Pluses & Minuses of the 2020 NFL Free Agency

NFL Free Agency was good with a whole lot of moves, and that’s a whole lot.

The first half-big move was the Jets bringing CB Brian Poole. (Notice how I didn’t use the adjective “star” before CB, which he’s far from) I don’t like this move because Poole wasn’t the greatest player, actually far from it, he wasn’t good and the Jets shouldn’t have re-signed. If the Jets were more aggressive, they could’ve gotten James Bradburry or spent some cash to get Byron Jones, who actually went to the bottom of the barrel, the Dolphins. My grade for how this affects the team: C+. My grade for how this affects the Player: A

Flash-in-the-pan quarterback Nick Foles went to the Bears who have the legally blind quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky. Nick didn’t do well last season, playing second fiddle to Gardner Minshew. Foles was the Super Bowl MVP two years ago. The Bears couldn’t have really gotten anyone else except leaping on the idea of Phillip Rivers so they made a high offer. Team: A++++++++++++++ Player: B

The Saints went after Malcolm Jenkins and got him. Jenkins is 32 and isn’t a very good player anymore, one pick in the past two seasons with the Eagles. The Saints D is now pretty good, but Malcolm is a very minor upgrade, extremely minor. They could’ve picked up Eric Reid if they wanted a safety, but Reid isn’t extremely good either. Team: B-. Player: B+

The Titans D worsened by a lot over this free agent period. Their supreme run stopper in Jurrell Casey, who would’ve gotten reps in whatever scheme the Titans ran, 4-3, 3-4 (which means 4 D linemen or three D-linemen, the second numbers means how many linebackers, I personally like 3-4) because the other D tackle had only one sack. The Broncos just need to be extremely aggressive, like a hungry wolf on a little bunny. They have more than $40 mil in cap space, now that most of the free agents are off the market, they need to be aggressive with what they have or there goes another season. Titans: C+. Broncos: A. Player: B

The Texans got Vernon Hargreaves back, good move, especially when they made one of the most boneheaded moves in probably the history of the AFC, football in general, the 21^st century, the 21^st century and 20^th century combined and maybe even professional sports in general. No, I think the last three honors go to the Pistons trading Andre Drummond for a flyer about babysitting and half a gum wrapper; the Pistons should’ve pressed for at least the whole gum wrapper. They traded prime Deandre Hopkins and a fourth round pick. The Texans receive workhorse running back David Johnson but he’s also as old as time and he’s literally only going up the middle this year, if anything. The Cardinals receive a second and a fourth round pick. Texans: D. Cardinals: A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++. David Johnson: B. Deandre Hopkins: B+. Hargreaves: B-

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got a big upgrade at quarterback, 43-year-old Tom Brady. I mean, Jameis Winston has a serious and rare case of color blindness, he confuses his team’s colors with the colors of the opposing teams and throws to them. What’s Tom Brady going to do, in his 43^rd year of life? Play football. This is a shot in the dark for the Bucs. They just spent $30 million on a quarterback who, 1) couldn’t lead his team past the first round, throwing a pick-6 as his last throw as Pat and 2) got hard carried by his defense all through the season and straight into a first-round loss. Bucs: A-. Tommy: B

The Panthers got Tre Boston back, I love that guy. He’s a solid, bite-the-bullet, hustle-till-he-dies type player. The Panthers also got him at a bargain, $6 million a year, really not bad, really good actually. Panthers: A. Boston: B

The Rams declined the option on Nickell Robey-Coleman, yeesh, I don’t know about that one, kinda saved their Super Bowl hopes after physically assaulting that poor Saint WR. He’s actually good. Rams: C-. Coleman: B

The Colts picked up Philip Rivers, he’s not good at all, and they should’ve stayed with Jacoby Brissett or drafted a good QB. This is probably Rivers’ last season because he signed a one year contract. Rivers doesn’t know what scrambling is and he can’t throw accurately. Colts: B-. Rivers: A

The Raiders felt like picking up a really bad, old and slow TE in Jason Witten. Bro, Witten, respect, but stick to the booth. Raiders: F-. Witten: A+ because he’s never going to get an offer again.

The Raiders also picked up Cory Littleton, he’s good. Went undrafted but he’s a god in the pass rush and tackling. Nice move, Raiders, if you didn’t spend money on Witten, you could’ve signed another free agent or saved, but no, why would you do that? Raiders: A. Littleton: B

The Panthers signed Teddy Bridgewater. This leaves me scratching my heads. What happens with Cam Newton? Nothing? Then what happens with Bridgewater, I don’t think he’s going to go to the backup role. Panthers: B: Teddy: B

The Dolphins got both Emanuel Ogbah and James Howard. Wow, both and Byron Jones, WOW. The Dolphins are showing aggression as they would never show protecting their quarterback. All definite upgrades over what they had. Dolphins: A++. Ogbah: C. Howard: B. Jones: B-.

