NFL
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The Bears trade Justin Fields to Pittsburgh. Good outcome for Fields. There is a significant chance he will get an opportunity to start either this season or next, strong coaching setup, time to develop. I'm not totally convinced he's a bust, the coaching setup in Chicago was a dumpster fire
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lets see how well this goes down
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@bayimports Seems to be the swivel and landing on legs that is banned. Not unreasonable. I don't watch much NRL, but don't hear much noise about it being an issue.
I saw on an NFL subreddit it described the tackle as 'rare' - when all conditions are met.
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it was surprising how many tackles of this nature did occur last two years. This was arguably because the NRL were trying to clamp down on it, so if it even looked like a hip drop tackle it was declared one, even if it technically wasn't. Not many this year but I would also imagine players largely have got the message.
In saying that, if a player tries to barge past you, your natural instinct is to pull them down, whether your reaction includes actually thinking about being ok to use body weight, but not accidentally/deliberately landing on the legs, is not always possible.
It does reduce the injuries that occur though which is good
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QB Zach Wilson traded to the Denver Broncos for a late round pick swap.
That means in under 3 years since the 2021 NFL Draft 4 of the 5 QBs chosen in round 1 are on different teams.
This year's Draft starting later this week, there is an expectation that 4 QBs will go in the top 10.
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this is.... i mean, it's....
fuck
god fucking damn it i hate this team. I mean, he's not only cheap, but the Jets are paying some of his salary. But he's, like, really bad at football.
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So that draft was Lawrence, Wilson, Lance, Fields and Jones. Lawrence is a decent starter, who might be growing into more. The other four have all been traded away with the guy with the least starts getting the highest return. What a rubbish QB crop it turned out to be.
Kind of shows how tough the position is/how big the step up to the NFL is though - every one of those guys (except Lance I guess, thanks to injuries) dominated college, and none of them really showed more than the occasional flash that they could play QB.
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So that draft was Lawrence, Wilson, Lance, Fields and Jones. Lawrence is a decent starter, who might be growing into more. The other four have all been traded away with the guy with the least starts getting the highest return. What a rubbish QB crop it turned out to be.
Kind of shows how tough the position is/how big the step up to the NFL is though - every one of those guys (except Lance I guess, thanks to injuries) dominated college, and none of them really showed more than the occasional flash that they could play QB.
Shows how hit and miss drafts are too, and perhaps suggests that the metrics teams use to assess college QBs aren't very good. In contrast guys like Brady and (I know it's early, but the signs are good) Purdy were picked late. Maybe there is no way to measure work ethic, mental toughness and all other qualities that lie above the shoulders
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@canefan and who knows how less pressure and more chips on shoulders from late selections play out
And you generally end up with a worse team, coach and organisation when drafted early
completely. No surprises that Mahomes and Brady went to good organisations, while others (Lawrence, Fields) wound up in burning dumpsters.
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@canefan and who knows how less pressure and more chips on shoulders from late selections play out
And you generally end up with a worse team, coach and organisation when drafted early
completely. No surprises that Mahomes and Brady went to good organisations, while others (Lawrence, Fields) wound up in burning dumpsters.
And Aaron Rodgers. He burns about being passed over by the 49ers but they were crap, and Alex Smith barely escaped the ordeal.
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Teams are on a hiding to nothing. College Football is so very different to NFL football, and yet that is your only way to evaluate. Which is fine for every position on the field except QB.
QB play in this current iteration of the NFL is the single biggest driver to success. If your QB is even a little off, you are cooked. And these gun QBs come out of college where they rack up huge stats, and then they go to pro days and show advanced mechanics (if i hear one more time about Wilson's 50m cannon at his pro day...) and teams have to take them.
And then they get to the NFL as 23 year olds. Most of them go to organisations that are failing everywhere, but the fans and the owners pin their hopes on this fresh faced kid. And these boys face 17 games a year against teams stacked with the very best athletes on the face of the planet. Every team has at least two elite pass rushers. Every team has corners that can lock your passing options away. THe chances your team has an elite run game are low, so you're it kid.
And you are fundamentally aware that every down of the season counts. Most games are no more than 2 score games. An entire season can be undone by one bad play. No pressure kid.
Even the best need help. Joe Burrow is regarded as one who has lived up to expectation. Does that view hold if he doesn't have Ja'marr Chase to just bomb the ball up to so he can make a play? Honestly probably not.
If the kid does look even half the part then the organisation is under instant pressure to pay over the top money to keep them. And that contract becomes a millstone if progress stalls (i am looking at teams like Philadelphia here).
You pick a reveiver in the first round and he busts out? No one but your own fans remembers. You miss on a QB and everyone is talking about it.
It's not all bad though, these busts usually end up on a roster for along time as even a 3rd guy making a few million to carry a clipboard.
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And not to mention the system is stacked against the top guys, as they are more often than not drafted into failing franchises without the support to actually help them develop.
So they end up succeeding in spite of those around them.
Would be an interesting experiment to get in the time machine and see what happens if Mahomes was drafted by the Jets.
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America copies NRL in banning controversial act
