Agreed - as a Cardinals fan i was chuffed. Looks like the Texans have gone for Cobb and Cooks to pair with Fuller and "if" fit and back to his best, David Johnson is a very good receiving back.

Worth discussing the draft that has snuck up on me? For me the NFL is the only thing giving me my sport fix that I need!

As a Cowboys fan I was disappointed to see Cobb go under FA. He had a solid season last as a No.3 receiver year and with a misfiring QB, although I do think the Texans are paying over the odds.
Looking forward to the Draft next week, gonna be strange seeing it done virtually. Hope Sky still cover at least the first day.

I think they're desperate for any live content so will hopefully show a lot of it.

Here you go - all 3 days !!

https://www.skysports.com/nfl/news/3...an-ever-before

Really looking forward to the draft, like others have said NFL is the only real sporting fix at the moment.

As a Pats fan i'm even more excited, i'm one of the few who was okay with moving on from Brady and looking forward to what the future holds. I think we will be in for a QB but don't think it will be in the first round. I think they are really high on Stidham who we drafted last year, whether we bring in a Newton or Dalton so he can develop another year will be interesting to see. We also brought back Hoyer but cant see him being a serious candidate for starting week 1. Picking at 23 I cant see any of the 1st round prospects being available (maybe Love but he's seen as a project behind an established QB which we dont have) and I cant see us trading up, much more likely we will trade down. We have need for a playmaker at LB after losing Van Noy, Collins and Roberts in free agency. I have seen quite a few mock drafts going with LB or DE/Edge Rusher with the pick. Still desperate for a TE but doesnt look like this TE class is all that great. Also some depth on the DL and at WR.

Also interested to see what we do with Joe Thuney. We franchise tagged him but lots of rumours circulating he may still be a trade candidate as we dont want to pay him the money long term. Would be a strange move as having him return and Andrews coming back at Centre it would have been good to have a solid OL for the new QB.

Just some thoughts there, looking forward to the draft from Rodger Goodell's basement, will be interesting to see.

I’m looking forward to the draft too. Well, excited and scared. Huge draft for the Vikings, lots of picks, and could be a real overhaul.

I would be surprised if the Pats took a Qb in Rd 2. Unless, it works out that one of the Top 5 drops to them. Otherwise I dont see the value in using that Rd 2 pick this year. Its a rare and unique position for the pats to be in. Id imagine that they may be tempted to trade up to try and get one of the QBs if they think he is their future guy. Love seems the most likely fit to me for the Pats. TE is a clear need but would be more inclined to go for another RB for BB's system, or hope that one of the better receivers fall in their lap. Edleman or Sanu must also be ones that the Pats may be looking to move on if they could get some value back for them.

Interested to see what my Cardinals do. We added Hopkins in he trade but with a high pick it must also be tempting to try and get one of the "big 3 WR" to compliment him, Kirk and Fitzgerald (pick as a Fitzgerald) long term replacement though really O-Line is what we need. Potential trade away of Pat Peterson (I wouldnt be against) for picks may be something we look to do too.

Pats shop Edelman and take my boy Malcolm Perry. Get it in the books.

I’d say it’s a guarantee that either Edelman or Thuney are traded. Edelman has value to the Bucs.

Anyway, I was bored and did a mock draft with trades using: https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com...raft-simulator

Ended up with this for the Patriots:
42 - Cole Kmet, TE
67 - Jalen Hurts, QB
73 - Jonah Jackson, OL
87 - Curtis Weaver, Edge
98 - Adam Trautman, TE
125 - Rashard Lawrence, DL
150 - Anfernee Jennings, Edge
198 - Rodrigo Blankenship, K
219 - L’Jarius Sneed, S
239 - Jacob Phillips, LB

I think I’d be pretty happy with this. I’ll probably do a couple of others without a QB and maybe one with a trade up too.

Hurts to the Pats seems like a fit to me. The Lions and the Raiders and Dolphins hold the key to this trade as have picks that could alter round 1 and 2 in terms of who they take, trading up and down and who they actually rate the best. Ranked number 4 out of the lot, i feel that Justin Jefferson could turn out to be one of the better WR in this class.

Gronk signing for the Buc’s eh....

Pats get a 4th for a player who would never have played for them again, so BB isn’t going to be hugely concerned.

If they could get a 2nd for Thuney, they’re back in a good position draft wise.

I’d be trying to get a pick from Tampa for Edelman.

Rebuild from the bottom. Get younger.

Think Stidham is the QB answer?

As a Pats fan it will hurt watching Brady to Gronk in a different uniform but this is a new era. We need to rebuild though and get younger, big draft for us this year but also free agency next off season when we have around the $90million mark in cap space.

