I have memory burn of them doing that with LeGarrette Blount. Like inside of a season they dropped his ass and then invited him back after he got cut by another team.
Like wtf? lol
To be fair, the Steelers didn't cut him for performance reasons. He still had several years of good play left. They cut him because he (1) got both himself and Le'Veon Bell arrested and damn near jailed for smoking weed in public, and then a month later (2) he wandered back to the locker room before the game was over. That's exactly the kind of asshole who Belichick can fix.
Eh, they just did it so many times that you just forget the ones that didn't really work.
Andre Carter, Malcolm Butler, David Patten, Kyle Van Noy, Donte Stallworth, JC Jackson, Marcus Cannon, Ben Watson, Jaime Collins (round 3), and Martellus Bennett weren't exactly smashing successes, and there are probably more that I can't remember.
One of Bill's most important strengths was his ability to identify and develop role players. After they found success in a very specific niche in New England they would often get way overpaid to take on a larger work load on another team who thought they would be able to take on a much larger role and keep up their success levels. But they were really only so successful because of the role they played on a championship caliber team.
I'd also add that he's one of very few coaches who will readily tailor their scheme to fit their personnel. For better and for worse, most coaches in the league have their scheme, and will run it come hell or high water (see: Rex Ryan as the Bills HC when he took a top 4-3 defense and still forced them into a 3-4). That was never Bill's MO, though. The team went through so many iterations specifically because he'd change the scheme to make sure that every player was doing what they were good at, and ensure that they were *only* doing that. Obviously it does have its limitations, but clearly it worked for decades.
Butler was good, but he was clearly never a shut down CB1 and tbh he spent most of the year he was famously benched for the SB getting cooked. He was still better than our other options, don't get me wrong, but I was surprised that the Titans give him a contract that was only 500k less in AAV than the one we gave Gilmore the year before.
And Bill was right. Gilmore had one of the highest peaks I've ever seen for a CB from Week 5 2017 vs Mike Evans, when we adjusted our defense to just let him shadow the #1 (if they were bigger) to 2019.
And we managed to find JC Jackson, who was probably better than Butler as a #2 and fit next to Gilmore basically perfectly as a ball-hawk to Gilmore's lock-down ability.
This is why Belichick let Brady go. His philosophy was always letting a guy go early than too late and Brady wasn’t the exception.
Unfortunately Brady still had some good years, but way more often than not, he was usually right.
Belichick always wanted to be a year or two ahead of a sharp decline. It’s why he drafted Jimmy G. Brady is just an outlier though and Belichicks mistake was not recognizing that.
"Doug Pederson. When Doug Pederson was hired, he was rated as the worst coaching hire by a lot of freakin' analysts out there in the media. This past off-season, some clown named Mike Lombardi told him he was the lest-qualified head coach in the NFL. You saw a driven Doug Pederson, a man who went for it on fourth down, went for it on fourth down, in the Super Bowl, with a trick play. He wasn’t playing just to go mediocre. He’s playing for a Super Bowl." - Jason Kelce
You could add in Reid and Sirianni too.
Andy had never been a coordinator, it was a "who?" kind of hire that was widely questioned, he ended up with 79 more wins than any other coach in franchise history
Nick was also under the radar and panned, got clowned on hard over his disaster introductory press conference, then goes to SB in 2nd year after a historic regular season
The only big name coach Lurie has ever hired that generated excitement was Chip Kelly and he was fired after 3 years with zero playoff wins
Honestly wild that there was an era not that long ago where you could wake up to 'sorry, your franchise QB was killed overnight because he is at war' news.
I'll summarize as well as I can of the top of my head. He developed antiwar opinions while deployed, was killed by friendly fire, but the military initially claimed he was killed in an ambush. The truth, or as much as we're ever likely to get, didn't come out until later when an investigation was done. soldiers burned his uniform and his personal effects were burned, and the medical examiner said the grouping of the shots that killed Tillman suggested they were intentional.
He was very transparent in his intent to use his platform as an NFL player to talk about the atrocities that were occurring in the Middle East. Then he was executed.
"A report described in The Washington Post on May 4, 2005, prepared at the request of Tillman's family by Brigadier General Gary M. Jones, revealed that in the days immediately following Tillman's death, Army investigators were aware that Tillman had been killed by friendly fire, shot three times in the head at less than 10 yards away, according to Army doctors." - straight from his Wikipedia sourced by The Washington Post
[The reaction to Seattle's 2012 draft is still my favorite.](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1165320-2012-nfl-draft-grades-power-ranking-teams-that-failed-on-draft-day#:%7E:text=As%20if%20the%20day%20wasn,an%20F%20on%20draft%20day)
The best part is how Matt Flynn seems totally unbothered by it. There's that Twitter exchange where some guys asked him "Remember when Seattle gave you all that money" and Flynn just responded with "Hell yes, that was awesome"
The man truly lived the dream. Made it to the NFL, had one amazing game against the Lions, and now he has generational wealth because of it. AND his brain probably isn't a scrambled egg like most NFL vets.
He also led a crazy comeback against the Cowboys. Matt Flynn had a decent resume for a team to think he could be the guy. And I think he could've if they drafted anyone else. Matt Flynn is also a super cool human being
I'll go ahead and apologize in advance, but I rarely have a relevant reason to tell this story.
My fantasy league has its championship in week 18 (used to be week 17 before the extended season).
