# NFL - OFFSEASON of Mist and mellow fruitfulness **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 7, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586 "2020-02-07T15:10:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/42 "2020-03-16T18:53:22Z")
David Johnson and Stuff for Deandre Hopkins and less Stuff. I am absolutely shocked you would ever let Hopkins go in this day and age. An unquestioned top tier receiver with a good partnership with your young stud quarterback, for a health challenged RB?. I wonder if there was more behind the scenes they aren’t talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/43 "2020-03-16T19:33:46Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > David Johnson and Stuff for Deandre Hopkins and less Stuff. > > I am absolutely shocked you would ever let Hopkins go in this day and age. An unquestioned top tier receiver with a good partnership with your young stud quarterback, for a health challenged RB?. I wonder if there was more behind the scenes they aren’t talking about. I do not understand in the least what the Texans are thinking. Unless Hopkins drove a bus full of nuns off a cliff or slept with Watson’s Mom, it makes no sense. Bill OBrien is not long for the NFL. ---
**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 16, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/44 "2020-03-16T23:10:44Z")
I am equally baffled. I think someone better check on whoever’s running things in Houston, they may be having a stroke. “Let’s trade away the best player this franchise has ever had for a 28-year-old, injury-prone running back who really only had one good year.” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/45 "2020-03-16T23:54:40Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I do not understand in the least what the Texans are thinking. Unless Hopkins drove a bus full of nuns off a cliff or slept with Watson’s Mom, it makes no sense. Bill OBrien is not long for the NFL. Remember this is the same guy that traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seahawks last year for two backup defensive players who Seattle were probably going to cut, and a 3rd round pick, and also agreed to cover half of Clowney’s salary. He doesn’t make good decisions. Houston needs a GM. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/46 "2020-03-17T00:11:09Z")
The Bears, feeling like they need to upgrade tight end, signed Jimmy Graham (who was recently released by the Packers) to a 2-year contract. Did they actually _look_ at Graham’s game film from last year? He looked old and slow, regularly vanished for long stretches, and was clearly a shadow of his onetime great self. Another year on the odometer isn’t going to make him any better. Link to story on the deal: [https://wgntv.com/sports/bears-to-sign-tight-end-jimmy-graham-to-a-two-year-deal-report/](https://wgntv.com/sports/bears-to-sign-tight-end-jimmy-graham-to-a-two-year-deal-report/) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/47 "2020-03-17T00:29:13Z")
The Bears are also interested in finally moving on from hapless Mitch, looking to replace him either with Bridgewater or Foles. > **[Mitch Trubisky in trouble as Bears are reportedly interested in Teddy...](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/bears-teddy-bridgewater-mitch-trubisky/1sjcf6li958311466wf1g94u9i)** > > The Bears may be giving up on former first-round draft pick Mitch Trubisky already. I think Teddy would be a good choice. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/48 "2020-03-17T00:47:51Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The Bears, feeling like they need to upgrade tight end, signed Jimmy Graham (who was recently released by the Packers) to a 2-year contract. > > Did they actually _look_ at Graham’s game film from last year? He looked old and slow, regularly vanished for long stretches, and was clearly a shadow of his onetime great self. Another year on the odometer isn’t going to make him any better. > > Link to story on the deal: [Bears to sign tight end Jimmy Graham to a two-year deal: Report | WGN-TV](https://wgntv.com/sports/bears-to-sign-tight-end-jimmy-graham-to-a-two-year-deal-report/) “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” - Napoleon Bonaparte ---
**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 17, 2020, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/49 "2020-03-17T11:32:33Z")
Graham had some good years, but Tony Gonzalez he ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/50 "2020-03-17T17:52:25Z")
So long, Cam. (Panthers say “Scram!”) > **[Panthers give Bridgewater $63M deal; Cam irked](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28916632/panthers-teddy-bridgewater-deal-cam-newton-unhappy)** > > The Panthers are giving free agent quarterback Teddy Bridgewater a three-year, $63 million deal, a source tells ESPN's Adam Schefter. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/51 "2020-03-17T17:53:30Z")
Double post ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/52 "2020-03-17T22:44:20Z")
Maybe Newton can go to NE or Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/53 "2020-03-18T04:44:52Z")
Is the Brady to Tampa Bay a tax thing for him? That’s all I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/54 "2020-03-18T05:47:38Z")
Phillip Rivers is officially a Colt. 1 year/$25 mil ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/55 "2020-03-18T15:34:28Z")
So it’s still early in free agency, but I won’t let little things like a lack of information keep me from offering my opinion. Some general thoughts: 1. Money conscious Packers lose more than they gain. Packers lose Brian Bulaga, Blake Martinez, and Kyler Fackrell, and sign Ricky Wagner and Christian Kirksey. A net loss. Bulaga is a very good pass protector and knows the system, but given his injury history and age, it makes sense to let someone else pay him. Martinez is a tackling machine, but a liability in the passing game and not worth the money, and Fackrell is just a body. Wagner is a downgrade at tackle, but should be OK and Kirksey is mediocre at best. Both were clearly desperation need signings and that’s not a great way to deal with free agency. 