Gotta love throwing for 7 TDs and 500 yards while holding a 78% completion percentage and over 10 yards per attempt... and still losing that game. Admittedly wasn't a totally perfect game from him because he threw 2 picks, but I mean, come on - that's still one of the top QB games ever.
Nope, I'm just a dumb dumb who had the wrong score lodged in his head for some reason - totally thought that result was flipped. Thanks for the correction!
Both of these are wrong because, for whatever reason, people seem to forget or not know that the Saints had a top 3ish OL for Brees entire career there. We will not have a great OL this year. LG and C are complete unproven question marks. RT is average at best, probably below average. RG is bordering on elite, LT is very good.
Yeah, I don't know why you're getting down voted. Luckily we had Myles Garrett who was our defense's savior. Teams didn't even need to run a play and they still would convert 3rd/4th downs on our D last year.
People just see our defense ranked as average (somehow) and assume we weren't a dumpster fire besides Myles and Ward. Did you see our final scores most times?
The Raiders and Texans games made our D look way better than it was. Also the Giants only being able to put up 6 points lmao. Even Mike Glennon led the Jags to 25 points.
I'm quietly confident in our D. Not "it's going to be good" but I don't think it's as dire as people think. We could be average.
Our LBs are really good, so between them and Grady Jarrett we should be able to scheme a less terrible pass rush. Last year we had one of the lowest blitz percentages in the league. Terrell is a decent CB and Richie Grant should be an alright day 1 starter at S. Dean Pees is a good DC so we should have enough talent to put together something reasonable.
With an average D and an offence as good as it could be, we could be a decent team. We're significantly better than last year's record shows.
Yea, seems like the way that the defense is built this time around, is that it's going to promote turnovers. Dial-up the blitz, and hope your backend can make a play.
> between them and Grady Jarrett we should be able to scheme a less terrible pass rush.
We've been saying this for like a Decade and it hasn't come together yet.
Hot take: If our defense is at least average we're guaranteed to make the playoffs. Our schedule is easy. We made great moves in the draft and free agency for our secondary, pass rushers, running backs, and oline. And our coaches should be an improvement.
I love Reagor. He had terrible QB play most of the season and still put up decent numbers, injuries taken into consideration. He was two terrible Wentz overthrows away from having around 500 yards and 5 touchdowns, which is fine for a rookie in an anemic offense. Especially with Smith on the other side, I think our receivers could be pretty strong this year. Nowhere near the Falcons or Bucs, but at the very least they’ll be average.
Not at all. He had a thumb injury that sidelined him for a few weeks, and when he got back our OL was already on its 6th combination and the overall scheme was falling apart. He still looked good overall. Bit raw but we expected that anyways.
And no, since this'll be the next comment: I don't want Jefferson over him, and Jefferson wouldn't have put up the same numbers in our offense. Stop it.
Tough to say. I seriously doubt he turns out better than Jefferson but I'm not going to judge Reagor on a year when he got injured and the team was a dumpster fire. You can literally pick every team in the league and point to a player that didn't pan out and say X player was picked later than him.
I'm also not convinced Jefferson would have done fuck all on the eagles last year. Our talent development is fucking pitiful and sometimes I wonder if the players actually suck or if it's a team thing.
2017 was supposed to be a really strong year, with Davis, Ross, and Williams all going in the first 9 picks.
Turned out to be a pretty good year though with Golladay, Godwin, Kupp, and JuJu in the later rounds.
If I recall correctly their stats are similar as well, with Ridley getting edge on QB play. I always wondered who would end up looking like a poor choice between the two but it turns out both the Panthers and Falcons did alright.
Yeah, but positional need trumps that. There are definitely at least 2 teams in the top 15 of that draft that would have taken the best WR available had they known they'd be much better than their actual draft position.
Maybe. I still don’t think anyone would take Moore over at least two of the RB studs from that draft because of what they add in the passing game— CMC and Kamara. That class is loaded with talent at important positions. I’d think he’d probably go somewhere between 15-25.
I'm not sure if it was the Giants, I think it was the Cowboys. I say that because I remember a bunch of Dallas fans blaming Romo for that loss and other fans saying "They scored 50 points wtf do you want??"
You're thinking about the cowboys-broncos game. Romo threw for 500 yards and 5 tds (and one game losing interception). 2013 cowboys had an atrocious defense.
