BullBuchanan

Who cares? They still wouldn't be good.

If you remove Beasley's worst season and his best he averages 576 yards, 3.75tds and 32 First Downs. That first down total would rank him 54th in the league this year, and I shouldn't need to point out where his other stats would rank him. This is with him playing with Romo, Prescott, and Allen. H'es never had to play with poor QBs for extended periods

I really dislike our conversations. I listed 7 players that should be considered better than Beasley was at his very absolute best, and that's not enough. The deeper down the list I go, the more pedantic I expect your responses to become. For the record, I'd add Robert Woods, Jarvis Landry, and Adam Theilen as better out of the slot. And yes, the receivers I listed above have historically played mostly out of the slot. I'm not claiming Beasley is garbage - JAG is only a slight if you feel he's elite, and he's not that. There isn't any part of his game that's special. He's is (or was) a solid player who's mouth outruns his legs. He has run of the mill 1rst down numbers, weak yardage totals, weak TD totals, awful YAC. He catches balls most of the time and goes down afterwards. He's a fine player, but he's not in the 150 best all time. He's never been to a pro bowl or been an AP1.

Hill, Kupp, Allen, Lockett, Lamb, Godwin, Schuster, etc. He had one season in his entire career that he belonged in the conversation, and last year sure as hell wasn't it. Don't let that stop you though.

Listen, Cole. You aren't close to the best guy in the league. You've been a JAG your whole career and you had one good season. Pump the brakes. Drama follows you wherever you go and you can't help but be a distraction. Good riddance. Crowder is an instant upgrade.

You know the dude has a twitter account right? Do I have to read it for you? He's never known when to shut his ***** mouth. Off the top of my head: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/impending-free-agent-cole-beasley-blasts-cowboys-front-office-for-his-lack-of-involvement-in-offense/ https://www.nfl.com/news/cole-beasley-on-cowboys-wrs-we-re-just-getting-open-0ap3000000967380 https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/07/22/is-cole-beasley-trying-to-get-cut/

Poor dude's going bald at 22. Not sure if I'd make that trade.

I bet you wouldn't.

He's an extremely toxic person. Toxic people tend to attract more adoration than they deserve and sometimes more criticism. In Cole's case, he got out on the winning side of it. He's been this way since Dallas.

If Dane isn't ready by now, it's not likely he ever will be. I've liked his play, but he needs to get better if he wants to be a long-term #2.

The top 5 in the AFC would be great in any time period. Guys put up better stats now, and the league has a lot more parity, but I don't think there is a marked difference in top-end QBs now than there was in the 90s. or the late 00's. You're just seeing a new generation get started, so it always looks like that. It wasn't that long ago we had Brady, Manning, Manning, Rivers, Brees, Ryan, Wilson, Rodgers, Warner, Favre all slinging the rock around at a high level at the same time (besides Wilson who would come a couple years later) In the early 90s you had Kelly, Marino, Favre, Elway, Simms, Aikman, Young, Montana, Moon, Cunningham etc

I don't think he'll take it.

The '91 AFC Championship game against the Raiders was my first game. I mostly remember everyone being very excited and how cold I was. We had a big Super Bowl party and everyone was happy. My Bills fandom was formed and cemented during those years before I knew how to tie my shoelaces.

If I'm Lamar, I'm pushing for maximum guaranteed dollars over total money. So much of his value as a QB is tied to his legs, and not only is that the first thing to diminish, but one bad hit or juke and it could be over in an instant. Of course the Ravens know this, but unless they plan on drafting a replacement over the next year or two, what are they gonna do?

There's an opportunity for it. In some games, like poker, you want to be doing what other players aren't doing. I don't see any reason we couldn't see a shift in football, except that it's hard to switch philosophy drastically year to year. The patriots have been able to do it, but not too many other teams. the rise of wide open passing offenses has led to an emphasis on smaller and more nimble players. That can certainly be exploited if a team was able to pair a big bruising back with a competent offense and a great defense. That's been the Titans model. Unfortunately for them, i think they just ran into bad timing in the league. They're good enough to win lots of games, but not win the ones they need to. If they can add some wrinkles to their offense, maybe it'll be enough.

Aaron Donald just decided not to retire. Whatever you pay for him, you have to assume it's for 1 year. TJ Watt is in his prime.

I thought you'd take solace in being close to making a compelling argument. I guess that wasn't enough. I made my point and said everything that needed to be said. Enjoy your echochamber.

Yes, because we're speaking in generalities about negotiation and sales, whereas you were speaking in specifics about the nuances of sports contracts. There's a chasm of difference.

Your team will end up with more pressure on the 2nd drive.

I already answered all of this. You seem more interested in trying to prove me wrong than actually determining whether or not the move made sense. Bates didn't go see what his market was before agreeing to sign an offer that was only as good as what Beane offered - he actually signed an offer with another team that we were able to match and retain him because of league rules. He apparently was more than willing to play for the Chicago Bears. Some posters have suggested that it's possible we offered him just as good of a deal, but he signed there anyway. Why would he do that if he wanted to be here? Why not just take our deal that was just as good? My statement that "he could not have paid more for Bates", has been defended numerous times already. By allowing all 31 teams to have the opportunity to bid on his services, he paid the top of market. Sure, he could have offered Bates JA's contract for no reason, but let's keep this steeped in some sort of reality. You're correct, I do think that Beane should have got to Bates before the market spoke. It's what good salespeople/negotiators do. It's usually a privilege of the rich, but off market homes, art, cars, collectables, etc are bought all the time before the public can drive up the price. That's the part of the job that actually takes skill. Any jabroni can walk into an open house, ask what the top bid is and beat it. That makes you the opposite of good. Of course this isn't as simple as offering less than market and getting someone to sign because you're a slick talker. You need other skills too - like being able to predict when players are going to break out before they do, what their motivations are, and how far you can push the negotiation before you break the deal.

That specific example seems like an extreme, but in the NFL it's extremely common for a starting player to re-sign with their existing team before hitting FA. Without having the numbers in front of me, I'd say it's more rare for them not to. FA's usually seem to be guys on their 3rd+ contract or guys who underachieved their rookie deal. If you had made that point about lower tier players earlier, we could have saved a lot of frustration here. I still have some issues with that, but it's a much more reasonable argument than anything anyone else said, and I can move past it.

That sort of outlier you referenced in MLB is routine in the NFL though - happens every single season. That's why i don't think it's relevant. Sorry, i didn't include that part because I didn't find that it made that much of a difference to the overall point. I'm wasn't trying to avoid it. Are you saying that your previous statement of players "strive to get the opportunity to reach the open market" does not apply to elite talent and is more reserved for medium to low-tier players like Bates because they aren't setting record contracts and thus the deals are more nuanced?

I really don't know the first thing about MLB or NBA contracts, but I know they're much different than the NFL, especially being that they're fully guaranteed. If you're speaking about NFL players, I don't see evidence to suggest this is true. How many marquee players hit FA on their first shot at it? Did Mahomes? Allen? How about any very good QB over the last 10 years? Maybe there's one or two int here, but usually it's the over 30 guys. Elite pass rushers, WRs, or even RBs? We let Gilmore walk, but that was widely seen as a wasted opportunity, even by people like me that couldn't stand him. It rarely happens that a guy who can benefit the most from FA actually gets there in his prime, yet you're suggesting this is what they want the most. Why don't more players do it then when their value is at their highest?

Nope.

If what you claim is true, why is it so rare for major stars (the ones who would gain the most from free agency) to hit the open market?