Low Positive

Only one player in the entire league got hit with the exclusive tag this year. There is a reason for that.

He is still under contract for next year. Mike Brown will ignore any and all trade demands and make players play out their contracts. Diggs would have played for the Bills if Mike Brown was the owner. There is nothing that a player can say or do to force his way out of Cincinnati. He doesn't extend until he absolutely has to and doesn't give huge signing bonuses. Hence the Chase situation. He's also going to make Higgins play on the tag for the second straight year. He's very much an old school owner who treats his players like labor to be exploited. Yes, he broke all these rules for Burrow but that was very much an exception and not a change in management philosophy.

Mitch didn't post that. The Jags did. His last tweet was

He had his first non-playoff season in his 10 year-career and decided that it wasn't worth it to bang his head into that proverbial wall play after play. Good decision.

He had that one big moment against Baltimore in the playoffs, but he's been pretty bad the past two years. Fans here wanted him cut, despite the fact that he's a hometown hero. They were probably going to cut him and he decided to retire rather than play for a lot less money elsewhere.

Do the Bills count as a contender? Certainly not with McDumbass as coach and the worst drafting GM in the NFL's history. Or at least that's the impression I get from reading this board and as we all know, hot takes on the Internet are never wrong.

I wouldn't have done this if I was the Raiders. By the time this deal is up, they may or may not have solved the QB question. Until they do that, they are not going anywhere. But I guess a guy with face and neck tats fits the team image so well that they just had to keep him.

Why are the doomers on here acting like Metcalf just got released and can pick his destination?

He's not. Ty Johnson was just so good at it that Cook got subbed out on third down.

Those stats are meaningless without targets. Adams 114 targets in 11 games with NYJ Cooper 32 targets in 8 games in Buffalo Aaron Rodgers was forcing the ball to Adams.

Ja'marr Chase is publically demanding 40 million. Stafford demanded more money and got what he wanted. Barkley and Josh Jacobs did this exact thing last offseason. Players negotiate on social media all the time.

Beane needs to draw up a contract that Cook's agent can brag about being 15 per, but structure in such a way that the guaranteed money and cap hits are nowhere near 15. That makes it a win-win.

It's a production company that has been doing some work with the league over the last few years. They did that Aaron Rodgers doc and the off-season Hard Knocks last summer: https://skydance.com/sports/

Usually attributed to Nietzsche. It's fitting that Rust would quote him.

Because they are pushing it all down the road with void years. I expect Howie Roseman to "retire" in about 5 years and let it all be someone else's problem.

By the time we kick off the 2025 season, Ja'marr Chase will make more money than mid-level starters like Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith.

I'm not sure anybody really thought that. The problem with RBs is that they tend to fall off really quickly. Look at Dalvin Cook. He was one of the best RBs in the NFL three years ago and now he's out of the league. Jonathan Taylor has also really fallen off since being paid. Barkley was great this year, but his history tells us that he's due to miss half of next year with injury. Same case with Derrick Henry. It's a physically demanding position that relies almost entirely on athleticism. The shelf life is short so long-term deals are a huge risk.

I doubt it. The tag is not often applied because it creates a negative reputation amongst the players league-wide. Barkley got tagged in 2023 and was so mad about it that he refused to bring his Eagles offer back to the Giants to match. This year, only two players have been tagged (and the deadline is in 10 minutes) and Trey Smith got the "non-exclusive" tag. Tee Higgins is the only player to get the exclusive in the entire NFL. It's really a raw deal for Tee but he doesn't seem likely to hold out and punish Cincinnati for doing this.

This was nixed because the owners have a collective ax to grind with Belichick: https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bill-belichicks-hard-knocks-turn-raises-eyebrows-in-league-circles

I think Lurie and Roseman are not so subtly trolling the Giants.

Buffalo fans have a high opinion of him because he was particularly good at scheming against Josh Allen for some reason. Although all those games were against Ken Dorsey's offense so that may have had something to do with it.

31 teams in the NFL have to build rosters within the salary cap. And then there’s the Eagles.

But that's not the only thing. Trey Hendrickson led the league in sacks and Cincinnati put up elite offensive production, but the Bengals missed the playoffs because their coverage was so bad. It all has to come together.

They tried that with Jermaine Burton last year and failed. Everyone here thought that they got the "steal" of the draft, but no amount of talent overcomes a low work ethic. It's the one character flaw that a player can't have, even if they play for a team that will accept all manner of off-field problems. Pacman Jones was a crazy man who stalked women in hotels, but he worked hard in practice and showed up for team meetings on time.

That’s what they should do. But Joe Burrow is de facto GM and is calling the shots. The interesting thing to note is that Joe Burrow’s career took off in college only when he got an all-pro team at WR. Same thing in the NFL. He doesn’t really elevate those around him as much as Allen and Lamar. Remember, the Bengals almost made the playoffs with Jake Browning at QB for half a season.