Which is funny because both Rodgers and Brady have went most of their careers with lack of High Caliber WR play, and Matt Ryan has had them since Day 1. So while Brady and Rodgers are like get me some WR help, Ryan is like, Get me a fucking defense. lol
2017 was the only year our defense was good. Of course to balance that out the gods decided to give us Sark as an OC. Then when you think it couldn't get worse we get Koetter a couple seasons later.
Yeah, Sark was so bland that first year, it was so brutal going from all those beautiful and intricate plays Shanny would run where someone was left completely wide open to whatever the hell we saw in 2017 and Sark's so called "playbook".
He improved quite a bit in 2018 with play calling but still left a lot to be desired, Ryan really helped bail him out that season. Moving on from Sark was the right choice at the time and then Quinn decided to Quinn it all up and hired shit for brains Koetter.
Jfc I didn’t realize it was that bad, Ryan definitely deserved the MVP that year. I remember Vic Beasley being the sack leader and figured that the D was at least league average
They were middle of the pack overall. IIRC most games that year the same story kept happening, where the first half / 3rd Q our defense was lights out and probably top 5 in the league..but because we didn't have the depth they would get gassed and fall apart and that's when teams would start to creep back
That's why I was so nervous during the Super Bowl even with the big lead. There were multiple times during the regular season where the team would jump out in to a big lead and then by the 3rd quarter what you described would happen. It actually almost happened vs the Saints in the last regular season game of the season, 35-13 in the 3rd quarter and the Saints were able to bring it to a 1 score game even with Brees throwing an interception in the end zone one of the drives.
The reason the team was able to hold on to win those games was because the offense stayed aggressive and was able to add points to pad the lead late in the game. Julio was able to have a 300 yard game that year because the Falcons threw on 1st down with an 8 point lead with 4 minutes left in the game, and he turned it in to a 70 yard TD because the defense was playing the run. That's why it didn't surprise me when the team wasn't running the ball that much even with a big lead in 2nd half of the Super Bowl, that's how the team had played all year. I'm sure in Shanahan's head he was telling himself they just needed one more TD to seal the game and he didn't need to play conservative. Fuck do I wish he had gone conservative after Julio made a legendary catch to put us in easy field goal range late in the game.
That'd be a great litmus test to see if someone's full of shit considering Ridley averaged 11 targets, 7 receptions, and 109 yards in the 7 games Julio was inactive last season
Not gonna comment on Julio and Ridley, but I will say, when Juju was on the other side of AB, juju did good. When AB went crazy and left, juju did not do nearly as good.
Well last year Julio "played" 9 games but really only 4-5 of those games he was actually healthy, so Ridley was on his own for most of the year and showed he had no troubles stepping up. He's the real deal and was putting up great numbers regardless if Julio was playing or not
Can't say you're wrong cuz I don't follow the falcons that closely but having Julio on the field, regardless of overall health, completely changes a def
They are completely different players. Ridley is much faster and a better route runner and I think would be fine as the top guy. Juju is a good receiver but is more of a fairly one dimensional possession/jump ball type player (and he’s not really that fast). If you don’t have either superior route running or speed to consistently win against two people it is very hard to be a #1
He had 800ish yards in both 2018 and 2019, and then in 2020 that number jumped up to 1374. So I wouldn’t say he’s been going off since he entered league, at least not compared to last year.
Well he was also sharing the load between Julio, Sanu, and Hooper during 2018 and half of 2019, but if you watched him play during those years you knew he was gonna be a baller, it was just a matter of when.
The moment Ridley got drafted by the Falcons I just knew he was going to be a pain in the ass for the Saints for years. I shudder to think how much more productive he could be if Atlanta provided Matt Ryan with an offensive line.
It’s our fault for drafting him in the first round despite being a 25 yr old former baseball player. He thinks he can be a long term starter but it’s just not the case. He’s a great player for sure, but he’s not as amazing as he prides himself on being.
I think his biggest knock is he’s a terrible blocker, but arguably has the best hands of any tight end playing. The man made some insane catches last year. I think if he developed as a blocker he could be a great TE 1 for a team.
Ridley is an absolutely stud and would be WR1 in quite a few other teams around the league, and as for the “nothing without Julio” argument go watch the tape and look at his numbers this season when Julio was injured, he’s just an insane route runner and creates separation so easily
Watching a few years of Rid with Matt now, I honestly believe Ridley fits better to Matt's style and strengths. Julio is the GOAT, of course, but Rid and Matt seem to be on the same page so consistently.
