Wellness

[gardenman]

Tim Tebow is a pretty interesting football player. Many dismiss him as a joke, but the last head coach to take a chance on him was Bill Belichick and Tebow lasted until the final cut in that Patriots' training camp. Belichick's not a dumb coach. Tebow's got some magic about him, but he has flaws as a quarterback. He's spent the last two years working on those flaws and may now be ready to take another shot.

I've long believed that there are way too many college quarterbacks who never get a fair shot in the league. They'll end up on a bad team, bad personnel around them, bad coaching, bad system for their skills, etc., that leads to their demise. I tend to think that with the proper coaching, most of those college guys could end up being pretty darn successful, but they often don't get the chance.

If I was getting a young quarterback out of college I'd hire a QB guru to work with him 8-16 hours a day. Find and fix any obvious flaws in his footwork and throwing motion. Repeat the right stuff until it becomes automatic. Then after the mechanics are squared away start working on the head/eyes. Endless hours of film study showing play after play, read after read. On home games park him in the stands in the endzone where your film guys film the game and move him from endzone to endzone each quarter so he's always behind your offense looking at the defense. When your offense takes the field have him read the signs/get the call, repeat the call to the QB guru, then read the defense. Have him make whatever adjustment he felt was needed ("Tight end's too close, move out a foot") and then wait for the snap. At the snap have him say quickly where he'd go and why. "Cooper's doubled deep, so he's out. Matthews should break open over the middle, if I have time I'll hit him if not dump down to Sproles."

By getting the play calls, reading the defense from a position as close to what he'd get on the field as possible and reacting in real time to what he sees, I think you could build a pretty effective quarterback. It's not rocket science. More often than not though teams just throw the rookies in and see if they'll sink or swim and not surprisingly, they tend to sink. To me, you take a year, two, three and mold the kid into what you want him to be. Constant guidance, correction, supervision and support should let you get the most from the investment.

Right now you find guys who are in their third or fourth year in the league who have never had their mechanics fixed. That's just a waste of the potential of the kid. Build a quarterback from the ground up. Find a kid with the leadership, arm strength, and size you want and then start from the beginning and build them into your prototype QB. Don't even talk about letting them start until they've got the mechanics all fixed and know what they're doing.

On a side note, it's always amazed me that with the money now spent on Nascar that team owners haven't built their own practice tracks to train young drivers. I think the same basic training principles could be applied to the racetrack and with a series of the "typical" Nascar tracks contained one inside the other (a half mile track, a mile and a half track and a two and a half mile track) young drivers could be out there racing one another on a daily basis, even switching cars back and forth to find and train the best drivers. Have twelve kids out there on the tracks and getting classroom lessons besides racing every day, should let you sort out which of the twelve is the best and then they'd have a ton of race experience before they ever drove in their first "real" race. It would also give the teams a chance to test new equipment and set-ups and build depth in the pit crews. You could probably build a set of three nested race tracks in those configurations for under $100 million and if it helped you find/develop the next Jeff Gordon/Jimmie Johnson, it would be a cheap investment.

[gardenman]

And Phillip Rivers is now saying he'll play out his contract this year and hit free agency next year. He says that uncertainty over the future of the franchise is why he's made that decision. He doesn't want to have to move his family to LA if the team moves there and would prefer to have multiple options available. I suspect the Chargers will be hearing from teams interested in trading for him, but I'm not sure how impressive the offers will be. Why trade the farm for him if you can get him for nothing more than cash in eleven months? He's now put the Charger GM in a very dicey spot. Do you, can you, let your franchise quarterback walk? Should you get whatever you can for him and let him be someone else's problem? Do you use the franchise tag on him and have to deal with an unhappy franchise quarterback? Their GM is no doubt swallowing antacids by the handful as he tries to sort this out.

[gardenman]

And the Cowboys have made the big plunge and signed Greg Hardy to a one year deal for $13.1 million. He'll help the pass rush if he finds the field, but it sure sounds like he's headed for a suspension first.

[teganslaw]

The Colts proposed a new rule for the NFL: after a successful two-point conversion following a touchdown, the team should be allowed to attempt a field goal from the 50 yard line for an extra point, making it a potential 9 point lead. The idea is to have more teams go for two rather than kicking a field goal.

