Lots of transactions took place in the final week of the preseason. Most of the transactions usually are about teams cutting players to set up their fifty-three men roster for the new season. Some of the players who get cut are good but not good enough for the team that ended up releasing them. However this year, the last week of the preseason didn't start with teams cutting players. It started with Eric Decker of the New England Patriots retiring. Then Odell Beckham Jr. getting the richest wide receiver contract of all-time. Then Aaron Rodgers getting the most expensive contract of all-time. We also got the news of Dez Bryant saying no to the Browns' contract offer of five million dollars. A lot happened last week. Let's review some of the major transactions from the final preseason week.
Eric Decker, are you serious?
Signed by the Patriots on August the 2nd. Said that his entire offseason plan was to sign with the Patriots. Decker got what he wanted but then didn't put up the work to make his plan successful. His plan was to play for the Patriots after getting signed by them, and give his career a new life. Last two years of Eric Decker have been pretty awful. Decker's last two seasons were with the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans. In those two seasons, he caught sixty-three passes for a total of 757 yards and only three touchdowns. Those numbers are not good for even a season, let alone for two seasons. According to Shannon Sharpe, Eric Decker retired two years ago and waited until this year's preseason to make it official.
Did the Giants make a mistake by giving OBJ the biggest wide-receiver contract ever?
The money that the Giants paid Odell Beckham Jr. was the right amount for Beckham. Does he deserve to be the highest paid receiver? No, but at the moment, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones are in their second contract with the teams that drafted them. Once they become free agents again or enter the final year of their second contract, they should get paid more than what OBJ will be getting for the next five years. But as of right now, OBJ deserve the money he received from the New York Football Giants.
Now Odell Beckham Jr needs to make big-time plays for the Giants. He can't just give them numbers. He should make game-winning plays now. He should be the reason or one of the major reason for Giants winning the majority of their games this year. If the Giants make it to the playoffs, Beckham will need to give his best performance of his career. Why would he need to do that? Well, if you remember 2016-17 postseason, he dropped passes. Some of those dropped passes came on third-downs. He is Eli's best weapon since Eli became the starter in 2004-05, but him and Eli haven't won a playoff game yet. Beckham does help Eli with making his stats look good, but those numbers don't result in winning games. Word is out there from the Giants' management that Odell Beckham will become one of the leaders of the team. That's something I don't think Beckham could do for the Giants. At least for now, he needs to control himself first. The Giants should wait for a year before they give Beckham that title. Pretty soon, in less than six months, we will find out if the Giants made the right decision by giving Beckham a five-year, ninety-five million dollar contract.
Teddy Bridgewater shipped to New Orleans!
So it seems like Teddy is going to be a backup quarterback for the rest of his football career. I never understood why the New York Jets signed him earlier in the offseason when their plan all along, was to get a quarterback of the future in the draft. The Jets even moved up three slots in the draft to ensure themselves of getting at least the third best quarterback in the draft. According to many football experts, they got the best quarterback in Sam Darnold. This kid has the potential to turn around the Jets' franchise from a laughing stock into a dynasty in three to four years from now.
I didn't mind the Jets trading away Teddy for a third-round pick, but why sign him in the offseason and tell him that they have plans for him? I'm pretty sure Teddy didn't sign with the Jets to become their backup quarterback or being traded to a team where he could back up a hall of fame quarterback. He wanted to prove to the world that he could still play and was worthy of a first-round pick that Minnesota Vikings spent on him in 2014. However, Teddy did say he is excited to learn from Drew Brees and become a better quarterback during his time with the Saints. All I could say to Teddy is that he better find what he's looking for quick otherwise, his career would be considered a total bust.
Dez Bryant to the Browns: I deserve a better team!
Back in April, Dez Bryant said no to the Baltimore Ravens. Most of us assumed he didn't sign with the Ravens because he wanted to stay in the NFC East and get his revenge from the Dallas Cowboys for how they treated him in the offseason. Fast forward to August, after Dez Bryant didn't get any calls from the Redskins, Eagles, or the Giants, he received an invitation from the Cleveland Browns to discuss a contract. According to Hue Jackson, the head coach of the Browns, the meeting between him and Dez went well. It was so good according to Hue, that he wanted to sign Dez Bryant to his squad for five million dollars. Dez Bryant basically said, 'no thank you!'
