Happy

He misspelled "fullbacks" in that poem, left out an 'l'

Funny guy.

You beat me to it. I was just going to say Aaron Schobel. A good portion of our DE/edge problems would be solved if he was here. A completely underrated DE who gave Brady fits...NE hated Schobel.

I really do think Beane tries to get a deal with Shaq done as I believe they want to keep him. If Shaq wants Clowney type money, he's gone. IIRC, McD made a comment at the end of the season that he would have liked to see more from the defensive line in terms of QB pressure; they were somewhere toward the middle of the league as far as that goes. Murphy needed to step up and fill that role, which he did not do that good of a job at, and certainly below his pay level. He may be a high motor guy, but you're not going to contend for the SB having guys like Murphy and Star being counted on as DLine starters, or even high percentage rotation since they're middling players. I'd be fine with keeping both at a lower pay rate and depth/low rotation percentage.

I'm hoping/optimistic we re-sign Shaq as I think it would be a good move. Why is it that Murphy's pay is some type of benchmark that needs to be measured against? I think Murphy is a middling talent who is overpaid, and whose stats this year were much better than he is. Ngakoue or Armstead would be fine, and may even cost less than Murphy. I'm on the fence about Clowney as there is no way he lives up to his contract, but he is a force that occupies the backfield and makes the QB uncomfortable. Ultimately, I want to a) re-sign Shaq b) get a FA to replace Murphy, and c) draft a DE/edge early - above the 5th round, preferably. Daryl Johnson was depth and special teams, he didn't meet any starting need at DE.

Here you are. I took the max age of 30 and didn't worry about salary. Murphy's QB Hit number wasn't available, at least that I saw. Statistically, he had a good year, only 2016 was better. As I mentioned earlier, Murphy is usually pushed clear out of the play by the RT, which I gather just by eyesight as there is not a statistic for that. For his salary, which is in the upper end, Murphy doesn't really stand out and shouldn't be too difficult to replace. IMO, he is nothing special and is overpaid. 2020 UFA DE (from SpoTrac) Player Age Tackles Sack QB Hit FF 2019 AAV ($M) Derek Wolfe 30 34 7 13 1 9.1 Rober Quinn 30 34 12 24 2 8.0 Vic Beasley 28 42 8 12 2 3.6 J Clowney 27 31 3 13 4 15.0 Leonard Williams 26 46 1 16 1 4.6 Arik Armstead 26 54 10 19 2 2.4 E Ogbah 26 32 6 11 1 1.6 Chris Jones 26 36 9 20 1 1.5 Y Ngakoue 25 41 8 17 4 0.8 Trent Murphy 29 36 5 ? 2 7.5

If Beane finds a FA who is and increment better than Murphy, I think you get rid of Murphy as he is overpaid for his middling production. I personally don't think the guy is that good and see why the Redskins parted ways with him, aside from injury history. From Beane's perspective, I would assume that a lot of it depends on A) re-signing Shaq Lawson, B) drafting an Edge who is more than SpT/depth, and C) FA upgrade. If all three occur, I would expect Murphy gone. If one of the three doesn't happen, I can see Murphy back on a short deal. I expect Star to be back since it doesn't make sense to part with him until after the 2020 season, cap wise. A poster mentioned that a team counting on Star and Murphy as starters on the D-line is not a team that will play for the SB; I completely agree with that sentiment since neither are better than middling talent.

The Eagles released him with a $5.3M dead cap hit, looks like a red flag to me.

That's what I meant by not being enamored with the DE's behind Lawson and Hughes. I get your point about not cutting a player who is better than your lower end depth, but keeping Murphy at his current pay rate is a waste of money. Use it to get an upgrade in FA, which Beane should be able to do.

He's not worth the $8-10M cap hit to keep as he is way overpaid. Re-sign Shaq Lawson and use the money to get a FA, which shouldn't be too hard to do. Worst case you have Hughes and Lawson with Johnson and Love as rotations (which I'm not exactly enamored with), but I don't think the worst case will come to pass.

