NoSaint

Unless pocket looks like the savior, but somehow Flacco looks better than that even…. You have to protect sheer upside of the young guys, even if long shots. Pickett or Huntley will likely be around if you need to call them because Flacco got hurt.

ever since that run of bengals players going bananas everyone very eagerly looks to the nfl to dole out punishment as an employer for things the legal system should generally cover. It often puts them in weird no win positions. I’ve admittedly been back and forth. If a semi violent head case doesn’t belong in the nfl, where in society, outside the prison system, do we really want him? But no one wants to watch that jerk cash weekly checks larger than I make in 5 years.

continuing stellar judgement. no qb, and 4th in their division. Race to sign.

A larger volume of very good guys doesn’t help him but in a world where everyone is trying to stack edge talent for less than $40m a year and you need several…. It still speaks to managing expectations that he lasted. hopefully he unlocks the upside!

in glass half full, he has a lot of tools and seems like a hard worker sooo good guy to take a swing with still!

as a premium position guy that lasted a long time…. Clearly the nfl saw significant limitations. it’s not quite the same but a 3rd round qb has nearly no expectation while a round 3 running back is probably carrying a bit more pressure to contribute early. he’s at a position that gets overdrafted and he still lasted. I would plan to give him plenty of runway to figure things out and would not put all my chips in on him reaching all pro status.

you would’ve sold it for a couple cases of beer when it doubled and that would be way worse

all of them were born? I’m saying adding in a bunch of 80s rock (ie 35+ years old) probably isn’t going to happen to replace the current stuff that’s growing stale

and unfortunately, can only count on so many classic rock or metal songs to do that for team and crowd. Half the crowd wasn’t alive when many of the suggestions were popular

A lot of guys in this thread have not learned from the Super Bowl halftime threads - we are old, and rock songs from 40 years ago aren’t what the players or next generation are seeking

in this league, having a few of those force multipliers is important. I know @Kirby Jackson and I have beat that drum a lot- 4 quarters are nice but sometimes you need the dollar. Superstars elevate those around them and change the count. Guys like Allen (or healthy bosa) make it 12 vs 11 on the field

hopefully Keon isn’t just looking good against our secondary

3rd round pick vs a respectable vet that’s unspectacular? yea, usually an uphill path for the young guy

avoiding very good vs picking on mediocre is kind of a distinction without much difference. I guess if benford went down tre would see a couple less maybe?

there’s also the reality that no one wants to watch backups get flagged mercilessly in a meaningless exhibition so some of those “every play has a hold” judgement calls go towards letting the clock run with a lot of crews

first we see drinking beer then see him chewing tobacco… now we see that?!?

im not trying to hang on a single drill on Thursday afternoon nor a guy completing 60% at 6 ypa in fancy practice on a Friday night in August he played ok in a couple quarters of a scrimmage but that’s synced up with drew lock and cooper rush for completion percentage and yards per attempt last year. I’m also not going to beat him down on the numbers as I get it’s backups and manufactured situational calls etc… and not a real game either.

he has some all world talents, and some room to improve. it puts him among the very very good, but not the generational talents

id be surprised if he misses games honestly also surprised if he gets top tier elite money or a deal that keeps him long term which means he either plays as is… or with some sort of very short bridge deal think 2 years, shade over 2025 salary plus tag year, modest incentives and no tag clause. Tags 13.6m, salary is 5.2m… that’s 18.6m…. Bar napkin 2 year, 20m, lots of cash up front, some incentives that are achievable to add enough to be at/around kyren dollars if he performs and tag is out the window at the end. Bills put to bed any distractions by sweetening slightly, and reward performance still — cook gets cash early, upside potential and a clear path to free agency. It’s not thrilling for anyone, but neither side deals with worst case scenarios.

its ultimately just another data point in the “cook or…” roster building discussion. If the theory is he wants saquon money…. Cash flow is like 17-18 per year for the next 2-4 years bar napkin If given the choice how would we rank just chasing saquon in the first place and trading cook vs paying cook the same deal? a kyren-esque back AND a mid tier contributor vs cook? I hate the idea of losing our only lightning in a bottle outside Josh but he’s not cmc or saquon and to not just pay but overpay a running back doesn’t make sense unless we are officially pushing every last chip in right now….

yea- I get both sides of the coin. Do you really want some guy that’s never played trying to showcase his arm talent, or better off with someone who just won’t lose it on their own but won’t win it on their own either?

im not expecting it but this could be the proverbial off ramp for him to slow down and save face at a number like 12m

high end weapons plus qb friendly system plus fair weather I think he can have a good game no doubt but he scares me somewhere between Brock Purdy and Kirk cousins. if healthy he’s a viable nfl starter but probably QB8(?) in the afc and often not healthy?

Wild how backup qb isn’t usually a guy that’s going to light it up but instead a vet with enough playing time and good habits that he can walk on the field without nearly enough preparation and simply try not to tank everyone else and teddy is that

neither guy is saquon/cmc/henry both guys are very good, even if a bit shy of fully complete stars. we desperately need flashy speed somewhere in our offense… ours fits us best currently.