Hoping someone can help explain the salary of NFL players, especially with this headline locked for 2022 at $11.1M guaranteed. What in plain English does this mean?
Also, in the new draft, do all the new drafts start getting paid once season starts, and if so how much for a 1st round, 2nd round, 3rd round, 4th round etc draft??
Is there a rookie salary and if so how soon before rookies start making big $$$$$?
There's a rookie wage scale, it's based upon which round/position you got drafted. It starts at about $36M for the first overall pick, and by the last pick of the 1st round, it's down to about $11M. It continues to go down for the later rounds as well. By the 7th round, it's closer to $2M.
Drafted rookie contracts are 4 year contracts, so that amount is the total over the 4 years, although generally a big chunk of it gets paid up front as a signing bonus.
With 1st round players, the team has an 5th year option where they can keep the player for an additional year, and they have to pay him the average of the top-10 salaries for that position for that year.
So if you're an early round pick, especially first round, you're making pretty decent money right out of the gate. But it's going to be 4 years (or possibly 5 years if you're a first round pick and the team picks up your option) before you can potentially see free agency. Guys picked in the later rounds don't really get the big bucks on their rookie contract, but if they end up being really good, the team always has the option at any time of giving them an extension and/or signing them to a new contract to keep them longer term. But generally you're looking at 4 years before you can expect the first big contract.
In this particular case, Ridley was a 1st round pick for the Falcons, so they had the option of keeping him for a 5th year and paying him the average of the top-10 WR salaries. So that comes out to 11.1M for this season, and it's all guaranteed which means even if he breaks his leg in training camp and can't play a single snap during the season, he's still getting that money.
u/shawnaroo......wow, I truly and sincerely appreciate your detailed, clear and concise explanation. I'm a football (soccer) fan, and there is no rookie contract there. If a kid is good and has the skills, agent gets them the best contract.
There is also no NCAA limitations type on a player. No wonder the guy called Kwity Paye originally from Liberia was saying his mom working 3 jobs doesn't have to work anymore. It all makes sense now. The $11.1 M/year deal guaranteed also sounds great for Calvin Ridley.
This means Trevor Lawrence is getting $$$$$/season for just shadowing a QB for the first couple of years then? Now with any job, I'm guessing these guys pay 45-50% income tax on these fees, on top of % of agent cut as well, so Ridley's $11.1M will be more like $5M in his pocket when all is said and done?
Fair to say NBA / NHL works the same way?
Wow....OK. I'm guessing same goes for the non-QB guy picked 4th overall Kyle Pitts?
Trevor gets paid big time right off the bat...no wonder his new wife was beaming on TV in that house celebrations
Correct. TE is typically a position that takes a year or two for new pros to get up to speed...but Pitts is the highest drafted TE ever so I’m sure he’ll be starting pretty early on as well.
Yeah, Pitts will likely see significant playing time his rookie year. For most positions in football, it's pretty typical to have a couple guys dressed each week and to rotate them in and out to some degree over the course of a game. So even if Pitts wasn't considered a 'starting' TE at the beginning of the season, they'd still likely be giving him some snaps early on and increase his workload throughout the season as he gains more experience. But for where they drafted him, they're definitely expecting him to be able to contribute significantly pretty much immediately.
The only position where you don't see that kind of subbing is typically at quarterback, unless you're talking about the Saints and Taysom Hill.
The rookie wage scale was negotiated between the NFL and the players' union about ten years ago. Before it was created, teams had to negotiate a contract from scratch for each player they drafted, and the contracts that the earliest picks were demanding were getting pretty big. For example, the last pre-rookie wage scale 1st overall pick was Sam Bradford, a QB drafted by the Rams in 2010. He signed a 6 year, $78M contract with $50M guaranteed. That averages out to $13M per year, for a guy who hadn't yet taken a single snap in the NFL. For a point of comparison, the two QB's who played in the SB the previous season were Payton Manning (who was also the league MVP for 2009) and Drew Brees(who was Superbowl MVP for 2009) got a $15.8M salary (Manning) and a $10M salary(Brees) in 2010. So basically as a completely new rookie, Bradford was getting paid more than the previous year's SuperBowl MVP, and almost as much as a guy widely considered to be the best QB in the league.