Didn't Hughes essentially play with one hand this past season, due to fractured bones or something? He definitely had an off year. The biggest negative to keeping Hughes is that the LT can completely maul him and it never gets called. I suspect this is because of Hughes shooting off his mouth while chasing after a referee in the tunnel after a game a few years back. I hear you, the potential for Hughes to hit that wall is approaching. Just hope he can make it through this season and be somewhat productive. You let him go, save $8M, and get a FA. Murphy is not hard to replace. I don't understand those who think he's something special, because he's not.

Not this year, it wouldn't make sense. Hughes can still be productive and his dead cap is $10.8M vs cap hit of $9.5M. The potential out from Hughes' contract is after this upcoming season.

IIRC, he had a sack. Murphy still underperforms game situations where you would look for him to have an impact. So great for the sack, but there is not enough pressure applied to the QB on a consistent basis, and rushes/screens/misdirections toward the left side of the DL end up being successful for the offense because Murphy is usually out of the play.

I don't understand how people could be satisfied with Trent Murphy. He is the Star Lutulieltieieii of the DE position...depth, maybe some rotation, but should see little playing time since he is not an impact player. Murphy is usually pushed clear out of the play by the RT, and you normally see him running to the pile on your screen when the play is blown dead because that is how far he was removed from the play. Funny, I believe McD referred to Murphy as having 'that DNA' he's looking for. I guess that is analogous to having a high motor ala Chris Kelsay. Both were meh players. No way do I pay Murphy $8M this year, and as pointed out, dead cap is less than $2M. This is a clear cut and not too hard to replace a middling DE/edge rusher.

I saw this E:60 episode, as well. It was very interesting, I came away with a new appreciation for Drew. He could have been a real d**k and undermined the 2001 Patriot team, instead he was a great teammate and ended up being one of the reasons they won the SB (besides help from the refs vs the Raiders.) Drew also hated Bill Parcells.

Agree. Murphy is mediocre depth at best. He didn't seem to get pressure on the QB when it mattered and was typically pushed out of the play by the RT. Just not an impact player. Hope we can come to an agreement with Shaq and get another Edge/DE who is more effective than Murphy.

Maybe I did answer my own question without knowing it. Knox and Sweeney have potential, so it seems they're worth keeping around as they're very young. Not sure if we need Croom and Kroft since they've done nothing, and possibly not Smith.

I'm all for having good players. If the TE room looks like Olsen, Knox, and Sweeney, that is fine by me. Not sure we need: Croom who is a development project that is taking a while; Kroft who isn't dependable due to health issues; Smith who is a holding penalty risk each snap he is on the field and is not dependable in passing situations downfield.

I'm sure that is part of it; Josh is still developing. Yes, the Patriots use multiple TE sets often; only they take advantage of it. Daboll has not shown that propensity to this point.

That's reasonable. I'm ok with bringing in Olsen, just if they do, get rid of (choose one) Croom/Smith/Kroft. No reason to stash that many TEs on the roster.

Interesting thought on where Olsen could fit in. If they bring in Olsen, would Beane and McD think about cutting Lee Smith? Knox and Sweeney should be kept going forward, though I don't see a need to have four or five TEs - especially ones who don't play often or are penalties and/or missed blocking assignments waiting to happen.

I'm not irritated (your word, not mine) in bringing in Olsen, I don't see why he's needed. What would Greg Olsen bring to the table at this point? Additionally, Daboll hasn't shown that he really needs more than three TE's.

Are the three teams going to bid on who will pay him less, and expect Olsen to take it? Many? Maybe 'three' many...Beane, McDermott, and Daboll. I'm not sure why we need this many TE's. Shouldn't three be enough?

In a time where it is the Hall of Very Good, Air Coryell, along with Dan Fouts, created what has become the modern passing offense. I think Coryell should be in the Hall of Fame, and the only reason he's not is because he didn't win a SB. I do NOT think Cowher or Tom Flores should be in the Hall. They really didn't change/modernize/shape the game at all.

That's true, I forgot about Corey, who probably should get a short contract. They really do need a strong 1T, though; thus far they've mostly had bandages.