NFL NFL 2025 OFFSEASON Thread

[RIPPA]

Per Yahoo - the Falcons are gonna keep Kirk Cousins for next season

[Travis Sheldon]

Why?

Pretty expensive backup.

[Brian Fowler]

2 hours ago, Travis Sheldon said:

Why?

Pretty expensive backup.

My best guess is they couldn't find a trade partner and don't want to swallow the dead money. But that's just a guess.

Edit: if they cut him pre-June 1st it's the exact same hit this year as keeping him, if they cut him before June 1st his dead cap hit is actually $25 million more than keeping him. Next year they can get out of it with only a one year $25 million or two year $12.5 million each hit, as opposed to either $65 million this year or $40 million this year and $25 million next. 

Edited March 12, 2025 by Brian Fowler

[Gorman]

18 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

2) A hilariously transparent move to try to get Cleveland to do something incredibly stupid.

Don't tempt us! We'll do it!

[RIPPA]

Speaking of backup QBs

Mac Jones has signed a two year deal with the Niners

[RIPPA]

The Patriots are planning on releasing long time center and team captain David Andrews

Andrews is recovering from shoulder surgery. The Pats are hoping he decides to retire. If he does - they will honor him with a ceremony.

Basically they are hoping it is Julian Edelman 2.0

[Contentious C]

Minshew might be backing up Mahomes next year. 

As unlikely and ridiculous as it would be, I'd love for that to turn into some insane situation where Taylor Swift cheats on Travis with Gardner, just because it would make good TV and I'm sick of both Kelces. And maybe it would help KC further implode.

[RIPPA]

So…. It turns out that DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons really didn’t like each other

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

On 3/11/2025 at 11:11 AM, RIPPA said:

Daniel Jones is the Colts problem now

 

[RIPPA]

Cooper Kupp is signing with Seattle

[Dolfan in NYC]

35 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Cooper Kupp is signing with Seattle

3/45 per Schef

[Tabe]

5 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

 

He looks like some suburban unathletic hometown hero that shoots 18 3s a night signing his commitment to Butler. 

[Tabe]

2 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

3/45 per Schef

That's like $9m per game. 

[Contentious C]

5 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

 

Things That Would Suit Daniel Jones Better Than Football: A List...

[RIPPA]

It appears that the Giants are indeed not waiting for Aaron Rodgers and are instead turning their full attention to Russell Wilson

Apparently the only reason he hasn’t signed yet is because Russ wants a two year deal and the Giants only want a one year deal

[hammerva]

Stealing a question from Mina Kimes, seeing the Giants and Steelers fighting over complete scrubs like Rodgers and Wilson makes you really wonder why the fuck they didn't go after Geno Smith.  Especially if you are thinking that a 3rd round pick might have been the most you gave up.     Now chances are that Geno wants nothing to do with the Giants after the last time but man that seems like a lifetime ago

 

[supremebve]

2 hours ago, hammerva said:

Stealing a question from Mina Kimes, seeing the Giants and Steelers fighting over complete scrubs like Rodgers and Wilson makes you really wonder why the fuck they didn't go after Geno Smith.  Especially if you are thinking that a 3rd round pick might have been the most you gave up.     Now chances are that Geno wants nothing to do with the Giants after the last time but man that seems like a lifetime ago

 

As a Browns fan I have to wonder why they didn't do it.  Have Geno for the next couple years, draft the pass rusher from Penn State, and try to get a replacement for Chubb.  The last time they had competent quarterback play, they were in the playoffs.  If the defense plays up to their talent, and they can run the ball the quarterback doesn't have to be Tom Brady.  

[RIPPA]

Here's the thing (and why the question is a strawman argument)

No one knew Geno was available. Per all reports - the two sides were working on extension but it wasn't going great

Seattle asked the Raiders (because of the Pete Carroll connection) if they were interested and Vegas jumped at the chance.

