AZ54

The defender had his hand inside between Kmet's arms? If he tucks the ball the defender knocks it out. Nothing about it was an easy play.

In a game full of future NFL talent he stood out. With this draft starting to look more below average with few blue chip prospects I’m not totally opposed to a trade down scenario that gets us another first next year.

That may well be but what matters most is that we have a legit QB who can lead this team for years to come. Happy New Year!

No doubt. I kept waiting to see something but it was a whole lot of nothing. Good player but I didn’t see signs of greatness.

I've been watching him all game. His QB doesn't often look his way and he's often struggling to get early separation. Or his QB just doesn't look his way. For a guy who supposedly is a top 10 or top 15 draft pick this game isn't a convincing argument. So far my biggest takeaways from the game are that maybe there are a couple TCU DBs or some Oline players we should be talking about.

Ryan Poles: You want me to take who off your hands? For just a 2nd Rd pick? Nah, umm, hold for a minute I have another call...

Derek Carr's Dead Money in 2023 is just $5.6mil and Cap Savings are $29mil. They can outright cut him and have plenty of money to sign a mid-tier QB to hold down the fort, Brissett for example who only makes $5mil this year, and have a lot of money left over. https://overthecap.com/player/derek-carr/2975

I just worked off the OvertheCap values which I linked to. They could very well be wrong. I can't paste a screenshot in here but they say Dead Money and Cap Hit Post Jun 1st are just $8mil/season for 5 years. If it all accelerates to one year then maybe that's an issue for Oakland. Pre-Jun 1st they show $39mil Dead Money and -$27mil hit to cap space. Maybe thats an issue, maybe it's not. If they care to go down the rebuild path the Bears chose then consider that we are carrying $88mil in dead money this year. Once a team goes down the QB rabbit hole that whole playoff/Superbowl horizon changes dramatically. You are likely best suited to get younger talent and shed your vets. The Raiders do have another option if they want to pursue someone like JimmyG and then see if he can take the existing talent further. However, re-tread QBs don't have the best track record in 2022 so it'll be interesting to watch this play out. Which scenario buys the GM/HC the most time from the owner to find success?

The DB is draped all over him because he can't run. With his long legs I'd be very curious to see how well he gets in/out of his cuts. That's just this guy but your point is valid.

Buffalo knew exactly what they were getting in NFL production with that pick, Minnesota did not. So yes there was an additional salary cost for the known commodity but that's how business works.

Quite honestly the fans here on this message board are all way above the TV broadcast crews in game knowledge or at least in how they present the game. There are some exceptions and guys like Romo add context I enjoy, the same goes for Eli and Peyton on MNF. Those guys are always watching the play from the moment the huddle breaks and you can see it in their eyes about 1s into a play they already know what should happen. The internet has definitely changed things and we can scout players somewhat and watch All-22 film post game plus DVRs are everywhere. Slowly networks will realize this and you'll see more of the Romo/Manning style commentary. Hopefully there will be much less of the Captain Obvious Kirk Herbstreit style commentary. "He's 6'5" and here you can see he uses his length to stretch out for the first down. That's really good football."

I thought it was just my eyes but I've always thought he processes things too slowly after the snap. Maybe pre-snap alignment calls are ok? He has the more obvious physical limitations that show up from time to time where he gets blown up or beat to one side very quickly. More often than I see those events, I just see him looking lost on who to block. When I watched Swift's breakdown on Eiselen, it was interesting that he seemed to show good vision on picking up stunts or late blitzes. Interesting because he has far less game experience. Even in spots where he had nobody to block Dieter stayed in his lane and you could see his head on a swivel looking left and right multiple times in one play. When he provided help to the OT or C it was with one arm without giving up his lane. OTOH Mustipher will give up his pass pro lane early on if he has nobody to block and chase someone left or right even if his OGs don't need the help. He literally turns 90 degrees and thus can't do anything to cover his lane. That has given up a few sacks due to some teams taking advantage of that tendency with delayed blitzes right up the middle unabated. Or like this play where he was celebrated for taking a guy down to the ground but Teven was probably thinking where did Mustipher go?

Just a little joking around at Mustipher's expense. He is exactly the kind of player who has a 10 year career, and will be a starter at times for other teams. Lucas Patrick has had the same type of career so far. Always the guy you want to upgrade, always the player you can survive with when he starts.

Maybe Mustipher is the one getting out of position and tripping everyone else, or letting Dline run free and blowup a play?

