Sports

[ccassaday]

---

@teganslaw wrote:

The Colts signed former Chiefs player Justin Houston to a two year 24 million contract. I didn't even know they were talking to him.  Houston was released when KC changed to a 4-3 defense, and that's what the Colts use. Houston will be playing defensive end.

Ballard knows Houston from KC, so he wouldn't have signed him if there were any questions about Houston playing 4-3. I like this signing; that helps our defense immensely. WTG Ballard!

---

Next season is going to be fun for the colts. I can’t wait. We filled two needs in FA that should make us better. Houston gives us two years to get Turay and Lewis time to develop or draft a DE.  Having Ebron and funchess on the field at the same time is going to create a lot of mismatches.

[gardenman]

---

@teganslaw wrote:

The Colts signed former Chiefs player Justin Houston to a two year 24 million contract. I didn't even know they were talking to him.  Houston was released when KC changed to a 4-3 defense, and that's what the Colts use. Houston will be playing defensive end.

Ballard knows Houston from KC, so he wouldn't have signed him if there were any questions about Houston playing 4-3. I like this signing; that helps our defense immensely. WTG Ballard!

---

Playing defensive end in a 4-3 defense is actually easier than playing outside linebacker in a 3-4. The positions are pretty similar, but you prefer a stouter defensive end in a 4-3, but putting on weight isn't all that hard with six months to go. Houston should be a good pickup.

The Chiefs are doing some odd stuff on defense. Dee Ford is gone. Houston's gone. Berry's gone. That's a lot of leadership and performance to lose. Steve Spagnuolo, their new defensive coordinator hasn't been all that impressive as a DC in recent years. They're going to need Mahomes to score a lot this year.

[gardenman]

The Cards look to be picking Kyler Murray first overall. They're certainly doing nothing to assure Josh Rosen he's their guy. If you know you've got "your guy" at QB and you've got the first overall pick, you tell anyone and everyone how you've already got your QB and you're looking at other positions in the draft. The Cards aren't doing that. They're looking at everyone. (Especially Kyler Murray.) You want your team 100% behind your quarterback and you want there to be no doubt he's "your guy," but that's clearly not what the Cards are doing. Maybe they won't draft Murray, but they've done little to make Josh Rosen feel comfortable. A lot of football is played between the earholes, and Rosen's focus is being disrupted by his own front office.

 The Cowboys signed safety George Iloka to a deal. He got demoted to a backup role with the Vikings last year. They still have a big need on the defensive line. Two starters are gone and their best d-lineman won't report without a new contract. That Dallas defense could be a tad vulnerable this year. It's a draft heavy in d-linemen, but rookie d-linemen typically need a year or two to adjust to the NFL. The best offensive lineman they played against in college is typically worse than the worst offensive lineman they'll see in the NFL. Rookie d-linemen tend to get bullied rather badly that first year or two until they get stronger and adjust to the speed of the NFL. Some never can adjust.

We've entered into something of a lull in the activity level right now. Teams have turned their attention to the draft and player visits. Teams have been known to set up kids visiting with temptation (pretty girls, available drugs, etc.) to test the kids and get a feel for their character, but agents typically warn the guys of the risks and few fall prey any longer. A few do something stupid on the visits however and get themselves taken off the draft board. 

Teams looking to trade up or down in the draft have been making calls to get a feel for their options. The Niners seem intent on staying at two and the Cards seem locked into first, so the Jets at thave been very popular with teams looking to move up. They've got their franchise QB, and have filled most of their glaring holes in free agency, so they could slide back a bit and be pretty happy. Word is that most teams have seventeen or so non-quarterbacks with a first round grade this year, and with two to four quarterbacks likely going in the first fifteen or so picks, a team could drop back to around twenty and get a guy similar to what they'd get at three. The Jets could get a bounty of extra picks and still get a comparable guy, so expect them to move back a bit in the draft.

[Greeneyedlady21]

Rob Gronkowski just announced his retirement. He was a great teammate and a great athlete when his injuries didn't get the best of him. Thanks Gronk.

