Finley has since basically confirmed this via twitter (not that Schefter is ever wrong anyway), it's time to talk about what it means for the NFL and your fantasy team right here after the jump...
A sports and fantasy sports blog focusing on the NFL and MLB with occasional NBA posts.
Showing posts with label NFL Free Agency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NFL Free Agency. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Rapid Reaction: Packers Re-Sign Jermichael Finley
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, The Packers have agreed to a 2 year, $15 million deal with tight end Jermichael Finley.
Finley has since basically confirmed this via twitter (not that Schefter is ever wrong anyway), it's time to talk about what it means for the NFL and your fantasy team right here after the jump...
Finley has since basically confirmed this via twitter (not that Schefter is ever wrong anyway), it's time to talk about what it means for the NFL and your fantasy team right here after the jump...
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
8/2/11 Daily NFL News and Notes
The player movement has finally calmed down to a point where that doesn't need to dominate the NFL news for the day. Can spread out my time and make it more of a general roundup of reactions to the NFL news of the day. Also letting everyone know that I'm working on plenty of more fantasy features for the next few weeks, so if my Marshall Faulk Strategy post and my Buccaneers post aren't enough for you, there is still plenty more to come.
Of course, I'd also like to point out that Alex "Skillet" Scarlett has been active as my second writer here at Big Derf Sports so be sure to check out all of his work including today's list of best MLB teams.
Today some of the last few gems on the free agent market were finally locked up, and news from camps has finally really started to come in so I'm just going to get into all of that right now...
Of course, I'd also like to point out that Alex "Skillet" Scarlett has been active as my second writer here at Big Derf Sports so be sure to check out all of his work including today's list of best MLB teams.
Today some of the last few gems on the free agent market were finally locked up, and news from camps has finally really started to come in so I'm just going to get into all of that right now...
Friday, July 29, 2011
NFL Player Movement Reactions - Friday 7/29/11
I had hoped free agency would have slowed down a little today, but it just kept on trucking along at full speed. You can check out my reactions to Tuesday's player moves here (cuts) and here (signings), Wednesday's player moves here, and Thursday's moves here.
Onto the Friday news quickly here in more or less the order that the news came out. There is plenty to discuss.......
Onto the Friday news quickly here in more or less the order that the news came out. There is plenty to discuss.......
Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday 4/11/11 Daily Links
According to espn's Adam Schefter... The NFL and the NFLPA are to be sent to mediation this week. Awesome news. I always believed the lockout would end quickly, but with them getting sent back to mediation this week, there is a serious possibility that this might be hammered out before the draft even takes place. That would give draft picks a defined value with the expected rookie salary limits and possibly give an opportunity for some free agency to happen before the draft. Even though I'm an optimist, it's nice to put in the bag that football will be back on this year.
Rotographs Week 2 Two Start Fantasy Pitchers analysis and the update. And Tristan Cockcroft's week 2 forecast - I write all my fantasy analysis based on daily leagues because that's how I believe it should be played in the internet age, but I realize that some readers have weekly leagues. I'll link to good different analysis every week and likely to Tristan's amazing full forecast on most weeks.
MLBDepthCharts.com - Just linking to this site for it's general awesomeness. I use it all the time to recheck teams lineups for my fantasy advice. The info is available elsewhere obviously, but all the relevant lineup stuff is just a click away from the mlbdepthcharts main page and you'll use fangraphs or something usually if you want to check player stats.
My Thursday Fantasy Column - Yeah, linking to myself. Besides my daily pitcher pickup columns, i also write about fantasy in general here. The column format is still a work in progress, but do look for it every Thursday-ish here. And everything from this column is still good save my good word for Mike Aviles. He's been benched since.
Rotographs Week 2 Two Start Fantasy Pitchers analysis and the update. And Tristan Cockcroft's week 2 forecast - I write all my fantasy analysis based on daily leagues because that's how I believe it should be played in the internet age, but I realize that some readers have weekly leagues. I'll link to good different analysis every week and likely to Tristan's amazing full forecast on most weeks.
MLBDepthCharts.com - Just linking to this site for it's general awesomeness. I use it all the time to recheck teams lineups for my fantasy advice. The info is available elsewhere obviously, but all the relevant lineup stuff is just a click away from the mlbdepthcharts main page and you'll use fangraphs or something usually if you want to check player stats.
My Thursday Fantasy Column - Yeah, linking to myself. Besides my daily pitcher pickup columns, i also write about fantasy in general here. The column format is still a work in progress, but do look for it every Thursday-ish here. And everything from this column is still good save my good word for Mike Aviles. He's been benched since.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tennessee Titans' Five Biggest Player Decisions: Free Agency Starts at Home
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and try to determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I've been going team by team in draft order and am at the team with the eighth pick in the draft, the Tennessee Titans.