I think that the Pats will run with Stidham this year. He doesnt have too many weapons around him but the Pats dont have any cap space to address that this year so may as well run with him and see what he can do. You would imagine that the Pats will look for some skill positions, namely a WR to develop alongside N'Keal Harry. Could use a TE as could lots of teams but not many in this years draft so may hold out on that. A lot will depends on NE defense again this year.

Winning the divison will be tougher as the Bills have improved, though hard to predict Jets or Miami, even with draft picks being any better than 8-8.

What would Edleman command. A 2nd?

34 in May, played through a lot of injuries last season and also had the ACL injury just a couple of seasons ago. Maybe a 2nd at a push more likely another 3rd

Agree with that. Think they like Stidham and he showed a lot of promise last pre-season (yes I know it’s only pre-season). N’keal Harry needs a big year 2 jump and stay injury free. A 9-7 this season with one eye on next is my prediction. Lots of Deshaun Watson talk and him being a free agent. We will have huge cap space going into 2021....

Haha quite like that as a Cardinals fan :D

For Pats fans, the three picks in the 3rd at 87, 98 and 100 looks like a nice package. Miami are in full rebuild mode and may be tempted to shift a 2nd, they have 39 and 56, in return of the 3 3rd rounders. That would give them 4 3rd rounders so that they could move or just stack up on these WRs that will likely fall

Another year, another draft where the Falcons shit the bed. Rumors were they wanted to move to #2 (fat chance) for Chase Yound or #8 to take CJ Henderson. So, Henderson gets picked #9 and instead of taking the best player or trading down, they reach way up for a CB that isn't even ranked Top 5 among some analysts. Not to mention, they traded away their 2nd round pick for a TE that was more than likely gonna get cut anyway. :wallbash:

Couldnt believe that Simmons ended up with Cardinals :D very pleased with that. The analysts really had no idea to rank these OT or WR, pretty much everyone got them round the wrong way. Surpirse would be Jordan Love, who I fancied that the Saints would have taken, but wow, wonder how Rodgers feels about that...

Derrick Brown... Talk to me?

I was talking to my mate who is a Panthers fan this morning about this.

Its not a very sexy pick and I know many Panthers fans are wondering why they passed the opportunity to pick up Isaiah Simmons, but its pretty obvious you are very much in rebuild mode. The Niners have laid a pretty successful blueprint by building their D-line up through the draft (we added another yesterday) and look where we are now (took us 2-3 years mind...).

From a Niners perspective, we picked up the replacements for DeFo and Sanders (and they are going to be way cheaper for next 3-4 years).

Not too concerned that we don't have another pick till the 5th round right now; our roster is pretty loaded at this point with very little glaring holes. I'd imagine we try and trade either Breida, Pettis or Goodwin to move back into maybe the 3rd or 4th round (4th most realistic) but its not the end of the world if we don't.

The offensive weapons around Jimmy going into the new season look pretty impressive right now.

Yeah, as a Vikings fan, think it was a solid trade for both parties.

Pretty happy with Justin Jefferson at 22. Was projected higher and Eagles fans are livid they didn’t take him, which must mean something.

I quite rate J Jefferson from my first year attempt of evaluating college football. Good work for the 49ers, become pretty predictable but very efficient with their drafting.

Interesting ones for me would be Cowboys getting Lamb, seems a great pick that he fell for them making them strong in that position. Must say I am chuffed with Cardinals getting Simmons. Pairing him with Chandler Jones along with other solid off-season recruit from the Bills (9 sacks last year), Jordan Phillips, paired with Hopkins on offence.
I would be very dissapointed if we dont have a better than .500 season now

Green Bay a real interesting one with Rodgers and Jordan Love. Trading up for him will not sit well with Rodgers where they could have traded up to get one of the WR that they need

Yeah, Cardinals are looking good. 4 playoff caliber teams in the NFC west, if you still have faith in the Rams I guess.

Pats:

1 x 2nd
4 x 3rd
2 x 4th

Be interested to see if they sit with these or trade a few of these for 2nd rounders this year or maybe next years draft when they have a better idea of the NE QBs situation i.e. trade a few 3s and 6s this year for next years 2nds or 3rds

I have little faith in the Rams tbh and would rather be in the Cardinals position now. I just dont see it from their roster as it really isn't very deep. The 49ers still the ones to topple which may be a step too far unless we can pick up an ace RB and the Seahawks won so many games by 1 score last year and they have 2 RBs coming off the back of serious injuries. Hopeful that would potentially come 2nd in that league and maybe sneak a playoff place (With the extra playoff game this year).

Almost had to be done. Simmons seemed likely to be however as a Keuchly replacement. Also, they have an experienced QB scheduled to be QB#1 who perhaps in theory needs "less" protection up top than say a rookie who would naturally go to protect immediately.

I put the Cardinals ahead of the Rams now.

The division is stacked.

