Yeah, I can see possibly going through something like that for a starter but a backup? Weird.
We will forever disagree about Jay Cutler, but I agree that he, by himself, wasn’t the root of the problem. The root of the problem was the Bears valuation of him. From giving up two first round and a third draft picks to get him, to buying him free agents on offense (Bushrod, Marshall, Bennett), to paying him much more than he produced, the Bears tried everything to build the team around him. Those decisions really hurt their defense, which you’ve seen recently and even now. They thought he was something he’s not, and have paid the price with recent mediocrity.
I’m a bit surprised the Bears wouldn’t match his “prove it” contract with the Eagles, but he’s completely unreliable as you said. I’m guessing that there is stuff going on at Halas Hall that we don’t know about that raise questions about his health/work ethic/ability to play well with others.
I think Lurch is a desperation signing, but the Bears could have done worse. Ask Houston about paying a ton of money for unproven backup. I do like Glennon a ton better than Osweiler, though, and he may actually be a solid signing.
The bigger problem is that the Bears, relying on Jay Cutler again, never drafted/developed/invested in a young QB. Sure there were Fales and Enderle, but the Bears never tried to really invest in the position like they should have. I’m a huge advocate of always drafting a QB, even when the position is set on your team. But I agree with you that they really need to start doing that now. Maybe Mahomes or Webb.
The Bears do deserve some credit for last years’ work in free agency. Akiem Hicks, Jerrell Freeman, maybe Danny Trevathan played well last year. If the Bears can do with their secondary what they did last year up front, they might not be horrible on defense again.
Whitehair was very impressive last year for a young player, and seems like he has a great future. I’d worry that the heavy investment in the center of the line has left steaming piles of garbage outside, which will get their QB killed and limit their success.
Should be an interesting draft for the Bears. They’ve struggled recently getting anything of value out of their first round picks (with the exception of Kyle Long who, while overrated and overpaid, isn’t the bust guys like Shea McClellan and Gabe Carimi were), but maybe, just maybe, Fuller becomes a #1 CB (he won’t), White stays healthy and lives up to his physical skills (he might), and Leonard Floyd becomes more than a situational pass rusher (answer unclear, ask again later). It does make me smile though that the Bears are picking at #3 after another lousy season though.
I feel like the **Giants **should be a bit better than last year with the free agency moves, but hoping for a ready to play OT in the draft, that would make the biggest difference at this point.
I’m very happy Newhouse is departed and hopefully Flowers shows improvement. I love the WR options that will be out there for Manning to throw to.
Again the Lions are hard to judge. Wagner and Lang, while not without risks, and huge money commitments, were two of the best moves the have made in recent memory(not a high bar really). But they topped it off with some extremely questionable defensive rejects from other teams.
Ran into this sad story: Former KU and Chicago Bears great Gale Sayers is battling dementia.
I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath for this: Tom Brady’s stolen jersey has been found by the FBI, overseas, in the possession of an international media member. They also found his jersey which went missing after Super Bowl XLIX, stolen by the same person. Weird.
And former 49er Wide Reciever Dwight Clark (“The Catch”) is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)
Another sad story notfrommensa. 
The Jets signed Josh McCown, so their QB problems are solved. I do think McCown was probably the best QB on Cleveland’s roster last couple years, he just couldn’t stay healthy. He’s exactly what you want in a backup. The Jets should still draft a QB this year, though. They have swung and missed on their last couple late round QB picks, Petty and Hackenburg.
Who’s he backing up, Fitzpatrick? Smith signed with the Giants to back up Eli. I think it was a mistake to do that. They should have kept him and cut or benched Fitzy the INT machine.
The Seahawks beat (destroyed) Fitz last year even though their own QB was pretty much playing on crutches. He shouldn’t be a starter.
In other news:
The NFL is going to look at reducing commercial breaks, especially the “extra point, commercial, Kick off, commercial” sequence:
One big change being voted on is moving to a centralized replay system:
http://epidm.edgesuite.net/CMS/NFL/Harmony/CAMPAIGN_IMAGES/2017/LEGENDS/20170323_LegendsNL_March_P2_1/html/Commissioners_Email.html
Raiders move being voted on next week and pretty much guaranteed to happen:
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/03/22/las-vegas-raiders-relocation-fee-nfl-owners-meetings
Fitzpatrick should be a free agent, McNown is going to complete to start.
Right now, McCown is the starter. Fitz was cut shortly after the SB to void the second year of his pact. The NYJ have a looong hill to climb.
This is good. One of my major pet peeves in watching a game on TV is when they come back from a commercial break, show a kickoff that goes for a touchback, and go right back to another goddamned commercial.
That is an interesting development. I know the NFL’s TV ratings were way down, and a multitude of reasons were given. It was even discussed here. The OP of that thread mentioned too many commercials, and a few others agreed. But also mentioned were head injuries, domestic violence, the refs suck, my team sucks, football has become oversaturated, the weather is too nice, and just found better things to do.
My understanding of the upcoming changes to commercial breaks is they’ll have longer breaks, but fewer of them. Roger Goodell said the goal is not to make the games shorter. Just to keep people more engaged.
It’s quite possible the election did impact the NLF’s ratings, so they’ll probably be up next season regardless.
Raiders moving to Vegas
No way the NFL would pass up planting a franchise in Sin City.
And of course, the kickoff itself is probably sponsored by Bud Light or something, so it’s like getting a bonus commercial thrown in!
and the NFL has lost one more pair of eyeballs. Fuck all of them.
Will they be the Vegas Raiders (like the Golden Knights) or Las Vegas Raiders? (I’m hoping for the latter, it’s similar to the Los Angeles Raiders name I remember.)