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2017 NFL Free Agency/offseason thread


MadDog2020

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14 hours ago, MadDog2020 said:

And now the Browns are gonna cut Osweiler lmao


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Supposedly they are going to make a huge offer to NE to try to pry Garopollo away...and the second-rounder they got for taking on Osweiler's contract would be part of the package.  Really tough call for NE...as great as Brady obviously is, there's no telling how long someone his age can keep this up.  Even if they get a nice haul back, trading Garopollo away is a big risk.  But it's also very fair to say that the guy deserves to start somewhere, now. 

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3 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Supposedly they are going to make a huge offer to NE to try to pry Garopollo away...and the second-rounder they got for taking on Osweiler's contract would be part of the package.  Really tough call for NE...as great as Brady obviously is, there's no telling how long someone his age can keep this up.  Even if they get a nice haul back, trading Garopollo away is a big risk.  But it's also very fair to say that the guy deserves to start somewhere, now. 

I mean, I know we only saw him for 1-2 games, but what about their other QB?  Acceptable QB to back up Brady?

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14 minutes ago, Hi, I'm VALUE! said:

I mean, I know we only saw him for 1-2 games, but what about their other QB?  Acceptable QB to back up Brady?

You mean Jacoby Brissett?  Looked very raw last year, but obviously the ideal plan for 2016-17 never called for him to be getting any game action (unless it was pure mop-up, victory formation-type situations, if anything).  I think NE is actually pretty high on him, but no one can tell me his upside ranks with Garopollo's.  Based on the expectations for next season (another Super Bowl or bust), I think they gotta keep Garopollo in case something happens to Brady.  Obviously we don't have huge sample sizes to go by for Garopollo, but if Brady ever did get hurt (and it can happen to anyone, anytime), I feel like Garopollo should be able to give the Pats a decent chance to salvage their season.  I don't think Brissett could do the same at this stage in his development.  It's almost guaranteed that the Pats will lose Garopollo for nothing if they keep him another year, but who knows how many years this Pats run has left.  I think you have to live for today in this particular case.       

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  • 3 weeks later...
15 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

Raiders to Vegas is official- Ross was the only owner who voted against it. Get ready for the Las Vegas Raiders.


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When is the timetable for that one?  Two years? 

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I remember back in the day when the Oilers announced their move to Tennessee. They were suppose to stay in Houston for a few years until a new stadium was built but the locals were really pissed off with the owners. That didn't end well and they quickly moved the team to Tennessee.

Wiki Link

Quote

The 1996 season was a disaster for the Oilers; they played before crowds of fewer than 20,000 and games were so quiet that it was possible to hear conversations on the field from the grandstand. Meanwhile, the team's radio network, which once stretched across the state, was reduced to the flagship station in Houston and a few affiliates in Tennessee. By October 1996 the flagship station (KTRH) was cutting off games prior to their finish in favor of the Houston Rockets pre-game show.[5] The team went 8–8, finishing 6–2 in road games and only 2–6 in home games. Adams, the city and the league were unwilling to see this continue for another season, so a deal was reached to let the Oilers out of their lease a year early and move to Tennessee

 

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15 minutes ago, eaglejelly said:

I remember back in the day when the Oilers announced their move to Tennessee. They were suppose to stay in Houston for a few years until a new stadium was built but the locals were really pissed off with the owners. That didn't end well and they quickly moved the team to Tennessee.

Wiki Link

 

Such a silly move too. Houston is the 9th largest metro area and Nashville is like the 35th. Sure they put an expansion team back in Houston pronto but the league should've fought to keep the Oilers in Houston and given Tennessee the expansion team. As it is the Titans aren't exactly a big franchise in terms of fan support and never were. Tennessee is a college sports state.

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15 minutes ago, '7' said:

Such a silly move too. Houston is the 9th largest metro area and Nashville is like the 35th. Sure they put an expansion team back in Houston pronto but the league should've fought to keep the Oilers in Houston and given Tennessee the expansion team. As it is the Titans aren't exactly a big franchise in terms of fan support and never were. Tennessee is a college sports state.

More Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Houston_Oilers

The Oilers' resurgence came in the midst of a battle for the franchise's survival. In 1987, Adams threatened to move the team to Jacksonville, Florida (later the home of Jacksonville Jaguars) unless the Astrodome was "brought up to date". At the time the Astrodome seated about 50,000 fans, the smallest capacity in the NFL. Not willing to lose the Oilers, Harris County responded with $67 million in improvements to the Astrodome that included new AstroTurf, 10,000 additional seats and 65 luxury boxes. These improvements were funded by increases in property taxes and the doubling of the hotel tax, as well as bonds to be paid over 30 years. However, Adams' increasing demands for greater and more expensive accommodations to be funded at taxpayer expense sowed seeds of tension that assisted the team's departure from Houston.[citation needed]

...........