2. On the plus side, the Bears are certainly fucking up enough. Giving gimpy, old, and tired Jimmy Graham $9 million guaranteed and paying him as top 10 TE was a huge waste of limited cap space. And I know Omni is likely excited, but making 29 year old Robert Quinn the 15th highest paid D lineman is … very generous. Clearly they’re all in on making a Super Bowl run this year, but I’m not sure Quinn’s resurgence last year will continue this year, especially in a 3-4 defense. It did make me smile that the Bears also cut ties with their #7 draft pick and perennially over-rated Leonard Floyd. Heh. 3. Another team making a run this year is the Colts. I liked their resigning of Castonzo to keep a great O line afloat and getting Rivers to QB for a year is smart. They then traded their #13 pick in this draft and paid big money to DeForrest Buckner, one of the better interior defenders in the NFL. While a first round pick is a bit high (unless you compare it to the Bears getting Mack, when they gave up 2 first rounders) for a one year rental, I think he’ll add great value and make the Colts the likely winner of their division next year. 4. Texans are a fucking mess. 5. With Brady, Rivers, Mariota, and Newton all likely to be with new teams this year, the market for QB’s seems to be much more rational so far (at least until the Cowboys overpay Prescott). It may be just the “younger is always better”, but teams seem more willing to allow QB’s to go rather than overpay them. Should be an interesting year, especially with the Panthers, who opt for Teddy Bridgewater over Cam Newton. 6. I kinda like the Brown’s actions so far. Getting Jack Conklin was awesome (after they fucked the goose and let Mitchell Schwartz go and win a Super Bowl), and locking in a backup QB is fine. I’m iffy on the Hooper signing, because he doesn’t seem like a game changer to me. 7. My temporary adopted team, the Bills, added some … problematic … players. Josh Norman and Mario Addison are on a downward trend, and Stefon Diggs, while very good, has some attitude issues that hastened his leaving the Vikings. Should be interesting to see how, if Diggs gets all pissy at Cousins, how he’ll react to Josh Allen’s deep accuracy issues. Although I’m thinking Diggs will be very helpful in the short and intermediate routes that Allen can actually throw. The loss of a first round draft pick though may be tough to swallow. I’m sure they’ll be more to come. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/56 "2020-03-18T17:26:35Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/57 "2020-03-18T19:31:19Z")
The Bears just acquired Nick Foles from the Jaguars, sending Jacksonville a compensatory 4th round draft pick. Chicago Tribune story: [Column: Bears’ trade for Nick Foles is an admission they whiffed on drafting Mitch Trubisky, no matter who is the starter when work resumes – Chicago Tribune](https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-chicago-bears-nick-foles-20200318-uyfxucbf7fhh3kxd2mcmxfvmna-story.html) ---
**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 18, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/58 "2020-03-18T21:34:25Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > … > > 1. Another team making a run this year is the Colts. I liked their resigning of Castonzo to keep a great O line afloat and getting Rivers to QB for a year is smart. They then traded their #13 pick in this draft and paid big money to DeForrest Buckner, one of the better interior defenders in the NFL. While a first round pick is a bit high (unless you compare it to the Bears getting Mack, when they gave up 2 first rounders) for a one year rental, I think he’ll add great value and make the Colts the likely winner of their division next year. > > … Buckner got a five-year deal from the Colts worth $21 million a year, he’s not a rental. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/59 "2020-03-18T21:42:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The Bears just acquired Nick Foles from the Jaguars, sending Jacksonville a compensatory 4th round draft pick. > > Chicago Tribune story: [https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-chicago-bears-nick-foles-20200318-uyfxucbf7fhh3kxd2mcmxfvmna-story.html](https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-chicago-bears-nick-foles-20200318-uyfxucbf7fhh3kxd2mcmxfvmna-story.html) Strangely this is one of the scenarios that I omitted from my rant earlier in the thread. First, I hate it. I really really hate it. BUT, of all the non-Mitch+draft pick scenarios that have been speculated I think I hate this one the least. Why is this palatable? [ol] [li]Foles was a fucking Super Bowl MVP beating Belichick. Certainly it’s probably a fluke, but it might not be. Compared to Dalton, Jameis, Cam, Teddy and Mariota I’d bet on Foles to get another ring before any of those guys.[/li][li]Foles was lights out for 2 stretches in his career. In 2013 he had the best TD-INT ratio in history. In 2018 we know what happened. There’s at least a chance that’s real and it happened under Reid and Peterson, guys Nagy is closest to philosophically. [/li][li]This is about as little as you can give up for a starting caliber QB. Just a 4th…I feared so much worse from Pace here. [/li][li]The money is rough, but it’s basically a 1 year gamble. I have no idea how we’re squeezing him under the cap this year and i’ll probably cost us someone on the roster eventually, but we can cut him next year with just $5M dead cap. [/li][/ol] But to reiterate, I HATE this move. It’s burning resources that we can’t spare. This combined with that idiotic Jimmy Graham deal make it absolutely clear that Pace needs to be fired immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/60 "2020-03-18T22:02:46Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Buckner got a five-year deal from the Colts worth $21 million a year, he’s not a rental. He was due to be a free agent after this year, at which point, the Colts could have simply gave him that contract (he’s now the second highest paid interior lineman after Aaron Donald). They get one year out of him that they couldn’t have gotten by waiting and paying him next year. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586/61 "2020-03-19T01:49:32Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > 1. With Brady, Rivers, Mariota, and Newton all likely to be with new teams this year, the market for QB’s seems to be much more rational so far (at least until the Cowboys overpay Prescott) Prescott got franchise tagged. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-offseason-of-mist-and-mellow-fruitfulness/847586.md?page=4)