Simmons is way too wild to replace Kuechly. Then again, not many people are gonna match that production. Brown was mocked for weeks to the Panthers so it was no surprise. I know some people had him as the 2nd best player in the draft.

Not sure what the Eagles have in mind drafting Hurts in the 2nd round. I'm all for drafting QBs in later rounds as future commodities like the Patriots and Packers but not sure I'd have done this if I were the Eagles.

Hurts has always been shorted by comparison after Tua Tagovailoa took his job at Bama. But actually, whenever I saw him for Oklahoma, he was more than just OK, so to speak. And, despite his name, history suggests he is a lot less likely to be injured than Tagovailoa or Wentz. At worst, great cover and potentially a very tradeable commodity.

Love learns from Rodgers just like Rodgers learned from Favre. Makes sense. Long term planning.

Seattle would have been a great fit for him, learning from Russell Wilson

Really? Made it to the NFC Championship last year with barely any weapons on offense. Chance to add a good wide receiver in RD 1. I would understand if he fell to him, which I imagine he would have as didnt see any of the other teams going QB but to trade up?

To then pick a RB in RD 2 with Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams currently on the team. Yes there always has to be an element of future planning, but Rodgers isn't going anywhere soon with that contract so i would be p*ssed if i was a Green Bay fan.

Similar to the Eagles, who needed Linebacker and some more reliable WRs instead take a back up QB. If you dont trust Wentz , don't pay him $100m...

Speaking of QBs, I still don't even know if this Teddy Bridgewater is any good?

I see Cam Newton is struggling to get a team though, so perhaps we feel somewhat justified in letting him walk, given his injuries, and suspect temperament of late.

He’s league average-above average, has just had injury problems in the past. Vikings fans still love him.

Pleased with the Pats work so far. Expect us to trade into the 4th round by using some of our 4 6th rounders in order to get a WR.

3 OL drafted by the Pats today so would presume that means Thuney is definitely going to be traded. No WR drafted at all so likely Edelman stays. Addressed the key needs at TE and the front 7 on D. Stidham is definitely the man it looks like although Dalton coming in is still a possibility.

Well, the Falcons capped off another WTF draft by taking a punter. Thomas Dmitroff still doesn't know how to work a draft, he picks a safety in the 4th round that nobody had being drafted at all and the Ravens get a safety in the 7th round that was mocked in the 4th round.

It's the Bill's season. Come on.
Reason most of my cousins are from Buffalo

So the Patriots draft a kicker (in the 5th round, DOH!) but he's not the one named Vinatieri. I wonder if Patriots twitter is up in arms like Falcons twitter over not drafting the U of Georgia kicker. (even though the Falcons have a kicker but dammit they drafted a punter. Morons)

They’re more up in arms about his white supremacy tattoos!

Dude hit 4/4 including a 53 yarder in heavy rain, so he’ll fit in in the bad weather.

I quite like the draft though.

I’ve been in favour of starting Stidham, if he is terrible, we pick higher in the first next year. I’ll be happy with 6-10/7-9 as Belichick has positioned the team well to rebuild quickly in 2021.

The 3 things from this season I’d like (realistic, not including Stidham becoming a top 15 QB!):
1. N’keal Harry showing enough to be a number 1/2 receiver.
2. Either one of the TE’s catching 30-40 passes
3. JC Jackson, Bentley and Joejuan Williams taking further steps on the defensive side.

Agree with all that. Definitely in favour of Stidham getting a shot and if he does a good job and shows potential we have the cap space next year to support him.

Agree on those 3 points as well, especially the Harry one. The injury obviously couldn’t be helped but he didn’t look like a 1st round pick when he returned so he really needs to step up this season.

Same with Joejuan Williams. We have some serious depth at DB with last years returning cast and adding Adrian Phillips in free agency (who I really like) and Duggar in the 2nd round this year. He needs to seriously step up.

Bentley I’m a big fan of. He was going to have a monster rookie year if he hadn’t got injured week 4/5. Bit quieter last year but that was only because of how well KVN, Collins and Hightower played.

Looking forward to the season.......if it happens.

First team in NFL Draft history to use every pick on Defensive players. :hi:

I see we also picked up PJ Walker who was the Houston Roughnecks QB in the XFL before the League was cancelled.

No great surprise but it looks like NFL UK will be cancelled this year (various newspapers over the weekend) :sob:

Yep - NFL UK Cancelled. Also unlikely that the season will start until at least October. Season slowly looking in doubt, particularly with the various US State Laws and also high death rate in the US

Don't wish the season dead. I can take or leave the Premier League but NFL keeps wintry evenings alive. :(

Lockdown viewing.