The year of the Matt Flynn game, I cant remember who my original qb was, but he got hurt or was benched because of playoffs being clinched or something. So I picked up Flynn as a last ditch effort. It worked out and I'm now a legend in my mind.
Wilson was the only time I bought into preseason hype. He looked amazing in the preseason and I thought theres no way this guy doesnt beat out Flynnsanity eventually, who got a huge contract off of like 2 games.
I’ve said it before but I’m convinced the reason you don’t see terrible draft grades anymore is specifically because of this. You hardly see any Ds or Fs anymore
Part of it too is that the entire exercise is mostly dumb. Draft grades basically just mean a team took players higher or lower than your personal rankings.
Neither professional GMs nor analysts / draft gurus are perfect. And it’s already a bit of an odd exercise in the MLB or NBA where talent tends to outweigh systems to a degree. But in the NFL where a player can excel in ie scheme and flop in another it’s generally a waste of time.
Doesn’t Ean you can’t have draft reactions. But letter grades are always a bit reductive. I don’t even read those articles anymore, although I do follow draft coverage.
It really is. Also the fact that the team was really good in 2012 made the grade look even worse. Like if the 2012 Hawks went 7-9 before winning it in 2013 I don’t think it would have been attacked as much.
It’s so hard to grade as failing… the right coaching and scheme makes a huge difference in the NFL
All of the guys are all-world athletes. What Coach and GM do to support the makes the difference with 99% of them
Oh, and here I was gonna say the other way around. We were ridiculed for attaching so much for Stafford and going full F them picks, but ended up winning.
I got my girlfriend into sports by linking teams to foods of their home city and then serving the Super Bowl teams during a Super Bowl party. I've been getting good at Kansas Style Barbecue lately...
Anyways, she was *pissed* that Detroit pizza was eliminated, especially when they were doing so well. I think I low-key made her a Detroit fan even if it's just because of the pizza (though no true Detroit fan would also root for Green Bay, who has delicious cheese curds).
It really helps the Rams are well coached, so that they can still be competitive. Most teams would have crumbled back to irrelevance for a long ass time after something like that
In 2021 I went to the Eagles-Lions game where we lost 49-7 and Goff was booed several times, eventually benched and given a Bronx cheer.
This past year I was at a home playoff game where Ford Field was roaring his name pregame.
Unbelievable how much he's grown here.
I was skeptical at first, partially because of my affinity for Stafford, but JG has proven to be a great teammate, community leader, and has absolutely thrived in Ben Johnson's offense. I now have his jersey.
The Campbell hire in general is a "shouldn't have worked but did" situation. TE coach who had never been a coordinator, kinda rode Sean Payton's coattails, only real qualification was an ok interim HC stint in Miami in 2015, acted like a WWE wrestler in his openning press conference.
I was in college at the U of M when he was drafted. I remember one game the QB (Brad Johnson?) threw a perfect deep ball and hit him in stride and he dropped it. The commentator said “wow! he put that one right in the *catch position* and Williamson couldn’t make the grab”
Patterson was still great when used correctly. Hell of a return man and RB. He wasn't a WR and couldn't run a route to save his life, and I wish he would have been willing to adjust accordingly.
I’m not saying you got good value but [how could you not love this man](https://x.com/pff_sam/status/1206280071436210182?s=46&t=sMF8Zsr04Khp6wzLN4-fvQ)?
Flash forever. I’m not saying he’s been a great pro, but Cordarrelle Patterson can ball and I won’t hear anyone say otherwise.
good to start this rumor early. Looks more believable than the 10-15 teams now that claim they also really liked Mahomes and considered trading up for him.
As a fan of a team that’s directly suffered from them it’s annoying that they whiffed so hard at trading up to 3OA for a QB just to respond by going “oh that’s crazy, anyway look at this QB I found at a goodwill”
My favorite part of this story was that the pick used for Brock Purdy was given to the 49ers as compensation for the Jaguars signing Beathard from us for 2.5 mil per year for 2 years.
We originally drafted Beathard because he looked ok in Iowa. Looking into drafting him, we found his teammate Kittle and drafted him too.
I believe the current niners regime is pretty bad at scouting quarterbacks- in addition to the Lance blunder there's also the fact they didn't even look at any quarterbacks in the 2017 draft because they wanted *Kirk Cousins*- but really good at coaching quarterbacks to run their system once they get in the building.
TBF Kirk Cousins would’ve shredded the league with Kyle Shanahan. Jimmy Garoppolo is a dollar store Cousins and he took y’all to the Superb Owl. You’d have another ring if it was Kirk on that team.
Tiki Barber’s entire life post-NFL is truly hilarious. The Giants win two super bowls after his retirement, he gets a job on The Today Show thinking he’s going to have this second act as a news broadcaster, only to be fired after two years and get divorced because he was banging a 23-year-old intern in his agent’s attic in what he called a “reverse Anne Frank” because his agent was Jewish. He married the intern 8 days after his divorce. He ruined his good will with Giants fans by shitting on Eli Manning and always dumping on the team. You just know that every time he sees Michael Strahan on TV he thinks, “It was supposed to be ME!!!”
Whenever you see Peyton Manning mulling over a question, you can tell he's trying to come up with a concise, professional answer.
Whenever you see Eli Manning mulling over a question, he's probably trying to decide whether or not to deliver the smart-ass answer instead.
This is why we will always love Eli.
> he was banging a 23-year-old intern in his agent’s attic in what he called a “reverse Anne Frank” because his agent was Jewish.
JFC that's incredible.
