2021-2 NFL Pro Football (pls, no other sports!)

My thoughts plus SBNation article (edited for length):
One of the most interesting aspects of the upcoming Super Bowl is that the future for the two teams might be very different. I need to also make a correction: I think I have posted that this season the LA Rams traded away their first round draft picks - which they did - but to be accurate, only for the next two years (2022 & 2023).

They do have one first round pick in 2024. It's from previous year's trades that by 2024 the Rams will have totaled 7 years without a first-round draft pick, when they selected Jared Goff in 2016 as their last first-round pick. The Rams do have three lower round picks left in 2022, as well as a possible total of five compensatory low round picks from FA signings.

Whew! Drafts are complicated stuff, LOL. Anyway, my thoughts on the Rams, and SB Nation on the Bengals. Enjoy the read!

LA Rams:
LAR has its three most high-profile FAs on one year contracts: RB Sony Michel, WR Odell Beckham Jr., and outside OL Von Miller. Unless Miller is willing to sign a team-friendly contract, it's likely only OBJ would be considered essential - and if he has a big SB game, his price tag will go up accordingly.

Biggest holes are common with other teams: offensive line and secondary. The 2022 draft will offer some promising OTs, but LAR has cap space issues and must reserve a good chunk for contract extensions and FA signings.

They won't suddenly decline to last place in the NFC West after this year, but it's hard to repeat. Just ask Brady and the Bucs, or Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Why the Bengals are only getting better in the future
The Bengals have the talent and cap space to be next NFL dynasty
SB Nation by James Dator Feb 1, 2022

I know your knee jerk reaction is to say this is hyperbole, or putting the cart before the horse - and it totally is, but it’s fun to examine this team because their turnaround from the worst team in the NFL to now being in the Super Bowl is one of the most incredible events of the last 20 years. Here are three reasons I think this team could be on the verge of something spectacular, and what they need to improve to continue their trajectory into become a multi-year contender in the AFC – especially with Brady retiring.

Reason 1: They’re already darn good
The Bengals showed in 2021 they could make the jump from being a decent team to a contender, otherwise they wouldn’t be in the Super Bowl. It’s not like this is a fluke. They have so many important pieces in place already.

Not only is the QB in place, but they have two dynamic, young, reliable receivers. No team in the NFL compares to the collective youth strength of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and the trio may have years together. When you have a QB who knows how to win and pair them with two 1,000 yard receivers, they’re going to win a lot regardless of what else is going on.

And the Bengals have so much room to build more....

Reason 2: Cap space for DAAAAYS
Cincinnati has an astonishing $58M in available cap space this offseason. The team has 36 players under contract, so some of the available money will be used to keep their own guys - but this is still so much room to sign several high-impact free agents, or just be sensible and only land a couple so you don’t over-extend.

It’s a great free agency for OLmen, and clearly this is the place the Bengals can spend. Looking at an RT upgrade like Trent Brown from the Patriots feels like a no brainer, and there are more interior linemen that can just buy Burrow more time and make this offense even scarier.

On defense it’s about bolstering the secondary, which is more difficult with the upcoming class - but there are a few 1-2 year deals for veterans like Xavier Rhodes or Patrick Peterson which would really boost the team.

The main point is that in terms of money the Bengals have so much flexibility. They don’t need to force anything, and can build up a contending team.

Reason 3: The X factor
Money is important, but so is the organizational culture. The Bengals have the perception of being one of the coolest teams in the NFL, and yes, that matters - especially to young promising players. Joining Burrow, Chase and Co. is exciting. We’ve all seen videos of the Bengals locker room; that team is having a blast.

What needs to improve
Obviously the Bengals are not a perfect team. They made it to the Super Bowl in incredible fashion, but it was not an easy path. Part of getting the team to the next level is making those wins easier, so we can get home field playoff games.

