Sports

[gardenman]

Trent Richardson is a reason why teams don't generally draft running backs high. He was a consensus, best back in the draft in 2012. People said he was the best college back since Adrian Peterson. Yeah, not so much. He was great in high school, great in college, had nearly ideal size, then flopped in the NFL. 

Want to scare NFL talent evaluators? Describe Saquon Barkley as the next Trent Richardson. Pretty much everyone thought Trent Richardson was a safe pick. There's not a huge difference in running back play from college to the pros. The kids typically transition easily. Trent Richardson rattled the confidence of NFL personnel evaluators when he flopped.

Bear in mind it was the Browns who drafted Richardson third overall, and who some have taking Barkley high. I suspect there are those in the Browns' organization who still regret that pick of Richardson. That may have them thinking twice about Barkley. If they even think there's a one percent chance Barkley is another Trent Richardson, Cleveland will pass on him. I could see Barkley dropping to six or even  lower in the draft if teams get nervous about him.

[gardenman]

Good Morning Football showed a tweet from Jalen Ramsey encouraging the Jags to get OBJ. It's not impossible. Tom Coughlin drafted OBJ and knows him well. The Jags don't have a number one wide receiver on the roster. The Giants could move OBJ down there. They could even package OBJ and Eli to the Jags. I doubt it would happen, but anything's possible. The Jags only have $13 million plus in cap space, so they'd have to make some more room to do it, but anything's possible.

An OBJ trade could do for the Giants what the Herschel Walker trade did for Dallas. Assuming they used the picks well. The Rams trading away the RGIII pick didn't help them a lot. You've still got to get a bit lucky, but more picks improves your chances.

[gardenman]

The Redskins traded for yet another quarterback, getting Kevin Hogan from the Browns for a flip of sixth round picks. Not a bad price to pay for a young guy who could end up the backup.

[Spurt]

@teganslaw

Don't feel too bad about Tony Richardson, after my Redskins fired Charlie Casserly and hired Vinny Cerrato, every draft of Vinny's was a DISASTER!!!   Of course he was "helped" by owner Dan Snyder in his selections....

Years later Casserly and Snyder encountered each other, Snyder apologized and admitted he should have kept Casserly as GM and fired Norv Turner......

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

The Redskins traded for yet another quarterback, getting Kevin Hogan from the Browns for a flip of sixth round picks. Not a bad price to pay for a young guy who could end up the backup.

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@gardenman

We only have 2 QBs on our roster right now--Alex Smith and Colt McCoy....and Colt is entering the final year of his contract...and some team may want to offer Colt top dollar to be a starter somewhere...........

Hogan played in college for Stanford (normally their QBs are smart)..... in Week 6 of 2017 against Houston. Hogan didnt have a good showing he completed 20 of 37 passes for 140 yards in that start, throwing a touchdown and three interceptions and fumbling once. Of course the Browns are where QBs are destroyed so it could be due to poor coaching or lack of decent weapons and lack of surrounding talent, or players who stopped giving any effort....Colt and Hogan probably can share horror stories about their respective times in Cleveland!

Hogan is from  McLean, Virginia.....The Redskins seem to go with "local" kids in the late late rounds if there is no one else they are enamoured with...one of those "fun picks" as Cerratto referred to them as............

AND Hogan was originally drafted by the Chiefs in the 5th round but didnt make their roster, picked up by the Browns on waivers.  I think the Redskins probably asked Alex Smith for his input regarding Hogan...

And this trade kind of seals the deal (they cleared out their QBS except Tyrod Taylor & Drew Stanton) so that makes it appear the Browns will take a QB with their first pick....looks like Sam Darnold....

[Spurt]

USC running back Ronald Jones will visit the Redskins on Monday. Bruce Allen attended a makeup pro day for Jones Thursday. Allen also had dinner with LSU running back Derrius Guice the night before his pro day.

Here's what John Keim had to say about these RBs........

The Redskins clearly have interest in upgrading at running back. Jones is not a "thumper" type back, something coach Jay Gruden has said he would like. But Jones also can hit home runs and his ability to make jump cuts and then use his speed could energize an offense. The hard part for Washington could be landing either one of these backs; both could go between when the Redskins pick in the first round at 13 and in the second at 44

(so my thoughts---- are the Redskins thinking of trading up to grab a RB when more pressing needs exist.(gee sounds like the Trent Richardson deal-lol) .Personally I'd prefer DT Vita Vea., but he's visited with the Packers on Friday, are they considering trading up a couple spots to get him, they are at #14 and could jump over the Redskins at #13 to get him....STAY TUNED)

[gardenman]

It'll be interesting to see what the Browns do with that first overall pick. They're implying it'll be Sam Darnold, but the general consensus is that the Giants want Darnold at two. Whispers are that the Browns want Josh Allen and want the Giants to trade up to one to get Darnold, freeing up the Browns to get Josh Allen and a bonus.

