It’s a gut punch that he’s going to the Dolphins and staying in the AFC East. Will the Patriots be fine? Of course they will. Belichick will pull the ball boy into the receiving corp and the engine will chug along per usual. Does it suck? Absolutely. Amendola, though not producing much in the regular season usually was always clutch when it mattered. Take a look at this year:
Easily the Patriots playoff MVP outside of #12. Can I blame Amendola, a 32 year old slot receiver with a history of injuries, for cashing in? I can’t. Right now it’s reported as a 2 year, 12 million dollar contract which is way more than the Patriots would have offered. The Patriots, per sources, had a chance to match and refused as their crowded receiving corp could not find a spot for ‘Dola. He will be missed and that two point conversion catch during the Falcons was the clincher to go into overtime. His best moment will still go down in Patriots’ history:
Is there anything this man can’t do? Sure the interview was a bit weird .. but he’s a weird guy. If there was any doubt in people’s minds that this was real — we got this tidbit from Mike Reiss earlier.
Don’t get me wrong — he definitely went to the bathroom to promptly throw up and not screw up his exclusively avocados and grass diet. But still, is there anything this man can’t do? I’ve never been more ready to ride with Tom Brady into the helm of the 2018 season.
What a fucking weekend it has been throughout the NFL. The NFL league year starts tomorrow, when free agent signings/trades can be finalized. Yesterday saw the legal tampering period open. That means we have plenty of contract agreements, trades, and players getting cut. It is truly fantastic, and this year the Browns were in the forefront.
The Cleveland Browns fired three trades in succession. They traded a 4th round pick in 2018, and a 7th in 2019. Absolute peanuts compared to Unrestricted-Free Agents who are signing mega deals.
Neither of the picks in Jarvis Landry trade are a first- or second-round picks, per sources. So it will be two picks between rounds 3 and 7.
Not a bad deal at all! Shows the Browns are serious about adding some play makers. Landry will play one season on the $16 million dollar franchise tag. I really liked this trade even more once the following broke:
Browns strike again.
This time, Cleveland agrees to trade a mid-round draft pick to Buffalo for QB Tyrod Taylor, source tells ESPN.
Taylor now will throw to new Browns’ WR Jarvis Landry.
Tyrod! Welcome aboard, guy. Love this trade, because it enhances the Jarvis Landry deal. Landry is a 5-8 yard pass catcher, who lead the league in catches this past season with 112. These two seem like they were born to play together, and I am hoping this may help Taylor expand his game.
Still not done, the Browns made a THIRD trade right after the Tyrod Taylor trade was announced:
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) March 10, 2018
This one came at a complete shock. The Browns shipped off second year Quarterback, DeShone Kizer for Green Bay Corner, Damarious Randall. Sad to give up on Kizer, but he will be given a better chance to win out in Green Bay. He won’t have to deal with Hue Jackson on a daily basis. The Packers are getting an athletic specimen of a Quarterback. The dude is a cardboard cutout of what you want in a Franchise Quarterback. Kizer is a freaking oak tree standing at 6’4, 233 lbs. He’s got the body to with stand NFL punishment, and can run with the best of Quarterbacks. DeShone will need time and coaching to fix his footwork, and woeful accuracy.
To the Browns end of the deal we go. Damarious Randall was drafted in the first round, 30th overall in the 2015 NFL Draft. Randall came out of college as a Free-Safety, but had been playing corner with Green Bay. He has nabbed 10 interceptions through two seasons, regular season, and playoffs.
As was reported by numerous outlets over the weekend, the Browns will be moving Randall back to his natural position. This allows Jabrill Peppers to play in a more natural spot, which is strong safety closer to the line of scrimmage. Last season Peppers was hardly able to make plays, because he was lined up a million fucking miles away from the line of scrimmage. It was one of few decisions Williams made that I hated. Glad to see they may have learned from that.
The Browns were still NOT done. On Saturday morning they fired off their fourth and final trade of the Weekend:
Trade compensation update: Browns get a mid-round 2019 pick from Patriots, and Patriots get DT Danny Shelton and a 2018 draft pick from Browns, per source.
Danny Shelton was shipped off to New England, and the two teams swapped mid-round draft picks. Not a bad trade for either team here. Danny Shelton isn’t a star lineman by any means, but he is a valuable piece to your defensive line rotation. His role is limited to clogging A gap during the run game. Don’t expect Shelton to improve your pass rush, as he’s only been able to record 1.5 sacks in his three seasons.
This all before any of the other teams made real significant moves. This past evening saw free agents agree to terms with new teams. There have been a shitload, so I am just going to highlight a few:
The #Bears are expected to sign former #Jaguars WR Allen Robinson, sources say. A big-time pass-catcher off the market.