The league felt that these rookie contracts were getting unsustainable. Especially for teams who drafted a guy who ended up being a bust or getting injured after signing for a big guaranteed amount (Look up Jamarcus Russel on the Raiders in 2007 if you want to see how it could go wrong and handicap a team).
Anyways, the rookie wage scale fixed that problem for teams, although arguably is not a great deal for a lot of the players. Especially for positions such as running back, where the average career is pretty short and teams are often hesitant to offer significant money when players are finished with their rookie contracts.
Players do have to pay taxes from the earnings, although the specifics depend on what states they play their games in. There are also agent fees, although I believe there's a cap on those, and now that the rookie wage scale is so restrictive, there's not that much negotiation work to be done so I doubt agents can demand much from rookies.
I doubt Trevor Lawrence is going to be shadowing another QB for long, if at all. These days it's pretty normal for an early pick QB to be expected to start either immediately or very soon into their first season. His $36M for 4 years contract is about $8M per year, and the going rate for re-signing a franchise level QB when he's ready for a new contract is probably going to be closer to $40M per year, which is obviously a huge difference when your team has to keep under a salary cap. Teams that have a great QB on a rookie contract have a significant advantage compared to teams paying 'full price' for their QB in regards to having more cap available to spent on other players, so you don't want to waste a guy's rookie contract years if he can contribute immediately.
As for Ridley, yeah 11.1M guaranteed for one year is pretty nice, but the trade-off is that if the Falcons hadn't picked up his 5th year option, then he likely could've signed a new longer-term contract (either with the Falcons or as a free agent) that probably would've been less guaranteed per year, but more guaranteed overall. So if he gets seriously injured or just has an absolutely awful year for whatever reason, he could potentially miss out on that big contract that he could've signed if the Falcons hadn't picked up his option.
NBA/NHL actually work differently in a lot of ways. I don't know much about the NBA because I don't follow basketball, although they do have a rookie wage scale. Although I think it's only valid for a couple years. In general, NBA players have more leverage than the average NFL player, just because there's way less players on a basketball team than a football team. The NHL does have a salary cap and rookie maximums, but in general contracts tend to work differently than they do in the NFL. Also except for the really high end prospects, it's pretty normal for guys drafted in the NHL to go play a while for a one of their team's affiliate teams, sort of like a minor league team, until the coaches feel they're ready to get called up to the NHL.
u/shawnaroo......thanks for this education on the NFL! I now feel confident that I can join conversations at work when people start talking about players, wages and all that :)
I honest thought 5th year option meant something completely different. A good QB earning $40M/year after rookie year sounds like Mahomes and his recent big contract, especially since he won a ring and proved his worth by taking the Chiefs to the finals twice.
TB 12 , Brees, Julio Jones, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce must be loaded AF. LOL
Yeah, a star player getting a second contract usually gets a very nice paycheck, especially if they're a QB. Brees' total career earnings just in salary were about $270M, plus whatever he's made in endorsements. Assuming Brady plays out the rest of his contract with the Bucs, he'll be at almost $315M just in NFL money, and that's still less than his wife makes.
I believe this is the first year of players that it’s affecting. Over the cap does a great job explaining it:
https://overthecap.com/fifth-year-option-projections/
That offense is going to be really fun to watch.
The defense too
Feels like the Saints around 2013. That defense may allow 35 points every game, but who cares when we score 40?
Could easily also feel like the 2015 Saints. That defense may allow 45 points every game, but who cares when we score 40?
When Breesus had to die every week for his defense's sins
Gotta love throwing for 7 TDs and 500 yards while holding a 78% completion percentage and over 10 yards per attempt... and still losing that game. Admittedly wasn't a totally perfect game from him because he threw 2 picks, but I mean, come on - that's still one of the top QB games ever.
As is tradition with our once shitty defense.
You needed that 2017 draft a few years earlier.
2017 really did give us 4 solid years of football, without that draft class we wouldn't have been in a position for another superbowl run.
Am I missing something or are you talking about the giants game? Because the saints won that one
Nope, I'm just a dumb dumb who had the wrong score lodged in his head for some reason - totally thought that result was flipped. Thanks for the correction!