[gardenman]

---

@Greeneyedlady21 wrote:

Rob Gronkowski just announced his retirement. He was a great teammate and a great athlete when his injuries didn't get the best of him. Thanks Gronk.

---

The Patriots apparently knew it was coming as they've been looking at free agent tight ends. Finding a replacement won't be easy for them.

[Greeneyedlady21]

Sure Gronk was goofy and fun loving, that's all the rest of the country saw. But New England saw his community involvement-especially the time he spent with sick children. He has a heart of gold.

[Jtdmum]

---

@Greeneyedlady21 wrote:

Rob Gronkowski just announced his retirement. He was a great teammate and a great athlete when his injuries didn't get the best of him. Thanks Gronk.

---

@Greeneyedlady21 I'll miss him but honesly I don't blame him.  His injuries were so extensive.  For a guy that is 30 years old he's had more surgery than most people do that live to 100.

I'm sure we'll hear quite a bit from him going forward.  He is rather "entertaining" for lack of a better way of stating..

[gardenman]

Gronk is very entertaining and a great football player. He's also a guy who likely scared Belichick to death. If you're a football head coach and that phone rings at three in the morning, your first thought is likely "Which of my knuckleheads is in trouble now?" Belichick likely was saying to himself on each occasion, "Please don't let it be Gronk," but fearing it was. Now that worry is gone. Of course, now he has a bigger problem in finding a replacement for Gronk on the roster. Not such an easy thing to do. 

There are some really good tight ends in the draft, but not a great deal of depth behind them. TJ Hockenson seems like the top overall guy available, but if Belichick wants him (and he likely does) he'll need to move way up in the draft to get him. Depending on what happens with the quarterbacks, Hockenson could go in the top ten to top fifteen.

Noah Fant is another tight end they could be targeting. Fant's more of a receiving tight end than a blocker though and Belichick needs his tight ends to be both. He'll likely be gone long before pick 32 also. 

The Patriots could move up to get a tight end since they have two second and third round picks, but would it be worth it to them? Those picks are pretty valuable, but they need a good tight end in that offense. They're running out of playing time for Brady and waiting a year or two to get a tight end isn't really a viable option.

It'll be interesting to see how the Patriots handle this situation. Do they opt for two lesser tight ends, one a blocker and one a receiver, to replace Gronk who could do both? That kind of telegraphs your plays to the defense though. Do they try to get a guy through a trade? We'll find out in the next month. Right now though, that Patriot offense has a rather large hole to fill.

[teganslaw]

I'm not surprised that Gronk retired, as he's been pondering that for awhile. There's only so much your body can handle, and he's going out at the top of his game. Wishing him well in retirement.

I don't think this will affect the Patriots much, though. They'll find someone else to replace him, and will still be successful. Gronk missed a lot of games throughout the years, and Brady still managed to find other weapons.

[gardenman]

The Eagles are getting creative with contracts and spreading out bonus payments down the road. This year they've signed a few guys to five year contracts that are void if the player is still on the roster after years one through three. (Depending on the player.) That lets them spread the first few years of bonus money out over five years (one fifth each year) but then come the end of year one to three, the player is automatically cut making it a one to three year deal and the Eagles then have to pay the final two to four years of pro-rated bonus money at that time. It's currently legal and allowed by the CBA, and a few teams are doing likewise.

The players don't mind as they still get their money, but it lets the Eagles have a larger cap in the years the guy is on the roster. It's kind of clever.

Ronald Darby's new deal is structered in that manner. It's a five year deal. He gets a $1 million salary for 2019. $3.5 million in a signing bonus and $2 million in other bonus money. His likely to be earned roster bonus money that counts against this year's cap is $1.125 million. Darby gets about $6.5 million in 2019, but the Eagles cap number for him in 2019 is only $2.825 million. Years two through five are at $15 million a year, but his contract automatically voids if he's on the roster 23 days before the 2020 league year starts. Next year the Eagles will face a dead cap number of $2.8 million (or so depending on bonuses reached) for Darby, but they'll worry about that next year.

If a team wanted to they could sign a guy to a hundred year contract that voids after year one and really lower the costs that first year.