I think there are already too many rules, and this is strange. This just prolongs the game, gives us more commercials, and is totally unnecessary. Maybe there are some people who like the rule, but it seems to have little chance of passing. I'm wondering where the Colts even came up with this.

Also, it looks like Jameis Winston won't be attending the draft next month. I don't know why; the explanation wasn't clear. Maybe the NFL discouraged him or that his value has decreased? I'm thinking that he might not be first pick, after all.

[gardenman]

I'm not a big fan of most of the proposed rule changes. You can tweak something to death sometimes. I do like the change so ineligible players have to line up inside the tackle box. That prevents a Belichick like move where he had a wide receiver declare ineligible hoping the defense would still account for the guy leaving someone else uncovered.

Jameis Winston is an interesting prospect. I've got a feeling he'll attend the draft in Chicago, but this "I want to celebrate this important event with my family" may be largely designed to show that he's reformed his errant ways. The league will want the guy most likely to be the first overall pick at the draft that's for sure.

Winston has one long month ahead of him to stay out of trouble and you just know that teams that are bringing him in for interviews are having him followed the whole time he's in town to see where he goes, what he does, how he interacts with people, etc.. If he trashes a hotel room, they'll know about it. If he treats a waiter, waitress, housekeeper badly, they'll know about it. The kid is being examined so closely at this point in his life that anything he says or does could move him from the first overall pick to possibly dropping right off a team's draft board. He's done enough bone-headed things that teams are going to be exceptionally paranoid about him. He's pretty much got the live the life of a saint (and not the New Orleans kind) until the draft to stay as a viable option. Private investigators are going to be tailing the kid all over the place and setting traps for him to see how he responds. He's going to be sorely tested over these next few weeks.

[yellowrose]

NFL came out with the NOMORE commercials. What a joke!! I'm all for forgiveness and 2nd chances, AFTER it's been earned. Greg Hardy received NOMORE punishment than missing games. He hasn't earned his way back on the field and I'm so deeply disappointed that my team signed him. Seeing him wear the STAR is going to be very difficult.

On a brighter note, Demarcus Murray put a billboard up in Dallas saying "Thank You Dallas" Still hate that he's going to the Eagles, but that move did soften me up a little.

[gardenman]

This should be an interesting week coming up. The league meetings take place this week and typically this is when the big pre-draft trades to move up are set up. If any team is looking to make a big move up the draft board to get a guy, this is when the foundation of that, if not the trade itself will take place. If players are to be involved then the team getting the players will want them in their facility as quickly as possible too.

There's lots of chatter now about the Chargers jumping up to the second overall pick by packaging Phillip Rivers and their first round pick to get Marcus Mariota. I don't see that happening. Mariota will take at least one and likely two or more years to be ready to start in a normal NFL offense and I don't think the Chargers are ready to wait that long. That AFC West is starting to look pretty winnable this year. No team will give up a lot to get Rivers unless they're confident they can sign him to an extension too. If the Chargers are moving to the top of the board then they might as well try to go to number one overall to get Jameis Winston who's ready to play now.

In fact, looking at the list of prospective free agent quarterbacks in 2016 makes me question if any team will make a big move up to get Mariota when they can wait a year and likely grab one of those guys. Phillip Rivers has made it no secret he's absolutely becoming a free agent. Other quarterbacks whose contracts expire at the end of 2015 include Andrew Luck (hard to imagine any way the Colts don't sign him), Cam Newton, Sam Bradford, Russell Wilson, RGIII, Eli Manning, Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel, Scott Tolzien, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Drew Stanton, Chad Henne, Ryan Tannehill,and others. This year's crop of free agent quarterbacks was pretty thin, but next year's looks meaty.

Now many of those guys (Tannehill, Wilson, Luck) will almost certainly resign with their current teams or get the franchise tag. Others though (Eli, RGIII, Rivers, Cam Newton) may have a hard time coming to agreement on their value and wouldn't be worth paying as a top five guy by signing them to the franchise tag, so they're more likely to be available. If you're a team looking to win next year (and if you're a coach who values his job you'd better be looking to win every year) do you mortgage the future to take a chance on a kid who's likely to take a year or two, or do you keep what you have, and hope to grab a good, proven free agent QB next year?

