Sports

[Spurt]

Rumor is Alex Smith will be released by the end of the week.....The team will save 14 mill in cap space....

Keep your eyes on Mariota ...rumor is he will also be released and the Raiders will save 10 mill.....the contract escalators made moving him difficult 

Word is Titans are out of the JJ Watt "sweepstakes"....Some say Buffalo is rumored to be in the lead...STAY TUNED...

A another draft prospect for the WFT could be WR Elijah Moore Univ of Mississippi......

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

The Paramount+ is a good deal for me. I watch the Big Brother live feeds every summer and I pay $5.99 a month for that in June, July, August, and September, so for about $6 more, I get a full year of service.

I also like soccer and other sports and they're planning on putting many of them on the service. Golf's the Masters, UEFA soccer, and more will all be on there. Even NFL games though I suspect they're just the in-market games. The last time I watched Inside the NFL was back in the Len Dawson, Nick Buoniconti days on HBO. They then went to Showtime before now moving to Paramount+. I don't even know who the hosts are now. 

The Cowboys would probably come out ahead in terms of cap space in a Dak for Wilson swap. They're paying Dak $37.7 million (or so) this year. Wilson has a cap hit of $32 million this year. (He gets $19 million in cash as the rest is a $13 million prorated signing bonus that he's already received.) The cap would be the least of their issues. There's some flexibility in Wilson also as you could renegotiate his deal and shuffle money into bonuses or find other ways of shuffling it around. With Dak it's $37.7 million with no way to shuffle any of it around. Dak's cap hit is nonnegotiable.

I think the Seahawks would take a $39 million hit to their cap in dead money from the bonuses, much like the Eagles took a $34 million dead money cap hit for trading Wentz. They wouldn't be happy about that, but sometimes you've just got to bite the bullet.

The Seahawks would be in a much more challenging salary cap situation than the Cowboys. They have about eleven million or so in cap space now. They'd lose $39 million of that putting them $28 million in the hole and then would have to pay Dak. Yikes! Dak would want $37+ million a year so they'd have to find something like $65 million in cap space someplace. That's about a third of your salary cap. They don't have any $65 million a year players on the roster now, so they'd have to cut a lot, and I mean a lot of guys to fit Prescott in. Still, if Wilson insists on a trade, they'll need a new QB to replace him and Dak is the best available option in terms of talent and would give them the best chance to compete, assuming they still had any players left on the roster.

If Wilson was more open to going to other teams, then you could trade him for a good young QB on a rookie deal and survive the cap hit a bit better. If you could talk the Chargers into giving up Herbert for Wilson, it would be a good move for the Seahawks. They'd get a promising young player on the rise, still on a rookie deal. Much easier on the cap and the fans would be pretty happier with that kind of a move.

With just Dallas, Vegas, Chicago, and New Orleans as options though, Seattle's in a tough spot. New Orleans is going to be having a fire sale of some sort to get under the cap. Taking on a $32 million cap hit isn't in their plans. Dallas and Vegas could absorb the cap hit without too much trouble, but could Seattle absorb the cap it coming from getting Carr, Dak, or Mariota back? That pretty much leaves Chicago. Not a great option for Seattle. What'll they give you back? Foles and a pick or two? 

[Spurt]

@gardenman @teganslaw @yellowBeetle 

WOW---heres a move no one suspected JJ signs with THE CARDINALS!!!! Watt is reportedly signing a two-year, $31 million contract with $23 million guaranteed.

GARDENMAN---Paramount + does sound like a good deal for you ......Who knows if they will make changes but here's the cast of the "Inside The NFL Show"---James Brown, Phil Simms, Brandon Marshall, Ray Lewis

[teganslaw]

I'm happy for JJ Watt and happy that he's out of the AFC South. He joins Hopkins, and should help the Cardinals. I didn't know Arizona was even in the running. Texans fans must be crying right now. 

Alex Smith still wants to play football, even with another team. There are several teams without quarterbacks, so I wonder if one of them would be interested. 

[gardenman]

JJ Watt going to the Cards might increase Russell Wilson's desire to leave the NFC West. Facing JJ twice a year might be more than he'd like. The Cards just became more of a threat in the NFC West. I don't think Stafford will help the Rams all that much and Jimmy G in Frisco is a bit iffy. Wilson possibly leaving the Seahawks weakens them. The Cards could be in pretty good shape.

[gardenman]

All indications are that the 17 game schedule is going to happen in 2021. That's potentially good news for the Eagles as game seventeen for us would be against the Jets. God willing, we can beat the Jets. So, that's at least one win! Yeah, team!

