Richard Noggin

It's all true, this oversimplification, it's all true IF IF IF you don't move on from players on big bonus-heavy deals who have more than one season remaining. That proration does sting when guys don't play out their deals until at least the penultimate season. Eating one year of spread-out bonus happens all the time. But eating two or even three years, combined with other cap constraints, can eat up the available "accounting" in ways that often require tough decisions, and/or necessitate continued back-loading of deals. A team can kick-the-can on smart deals without worry (although the randomness of NFL injuries adds uncertainty even here). Weren't the Saints mentioned as an example of how this does NOT catch up to orgs? Haven't they had to take some personnel lumps in order to correct the books a bit? (Of course combining such tough decisions WITH the *ahem unrelated losses of HC and QB makes it seem inevitable.)

Was there signing bonus involved for this guy? Because if so, then maybe a fringe rookie prospect in that situation might have never intended to play in the NFL, but was willing to stick with it long enough for a nice paycheck of 5 or even 6 figures? Remember, these big dudes, especially, experience repeated, necessary physical trauma in the course of a season. Once the pads go on in camp, the violence really kicks up a notch. Maybe a guy has the size/athleticism to be a rookie invite/UDFA signing, but not the desire to be an NFL lineman in full pads? Just a thought.

Yet another reason NOT to trust this man. Even though I DETEST the Red Sox and their fans, I respect loyal fandom. Changing fan allegiances by choice, especially within the same division, is effing BONKERS. This writeup suggests the Orioles are his 3rd team, at least (if he only started rooting for the Red Sox when they finally broke the curse in 2004). He must have had a different team in his younger life, right? Or maybe not, because he's that much of a spineless shill? (Those kids who pick dynasties to root for just because winning feels good.) Eff him lol.

Well, it's the platform and the content: Schefter has the legacy reach of ESPN, AND the ubiquitous, year-round information cycle of the most popular sport in the U.S., PLUS the exponential influence of Twitter in a time of gambling democratization/decriminalization and the proliferation of fantasy sports. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that much of Schefter's exclusive content, and therefore influence, was built upon quid pro quo practices with players, agents, and teams. He's the perfect little aw-shucks ambition engine to run innocent information errands across an entertainment ecosystem riddled with the crossfire of competing interests.

You're mean. But I needed to read that. I need to stop even considering Hodgins a potential sleeper (given that first camp when he was possibly ahead of Davis for a minute). In completely related news: it was reported today that Hodgins is in fact currently on the shelf in OTAs. Oof.

Preseason is my chance to bring my 5 yr old daughter to a game. She isn't ready for regular season games, yet. (Probably isn't ready for regular season ME, yet.) She went to that ungodly hot kids' day last preseason, and I need to keep her connected with another game this year. Not sure when the team announces which game it will be of the two home games. I remember it always being the 2nd preseason home game, back when each team played 2/2.

The Oranges would be a bit more appropriate (than the Browns).

One of many possible outcomes...mostly dependent upon 2022 results. But like anyone in leadership (who actually understands how to lead) and/or sales should understand (HCs and GMs included), it's all about pipeline management. Whether that pipeline is internal company talent (coaches, scouting/personnel, training, marketing, and assorted staff) or roster management (fostering success and development of current and future on-field contributors), it's VITAL to develop almost every employee for personal growth and professional progress. If an organization is operating effectively, it is prepared to see its top-end contributors poached by competitors, with a deliberate in-house succession plan for nearly any position. The best performers should always be rising up the flow charts. My 2022 take on Brady and Kromer joining the staff of a rookie playcaller? Having multiple former OCs surrounding Dorsey is less about long-term succession than it is about immediate SUCCESS. (But it also fills the longer term pipeline.)

What's next?! The Flying J Browns (suggestive) vs the Gillette Patriots? Or the Home Depot Falcons vs the Walmart Broncos? Oh, wait...

You're absolutely right. I wish I could turn it off more often. But it's a part of me.

Tom Brady's "trash talk" was predetermined in a lab and then delivered without an ounce of human charisma. The chunky/Josh Allen-y shot was a funny moment, briefly, until it became obvious that Brady had nothing else, and was in fact using Allen's lack of golf consistency/acumen and his obviously superior stature as a distraction against Brady's own inconsistent game. You could actually hear the insecurity in Brady's voice/stiff delivery. Like a high school bully (it's all projection with these far-right wing #######). Which is especially abhorrent from a guy like Brady who got relentlessly ridiculed for his own body and perceived shortcomings in high school, college, and as an NFL prospect. He's SO insufferable. Thin skin on a guy who wins is especially dooshy.

I don't hate the Pat Williams responses (and I especially don't hate the Eric Moulds responses). But how exactly would "Pat in the 3-tech...allow Ed to do what he does best?" Ed Oliver's "best" is IN the 3-tech! He's been forced to line up at 0 or 1-tech fairly often in college and in the pros, unfortunately, based on necessity. But if you're trying to boost Ed Oliver's production, specifically, adding a NT makes more sense than adding another 3T. Right?

