# NFL Offseason - Free Agency through Minicamps **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 4, 2015, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162 "2015-03-04T01:35:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/121 "2015-03-13T21:40:28Z")
Resolved: Cutler sucks. There being no objection, the motion passes. Next order of business? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/122 "2015-03-14T05:43:25Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I admit, it is a case where I’m gloating. When he was drafted, we disagreed on him. When the Bears traded for him, we disagreed on him. The entirety of his career, we disagreed on him. We’ve argued about how he does, and how he plays. > > And now we have the results. You’ve run out of excuses, you’ve run out of reasons to defend his average to sub-average pay. I was right, you were wrong, and that sticks in your craw. **Were I a better man, I wouldn’t continue to raise it**. The smack talk has reached epic reality levels. Everyone but Omni knows that Cutler sucks (and MY team has Andy Dalton, you should be thanking your lucky stars!) and in spite of everything I might prefer Dalton. That bolded bit is awesome smack talk. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/123 "2015-03-14T13:23:39Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > The smack talk has reached epic reality levels. Everyone but Omni knows that Cutler sucks (and MY team has Andy Dalton, you should be thanking your lucky stars!) and in spite of everything I might prefer Dalton. I don’t believe he’s worth a $100 million contract, but he wins (39-23-1 regular season). Until the playoffs, at least. Cutler OTOH is only 3 games over .500 for his career (62-59). For comparison, Joe Flacco, in a nearly identical number of starts, is 82-45 (.646), including a 10-5 playoff record. Now obviously, a players’ record is more than a reflection of him alone, but still, it’s there; the players at the top of [this list](http://www.footballdb.com/stats/qb-records.html) aren’t there by accident. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/124 "2015-03-14T15:14:06Z")
Dolphins trading in a poor performing Mike Wallace and going with the newly acquired Kenny Stills as their deep threat. Makes _some_ sense since Wallace wasn’t about to be number 2, but it still doesn’t help their situation berry much… ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/125 "2015-03-14T19:12:57Z")
The Niners [officially](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Report-49ers-will-add-RB-Reggie-Bush-6134111.php) add a target out of the backfield for Kap to miss. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/126 "2015-03-14T20:41:17Z")
That’s silly. You can’t throw passes to running backs. What? It IS legal? And often a highly play? Somebody should tell the 49ers’ OC. What? He was fired for ignoring this and similarly effective plays for no good reason? ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/127 "2015-03-14T22:47:29Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > That’s silly. You can’t throw passes to running backs. > What? It IS legal? And often a highly play? Somebody should tell the 49ers’ OC. > What? He was fired for ignoring this and similarly effective plays for no good reason? That too. Of course when he did remember to use it Kap over or under threw it. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/128 "2015-03-15T00:57:53Z")
Vikings release WR Greg Jennings. Baltimore needs another receiver (and a TE, but one thing at a time), and Jennings would make a great addition there. Not sure if they have enough cap room to sign him, but it’s worth a shot. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/129 "2015-03-15T01:11:38Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > Vikings release WR Greg Jennings. Baltimore needs another receiver (and a TE, but one thing at a time), and Jennings would make a great addition there. Not sure if they have enough cap room to sign him, but it’s worth a shot. Or he’ll go to the Dolphins. Ew. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/130 "2015-03-15T08:52:50Z")
I haven’t been around the boards for a while, but I had to come back from vacation to point out how thrilled I am to see the Eagles completely and utterly shoot themselves in the dick this offseason. Really, no fooling, as a Giants fan I was legitimately worried about what the next decade was going to look like with an innovative HC and one of the smartest and most consistent front offices heading up my most loathed franchise. _Phew_ I know this has already been covered, but so far they’ve: – Signed a guy who is probably an average-ish or worse CB for top dollar (Byron Maxwell). At best he’s an enigma who can be considered to have upside, but most likely he’s a competent but replaceable player who was aided immensely by his teammates and scheme. – Traded their cheap 26-year-old QB with one exceptional year under his belt for an expensive 27-year-old QB who’s never had a season as good as their incumbent’s, and who has probably the worst injury history of any active QB. And they gave up a 2nd Round pick for the privilege. 