NFL 2008

[Evil Chase K]

Well obviously I was embellishing, but you're right.

I should say "That's why they're in the sorry state that they've been in since John Gruden raped them in the Super Bowl."

[alldaws1]

You mean to tell me that a guy no one wanted to trade for was in such high demand that the Raiders just had to offer him a lot of money to get him signed right away before anyone else came calling?

Yes. Apparently over a third of the teams in the league had stated their interest.

[Evil Chase K]

'a continuous state of ineptitude'? They aren't the fucking Lions or the Bengals! They've been to a fucking SuperBowl this decade. As many SuperBowls as the fucking Steelers have.

EDIT: Name a better FA WR out there right now? There isn't one, and the Raiders are bad, and have been for about 6 years, so they have to overpay for a mediocre WR that might turn into something more. Its not rocket science. Its not a great deal, but its what you have to do when you're a below average team.

Edited March 5, 2008 by Evil Chase K

[NobBe Nobbs]

There are so many holes in your theory it's worse than Swiss cheese, doing nothing more than prove you yourself aren't anything but a Steelers fanboy. Please stop posting.

[DMN in the House]

Why should he stop posting. We have Browns fanboys, a Patriot fangirl, Bears fanboys, might as well have him along too.

I learned long ago that I'm one of the few, the proud, the un-homers. Except for UCLA.

[Evil Chase K]

There are so many holes in your theory it's worse than Swiss cheese, doing nothing more than prove you yourself aren't anything but a Steelers fanboy. Please stop posting.

[DMN in the House]

To be fair, the six years means fuck all. This is the NFL.

[EddieRuckus]

Man, you guys have missed out on the big rollercoaster ride of free agency of the Hawks. We lost some big players(Bentley, Niko), but we gained the best damn back in the league(T.J. Duckett.)</sarcasm>

I am a little peeved about Brown, but with Ruskell at the helm I'm sure we can get a good kicker in the later rounds, since Brown was a 7th rounder. I also love how people are pissed about us not getting Alge in FA, and how we haven't cut Alexander and restructured Trufant's contract. Some people are just hard to please.

[Evil Chase K]

To be fair, the six years means fuck all. This is the NFL.

Edited March 5, 2008 by Evil Chase K

[alldaws1]

As far as FA WRs that are out there, why not look at signing Bryant Johnson or Andre Davis now and then looking to the NFL draft (where the WR class this year is 4-5 rounds deep) and pick up another receiver there?

Davis was re-signed by the Texans.

[DMN in the House]

If he gets healthy, he's an upgrade over anyone we have, besides, arguably, Ronald Curry. Curry can't stay healthy, though. So, IF he gets healthy, he'll be the best WR we have, and he's not a scrub, he's serviceable.

Its a bad deal, but I'm fine with it. I like the Gibril Wilson deal much better.

[NobBe Nobbs]

There are so many holes in your theory it's worse than Swiss cheese, doing nothing more than prove you yourself aren't anything but a Steelers fanboy. Please stop posting.

Care to point out those holes? It's easy to tell me that I need stop posting, but as someone who covers sports for a living I think my opinions are just as valid as anyone else's. If you have a problem with my opinion that Javon Walker isn't worth anywhere near the amount of money he got, that he shouldn't be signed to a six-year deal because of his bum knee, and that him getting more money per year than Randy Moss is fucking assinine then please elaborate and explain why you feel that way.

And while I have no qualms admitting my allegiance to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it does nothing to cloud my opinion. If someone makes a point I agree with about something that's bad about the Steelers I will be happy to make it known that I agree with them.

Edited March 5, 2008 by De

[Evil Chase K]

Man, you guys have missed out on the big rollercoaster ride of free agency of the Hawks. We lost some big players(Bentley, Niko), but we gained the best damn back in the league(T.J. Duckett.)</sarcasm>

I am a little peeved about Brown, but with Ruskell at the helm I'm sure we can get a good kicker in the later rounds, since Brown was a 7th rounder. I also love how people are pissed about us not getting Alge in FA, and how we haven't cut Alexander and restructured Trufant's contract. Some people are just hard to please.

