adam

Very solid game play LOT vs #6 Baylor:

A great video of the Michigan game that Howard almost singlehandedly won for Indiana, very impressive:

QB – Cutler, Hoyer RB – Langford, Howard, Carey, Rodgers TE – Miller, Housler, Lee, Braunecker WR – Jeffery, White, Royal, Braverman, (1 out of Thompson, Mariani), (1 of out of Wilson/Bellamy/Meredith) OL – Long, Massie, Leno, Whitehair, Grasu, Ramirez, Larsen, (2 of out of Fabuluje/Becton/Weaver/Wallace) DL – Goldman, Unrein, Hicks, Bullard, (2 out of Ferguson, Sutton, Robertson-Harris, Washington) LB – Floyd, Trevathan, McPhee, Freeman, Kwiatkoski, (2 out of Jones/Anderson/Timu), (2 out of Acho/Houston/Young) CB – Fuller, Porter, Callahan, Hall, McManis S – Amos, Bush, Houston-Carson, Bolden, Prosinski

That along with health concerns were part of the reason (as least what is flying across Twitter).

To me, when they are releasing guys like Slauson (w/ some dead money), it is only part of the move, otherwise there would be no reason to do it now.

Per Leming, it was mainly his health:

I think they are doing that out of respect for the vets, giving them a chance to find new teams.

No way we were keeping that many interior linemen.

Slauson released per Instagram per Leming. https://twitter.com/AaronLemingNFL/status/726902690928840704 $2,570,000 saved, cap space now over $27mil.

Possibly because he didn't know Fangio's scheme well enough to mentor the younger guys. I could see a one-year deal for Whitner to do just that. Also, Whitner is 2.5 years younger, and has had much more recent success than Rolle. Not that it will happen, and I am leaning towards letting the young guys play and get playing time instead of a vet who is not in long term plans taking away reps.

This would make a lot of sense:

In my projection, I had him gone. I think they wanted to give him maximum time to find a new team vs sucking the life out of him and making him a late offseason cut. I also expect a few others to go soon. Assuming cuts, Houston would save $4,020,000, Slauson $2,570,000, Young $2,500,000, and Wilson $1,671,000 are the biggest savings but Houston has the biggest dead money hit at $2,970,000, so I think he stays unless we find a trade partner.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/726873638826217472 Saves $2,718,750 against the cap bringing us up to almost $25 million in cap space.

I believe the .33 is part QB, part O-Line part RB or TE.

Wow, I forgot how many there were, but looking back at some of those, a good bunch were not on Cutler. Sure there were the overthrows or the one he seemed to throw right at Hayward, but there were several receivers running a different way, giving up on play (Hester), and a bunch were the defender jumping in front of the stationary receiver for the pick.

I agree that the Lions had the best draft out of the other NFCN teams, but no WR? Arguably one of the biggest needs and they don't draft a single one. For the Vikes, I liked Treadwell and Alexander, but on Boehringer, the odds are against him succeeding, at least any time soon.

Take a look at the Saints drafts the last 2 years and it seems that Pace was not the problem in NO. They arguably had the worst draft of any team this year addressing zero needs.

QB – Cutler, Hoyer RB – Langford, Howard, Carey, Rodgers TE – Miller, Housler, Lee, Braunecker WR – Jeffery, White, Royal, Braverman, (Thompson, Mariani), (Wilson/Bellamy/Meredith) OL – Long, Massie, Leno, Whitehair, (Ramirez, Slauson, Larsen, Grasu), (Fabuluje/Becton/Weaver/Wallace) DL – Goldman, Unrein, Hicks, Bullard, (Ferguson, Sutton, Robertson-Harris, Washington) LB – Floyd, Trevathan, McPhee, Freeman, Kwiatkoski, (Jones/Anderson/Timu), (Acho/Houston/Young) CB – Fuller, Porter, Callahan, McManis, Hall S – Amos, Bush, Houston-Carson, (Rolle, Bolden, Prosinski) I think the main competitions will be in parentheses, but I think for the most part, almost all starters are set. I only think we carry 2x QBs.

That couldn't be further from the truth. Hoyer was 10th in the league for the least amount of INT per ATT, and had a 19-7 TD to INT Ratio. Cutler was 24th out of 40 QBs. His problem (like Cutler's) was fumbles. They both had 6.

I had mixed feelings about how the draft went down. To start the draft by moving past one team (NYG) to pick a guy that some didn't even have in the top 10 was shocking, especially with us giving up an early 4th rounder. I like Floyd, just didn't think at the time that he was the 9th best player in the draft. Then when we have a chance to grab Robinson or Spriggs in the 2nd, we move down twice and take a Guard? Again, I thought the position was odd considering the logjam we have in the interior line, but a true value/BPA pick there, and we grabbed 2x extra 4th's this year and a 4th next year. That was probably the best sequence of the night (Whitehair and 3 4th's for our 2nd). In the 3rd, I was hoping for DL and Pace nailed it with Bullard. He was ranked as high as a late first, but mostly a 2nd rounder, so to get him in the 3rd was arguably the best pick of the round. In the 4th, with 3 picks, we give away one of our 6th's to move up to grab Kwiatkoski? I didn't think the trade up was necessary and was actually thinking they were going to select Prescott. So time will tell, but that was the only questionable move all day. The last 2 picks in the 4th were solid and filled needs. In the 5th, with only one selection, we may have picked the steal of the draft. Howard had a 2nd round grade, with some mocks having him as high as a late 1st and very few having him selected after the 3rd. He is a perfect compliment to Langford's style and I can see a very solid duo forming. For the 6th, after missing out on Adams by one pick, we get a Safety that we were talking about in the 5th in Houston-Carson. Then to end the night, we go with the best slot WR in the draft, I couldn't be happier.

Eric Striker to Bills, Kyle Friend to Jets, and Vernon Adams to Seattle for rookie tryout (not signed as UDFA). Jeremy Cash looks like he is mulling over multiple teams looking for best opportunity/fit.

Jason Weaver and Nick Becton say hello. jk.... Yeah, I figure it is going to be an open competition and if Leno struggles, they may have to consider Massie or Long on the left.

Yeah and then add these three to the haul: Roy Robertson-Harris, DE/LB, UTEP, 5.5 Draft Grade (5th round grade) Ben Braunecker, TE, Harvard, 5.2 Draft Grade (5th to 6th round grade) Kevin Peterson, CB, Oklahoma State, 5.1 Draft Grade (6th to 7th round grade) Based on just draft grade averages, we had the best in the division: Chicago - 5.7 Minnesota - 5.5 Green Bay - 5.44 Detroit - 5.42