😕 – Swapped out LeSean McCoy for DeMarco Murray at RB. I haven’t looked too closely at the contracts, but the money is pretty similar on the Eagles’ end, right? So that cancels out. However, McCoy is: a year younger (and that’s a big year for RBs, 26 vs. 27), a better receiver, historically much healthier, and proven to be a good fit with the scheme. Murray’s coming off a year he’s never going to repeat, in which he suffered through the highest workload of any RB since 2006 (and 2nd-highest since 2001). Overpaying for for a veteran free agent RB is pretty much the most basic mistake a GM can make. [Philly does net Kiko Alonso as a reward for downgrading from McCoy to Murray; that’s not nothing, but who knows what he’ll be after missing all of last year, and signing Murray as they did also has the potential to cost them a compensatory draft pick next year.] – Invested yet more resources at the most fungible position on the field by signing Ryan Mathews. Am I missing anything? It’s possible that these moves could make Philly a better team next year, but in the long run I think they’re almost certainly poison _unless_ Bradford winds up being better and healthier than anything in his career to date should lead us to expect. Oh, and while they were probably right not to match the Chiefs’ offer for Jeremy Maclin, their receiving corps sucks pretty hard now. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/131 "2015-03-15T17:46:11Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I admit, it is a case where I’m gloating. When he was drafted, we disagreed on him. When the Bears traded for him, we disagreed on him. The entirety of his career, we disagreed on him. We’ve argued about how he does, and how he plays. > > And now we have the results. You’ve run out of excuses, you’ve run out of reasons to defend his average to sub-average pay. I was right, you were wrong, and that sticks in your craw. _Were I a better man, I wouldn’t continue to raise it._ Yeah, well, you’ve pretty definitively established that you aren’t. It’s a common human failing to occasionally be smug and petty; it’s rather more more atypical to be _proud_ of your own smugness and pettiness. Congratulations to living up to the lawyer stereotypes, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/132 "2015-03-15T18:03:18Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > Am I missing anything? It’s possible that these moves could make Philly a better team next year, but in the long run I think they’re almost certainly poison _unless_ Bradford winds up being better and healthier than anything in his career to date should lead us to expect. Oh, and while they were probably right not to match the Chiefs’ offer for Jeremy Maclin, their receiving corps sucks pretty hard now. Good times. Well, they also cut one of their starting guard and are looking to trade their other one because they’ve eaten up all of their cap room. And resigned the dirty Sanchez. I’m not sure how Bradford/Sanchez-Cooper deep threat is going to free up their multitude of running backs from 9 men in the box. Its like Jeff Lurie and Jerry Jones have had a Freaky Friday moment (something which, as a Cowboy fan, I’m happy with). ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/133 "2015-03-15T23:59:12Z")
Michael Johnson, DE, re-signs with Cincinnati after a year in Tampa. Tampa still owes him $7 million, and Cincinnati gets a 3rd round compensatory pick for the privilege of letting Tampa borrow him for a year. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/134 "2015-03-16T16:51:39Z")
Sounds like the Browns are determined to sign Dwayne Bowe. Hey, he had as many TD catches as all other Chiefs WRs combined! Zero. Yes, the Browns desperately need receivers, but Bowe is no better than a #3 WR on most teams. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/135 "2015-03-16T18:40:56Z")
And now the Eagles are working out Tim freaking Tebow. I’m a big Chip Kelly fanboy from the Oregon days, but I’ll be damned if I can understand whet the hell he’s doing right now. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/136 "2015-03-16T18:45:08Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > And now the Eagles are working out Tim freaking Tebow. I’m a big Chip Kelly fanboy from the Oregon days, but I’ll be damned if I can understand whet the hell he’s doing right now. Although doesn’t Kelly’s system cover-up a bunch of Tebow’s faults? Tebow was always pretty bad under center and couldn’t make reads and go through his progressions. But the crux of Kellys offense is shotgun offense and HIKE! THROW! BOOM! It’s just a workout, so not the worst idea in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/137 "2015-03-16T20:17:58Z")
Tebow leaves Philly with no offer…short workout lol. Browns sign Trammon Williams to a 3 year deal. Sucks for the Packers to lose him, but the Browns are crazy desperate for corners, so they very well could have overpaid him a bunch ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/138 "2015-03-16T21:10:12Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Tebow was always pretty bad under center and couldn’t make reads and go through his progressions. But the crux of Kellys offense is shotgun offense and HIKE! THROW! BOOM! > > It’s just a workout, so not the worst idea in the world. Well, yes and no: there are still reads and progressions; it’s not like you’re throwing to X no matter what the defense does. But the offense is much simpler than most offenses, and many of the reads are simpler, where QB has to only key off a single defender and the play design is expected to account for the rest. On the other hand, the reads are often post-snap, instead of the pre-snap reads that guys like Manning and Brady live on, and puts a premium on fast, reactive decisionmaking. On the other other hand, so did Urban Mayer’s scheme. I think Kelly’s just kicking the tires. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/139 "2015-03-16T22:33:57Z")
That. The system depends on fast thinking and a strong, accurate arm. That does not mean Tebow. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162/140 "2015-03-16T23:53:56Z")
I think Kelly’s just trolling ESPN. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-free-agency-through-minicamps/714162.md?page=8)