At the same time, Adams again lobbied the city for a new stadium, one with club seating and other revenue generators present in recently–built NFL stadiums, and he committed to pay for 25% of the cost of a new stadium. However, mayor Bob Lanier initially supported Adams' bid for a new stadium privately, but refused to publicly support the project. Although Houstonians wanted to keep the Oilers, they were leery of investing more money on a stadium so soon after the Astrodome improvements.[3] The city was also still struggling to recover from the oil collapse of the 1980s. Adams, sensing that he was not going to get the stadium he wanted, began shopping the Oilers to other cities. He was particularly intrigued by Nashville, and opened secret talks with mayor Phil Bredesen. At the end of the 1995 season, Adams announced that the Oilers would be moving to Nashville for the 1998 season.[4] City officials there promised to contribute $144 million toward a new stadium, as well as $70 million in ticket sales. At that point, support for the Oilers in the Houston area all but disappeared.

The 1996 season was a disaster for the Oilers; they played before crowds of fewer than 20,000 and games were so quiet that it was possible to hear conversations on the field from the grandstand. Meanwhile, the team's radio network, which once stretched across the state, was reduced to the flagship station in Houston and a few affiliates in Tennessee. By October 1996 the flagship station (KTRH) was cutting off games prior to their finish in favor of the Houston Rockets pre-game show.[5] The team went 8–8, finishing 6–2 in road games and only 2–6 in home games. Adams, the city and the league were unwilling to see this continue for another season, so a deal was reached to let the Oilers out of their lease a year early and move to Tennessee.

In 1999, Robert McNair was awarded, at a cost of $1 billion, an expansion team which replaced the Oilers in Houston. The franchise became the Houston Texans, which adopted a similar red, white and blue team color tandem and inherited the sports complex the Oilers had played in, but not the Oilers' former home; NRG Stadium would be built next door to the Astrodome in 2002.

 

 

Seems like the timing just wasn't right for the Oilers to stick around.  Also seems like Adams' "gimme gimme gimme more more more" attitude finally wore thin. 

Something else to consider...when Adams made his demands in 1987, the changes made to the Astrodome really stripped away much of the playing area's charm...gone was the once state-of-the-art scoreboard and animations...in their place were a bunch of new seats that gave the building a very non-descript, cookie-cutter feel.  I've read that a lot of fans really thought the post-renovated 'Dome lost a lot with those renovations...much like when Mt. Davis was erected in the Oakland Coliseum (which took away a rather nice view of that stadium's rather striking landscape view):

http://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=H9O3a%2fLh&id=C5BD8B80529C15A9E78136B1B7A913379EE600EB&q=Oakland+Coliseum+Before+Mount+Davis&simid=608017527704979130&selectedIndex=0&ajaxhist=0

Tenneesee hasn't made the playoffs in eight seasons, and hasn't won a playoff game since the 2003 season.  That can't be helping.  Is their attendance not great?   

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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Here an ESPN article on the lame duck situation I mentioned above

Memo to the Raiders: Lame-duck football ain't pretty, baby

Quote

It won’t be fun. The good things that happen to the Raiders will only remind folks that the team is leaving. The bad things that happen to the Raiders will only remind folks that the team is leaving.

Players and coaches will be asked every day what it’s like to play in a city where they have no future. They will have to find ways of thanking the fans, and saying they appreciate them, because the players and coaches are the ones who are going to have to be in front of the cameras every day.

 

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I can't imagine what I would do if the Mets and/or Devils (the two "local" teams that I root for) ever became lame ducks.  I also can't imagine becoming a fan without a team...it's gotta just kill any desire you have to go see them when you know they're not going to be there much longer.  The "Ghosts of Flatbush" documentary about the Dodgers and when they left Brooklyn really did a great job showing how much their moving to LA really just ripped the hearts out of that fanbase.  And what a friggin' weird history with the Raiders...from Oakland to LA to Oakland again...and now to friggin' Vegas. 

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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2 hours ago, '7' said:

Such a silly move too. Houston is the 9th largest metro area and Nashville is like the 35th. Sure they put an expansion team back in Houston pronto but the league should've fought to keep the Oilers in Houston and given Tennessee the expansion team. As it is the Titans aren't exactly a big franchise in terms of fan support and never were. Tennessee is a college sports state.

For the most part the entire South from Texas to the east coast is more into college football, with the exception of the Cowboys. 

