Sports

[gardenman]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@gardenman wrote:

Dolphins defensive tackle Kendrick Norton had to have his left arm amputated following an accident between his truck and a Maserati. Paramedics had to remove his arm at the scene to be able to remove him from the wreckage. That would not be fun for anyone involved.

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@gardenman 

What a sad sad tragedy....I wonder if alcohol was involved...haven't seen any other specifics other than what you said....

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My best guess is it was a drag race gone bad with a Maserati also involved. Alcohol may have also been involved. Having to have your arm cut off by paramedics is one of those worst case scenarios. It's not something paramedics do all that often. The conditions aren't sterile. They can't really give you a general anesthetic, so you're awake while they're doing it. I can't imagine it's pleasant for anyone involved. On site amputations are not a good thing. As a defensive tackle he likely had a big arm also. Ugh! That probably haunts both him and the medics involved, but medics do what they have to do to save a life. I haven't heard if any attempt was made to recover the arm and reattach it, but it might have been too badly damaged to try. Just a bad scene all the way around.

[gardenman]

We're about two weeks from training camps opening and a few of the quarterbacks you'd expect to have gotten extensions/new deals haven't gotten them yet. Dak Prescott is still on hold in Dallas. Jared Goff will likely set a new highest paid QB mark in LA. Marcus Mariota is playing out his fifth year option. Jameis Winston is doing the same.

Dak likely wants more than Carson Wentz got and the Cowboys were in the $24+ million range not the possibly $36 million range of Wentz if he hits his incentives. The Cowboys have reportedly now moved up to the $30-$32 million range, still behind Wentz, but closer. We'll see what happens there.

Jared Goff was drafted ahead of Wentz and took his team to the Super Bowl, so he's looking for a bigger payday than Wentz and will likely get it. LA doesn't want a new stadium and a disgruntled QB. With Gurley having a bad knee they'll likely need Goff at his best in 2019. Expect a big deal for him in the very near future.

Marcus Mariota has been cursed with a never-ending string of offensive coordinators. When he's healthy (not often) and knows the system (hard when you've been in four or five in the last six years) he's as good as anyone and better than most. You really shouldn't draft a talented kid at QB unless you have a solid coaching staff in place to guide the kid. It takes a QB about three years to fully learn a system. When you change coordinators multiple times you just scramble the kid's brain. What's Mariota worth? If he stays healthy, and that's a huge if, and he's ever allowed to fully learn a system, another huge if, he's as good as anyone out there. I suspect an incentive laden deal would be best for the team, but if you're the player you want guaranteed money. This one could be a challenge to get done. You're looking at around $30 million a year if you tag him, so that's probably the starting point. I'm not sure Mariota moving on (the Steelers perhaps?) in 2020 isn't in everyone's best interest.

Jameis Winston is one of those really challenging guys to do a deal for. I'm pretty sure the team isn't fully behind him. His "eating wins" stunt last year had half the players looking at him like he was from Mars and the other half just ignoring him. He's got talent, but I'm not sure how good of a leader he is. What the heck do you do with him? He'll make $20+ million this year on his fifth year option. If you can resign him in that price range it might not be a bad idea. I sure wouldn't invest a lot in him though. If he won't sign for $20 million a year or so, then I might let him wander off in free agency and replace him with a new kid in the 2020 draft. I'm just not sure how many teams have interest in Winston if he hit free agency.

We'll see if any new deals get done in the next few weeks or if teams opt to let the players play out their last year/options. It's a bit of a gamble for both players and teams with those guys. I'm betting a Goff deal gets done. Probably Dak also. The other two, I'm not so sure about.

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

The Cowboys have a log jam of people to sign.....not only, Dak, Zeke, Cooper, but LB JaylonSmith and CB Byron Jones are gonna be coming up too.....What I heard it's going to take "salary-cap gymnastics" to get everyone signed....

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

If you can believe what we're being told, Zeke won't get a new deal. They're planning to let him play out his fifth year option then tag him for a year or two and see if he's still alive after that. It's not a bad strategy from the Cowboys' perspective given Zeke's heavy use and the lifespan of runningbacks. I strongly suspect Zeke would prefer guaranteed money however. As long as Elliott goes along with the plan and doesn't sit out and demand a new deal, it's an effective strategy for the Cowboys. The franchise tag for a running back is pretty manageable and any contract they signed Elliott to would be for more than top five running back money anyway. They can use him up for three years before they have to make a decision on what to do then.

[gardenman]

Supplemental draft day today. Two guys of the five eligible are expected to be picked later in the draft today. The Eagles might be interested in the safety, but I haven't heard anything specific.

[teganslaw]

The Colts have never gotten  a supplemental draft pick and haven't heard about them getting one this season. 

Reggie Wayne predicted that the Colts will go 11-5 this year. He thinks that they will lose the first game to the Chargers , but will win win several in a row after that. Have to see how accurate he is with this prediction. I'm hoping they have a better start than last year, although it ended up well. 

[gardenman]

The only guy drafted in the supplemental draft was the safety and he went to the Cards. The Jags signed the top wide receiver Marcus Simms as an undrafted free agent, but I haven't heard fo the other guys signing just yet. Simms is unlikely to help the Jags much though. I'm still expecting them to make a move for Agholor to reunite him with Nick Foles. The Eagles may wait until a bit of training camp is done first to be sure they don't lose anyone to injuries first before they make a deal though.

I'm not sure any team can get eleven wins in the AFC South. I kind of think the winner will be more like 9-7. The Jags look more competitive this year. The Texans are good. The Titans are good when Mariota's healthy. That's looking like a bit of a dogfight to me with no clear cut winner. I think the Colts are the best overall team right now, but the Texans are pretty darn close. Even the Jags and Titans aren't far back. Getting eleven wins will be a challenge for any of those teams since they play each other so much.

[teganslaw]

Reggie has the Colts splitting the series with Houston and Jacksonville, with both losses on the road. He has the Colts sweeping the Titans probably because the Titans haven't beaten Andrew Luck. The last time they won against Indy was when Brissett started as QB in 2017. Of course, that winless streak could come to an end. The Colts and Titans meet in game#2 in Tennessee. 

[gardenman]

If you look at the Colts' schedule, the Dolphins game is the sure win. The Raiders and Bucs should be wins, but if Carr has a good game, then who knows? You don't know which Falcons team will show up. We don't know how Flacco and the Broncos will perform. I think 9-7 is a pretty good guess.

[teganslaw]

Josh Norman was running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. A video showed him leaping over a couple bulls. The Redskins might not be too happy seeing this. Wonder if Norman has a special clause in his contract that allows this action. The NFL gets upset about Mahomes playing basketball; jumping bulls isn't much better. 

Norman looks like he's having fun, though.