So what does Dez Bryant want? Where does he wanna go? It seems like to me he wants to play for a Super Bowl contending team. My best guess is that he wants to play for the New England Patriots, who do have a need at the receiver position. Tom Brady thinks Dez Bryant is a 'helluva of a player,' but we all know he wouldn't like him for his offense. Dez Bryant, led the league in drops last year. He is known to get upset when things don't go his way and the team is losing. Finally, smart players have struggled to understand the Patriots' complex offensive playbook. I think Dez would have a really hard time understanding Patriots' playbook. Would I love to see Dez Bryant in New England and have a monster year? Sure, but I don't think he has anything left in him. He does have the desire to play football, but he doesn't offer much with running routes and he has lost some of his speed. In order to play receiver for New England, you need to know your routes and have the speed to run it. I would recommend Dez Bryant to sign with the Browns (if they still have a contract for him) and prove to all of us that he is still Dez Bryant of 2014!
The two Aarons got their money!
Aaron Donald is now the highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL, and Aaron Rodgers is the highest paid player overall. Let's start with Donald.
To me, Donald is the best defensive player in the NFL, and he should have been the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. Well, he was for less than a day before the Oakland Raiders traded Khalil Mack to Chicago Bears, who gave Mack the big deal to make him the richest defensive player. Anyhow, Donald finally got the contract that he had been waiting for since the end of last season. First, I thought the LA Rams might not be able to pay him after they gave out expensive contracts to Todd Gurley (who also deserves his money), Ndamukong Suh, Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters, and Brandin Cooks. It wasn't just me but the whole NFL world was thinking, why the Rams are paying everybody but their best player in Aaron Donald? Paying Donald should have been the first priority, but it's better to get it done later than never. However, I still don't understand from where the Rams are getting the money to pay all these players? It certainly seems like they are working with a different salary cap than the rest of the league.
Health is important for Rodgers, but on the other hand, he needs to win (in my opinion) two more Super Bowls in the next five years. Those of you who are saying he doesn't need to win a Super Bowl or two to prove his greatness, are not being realistic. You don't play in this league to show off your arm talent, or strength, or ability to move with your legs. You also don't play in this league to have the best passer rating, which Rodgers does have. You play in this league to win championships! If Rodgers' career ends with only one Super Bowl ring, it won't be considered a failure, but it won't be considered as one of the greatest. It will be ordinary for a player of Rodgers' caliber.
It was gutsy, but the Raiders made the right call by letting go of Mack!
Let me just say this. If you don't have Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Montana, or John Elway, then you need more than one player to compete for Super Bowls every year. There has never been a player besides the ten greatest quarterbacks, who would help their teams compete for multiple Super Bowls year in and year out. Was Khalil Mack the best player on the Raiders' roster before they decided to trade him? Yes, he was, but what did the Raiders do with him in their four years together? They went to the playoffs only once with him, and they were eliminated in the wild-card round by the Houston Texans, led by Brock Osweiler. Mack's individual numbers were great, but they didn't help the team win games. He is a top two defensive player in the NFL, yet the defense he played for, was atrocious in the last four years. Mack's defense got shredded by pretty much every single offense in the NFL. The Raiders once had a stretch in which they went over ten games without an interception. You are telling me that the Raiders' defense would have gotten better, had Mack been paid top dollars by the management? Heck no!
Jon Gruden with this trade was able to get two first round picks for the Raiders. Granted, it is not guaranteed that either of those two picks will turn out to be as good of players as Khalil Mack has been so far, but those picks will provide the Raiders the necessary depth they need to be a complete team. Gruden knows in order to compete for titles in the NFL, depth is more important than having five to six mega superstar players on your roster. Patriots have Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, but other than those two, all of their players are B-plus at best. Now the Raiders have four first-round picks in the next two drafts, the cap money they saved by not paying Mack, and they still have a legitimate quarterback in Derek Carr. They can use three of those four picks on defense, and the fourth pick to find a star running back like Ezekiel Elliot or Todd Gurley to help out Carr in the running game. Raiders are not playing the short-term game, they are playing long-term. Jon Gruden signed a ten-year deal with the Raiders, right? They have a great chance to be a Super Bowl team by year three, and they will get to dominate the NFL, once the Patriots' dynasty is over!
Football starts in three days, and first Football Sunday is right around the corner. Happy days are here again!
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