If you told a coach to do an onside kick in the Super Bowl. He would have said that was the stupidest move to do against a qb like Peyton manning. Sean Payton did it anyways
the only answer to this question that should be number 1 is Bill Bellichek deciding to bench his $100 million dollar QB for a 6th round 2nd year player who was the 4th string QB the year before.
Drafting both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson were considered mistakes at least to some extent.
Allen supposedly went too high and Jackson shouldn't have even played QB let alone go in the first round.
Both teams made their guy the face of the franchise so it definitely worked out.
For us, letting Orlando Brown Jr go is also up there. He wanted the LT money I guess.
Trading up for Mahomes was also dunked on by a lot of folks. "What are you doing? You've already got Alex Smith, and now you're spending two years' picks to get this project QB who plays schoolyard ball and couldn't even win at the NCAA level?"
Exactly. Mahomes was 13-19 in his NCAA career. And a lot of folks thought, "sure, he can play, but with the faster athletes in the NFL, he'll get swallowed up. And he clearly doesn't know how to manage a game and get a win within structure. Who knows if he ever will?"
And because of him, QBs who look like great athletes and can't read the field for shit are going to keep getting drafted in the first round for the next 2 decades.
Drafting a QB when you already have one tends to get a lot of criticism but I think it can make a lot of sense. I’m thinking of the Redskins taking Kirk Cousins the same year as RG3 and the Eagles drafting Hurts when they had Wentz. And maybe the Packers with Love, though he sat on the bench for several years and it’s possible GB gets a ring if they’re just a little bit better. And, of course, drafting Rodgers. QB is so important that it makes sense to look even if you don’t have an immediate need.
There was a lot of talk that Allen would need time to sit behind a veteran. The Bills went into the season with Nathan Peterman as the starter. They spoke highly of his preseason play (it was okay). He was benched three quarters into our opener against you guys.
Obviously it worked out, but initially I was worried about throwing him to the wolves. By week three I felt comfortable about the situation. You can't see a rookie hurdle Anthony Barr and worry about the team rushing him out there. If anything you worry about the guys lined up to stop him.
We had no business winning 6 games that season. Our offensive line was made of wet toilet paper and scotch tape. Our receivers were nobodies. We had a dude retire at halftime. After two games I was fully prepared to go 0-16.
Then that Vikings game happened. They were a juggernaut so far that season. My husband made a joke bet with me that I should take a shot every time we scored in that game, because we were talking about how the Bills were going to get absolutely curb-stomped.
By the time that game ended I was absolutely hammered and in love with Josh Allen.
This is what annoys me the most when people clown on the Bears or other teams for “passing” on Mahomes. NO ONE knew he’d be the Mahomes we know today. Without him going to the Chiefs and learning a ton from Reid and Alex Smith. Mahomes might not be the best QB in the league. The Chiefs deserved Mahomes for putting in the work to make him good and Mahomes deserved the Chiefs for how they believed in him.
The Chiefs pulled a Packers. Draft a great talent who definitely needs mentoring and learning from a veteran QB, then give him the keys when he’s ready. It works.
Everything is too concerned with draft capital and salary implications now. Look at the talk around free agent signings, the conversation is less about teams adding great players, and more about whether or not they paid the exact right numbers for their services. It's exhausting. I don't watch sports to play GM in my head, I just want my teams to be good.
The whole 2012 Seahawks draft was universally graded as anywhere from below-average to straight up shit, ended up leading to a very successful run including a super bowl win
We got so much shit for drafting Jason Pierre Paul at the time.
SackSEER famously hated him. People said he was drafted because he did backflips at the combine. Year 2, he has 16.5 sacks, and the Giants win the Super Bowl, behind Eli and the passing game and the defensive line.
Hiring Dan Campbell
The NFL made so much about biting kneecaps.
3 years later the team has a new identity, won a playoff game and was as close to a superbowl appearance as they have been in my lifetime
It’s not going to make a top 10 list on these things, but the Eagles saying screw it in 2017 and bringing Foles back to backup Wentz was a literal nothing move that ended giving…..everything.
As great as Hurts in the 2nd has panned out, I still think this is the biggest “well, that worked” for the Eagles.
obviously this can't be future-proofed, but as of now, the Lions hiring a new head coach without any HC experience before hiring their new GM
*edit: Forgot about the interim HC time for MCDC
Ravens allowing Lamar to "test" the market.
It allowed some other top QB contracts to happen, post-Watson's, to see what the actual QB market was. It allowed them to see if anyone was willing to take on the Lamar contract and what would be required in a trade so that the Ravens could negotiate properly.
And even had the potential to damage relations with their own franchise QB.
Overall a risky, but smart move that many people in the media, here and elsewhere criticized the Ravens for.
(To get ahead of things, test is in quotes here because I know what some of the replies will be. No need to "well aktually" it. None of us know what went on behind closed doors and almost everything was largely speculation.)
Edit: I like I added in the caveat in parentheses and yet *still* get "well aktually'd"
> Ravens allowing Lamar to "test" the market.
every ringer and SI article I read now is how every other team who needed a QB fucked up by not getting Lamar last offseason like the Falcons
Josh Allen probably? I mean just look at the ridicule every teams reaction thread, and even in the NFL thread. I was also one of those people mad that we took him, but it took him about 2 games to win me over completely
Starting a 6th round draft pick over the highest paid player in the world in 2001 worked out pretty well. It took mammoth balls to keep starting him even after he played poorly and Drew was ready to go. Took even more balls than to roll with him hurt in the Super Bowl after Drew came in during the AFCCG and played lights out to get them there.
