2018 (or is it 2019?) Free Agency Moves/Trades/Releases

The Heckler posted:

I always thought Hundley was meh when seeing him on TV but when I saw him in person in the last game in Detroit I realized he was just terrible.  As you said Tdog he looked like he totally had zero ability to make anything happen.  I am sure he is a great guy and a great teammate but the Packers can't go in to another season with him as the only backup.

"he looked like he totally had zero ability to make anything happen" - that's the real kicker.  in the Dec 23rd game, MM called a great game, I kid you not.  it's just that Hundley couldn't throw a pass that was anywhere near any of the WRs to make a play on it.  guys were open, guys had a step on their coverage...  and the ball was 5-10 yards off the mark.

How can they even bring Hundley back to camp after what he showed last year?????

Foles is much closer in QB to Wentz than Hundley is to AR.  Easier to tweak an offense than to redesign it.  Problem is AR let's you do things in an offense than almost no other QB can do.  And you want to maximize those abilities in said offense.  Unfortunately that success leaves with the QB.  Foles can (and has done in the past) many things Wentz can do, just not all of them and not as well.  Hundley can do very little of the things AR can.  So you really need to find a better QB.  One that can read some D and make some throws past 15yds. 

You don't redesign an offense so a backup, if needed, can run it better.  You find a better backup.

MM screwed himself by sticking with BH because no matter how much he tried to fit a gameplan to his talents, he didn't seem able to execute it.  

Yeah, Foles said that his coaches used the bye week to tweak the offense to make it work better, using his skills. Great job rather than just saying, "We do what we do."

I doubt Sudfeld would have done what Foles did.  i.e., you need a better backup.

But PHI was really an outlier in the backup QB quality category.  Few teams can afford or even find a QB that good to sit second chair.  You could argue MIN was being run by a backup QB so then you've got 2 out of 32.  And a great D doesn't necessarily make it possible either.  JAX struggles with their drafted starter.

MM's fault wasn't in not fitting the O to Hundley.  It was believing Hundley could run whatever it was he fed him on game day, even with adjustments.  He couldn't and that's not the fault of the offense design.  You can only accomplish so much with <15yds routes and your OL is threadbare.

So maybe I missed this in my neglect of all things Bengals........but when did AJ McCarron become a good QB?  I'm hearing and reading that someone is going to pay him $20m now that he's a free agent.  Really? He hasn't played and at no point did I ever hear that he was "pushing" Andy Dalton, a pretty average QB in his own right.  Can anyone let me know what I missed?

GrainBelt66 posted:

I honestly believe that Joe C. would have improved from week to week.

I don't. Big Tom's kid is what he is. An emergency 3rd QB. You never want to go there.

ChilliJon posted:

ability to make pre-snap reads, his pocket awareness,  

Hundley's problem in a nut-sack.

CUPackFan posted:

but when did AJ McCarron become a good QB?

He had a nice 7 game run in 2015 when Red was hurt:

https://www.pro-football-refer...ayers/M/McCaA.00.htm

And there is also this:

Brett Hundley could be f***ing Miss Universe, and it still wouldn't make him a better QB.

Um, yes?

Couldn't hurt.

He should be willing to try anything at this point.

RatPack posted:

Once again this clearest thinking poster has identified the primary off season issue.  

Thank you Doc

You mean behind me, right?

Only if Doc is your proctologist.

I read somewhere that after Foles looked inept the last couple of games in the regular season  Doug came to him and asked what he felt comfortable with and what he thought were his strong points.  Then they designed game plans with that in mind.

It almost sounds like good coaches adjust and play to the skills and dispositions of the players they have.  

Problem is it appears Hundley has no skills or dispositions. 

ammo posted:

Problem is it appears Hundley has no skills or dispositions. 

Yup. Still plays like he did at UCLA

El-Ka-Bong posted:

It almost sounds like good coaches adjust and play to the skills and dispositions of the players they have.  

If only McCarthy could control him like a puppet and make him throw when he's supposed to and not run 20 yards backwards. Puppetry is the future of coaching. 

Robotics bro..... 🤖

Yes, there were too many times to count when WRs were open and Hundley just didn't deliver the ball. It's like he kept hearing footsteps around him with big ol' rabbit ears and his mouse heart wouldn't let him stay in and throw. And those were the times when he had time...

RatPack, you're making me blush.  

