Let the 2016 version commence.
Detroit's Calvin calls it quits: 2016 his last season.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/20...book_97.1_The_Ticket
Feel bad for him. That guy deserved to be on a much better team.
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Excellent news. This instantly makes the Lions significantly worse. They would have been a 2-3 win team without him last year. Now we all get to see just how bad Matthew Stafford really is (spoiler alert: he sucks ass).
Until his retirement papers get turned into the league I will not believe it
Detroit systematically suffocated the careers of two of the most prodigious talents the NFL has ever seen.
Between Barry and Calvin the Lions won a single playoff game.
How is that even possible?
YooperPackfan posted:Until his retirement papers get turned into the league I will not believe it
Unless, he gives the story to his high school paper.
I don't think he "unretires" after the season is over. The Lions still have a lot of work to do to revamp their team and Caldwell's job is hardly secure. This is the same team that fired their OC midseason and were dead last in rushing. This team will be a mess long after this year and I don't blame Megatron for walking away on his own terms.
This would be interesting:
If Calvin Johnson does retire, Alshon Jeffery may be one of Lions' targets
According to the article, THIS PAST season was his last, not 2016.
ChilliJon posted:Detroit systematically suffocated the careers of two of the most prodigious talents the NFL has ever seen.
Between Barry and Calvin the Lions won a single playoff game.
How is that even possible?
Two of the most prodigious talents that don't play QB.
That's the rub.
Maynard posted:According to the article, THIS PAST season was his last, not 2016.
My bad I didn't read the original link correctly. They mentioned 2016 so I was thinking this upcoming season was his last. You're right he's done now. Detoilet has a lot of work to do on that offense.
At least they have a franchise QB to work around.
Or maybe the offense gets better because they can no longer rely on one man to bail them out.
That plan worked real well for the Packers once Jordy went down.
Yes. They should have went out and got one of those great veteran free agent all pro receivers that were available to replace him. What were they thinking?
saw
The Patriots have been one of the winningest teams in the past 20 years without ever really having a long term elite WR.
Randy Moss for a short time I guess.
They never use losing one offensive player as an excuse for having a poor season.
Except the Patriots have had a freak at TE since 2010 who's put up a lot of offense. 65 TD's in 6 seasons. About 11 a year. That's a ton of production from 1 player.
But they blamed the offensive line coach for this years failure.
He wasn't performing up to the Patriot standard.
Fedya posted:That plan worked real well for the Packers once Jordy went down.
But not as well as it worked when Sharpe went down.
Can we stop talking about wide receivers going down?
ChilliJon posted:Detroit systematically suffocated the careers of two of the most prodigious talents the NFL has ever seen.
Between Barry and Calvin the Lions won a single playoff game.
How is that even possible?
Detroit could field a veritable all-star team of great players throughout the years that never even sniffed a championship.
The Loins were pretty awesome in the 1950s, winning 3 championships in 6 years. They were the Bengals of the 90s, making the playoffs 6 times in 10 years. Their last playoff win was in 91, and they got blasted in the next round. Since then, one-and-done every time.
Then came the Matt Millen era....
So the latest on another soon to be released is one Johnny "fratboy" Manziel. I guess over the weekend he had some sort of altercation with his girlfriend and they searched for him using a helicopter. So the Browns I guess are done with him and will release him after March 9th. So honestly who would want him right now and the circus that comes with him? And seriously can you imagine how ESPN and internet will implode if he goes to Dallas?
If Johnson plays for the Lions this year, he’ll count $24 million against their cap this year, and if he retired after 2016 he’d count $4.9 million in dead money against their cap in 2017. If he retires now, he’ll count $12.9 million in dead money against their cap in 2016, and then he’ll be off their books for good.
Not everyone seems to grasp that. Former Lions receiver Nate Burleson, a close friend of Johnson’s who is now an NFL Network analyst, ripped Quinn for not reaching out to Johnson and asking him to come back for the 2016 season.
“Calvin knows how we feel,” Burleson said. “I think there needs to be somebody that’s making decisions to actively tell him and actively tell him over and over and remind him why it’s important to come put a Detroit Lions jersey on.”
The problem is that the “somebody that’s making decisions” in Detroit is Quinn. And Quinn would rather get the $11.1 million in cap savings this year that would come from Johnson retiring. That’s completely understandable for a new G.M. in a new place who thinks he has a rebuilding project ahead of him.
