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[Masspartan]

Now if Watson was on his rookie deal, then yeah 3 first round picks easy

[The King]

He’s worth 3 1st rounders with his current contract. HOU would get it, too.

[The King]

Word is Watson isn’t even on the block. I don’t blame HOU as stupid as they are as an org. Watson is a STUD.

[jaadam4]

He’s worth 3 1st rounders with his current contract. HOU would get it, too.

Exactly.

Watson is a stud unfortunately he’s going the Stafford route. He had one or the best WRs and one of the best defensive players in the game but he couldn’t get it done. Just like Suh and CJ and now he’s stuck in a rebuild that will waste some of his best years.

At least we didn’t willingly trade CJ for nothing and cut Suh. Detroit wanted those players but couldn’t do anything about the situation

[Masspartan]

He’s worth 3 1st rounders with his current contract. HOU would get it, too.

I guess we will see, but I don't see any team taking on that huge contract and giving up 3 first round picks.

[Fraquar]

I don’t think he has as much trade value as you think because his contract is substantial. The Patriots for instance wouldn’t even entertain having him since he costs way more than the 13% they allow a single player to eat of the cap.

Stafford had trade value because he had two very affordable years on his deal.

He's a 26 year old QB who has proven he isn't a liability in the league - that can fetch a kings ransom every day of the week - and twice on Sunday.
Lets be honest, if the Lions took suitors for a 26 year old Stafford - I'd expect nothing less than a kings ransom (and he had just signed an extension making him the highest paid QB in the game). He still has that mythical "upside" that you can extract every last trade chip out of a team with.

As for his contract - the timing is actually a good thing with that deal.
2021 is a bargain steal - in a year where the cap drops and teams can use every bargain contract they can get.
2022-2023 are albatros years - where the cap should rebound.
2024 and beyond he's not going to see anyway - all the guaranteed monies will be gone by then.

The real issue is you have the face of the franchise - who wants nothing to do with the franchise. That is a PR nightmare.

[froot loops]

This offseason is a rebuke of the rookie contract quarterback fad. It has also been a rebuke of the Patriots 13 percent nonsense, they lost Brady because of it and their team sucks with no quarterback. It is also a rebuke of the notion that quarterbacks shouldn't need weapons. Brady, Wilson, and Rodgers are prime examples of this.

[froot loops]

A franchise that can get a young franchise quarterback at 26 should willingly give away 3 first rounders even if the contract is pricey. The whole league is looking for quarterbacks.

[chemiclord]

Fuck, that old below average QB named Stafford got two firsts AND a 26-year old QB.

[jaadam4]

I’m so happy the Lions got the Stafford deal over and done with. I’ve never seen an off-season like this where all of these big name QBs are up for grabs.

[Masspartan]

Fuck, that old below average QB named Stafford got two firsts AND a 26-year old QB.

a 26-year old QB, who by all accounts was completely untradeable because of the albatross contract he has attached to him. I pointed out years ago before the rookie cap that the #! pick had been rendered useless and nobody, and I mean nobody wanted it and people scoffed.

The trade activity for those high picks bore that theory out because the trade market was non-existent. Notice with a rookie cap that there have been several trades involving high picks ... though none with Bob Quinn.

People seem to forget how about the money is when discussing players. Stafford is valuable because he's quality material and reasonable price. Watson has value because he's quality, but not as much value as many think because he's not at a reasonable price. He's an expensive piece that will only get more expensive and unless you've planned on that for years you can't afford it.

I said it when the Lions passed on signing Suh. Overpaying a guy, even a great player, and even a QB, can be divisive in the locker room. Guys don't want to give up $$$ because somebody else has more than their share. A single player earning 20% of the teams available funds will not be good for team building.

[froot loops]

[Futureshock]

Yeah they should just pit the Dolphins and Jets against each other for Watson already. You figure even if they don't like Darnold they could get Quinnen, the #2 pick, and another 1st from the Jets. Maybe more

He said he doesn't want to go to NYJ.

[Futureshock]

10-year TV deals could be done “within a month”

Posted by Mike Florio on February 15, 2021, 7:09 AM EST

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The NFL is about to cash in, again.

Peter King explains in his latest Football Morning in America column that the NFL is “within a month” of finalizing 10-year TV deals. Those packages “could result in an aggregate increase of 70 to 100 percent increase in rights fees from the last contract.”

