Inigo Montoya

No doubt that hurt them last year. With two physical division games right off the jump, I think it would make sense to ramp up the physicality to prepare. Then again, everyone loses their minds when an injury occurs so you’re going to be second guessed either way.

Right. Criminal charges were filed against Mixon’s sister and her boyfriend so it’s not like they’re getting away scot-free. I’m assuming Mixon is being charged civilly for two reasons: he’s the property owner and he’s also much wealthier than the other parties involved. Civil cases are all about money settlements so it’s smart to sue the deepest pockets you can find. I’m much less worried about the civil case than his other case. It also usually depends on when the cases get resolved for the NFL take action (no guarantees obviously). Kamara was able to play the entire 2022 season for incidents that occurred 8 months before the season began and were only recently resolved.

The Bengals broke precedent and renegotiated Mixon’s deal/pay cut. Probably going to have to do it again with Burrow and at least include some guaranteed money beyond year one. I don’t think it’s a question of will it happen but how much and in which form (guaranteed base salary, convertible option bonus). The Stealers also held out doing this for years until Watt’s deal. It has to change for certain players and I bet it happens with Chase as well.

Jones was dominant against mostly backups. Not the same story in the regular season before the injuries. Still, he’s probably the next best interior pass rusher after Aaron Donald and should approach Donald’s contract value, IMO. Tough decision for the Chiefs because they don’t want to lose him but the cost will be very high. I think a trade could happen just like with Tyreek Hill.

Florio has been very critical of the NFL gambling policy but this is much ado about nothing. It’s really not that complicated. Players should not bet on any NFL games or bet on anything while in any NFL league or team facility. The sports betting industry has ways to know what they are betting on and can/will report it to the league. Everyone should know all of this by now. It’s a stretch to claim that attending a party at a private residence violates the policy. Fanatics wasn’t advertised or involved in any direct way. If they had been or had the party been located at a casino or sports book, I think that would be problematic. Florio is doing his typical routine. It’s a dead period in the NFL calendar so he’s trying to drive clicks by inventing issues to rail against. He’s been doing this for 20 years.

It’s a big deal for Burrow to finally get a normal training camp after his first 3 seasons. Crazy that it hasn’t happened to this point in his career.

WR are just a different breed. Diggs has ranked 1st, 4th, and 5th in the league for targets since arriving in Buffalo. For him to complain about his role or the play calling is absurd. I think he’s just a typical hot head who can’t handle losing and it makes him a crappy teammate. He already forced his way out of Minnesota and it’s a matter of time before he’s gone from Buffalo.

It would help if anyone in the AFC West could actually challenge the Chiefs. They’ve dominated their division since Reid arrived winning 7 straight titles. In the five years Mahomes has started, they’ve only lost 4 division games in total and he’s never lost to Denver. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy in the AFC North or East.

Again, he’s not being counted on to start and they have multiple options at RT. No one within the organization has said anything other than he gets to compete for the job. I understand you don’t want him here at all but the circumstances of his health and contract make trading him difficult. It’s not ideal obviously but it is better than giving him away for nothing or eating some/most of his salary to play for someone else.

Jonah’s health and contract make a trade more difficult than some would admit. He hasn’t stayed healthy except one season. $12.6 million is a big salary to take on and give up draft compensation as well. He’s also a FA after this year. So basically he’s an expensive rental and even if he performs well he’ll be expensive to keep. I’m not surprised a trade didn’t happen. The Bengals picked up his 5th year option and have to pay him regardless. It sucks because of the timing and there’s no doubt his option would have been declined after last season’s performance if that’s how it worked. The best option available is to have him compete at RT with Carman and Collins. If he loses out, he’s an expensive swing tackle (still a better option than Adeniji or D’ante Smith). Given recent history, it’s better insurance than the past few years IMO.

The season opener for the SB champs will draw a big audience almost regardless of the opponent. The Chiefs schedule certainly has bigger and better teams that could’ve been picked but my guess is the NFL wants to save those for later. The Lions actually make sense because they’re being hyped heading into the season and there’s no guarantee they will actually be that good. Putting them in the season opener means they won’t be 2-4 going into the game. Plus, I don’t think they want to give the Chiefs an opponent like the Bengals, Bills, or Eagles who might actually beat them.

I doubt the Vikings game will have much appeal to be flexed. Week 13 is already on MNF, Week 14 is the Colts, Week 16 is Stealers on national TV, and Week 17 is the Chiefs. I don’t see it happening.

I doubt Burrow’s agent will let him take the field in Week 1 without a new contract. Mahomes and Allen both got new deals after their 3rd season and I expect the same for Joe (and Herbert). The issue with Higgins is his agent from what I’ve heard. I can see him going the route of Jesse Bates, unfortunately.

I agree this would be the best option if Burrow was agreeable. I think at least something in the 8-10 year range would be ideal. I would also include annual option bonuses like Mahomes to give maximum flexibility for cap purposes.

Seems like the Ravens are overpaying for OBJ. He’s been available for over a year and no one else wanted him at that price. I’m sure he is going there at least in part to help make peace with Lamar. It sounds like Lamar recruited him and he is better than anyone they have currently. I doubt he would have signed there without some idea of Lamar being the QB.

Loudini should be thankful that he didn’t get the Arizona job. One of the worst rosters in the NFL and they also have a “franchise” QB who is currently injured and doesn’t seem to care all that much. Any coach taking that job is being set up to fail.

Regarding Watson’s contract, I heard a restructuring was always the plan from the beginning. His base salary was kept to the league minimum in Year 1 and the plan would be to restructure every year by converting part of base salary to a signing bonus. Of course, this pushes salary cap charges into future dummy years added to the contract and eventually the Browns will be left with a huge cap charge they won’t be able to avoid. Apparently, this is similar to how the Saints and Brees handled his contract during his final years and they ended up with cap charges after he retired.

It's possible Westerman realized he was losing the LG job when making his decision to retire. The new staff apparently reached the same conclusion the last one did. Lapham has repeatedly said Westerman had issues with consistency and mental errors. Physically he looks the part and he's put some good tape together in his limited chances to play. I'm not sure if he wanted to keep playing as a backup or if he had some sort of ailment that pushed him that direction.