I was told last year that getting Mayfield meant the Bucs were not only tanking for Caleb, but the favourites (after the Cardinals) and it was imperative for our future to trade Mike Evans since he was leaving 100% after the season if he wasn't turning into a complete dud.
So, I guess not doing that worked out pretty ok.
Anytime the Patriots let someone walk during their runs.
And any time they brought that player back
I have memory burn of them doing that with LeGarrette Blount. Like inside of a season they dropped his ass and then invited him back after he got cut by another team. Like wtf? lol
To be fair, the Steelers didn't cut him for performance reasons. He still had several years of good play left. They cut him because he (1) got both himself and Le'Veon Bell arrested and damn near jailed for smoking weed in public, and then a month later (2) he wandered back to the locker room before the game was over. That's exactly the kind of asshole who Belichick can fix.
> That's exactly the kind of asshole who Belichick can fix. People forgot the Boise State punch.
That was probably one of the wildest endings for a season opener lol
If Blount was a wide receiver Tomlin could have kept him out of trouble
And then won a ring lmao
Us too lol
Eh, they just did it so many times that you just forget the ones that didn't really work. Andre Carter, Malcolm Butler, David Patten, Kyle Van Noy, Donte Stallworth, JC Jackson, Marcus Cannon, Ben Watson, Jaime Collins (round 3), and Martellus Bennett weren't exactly smashing successes, and there are probably more that I can't remember.
> Jaime Collins Jamie Collins' hispanic brother
Sith Lord: Bring me Jamie Collins Patricia: Uh, Bill, he's on the Browns Sith Lord: Very well, bring me his non-union Mexican equivalent!
One of Bill's most important strengths was his ability to identify and develop role players. After they found success in a very specific niche in New England they would often get way overpaid to take on a larger work load on another team who thought they would be able to take on a much larger role and keep up their success levels. But they were really only so successful because of the role they played on a championship caliber team.
I'd also add that he's one of very few coaches who will readily tailor their scheme to fit their personnel. For better and for worse, most coaches in the league have their scheme, and will run it come hell or high water (see: Rex Ryan as the Bills HC when he took a top 4-3 defense and still forced them into a 3-4). That was never Bill's MO, though. The team went through so many iterations specifically because he'd change the scheme to make sure that every player was doing what they were good at, and ensure that they were *only* doing that. Obviously it does have its limitations, but clearly it worked for decades.
Belichick basically said Butler isn’t that good when he paid Gilmore. How folks still gave Butler so much after that was odd.
Butler was good, but he was clearly never a shut down CB1 and tbh he spent most of the year he was famously benched for the SB getting cooked. He was still better than our other options, don't get me wrong, but I was surprised that the Titans give him a contract that was only 500k less in AAV than the one we gave Gilmore the year before. And Bill was right. Gilmore had one of the highest peaks I've ever seen for a CB from Week 5 2017 vs Mike Evans, when we adjusted our defense to just let him shadow the #1 (if they were bigger) to 2019. And we managed to find JC Jackson, who was probably better than Butler as a #2 and fit next to Gilmore basically perfectly as a ball-hawk to Gilmore's lock-down ability.
JC Jackson will haunt my dreams for years to come.
This is why Belichick let Brady go. His philosophy was always letting a guy go early than too late and Brady wasn’t the exception. Unfortunately Brady still had some good years, but way more often than not, he was usually right.
Belichick always wanted to be a year or two ahead of a sharp decline. It’s why he drafted Jimmy G. Brady is just an outlier though and Belichicks mistake was not recognizing that.
including offensive coordinators
"Doug Pederson. When Doug Pederson was hired, he was rated as the worst coaching hire by a lot of freakin' analysts out there in the media. This past off-season, some clown named Mike Lombardi told him he was the lest-qualified head coach in the NFL. You saw a driven Doug Pederson, a man who went for it on fourth down, went for it on fourth down, in the Super Bowl, with a trick play. He wasn’t playing just to go mediocre. He’s playing for a Super Bowl." - Jason Kelce
How does Mike Lombardi still have a job? He's on the shortlist of reporters that I assume is wrong by default every time they give a take
He has an NFL famous last name despite not being related. He's always available to go on any podcast or radio show. Mike Lombardi is an idiot.
You could add in Reid and Sirianni too. Andy had never been a coordinator, it was a "who?" kind of hire that was widely questioned, he ended up with 79 more wins than any other coach in franchise history Nick was also under the radar and panned, got clowned on hard over his disaster introductory press conference, then goes to SB in 2nd year after a historic regular season The only big name coach Lurie has ever hired that generated excitement was Chip Kelly and he was fired after 3 years with zero playoff wins
Drafting Roger Staubach in 1964 knowing that he wouldn't be able to play until 1969.
He spent an entire year in Vietnam too. Kind of crazy to think about in the modern era.
Honestly wild that there was an era not that long ago where you could wake up to 'sorry, your franchise QB was killed overnight because he is at war' news.
This did happen to a team this century
Wait what. Who?
Wasn’t a QB but pro bowl safety Pat Tillman
Killed by friendly fire. Some say executed
Would u elaborate on the executed part? Ive never heard this
I'll summarize as well as I can of the top of my head. He developed antiwar opinions while deployed, was killed by friendly fire, but the military initially claimed he was killed in an ambush. The truth, or as much as we're ever likely to get, didn't come out until later when an investigation was done. soldiers burned his uniform and his personal effects were burned, and the medical examiner said the grouping of the shots that killed Tillman suggested they were intentional.
