case scenario they get to keep Brady but at an higher price than what it could have been possible one year ago and in the worst case scenario Brady leaves and they are unable to hire a good enough replacement to try to remain competitive.

Of course it's not about the money. Brady has played his whole career getting average money while arguably being the GOAT. It was his choice and for the love to the Patriots, but also easy to do, if your wife earns even more money than you^^

What I wanted to point out, is, that the Patriots (or Belichick) are creating a mess, where there is no need to. Lets assume Brady would be williing to play for 10mln/year for the Patriots. Now the Titans/Raiders offer him 25mln/year. Of course Brady is still not looking for the money, but he got the taste of what other teams are willing to offer him and how much they would value his services. So in his subtle mind this might still be present, when getting back into negotiations with the Patriots. Now maybe, he wants to have 15mln/year from the Patriots. Not from a money point of view, but for his pride. So Belichick probably drove the price up, while having no real backup plan (probably he has one, but I don't see it, maybe Rivers will go there ).

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Unfortunately the coverage of MLS is not very good here or the games are taking place during night hours. I always like to watch MLS when I am able to and put your thread on notification already. No fan of a particular team, just like the entertainment and the offensive-minded playing style of most teams.

I agree with South Park, Brady has never particularly driven by the money.  Considering his success he could easily have gotten huge contracts over the years, but instead, he has opted to take pay-cuts to help keep the team competitive in other positions.  I think he's rather win Super Bowls than be the highest payed Quarterback of the week.  He also knows that his best chances of winning Super Bowls are with the Patriots.

And lets not forget that players earn a significant amount for every post season game they play (and more if they win,) and a huge sum for the Super Bowl.  If I'm not mistaken, the pay for extra games is in addition to the figure agreed upon in their contracts. 

Whatever games Brady or Belichick might be playing, I would venture to guess that a big payday isn't what Brady is after, or what the Patriots are trying to avoid.  I really believe that Brady would like to prove himself as the GOAT, and not have his entire carrier include the asterisk named Belichick.  The past week I've been seeing a lot speculation about Brady coming to the 9ers, but I really don't think there's much chance of that happening.  The 9ers need help, but it ain't in the quarterback position.  They can move away from Garoppolo without any salary cap hit, and make a decent deal to get Brady, but I really don't think that would be the right direction for the team to go.

Belichick would like to keep winning, and he's calculated about it.  His quarter back doesn't have to be named Brady remain in contention, but it wouldn't hurt.  Like any calculated coach ought to, he'll keep his emotions out of the decision, and do what's best for his team.  Right now his options are open, and there's no need to rush to a decision.

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I'm sorry to say that I'm already over it.  The new season of Major League Soccer started up last weekend, and I'm anxious to see how LAFC does.  I'll keep watching the XLF games through out the week, but I'll be selective about them.  I haven't picked a team I'd like to root for, so that may be the reason for my indifference.

I do not really think this is about money, Brady has been charging less than 15 million per season with the exception of last year in which he received a bonus of 8 millions, which is great but we know what he wants, he has been asking for a contract extension for years and NE has refused to give that to him, right now what we are seeing is a game of chicken in which NE believed Brady will never leave the organization no matter what and thinking they can do whatever they want with him, Brady is trying to give the opposite impression by putting his house up for sale, having public conversations with other coaches and owners and hitting free agency.

As a NE fan I know that we will have to eventually have to face the future without Brady but he is the image of the franchise and to let him walk away is probably never be forgotten or forgiven by the fans.

However the wants of Brady and Belichick run contrary to each other, Brady wants some help on the offence since last year was a complete disaster and I find hard to believe most QBs on the NFL could do better than Brady under those conditions, but Belichick knows he will have to move on from Brady and the next QB that takes over is not going to be as good so he is trying to build NE as they were at the beginning of the dynasty, he is trying to build a very strong defence and a running game so they do not depend on their QB play that much.

In my opinion it does not seem like there is a way to solve this and Brady will play for another team next season, Indianapolis or Tennessee will be good landing spots but if he gets to play for SF or Dallas the whole NFL will go crazy over the move.

It is clear some level of decline is present in Brady, he is 42 and will be 43 at the beginning of the regular season, however if you compare him to any other QB that got to play to his age he is still doing great and he can still pull of some of his magic when he needs it the most.

Time for XFL again

Houston should have no problems with Seattle, so not really interested in that one, but will watch nevertheless. If there is only few points scored come halftime, I will probably jump on the over. The New York at Dallas game is more interesting, too bad it's not the Giants and Cowboys. Dallas will miss Landry Jones for this one and that is why I will have a gamble on New York with small stakes. They were ok-ish last week and with Luis Perez at QB they looked way better offensively. They showed better balance and the running game was more productive due to being more efficient through the air. I expect to lose this bet, but odds are too high imo, lets see, 2.50-2.80 would be more reasonable.

I read some reports today, that spoke about a phone call between Belichick and Brady with no results at all and now I saw this tweet:


Source: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1235288819987075073

It wouldn’t be the first time, the Patriots play some mind games, but I don’t see the benefit for the Patriots here. If he gets into negotiations with Titans/Raiders/49ers, it will just drive his price up for the Patriots to keep him. I think those three teams would be willing to pay him way more money, than the Patriots are willing to do.
And Belichick imo has a very good feel, when players are done. We have seen numerous players leaving the Patriots and never being as good again as they were with the Patriots. This might be due to the “Patriots System”, but also Belichick seeing certain players regressing, what other coaches might not see/realize.