Justin Tuck also announces retirement. Was a pretty good player at NYG.
I don't see how any rational team picks him up. A player with his rap sheet has to be really good on the field to justify signing him (ie: TO, Moss, etc.). Even ignoring his off field issues, what does he really offer on the field? Physically, he's a below average QB - short, small, weak arm and only above average athleticism (4.56 forty at 6' 200 lbs is nothing special). Mentally, he doesn't seem like he's where he should be as a second year QB. As a leader, he's as bad as it gets. When you throw in the off-fiend stuff, he's as bad as it gets.
Of course, that's how a rational franchise would see it. So my money's on the Cowboys. Because what better way to rehab Manziel's career than to bring him home to Manziel's party central, Texas, with leaders like Dez Bryant and Greg Hardy to guide him through these difficult times.
Not sure what will happen with this recent girlfriend stuff but as of now I don't think he has a rap sheet.
Not sure those cap figures are right for Megatron. Don't teams usually go after signing bonuses on early retirements? NFL has historically won these arguments. Dead money results from prorated signing bonuses and if he retires, he'll pay the prorated portion back, which is a credit to the salary cap. He has $8.1m in prorated signing bonus remaining that the team will likely look to recoup, removing that from the cap hit.
Honestly, Megatron retiring is good for the Lions. No way they keep him and his $24m cap hit. This way they don't have the dead money and don't take the PR hit for cutting the best WR in franchise history.
There were some reports that if Johnson officially puts in his retirement paperwork BEFORE March 1st, he would owe the team something like 3.2 mil in bonus money back to the kitties. If he waits until after that, then he keeps that money. It'll be interesting to see whether he waits or decides he should give that dough back.
Cowboys won't sign Manziel unless they can't land Robert Griffin (who wants to go there). Even then it's not likely IMO.
Please Jerruh.....make either move.
Keep the clown-show going.
Who would trade for him? Seriously. He sucks.
Report: Kaepernick wants out of San Francisco
Posted by Mike Florio on February 2, 2016, 7:36 PM ESTAP
The 49ers have been deliberately coy about whether they want to keep quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick apparently is less willing to conceal his wishes.
According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Kaepernick wants out of San Francisco. His preferred destination is the Jets.
It’s unclear whether the Jets want Kaepernick. They’d need to tread lightly in order to avoid a tampering allegation.
The 49ers presumably would prefer to trade Kaepernick, which explains why they may be creating the impression they are willing to keep him. As of April 1, his $11.9 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed; if the 49ers don’t want to pay that amount, they need to trade him or cut him by then.
The Jets have Geno Smith under contract, and 2015 starter Ryan Fitzpatrick is due to become a free agent in March.
If it wouldn't be so expensive, I would love for the Packers to sign him so they could have the pleasure of cutting him.
PHI spent over $150M to lock up Lane Johnson, Zach Ertz and Vinny Curry. Complain all you want about Ted, but Packers are lucky to have him.
Incredible about the Lions and Megatron situation. Of course, he would have to re-work his contract, but more amazing is the new GM, not trying to woo his best player back. It doesn't seem that he's a dude that needs to be "wooed", but he at least deserves respect and wants to know that the Lions want him back. It appears that hasn't happened which is DUMB!!!
From Andrew Brandt
"So the Saints now have $22 million in nonroster (dead) money. With a $30 million cap charge for Drew Brees. $52 million tied up right there"
Had to go and see who the vet casualty was. Jahri Evans. Cutting him layered on $7.1 million in new dead money on top of the already worst dead money figure in the NFL.
No idea how Loomis still has a job.
I think the Saints will go full McKenzie this offseason and start the rebuild.
I'm sure I'll get ripped for this........but what about Bruce Irvin?? He's played 4-3 OLB which IMO, is not his best position. This guy was made to be a 3-4 OLB. Not sure what off field issues he has, if he's a good dude or not, and how much he'll get paid but strictly on the field, seems like he'd be a great fit.
The rap sheet on Bruce Irvin coming out of WV, was that he was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. On top of that, he's pretty much a one trick pony, he's pass rusher, and a good one. I think he had a few incidents in college, haven't heard any negative's since he's been in the NFLFU. But, IMO, not Packer People or a TT guy.