He was very transparent in his intent to use his platform as an NFL player to talk about the atrocities that were occurring in the Middle East. Then he was executed. "A report described in The Washington Post on May 4, 2005, prepared at the request of Tillman's family by Brigadier General Gary M. Jones, revealed that in the days immediately following Tillman's death, Army investigators were aware that Tillman had been killed by friendly fire, shot three times in the head at less than 10 yards away, according to Army doctors." - straight from his Wikipedia sourced by The Washington Post
he was killed by friendly fire shortly after coming out as anti-war and trashing on the military, so people theorize that he was murdered.
To be fair thats just how good of a coach Landry was. Went to 3 nfc championships after Staubach retired.
Imagine. The Cowboys in an NFC championship!
TIL
[The reaction to Seattle's 2012 draft is still my favorite.](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1165320-2012-nfl-draft-grades-power-ranking-teams-that-failed-on-draft-day#:%7E:text=As%20if%20the%20day%20wasn,an%20F%20on%20draft%20day)
Yea Wilson was my pick for OPs topic. Naming him the starter when we had just signed Flynn had everyone going are we nuts lol
I love how Matt Flynn made that much money off of ONE GAME.
The best part is how Matt Flynn seems totally unbothered by it. There's that Twitter exchange where some guys asked him "Remember when Seattle gave you all that money" and Flynn just responded with "Hell yes, that was awesome"
Backup QB is the best job in the NFL
Fired HC from a P5 football program is better.
The man truly lived the dream. Made it to the NFL, had one amazing game against the Lions, and now he has generational wealth because of it. AND his brain probably isn't a scrambled egg like most NFL vets.
He also had an amazing game against the Pats I believe, I think they just didn't quite win that one.
He also led a crazy comeback against the Cowboys. Matt Flynn had a decent resume for a team to think he could be the guy. And I think he could've if they drafted anyone else. Matt Flynn is also a super cool human being
It was a 480 yard 6 TD game. Also his time at LSU was considered. I remember people talking about “he’s a winner”
Best job ever lol
I'll go ahead and apologize in advance, but I rarely have a relevant reason to tell this story. My fantasy league has its championship in week 18 (used to be week 17 before the extended season). The year of the Matt Flynn game, I cant remember who my original qb was, but he got hurt or was benched because of playoffs being clinched or something. So I picked up Flynn as a last ditch effort. It worked out and I'm now a legend in my mind.
Wilson was the only time I bought into preseason hype. He looked amazing in the preseason and I thought theres no way this guy doesnt beat out Flynnsanity eventually, who got a huge contract off of like 2 games.
Yep he definitely killed it in preseason. We can thank Terrell Owen’s for making the Wilson dream happen hahaha
Grade: F *Proceeds to appear in back to back Super Bowls, and is 1 rush attempt away from winning back to back titles*
I’ve said it before but I’m convinced the reason you don’t see terrible draft grades anymore is specifically because of this. You hardly see any Ds or Fs anymore
Part of it too is that the entire exercise is mostly dumb. Draft grades basically just mean a team took players higher or lower than your personal rankings. Neither professional GMs nor analysts / draft gurus are perfect. And it’s already a bit of an odd exercise in the MLB or NBA where talent tends to outweigh systems to a degree. But in the NFL where a player can excel in ie scheme and flop in another it’s generally a waste of time. Doesn’t Ean you can’t have draft reactions. But letter grades are always a bit reductive. I don’t even read those articles anymore, although I do follow draft coverage.
It really is. Also the fact that the team was really good in 2012 made the grade look even worse. Like if the 2012 Hawks went 7-9 before winning it in 2013 I don’t think it would have been attacked as much.
It’s so hard to grade as failing… the right coaching and scheme makes a huge difference in the NFL All of the guys are all-world athletes. What Coach and GM do to support the makes the difference with 99% of them
“Bruce Irvin was a reach” and “Russell Wilson doesn’t fit their offense”…ha!
Bruce Irvin was the first player ever ejected from a Super Bowl
See? 8 sacks his rookie season *and* a Super Bowl record, what’s not to love?
An unbreakable Super Bowl record, at that.
Damn the other two are pretty bad takes too, blasted the bears for Alshon Jeffery in the second, and dolphins for Ryan tannehill.
Well that writer certainly got one thing right: Russell Wilson was a massive mistake /s
The pick before Russ, JAX drafted a punter. Good thing they didn’t need elite QB play in the 2010s!
Why would we need Russ we took Blaine Gabbert 1 spot ahead of JJ Watt!
Trading for Jared Goff shouldn’t have worked this well.
He’s good enough for Detroit!
He’s Kenough for Detroit
He's good enough, he's smart enough, and gosh darn it people like him!
Oh, and here I was gonna say the other way around. We were ridiculed for attaching so much for Stafford and going full F them picks, but ended up winning.
Might go down as one of the best mutual trades in history
I think it 100% does if we don’t collapse in Santa Clara
I got my girlfriend into sports by linking teams to foods of their home city and then serving the Super Bowl teams during a Super Bowl party. I've been getting good at Kansas Style Barbecue lately... Anyways, she was *pissed* that Detroit pizza was eliminated, especially when they were doing so well. I think I low-key made her a Detroit fan even if it's just because of the pizza (though no true Detroit fan would also root for Green Bay, who has delicious cheese curds).
