BarleyNY

The MLB is an interesting contrast to the NFL as their players union is the strongest of any league while the NFLPA is relatively much weaker. The MLB teams get most of their revenue from local broadcasting and other sources individually, thus the lack of economic parity. It still has some revenue sharing so that the lesser market teams can survive but that’s about it. Overall that brings in more revenue to the league - and therefore to players via salaries - than if they’d have an NFL style system. salaries are further lifted by smaller market teams overspending relative to income when they can “make a run”. It’s unlikely that such a system would work out as well for the NFL though. Their appeal is broader and more people watch more out of market games than in other leagues. If the larger market teams dominated then parity would suffer and viewership would look more like baseball. And if you think QB and star player salaries look huge right now, they’d explode under such a system. But both the NFL and NFLPA know they’ve got a great thing going so the system isn’t changing anytime soon.

As others have already mentioned, it is part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and NFLPA. The CBA allows for many things that would be illegal in a purely free market business environment. The draft, set rookie salaries, the salary cap limit and floor, roster size limits, league (rather than individual team) broadcasting deals, etc. So players (and owners) get the whole deal when they sign on. Then they get a say in any future negotiations.

Cheatriots find a way to get one of the top 4 QB prospects. Billy B once again labeled a “genius” by talking heads

It reminds me when teams used to trade players to the Patriots cheap

I don’t believe it. Like you have a friend

Cool

I don’t know about that. Maybe they just went with “flat tire” instead of “hammered at the strip club”. Always possible that there is more to the story too. But that’s really not the general public’s business. Nor is it if a bunch of guys went to a club, drank and then were responsible getting home. Which brings us back to “flat tire”. Seems like a reasonable thing to say for privacy reasons. And now you made me google maps it. Unsurprisingly there are several gentlemen’s clubs near the airport where the train tracks pass under the highway. I’d bet that someone could reasonably park where his vehicle was found, especially if it was a busy night. Go figure. And again, nothing nefarious seems to have taken place so why would anyone worry about it?

So either Diggs and his buddies or just his buddies were out at the strip clubs near the airport, got hammered and Ubered home? That’s my takeaway here.

It is a no brainer for Allen. It is just face saving for Edmunds because they aren’t picking up his.

Beane’s comments about it being tough to squeeze in both fifth year options seems like face-saving for Edmunds to me. That’s a pretty good strategy if they aren’t picking it up and still want to retain him at a lesser contract. Just to clarify, the two options at the same time (see below) thing didn’t just sneak up on Beane. He has known what was coming for a long time. He sure knew when he resigned Milano. One of the reasons I didn’t think he’d do that was Edmunds’ upcoming contract and I didn’t think he’d want to tie up $25M-$30M a year in two LBs. It’s possible that the decision was made to keep Milano and either not keep Edmunds or try to retain him at a lesser contract. We shall see.

I agree. Believe nothing you hear WRT the draft this time of year. Lying liars. All of them. As for Miami, never hurts to listen to offers and see who gets stupid. And (again) it might just be smoke anyway. Or maybe they trade out with a QB needy team and prevent NE from being able to move up for their QB. I’d be okay with that.

I would bring this up in every argument with her for the rest of my life.

That’s a fair way to look at it too.

I am sure it’s an imperfect metric, but I think it give a more complete picture of Edmunds (and other players) when added to the other stats. I looked at this link for all LBs with at least 20 snaps per game. That’s all LBs, not just MLBs. One has 13%, four have 11%, eight have 10%, eight have 9% and Edmunds is among a group of 30 with 8%. He’s 40th on the list (assuming that matters) and that the list is ordered by the unrounded percentage. I don’t think that’s egregiously low and there might be mitigating factors - injury, no true NT to protect him, etc. But even so it is a lot lower than I’d like for a guy who is on track for a huge contract. The stat I’d love to see is one that shows how far downfield his tackles are. LBs who effectively and quickly fill their gaps can have about the same number of tackles as ones that don’t but WHERE the tackles happen can be far different. I can’t find it though. So we are left using our eyes and sites like PFF to make our judgements. I wish my eyes told me all good things about him, but they don’t. And PFF doesn’t help. They are harder on him than I am. They have him a 41.2 overall grade in 2020, which ranks him 74th of 83 LBs. His previous years are better but not really good. Their rankings aren’t perfect, but they aren’t THAT far off. So we will have some information about what the Bills think of him in the next few weeks. I doubt they draft anyone to take his place, but maybe they take a day 3 LB for depth and insurance. The real question is whether or not they pick up his 5th year option. In any event he has at least this season to step up and show what he can do. We can speculate but we are going to have that to judge him by before this all gets resolved.

I just skimmed a bit of the article, but one thing it does not seem to address is the relative impact of other positions drafted in the first round. So first round RBs do not turn teams around? That’s what I would have expected. But other than QB, what positions do? Its point that improving the OL is more effective in improving the run game than selecting a RB high in the draft is a well worn analytics take. Still, a RB who can have a positive impact in the passing game (receiving and pass pro) as well as in the run game is valuable. I can certainly see value in a RB who is a threat as a receiver - and so can the analytics folks. The Bills trotting out 11 personnel with such a RB and a complete TE can create a lot of mismatches. They can keep the TE in line and the RB in the backfield, flex to five wide or anything in between. If all five players are genuine receiving threats defenses will have to put lighter personnel in the field - or get burned. That would certainly help the running game. That along with some better IOL play.

He’d be a good choice. Several good options here. I voted Graham Jr but I’d be happy with Nasirildeen or Carter too.

It literally ranks below cheerleaders

CB Thomas Graham Jr, Oregon

With the 91st pick in the draft the Cleveland Browns select Benjamin St.-Juste, CB, Minnesota @NeverOutNick is on the clock People getting some great values in this round. I love my two third round picks - Josh Palmer and Benjamin St.-Juste. Love Kendrick Green, Tay Gowan, Joe Tyron and some others where they got picked.

And I’m ready with pick #91 if you don’t take him

With the 89th pick in the draft the Cleveland Browns take Josh Palmer, WR, Tennessee. @H2o is on the clock

I’m interested to read what they say about Horn. Can you please post that? TIA

No way to know without seeing how players come off the board. It’s why FOs have to do their homework. Beyond rating players and fits they have to set up possible trades both up and down the board. Then they can be effective on draft weekend. I expect that Beane is set up well.

No, you’re awake It’s crazy how little Oweh did with his amazing physical ability. That roll of the dice rarely works out well for the team drafting him so I have to say I’d be pissed at 30. Talk to me at 61 for a player like that.

I agree. And while I’m still on Team Smokescreen, I’ll play. The only player I can think of that might go this high and would be a fit for the Bills is Alim McNeill, who is a true 1T. He’s PFF’s 54th overall prospect with a second round grade. Notably he’s their second overall IDL behind Barmore. McNeil is a line-of-scrimmage resetter on the nose who could make his presence felt as a pass rusher in time. 30 is definitely higher than I’d want to take him, but I can see a needy team taking him earlier than most expect just due to the lack of top end talent at the position in this draft. I would think that the Bills are unlikely to be that team unless they’ve rated him more highly than that and/or they are doubtful that they will get much out of Star this year and don’t want a replay of 2021 with Oliver at 1T.