Kirk Cousins was the 9th highest paid athlete in the world in June 2019-June 2020, just edging out Carson Wentz in 10th.

https://t.co/YRQ4EN1ycw

Julio Jones is #26, Grady Jarrett is #37, Matt Ryan is #47 and Dante Fowler is #81. I realize that has a good portion of bonus money, but dammit Falcons. One point I'd like to make on that list is that Michael Jordan would be a very easy #1 if he was still considered, he gets around $100M a year from Nike alone.

:D

Drew Brees totally stuck his foot all the way up his mouth yesterday:
Killer Mike then blasts Drew Brees.

The NFL thread
 

Shannon Sharpe’s take down of Brees’ “opinions” was impressive. Impressive to keep Bayliss quiet for ten minutes as well.

I see Roger is coming up with some words today. Clown.

Quick u-turn by Brees.

Telling Dickstain Donny to cease hiding behind a piece of cloth and stop being a ****.
Good luck with that.

Cam Newton is a Patriot!

So much for #tankfortrevor

That will be interesting. Not sure if he is going to get on with Belichick all that well. :moo:

Not sure he has much choice otherwise his NFL career could seriously be over

Though I’m sure the plan is to give Cam a starting gig, I don’t think it’ll be given to him easily. Stidham is probably 5x less talented, but he’s been there a year, has presumably the learnt the plays and such. And if there’s one team which has turned average looking draft picks into stars, it’s the Pats.

You don’t often see this in the NFL, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Cam is used as an impact player, with no ‘official’ starting QB. This would save more wear and tear on his body (especially shoulder due to high volume reps). His skill set is such that he could even line up alongside Stidham at times.

I'd be tempted to play Cam before Stidham even if Cam didn't have a playbook.

Cha-ching...

The NFL thread
 

10 years...as if! Watch it get restructured in 3 years when they need cap space.

You also have to say, with everything that’s going on in the world, half a billion is pretty disgusting and immoral.

All for pinging a pigskin!

We are talking NFL here: Robert Kraft, Washington Redskins, Colin Kapernick, CTE...

To be fair, compared to other sports NFL players (QBs especially) are massively underpaid.

This deal may cripple the rest of the chiefs though.

They are?

I don't see it crippling them. The only gamble is if the salary cap doesn't go up (due to corona virus) otherwise, like in football and the global popularity of the game expands, then so will the Salary Cap.

Also, so many teams merely exist purely because they don't have a good QB. They could have all the salary cap in the world (Bengals last year come to mind) and to a lesser extent the Vikings who have good players their but the QB just isnt top 5, the chance of Conference or Superbowl appearances is reduced. Just have to look at last season divisional round

Packers - Rodgers
Ravens - Jackson
Titans - Tannehill
Vikings - Cousins
Texans - Watson
Cheifs - Mahomes
Seahawks - Wilson

Vikings got blown out and they had the worst QB out of that lot on paper last year as Tannehill leigt played like a top 5 QB during his stretch.

Jimmy G in the Superbowl, plenty of debate but still a good QB. Shows the value of if you have the best QB, you have a chance. This contract just ensures that and means they can build a strategy around using the draft and trades to have a season, perhaps 3 years down the line, where they have a stack of mid 2 & 3 picks plus some compensatory to give him new weapons. In addition, any free agent seeking a ring would want to play for Mahomes for less money than being offered by your Bengals/Jets etc providing Mahomes is still fit

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ckname-changed

Meanwhile... I wish!

...

Yeah, no country is gonna want to admit 10 Americans right now let alone thousands.

Any suggestions?

Washington Political Correctors?
Washington RLMers?
or maybe more accurate, Washington No Hopers?

Washington Trumpers.

Based off last season alone, Cousins was better than Rodgers and Watson if you look at PFF ratings etc.

He’s a really good player, and will be one of the reasons if the Vikings manage to push for a super bowl again, as opposed to something holding us back. That’d primarily be our crap O-Line.

Washington Indians would be good

Washington Snowflakes

Washington Swampers
Washington Cronies

Washington Savages (not sure if any better than current though)

I think they will opt for the Washington Redtails

Washington Red Tails is great.

Bet you Washington Snyders made the top three.

Washington Native Americans

Washington Gun-Takers

Washington Corrupt.

Surviving Tuskegee Airman, the original Redtails, have mixed feelings.

Washington Deepstates

Unlikely to make the cut given that quite a storm is apparently about to break...

Strolling through Beckenham, a kid wearing a Kirk Cousins Vikings’ jersey ran past me. Made my week.

Brett Favre....

WTF [emoji90]

Not the first dick pic he’s taken!

[emoji16]

Used to love the man, now just feel embarrassed for him. What a wanker.

https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/...ee-buy-xfl-15m

It should read “former Calgary Stampeder Dwayne Johnson”.

Any tips on how to watch Hard Knocks in the UK?

Expect some league news today

Gamepass is free at the moment and it will be available on that from today.