This past weekend saw the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton between two of the 10 first-year head coaches. This weekend the rest of the league will be taking the field for the first time in 2022, so lots of rookies and fringe starters getting action. This new omnibus thread can continue the discussion taking place here:
Just for the sake of continuity and my own self-flagellation, here’s the last post from that thread.
I think we can safely assume that there will be plenty more player/contract drama in the weeks before we kick-off the regular season.
So have at it folks. Let us know what your favorite team’s depth chart looks like. Let’s talk about the sad empty shell of itself that is Hard Knocks, featuring the Detroit Lions this year. This is also probably a decent time to start making your not-so-bold predictions about who’s winning the Super Bowl. Unsurprisingly, it’s not the Bears.
Colts LB Shaquille (formerly known as Darius) Leonard is questionable for Week 1 against the Houston Texans, coming off of back surgery.
It has been formally announced that Rams head coach Sean McVay signed a contract extension during the offseason. They were waiting to announce it until GM Les Snead also signed an extension.
I, for one, want the Bears to make Roquan the highest paid linebacker in the game like he wants. Give him $18 million a year for 4 years while your team is nowhere near competing for a Super Bowl. Please.
He’s supposedly asking for a contract that “resets” the LB market. Shaq Leonard is making just shy of $20M so that implies he’s asking for something north of that.
So yeah, as much as I want him back, I’m not locking up $20M+/year for a ILB. We shall see. Wonder if we hadn’t had a lame duck GM last year if we’d have got a deal done for a more realistic number.
So this is weird. Just watched the first episode of Hard Knocks, it’s scheduled for an hour runtime, but finished in 45 minutes. I know they don’t really spend any time with players we care about anymore, but you’d think HBO would want to get their money’s worth.
I heard a clip from Bears GM Ryan Poles on the radio (yesterday, I think), in which he seemed to be blaming the stalemate with Roquan Smith on the fact that Smith doesn’t have an agent, and is doing his own negotation.
Didn’t hear that specific clip, but yes, it’s probably not ideal to have a player with no agent negotiating a deal like this. If I were a rookie, I’d definitely skip the agent…with the draft slotting there’s not that much upside when you consider the agent’s fees. But if you’re seeking “market setting” money it’s a different ballgame. Likely Roquon was quick to go public out of his inexperience here.
I will say drafting a public statement using Apple’s Notes app and posting a screenshot of it to Twitter doesn’t come across as super professional or sophisticated.
Big loss for the Cleveland Browns, as wide receiver and kick returner Jakeem Grant Sr. suffered a torn Achilles during yesterday’s practice and was put on injured reserve today, which will cause him to miss the entire 2022 season.
Grant was a Pro Bowl returner for the Bears last season and was signed to a three-year deal with Cleveland this offseason. He has four punt return touchdowns and two kick-return touchdowns in his career, which started in 2016 with the Dolphins.
Black Friday NFL games? My guess is they wait until next year, the stupid Winter World Cup this year gets in the way and England plays the USA on Black Friday.
The Roquon situation is getting a little more dramatic.
Sounds like the Bears actually tried to give Smith a generous deal, a deal which other teams looked at and said that’s more than they would have expected him to get, and Roquan balked and went all teenaged girl about it on Twitter.
The Bears responded by taking him off PUP which means he’s no longer excused from practicing.
Roquan is a very, very good LB. One could argue he’s been the best player on a solid Bears defense for the last 2 seasons which featured Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn. But, I don’t think he’s better than Leonard. Statistically it’s not that close, Leonard on paper is much better, Roquan hasn’t created a lot of turnovers. I think defensive stats need to be taken with a grain of salt since they are so situational, the Bears last year had a poor secondary and teams never needed to take chances over the middle because we played from behind constantly.
But again…he’s inarguably the best and most accomplished player on the team right now. That’s not saying much, but still.
Just a reminder for every time these discussions pop up, both parties are try to put whatever sounds best for them. The team will make it seem like they’re willing to make a huge offer (but probably none of it is guaranteed), the player will make it seems like they’re getting nothing (but actually slightly more than they’re worth). The truth is somewhere in between.
It’s interesting. He is really up there in tackles, tackles for loss, assists, and sacks. As in, top 5 or around there. His coverage was 11th, so not great but just out of the top 10.
This PFF article lists him as the 14th overall among LBs, which probably seems about right. As in, he’s a solid guy you want on your defense. They specifically address Roquan in that article:
For all the young players’ struggles, there are a lot of promising linebackers who have the talent to become elite players at this level. We have already seen that play from Smith in Chicago, but the decline of the defense around him — and perhaps more importantly directly in front of him — has led to a decline in his play. His PFF run-defense grade over the last two seasons has been in the 30s, and last season’s 47.1 overall grade was the worst of his NFL career.
So they are saying that although he’s being downgraded, it’s probably not his fault; he’s surrounded by people bringing him down.
Tom Brady will be away from the Buccaneers for some time for personal reasons. He’ll return at some point after his team’s first preseason game on August 20.
Doesn’t PFF base their individual rankings around taking other players into account? “In spite of this trash defense, this player is still performing phenomenally, and thus gets ranked higher” level talk? Kind of confusing to have them state “this player is ranked lower because the entire defense sucks”.
