Mark80

If you choose to live in a fantasy world where this does not exist, that is your prerogative. But the fact of the matter is that private prisons are funded based on how many inmates they are housing. They are giant entities whose sole purpose is to make money. MJ offenders make up quite a big chunk of their population. If they lost those, they would lose hundreds of millions of dollars. They pay lobbyist and super pacs a crap ton of money to try to make sure that never happens. Big pharma would lose billions, yes BILLIONS, if many of their drugs could be replaced by something you could grow in your own house. It is just simple logic my friend. But live in your sheltered world of rainbows and unicorns. It's cool. As far as Gregory, yes he may be stupid to put himself in this position...or he may be intelligent enough to realize that a lifetime addiction to pain killers is not worth it to him. Probably the former, but who's to say it's not the latter? The overwhelming majority of studies into the subject clearly show the medicinal benefits with relatively low side effects in adults for marijuana, especially compared to opiates. You probably believe global warming is made up too though, huh?

People's ignorance on the salary cap continues to baffle me. You would think after having threads about this every week people would finally start to understand. Guess not.

Believe me, I am well aware of the impact of lobbyist and big business on our country. I think in this case it's more pharma and private prisons who have too much at stake. Law enforcement agencies (local at least) would love to not worry about something so petty.

MJ is infinitely safer than painkillers. Just sayin'.

Perhaps you did not read the last sentence of my post. The post I was responding to was saying it is impossible to learn new specialized skills in the NFL. I said that was not true but admitted that it mostly happens in college and that it would most likely not be successful in this case.

Players have made transitions from one position to another and WR to DB is one of the more common ones that happen. Granted, it usually occurs at the college level, but I'm sure there are examples of it occurring at the NFL level. Troy Brown comes to mind immediately. Although he was more of an emergency sub than a true position change, he handled himself fairly well as a CB when he played and I'm sure if he changed full time he would have become an effective corner. An obvious example of a very successful position change was Jason Peters from TE to an All-Pro LT. Also, the Seahawks have been switching dlineman to olineman like crazy under Carroll. JR Sweezy is probably the best example of it and has gone from a no name 7th round pick DT to a very serviceable guard. They have also attempted this with numerous UDFA to varying degrees of success. I don't think it's likely to be successful here, but to dismiss the idea as having no chance at working is a bit off to me.

We must have the smartest fan base in the NFL. How come no one comes in here bragging about their 15?

The salary cap rarely is an issue these days and I don't expect it to be one for us either. People get paid a lot of money to know how to manipulate it and make it work, and plan years in advance. We'll be just fine.

Yeah, but they weren't a perennial one before he got there. Personally, I always loved the guy. From the first video I watched of him after we drafted him when he was cruising around in the golf cart while at Cal. So funny. The guy is so much smarter than anyone gives him credit for (which should be obvious considering he went to Cal Berkeley). Yeah, he made a mistake here and there, who doesn't? The way he made himself a marketable player by not saying anything was pure genius and clearly intentional in my mind.

You mean the same chick that tried to sue him for assault and battery but lost when she had admitted in text to friends that he never even touched her? Great reference. He is not getting cut. Period. This will be the first time he has ever been arrested. It was a fight in a bar with other men. There were no weapons involved, no women / children being hit, no previous suspensions in his past. People want to bring up his previous behavior? An all female party? Are you kidding me, that sounds amazing. Pouring water (or some beverage) on a stripper that you hired? Really, THAT is where she draws the moral line? Give me a break. These types of things are a Tuesday afternoon for Gronkowski. He will likely not face any jail time for this considering he has no record at all and will be hiring a top notch defense lawyer I'm sure, and will likely face a 2 game league suspension, 4 at the absolute most. We are going to cut one of our best players and screw ourselves cap wise because of this?

This.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha......Ha!

If the Broncos were the ones down 16-10 in the SB in the 4th quarter and Peyton was in Cam's shoes, I'd be willing to bet he would have made an attempt at that ball. Old as dirt (NFL QB wise) bad back, bad hip, bad foot and all, and I am confident he would have done everything in his power to recover that ball. The SB was on the line there. That effort was inexcusable no matter how close you look at the replay or how you try to justify in Cam's eyes. Showed a real lack of heart IMO, which he seemed to display all game long.