[livid]

Something tells me that there's language in there that will allow the Raiders to cut their ties with him should something go wrong or array, etc. I also don't expect him to be paid nearly as much of the $55 million as you seem to think.

[EddieRuckus]

Man, you guys have missed out on the big rollercoaster ride of free agency of the Hawks. We lost some big players(Bentley, Niko), but we gained the best damn back in the league(T.J. Duckett.)</sarcasm>

I am a little peeved about Brown, but with Ruskell at the helm I'm sure we can get a good kicker in the later rounds, since Brown was a 7th rounder. I also love how people are pissed about us not getting Alge in FA, and how we haven't cut Alexander and restructured Trufant's contract. Some people are just hard to please.

The Duckett signing I think was actually a pretty good one. He doesn't have great speed but when you're as big as he is you don't really need it. He's a solid, reliable running back.

[Evil Chase K]

There are so many holes in your theory it's worse than Swiss cheese, doing nothing more than prove you yourself aren't anything but a Steelers fanboy. Please stop posting.

Care to point out those holes? It's easy to tell me that I need stop posting, but as someone who covers sports for a living I think my opinions are just as valid as anyone else's. If you have a problem with my opinion that Javon Walker isn't worth anywhere near the amount of money he got, that he shouldn't be signed to a six-year deal because of his bum knee, and that him getting more money per year than Randy Moss is fucking assinine then please elaborate and explain why you feel that way.

And while I have no qualms admitting my allegiance to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it does nothing to cloud my opinion. If someone makes a point I agree with about something that's bad about the Steelers I will be happy to make it known that I agree with them.

[Cactus Drags]

I thought the Raiders were supposed to be cash-strapped after signing Jamarcus Russell, hence the rumours a while back about them trading out of the top ten? how the fuck are they affording making Kelly the highest-paid lineman in the league and then picking up Walker for that amount? I guess the contracts must be backloaded or incentive-based or something?

Signing Booker was a good move, I think. You could kind of see it coming with the release of Moose, and then Berrian leaving kind of made it an obligatory move. Not really an upgrade, and I don't like the idea of having a quarterback competition with a no.1 receiver who they aren't familiar with, but at least there's a distinct starting receiver now.

Edited March 5, 2008 by Dragsy

[naiwf]

It's not fair to compare Moss intentionally taking less than market value to play for the Pats so he can try to win a Super Bowl with the Vikings overpaying Berrian or the Raiders overpaying Walker because they have a need and don't have the reputation of being winners.

Just to prove my point, there have been a LOT of shitty deals made this offseason, but the one that most people seem to love that I didn't think was necessary was Big Ben getting more guaranteed money than Peyton Manning and a TON more than what Brady's making (6 yrs/$60 mill and "only" a $14.5 millions signing bonus). If we're going on market value being the basis, or thinking a deal sucked because the team paid a guy more than he should have received, then the Steelers giving up $102 million for a guy who almost killed himself and had a bad year because of injuries he sustained doing something retarded is a risky thing. I mean if he was fucking up when he didn't have "Mike Vick" money, what's to say he won't revert back to his idiot days now that he's all but set for life? We all know Ben isn't better than Peyton or Tom, but the Steelers NEED him so if they had to give him some extra cash to make it work then that's what they had to do. It's a good move even though they could have probably shaved $10-12 million off of the total package and $6 million (or ~17%) off the guaranteed money.

The worst moves of the offseason collectively have been made by the Jets. Faneca getting "elite left tackle" money to play guard at 31+, and all of the other marginal moves they've made won't negate the fact that they still don't have a starting QB they believe in, and cannot win their division. At best they go 8-8 and miss the playoffs by 2 wins. It's not like all of that money they're spending is going to prevent them from drafting in the 10-15 range anyway so why bother?

Edited March 5, 2008 by naiwf

[livid]

Thinking about it more...maybe the Raiders offered Walker so much money because of how he and Favre torched them on that MNF game after Brett's dad died.

Edited March 5, 2008 by UNKLE

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

The Raiders have to grossly overpay guys for them to play there, simple as that.

But I love how the Browns gave Shaun Rogers $42 million ($20mm guaranteed), without even playing a down. Highest paid DT in the league after a season where he just quit halfway through. Yup, I'm sure now that he has the big contract, he'll get motivated.