SmokinwithWilly

That's the really sad part is it wasn't a hindsight pick. LT had been a huge need for years and Slater was an absolute beast at NW. I always thought he and Sewell were 2 of the safest picks in the draft. I think the thing that frustrates me the most is if you asked me to describe our team building philosophy, I'm not sure I could come up with any direction. It really feels like throw it at the wall and see what sticks.

Still cant believe Rhule said he didn't have him as an NFL tackle after being 2nd team all pro his rookie season.

Panic pick when all the edge rushers had been flying off the board. Fitts reminds me of the guy that draft a kicker in the 8th rd of your fantasy draft because he doesn't know who else to pick.

Id argue we needed a LT more than CB. Slater was sitting there available. The Lions crushed my dreams at 7, but we had been bandaiding that position for far too long. Having your LT get spun more than a merri go round is what this team had already been dealing with since Gross retired. JMO, but that was a far bigger need.

You don't overpay for running backs. They're a dime a dozen. CMC is special but was criminally wasted here. Dallas had an elite oline for years and as a result, had elite RBs. When that oline play dropped, so did their elite RB status.

Not really. Mahomes is the most recent. Love sat behind Rodgers and didn't look bad yesterday but it's too early to tell if that's an anomaly.

It's crazy how many hammies have popped this year already. It seems to be the most common injury so far. These turf fields need to go.

It's not a total rebuild, it's a partial rebuild. Either you commit to a rebuild or you don't. We better hope BY is our franchise guy or we'll be doing a real rebuild in 3 years.

Getting Tepper to write him a paycheck.

I took him in the 2nd of our Huddle FF draft. The injury to Kelce makes me more nervous. If I can come out of week 4 at 2-2 I'll feel better.

No pick is that high.

We're talking multi level contracts here which I do understand and I think we're actually looking at things the same but possibly from different perspectives and using different terms. There are different ways to guarantee money whether it's through a signing bonus, penalty clause, etc. Like you said in your example, it's an $80M guarantee instead of a 40 all in how it's worded because no team would eat that type of hit after 1 bad season. Burns may be looking for a 100m guaranteed no matter how it's worded. Agents and teams manipulate these numbers through the terms. In the end, no matter what happens, through the terms of the contract, he's "guaranteed" to make at least 100m. That's what I mean by the guaranteed number is the only one that matters. Everything else can be twisted, contorted, reworked, restructured, whatever. His contract is still worded so he's "guaranteed" to earn 100m at a minimum, no matter what.

I get what you're saying but I was trying to simplify it because NFL contracts are such a complex thing. Guarantees are what matters however they're structured.

We're not upset at Burns. This is about contracts and value as a commodity, and like it or not, that's what he is. He wants to get his and that's fine. The thing most people are pissed about is how this was handled by the front office. By rejecting the trade, we said we valued him at higher than 2 1sts and a 2nd, then tried to pay him like a player we valued less than that. All of this was discussed at the time of the offer. And if we as fans know it, you know they did too.

Pretty much. How's he handled this is a crash course in what not to do.

Guaranteed money is always the hang up in these contracts because it's the only number that really matters. He could sign a $750m 5 year contract with 0 guaranteed, shred his knee game 1 and get cut the next day with zero penalties. If he's got 100m guaranteed, he gets 100m no matter what. That's why that's always the sticking point.

Makes sense as a move because there was no way for him to learn the offense that fast.

Or maybe we recognize that when you put a Ferrari in the slow lane on cruise control doing 55 you're wasting the damn car. His rookie year, he looked like the best defensive player in the draft, then Rhule moved him and his play suffered dramatically so he kept him there. Hopefully this staff can get him back to doing what he did then, because if not, we're wasting his damn talent.

Quite possible. His rookie year he should have been DROY easily. He was everything Simmons was supposed to be, until our own coaches found a way to neutralize him.

While true, he's not the one that stood on a podium and said Burns is a big part of our future plans and he will be here in 2023. Fitts publicly announced to the world that we were going to do anything to sign him. While we all knew it, saying it to the rest of the NFL and the world wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Not the trade up necessarily more so the panic behind the Corral and Johnson trades. Both weren't done necessarily because of the quality of the player but rather there had been a run on the position and he thought we were going to get left with nothing. Corral has already been cut and we've yet to see what DJ brings.

Stats are irrelevant. Feelings are all that matters.

My confidence in Fitts is gone. There have been 2 major blunders already this off-season. 1. Panicking and trading up for DJ Johnson. Regardless of if he works out or not, its the second panic pick in as many years. 2. The whole Burns disaster. Completely foreseeable and avoidable no matter which side of the trade you're on. I don't want any more.

Lions offense put up 6500 yards last season behind only the Chiefs and Eagles and 5th in scoring. That is a high power offense and they retained their OC who was being sought out for a HC job by multiple teams including the Panthers. Best 2022 AFC offense vs 3rd ranked NFC offense. Pretty much the definition of 2 high Octane offenses.

Their offense is good. It's the opening of fantasy football as well. High octane, high scoring offenses draw viewers. Made total sense to have this as a season opener.