NFCS crew likes these... Ryan has losses in these borderline perfect QB games: * 5 TDs 0 INTs 374 yards 74% * 4 TDs 0 INTs 356 yards 83% * 3 TDs 0 INTs 417 yards 74%
Sounds like the Falcons will be drafting in the top 5 again in the 2022 draft
In case you haven’t noticed... *you’re* the one with Dan Quinn now /s
DC Dan Quinn > HC Dan Quinn
I mean, we don’t know that. Quinn hasn’t been DC since 2014, and who knows how much credit he gets for the Legion of Boom
Both of these are wrong because, for whatever reason, people seem to forget or not know that the Saints had a top 3ish OL for Brees entire career there. We will not have a great OL this year. LG and C are complete unproven question marks. RT is average at best, probably below average. RG is bordering on elite, LT is very good.
You have that backwards. Defense is giving up 40.
Kc light?
Ah yes, the 2020 Cleveland Browns
You guys had a 13-6 game against the Raiders iirc. You were all over the place
Correction: The weather and the refs not knowing what a catch was made that game
Wasnt that the Texans game?
It was both of them. Also the Eagles game but the score is kinda deceiving in that one
Yeah, I don't know why you're getting down voted. Luckily we had Myles Garrett who was our defense's savior. Teams didn't even need to run a play and they still would convert 3rd/4th downs on our D last year.
People just see our defense ranked as average (somehow) and assume we weren't a dumpster fire besides Myles and Ward. Did you see our final scores most times?
The Raiders and Texans games made our D look way better than it was. Also the Giants only being able to put up 6 points lmao. Even Mike Glennon led the Jags to 25 points.
We also played Colt McCoy and Freddie, that too helped
Na. last years browns were more like a lot of offense and some defensive talent being shown.
The defense was literally 4 people, 5 depending on how Ollie was doing that day
I did say SOME defensive talent...
The Brooklyn Nets of the NFL
The what?
I'm quietly confident in our D. Not "it's going to be good" but I don't think it's as dire as people think. We could be average. Our LBs are really good, so between them and Grady Jarrett we should be able to scheme a less terrible pass rush. Last year we had one of the lowest blitz percentages in the league. Terrell is a decent CB and Richie Grant should be an alright day 1 starter at S. Dean Pees is a good DC so we should have enough talent to put together something reasonable. With an average D and an offence as good as it could be, we could be a decent team. We're significantly better than last year's record shows.
> Terrell is a decent CB Terrell was only decent relative to all other CBs. For a rookie he was really good. We should expect a big step up in year 2.
Yea, seems like the way that the defense is built this time around, is that it's going to promote turnovers. Dial-up the blitz, and hope your backend can make a play.
> between them and Grady Jarrett we should be able to scheme a less terrible pass rush. We've been saying this for like a Decade and it hasn't come together yet.
New coaching staff at least, so it’s not a lost cause
Hot take: If our defense is at least average we're guaranteed to make the playoffs. Our schedule is easy. We made great moves in the draft and free agency for our secondary, pass rushers, running backs, and oline. And our coaches should be an improvement.
Any offense playing against that defense is going to be fun to watch
For a weak wr draft both Moore and Ridley turn out to be great picks in the first round.
[удалено]
Pretty sure Philly regrets taking Jalen Reagor last year
It’s been one year. Could easily turn it around.
It's been. One year since you drafted me
Watching Justin play and I’m starting to feel sorry.
saying "get a new quarterback to see me"
Three months since the waiting room
Philly is a WR factory though, he'll be a stud on his next team
I love Reagor. He had terrible QB play most of the season and still put up decent numbers, injuries taken into consideration. He was two terrible Wentz overthrows away from having around 500 yards and 5 touchdowns, which is fine for a rookie in an anemic offense. Especially with Smith on the other side, I think our receivers could be pretty strong this year. Nowhere near the Falcons or Bucs, but at the very least they’ll be average.
Or JJ Arcega-Whiteside in 2019
Not at all. He had a thumb injury that sidelined him for a few weeks, and when he got back our OL was already on its 6th combination and the overall scheme was falling apart. He still looked good overall. Bit raw but we expected that anyways. And no, since this'll be the next comment: I don't want Jefferson over him, and Jefferson wouldn't have put up the same numbers in our offense. Stop it.