Interesting move from the Bears here. They are starting to add outside skill players to compliment the running attack. Robinson is coming off a year in which he was out for the whole year with a torn ACL. The Penn State product has had success in the past (1400 yards in 2016), but down years and injuries have plagued him. If he and Cam Meredith can return to form, that forms a nice duo on the outside for Mitch Trubisky.
Another Wide Receiver choose his destination fairly quickly:
Sammy Watkins sucks. This guy is a fucking joke. Hyped up heavily his draft year, he’s never fulfilled expectations. Guess that makes him a perfect fit for the Kansas City Chiefs? The writing is on the wall for this guy. The Buffalo Bills decided to get rid of their only outside receiving threat for pennies on the dollar this off-season. Watkins was a solid option in Los Angeles, but had the franchise tag rescinded. Have fun with Andy Reid.
Finally to the big boys. The Quarterbacks. We had a slew of shitty Quarterbacks sign some atrocious contracts today. First and foremost our man, Kirk Cousins.
Kirk Cousins plans to sign a three-year, fully-guaranteed contract from the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday, sources tell ESPN.
This deal right here will be applauded by many players. Kirk gambled on himself the previous two seasons in Washington. That gambled played off as he now has a fully guaranteed contract worth $84 million dollars with the Minnesota Vikings. Congrats Kirk Cousins, and god speed to the Vikings. If it don’t work out, well that really sucks. Have fun!
(I can easily see this not working out)
The funny part is, Kirk wasn’t even the first QB to pick a landing spot:
When free agency opens Wednesday, former Vikings’ QB Case Keenum intends to sign with the Denver Broncos, sources tell ESPN.
Case Keenum agreed to a 2 year, $36 million dollar contract with the Denver Broncos. $18 million?!? You’re going to give Case Keemun $18 million dollars?! This is a brutal move by Elway and the Broncos. Case Keenum played WAY over his head in 2017-18. Even if this contract is only two years, that is still a shitload of money to pay a Quarterback. That’s a shitload to pay a Quarterback who you will be replacing in draft night. John Elway has to be one of the most overrated executives in professional football.
Last but not least we have Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater. Teddy signed with the J-E-Ts. He is coming off a brutal knee injury which saw him miss the past two seasons. If we’re being honest, Teddy Bridgewater sucked before the injury.
Many other domino’s fell on Tuesday, and we’re STILL not at the league new year. The Browns are poised to make some moves to bolster their roster. Get er done, John.
Anyone got a pack of smokes? Still sweating from the Tyrod Taylor trade. John Dorsey pulled off a third Trade in the span of an hour and a half. This time he sent DeShone Kizer and a late round draft choice to Green Bay. In exchange, the Browns received Cornerback, Damarious Randall.
Excellent work by Dorsey on this one. Randall was Green Bay’s top corner this past season. Randall was drafted in the first round of the 2015 draft by the Packers. With the Green Bay roots in Cleveland’s front office, this one comes as a little less surprising. Randall has 10 interceptions through 2 full seasons.
Shame to have to give up on DeShone Kizer less than a year removed from drafting him. I still believe he will succeed in the NFL. Despite his accuracy issues, anti-clutch gene, and 0-16 record, Kizer handled a truly horrible season in a professional manner. He never complained, called any of his teammates out, and always shouldered responsibility. For that, I will always respect the shit out of DeShone Kizer. Hue Jackson did his best to destroy the kid, but he kept his head up. Some games he really looked like he could be something. The Packers will coach him up well.
Browns’ additions today:
QB Tyrod Taylor WR Jarvis Landry CB Damarious Randall.
With free agency and picks No. 1 and No. 4 still to come.
Holy shit! Big Dick John Dorsey made another move Friday, just minutes after the Jarvis Landry trade. This time the Browns acquired Quarterback, Tyrod Taylor from the Bills. In exchange, the Bills received a third round draft selection.
This one is stunning. I fully expected AJ McArron to be the Browns starting Quarterback in 2018. Instead, Dorsey shelled out a mid-round draft pick for Tyrod. No issue with the trade, as Sashi Brown STILL shits out mid-round draft picks each morning. Not bad adding Jarvis Landry and Tyrod Taylor in the span of 45 minutes!
I don’t know what to say. I was high on Tyrod for the longest time, and then he couldn’t hit a three yard check down in his playoff game. Hey it’s a competent Quarterback under center. I’ll take it.
Hey now! Bit of a surprising move here on a casual Friday afternoon! The Browns have traded a pick in both the 2018 and 2019 drafts for ex Dolphins Wide Receiver, Jarvis Landry.
