Pittsburgh cut loose a handful of veteran defenders, resigned Jason Worilds, and added Mike Mitchell to their secondary. On offense, we lost a few solid receivers in Jerricho Cotchery and Emanuel Sanders, but picked up Lance Moore from New Orleans. Most recently we added former Patriot LeGarrett Blount, a short yardage power back, to complement the promising Le’Veon Bell in the backfield. In other inconsequential news, Troy Polamalu was resigned to a 3 year deal, and will thus likely retire a Steeler, and we took a pass on bringing back James Harrison from the glue factory. On the whole, no game changers added or lost, but solid moves that helped shore up the talent budget and reinforced areas of weakness.
I’m predicting an AFC North championship, but that probably goes without saying.
It’s a very weird off season to be a Redskins fan, we haven’t done anything splashy (save hosting DeSean Jackson today/tomorrow). We can no longer claim we won the off season like in years past.
And any sane Redskins fan (there are twelve of us, we meet three times a year) should be very excited for that. We have a lot of holes to fill, but had limited cap space, and once we franchise tagged Orakpo we had even less space to work with. I was overall happy with the moves, feel like we put at least C or C+ level talent in the holes we had, and improved some organizational depth. We’ll finally get a first round draft back NEXT year, so that’ll be nice. We really need to draft and develop better than we have in the past decade, we are in a position of relying on 2nd and 3rd rounders being near immediate contributors (and that hasn’t worked out super great for us in years).
I’m interested to see how Gruden manages the Bad News Bears of pro football. I like his style, and think he’ll be good for the franchise. Sending Dan Snyder on a one-way trip to Uzbekistan would be even better, but that’s neither here nor there.
Orakpo doesn’t impress me much. His numbers from last season came largely toward the end, if I remember correctly, when games were essentially meaningless. He may be the best they have, but that’s not saying a whole lot.
Otherwise, it looks like they made a bunch of relatively safe maneuvers, not likely to make a major difference one way or the other, especially on defense. I can’t put my finger on why they’re so dysfunctional on D, so I can’t say whether or not they were sound moves.
Pats had the best free agency they’ve had in a long time. Lost Talib, but improved the secondary with Revis and Browner. Re-signed Wilfork and Edelman when I thought both of them were going to be gone. Couldn’t have worked out better, in my opinion. Very excited to see this come together next year.
Buffalo: Jarius Byrd has left for the 'Aints so that severely hurts the secondary.
They did add Brandon Spikes as mid LB which is a questionable addition but the price was right, and signed CB Corey Graham (ex-Raven) - more likely to be of value but questionable value-for-money.
The Bills should be better on the D line, and worse in the secondary. I predict they will be 20th in Passing Yards allowed, 15th in Rushing Yards allowed and 18th overall yard allowed.
On offence they did little other than to sign Chris Williams as a left G for big money. This was a desperate signing for a guy who is not very good.
The most notable departure was the death of Ralph Wilson, the team’s owner. A new owner may inject some life and money into the team.
The Bills offence will mostly depend on how QB E.J.Manuel develops - this is the season he either he blossoms into a real starter or he joins a long line of failed Buffalo QBs.
CJ Spiller is the other big question mark - if he can stay healthy he’s a potent weapon. But he seems injury prone. Bills may be better off getting rid of him and taking some future talent.
The bills will finish 2nd in the AFC east (behind the UGG boot wearing Patsies), once again missing the playoffs.
I agree with Orakpo. BUT, the flip side on that is that the Skins are finally attempting to retain their homegrown talent, instead of going out and trying to throw money at the shiny new thing. I’m torn, I don’t think he’s an elite pass rusher, and he’s not great at dropping back into coverage. Kerrigan is the better and more well rounded player IMO.
Not sure if this is the first time, but they have brought in a coach specific to pass rushing skills. The knock on Orakpo has always been that he has one move, bull rush. So maybe this will finally register with him and he’ll learn a swim move, or anything else to help him do better. I think he could maintain his sack level if he stays healthy and they use him in a smart way. Move him around more, disguise his attack point, etc.
Snyder should only do two things: Sit in his fancy owner’s box, and be the “closer” with free agent signings. He relishes the wine and dine, and seemingly is good at it. So if he sticks to those two things, I’m happy.
Or he could sell the team and make an entire fanbase happy…
I believe the theory on the D is that by making sure we have no glaring weaknesses we can finally give our D line time to rush the passer. So the hope is it’ll result in more poorly thrown passes, into tighter less stupid coverage. We will see.