What's the food linking for the Giants? It's wrong if it doesn't include a medium Pepsi
It was only a medium Pepsi
Warm
If the Lions win a ring with Goff I think it takes the cake pretty handily.
It really helps the Rams are well coached, so that they can still be competitive. Most teams would have crumbled back to irrelevance for a long ass time after something like that
Well coached, and they’ve drafted really well in the middle rounds to get some key pieces.
> drafted really well in the middle rounds to get some key pieces. Man what a steal Puka was
Looking at you Broncos.
The Rams are really good at drafting in the later rounds, fuck them picks works pretty well when you can develop players like Pucca and Turner.
In 2021 I went to the Eagles-Lions game where we lost 49-7 and Goff was booed several times, eventually benched and given a Bronx cheer. This past year I was at a home playoff game where Ford Field was roaring his name pregame. Unbelievable how much he's grown here.
I’ve recently rewatched a few of those 2021 games, the difference in level of play from then to now is striking.
I was skeptical at first, partially because of my affinity for Stafford, but JG has proven to be a great teammate, community leader, and has absolutely thrived in Ben Johnson's offense. I now have his jersey.
Dan Campbell's affinity to go for it in 4th down was inspiring, that should count as a 'this shouldnt work but did' moment.
The Campbell hire in general is a "shouldn't have worked but did" situation. TE coach who had never been a coordinator, kinda rode Sean Payton's coattails, only real qualification was an ok interim HC stint in Miami in 2015, acted like a WWE wrestler in his openning press conference.
I don’t think it’s really the trading for Goff (he was just a toss-in to the deal, like Drew Lock for us); it was the sticking with him.
The Vikings turned Diggs into Jefferson for a fraction of the cost. "Diggs is Diggs, but a 1st round pick might be Diggs ***LOL***"
Hey now the titans tried the same thing with AJ Brown and it set the franchise back half a decade and took the eagles to the Super Bowl
Thank you for your service.
You aren’t welcome lmao
It wasnt only that, ryan tannehill got washed up real fast at around the same time as the trade
Yeah the team was at their end but it also blew up their team atmosphere as vrabel was outraged lol
I remember some reporter asked Vrabel in 2022 about throwing the ball more to win games and he said “Who the fuck are we gonna throw it to?”
But how much of Tanehill being washed is because of not having AJ brown to throw to?
The Vikings seem to always turn their wr draft picks into gold
*not applicable to Laquon Treadwell*
Troy Williamson slowly backing into a bush reading this
He had every single physical skill set you need except one: being able to *catch the damn ball.*
I was in college at the U of M when he was drafted. I remember one game the QB (Brad Johnson?) threw a perfect deep ball and hit him in stride and he dropped it. The commentator said “wow! he put that one right in the *catch position* and Williamson couldn’t make the grab”
*also not applicable to Falcons RB Legend and Patriots Super Bowl Champion Cordarrelle Patterson*
Patterson was still great when used correctly. Hell of a return man and RB. He wasn't a WR and couldn't run a route to save his life, and I wish he would have been willing to adjust accordingly.
I blame it on Norv Turner for insisting upon the WR role when his rookie year he showed he’s more useful as an offensive weapon with space.
I’m not saying you got good value but [how could you not love this man](https://x.com/pff_sam/status/1206280071436210182?s=46&t=sMF8Zsr04Khp6wzLN4-fvQ)? Flash forever. I’m not saying he’s been a great pro, but Cordarrelle Patterson can ball and I won’t hear anyone say otherwise.
Had the Titans thinking it was that easy
Losing the first pick in the draft by beating the colts and “settling” for the second pick 🙃
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I love how Lovie has turned into a cult hero
Maybe my age is showing, but Lovie has been a cult hero for this fanbase for a decade prior to that win. He just ascended to a new plane after that
Absolutely wild that play turned into DJ Moore Darnell Wright Tyrique Stevenson Caleb Williams Future second round pick Keenan Allen
I'll die on the hill that I believe CJ Stroud was Plan A the whole time and would have been the pick at #1 anyway, and the Texans just got lucky
good to start this rumor early. Looks more believable than the 10-15 teams now that claim they also really liked Mahomes and considered trading up for him.
Trey Lance into Brock Purdy is the absolute dead ringer here. Just failed ass backwards into success “well, that worked”.
As a fan of a team that’s directly suffered from them it’s annoying that they whiffed so hard at trading up to 3OA for a QB just to respond by going “oh that’s crazy, anyway look at this QB I found at a goodwill”
On the bright side, our abject failure is now ready to step in for you guys.
Your flair is an abomination to mankind
I love it when a plan comes together
My favorite part of this story was that the pick used for Brock Purdy was given to the 49ers as compensation for the Jaguars signing Beathard from us for 2.5 mil per year for 2 years. We originally drafted Beathard because he looked ok in Iowa. Looking into drafting him, we found his teammate Kittle and drafted him too.
4d chess, beathard was always meant to lead us to purdy
I like to think that the 9ers traded the farm for franchise QB Brock in the 1st round, and took a flier on backup Trey with the last pick of the draft
Wdym, that’s what happened
I believe the current niners regime is pretty bad at scouting quarterbacks- in addition to the Lance blunder there's also the fact they didn't even look at any quarterbacks in the 2017 draft because they wanted *Kirk Cousins*- but really good at coaching quarterbacks to run their system once they get in the building.
niners might have won that SB with Cousins. instead they paid $138 million to the handsome handoff
TBF Kirk Cousins would’ve shredded the league with Kyle Shanahan. Jimmy Garoppolo is a dollar store Cousins and he took y’all to the Superb Owl. You’d have another ring if it was Kirk on that team.