Nice way to kick off the off-season for big dick Dorsey. They’ll pick up Landry and his $16 million franchise tag for 1 season. If it works out, than an extension could be in the works. If not, they’ll move on. It’s a low risk move for the Browns. I would prefer that they wait to see who will be under center, and how well Landry fits before an extension is discussed. I am sure he would be receptive to an extension, or else the Browns wouldn’t have made the trade.
I’m not going to get too excited. I’m more curious to see if free-agents are willing to sign here than Landry who was traded. Hopefully this acquisition will show others the Browns mean business, and this leads to a few more acquisitions (Trumaine Johnson, Malcolm Butler).
It’s nice to add a pro-bowl player to the mix for sure, but Landry is coming off a down-ish year. Jay Cutler factor? Down year or not, the prospect of Gordon on the outside and Landry underneath….well that gets blood flowing.
Nice first move by Dorsey and company, but let’s not get carried away. 0-16 is 0-16 no matter how you slice it. Jarvis Landry doesn’t suddenly make this team .500, Daniel Jeremiah. This team has a long way to go. Let’s go Browns!
I think it’s very likely the Browns win a game this season. Perhaps many.
Another Original Six franchise, another dumpster fire. The New York Rangers have spent much of the past 15 years as Stanley Cup contenders. Unlike the Blackhawks, the Rangers were never able to get it done. By that I mean win a cup, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been a damn good team.
Since missing the playoffs on the final day of the 2009 season, the Rangers have been a force within the Metropolitan Division. Even though they missed the postseason in 2009, the Rags have consistently made the postseason since the 2005 lockout.
In 2013-2014 the Rangers went on their deepest run. The first round saw them beat their hated rivals, Philadelphia Flyers in 7 games. The second round brought Sidney Crosby, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Rangers won that series in 7 games as well, this time overcoming a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in team history.
In the Eastern Conference finals, the Rangers beat up on the hated Montreal Canadiens in 6 games, and the Cup final saw them take on the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings were in their second Cup Final in 3 seasons.
The Rangers would lose to the Kings in 5 games, with Alec Martinez scoring the winning goal in double OT. Despite the Blueshirts going down in 5, 3 of 5 games went into overtime, and 4 of 5 were decided by one goal.
A big part of the Cup run was the King himself, Henrik Lundqvist.
The best Goaltender in the league has been manning the pipes on Madison Avenue since 2005-2006 season. From the very beginning Hank was one of the best Goalies in the league.
It’s been nearly 13 full seasons in a Blueshirt for the King, as he approaches the 800 career games milestone. He has a career 2.36 GAA, and 0.919 save percentage over his career, which is just insane. Goalie is a position that is rapidly decreasing in value across the league, but Hank is still one of few true superstar Goalies. Henrik’s play earned himself an 8 year $59.5 million dollar contract extension in 2013-2014. Up until this season, he was the highest paid Goalie in the league.
It’s great to have a franchise goalie and all, but it has certainly hampered their ability to add to other places on the roster that would’ve had given them the extra piece to beat LA in 2014, or Tampa Bay in 2015, whom they lost to in the Eastern Conference Final.
Since the back-to-back runs, the Rangers have regressed. Bad contracts, poor coaching, and the lack of game-breaking offensive talent have all contributed.
Alain Vignault has been coaching the Blueshirts since 2013, after John Tortorella was fired. All was fine and dandy with AV until 2015-2016, where the Rangers were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round in 5 games by the Pittsburgh Penguins. AV’s message was running stale, and he seemed to hamper the teams ability to get over the hump. He fell in love with fourth line grinders like, Tanner Glass. Glass is a fourth line fighter with zero hockey ability. Hell, he’s not even a good fighter. Yet he dressed in 66 and 57 games in back to back seasons. Glass playing on the fourth line every night seems harmless, but it takes away ice-time from a guy like Pavel Buchnevich. Buch is a young skilled forward, who has potential to be a goal scorer on either of your top lines.
Bad contracts and the New York Rangers go hand-in-hand. Glen Sather and Jeff Gorton spent the better part of 5 seasons “going for it”. They would spend big on high priced free agents like Brad Richards and Kevin Shattenkirk. In the 2014 offseason Richards was bought out by the Rangers. This came just three seasons into his 9 year contract. If they’re not signing guys to big money contracts, they’re trading for big guns.