The backup QB spot will be interesting, but the most pressing need is pass rush.  Neither of our starting OLBers makes enough plays on a consistent basis to allow this defense to turn the corner into a top 10-15 defense.  It seems that "getting home with 4" is the recipe for disrupting good offenses.

ammo posted:

Problem is it appears Hundley has no skills or dispositions. 

I'm trying to come up with how you'd design an offense around Hundley. I guess you'd line up 5 wide every time and give him one read every time. If that guy wasn't open, you'd have him take off and run immediately.

He's basically Tanner McEvoy with the Badgers

He's basically not an NFL QB

Yes, Boss. MM doesn't agree. Sadly.

I think McCarthy wanted to give him time to develop, which is fair. QB is the hardest position in football and this offense isn't simple. I don't begrudge McCarthy sticking with him, I wish Hundley had been able to improve week to week, but he didn't. I have a hunch that the backup QB position is one of the major issues that showed the "silos" that Murphy referenced in making this change. Perhaps McCarthy wanted a better backup and TT couldn't or wouldn't make it happen. I expect one of Gute's mandates is to get MM and Pettine the players they want and need rather than being too rigid with team building philosophy. 

Hope you're right GD

Really skeptical of the notion that Hundley was forced on an unwilling QB guru. Most likely explanation is MM made a horrible misjudgment of his abilities and the result was woefully inadequate QB play and an indelible stain on his legacy.

I think Hundley didn't have as much to offer as the team hoped and didn't improve enough when he got here.  Tough game.  

On the other hand, Dom Capers sucks.  All his players will improve as distance from his stink dissipates.  

michiganjoe posted:

Really skeptical of the notion that Hundley was forced on an unwilling QB guru. Most likely explanation is MM made a horrible misjudgment of his abilities and the result was woefully inadequate QB play and an indelible stain on his legacy.

I don't necessarily think he was forced on MM, I think he wanted Hundley and likes what he's seen in practice and in  meetings, but I don't think TT was willing or able to procure a better option when it was clear BH wasn't ready for primetime. You don't know how a player will react until you see him in a regular season game. I don't know who that better option was, but either TT wasn't willing to pursue them or a deal couldn't get done (either UFA or trade). Maybe MM was stubborn and didn't want a veteran starter, but if that was the case there had to be a point where TT should have stepped in and forced a better QB on MM. I doubt that was the case though, I think McCarthy would have taken on a vet after the Saints debacle during the BYE. 

Grave Digger posted:

I think McCarthy wanted to give him time to develop, which is fair. QB is the hardest position in football and this offense isn't simple. I don't begrudge McCarthy sticking with him, I wish Hundley had been able to improve week to week, but he didn't. I have a hunch that the backup QB position is one of the major issues that showed the "silos" that Murphy referenced in making this change. Perhaps McCarthy wanted a better backup and TT couldn't or wouldn't make it happen. I expect one of Gute's mandates is to get MM and Pettine the players they want and need rather than being too rigid with team building philosophy. 

I also think that one of the off season priorities is going to shore up the backup QB situation.  I of course have zero idea what is going on at 1265 but I am sure there have been some heart to heart conversations about the backup QB situation.

I also strongly agree that I expect that Gute's philosophy is going to be to get the coaches the players that they need.  Now I don't expect Gute to go out spending like a drunken sailor but I do expect at least an attempt to get better players and not be so rigid like you said. 

Drunken sailor spending is usually the best

The #Bears will decline their $8 million option for 2018 on veteran guard Josh Sitton, sources tell @RapSheet and me. They'll go younger. Sitton goes back on the market at age 31.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 20, 2018

Not a shock.

Re: Hundley...could be coincidence, but the week before the Ravens game, Hundley was in Eau Claire to be the keynote speaker for an Epilepsy event (think it was a Tuesday night) - not sure if it took away from his preparation time, but he was the suckiest suck that ever sucked in the Ravens game.  Commend the giving of his time, but that was a TERRIBLE game - he followed up that crappy Ravens game by nearly beating the Steelers in Pittsburgh the next game.

If GB took on a 34 year old Jahri Evans, do they consider a 32 year old Josh Sitton?  I mean, he'd have to wash the stink off of him if he returned though.

It's not like he played for Minnesota.

Pakrz posted:

If GB took on a 34 year old Jahri Evans, do they consider a 32 year old Josh Sitton?  I mean, he'd have to wash the stink off of him if he returned though.

At 2.2 million, in a heartbeat. 

Yes please on Sitton. I know Sitton ain't the Sitton of 5 years ago but OL Depth is important.