The Titans are the hardest team to forecast for going forwards. When they were the Jeff Fisher Titans, it was fairly easy to predict their personnel moves and their strategy because Fisher had been the longest tenured head coach in the league. Fisher liked to control the ball on offense and stop the run on defense and was willing to take chances on guys with questionable character. Now with Fisher out and Mike Munchak in, I don't really know what to expect.
Munchak is a hall of fame former lineman and spent fourteen years as the Titans offensive line coach. It would be easy to assume Munchak wants to do similar things with the football team to what Fisher did, but if Munchak wanted to do the same thing as Fisher, he likely wouldn't have fired offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger.
The new Mike Munchak Titans figure to me much different from the Jeff Fisher Titans, which makes writing about what the team will do with it's free agents pure speculation. So instead of judging whether or not the I think Titans will bring each guy back, I'm going to simply evaluate each player as a player and whether or not he's worth bringing back.
The Titans are the hardest team to forecast for going forwards. When they were the Jeff Fisher Titans, it was fairly easy to predict their personnel moves and their strategy because Fisher had been the longest tenured head coach in the league. Fisher liked to control the ball on offense and stop the run on defense and was willing to take chances on guys with questionable character. Now with Fisher out and Mike Munchak in, I don't really know what to expect.
Munchak is a hall of fame former lineman and spent fourteen years as the Titans offensive line coach. It would be easy to assume Munchak wants to do similar things with the football team to what Fisher did, but if Munchak wanted to do the same thing as Fisher, he likely wouldn't have fired offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger.
The new Mike Munchak Titans figure to me much different from the Jeff Fisher Titans, which makes writing about what the team will do with it's free agents pure speculation. So instead of judging whether or not the I think Titans will bring each guy back, I'm going to simply evaluate each player as a player and whether or not he's worth bringing back.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
San Francisco 49ers' Five Biggest Player Decisions: Free Agency Starts at Home
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and try to determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I've been going team by team in draft order and am at the team with the seventh pick in the draft, the San Francisco 49ers.
Once again this year, people expected the San Francisco 49ers to be the best team in the NFC West and once again, the 49ers failed to live up to expectations because of poor quarterback play. Mike Singletary went back and forth with the quarterbacks all year but no matter who the 49ers put in at quarterback, they failed to sustain drives.
Mike Singletary was fired and the 49ers brought in Jim Harbaugh as their new Head Coach. This hiring isn't a coincidence. Harbaugh is a former quarterback, a former quarterback coach, and is credited with the development of Andrew Luck, the likely number one overall pick in 2011. The 49ers organization expects to have better quarterback play next year.
The question facing them is whether or not that better quarterback play will come from someone already with the organization or an outsider. They have multiple quarterbacks with pedigree on the roster, but none have ever produced. Two of those quarterbacks contracts are up, and the organization needs to how important it is to bring them back, or if that money would be better spent on their free agents on defense.
Once again this year, people expected the San Francisco 49ers to be the best team in the NFC West and once again, the 49ers failed to live up to expectations because of poor quarterback play. Mike Singletary went back and forth with the quarterbacks all year but no matter who the 49ers put in at quarterback, they failed to sustain drives.
Mike Singletary was fired and the 49ers brought in Jim Harbaugh as their new Head Coach. This hiring isn't a coincidence. Harbaugh is a former quarterback, a former quarterback coach, and is credited with the development of Andrew Luck, the likely number one overall pick in 2011. The 49ers organization expects to have better quarterback play next year.
The question facing them is whether or not that better quarterback play will come from someone already with the organization or an outsider. They have multiple quarterbacks with pedigree on the roster, but none have ever produced. Two of those quarterbacks contracts are up, and the organization needs to how important it is to bring them back, or if that money would be better spent on their free agents on defense.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Cleveland Browns' Five Biggest Player Decisions: Free Agency Starts at Home
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and try to determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I've been going team by team in draft order and am at the team with the sixth pick in the draft, the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns had an up and down 2010 season. They won their last four games at the end of the 2009 season, so expectations were high for a 5-11 team. Unfortunately, the team didn't improve enough over the off-season and finished with a 5-11 record yet again and head coach Eric Mangini was let go.
Pat Shurmur was hired by team president Mike Holmgren to replace Mangini as head coach. Shurmur wasn't a big name head coaching candidate when the 2010 season started, but he helped guide the Rams offense and rookie quarterback Sam Bradford to an unexpectedly good season this year. He was also a long time Eagles assistant and Eagles coach Andy Reid is a former Holmgren disciple, which surely helped in his getting hired.