In the past 7-8 seasons the Rangers have traded for Rick Nash, Keith Yandle, and Martin St. Louis in an attempt to “go for it”. This all fine and dandy, but left the Rangers with a bare prospect pool, and no draft picks to replenish the pipeline. They never really have game breaking talent. They have quality offensive players in Mats Zuccarello, Mika Zibanejad, Vlad Namestnikov, and Ryan Spooner. But they need a game changer. A guy like Taylor Hall, Brad Marchand, Patrik Laine, or Austin Matthews. Most importantly they need centers, which is position that they never truly addressed. Right now Mika Zibanejad is their number 1 center. He is probably best suited to play on the Wing, or second line center. Asking him to be the number 1 is a stretch.
All of these factors lead us to the present. The Rangers are dead last in the Metropolitan Division. They are finally selling off expiring contracts, piling up prospects, and stacking up draft picks. I would say this rebuild is 2 seasons too late, as I thought they should’ve started selling after the loss to Tampa in 2015. The trades the Rangers have made so far (Rick Nash, Nick Holden, Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller) have yielded positive returns. I am still shocked that they have not attempted to move Henrik Lundqvist. He wouldn’t yield much in a trade simply because that’s the goalie trade market (maybe a low 1st/2nd round pick) but I would have looked to get him off the books. The Ryan McDonagh trade yielded a positive return, but I would have looked to have moved Kevin Shattenkirk, whom they should’ve stayed away from in the first place. McDonagh is a warrior who wore the “C” for many years. He took a lot of punishment eating large minutes during deep playoff runs, but he is only 28 years old. He still has plenty to play for. Number 1 Defenseman is the hardest position to fill on your team. While they may have gotten assets for him, I still would have looked to trade other pieces, even if it meant a lesser return.
We’ll see how this season unfolds for the Blueshirts. They still remain somewhat close to the final Wild-Card spots in the Eastern Conference. It’d probably behoove them to not even bother pushing to get the 8th seed, but as a fan I’d want my team to try and get into the post season. I expect that they will address the coaching situation this off-season, and look to use all the picks acquired to bring in a bucket load of young talent.
Hopefully in the near future, the Rangers will be playing games into June. But until then, Ranger fans can remember the good times here:
Allen, Kevin & Tyler are back to discuss NFL combine szn, return of baseball carts, and the start of March Madness. Tyler makes his most absurd take to date.
With the trade deadline come and gone, the NHL season is coming to a close. By now the standings have pretty much been set, with teams grappling for the final playoff seeds. This brings me to the Original Six. Currently, there are just 2 Original Six teams sitting in playoff positions. The Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs sit in second, and third in the Atlantic Division respectively. Both are young, fast, and poised to make deep runs in the postseason.
After those two, it is a disaster. Old powers are starting to slip, as two Original Six franchises sit in last place in their respective divisions. The biggest being the Chicago Blackhawks.
The above image is a familiar sight for Hawks fans. They have won three Stanley Cups since 2010. That’s right, three. In the Salary Cap era this is unheard of. To top it all off, the Blackhawks were coming off their darkest era in Franchise History. From 2000-2009 nobody fucking cared about the Blackhawks. They were not bad enough to draft highly rated prospects, and they toiled in mediocrity. Finally they caught a break. In 2006 the Hawks finished with the second worst record in the Western Conference. This earned them the right to pick 3rd overall. That selection was Jonathan Toews. Toews has dawned the “C” while hoisting three Cups.
The following year the Hawks finished dead last in the Central Division, earning the right to pick first overall in the 2007 NHL Draft. That selection turned into none other than Patrick Kane.
The foundation of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook was built and ready to win Championships. Win Championships they did, beating the Flyers, Bruins, and Lightning in the Cup Final. After the first Cup the Hawks had to start locking up their core pieces long-term. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane signed identical eight year $84 million dollar extensions in 2014. Kane has lived up to this extension up until this point. He is a top line winger, and one of the best pure goal scorers in the league. When it’s all said and done, Kaner will be considered one of the best American Born players of all time. Jonathan Toews on the other hand has not lived up to this massive extension.
Toews is a Center in the model of Anze Kopitar, Patrice Bergeron, or Aleksander Barkov. He’s a two-way beast, who can score with the best of them. Up until 2014 Toews was a 60-70 point player. Since his massive extension his play has dropped off. 2015-2016 saw him amass 58 points total, and he reached the same clip in 2016-2017. He has not been playing at an elite level for two plus years, and that contract is just abysmal. Not saying they should trade Toews, because besides number 1 Defenseman, number one Center is nearly as hard to find/replace.