There's a lot of bluffing going on now over who teams are targeting. The Browns are playing the game and playing it well. No one's sure what they'll do and the Giants have to be at least thinking about moving up. If the Browns trade out of first, then another team could jump ahead of the Giants and get the guy the Giants want.The

There are at least twenty high profile mock drafts out there, and there's no consensus on who'll go first overall. It's as scrambled a mess as I can remember. I still expect someone to trade up into that top five. It could be Arizona, Buffalo, or a wildcard, but the top of the draft order will likely get shuffled between now and the draft.

[Spurt]

Well this has got to be the most INTRIGUING draft that I can recall......so many question marks.  And your right @gardenman there are also a lot of smoke screens as teams try to keep hidden who they are really targeting........

BTW read where your TE Richard Rogers is about as talkitive as Bill Belichick.....Gotta watch out for those quiet ones....he could be a great player and Hall Of Famer but says little and is quiet like Art Monk (and lets his play do the talking) OR Rogers could be quiet like Kawhi Leonard of my Spurs who apparently know one really knows personally and whats going on in his brain and yet he's creating so much havoc nonetheless....(it could be he doesnt want to play for the team OR he wants to be traded, OR he's really injured OR its all media hype and the fuss is because his injury really hasnt properly healed) ...

[gardenman]

I liked the Richard Rodgers interview. He wasn't effusive, but he did answer the questions. What areas of your game can you improve on? "Everything." Biggest strength? "My ability to catch the ball." He was smart. Talk too much and the Philly media will spin whatever you say into something negative.

He's going to be an interesting guy to watch. He was amazing in 2015, then the Packers largely ignored him afterwards and didn't give him as many snaps. Why? I don't know, but we'll likely find out. He seems happy to be in Philly, so that's good. I don't know what happened in Green Bay, but he went from a very good young tight end, to largely a special teams player for them.

[gardenman]

It sounds like the Eagles and Brandon Graham are working on an extension and getting close to getting it done. There's a bit of a lull in an agent's year right now with the first wave of free agency behind us, the combine/league meetings/pro days behind us, the draft still ahead of us, and then the second big wave of free agency taking place after the draft, so this is a good time for a player's agent and team to talk. Both sides have some free time with lots of chaos for both sides coming in the very near future. 

I suspect we'll hear of an agreement sometime before the draft. Expect the contract to be composed of a large signing bonus that can be pro-rated out over the length of the contract and a smaller salary for a lesser salary cap hit each year. The Eagles raised season ticket prices, so they'll have more cash on hand upfront for big signing bonuses which gets the majority of a player's cash into their hands earlier. It's a pretty good strategy for teams with lots of cash, known players, and a tight cap.

Say the going salary for an NFL defensive end is $20 million a year. You want to sign the guy for five years. That's a $100 million contract. If you pay him $20 million a year that's a $20 million salary cap hit each year. Let's say you decide instead to offer him a $80 million over five year deal, but instead of giving him $20 million the first year, you give him $50 million in a signing bonus. That extra money upfront ($50 million) can be invested to give him more than $100 million over the five years.

A decent rate of return these days for high value investors is 15%-20%, so that $50 million could return $10 million a year for five years or an additional $50 million making his total deal more of a $130+ million one. The team is only out $10 million a year in the pro-rated signing bonus plus another $6 million for the $30 million salary over those five years. On paper the player is only getting $80 million, but by investing that bonus money the deal's value is much, much higher. The team is also less likely to cut him since they've already largely paid him. Keeping a guy who's only a $6 million extra cap hit is easier than keeping a guy who's a $20 million cap hit.

With a proven guy like Brandon Graham such a contract makes a lot of sense. The team knows him, how he trains, how he practices, his health records, etc. As long as they can trust him not to retire in a year or two, this is a good strategic way to resign a guy with a lesser salary cap hit. (Tony Romo retiring prematurely put the Cowboys in a bit of a bind salary cap wise as he still counts for more than $9 million against their cap this year due to his pro-rated bonus money that's still on their books.)

We'll see what happens, but I would expect a deal with a large upfront payment, smaller yearly salaries, and around five years in length. Such a deal is a win for both sides as long as the team has the cash on hand for the big bonus upfront.