Happy

While that would be nice, the 1-techs right now are Star and Harry. Star is a known quantity, Harry not so much since he only rotated in during his rookie season and missed all of last season. In addition, Star just re-worked his contract which goes through 2021, I believe. He certainly won't be cut since that would be cap prohibitive. Star (and Murphy) are here this year.

Maybe Yeldon and Foster, though they're not going to fetch much. Can't think of too much else right now; the least likely to be traded is anyone from the lines. D-line will need the players for rotation, and the o-line isn't that thick. Murphy unfortunately stays and rotates with AJ until he is ready to take more snaps.

McD didn't exactly strip down the roster in year 1, but rather after the 2017 season. His first year contained a lot of the Rex/Whaley roster. Year 2, 2018 season, is where they had a stripped down roster and played better than their talent level. IMO, the 2017 season (year 1) is where they finished about where they should have...9-7.

Spot on. Flores and Grier stripped down the Dolphin's roster ala SF 49ers in year one of the Flores regime and they overachieved. Miami beat NE and Philly, something we couldn't do in year three of the McD era. Miami is going to be a very good team in a few years, both player personnel-wise and coaching.

And especially when he gets a Fitz-style big contract.

Fitz won't change, he will have his good games and lose it for you in other games with multiple pics. He's what that team needs right now, no sense in rushing Tua along, especially after an injury and being a rookie. Miami will end up 7-9 or 8-8.

Hear, hear. Good post. I would encourage everyone to watch and listen to Bishop Curry's video that Shaw66 linked. BTW, he has a Bills helmet in the background over his right shoulder. It's a shame that a small fraction of police officers have to give law enforcement a bad name. Maybe these events further encourages a discussion of race relations in America as well as respect for innocent people and their property. A lot of small businesses lost, if not everything, a good portion of their property and they do not deserve that. Oh, and some of these businesses are owned by minorities; something that the 'protesters' don't consider.

I think Murphy does make the team, this is the last year of his contract. Murphy and AJ probably on the left side with Hughes and Addison on the right. I don't think they're going to throw AJ in sink or swim style, but rather allow him to grow into the position. AJ may not get more snaps than Murphy until later in the season, unfortunately. Davis and Jefferson are probably the 3-techs, with Jefferson giving them flexibility as to where he lines up; so maybe we'll see some creativity up front, I hope. Next year Beane will have to invest heavily on the d-line as Murphy will be gone, potentially Star, as well as Addison and Hughes. All those guys will be over 30 and closer to 32-33 years old.

I see. What if there are multiple games this season where we can't stop the run, such as the Miami, Philly, and Cleveland games? Cleveland and Philly beat us, and if Miami didn't have a stripped down roster, they would have beat us. Every year this seems to be an issue for a couple of games. I understand you have to stop the pass, but you can't let teams average 4+ yards a carry, either. I'm not worried about being a top 5 defense, but an effective one that is difficult to move the ball against, including the run. The rankings will sort themselves out.

And I'm coming for your sandwich.

Edmunds needs to get better against the run. Part of his responsibility is run defense and gap coverage, which he still struggles with. Edmunds, while having underneath coverage duties, also is supposed to finish up the tackle which the d-line initiates with their gap assignments. There shouldn't be another 200 yard rushing game against this defense going forward; teams have seen we're vulnerable to the run, so they run at us until we prove we can stop it. The run game is not dead and the linebackers are a vital part to stopping the run, even today. If this defense still proves vulnerable to the run, it might be time to move Edmunds outside where he excels in coverage.

Gronk's car apparently looks like his junk, which Brady admires.

Not sure what we're supposed to get from this. Doesn't look any different than Fitz to Stevie Johnson.

Yes this was mentioned, my bad for not catching what was being referring to. At some point though, I would think the average American will get turned off by the amount of money some of these players make, by way of the NFL revenue streams, and stop watching. Between that, the amount of rules introduced, as well as the NFL dipping its toes into social justice issues, I wouldn't be surprised if some people stop tuning in at some point in the not too distant future.

I was under the impression that TV revenue and corporate sponsorships provide more revenue than fan attendance at stadiums. No? Agree that if one thinks that players make too much, as well as the NFL, stop watching.

Actually two - Singletary on offense and Oliver on defense. I want to be fans of the others I listed, but still too early to tell since they are rookies or first year FAs. But yeah, I went a little overboard. Anyway, I'm not concerned about Oliver's recent DUI since I think he will get past it. Toward the end of the season, he showed promise of being a dominant 3-tech; I figured he would struggle against pro centers and guards at first, but I think he's getting there.

If SF can't get a deal done with him, I would trade Knox, Sweeney, and throw in Croom for Kittle

I recall seeing this. Doesn't exactly give me the warm fuzzies. These two are depth; not sure why McD thinks he's going to work wonders with them as he hasn't shown the ability to do so with the line.

Probably Devin Singletary and Ed Oliver. Also hoping I take a liking to Zach Moss, Quinton Jefferson, and AJ Epenesa Yeah, that was pure crap and the dumb animal pretty much got away with it. One game suspension (wow) so he could be back the following week for the NE vs Pitt primetime game. It's all about money and ratings with the NFL, not player safety, regardless of what they want you to believe.

At this point I do think the NFL needs full time refs. Part time refs worked well enough in the past when there wasn't an over-abundance of rules to protect defenseless receivers, QBs, Brady, and whoever else gains the league's favor. Now the game is highly controlled, and even engineered, to protect stars and encourages the offenses to score 40+ points per game.

I like the "Sunday Night Special" the following week -- 4-2 Rams at 4-2 Cowboys; Sunday Night games were a treat. I honestly think now there are too many games spread out over too many days; back then NFL games were something to look forward to. Today, I feel that it is taken for granted. Really cool to watch these games from yesteryear.

From what I gather, Croom is there while Pegula's daughter goes shopping during the day.

I hope so regarding Star, though I wonder. At the 1-tech, I believe it is Star and Harry; we know what we have in Star but not so much with Harry as he rotated in during his rookie season and was injured all of last season. I'm fairly certain Jefferson will be the 3-tech along with the other DT that was acquired from Carolina. Inconsistency is a problem with Murphy. He will rack up a bunch of stats during a favorable matchup one week, then the next week or two he will disappear from being easily handled by the RT. Murphy is the modern day Chris Kelsay -- try hard, high motor, lunch pail guy who you can't rely on to make plays. Sounds like they're going to bring AJ in as he shows the ability to get more playing time.

It doesn't seem like McD and Beane are going to change the defensive line around beyond what has already been done. Doubt we see Clowney or Everson Griffen or anyone else come in. It's mind boggling why they believe in Trent Murphy as much as they do, as well as Star.

This should be a good thing. Too many of Riverron's play reviews were nonsensical.