Skins’ D has been shaky for a few reasons. Stupid personnel moves, constantly switching schemes (though we have several years under the 3-4 now).
Pats had the best free agency they’ve had in a long time. Lost Talib, but improved the secondary with Revis and Browner. Re-signed Wilfork and Edelman when I thought both of them were going to be gone. Couldn’t have worked out better, in my opinion. Very excited to see this come together next year.
Completely agreed. Revis is such a fantastic signing, minimal risk, no committment, and with Brady’s window I’m fine with that. Restructuring Wilfork was necessary, I’m just happy cooler heads prevailed and he didn’t walk. I’d still love to see them add a bigger receiver–Jackson would be the absolute icing on the cake but I don’t think they have the money for him–but I think they’re well set up and the draft should add some DE/TE/OL help. Loving the way this team is coming together so far.
I’d still love to see them add a bigger receiver–Jackson would be the absolute icing on the cake but I don’t think they have the money for him
I know it’s a long shot, but I would love to see Thompkins break out next year. He’s big and fast and he had that amazing catch to win the game last year. Lots of potential there.
The Bills offence will mostly depend on how QB E.J.Manuel develops - this is the season he either he blossoms into a real starter or he joins a long line of failed Buffalo QBs.
I have my suspicions. I like the Bills, if only out of empathy, so I hope I’m wrong about that.
What’s the general consensus on Blount’s departure up there?
Kinda much ado about nothing, based on some radio stuff I’ve heard. He had a great stretch to close out the season but I think people realize he’s a solid RB in a split carry situation, not much more. I think he and Bell will provide a great power running game for the Steelers, but don’t expect Blount to be some monster running back.
Also, his two big, big games it was raining…downpour actually. For whatever reason, whether it was the cleats or the way he runs Blount was an absolute man among boys in the rain. Besides those two games, though, he was efficient but nothing special, and he did nothing against the Broncos in the AFCCG.
Good RB, I was happy the Pats signed him and he gave them offense when Ridley was having issues. But I wouldn’t expect much more than that.
What’s the general consensus on Blount’s departure up there?
Completely agree with Brownie. I’m in Toronto, so not sure how the local media is spinning it, but I would think this is exactly how they would explain it. Ridley is a much better RB if he can hold onto the freakin’ ball and we’ve also got Vereen. Not too upset about losing Blount.
What’s the general consensus on Blount’s departure up there?
Kinda much ado about nothing, based on some radio stuff I’ve heard. He had a great stretch to close out the season but I think people realize he’s a solid RB in a split carry situation, not much more. I think he and Bell will provide a great power running game for the Steelers, but don’t expect Blount to be some monster running back.
Also, his two big, big games it was raining…downpour actually. For whatever reason, whether it was the cleats or the way he runs Blount was an absolute man among boys in the rain. Besides those two games, though, he was efficient but nothing special, and he did nothing against the Broncos in the AFCCG.
Good RB, I was happy the Pats signed him and he gave them offense when Ridley was having issues. But I wouldn’t expect much more than that.
Kramer: Oh, this baby loves the slop, loves it, eats it up. Eats the slop. Born in the slop. His father was a mudder.
Man: His father was a mudder?
Kramer: His mother was a mudder.
Man: His mother was a mudder?
Kramer: What did I just say?
unfortunately, as a Chiefs fan this is all that I have to contribute to this thread since they apparently forgot to participate in the FA process this year.
Meh, for the Chargers. No big names gained or lost. Donald Brown and his 5.3 yards/carry will complement Ryan Mathews well, and we don’t have to facepalm when Mathews gets injured, which is every year. Resigning Chad Rinehart at OG was good. He won’t be a Pro Bowler, but he’s got the mean, nasty attitude that you want at least one of on your line.
I hope they’re not done, because with Cam Thomas leaving, they need another legit nose tackle, particularly since the ends aren’t stellar run-stuffers. Sean Lissemore is good, but they need a rotation to help him out.
Added: Jim Caldwell…
Golden Tate. Upgrade from Nate Burleson, hopefully. He’s 7 years younger, so there’s that too. Hopefully a decent 2nd option from Calvin.
Ihedigbo. Better vs. run than Delmas. Worse vs. pass. MUCH more durable though. And cheaper.
Loss: Burleson, Delmas.
Mathis. Need more CBs!
Akers. What ever they do will probably be an upgrade… Undrafted FA I’m betting.