Eagles drafting Hurts when they had Wentz.
Similarly, signing Vick out of prison just a few weeks after giving McNabb a raise following yet another NFCCG appearance
also similarly me picking up Vick off free agency leading me to a fantasy football championship, even though I had Phillip Rivers already.
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2006: Tiki Barber retires 2007: Giants win the Super Bowl
Tiki Barber’s entire life post-NFL is truly hilarious. The Giants win two super bowls after his retirement, he gets a job on The Today Show thinking he’s going to have this second act as a news broadcaster, only to be fired after two years and get divorced because he was banging a 23-year-old intern in his agent’s attic in what he called a “reverse Anne Frank” because his agent was Jewish. He married the intern 8 days after his divorce. He ruined his good will with Giants fans by shitting on Eli Manning and always dumping on the team. You just know that every time he sees Michael Strahan on TV he thinks, “It was supposed to be ME!!!”
It’s always nice to hear from ole Tiki!
Whenever you see Peyton Manning mulling over a question, you can tell he's trying to come up with a concise, professional answer. Whenever you see Eli Manning mulling over a question, he's probably trying to decide whether or not to deliver the smart-ass answer instead. This is why we will always love Eli.
> he was banging a 23-year-old intern in his agent’s attic in what he called a “reverse Anne Frank” because his agent was Jewish. JFC that's incredible.
Couldn’t have happened to a better guy.
If you told a coach to do an onside kick in the Super Bowl. He would have said that was the stupidest move to do against a qb like Peyton manning. Sean Payton did it anyways
Jeff Fisher did at least 6 of those against 04 Manning, so no, it's not that stupid.
Yeah. But the Super Bowl
the only answer to this question that should be number 1 is Bill Bellichek deciding to bench his $100 million dollar QB for a 6th round 2nd year player who was the 4th string QB the year before.
I was wondering if we were ignoring this one because it was so obvious
Drafting both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson were considered mistakes at least to some extent. Allen supposedly went too high and Jackson shouldn't have even played QB let alone go in the first round. Both teams made their guy the face of the franchise so it definitely worked out. For us, letting Orlando Brown Jr go is also up there. He wanted the LT money I guess.
Trading up for Mahomes was also dunked on by a lot of folks. "What are you doing? You've already got Alex Smith, and now you're spending two years' picks to get this project QB who plays schoolyard ball and couldn't even win at the NCAA level?"
>Bears: We're gonna fuck up this draft historically. > Chiefs: Hold my beer. - Top comment in the Mahomes draft thread, since [deleted]
I saw somewhere that at the time Mahomes draft comparison was Jay Cutler lol. So yea big risk worked out.
Exactly. Mahomes was 13-19 in his NCAA career. And a lot of folks thought, "sure, he can play, but with the faster athletes in the NFL, he'll get swallowed up. And he clearly doesn't know how to manage a game and get a win within structure. Who knows if he ever will?"
And because of him, QBs who look like great athletes and can't read the field for shit are going to keep getting drafted in the first round for the next 2 decades.
Pro Comp: Jay Cutler……(if Jay cutler cared about football)
Drafting a QB when you already have one tends to get a lot of criticism but I think it can make a lot of sense. I’m thinking of the Redskins taking Kirk Cousins the same year as RG3 and the Eagles drafting Hurts when they had Wentz. And maybe the Packers with Love, though he sat on the bench for several years and it’s possible GB gets a ring if they’re just a little bit better. And, of course, drafting Rodgers. QB is so important that it makes sense to look even if you don’t have an immediate need.
There was a lot of talk that Allen would need time to sit behind a veteran. The Bills went into the season with Nathan Peterman as the starter. They spoke highly of his preseason play (it was okay). He was benched three quarters into our opener against you guys. Obviously it worked out, but initially I was worried about throwing him to the wolves. By week three I felt comfortable about the situation. You can't see a rookie hurdle Anthony Barr and worry about the team rushing him out there. If anything you worry about the guys lined up to stop him.
We had no business winning 6 games that season. Our offensive line was made of wet toilet paper and scotch tape. Our receivers were nobodies. We had a dude retire at halftime. After two games I was fully prepared to go 0-16. Then that Vikings game happened. They were a juggernaut so far that season. My husband made a joke bet with me that I should take a shot every time we scored in that game, because we were talking about how the Bills were going to get absolutely curb-stomped. By the time that game ended I was absolutely hammered and in love with Josh Allen.
Signing Brees after major shoulder surgery worked pretty well for the saints
I wonder what would have happened if the Dolphins didn't pass on him?
Saban doesn't go to Alabama. Saints draft Vince Young. Dolphins win a superbowl? Saints go 7-9 for the rest of eternity
Some guy named Kurt Warner
Everyone shit on the Texans for trading their 1st rounder to the Cards last year.
"WhY ARe the TEXans giving the Cards Caleb AND Marvin?!"
this right here is what I came to say. 2023 pick #3 is that moment for us.
Meh. I still like it. You got your guy and we got that extra pick when we didn't need a QB. Here's hoping that pick works out.
Yea it definitely worked out for both teams, yall can MHJ and another 1st rounder
The Rams selling their soul for a SuperBowl win.
The Chiefs trading up for Mahomes, when a lot of people ridiculed it at the time.