Upgrading the OL is obviously #1. Joe Burrow was sacked 55 times this season, third worst in the NFL. The interior OL is a huge element here, and desperately needs to be upgraded along with their right tackle. That will take an already scary offense and make it terrifying.

From there it’s about adapting to the modern NFL by bolstering the secondary and having succession plans on the defensive line to get more rotational pass rushers, while ensuring there are plans for pass rushers to leave in free agency without overspending.

The final thing is the coaching staff. Too often coaches coast on past success for far too long while the team withers on the vine. Sometimes this much early success can breed complacency from mgmt to hold coaches accountable.

Cincinnati has done everything right up to this point. I’m a fan of seeing every team reach their full potential, because the NFL is at its best that way.
 

Mahomes has one of those faces that do not express emotion, or he chooses to control any such emotion; but on this
day he looked befuddled.
 
The final thing is the coaching staff. Too often coaches coast on past success for far too long while the team withers on the vine. Sometimes this much early success can breed complacency from mgmt to hold coaches accountable.

Have never understood why owners hire old retread coaches that won a title ten years ago.
 

jerry old said:
The final thing is the coaching staff. Too often coaches coast on past success for far too long while the team withers on the vine. Sometimes this much early success can breed complacency from mgmt to hold coaches accountable.

Have never understood why owners hire old retread coaches that won a title ten years ago.
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Never understood why retreads are better than fresh talent. Guess it's the good old boy system and hoping that success of the past will surface again.
 
I almost wish that Washington had gone with "HOGS" It would have been way better than the lame "Commanders" - and you know they will be referred to as "The Commies", right? I LOVED the Hogs back in the 90's and the Hoggettes!?? Anyone?? They are the most amazing fan group!! It would have played to the team history. That team will never be the same!............so sad.
 
Myquest55 said:
I almost wish that Washington had gone with "HOGS" It would have been way better than the lame "Commanders" - and you know they will be referred to as "The Commies", right? I LOVED the Hogs back in the 90's and the Hoggettes!?? Anyone?? They are the most amazing fan group!! It would have played to the team history. That team will never be the same!............so sad.
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Commies kinda fits the area, though
 
The Bucs only have 2 options after Tom Brady’s retirement
This decision will define the next few years for Tampa Bay
SB Nation by James Dator Feb 2, 2022

With Tom Brady’s official retirement announcement Tuesday the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are now in a lurch. The team mortgaged its future for a win-now approach with Brady’s arrival in 2020, and it worked. The plan won a Super Bowl, and nobody can fault them for it — but now it’s time to face an uncertain future.

So much of Tampa Bay’s ethos over the last two years has centered on Brady’s mystique, using him as a catalyst to bring in other aging superstars looking for a ring late in their career. To the team’s credit, they didn’t give up draft capital to put themselves in a winning position, but it has prevented the team from locking up young free agents to longer contracts as a result.

The team has an astonishing 25 free agents set to hit the market, and while the bulk are rotational role players, there are some key pieces like WR Chris Godwin, DT Ndamukong Suh, and C Ryan Jensen also hitting the open market. Couple this with the presumptive retirement of Rob Gronkowski, and he sails off into the sunset with Brady, and the Bucs are setting up for a huge drop-off in 2022. Or, at least, it should be. There are really two scenarios moving forward, and it’s going to be fascinating which path Tampa Bay goes down.

The first is the traditional rebuild, letting the majority of the high-profile free agents go. In this case one has to believe the team would want to re-sign Godwin, because you don’t let a 26-year-old, 1,000-yard receiver walk if you can possibly avoid it. From there you build through the draft, sign some promising young rotational players, and roll some cap space into 2023 when you’ve had a better chance to evaluate the roster.

In this scenario a lot falls of second year QB Kyle Trask. The Buccaneers selected him in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, and he went utterly ignored all year, because playing behind Tom Brady will do that. However, there are some glimmers of hope. Trask was given extensive playing time in the final preseason game of last season, and he absolutely shined — completing 12 of 14 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown. Yes, he was playing against the Texans’ backups. Absolutely nobody should read too much into a preseason game, but it’s on the Buccaneers who have seen him week-in-week-out to determine if he can shoulder the load in year two.