Yeah, that's not my problem. What we don't know is when Josh McDaniels was hired what was quietly said about the team. Did McDaniels tell them that Carr was not his QB but was he asked if he could try to make it work for 1 season? If that didn't work would the GM and owner then allow him to blowup and rebuild the roster? For a new HC to give up 1yr of his short leash is a challenge. The Bears were in a similar spot and I believe Poles and Eberflus committed to 1 season with Fields but also had the green light to move on in 2023 if they desired. Of course they had no realistic option with no 1st Rd pick and no cap space. Regardless, there is no doubt the QB position comes up in any GM/HC hiring process. In 2022 McDaniels and the GM had options and decided to use their resources to bring in Adams. "See if we can make this work with Carr". They kept their powder dry for 2023 and now have a new slate of options. Dangling Adams as trade bait to move up and get a QB is not out of the question. Per OTC they will of course lose their $43mil cash they paid him last year. People say they wasted the money but in effect they are using it to help buy a draft pick. Is that too much to buy a top pick in the draft and your future starting QB? In the context of what Denver paid last year (draft compensation plus salary for Wilson) it is not. In fact it's a much better deal. https://overthecap.com/player/davante-adams/2992 If the Adams trade is labeled as "post Jun 1st" then LV carries just $7.8mil in dead cap space for each of the next 5 years. Or the length of their rookie QB contract. Their cap savings go from $4 to 6/17/36mil per year over the next 4 seasons, starting in 2023. If that is correct then it is very feasible for them trade him. I'm not confident on this but it appears the Bears would carry Adams with cap hits of: $14.5 mil and then $25mil in 2024. He'd never see the $44mil in 2025 but we'd be free to renegotiate if we wanted, or just cut him and give that $44mil to Mr. Fields. That's the downside because it could just be a 2yr rental on a top 5 WR. If you think you can win the Superbowl in 2024 that would be worth it. On the flip side, having just 2 realistic years on the deal is also why Poles would be asking for that 2nd Rd pick. Adams went there in part to play with his good friend Carr. He is not likely to be happy seeing him benched and the team moving forward with a new QB. At his age, 31 in 2023, that makes a ton of sense and he'll likely want to go to a playoff team. With so much cap space, every agent is likely to want to talk with Poles at the combine. Adams' agent might be part of that long line.

Even if Whitehair is back I still want to see Dieter get more snaps. Of course he could take them at Center which is what I'd really like to see.

For me that's a no-brainer deal. The loss of cap space by taking on that high salary is offset enough by the two draft picks. 9 overall is still high enough that we can add someone like Skoronski or Bresee. I can't figure out who I'd take at 40 if we already had Skoronski because I still have a lot of scouting to do. If Bresee were the pick at 9 then there are plenty of Rd 2 Oline on the board.

We cut Taco Charlton which is neither a surprise nor a disappointment. Eberflus apparently indicated Justin Jones will spend some time at DE this week. That's not a good sign so Jones is definitely a bubble player for next years roster. However, I wonder if they'll bring up DE Sammis Reyes from the practice squad. We're in roster experimentation mode and Reyes is old (27), so it's now or never for him. There could also be a DT on the practice squad they want to get some snaps but again most of those DTs are older players so we pretty much know their ceiling.

I think that was Pace and then after his failed attempt at securing a vet QB he was able to trade up and draft Fields. In the 2022 offseason Wilson was never an option for us although they may have called Poles to ask him if he was interested....back when Seattle was saying publicly they were never going to trade him.

Swifty broke down some film on Dieter against the Bills. It wasn't all good and he learned some lessons within the game, which bodes well for his learning curve. When he gets it right he looks good. It appeared they wanted to split snaps between him and Borom at LG although he got a few at RG when Schofield went out. Dieter finished the game so I'm curious who gets the start this weekend.

I would be. He's not a finished product by any means but his improvement in the passing game is very noticeable.

Replying to myself but the Broncos felt the same way and fired Hackett. https://www.nfl.com/news/broncos-gm-george-paton-we-do-believe-russell-wilson-is-fixable

You were right, Seattle has faded but then two of their division rivals faded faster leaving them still in the playoff mix. Sitting at 7-8 isn't concerning to any serious playoff contender and if the Cards and the Rams had performed anywhere close to expectations we'd be saying Seattle ended up as expected.

He's better than most fans think he is. Keep in mind for much of the year our offense was stagnant (3 and out) and thus limited his opportunities, then on top of that we've been a run-oriented offense all year. He also hasn't had a consistent good WR corps for a defense to focus on.

Seattle might not trade up to get a QB but the threat/risk of them taking one is enough to drive someone else to trade ahead of them.