The Ringer concurs:
The now perennial struggles of the Bears to find even competent QB play is also noted, as despite the total trashfire that was the Kyle Orton/Rex Grossman competition, they both rank well above average for Chicago QBs since '85.
Any possibility of my returning to rooting for the Browns was burnt and the ground salted after the bullshit “press conference” they held after Watson’s suspension. I’ve always despised Jimmy Haslam, but now I get to add Dee, his wife, who said, with her very first sentences: "“I just want to say this has been a really hard and difficult journey for us and for our family.” First thing she says in a press conference about the sexual assault and harassment of dozens of women. Ugly.
Then, after saying, in effect, that since there was no criminal charges, then it was just a big learning experience of Deshaun, Haslam says his wife and daughters are fine with it, so there you go.
Then, we get one of the finest examples of a non-apology apology by the piece of shit himself. Watson says: "“I have always stood on my innocence, and I always said that I never assaulted anyone or disrespected anyone, and I am continuing to stand on that. At the same time, I have to continue to push forward with my life and my career. For us to be able to move forward, I have to be able to take steps and put pride to the side. I am going to continue to stand on my innocence and keep pushing forward, and I have always stood on not disrespecting or sexual assaulting anyone.”
On what he was apologizing for:
“For everyone that was affected by this situation. There were a lot of people that were triggered.”
On if he was apologizing to the women who made allegations against him:
"I have apologized to all women so anybody that was affected, even yourself, everything. I am apologizing to everyone that was affected about this whole situation.”
What a shitshow. A career ending knee injury can’t come fast enough for Deshaun Watson.
Yes, the moment that we knew Wilson was gone, that was a foregone conclusion.
I’m not sure how you can draw that conclusion. They had one bad game before losing him, the Vikings game. The Titans game was a heart-breaker where they lost in OT. They even beat the 49ers.
Game 5 was when they lost Wilson and he returned far too early. He was not the same player and it was obvious he rushed his return. The whole year was a shambles because of that. It’s true that they had defensive issues last year (and fired their DC), but I’m convinced that if Wilson had stayed healthy their 7-10 season would have been at least a 10-7 season. They wouldn’t have been “barely hanging on”.
They seem to have made some big improvements on their defense (not that it’s saying much) and kept some good pieces of their offense, and added to it. They had a pretty solid draft, probably their best in a decade. They just need a good QB, though that’s like saying you have a really nice car that just needs a working engine. 
The American Massage Therapy Association is holding its annual convention this coming week - in Cleveland, a block from the Browns’ stadium.
The Haslams missed an opportunity to hold joint practices.
Was Baker Mayfield that bad? I thought he was pretty good for the Browns (not that I’m a big follower of Cleveland football). I loved his commercials.
Hard to say, really. I think the positioning of that particular QB battle was maybe premature but Mayfield largely did it to himself.
There have been a few weeks when he looks like he could easily become a perennial top 10 QB. And then there are weeks when he looks like hot garbage excreted from a lice ridden raccoon with food poisoning.
On the balance, he ended some years somewhat above average. And in others below average among NFL QBs. He’s never really developed consistency and seems to be destined for mediocrity on average.
Maybe not among the worst QB battles ever, so perhaps some recency bias in the list. But neither Mayfield nor Darnold would greatly excite me if those were my options as a Panthers’ fan. Maybe the worst thing that happens is Mayfield has a typical mediocre year, which puts Carolina in the middle of the first round, robbing them in what appears to be a potentially QB-rich 2023 draft class.
Wow! I hope you never have to evaluate me for anything. That is epic.
Anyway, I can’t believe Darnold is even in the competition – he was terrible for the Jets.
Mahomes has played three series and scored three touchdowns, none of them to Tyreek Hill, much to the surprise of that contingent of NFL fans who thought his success was entirely due to the Cheetah. The fact that he can’t just throw the ball 50 yards downfield and hope Hill runs underneath it will probably make him better (and he already is a top 3 QB). Plus defenses will need to cover more than Hill and Kelce.
Like most Chiefs fans, I hope Hill does well in Miami, but he pissed a lot of people off with some of his podcast antics.
And Mayfield and Darnold were the first 2 QBs picked in the 2018 draft. You would have thought at least one would become at least a serviceable franchise QB (and Mayfield may yet).
Football seems to be the sport where college success is less of a predictor of pro success than the other sports. Actually, I guess the NBA is the only other sport with a real pipeline between college and the pros – hockey gets their players from all over the world and baseball has the farm system.
Is that true of positions other than quarterback, though? Like a running back looks great in college but doesn’t pan out in the pros? I get the feeling it’s a quarterback thing specifically.
Could be! I’m definitely at the limits of my knowledge here.
Yeah I don’t know at all, honestly. I don’t even watch college football.
Trent Richardson is a good example.
I’m not sure it’s football in particular but misses do hit harder.
In baseball, there are probably also a lot of misses but you expect to develop a newly drafted player in the minors anyway. And a top tier starter can easily have a 10-20 year career once they’re ready for the bigs so you only have to hit on a few to keep your franchise going for a while. Basketball won’t be much different.
In football, a player isn’t going to get a few seasons in a development league. And they run the serious risk of a career ending injury every game. With very few exceptions mostly centered on a few positions, most players are out of the league in 5 years. So it’s harder to draft and the players don’t last as long. You need to consistently hit on your picks and/or keep your existing players going for a while to be competitive at a high level - or be like Bill Belichik and somehow still win while missing on a lot of picks.
I hope Sam Ehlinger makes the 53-man roster for my Colts. He’s outplayed Nick Foles, and probably deserves to be the QB2, but I saw something on Twitter that says Foles is QB2 and there’s no competition for the spot.
So when you’re watching a preseason game on gamepass, is there a way to choose which team’s feed you’re viewing? In preseason each team provides their own commentary/staff/etc.
If memory serves, I think it might just be in the audio settings.
Cuts day are always tough. NFL teams need to go from 90 to 80 today and then down to 53 next Tuesday. So, lets take a second and mourn the cutting of guys with incredible names like Lug Barcoo, Pooka Williams Jr., Master Teague, Ulysees Gilbert, Beau Benzschawel, Maurice Ffrench, Ty Fryfogle, BoPete Keyes, and Cameron Dicker.
I know every team has some less than stellar fans, but this is something else: