blacklabel

Where's OP?! That's another reason Rosen is seen as a franchise guy. His team never feels fully out of it with him under center. He's a player that can always give his team a chance to win even in dire circumstances. That turned out to be one of the most fun college games I've ever watched.

His skills project well to the NFL level of play. I mean, the consensus among scouts whether on teams or as writers is that he is very much a high level prospect. Anonymous NFL executives have said the same. So, I tend to lean on those opinions from, you know, experienced personnel people and people who closely study the game rather than that of a few message board statements who blame an overall bad team performance solely on the QB. And as exciting as Rudolph (becoming my favorite guy right now) and Mayfield played yesterday, they will have bad games this season. Should that be met with new threads stating that these guys aren't worth a first round pick? Unless they have an entirely bad season then I'd say no. Still lots of ball to be played. But given their history and the skills they've shown thusfar you can still expect to see Rosen, Allen, Darnold, Rudolph and Mayfield to be included in the discussion for top QB prospects next January.

Thanks, Kirby. I try to see the big picture. As the saying goes, a QB gets too much credit for a win and too much criticism for a loss. Other guy, I'm not sure where you're going with your comment on not having an OL or a set of receivers. As a GM, or just an organization in general, if you find a guy that checks the boxes you want in your QB, you don't waffle on it and say, "Yeah, but we don't have the receivers for him. And ya know, our OL, while experienced and having two Pro Bowlers, a vastly improved right guard and a solid left tackle, right now just doesn't seem like the best time to draft what we think is our franchise guy." That's backwards thinking. It all starts with the QB. You find that guy and build around him. How many high profile prospects at QB walk into a ready-made situation? Like, none. They all come in during rebuilds and have to take their lumps early in their career as the team takes shape. This upcoming QB class already has a ridiculous amount of hype and pressure on them. They're under a microscope and any rough games they have are going to be extrapolated into a massive ordeal when in reality this is Week One of the season and every single player and coach has to find their groove as the season goes on. It's usually not found within the first game. It's not always about the results on the field. Especially with Rosen and Allen right now given that they don't have a lot of talent to work with. But again, their traits and abilities are what stand out to teams. And teams know they can take those things and coach them up into a solid player.

Rosen had terrible OL play in front of him last season and it doesn't look like its changed for this season. Take a look at his receivers as well, those guys aren't getting any separation and their running game hasn't done much. The dude can't do it all on his own. The reason he's viewed as a high profile prospect is because he displays several traits teams look for in a franchise QB. He hangs tough in the pocket, he has pretty sound mechanics already, he throws a nice ball and generally makes good decisions. The team around him isn't very good but he's still going to get picked high based on his abilities. He may not rack up crazy stats and a ton of wins with the team around him but you can see that there's plenty there to work with.

Wood really hasn't been "extremely fragile" for his entire career. His rookie year he started 10 games at guard. He moved to center the following season and started 14 games. He missed 7 games the following year, played in 14 games the year after that and then the next three seasons he played in all 16 games. Out of 128 games in his career he's played in 109. Injuries happen.

Definitely liked what I saw from Peterman last night, but again, it's a lot of 2nd/3rd string guys out there. But I like how quickly he gets rid of it. He's decisive and accurate for the most part. There were some downfield throws as well and overall he looked sharp. Sometimes I feel like he's a better fit for Dennison's offense than Taylor. I think Peterman has the potential to be a consistent, not overly flashy player while Tyrod can be inconsistent but can also flash with the big plays and has a knack for keeping plays alive.

It's interesting he says he isn't sure about Dareus buying in because at the start of training camp, Kyle Williams said this was the most focused, prepared and in shape he's seen Dareus for any camp. And that may be the case but then he pulls a bonehead move like missing the team bus for the Ravens game and showing up late. There's no doubt this defense is much better when Dareus is in the lineup. Like they've said, hopefully it'll be something he can put behind him and move forward.

Rudolph is definitely in the mix to be included in the discussion with the other top QBs this season. He does seem to fit the McBeane profile: senior, consistent, leader, etc. I'm sure they have an eye on him.

It'd make for an awkward locker room if they signed Kaep given what Shady said about him last week. Shady is on the mark, tho. Kaep is decent but the amount of baggage he brings with him isn't something an organization wants to deal with when it concerns a guy who's there in a backup role. Free speech is fine, standing up for your beliefs is fine and I was never bothered by Kaep's actions. I do feel he went about it the wrong way, tho. We have free speech and freedom of expression but we aren't free to use our employers as a conduit for the messages we want to send. That said, he has stated that he will not continue his protests on the field and that he plans on engaging in philanthropic efforts and such off the field. When you see guys like Chad Henne and TJ Yates still hanging around, it's difficult to say that Kaep simply isn't "good enough" to play in a backup spot somewhere.

He was probably late. He had issues with that when Marrone was here. Things were pretty lax with ol' Rex so maybe some old habits crept back up on him. It is known that you have lethal twos, my man. Kudos to you for having your **** together. Some do, some don't. I do empathize with the guy and with anyone who's been dealt a tough hand in life. That stuff screws with your head and can really interfere in how you want to conduct yourself in your day to day life.

From what I've read, his play has been very inconsistent and he hasn't done well in picking up the Pats' defensive scheme. It's easy to connect the dots and say the Bills would be/should be interested but keep in mind, Beane was still on Carolina's staff when they pulled off the trade. So he knows what Ealy has to offer and if he was part of the group that helped complete the trade then I kinda doubt he'd be interested in bringing him to Buffalo. Also, the Patriots lone weak spot is pass rusher, their best guy retired, they drafted a kid they had planned on starting but he's injured and beyond that they don't have much. For them to say "no thanks" on a guy who, although inconsistent, can come up with a nice performance now and again, that says a lot.

I do feel for the guy but it's difficult to defend him. He seriously has no one to guide him and very little family. Most of his close friends were guys who were getting into trouble a lot and he's (as far as we know) closed himself off from that type of crowd. He says his teammates are his family but they can only do so much for him. And if they are his family, then you'd think he'd learn to stop disappointing them with senseless, selfish acts. When he's on, he's a really good player. I hope it's a minor setback and he can get past it. Kyle Williams has said on several occasions that this is the most focused, in-shape and ready to buy-in version of Dareus he's seen yet. I hope that continues. And for what it's worth, I heard the rule he violated was doing a number two on the team bus. Everyone knows you can only do number one on the bus. Bus plumbing just isn't equipped for two's. /s

He has a lot of value still. He's very instinctive, his read/react skills are great and he's quicker than people give him credit for. When they talk about him they always seem to find a way to mention the knee so perhaps it was quite the catastrophic injury and they're really just taking their time in acclimating him to the level of play in the NFL. At this time, he's playing in a scheme he has little experience with, however, Preston Brown is in a contract year. And as impressed as they have been with him, I do wonder if he'll want to test the waters in FA. So, I wonder if Ragland is their contingency plan. Keep him on as a depth player this year, coach him up, let him really learn the system, maybe have him work towards dropping a little bit of weight to get faster and then plug him in as their starting MLB next season should Brown leave. Just a theory. Lot of people say he's on the trading block but given how thin they are at any position I don't think they should trade him. He's an unknown commodity right now so what's his value? Maybe a 4th round pick at best? He doesn't have any real NFL experience yet. I'd hang onto him and keep developing him because there's definitely talent there and maybe they just wanna take their time with him.

Injury or no injury, if I'm them I've been thinking about replacing Yates for a while now. I understand it's nice to have a veteran in the QB room, especially one who is familiar with the offense but looking at how he's played, I don't think anyone would trust him to go in there and play a game or two if needed. There's probably not a lot out there but they should definitely be looking for someone else.

Of course anything can happen but I really can't see a team out there willing to take on Shady's contract at this stage in his career. He's 29 and he looks like he's in excellent shape but we all know the wall for running backs seems to be 30. Desperate teams do desperate things but again, I really don't see any team out there that'd be willing to pick up his contract right now. And I agree with the notion that trading out your best player overall would send a poor message to the team. Watkins and Darby were different situations. Bills weren't confident enough to pick up Watkins' 5th-year option and I believe he did say he was interested in seeing what was out there in free agency. So, knowing the chances of re-signing him were low and being less than 100% confident about his health, they decided to trade him. Darby is on his rookie deal and apparently wasn't buying in or adjusting well to the scheme changes, so those trades, as tough as they were, are probably a little easier to sell to the team. When you look at Shady you don't see the same circumstances so if he does get traded it'd send a pretty clear message to the current roster that the organization is much more focused on the future than the present.

Great post, OP. I'd say the Watkins/Darby trade was really what set off the resurgence of tank talk. Boldin's retirement amplified that by how it happened. He decided to part ways after a bummer of a pre-season game and many figured he left because he was dissatisfied with the trades and the team he thought he was joining. In truth, retirement had been on his mind for quite a while. I'm not sure if anyone else caught it but I saw a tweet around the time he signed here which stated that he originally agreed to terms with the team during his first visit in late July, but backed out on it only to decide to come here a week or so later. One of the things I always fall back on when the tank subject comes up is that there are no guarantees. No guarantees that all the prospects getting all the hype right now are going to be available in the 2018 Draft. Obviously, senior players will be around but nobody knows if junior players will elect to enter the draft after this season. It's been said already that Darnold is leaning toward staying at USC through 2018. Then there's injuries. At any point one of these prospects could get hurt, miss the year and their draft stock plummets, leading them to stay at school so they can hopefully play out a full season and work their way up the boards. On top of that, there are likely a few teams that are going to finish worse off than Buffalo and those teams will be at the top of the draft and will more than likely need QBs. Beane can collect all the draft picks he wants but if the Jets or 49ers end up with the number one overall pick and Darnold just so happens to ball out and declare for the draft, there's no way any team without their QB is going to opt-out of a chance to get a franchise guy. Also, you can't expect McDermott, a very competitive guy who is very much into changing the culture, to lead a team that's actively trying to lose. You can't expect a coach to go out there and get his team ready when the message is, "Hey, we need to lose for better draft picks. So go out there, risk your career every Sunday and do so in a LOSING effort so we can get younger, cheaper and hopefully better players to come in and replace you." The dude is trying to unite a locker room and create a brotherhood-type chemistry. A surefire way to make sure your team tunes you out is to lead them with tanking in mind.

Both QBs have their issues but Taylor is way ahead of Bortles in a lot of areas. They've been trying to correct Bortles' throwing motion for four seasons now and he still swings it way down by his hip when he winds up. Taylor might get a few passes batted back in his face each game but at least he can hit the deep ball whereas Bortles isn't even in the same area code most of the time.

Sucks for the rookie. If the Pats have any weak points this season it's on the DL where they really don't have any big-time pass rushers.

Miller started and was in there for the first two series', I believe. On Ducasse's first pass play he got walked right into Taylor's lap and then got steamrolled on the next play. From the practice notes I've read, it looks like Miller has been exclusively with the first-team with Ducasse taking less and less reps with the ones. They've moved Michael Ola to guard recently and he looked like he did better than Ducasse.

He's a doofus but it was inevitable that this type of stuff was going to start getting published with the news coming out that Ragland has been set with the third-team defense lately. IMO, it's a touch too early to really consider a trade scenario, if I'm the Bills, that is, simply because they haven't seen the kid play in any NFL games. The pre-season will give them a good idea of what they have with him. They've been saying all along that they're just slowly working him back in as they don't want any setbacks with his ACL. But it is obvious that he's more suited for a 3-4. However, I like his skill-set and his play recognition is excellent. You'd think a coach as creative as McDermott would find a way to get him involved somehow. Even if he has to be a depth player this season, they are too thin at linebacker to trade this dude away right now even if he isn't a perfect fit for the scheme.

Nope. Always actively rooting against them, but never surprised when they pull miracles out they bums like this last Super Bowl. I remember texting a friend after it was 28-3, he said, "Man, it's over now." I said, "Yeah but it's the Pats." He said, "Still, 25 points is nearly insurmountable for any team, even the Pats." I wanted to believe... we all know how that ended up.

Taylor, McCoy, Watkins on offense. I'd say maybe an OL like Richie but I think OL is one area where Whaley did actually find some quality depth players. Groy played well in place of Wood last season and Dawkins seems like he can play every spot except center, and they seem to be working on having Ducasse get some work in at tackle just in case. But yeah, the three guys I mentioned are the guys that put the most points up, they need to be healthy because the options behind them aren't great. I'm excited for Zay Jones but he's still coming in as a rookie so, you never know what you're going to get until he starts playing. Defensively, phew, mostly every starter, I hope, can stay healthy because they lack depth over there. I know McDermott has shown an ability to work with 2nd/3rd and rookie players but you definitely hope the front four can stay healthy. They don't do as well against the run without Dareus. Hughes should bounce back now that they're in the 4-3 and Lawson will hopefully make some noise this season. I don't doubt that Kyle will be consistent like he's pretty much always been. They have a few experienced depth guys in the secondary but not many of them have been consistent starters over their career. Hopefully the group of Darby, White, Hyde and Poyer can stay healthy. Wright will probably earn the nickel spot and be the first man up should Darby or White get hurt. Behind Poyer and Hyde it's what, Colt Anderson? So, yeah. And you can make the case for Ragland to stay healthy but again, going back to the 4-3, that plays to Brown's strength and he has 3 years in as a full-time starter so, MLB I think will be OK either way. The other two LB spots can be iffy with the depth. We shall see.