I'm back to thinking if any team makes the move up for Mariota it'll be the Eagles. Packaging Sam Bradford and Mychal Kendricks (our pro-bowl inside linebacker) together with our pick at twenty may just be enough to get the job done. Chip's made it very clear that DeMeco Ryans still has his job at inside linebacker. We just got Kiko Alonzo from the Bills as an inside linebacker. We've got two good young inside linebackers who Chip loves in Najee Goode and Travis Long, so we've got five guys now on the roster to play two positions. That math doesn't quite work. One of those guys is almost certainly moving on and Mychal Kendricks probably has the most value around the league, so he's most likely the odd man out. (Travis Long can also play outside linebacker, so if a trade doesn't go down, he may swing out there.)

The only real question is do the Eagles even have to move up to get Mariota or will he fall in their laps at twenty? Everyone seems to agree there will be a lengthy transition period for Mariota to be comfortable in a pro style offense. How many coaches/GM's are in a position where they can spend a pick on a guy who won't be usable for a year or two? The recent history of QB's transitioning to the pro game isn't great. RGIII is still a work in progress going into his third year and doesn't necessarily seem destined to make a big leap this year. Johnny Manziel was a train wreck. How will Mariota transition?

This is likely to be a very interesting week as teams feel things out. Don't be shocked to see some big moves made by the end of the league meetings. Likewise don't be shocked if nothing officially happens this week, but lots of foundations are being laid for the immediate future. The draft's just over a month away now and teams pretty much have their draft boards in order, barring any implosions by the kids, so now the real wheeling and dealing takes place. It would be a fun time to be a fly on the wall in the various meeting rooms.

One thing's for sure, the Eagles will pick up a young QB someplace. Bradford's on the last year of his contract, Sanchez isn't the future of the team, Matt Barkley is being dangled as trade bait and GJ Kinne probably isn't him. Expect the Eagles to draft a kid at some point in the draft, whether it's Mariota in the first, Hundley or one of the other guys later, the Eagles will likely come out of the draft with a new young quarterback for Chip to groom.

[gardenman]

And the NFL league meetings kick off today. Teams will examine the proposed rule changes, talk about a team or teams in LA, and lots of trade talk will go down with teams making plans to move up or down in the upcoming draft. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Eagles come out of the league meetings with a deal in place to move into the top ten in the draft in case Mariota falls, or to grab an elite player that they have their eyes on. (Wide receiver is still an area of need for the Eagles. Amari Cooper, Jaelen Strong, Devante Parker,and Kevin White are all likely gone by 20 so if the Eagles can move up to grab a guy they might.)

[gardenman]

Jeff Lurie (the Eagles owner) had his press conference today and discussed how happy the Eagles were to get Sam Bradford. Lurie said the Eagles had their eyes on Bradford since his days in Oklahoma and they felt he was the best QB to come out since Peyton Manning. A local reporter looked up a story he wrote in 2010 after the McNabb trade where Adam Schefter reported that the trade of McNabb to the Redskins was done to prevent the Redskins from moving up to get Bradford in the 2010 draft. The Eagles didn't want to have to face Sam Bradford twice a year for the next ten years, so by trading McNabb to the Redskins they took away some of Washington's ammunition and motivation to move up and get Bradford. Apparently the Redskins and Rams had a deal more or less in place to swap picks and let the Redskins get Bradford, so the Eagles offered up McNabb and the Redskins took the bait, putting Bradford in Saint Louis instead of Washington. Of course, then the Rams and Redskins found themselves in a similar spot in 2012 and the Redskins made the deal to get RGIII.

Now Bradford is in Philly and we'll have to see how it all plays out, but the Eagles seem very, very happy with how things stand right now.

[teganslaw]

News out of Indy is that the Colts have refused to negotiate a long term contract for Pagano until after the 2015 season. He had signed a three year deal in 2012. Reports are saying that this could be a "make or break year" for Pagano. Despite going to the playoffs for three straight years, the management thinks that there can be improvement, and that the recent signings will show if things have indeed improved.

New England remains one of the major obstacles; Indy has to play better against that team. They also don't like the fact that Indy got crushed by St. Louis and Arizona in 2013. So, does this mean that if the Colts don't make the Superbowl, Pagano is gone? Maybe not, but expectations remain high, and Pagano will be under some pressure this year to produce. It seems that any contract extension will be based on what happens in 2015.

That's one thing about the NFL: no matter what happens, no coach or player remains safe. It's a business and often past results don't mean much; it's what can you do for me now?