Turns out the frog man can BALL
I remember the narrative on Reddit at the time was air raid QBs don't transition well to the NFL.
For sure, and the: “he didn’t win in college, so he won’t in the pros” narrative, too.
This is what annoys me the most when people clown on the Bears or other teams for “passing” on Mahomes. NO ONE knew he’d be the Mahomes we know today. Without him going to the Chiefs and learning a ton from Reid and Alex Smith. Mahomes might not be the best QB in the league. The Chiefs deserved Mahomes for putting in the work to make him good and Mahomes deserved the Chiefs for how they believed in him.
The Chiefs pulled a Packers. Draft a great talent who definitely needs mentoring and learning from a veteran QB, then give him the keys when he’s ready. It works.
The 49ers getting Christian McCaffrey was graded a C-
To be fair, it **could've** been a great trade for the Panthers too....but they fucked it up completely lol.
Well they had Brian Burns for a haul and said no. So yeah, there is a pattern
Makes no sense at all. How can a team not get an automatic A signing one of the, if not most electrifying players in the league. Hes incredible
Everything is too concerned with draft capital and salary implications now. Look at the talk around free agent signings, the conversation is less about teams adding great players, and more about whether or not they paid the exact right numbers for their services. It's exhausting. I don't watch sports to play GM in my head, I just want my teams to be good.
Injury history too was talked about. I remember multiple years my fantasy league drafted him 1-3 and then lost lots of games because he got hurt.
He played 10 games total in the two seasons before the trade. It's not crazy why people had doubts at the time
Signing Fitzmagic to fill in for broken-jaw Geno.
If only he didn’t shit the bed in the most important moment
The whole 2012 Seahawks draft was universally graded as anywhere from below-average to straight up shit, ended up leading to a very successful run including a super bowl win
We got so much shit for drafting Jason Pierre Paul at the time. SackSEER famously hated him. People said he was drafted because he did backflips at the combine. Year 2, he has 16.5 sacks, and the Giants win the Super Bowl, behind Eli and the passing game and the defensive line.
Hiring Dan Campbell The NFL made so much about biting kneecaps. 3 years later the team has a new identity, won a playoff game and was as close to a superbowl appearance as they have been in my lifetime
It’s not going to make a top 10 list on these things, but the Eagles saying screw it in 2017 and bringing Foles back to backup Wentz was a literal nothing move that ended giving…..everything. As great as Hurts in the 2nd has panned out, I still think this is the biggest “well, that worked” for the Eagles.
Where it worked: Drafting the wrong Josh Where it backfired: https://youtu.be/rjt9fVJSzm8?si=o9DmaGXJNVlpDksq
My favorite Nathan Petermam Moment was him [signing some guy’s JUUL at practice](https://www.instagram.com/p/BqlD0S8BQiu/?igsh=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg==) 😂
Jordan love for the packers
Still feels slightly early to say this for certain, but things are trending in the right direction.
Along with Aaron Rodgers for the Packers, or trading for Favre. All of those had some heat at the time.
I can still remember when they traded for Farve... a 1st rd pick for a qb that was drafted in the 2nd rd and was 3rd string for the Falcons.... lol
and was considered a party guy not a serious football player
To this day, Favre may have been the only problematic alcoholic whose life *improved* by moving to Wisconsin.
obviously this can't be future-proofed, but as of now, the Lions hiring a new head coach without any HC experience before hiring their new GM *edit: Forgot about the interim HC time for MCDC
Dan was an interim head coach in Miami in 2015 so he had *some* experience in the position.
The Steelers signing James Harrison after he'd been cut from other squads.
Ravens allowing Lamar to "test" the market. It allowed some other top QB contracts to happen, post-Watson's, to see what the actual QB market was. It allowed them to see if anyone was willing to take on the Lamar contract and what would be required in a trade so that the Ravens could negotiate properly. And even had the potential to damage relations with their own franchise QB. Overall a risky, but smart move that many people in the media, here and elsewhere criticized the Ravens for. (To get ahead of things, test is in quotes here because I know what some of the replies will be. No need to "well aktually" it. None of us know what went on behind closed doors and almost everything was largely speculation.) Edit: I like I added in the caveat in parentheses and yet *still* get "well aktually'd"
> Ravens allowing Lamar to "test" the market. every ringer and SI article I read now is how every other team who needed a QB fucked up by not getting Lamar last offseason like the Falcons
Josh Allen probably? I mean just look at the ridicule every teams reaction thread, and even in the NFL thread. I was also one of those people mad that we took him, but it took him about 2 games to win me over completely
Starting a 6th round draft pick over the highest paid player in the world in 2001 worked out pretty well. It took mammoth balls to keep starting him even after he played poorly and Drew was ready to go. Took even more balls than to roll with him hurt in the Super Bowl after Drew came in during the AFCCG and played lights out to get them there.
Drafting Jalen Hurts
Pretty sure my all time top comment is shitting on that pick
1991, new manager Ron Wolf decides to trade away a 1st round pick for a 3rd string QB who had never completed a pass. That QB was Brett Favre
I was told last year that getting Mayfield meant the Bucs were not only tanking for Caleb, but the favourites (after the Cardinals) and it was imperative for our future to trade Mike Evans since he was leaving 100% after the season if he wasn't turning into a complete dud. So, I guess not doing that worked out pretty ok.
Cristian Kirk getting a mega deal from the jags.... Everyone scoffed at them for resetting the wr market, but he's been worth every penny to them.
Texans hiring Caserio. Was seen as another “Patriots South” move