It kinda is like the poor man's version of the Luka trade where it was only after the fact teams were like "Wait a second - if we had known, we would have made an offer"

I guess the argument could be made that teams could have cold called Seattle and been like "Is Geno on the market?" but this wasn't a case of Seattle openly marketing him

[Brian Fowler]

There were rumors about a Raiders trade for Smith and Seattle maybe going after Darnold for at least a day or two before it happened, FWIW. Not very long, but enough time someone could've tried to make a better offer. 

 

Anyway, new rumor is Rodgers is waiting to see if Minnesota is interested in adding him as a stopgap to give McCarthy more time to recover/develop, which really would make bring this Favre 2.0 thing all the way around to complete.

[Travis Sheldon]

45 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

There were rumors about a Raiders trade for Smith and Seattle maybe going after Darnold for at least a day or two before it happened, FWIW. Not very long, but enough time someone could've tried to make a better offer. 

 

Anyway, new rumor is Rodgers is waiting to see if Minnesota is interested in adding him as a stopgap to give McCarthy more time to recover/develop, which really would make bring this Favre 2.0 thing all the way around to complete.

I guess we'll never know if there's any state money missing.

[RIPPA]

Well per the Athletic - apparently Rodgers really really really doesn't want to play for the Steelers and Giants and might decide to retire instead (if he doesn't go to Minnesota)

Why the fuck the Giants aren't signing Russell Wilson after hearing all these reports is baffling

[Kevin Wilson]

Bengals WR news, with Chase and Higgins both reaching agreements:

Ja'Marr Chase agreed to a four-year, $161 million deal that includes $112 million guaranteed, while Tee Higgins agreed to a four-year, $115 million deal that is guaranteed for the first two years.

Honestly I am surprised Higgins signed for that low, as "only" 28 million a year puts him near Waddle in AVG and just ahead of D.J. Moore. Who I think he is better than. Not that it isn't a lot of money and I'm not sure what he would have been offered if he was a FA, just with the rising cap I expected him to hold out for more. PFF had Higgins rated as the 6th best WR last year, which I'm not saying their ranking is gospel as they have their own unique system but I think it does show a level of skill that may have netted him more if he played out the tag this year and went into FA next year. But perhaps he just really wanted to stay a Bengal and its still a shit ton of money, nothing wrong with that.

[Brian Fowler]

3 hours ago, Kevin Wilson said:

Bengals WR news, with Chase and Higgins both reaching agreements:

Ja'Marr Chase agreed to a four-year, $161 million deal that includes $112 million guaranteed, while Tee Higgins agreed to a four-year, $115 million deal that is guaranteed for the first two years.

Honestly I am surprised Higgins signed for that low, as "only" 28 million a year puts him near Waddle in AVG and just ahead of D.J. Moore. Who I think he is better than. Not that it isn't a lot of money and I'm not sure what he would have been offered if he was a FA, just with the rising cap I expected him to hold out for more. PFF had Higgins rated as the 6th best WR last year, which I'm not saying their ranking is gospel as they have their own unique system but I think it does show a level of skill that may have netted him more if he played out the tag this year and went into FA next year. But perhaps he just really wanted to stay a Bengal and its still a shit ton of money, nothing wrong with that.

I think Higgins is really really damn good, but I think there's also a real possibility he wouldn't look like a top ten/borderline top five wide receiver if he didn't have Joe Burrow throwing to him and Ja'Marr Chase getting the number one receiver attention from the defenses.

I'm going way way back for this example, but I vividly remember Alvin Harper leaving Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman and having his yards per catch drop double digits and go overnight from one of the best young receivers in the NFL to Just A Guy status. I think Higgins is a hell of a lot better than Harper was, but I still think that basic effect would be on the table.

[dogwelder]

There's also the fact that Higgins has played less than 16 games in 3 years of his 5 year career, so maybe the two years guarantee was an incentive to sign for a lower price.