This really is not a bad path, because the NFC South is an absolute flaming dumpster fire. There is no doubt that it is the worst division is football, and really by quite a large margin. The Saints are in cap hell and just lost Sean Payton, the Falcons are floundering around with no real direction, and the Panthers are so profoundly dysfunctional right now it’s going to take years to fix their mess.

The point is: Even with a rebuild, the Buccaneers could still win the damn division. That’s how bad the NFC South is. At the very least the retained talent on their roster should be able to push the Falcons, and I guess maybe the Saints, assuming New Orleans has some sort of plan in place.

The second scenario for Tampa Bay, and the far more dramatic one, is that they try to roll this all forward. The team makes another big play for an established QB to go all-in again. What that looks like is difficult to envision right now. Perhaps the Packers could be convinced to trade Aaron Rodgers to an NFC team, though that seems unlikely. Maybe Russell Wilson decides he wants out of Seattle, but that also feels like a long shot.

There are some weird potential half-steps too, like making a play for Kirk Cousins if the Vikings decide to rebuild, or getting Jimmy Garoppolo from the 49ers — though it’s difficult to envision either of them being able to lead Tampa Bay to a championship. Really, this is about getting an established QB in the system. Someone who has a similar aura to Brady where players are going to want to come to Tampa Bay because of them, and try to recreate the magic of 2020 once more.

For the record, I think this would be a bad move. The bold all-veteran approach worked once, and it was a paradigm shift for the NFL. I’m not sure the Rams would have traded for Matthew Stafford and signed their veterans had Brady and the Buccaneers not won the Super Bowl, but catching that lightning in a bottle is such a risky proposition. The Rams were in a very, very different situation when they traded for Stafford than the Buccaneers are in now. They were younger on defense, had dozens of established developed talent in the fold, and were really just a QB away from competing.

Instead Tampa finds itself needing to plug so much positions across both sides of the ball that it really would take an Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson to make free agents want to come to the Buccaneers, even taking pay cuts in the process to make it all fit together. It’s possible, sure, but I wouldn’t take it to the bank.

If that didn’t happen or pay off, and the Buccaneers settled for a half step, they’d just be miring themselves in mediocrity for a season or two, while young players didn’t have time to get reps or be evaluated, and there would be nothing to show for it. Instead the incredible weakness of the NFC South should be leveraged into rebuilding and competing at the same time, a luxury almost no teams in the NFL ever have. You can keep fans happy, and get a chance to see what Trask has to offer before needing to make a long-term decision on the QB position.

As a whole the NFC is on the brink of huge rebuilds across some of the conference playoff stalwarts. The youth shift in the AFC happened far earlier, which is why we’re seeing teams like the Bills and Bengals in the mix. Meanwhile the NFC is very much in limbo, waiting to see while rebuilding team got it right and is ready to ascend.

The Buccaneers owe it to themselves, and their fans, to see if they can be one of them.
 
I was going to mention (in response to Bonnie's post # 581) in their glory years, when they won the super bowl
their offensive line was called the Hogs-as a Cowboy fan I think Hogs was an appropriate name.
Then Myquest55 lent some clarification to the topic.

Again, as a Dallas fan I think Hogs is an appropriate name for the Washington Football club as well as those that
inhabit Washington DC; their feeding at the public trough (that group know as congress) :giggle: sucking our tax dollars.

I like Myquest55 Hoggettes, it kind'a sums up the group that runs the country-so why not name their football team
to identify our leaders.
Arkansas has the Razorbacks, why can't we have the Hoggettes?
 