Drew Brees is coming back to the Saints for the umpteenth time, is he going to deliver, no idea, he’s pretty old, but hey, Tom Brady won a Super Bowl a 40, and made it to a Super Bowl at 41, Brees is 41. Saints: B. Brees: A-.

The Giants picked up Blake Martinez. This definitely strengthens their linebacker corpse. Martinez can tackle anywhere, rush the quarterback occasionally and drop back to cover. Giants: A. Martinez. B+

Jimmie Ward is going back to the 49ers, he’s really good, a ball hawk that can pick anything near him and can tackle. 49ers: A-. Ward: A.

Randall Cobb is going to the Texans, that’s like replacing gold with rocks. Cobb is good, but Hopkins was top tier. Texans: A because they need all the help they can get. Cobb: B+.

Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott are both coming back to Dallas, the dynamic duo from Dallas had 79 receptions and 1,189 receiving yards together. Dallas: A+. Cooper: A. Prescott: A-.

Stefon Diggs is going over to the Bills, this move will help the Bills oh so much. Stefon is an elite receiver and he will help Josh Allen grow so much, Allen could be so much better than he already is. Bills: A+. Stefon Diggs: A-.

The Jets got a plethora of O Linemen which really benefits them. They brought three solid, not great, but solid O linemen in to protect Sam Darnold and let him get a throw off. All in all, they’re paying all three of them about $25.2 mil/per year, it’s in their budget and will help them. Connor McGovern, center: B+, George Fant, O Tackle: B. Alex Lewis, O Guard, who they had, but re-signed: B+. Jets: A+.

James Bradberry signed with the Giants, solid, athletic and muscular safety will benefit them greatly. Bradberry: A-. Giants: A.

The Niners lost Deforest Buckner, but they picked up a first-rounder, which isn’t a fair deal. The Colts got a better run-stuffing D after this one but will lose young talent. Niners: C+. Colts: A-. Buckner: B.

There are no good pass-rushers here, oof, everyone got franchise tagged, Chris Jones on the Chiefs, Shaquil Barrett on the Bucs and Bud Dupree on the Steelers. Not surprised, Derrick Henry AKA The MAC Truck that runs over humans for $10 mil a year. Underpaid in my opinion. This tagging wasn’t very hard to see.

Ryan Tannehill agrees to a four year deal with the Titans, not a fan of this one. They could’ve picked up someone so much better, oh, so much better. Tannehill, he can’t scramble, can throw far, he’s literally getting paid $118 million to hand it off to the MAC truck that runs over humans for $10 million.

The Jaguars traded Calais Cambell to the Ravens for a fifth-rounder. A real head-scratcher, not my usual cynicism, Calais is amazing, getting off the block at crazy speeds and sacking the quarterback, and what in return? A fifth-rounder? I mean Tom Brady went in the 12^th round, but a fifth-rounder, no. A good player and a second-rounder for Calais and a pick, that’s fair.

Life without professional sports

What a difference a week makes. My last post was about MLB predictions and now it’s about the screech of sporting brakes. The coronavirus has taken over the sports world and the world in general without it even knowing what sports are.

The NBA suspends its season for at least 30 days after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert wanted to joke around and give the microphones some coronavirus. Little did Gobert know that he infected his teammates and probably many others. The teammate was star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and power forward Christian Wood on the Detroit Pistons. No one knows if his sickness came from Gobert or from a fan. Even though all of them tested negative for the virus, the disease could still be in the players.

We don’t know how many people actually have it right now, maybe 10, maybe only 3. Commish Adam Silver said that they want to continue the season even if the championship finals are in August.

Corona has also affected many other things, like the NBA’s ticket sales and revenue, and videogames. How? You might ask, well, if 2k21 comes out in August or September, usually, with the offseason passed already, and everyone knows where the free agents new teams are, the offseason is just starting then. And, consequently, the new videogame can’t be released.

The MLB has taken action and canceled the remainder of Spring Training and delayed Opening Day by at least two weeks while some say we won’t hear play ball until May. Everyone knows that it will be for longer but it is for at least two. None of the major league players have it yet, so, it’s just a precautionary measure. But, a Yankee minor leaguer does, the first baseball-affiliated player to have it. Don’t worry, the videogame for baseball came out in the past few days.

The NFL has done nothing so far, and they don’t have to worry. The preseason will start in July and the season in late September, so maybe football will be the only sport unaffected.

Maybe not all football…. The XFL suspended all play as an unidentified Seattle Dragons player tested positive. The sport that was growing rapidly has stopped.

The NHL also jumped on the coronavirus bandwagon and said that they will suspend their season as well.