I am not yet giving up on the XFL, but todays game was horrible to watch and my bet of course lost. Metlife was more or less empty for todays spectacle, I would think there was maybe 5,000 people. They are used to bad football in that place, but this was something else today. And I don't know why it looks/feels so bad. Part of it is surely the missing atmosphere, but there is so few action happening on the field too. They were mostly battling for field position and I don't know, how many visits to redzone there were - maybe 2. All FG's had to be made from miles away and while Josh Johnson showed some good throws, this Perez QB from New York was just pathetic; it was the quite good and relentless running game that kept them alive and made them win as big-ish underdogs.

I might be totally wrong, but just by watching the games, I think the top College teams would have no problem beating these XFL teams.

I will skip the second game today, because I need a break

Yes and no.  From a practical side, we already have a quarterback that's essentially a developing clone of Brady.  Both are the quintessential pocket passers, but one is far younger and likely has more years left to play.

On the other hand, I would like nothing more than to see the GOAT in a 49er's uniform.  Imagine if Shanahan was coaching Brady under center this past Superbowl, would his play calling have been so conservative?  I think both would have inspired the other to take a few more chances, and so it goes.  If it were to happen (which I believe is highly unlikely) I would think of it as couple of years while developing a promising draft pick.  But that strategy is risky, and I don't think Lynch or Shanahan want to go down that road.


Damn, that's a hard-core NFL fan there.



I've playing the games while I do other stuff around the house, but I have to say they can be pretty entertaining.  There are some decent players in the league, it's almost like watching a college game.  Anything can happen at any time, and turn the game around.  So far I'm impressed with the XFL.

Some impressive performance from OT Mekhi Becton at NFL Scouting Combine. 6'7'' (205cm) tall, 364 lbs (165kg) and ran a 5.11sec 40-yd dash Was done afterwards with a harmstring though

See the vid here, dude can run: https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1233502992747331585

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I missed last weekends XFL games, but will have a look today again, lol. Looks like bookmakers have adjusted their o/u lines already with both todays game having low-ish lines around 39. Will take the over for the Wildcats@Guardians game and if it wins, the over for the Dragons@BattleHawks game afterwards. At some point the players should be more in sync and points should rain (wishful thinking here).

Well, just imagine Brady would indeed go to the 49ers - would you like it or not ?

There were some reports every now and then linking him to the Giants. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I wouldn't like it. Now the Giants on contrary to the 49ers are in rebuild mode (for ages already ) and I have the feeling that a signing of Brady would rather harm this whole process and progress and the Giants are no contenders for the time being anyway. They would have to start all over more or less and build a system around Brady, because I don't think he will (want to) fit into the existing scheme or the scheme they are trying to build. So assuming Brady has maybe 2-3 years left in him, he could possibly get them into the playoffs again, but not much more. You would be kind of wasting 2-3 years for a little short-term success and once he retires, you are starting from scratch again.

I'm not a big fan of watching paint dry baseball, so I don't follow the MLB, that's news to me.  I've been to several Giants' games, and at least one A's game in my time.  Going to the ballpark to watch a game is a lot of fun, but other than that I can't seem to get into it.

To speak to your other point; I know the NFL has been losing viewership in the US for a couple of years now.  I'm sure it was a shock to the NFL, which seemed to enjoy nothing but growth for decades, regardless of what they did to fuck it up.  I'm not exactly sure what factors are contributing, but some speculate it was partially due to Kaepernick and his protest antics.  The league didn't want to alienate anyone so they just ignored the whole thing, hoping it would go away.  It caused many to regard the league office as being anit-American, and anti Law Enforcement.  Not the best way to gain popularity with their target demographic.

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I think that would be a great fit for both the team and Rivers.  The Colts have a long history of picking smart quarterbacks who can be a coach while lining up under center.

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I think you're absolutely right about that.  I agree that Tom Brady would like nothing more than to retire on a Sunday in early February while wearing a Pats uniform.  Alternately, Brady has never shied away from expressing his life-long love for the 49ers.  He's a bay area native, grew up a Niner's fan, and his family are still, to this day, steadfast Niner's fans.  True faithful.  I always thought that if Brady left NE the most appealing place for him to land would be SF.  I don't think that's in the cards, barring some strange turn of events, it's very unlikely to happen.

There are more and more reports speculating about Rivers being a Colt next season. Looks like they are done with Brissett, who only has a two year contract, and want to move on. I read about some connections from Colts coaching staff to Rivers (his former QB coach and some other guy that used to be with the Chargers iirc).
Rivers would have an above average O-Line to work with, so that is a plus, but not sure if it/he will be enough to get the Colts out of mediocrity. The AFC South used to be the worst division in the NFL for a long time, but it has gotten way better, even without having a top tier team (I don't think the Texans are top tier). Wide open division.

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This report says Brady will enter free agency, but I am still not sold on that. Would be very weird to see him in another uniform and I think deep down inside he wants to stay in New England no matter what and retire a lifelong Patriot.