Shurmur and the Browns should improve moving forwards. The team added quarterback Colt McCoy and corner back Joe Haden in last year's draft and should continue to draft well with Holmgren at the helm. They are on the upside of the rebuilding process now and should consider than when they make their decisions about their own free agents.
The Browns had an up and down 2010 season. They won their last four games at the end of the 2009 season, so expectations were high for a 5-11 team. Unfortunately, the team didn't improve enough over the off-season and finished with a 5-11 record yet again and head coach Eric Mangini was let go.
Pat Shurmur was hired by team president Mike Holmgren to replace Mangini as head coach. Shurmur wasn't a big name head coaching candidate when the 2010 season started, but he helped guide the Rams offense and rookie quarterback Sam Bradford to an unexpectedly good season this year. He was also a long time Eagles assistant and Eagles coach Andy Reid is a former Holmgren disciple, which surely helped in his getting hired.
Shurmur and the Browns should improve moving forwards. The team added quarterback Colt McCoy and corner back Joe Haden in last year's draft and should continue to draft well with Holmgren at the helm. They are on the upside of the rebuilding process now and should consider than when they make their decisions about their own free agents.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Arizona Cardinals' Five Biggest Player Decisions: Free Agency Starts at Home
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and try to determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I've been going team by team in draft order and am at the team with the fifth pick in the draft, the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals were one of many NFL teams that failed to live up to expectations in 2010. Coming off winning the NFC West two years in a row, many expected the Cardinals to run away with the weak division once again. Few people anticipated what would happen to the offense without Kurt Warner at the helm. The NFL's 14th ranked passing offense last year fell 31st this year and their already bad rushing attack fell to last in the league.
Last year, Kurt Warner and Matt Leinhart combined to throw for over 4000 yards and completed over 66% of their passes. This year, Derek Anderson, Max Hall, John Skelton and Richard Bartel all played quarterback for the Card and failed to break 3000 yards passing combined. None of them managed to break the 58% mark for completion percentage.
Needless to say, the quarterback play downed this team in 2010. The Cardinals will have to acknowledge that as they evaluate their own personnel this off-season. They have a handful of players who's contracts are up that appear to have talent. The difficulty is determining who looked good because the talent level around them was so bad, and who was actually better than they looked, but was being held back by their teammates poor play.
The Cardinals were one of many NFL teams that failed to live up to expectations in 2010. Coming off winning the NFC West two years in a row, many expected the Cardinals to run away with the weak division once again. Few people anticipated what would happen to the offense without Kurt Warner at the helm. The NFL's 14th ranked passing offense last year fell 31st this year and their already bad rushing attack fell to last in the league.
Last year, Kurt Warner and Matt Leinhart combined to throw for over 4000 yards and completed over 66% of their passes. This year, Derek Anderson, Max Hall, John Skelton and Richard Bartel all played quarterback for the Card and failed to break 3000 yards passing combined. None of them managed to break the 58% mark for completion percentage.
Needless to say, the quarterback play downed this team in 2010. The Cardinals will have to acknowledge that as they evaluate their own personnel this off-season. They have a handful of players who's contracts are up that appear to have talent. The difficulty is determining who looked good because the talent level around them was so bad, and who was actually better than they looked, but was being held back by their teammates poor play.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Free Agency Starts At Home: The Cincinnati Bengals' Five Biggest Player Decisions
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and try to determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I'm going team by team in draft order and currently am at the fourth pick in the draft, the Cincinnati Bengals.
The 2010 Bengals season was a huge disappointment. The won the AFC North in 2009, going 10-6 while sweeping their divisional games. In the off-season they added Terrell Owens and were expected to be in the playoff hunt again, but they never played to their potential.
The team would play good halves or quarters, but rarely put together a full strong game. A glance at their schedule shows that they were within a touchdown in most of their losses, but they were out of most of those games, only keeping the final scores close by scoring late.
Head coach Marvin Lewis will return, along with most of the members of a young underrated defense. However their offense was their weak link last year and the organization has a decision to make with many of the offense's high profile names.
The 2010 Bengals season was a huge disappointment. The won the AFC North in 2009, going 10-6 while sweeping their divisional games. In the off-season they added Terrell Owens and were expected to be in the playoff hunt again, but they never played to their potential.
The team would play good halves or quarters, but rarely put together a full strong game. A glance at their schedule shows that they were within a touchdown in most of their losses, but they were out of most of those games, only keeping the final scores close by scoring late.