Everyone's wondering who the Eagles will sign as a backup QB. Today the top three contenders are Jacoby Brissett, Marcus Mariota, and some have us drafting Alabama's Mac Jones at six. Eh, okay. I suspect Mariota and Brissett will be out of our price range. Mac Jones is likely the fifth-best QB in the draft based on many reports. One of his receivers was asked who he'd prefer between Tua and Jones and he immediately answered Jones, so there's that. I think it could be Nate Sudfeld again, but I'm not sure what kind of relationship he had with Hurts. Nate and Carson were very close, but Hurts was often off to the side apart from those two. I didn't get the vibe that they were close and Nate isn't much of a scrambler. 

I wonder if the Eagles are looking at RGIII as an option? He has experience, could step in for Hurts should Hurts miss time without having to completely alter the offense. He should be affordable. That wouldn't shock me. I don't think the Philly fanbase would want RGIII as the starter so that would give Hurts some job security.

The Texans are releasing Josh McCown. I'm still not sure why they signed him to begin with, but they're now cutting him free. They signed him away from the Eagles, interviewed him as a possible head coach, and are now cutting him loose. It's been an interesting year for old Josh. He could have gotten a coaching job had they released him right after the season. Most vacancies are filled now though. He's likely to end up somewhere as a "quality control coach" for a year or two.

The WFT is said to be releasing Alex Smith later this week. That officially takes him out of their QB derby. I'm not sure he'll find many takers. It might be a good time to look into retirement and phase two of his career.

Word is that Drew Brees won't be the QB for the Saints in 2021. Probably the best for Drew. Given their salary cap situation, there might not be much of a team to QB. They've got to make some pretty drastic moves to get back under the cap. Brees was still mulling retirement. It sounds like the Saints are taking the mulling option away and making it clear it's time to retire.

We're about a week into the franchise tag period and I don't think anyone has gotten the tag yet. (I could be wrong about that though.) It looks like teams will be waiting for the last minute to apply the tags. It kind of makes you wonder why they don't just compress it down to one day for the tag?

Jimmy G is once again saying the Niners constantly looking around for someone better at QB doesn't bother him. (Sure it doesn't. I believe that. Yeppers.) Even if it truly doesn't bother him, and let's be real, it bothers him, it affects the team chemistry. A team needs to know their coaches and front office believe in their QB. "He's our guy!" They don't need to hear, "We keep looking for someone better, but they're either too pricey or don't want to play here, so we're stuck with Jimmy." For the last two years, the Niners players have been largely hearing that they're stuck with Jimmy and not "He's our guy!" A lot of football gets played between the earholes and that headspace on the Niners isn't in the best place when it comes to the QB. You've either got to have management one hundred percent behind the QB or find a QB that management can get 100% behind. This nonstop waffling on him is bad in every way.

Word is that we can expect lots of trades involving lots more big-name players in the coming days/weeks. A whole lot of names are circulating on the rumor mill, and the league could look pretty different come September. Teams with salary-cap space could grab some pretty good players at bargain prices as teams with cap issues try to find some way to unload cap issues.

[Spurt]

@gardenman @teganslaw 

Well the 17 game schedule would make things tougher for my WFT---we'd get Buffalo added to our schedule... 

According to reports, supposedly contract talks are off to a productive start and better than they have in the past between Dak and the Cowboys...

Well this is interesting the Cardinals said they pulled out all stops and even used impressionist Frank Caliendo and singer Blake Shelton to help recruit JJ Watt.....😄.... 

So what did Caliendo tell Watt?

GM Steve Keim said. “I don’t know what he did. He was my son’s flag football coach, and a terrible one at that. He lives right around the corner from our facility and is a good friend, as you know, so he’s always willing to help.” Shelton made a recruiting video. “He’s not a fair-weather fan. He’s all in,” Keim said. After Watt announced he was joining the Cardinals, Shelton tweeted, “Congratulations @JJWatt and welcome home to the @AZCardinals my man!!! 

Personally, I just think it was the money the Cardinals offered that got JJ signed.....

Well I just hope my WFT doesn't follow suit to land a FA..... it would scare them away if they had one of their area "celebrity" fans---those DC politicians---try to recruit them....LOL

Oh and this just in....after the WFT cheerleader scandal the WFT is revamping and putting together a co-ed dance team instead of cheerleaders...🙄 Personally I think the time has come to just do away with all NFL cheerleaders.....