Other sports and championships have also been assigned to limbo. It’s plain and simple, we have absolutely nothing to watch.

Day Four without Sports: I actually learned that there is another person living with us other than me and my father. A woman, she tells me, she’s my mom. Eh, she seems nice.

26 Days to Opening Day 2020

Both New York baseball franchises have to answer these questions before they take the fields on Opening Day this year.

New York Yankees:

The Yanks need to find some solid starters to fill in their rotation holes.

It’s been rough for the Bronx Bombers early on, losing their young and full-of-potential starter in Luis Severino for the season; he went down with Tommy John surgery. They lost another really good starter in James Paxton who is recovering until somewhere near May, and back of the rotation starter Domingo German is suspended for about 60 games. That means that in addition to ace Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ, they need to find two more starters. Jordan Montgomery is 95% a lock for the rotation, but it still means that they need another starter. They could either go with Jonathan Loaisiga, Deivi Garcia or Luis Cessa. I think that Loaisiga will crack the rotation, but if they want to keep him down in the minors or bring him out of the bullpen for another year, they could possibly target Mets pitcher Steven Matz, which is the move that I want the Mets to make.

The Yanks also need to figure out their outfield situation. They have Brett Gardener as a lock in center; he could possibly split time with Aaron Hicks out there but no one knows if Aaron is healthy or if he will be ready for Opening Day. I’m telling you, the Yankees are a cursed franchise, or are they because they had to use the IL 39 times last year, they still made the playoffs and won 103 games. I don’t know how they did that but they did. And already this year they have so many injuries plaguing them, the predictions for how well they will do in the regular season are going down. Also, Aaron Judge has a broken rib that may require surgery, the Yanks will re-asses in two weeks, but that verdict could be horrible, or it may not and that is quite a long time to wait. Giancarlo Stanton most likely isn’t going to be ready for Opening Day, but who knows. Here lies their solution, what will sophomore manager Aaron Boone do? These are some possible solutions. They could call up a prospect to play either one of the corner outfield positions or call up their center field prospect Estevan Florial and throw Gardener in left. They could also put Miguel Andujar in left and Mike Tauchman in right, Tauchman showed potential hitting the ball last season, but he isn’t really regarded highly offensively. They could put in amazing, young left fielder Clint Frazier, he has been really good in this Spring Training and, hey, this is where you prove yourself. Outside of those, there aren’t really much more, their outfield prospects aren’t good. I guess the Yankees have to sit and wait quietly and pray for the best.

New York Mets:

The Mets have six starters for five spots. That is plain and simple. They have arguably the best rotation in the NL if not the entire league. They have a very good rotation, it is important for any team to have rotation depth, but they have way too much, and they have some more coming in from the minor league system. They signed Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha in the offseason, what Brodie Van Wagenen was thinking, I don’t know. I am borderline satisfied with his moves so I won’t contradict him too much. Rick isn’t even tussling for a rotation spot, his spot is locked up. Now, they could hope for one of the present starters to get injured, but no one wants that. They could also potentially use Wacha for a righty heavy lineup and Steven Matz, the lefty, against a lefty-heavy lineup. I don’t like that option because they have a man in the bullpen that they’re not using, and can’t use, so the Metsies don’t waste his arm and that person is taking up a roster spot, even with the expanded roster from 25 to 26, it’s still a valuable spot. Van Wagenen could possibly trade Steven Matz to a team, it sounded like the Yankees want him, which would solve their problem. People may also argue that they could trade Michael Wacha, but they just signed him, he’s new, give him a chance, but if they trade Matz they would have 5 righty relievers, which teams would start learning how to beat that. So, this is a very hard decision for Van Wagenen.

This problem is for rookie manager Luis Rojas, the leadoff spot. Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Amed Rosario, three pure contact hitters. Nimmo is an on-base machine, he will work the count, work the pitcher early and will probably get on one way or another, but everyone has forgotten Nimmo’s gift because he was injured almost of last season. McNeil has even better bat-on-ball skills than Nimmo has getting-on-base skills. McNeil had a .318 batting average, which ranked 6^th in baseball. Even if he doesn’t get all of it and slaps a single into the outfield, he could get a piece of it and use all of his remarkable hustle and busts it down to first and gets in there. Rosario is probably only in the lineup or even in the bigs because of his slightly above average bat on ball skills but mainly because of his crazy good defense, he is a vacuum to anything coming his way, but wait a half a year to a year and a half and you’ll see amazing prospect Andres Gimenez, probably even better D than Amed and definitely better hitter, especially after that was all he worked on this offseason. The Mets could clear this up by putting Nimmo at the one, Alonso at the two, McNeil at the three and Conforto at cleanup. Rojas should send Amed to the 7, 8 or even 9.

If they do what I suggested, both New York teams will be well above average this year. 

Stay tuned, sports fans.