DCOrange

I disagree, but I understand most NFL front offices won't view it that way.

Theoretically Carolina could have offered Teddy. Doesn't sound like they did though. If they truly view Goff as the difference between the #8 pick in the draft and future late 1sts, Detroit hired the wrong people. Likewise if their new GM is banking on the Rams having injuries derail their next two years to make the value close. They had the #8 pick there for the taking. It would pretty much take a worst case scenario for the Rams picks to ultimately equal that (if you discount them for being future picks like NFL teams do). Edit: I'm not even saying it's necessarily wrong to take a worse offer to leave on good terms with one of their best ever players. But that's the way it should be framed if journalists are being honest about it.

An interesting wrinkle to this that nobody seems to be talking about: Detroit’s GM turned down a better offer from Carolina (a top 10 pick) to do his old team a favor (he was just hired away from the Rams a few weeks ago). Maybe he ultimately just wanted to do Stafford a solid and was okay with the Rams package but it’s clearly worse than the #8 overall pick in this years draft. This was not a case of Detroit getting the best value they could for their asset and it just so happened to benefit the GM’s old bosses.

Poor OLine, poor RBs, and poor defenses. Other than that though, he was set up well for success.

We’ll have to agree to disagree. They knew what they had in Goff, and it was a guy that could succeed if his first read was correct. If anything didn’t go according to plan, it was a lost down. Even before Goff was resigned, all the talk was that it was McVay and the supporting cast making it all work. They ultimately chose Goff at the expense of the supporting cast. Teams need to think more rationally about the QB position. If you’re paying a guy like they’re a top 5 QB when they aren’t actually capable of leading the team themselves, you’re probably not going to be a real contender. The Rams kept themselves afloat by trading all of their first round picks to and carefully structuring the other contracts to try to keep the deck stacked for Goff as much as possible but it still wasn’t enough. Had they traded Goff earlier, they could have gotten at least a first round pick if not multiple firsts, kept the elite run game, elite OLine, continued building up an elite defense, and continue taking more shots at finding a good enough QB on a rookie deal. Cleveland is one of those teams that are now about to be in the same situation that the Rams were in not too long ago. They should talk to Houston about what they’d need to add to Baker in order to do a Baker-Watson swap. Otherwise I think Cleveland will likely plateau like the Rams had these past few years (though to be fair, I do think Baker is a better QB than Goff).

Giving Goff that contract was a major mistake too. They should have traded him on his rookie deal when they could have gotten good value from him. Most teams have no capability to think rationally about the QB position.

Those GMs should probably not be GMs. Goff is precisely the type of QB teams should constantly be trying to replace IMO. A talented passer but he just doesn’t have it between the ears at all. If a play doesn’t play out exactly as expected, he’s screwed.

It’s interesting that Detroit supposedly turned down a better offer from Washington. I’m surprised this Goff-Stafford swap actually happened, but value wise, I think this was in line with what was expected. Don’t think this changes the price for Watson at all. Decent return for Detroit, but Goff’s contract is pretty bad and those 1sts are years down the road and likely in the late 20s to 30s...not super valuable chips. If a team like New England had offered #15, they probably should have taken that instead but it sounds like they just wanted to get Stafford to his top choice, which was LA.

I’m not really a fan of any of the TE options in free agency. Maybe you sir back and see who doesn’t get a deal and bring one of them in super cheap, but I think a trade is probably the best way to upgrade at TE this offseason. I’d be going for Cam Brate or OJ Howard from Tampa.

There's a 0% chance we cut Beasley after the year he just had. Certainly not to replace him in the slot with McKenzie.

The Combine times aren't perfect either. With Reagor for example, if you put his combine run under the microscope, he actually ran a 4.40 but their timing system didn't work properly.

I just don't think he's good at anything outside of the gadget stuff. A guy like Toney or Moore can replace that production while also being a dependable WR and maybe even be able to line up in the backfield from time to time.

I would guess he's closer to a 4.5 than a 4.3. I do like him a lot though (depending on what the doctors think of his medicals). I'm really hoping to upgrade McKenzie this offseason and this is one of the guys that could do that. Kadarius Toney is probably the best option in that regard but I'm not confident he'll be available at #30.

They aren't looking to rebuild. They're looking to upgrade at QB so that they can be Super Bowl contenders next year.

Jackson isn't a free agent. Some of the options (ignoring whether or not we can afford them): Shaq Barrett (almost certainly staying in Tampa) Yannick Ngakoue Carl Lawson Jadeveon Clowney Melvin Ingram Bud Dupree Leonard Floyd Trey Hendrickson Matt Judon Haasan Riddick Romeo Okwara

Milano is going to be tough to replace, but I think we pretty much have to try. I'm not necessarily convinced that Edmunds is or will be a better player than Milano, but we can probably only afford to pay one of them and Edmunds is understandably the one they're going to be willing to bet on. We're going to need to find a diamond in the rough.

Our reported interest in pretty much every significant free agent RB does make me wonder. I hope we ultimately just sign a cheap RB this offseason that can catch the ball and call it a day personally. Yeah, I mentioned it last year as well, but I think a trade for a vet TE makes the most sense for us and I would continue to look to the Bucs, who have two TEs on their roster for next year that would be upgrades over Knox and they'll likely try to keep Gronk as well.

Are you assuming he’s going to be cut or under the impression that he’s actually due to be a free agent this offseason? His option for next year was already picked up

You’re a year early. He’s a free agent next offseason.

Harris looks like a good prospect but spending a first round pick on a RB just isn’t a good use of our most valuable chips. You need to start hitting on valuable positions with these picks so that you’re paying a 10+ million caliber player $1 mil. The value just isn’t there with RBs. If you need a RB that can catch and pass protect just sign one for $2-3 mil and save the draft pick for a better value play.

I wouldn't say he's on my wishlist and I have no idea what kind of contract he might get, but if we wanted to replace Isaiah McKenzie and also add receiving to the backfield in one swoop (and were nervous you couldn't do this via the draft), we could theoretically return to the Carolina Pipeline and target Curtis Samuel. It took 4 years, but Carolina finally realized that he was best utilized as a short-yardage guy/gadget guy and he responded with by far his best season as a pro.

Yeah, I don't think I'm touching this group in free agency. Like you said, give Levi the 2nd round tender and either you get him back and you're happy or you get a 2nd round pick for him and you're happy. I do think both CB and S are Day 1/2 potential targets in the draft. Taron and Levi are fine but I think we should be aiming to upgrade from both via the draft if we get lucky. I would definitely be in favor of taking a safety as well; I thought it was a good idea last year when we were interested in Duggar and feel the same way now; as much as we all like Hyde/Poyer, they likely won't be around much longer.

He can want whatever he wants; he's not getting $20 million a year in a normal year, much less a year like this where teams don't have as much money as usual.

I'm not sure he actually improves it honestly. QBs were getting the ball out in 2-2.5 seconds against this year and Dupree generally takes 3-4 seconds to get to the QB, and that's while playing next to far better pass-rushers than what he'd have here. He seems prime to get overpaid by someone and I hope it isn't us.

Now that we're at a place where we need to start being a lot more careful with our money, I just philosophically don't think it makes sense to spend our most valuable assets (rookie salaries) on the cheapest position in the league outside of special teamers. Just throw a couple million at a guy like Jamaal Williams, James White, Tevin Coleman, etc. and save those picks for positions where we have a much better chance of stealing value.