Quote

I can't imagine what I would do if the Mets and/or Devils (the two "local" teams that I root for) ever became lame ducks.  I also can't imagine becoming a fan without a team...it's gotta just kill any desire you have to go see them when you know they're not going to be there much longer.  The "Ghosts of Flatbush" documentary about the Dodgers and when they left Brooklyn really did a great job showing how much their moving to LA really just ripped the hearts out of that fanbase.  And what a friggin' weird history with the Raiders...from Oakland to LA to Oakland again...and now to friggin' Vegas. 

I could maybe, maybe still be in to the Devils if they moved to place that was close enough, like Hartford, but I still kind of doubt it.  Otherwise, I'd either become an Isles fan, or I'd stop watching the sport altogether.

Edited by Daniel
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8 minutes ago, Daniel said:

For the most part the entire South from Texas to the east coast is more into college football, with the exception of the Cowboys. 

I could maybe, maybe still be in to the Devils if they moved to place that was close enough, like Hartford, but I still kind of doubt it.  Otherwise, I'd either become an Isles fan, or I'd stop watching the sport altogether.

Do you think you could've gotten into the Whalers if they had moved here?  Supposedly if the Devils had gone to Nashville, there was a good chance that the Whalers would've come here, instead of North Carolina.  Man would THAT have been a letdown.

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6 minutes ago, Daniel said:

For the most part the entire South from Texas to the east coast is more into college football, with the exception of the Cowboys. 

I could maybe, maybe still be in to the Devils if they moved to place that was close enough, like Hartford, but I still kind of doubt it.  Otherwise, I'd either become an Isles fan, or I'd stop watching the sport altogether.

The country just loves football. I find very few people who are married to the college game and don't like the pro's or vice-versa. They like one over the other but they will watch both.

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Just now, '7' said:

The country just loves football. I find very few people who are married to the college game and don't like the pro's or vice-versa. They like one over the other but they will watch both.

True.  Don't forget how huge friggin' high school ball is in some areas as well. 

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4 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Do you think you could've gotten into the Whalers if they had moved here?  Supposedly if the Devils had gone to Nashville, there was a good chance that the Whalers would've come here, instead of North Carolina.  Man would THAT have been a letdown.

I actually never heard of the Hartford to NJ thing. It would've looked terrible for the league to leave a market that just won a Cup (and a league that had a lockout) It makes sense though as NJ for its troubles is a much better hockey market than Raleigh.

The NHL was so obnoxiously pushing into the south in the 90's that some team would've ended up in Carolina anyway.

Ultimately the Hurricanes I believe will move...not 100% but I'm 75% sure they're gone. Coyotes are definitely gone. One to Seattle, the other to Quebec City.

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I still to this day believe the Devils are in Nashville if they don't win the '95 Cup. I kind of want to see the Raiders win the SB in their final year in Oakland just to give the money hungry NFL more bad press, but teams don't generally do well as nomads. Billy B might still be coaching the Browns if they didn't have a mid season move that gutted their organization.

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31 minutes ago, NJDevs4978 said:

I still to this day believe the Devils are in Nashville if they don't win the '95 Cup. I kind of want to see the Raiders win the SB in their final year in Oakland just to give the money hungry NFL more bad press, but teams don't generally do well as nomads. Billy B might still be coaching the Browns if they didn't have a mid season move that gutted their organization.

This is an interesting article. Larry Robinson comments that he was sure that there was never a chance at a move, and it was just a ploy by McMullin, while Lou contended that it was a very real possibility. Odd how two incredibly respected voices within the organization could say such different things.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/1994-95-champion-devils-an-oral-history-pt-4/

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Was listening to Francesa when someone from Henderson Nevada -- suburb of Vegas -- called in about the Raiders.  Caller basically said that he thinks the whole thing is going to be a giant disaster, to the point that you very well might see the team try to move again in about ten years.  First off he said that the taxpayers -- even though the public money is coming from hotel taxes -- are pissed off about all the public money that's going into the stadium as the schools in Nevada generally are apparently pretty terrible.  There are about 2 million people in the Vegas metro area which is something like 40th in the country (compared to the Bay Area, which is 5th).  Also brought up a point that I wasn't aware of that most locals, unless they're going to a show or a nice dinner don't really go to the casinos on the strip, but to ones outside the city limits where apparently you get better odds.  Said what would you rather do, hang out in a sports book where you get free drinks and get to watch every game on TV, or do you want to shell out $300 to go to a stadium for a team that you probably don't care all that much about since a lot of the population are transplants anyway.  Ultimately, he said you're counting on at least 15 to 20,000 people every game being out of towners that are rooting for the away team.

Guy made a pretty compelling case.

Since it's Francesa, they obviously didn't bring up the hockey team, but maybe that has a better chance.  Yeah, hockey obviously isn't as big as football, but the Knights are going to be the first ones there, and an expansion team belongs to a city a little more than one that just moved there.

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