Head coach Marvin Lewis will return, along with most of the members of a young underrated defense. However their offense was their weak link last year and the organization has a decision to make with many of the offense's high profile names.
Free Agency Starts At Home: The Buffalo Bills' Five Biggest Player Decisions
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and try to determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I'm going team by team in draft order and currently am at the third pick in the draft, the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills had a rough start to the 2010 season. Starting quarterback Trent Edwards was ineffective for two games before being cut. They attempted run a 3-4 for the first half of the season before abandoning it in the second half because they couldn't stop the run with the 3-4. They started the season 0-8 before finally getting a win over the Lions in week 10.
Fortunately, they looked better later in the season. They closed out the year 4-4 and their defense looked better after switching back to the 4-3. Ryan Fitzpatrick emerged as a serviceable starter at quarterback and Stevie Johnson appeared capable of being the number one receiver in their passing attack.
While Chan Gailey is an offensive coach, it will be the decisions he and Bills GM Buddy Nix on the defensive side of the ball that make or break their 2011 season. The Bills were the worst team in the league against the run last year. They have to improve their run defense to have any shot of competing in the NFL.
The Bills had a rough start to the 2010 season. Starting quarterback Trent Edwards was ineffective for two games before being cut. They attempted run a 3-4 for the first half of the season before abandoning it in the second half because they couldn't stop the run with the 3-4. They started the season 0-8 before finally getting a win over the Lions in week 10.
Fortunately, they looked better later in the season. They closed out the year 4-4 and their defense looked better after switching back to the 4-3. Ryan Fitzpatrick emerged as a serviceable starter at quarterback and Stevie Johnson appeared capable of being the number one receiver in their passing attack.
While Chan Gailey is an offensive coach, it will be the decisions he and Bills GM Buddy Nix on the defensive side of the ball that make or break their 2011 season. The Bills were the worst team in the league against the run last year. They have to improve their run defense to have any shot of competing in the NFL.
Free Agency Starts At Home: The Denver Broncos Five Biggest Player Decisions
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and try to determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I'm going team by team in draft order and the Denver Broncos are the second team on my list.
The Broncos nearly had a lost season this year. The team went 8-8 in 2009 and people expected them to be able to compete in the weak AFC West this year, but the Broncos managed just a 4-12 record. They had the worst defense in the league in both yards and points allowed. Head Coach Josh McDaniels didn't even make it to the end of the season.
Fortunately, their season wasn't a complete loss because of Tim Tebow. Tebow was made starting quarterback at the end of the year and showed that he could succeed in the NFL like he did in college, despite not being a great traditional quarterback. With the quarterback of the future in place, new Head Coach John Fox has to decide what players he needs to keep to help Tebow and the Broncos win.
The Broncos nearly had a lost season this year. The team went 8-8 in 2009 and people expected them to be able to compete in the weak AFC West this year, but the Broncos managed just a 4-12 record. They had the worst defense in the league in both yards and points allowed. Head Coach Josh McDaniels didn't even make it to the end of the season.
Fortunately, their season wasn't a complete loss because of Tim Tebow. Tebow was made starting quarterback at the end of the year and showed that he could succeed in the NFL like he did in college, despite not being a great traditional quarterback. With the quarterback of the future in place, new Head Coach John Fox has to decide what players he needs to keep to help Tebow and the Broncos win.
Free Agency Starts At Home: The Carolina Panthers' Five Biggest Player Decisions
Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011. I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk. I'm going to go team by team in draft order, and that starts me with the Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers have the first pick in the draft so it's safe to say their last season was a disaster. They went just 2-14 and finished last in the NFL in points per games, yards per game and passing yards per game. Making matters worse for them, of the little talent this team has, many of the better players are without contracts for next year.
New Head Coach Ron Rivera has a big job ahead of him trying to identify the talent level of this roster. He has to decide if he can improve his team by just adding a few guys, or if he should go the route Pete Carroll went with the Seattle Seahawks and overturn most of the roster. I've identified their five most important free agents and will decide whether these guys are worth keeping or need to be jettisoned from the roster.
The Panthers have the first pick in the draft so it's safe to say their last season was a disaster. They went just 2-14 and finished last in the NFL in points per games, yards per game and passing yards per game. Making matters worse for them, of the little talent this team has, many of the better players are without contracts for next year.
New Head Coach Ron Rivera has a big job ahead of him trying to identify the talent level of this roster. He has to decide if he can improve his team by just adding a few guys, or if he should go the route Pete Carroll went with the Seattle Seahawks and overturn most of the roster. I've identified their five most important free agents and will decide whether these guys are worth keeping or need to be jettisoned from the roster.
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