Jabari Young of CNBC recently reported that the frameworks for the deals could be finalized before the setting of the 2021 salary cap, a signal that some of the money to be earned in the TV deals could be shifted to pump the spending limit for the coming season above the expected figure of $180 million, which would represent a pandemic-fueled drop of $18.2 million from 2020.

The TV deals are expected to largely remain with their current networks; Young’s report pegged the Sunday packages on CBS, FOX, and NBC as staying in place. Both Young and King note that the Thursday and Monday night rights continue to be in flux.

King calls Amazon the favorite for Thursday Night Football, a dramatic change in the footprint for the late-week prime-time game. Without a three-letter network broadcasting the game (several Thursday night games are NFLN only, boosting the subscription fees for the league-owned network), the viewership necessarily would drop. The cash could remain consistent, or potentially grow, as Amazon deepens its relationship with the NFL and possibly sets the stage for a much bigger piece of the rights puzzle the next time around.

Balancing out the reduced profile of Thursday night could be an increased profile for Monday night, with ESPN (described by Young last week as the “wild card” in the process) keeping Monday Night Football and, per King, simulcasting the game on ABC. King also mentions the possibility of a late-season flex option for Mondays, with a weak game (due to poor season-to-date performance from one or both of the teams) being swapped out for a Sunday game.

Moving games from Monday to Sunday and Sunday to Monday continues to present significant logistical problems for teams, networks, and fans, however. A better option, in our view, would be to schedule multiple Monday doubleheaders, with the ability to flip-flop the two games. The lesser game would then be an ESPN-only production in the early window, with the better game landing on ABC, and thus drawing the larger audience.

With the Monday night package expiring after 2021 and the rest of the deals running through 2022, things quickly could get interesting for ESPN and/or ABC. Last week, Disney CEO Bob Chapek suggested that the perception ESPN/ABC will break the bank for NFL programming could be misplaced.

“We’ve had a long relationship with the NFL,” Chapek said during a quarterly earnings call. “If there’s a deal that will be accretive to shareholder value will certainly entertain that and look at that. Our first [priority] will be to look and say ‘Does it make sense for shareholder value going forward?'”

However it all plays out, the pieces seem to be coming together. And the dollars will continue to flow for the NFL via a configuration of broadcasting arrangements that likely will, for the rest of the decade, largely look the same as they have for the past 15 years. By 2031, however, another decade of shifts and changes in the way Americans consume video content could result in a much different landscape for the broadcasting of NFL games.

[Futureshock]

Johnny Manziel after first game action since 2019: Win or lose, we booze

Posted by Charean Williams on February 14, 2021, 4:14 PM EST

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The “Days Since the last Johnny Manziel post” sign at PFT was about to turn to 15. We will have to reset it to zero.

On Saturday, Manziel played his first game since 2019 when he was with the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football. He debuted in the Fan Controlled Football (FCF) league.

Manziel’s highlight came on his first snap, a 38-yard scramble that brought back memories of his Heisman Trophy days at Texas A&M.

Manziel went 1-for-5 for 11 yards but ran for 67 and a touchdown on eight carries as his Zappers lost to the Beasts 48-44.

“The product will keep getting better as the weeks go on,’’ Manziel said, via USA Today. “Good start even with the loss. You know, win or lose we booze on the Zappers.”

Manziel, 28, won the Heisman in 2012, was a first-round pick of the Browns in 2014 and last played in the NFL in 2015. He had a short stint in the CFL before his brief appearance in the AAF.

Manziel said last summer his playing career was “in the past, probably.”

That was before the FCF, a seven-on-seven league played on a 50-by-35-yard field with 10-yard end zones, called Manziel for what turned into a win-win between the start-up league and the still popular quarterback. Manziel is the top draw for the FCF, which has Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman and Austin Ekeler as investors.

“Feels like I’m super washed up, but still had a blast,” Manziel said. “That was the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

Manziel’s best football days are behind him, and he even noted that a few years ago he would have scored on the initial scramble that saw him dragged down inside the 5-yard line.

“You see me get caught from behind, too?” Manziel said. “Times have changed. We’re definitely in 2021.”

Manziel repeated how much fun he had, which is something he hasn’t lost.