Yeah, deleting that post. I'm not getting into this argument here. It's pointless.

The league is run by a bunch of people who made their fortunes mostly through corporations. A vast majority of corporations sole purpose is to increase revenues and profit margins for their stock holders (and especially the board of directors) often by screwing over their workforce on a yearly basis through outsourcing, shipping production overseas, wage increases that are a fraction of inflation rates, increased health premiums, eliminating benefits, etc. This mentality is ingrained in a lot of them and they don't know any other way to function really. So the NFL is no different. Increase revenues year after year, increase profits year after year, no matter what it takes. I just never understood why some great things just can't be left as is. Oh wait, yes I do, pure and simple greed.

Way before my time, but sure seems like it. However, if we have to go back over 50 years to find 1 example, then I am pretty comfortable with my original thoughts on this.

Maybe we'll take your OSU boy later in the draft. He could be an example right there, but since he started the first 1/2 of the season I'm not sure it really counts though! I'm still hoping for Kessler though around 5 or 6th round.

You are just dealing in hypotheticals. If Flaco didn't transfer, if Wilson didn't transfer, if someone unknown QB doesn't transfer...the fact is that guys with the goods DO transfer to get playing time instead of being a back up because they know if they want to have a shot to hit the NFL, they need to be on the field in college. Cassell is the only guy I can think of that did not start in college and got some playing time in the NFL, but he was far from successful. If we want to try a strategy that has never, to my knowledge at least, worked in the history of the NFL, well, I guess it's bound to happen sometime, right? But I would simply prefer the more conventional routes of drafting guys who are at least good enough to play in college. I mean, if we wanted to we could take your argument to the next level...why not just hold open tryouts for any Joe Schmo that can throw a football? Hey, he's got an arm, who's to say he can't develop?

You guys are all mentioning players that were starters in their final year(s) of college. Not one of those guys was a backup. Wilson started at NC State as a senior, graduated, started at Wisconsin, Cam started at Auburn, Aikman started at UCLA, Flaco started at Delaware. The poster said to find some college backup sitting behind a star, that is not what any of these guys the season before they were drafted. You are talking year(s) before they were drafted. I am asking for an example of a guy who was a backup the season before the draft that had NFL success and Matt Cassell is not an answer to that IMO. He wrote: "Someone worth looking for would be a college second stringer with skills who was forced to sit behind a true star. Grab him and develop him. No more one game wonders like EJ."

Can you please name a single instance where this occurred and the QB had NFL success? I see your Matt Cassell example. I did say EFFECTIVE NFL QB though. If you want to consider a guy that only threw for over 3,000 yards twice and never over 4,000 an effective NFL QB, well, so be it. I think most people clearly can see that the man is and always has been terrible and if that is the best example anyone can think of, well, then I think I proved my original point.

Huh? I'm sorry, but if you can't start on your college team, you are not going to be an effective NFL player at any position, much less QB. Tom Brady sharing playing time with Henson is the only thing similar to what you are saying that I can think of and that was only because his coach was a stubborn idiot who couldn't see what everyone else saw, that Tom was a much more effective QB than Henson. Henson was just playing because of his reputation.

Taking a QB in the first round with who will likely be available when we pick and when we have other more pressing needs, would be a display of complete incompetence by our front office. I don't think they are incompetent and don't think there is really any chance we are taking a QB in the first round. A lot of people here feel differently, I know, but has there been any hint at all that they are even considering a QB in round 1? I know I haven't seen any.

There is zero chance the Broncos are letting him walk. Zero.

This was in college, obviously, but this will always stick in my mind as the greatest single moment of QB toughness.

Why would we want a guy with sub 60% completion, bad performances in his tougher games, and respected so little by his teammates that he's a fifth year starting QB who was the early favorite to be the #1 overall pick this season, yet he wasn't even named captain? I don't want him at all.