LOVE the guy enough that I created an entire Halloween costume/stadium persona based on the Fitzmagic T-shirt likeness that, to save money, uses the same reddish color on Fitz's hair and beard as on the red in the uniform. Being a sturdy enough guy with a ginger beard that effectively fills out, and cutting out that image above and covering my drought-era jersey chest numbers with it, and using a red, fitted sheet as a cape to cover the back numbers while it's all worn over HOCKEY shoulder pads to create the visibly padded affect without the bulk and restrictions of actual football gear. When I got into FULL costume for the KC home opener in like 2012, I had some fans asking for selfies with me, highlighted by a pair of Mexican dudes who were SUPER excited to get their pictures taken with "Football Man." REGRETTABLY, EVENTUALLY I discarded the pads-and-jersey-and-cape core of the costume, hoping for some forward progress for the team and for me. This is the alter-ego in 2012 doing the Twist with the wife of Marcellus Wallace.

[The thread name] is not a smart question.

I can't be okay in climates where the weather is so blandly consistent. Where there are two seasons (wet and dry) if you're lucky, or worse yet, only one wherein temperatures maybe change a little from "winter" to summer. I need the seasons of higher latitudes and/or higher altitudes. Gives life a natural rhythm, with beautiful reminders of our distance from the sun.

As a native WNYer who hates heat and doesn't love "the South," I actually really enjoyed my two years in Uptown Dallas when I was 30-32. Met some awesome people from all over, experienced significant snow/cold (for Texas, of course, but a snowman on a neighbor's patio survived for like 3-4 weeks) one winter, followed by over 30 consecutive days over 100 degrees the next summer. Lots of opportunity there, even during the great recession of 2008-2010. Very metropolitan without being too congested or overpriced.

2 women, to be accurate. But those cases smell a bit different than this (Watson) one in several ways. Bauer has been uniquely responsive to the accusations against him, and of course defiant in those fast responses. He never acted like a legal client looking to minimize civil damages down the road (the way Watson MOST DEFINITELY has). Doesn't make him innocent, but it does clearly differentiate these two cases, alongside the obvious difference in sheer volume of accusations, as well as the nature of them.

And you were somehow unaware of this prior to the golf thing? Tom Brady has been a humorless, insufferable doosh nozzle for decades.

You didn't DIRECTLY suggest it, no doubt. But removing bans on especially serious PEDs is dangerous and leads down the path to ALMOST/INFORMALLY REQUIRED use of powerful stuff at young ages. I know it's a problem already, but I don't think it's a problem we should AMPLIFY. I was just being a pedantic jerk anyways. I actually loved your post.

I cannot agree with this position, good sir. In recent years, a very manufactured, plastic appearance has overtaken the otherwise and nonetheless wonderful person in question. Some are unfortunately compelled to crowdsource their entire public self, which invariably skews in favor of the lowest common denominator. I'm being critical only superficially, mind you. Social media inspires some to try to become the filters they use to scrub their image of individuality (which is an enlightened way to say: flaw). That's what it is. I don't like pre-scrubbed presentations of anything. It's like aesthetic censorship. Buffing out the scars, smoothing over the prickly patches. I remember the 80s and 90s. I remember Glamour Shots. Fool me twice...

Hilarious. Several comedians have done this notion justice. Obviously, show me the TRUE limits of human athleticism and violence (or violent athleticism) on the football field. Like doomed gladiators. But that's of course just effing unethical, inhumane, and evil. The number of players who pursue the sport as a way out, and up, who sacrifice so much even WITHOUT the added necessity to use PEDs. It's obviously an option to almost any player who wants it. But to make it essentially a requirement is just monstrous.

So I omitted from your quote the effing comparison you make between sexual assault victims (accusers...and don't forget that this is civil court, not criminal) and "alien abduction" victims?! But then I thought better, as obviously it warrants further attention. Gross. Be better. But this bolded portion above really is the mess that drew me in originally. So criminal charges are on par with actual evidence? And...at the same time, victim testimony is NOT? "Believe the woman scenario"? I don't suffer well such misogyny. Small D energy in such a post.

I love this provision as a safeguard against accusations that are eventually found to be demonstrably false or somehow fraudulent on the whole. Of course we must not abide an athlete's immense privilege unjustly multiplying his or her fortunes and opportunities when the rest of us would more likely be terminated and in fact black balled. Nevertheless, we must at least acknowledge even the fractional likelihood of eventual exoneration in the face of such persuasive claims.

What does "somewhere in between" even mean in this particular set of circumstances? I mean, even if he is only HALF guilty (in frequency or severity) of what he's been accused of...he's a serial offender who should be expelled from the NFL. As a public we don't yet have access to enough admissible evidence to make any kind of truly informed determination beyond initial suspicions or dismissals. Of course you're allowed to have leanings. How could you not?

F Clay Travis.