#585, Lethe200 gave us a temporary fix on football to last us until next Sunday,But, But, But what are we going to do
after the Bengals beat LA? 😟
 
Don M. said:
I watched the Pro Bowl today, and it was almost like watching a grade school "touch" game.....no tackles or rough play.
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I've often wondered why they have the Pro Bowl during post season when some of the players will be playing in the Super Bowl the following week and might be a little cautious because they don't want to get hurt and not be 100% for the championship game. They should have the Pro Bowl a few weeks after the Super Bowl, in my opinion, which is right. :cool:
 
Irwin said:
The Washington Football Team, previously the Washington Redskins, are now the Washington Commanders. Kind of a dumb name and too many syllables for a football team name. But I guess we'll get used to it.
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I thought that no sports team could come up with a more inane name than the Cleveland baseball team did with the Guardians. I was wrong.
 
Irwin said:
I've often wondered why they have the Pro Bowl during post season when some of the players will be playing in the Super Bowl the following week and might be a little cautious because they don't want to get hurt and not be 100% for the championship game. They should have the Pro Bowl a few weeks after the Super Bowl, in my opinion, which is right. :cool:
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Players from the two teams in the Super Bowl do not play in the Pro Bowl. There is not much tackling in the Pro Bowl; basically it's two-handed touch football.
 
Irwin said:
I've often wondered why they have the Pro Bowl during post season when some of the players will be playing in the Super Bowl the following week and might be a little cautious because they don't want to get hurt and not be 100% for the championship game. They should have the Pro Bowl a few weeks after the Super Bowl, in my opinion, which is right. :cool:
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Nobody who's playing in the Super bowl ever plays in the Pro Bowl. The PB used to be after the SB but nobody watched. Football is too violent to have an All Star Game.
 
spectratg said:
Players from the two teams in the Super Bowl do not play in the Pro Bowl. There is not much tackling in the Pro Bowl; basically it's two-handed touch football.
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I guess I didn't know that. I've never watched the Pro Bowl. Football is a team sport, so throwing all these players together from different teams isn't a good idea... that is unless you really love some player and want to see him play some more even though the team has been eliminated.
 
Irwin said:
I've often wondered why they have the Pro Bowl during post season when some of the players will be playing in the Super Bowl the following week and might be a little cautious because they don't want to get hurt and not be 100% for the championship game. They should have the Pro Bowl a few weeks after the Super Bowl, in my opinion, which is right. :cool:
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If I recall correctly, the game used to be after the SB. That was bad news because the SB is the climax. Very little excitement for that game after the big game.

The Pro Bowl doesn't need any of the players from the SB because there are more than enough star power from the remaining 30 teams.
 
I was thinking of the great defensive line (those I could remember)

Fearsome Foursome- Rams
Steel Curtain-Steeles
Purple People Eaters-Viks
Doomday-Dallas
Eagles 1980's don't recall their nickname

and the current Rams, no nickname that I am aware of, great dl, but not good enougn to deal with Mr. Burrows
 
garyt1957 said:
Nobody who's playing in the Super bowl ever plays in the Pro Bowl. The PB used to be after the SB but nobody watched. Football is too violent to have an All Star Game.
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I always looked at the Pro Bowl as the All Star game of the NFL with the exception that certain players were not eligible (SB players). I suppose I felt that way because it's played like an All Star game is in any sport - kiss 'n giggle game instead of a rock 'em, sock 'em affair. After all, who wants to risk a career ending injury for a meaningless game no matter what the sport.
 
I don't watch football, but my son will be coming over with food that day and will be watching so he has been trying to inform me a bit about the two teams and somewhat of the game itself so I won't be too lost. He said the team from Los Angeles which I believe is the Rams should win as the defense is very good. I will be enjoying the time with my son and the food he brings. It will be good company and one less day I have to cook food.
 
This years Super Bowl will be in Los Angeles....and the weather forecast says the temperatures will be in the upper 80's. That will be a drastic shift for most of the players....hope none of them get heat exhaustion.
 

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