While the Toews contract sucks, the biggest mistake the Hawks made was re-signing Brent Seabrook. Seabrook was re-signed to a 8 year $55 million dollar contract extension in 2015. Seabrook has been a regular on the Hawks Blueline since 2005-06 before Kane and Toews. Seabrook was so valuable Blackhawks over the years. Duncan Keith anchored the first d-pairing with another shutdown Defeseman, and Seabrook would anchor the second pair. The Hawks could mix and match pairs, and even pair the two together for a beast shutdown pairing. Not to mention they had Niklas Hjalmarsson, who would rotate between playing with Keith and Seabrook.
The worst part of his contract is, there are No Movement Clauses attached. This means Seabrook can veto trades to teams not on a hand picked list of his choosing. He has this no movement clause until 2022. It’s contracts like the three highlighted above that put the Blackhawks where they are now.
Dead last place with aging core players, bad contracts, and sub-par role players. Every single season we see the Hawks trading away big pieces that they cannot afford to keep. Brandon Saad was traded to Columbus after the 2015 Cup run for a younger Artemi Panarin, who exploded onto the scene as a premier young goal scorer alongside Patrick Kane. This past summer saw the Blackhawks trade Panarin BACK to Columbus for…Brandon Saad. Why did they make this trade? Well, they couldn’t afford to keep Panarin any longer, and they hoped bringing Saad back would ignite Toews again. Panarin continues to be a 60-70 point player, whereas Saad will be lucky to sniff 50 points this season.
So, how can the Hawks remedy their current situation? This one is going to be difficult. There are players that simply cannot be moved via trade, because of declining play, and shitty contracts. Stan Bowman is going to have to move whatever pieces he can for draft picks. In a Bruins type re-build on the fly, they need picks, picks, picks, and more picks. Build around the core of players already there. While they may be declining now, who’s to say Toews doesn’t bounce back? Who’s to say Saad can’t recapture his goal scoring touch. Start inserting more youth into lineup to to supplement the core.
They started off well by trading Ryan Hartman for a first round pick, I’ll look for the Hawks to be active moving pieces for draft picks, and prospects this off-season. Will this Original Six giant bounce back, or will they wilt into irrelevancy like the 2000-2008 Blackhawks?
Silly season continues, as this past weekend has been the NFL Combine. Prospects from all over this great land assembled in Indianapolis to do a bunch of meaningless drills, and interviews. That brings us to our fourth Quarterback will most certainly be discussing as an option at first overall, or even fourth.
Out of all the options at Quarterback in the 2018 Draft Class, Josh Allen is down towards the bottom. Why you ask? Easy, there have been about 100 Josh Allen’s in past NFL Drafts. First off, he’s a fucking monster standing at 6’4, 240 lbs. Just a fucking linebacker playing QB. These are obviously seen as positive traits. He is a guy who will be able to withstand NFL punishment. Another talking point is his hands, big people have large hands, and Josh Allen’s hands are pretty big. These are all contributing factors to this guys cannon of an arm.
The career stats for Allen are as posted above. The biggest takeaway: What the fuck happened this year? I see a significant statistical drop-off in almost every major category in 2017. He threw 12 less TD’s in 2017. He also declined in interceptions, which is obviously a good thing. Just head scratching statistics. This guy can throw it 90 fucking yards, but he averaged only 6.7 yards per attempt in 2017? He is a surprisingly decent runner. In 2016 he ran for 523 yards and 7 TD’s. Again, those numbers plummeted in 2017, where he only rushed for 204 yards, and 5 TD’s. For such a big body.
So, the kid has a good arm. He can move around in the pocket ala Big Ben, should the Browns draft him to be the Quarterback of the future? ABSOLUTELY NOT. First off, I hadn’t watched ANY of this kids games, because well I am not a Wyoming fan. He is coming from that typical two-bit, punching Judy College offense. The QB is hardly under center, and almost every fucking play is a run-pass option. He hasn’t displayed the ability to take snaps under center consistently, at least from what I am seeing. I watched that highlight tape (the first time I’ve watched Josh Allen) and I saw less than 10 snaps come from under center. I saw a few bootlegs, but that’s about it.
Basically what I see when I watch this tape, is a big dude who relies on his natural arm strength. He’s got accuracy issues that may not ever be fixed. Doesn’t matter how far you throw it when you can’t hit the target. But, Danny! What if the Browns develop him properly?! We have a Josh Allen on the Roster already, and his name is DeShone Kizer. Kizer is a a guy who is massive, has a rocket arm, can run, and has insane accuracy issues. Kizer may never be fixed, which leads me to believe we wouldn’t be able to develop Allen in the first place.
(^Looks sexy doesn’t it^)
For that reason, I am OUT on Josh Allen. The question is, are the Browns out on him too? I sure hope so…
Office Chatter 