Um, I don't think so, but Hard Knocks focuses solely on training camp and All or Nothing is the entire season. They started with their move from St. Louis to LA, went through the 2016 draft, some minicamp/OTA stuff, training camp, pre-season, regular season and their post-season which consisted of replacing Fisher and his staff (a few coaches survived, including John Fassel, their special teams coordinator who served as their interim to finish out the season after Fisher was let go), introducing McVay, their 2017 draft as well as a small look at McVay coaching rookie camp practices and such. Overall it's just a really in-depth behind the scenes look at what goes down during an NFL season. I don't disagree that he's had some pretty good defenses over the years but the strength of the Rams defense last season was their DL. Once guys like Quinn and Hayes missed time, they became more exposed. I understand each coach has his own style but a smart coach looks for what works best from player to player. Some players respond to hard coaching, other players will tune that crap out. All players learn differently as well. If you're coming off as an intimidating, in your face type of coach, players might not be so quick to ask questions to make sure they have things right because they don't feel like having a guy screaming in their face or disrespecting him for not learning/doing something the way the coach wants. I didn't see Hard Knocks with the Rams and the All or Nothing series didn't even mention Waufle once. I don't even know if they actually showed the guy. I mean, he was probably in some shots here and there but he wasn't featured whatsoever. I think with the switch back to the 4-3 we should see a lot better production from the entire front four. Lawson missed almost all of the off-season work and then was put in a position he never played before. Dareus had the suspension and then the injury and never really got going, plus he didn't buy into Rex's system. Hughes did give effort but again, he was being played in a position that didn't benefit his skill set. He's at his best when he has his hand in the dirt and goes after the QB, same for Lawson. Kyle is a pure effort guy, probably did the best he could but I'm sure even he felt like the scheme did not suit the players very well.

There could be other humans alive with more knowledge than him, you never know. I don't doubt that he knows his stuff but obviously these lists are subjective. Like I said before, his DE list, rating Michael Bennett ahead of Jared Allen and Dwight Freeney? I think just about everyone would say that's some flawed thinking right there. Brandt also had Manziel as not only his top rated QB, but his best overall player in 2014. So, like any guy who makes evaluations, I take it with a grain of salt.

Don't know if anyone else has checked out the All or Nothing series on Amazon Prime but if you can, it's a good watch. I enjoyed the first season with the Cardinals last year and a lot of people have been like, "Why would I want to watch the trainwreck 4-12 Rams?" One of the producers of the show did a Reddit AMA and brought up a decent point. With season one they were able to show a successful team that reached the NFC Championship game, and with the Rams, they were able to show the complete other side of the spectrum. We also know it's no secret that the NFL wanted a lot of exposure with the Rams as they made their way from St. Louis to LA to drum up interest. The show provides excellent behind the scenes stuff at how an NFL season unfolds. It also shows that Gregg Williams is an insufferable prick. Good gravy, if I had that dude as a coach I wouldn't buy in to anything he had to say. All he does is scream and curse like an unhinged maniac. I didn't really sense that he had much of a relationship with any of his players. The Rams defense did play well in a number of games but their offense was abysmal and as the season went on there were some blowouts where it was apparent that most of the players just checked out mentally. And how Jeff Fisher had no sense that he was going to be let go is astounding. I mean, he may have had a sense, but he definitely didn't show it. He certainly appeared confident that he was going to go on being their HC for a while. Anywho, the Bills related part comes during the last episode as they follow Rob Boras to Buffalo. You also get a look at his coaching style here and there. He gets hyped up here and there but overall I sensed that he cared a lot more about his players than Williams and was truly doing his all to figure things out in an effort to get wins. They offer footage all the way up through post-draft rookie camps. You get to see Snead and McVay ponder and make the trade with Buffalo that allowed them to move up to 37th for Zay. In all, it's a pretty good series. It gives a great look at everything that goes on during an NFL season, especially the things we don't see. It shows how harsh the business can be and how uncertain the futures are for most players. Unless they were Aaron Donald (who I don't think wants to return to the Rams after he's put in his five years, that's just the vibe I got), Todd Gurley or Jared Goff, their future with the team was in doubt. Several of the players they profiled are now on different teams. So as we await camp, I'd suggest this series to fill that football void we have over the summer. Unfortunately they don't give us a look whatsoever at Mike Waufle, but I'm guessing that's maybe because he was more of a focal point on Hard Knocks? Just a guess.