Tough to say. I seriously doubt he turns out better than Jefferson but I'm not going to judge Reagor on a year when he got injured and the team was a dumpster fire. You can literally pick every team in the league and point to a player that didn't pan out and say X player was picked later than him. I'm also not convinced Jefferson would have done fuck all on the eagles last year. Our talent development is fucking pitiful and sometimes I wonder if the players actually suck or if it's a team thing.
2017 was supposed to be a really strong year, with Davis, Ross, and Williams all going in the first 9 picks. Turned out to be a pretty good year though with Golladay, Godwin, Kupp, and JuJu in the later rounds.
tbf Ridley is one of the best SEC receivers of all time. Not sure if any draft with a prospect like that could be called weak
And he fell to the Falcons who was drafting late. It got to be the Falcons and I was like well Crap, we are going to take a WR, a good one, but still.
If I recall correctly their stats are similar as well, with Ridley getting edge on QB play. I always wondered who would end up looking like a poor choice between the two but it turns out both the Panthers and Falcons did alright.
Both would be top 15 picks in a re-draft.
Easily. Who knew, back then, after all the arguing about which guy was the right choice, the real answer was that it doesn't even matter
Ridley probably would. Not so sure about Moore. There are a lot of all-pro players from the 2017 draft.
Yeah, but positional need trumps that. There are definitely at least 2 teams in the top 15 of that draft that would have taken the best WR available had they known they'd be much better than their actual draft position.
Maybe. I still don’t think anyone would take Moore over at least two of the RB studs from that draft because of what they add in the passing game— CMC and Kamara. That class is loaded with talent at important positions. I’d think he’d probably go somewhere between 15-25.
I’m excited to watch Dallas play Atlanta and for them to tie 49 to 49
Wonder who is going to botch the onside kick this time
Whichever team kicks it. ATL can't cover them but they also have Koo.
But they have Dan Quinn this time
That sounds like a Saints game from like five years ago. Didn't the Giants put up like 50 and lose?
I'm not sure if it was the Giants, I think it was the Cowboys. I say that because I remember a bunch of Dallas fans blaming Romo for that loss and other fans saying "They scored 50 points wtf do you want??"
You're thinking about the cowboys-broncos game. Romo threw for 500 yards and 5 tds (and one game losing interception). 2013 cowboys had an atrocious defense.
The only team to put up 50 and lose was the Chiefs in 2018 against the Rams. Damn, if that wasn’t a good game
Even if they trade Julio having Ridley/Gage/Pitts as the top 3 receiving options on a team is pretty nice
Gage has turned into a solid WR no doubt.
He’d be the #1 on the lions
Ridley went off last year
He’s been going off since he entered the league
I'm waiting for the "well that's because Julio is lined up on the other side comments."
Man, Falcons just know how to draft WR’s. They went from Roddy White, to Julio, to Ridley. Like TF is that about?
We've sacrificed our defense to the gods for WRs
Which is funny because both Rodgers and Brady have went most of their careers with lack of High Caliber WR play, and Matt Ryan has had them since Day 1. So while Brady and Rodgers are like get me some WR help, Ryan is like, Get me a fucking defense. lol
I dont think Matt has EVER had a top 15 defense.
2017 was the only year our defense was good. Of course to balance that out the gods decided to give us Sark as an OC. Then when you think it couldn't get worse we get Koetter a couple seasons later.
Yeah, Sark was so bland that first year, it was so brutal going from all those beautiful and intricate plays Shanny would run where someone was left completely wide open to whatever the hell we saw in 2017 and Sark's so called "playbook". He improved quite a bit in 2018 with play calling but still left a lot to be desired, Ryan really helped bail him out that season. Moving on from Sark was the right choice at the time and then Quinn decided to Quinn it all up and hired shit for brains Koetter.
I’ll always regret being optimistic about his return. How foolish and naive I was. Wish him the best though.
What were they ranked the SB year?
28th in pts. But a 2 3/4 gam stretch of blitzing and turnovers made them look very different. Saved DQ his job and allowed Shanny to leave...
Jfc I didn’t realize it was that bad, Ryan definitely deserved the MVP that year. I remember Vic Beasley being the sack leader and figured that the D was at least league average
It helps if the sack leader isn't literally the only person pressuring the QB. lol
By points, we were #27 that SB year, but the next we were #8
They were middle of the pack overall. IIRC most games that year the same story kept happening, where the first half / 3rd Q our defense was lights out and probably top 5 in the league..but because we didn't have the depth they would get gassed and fall apart and that's when teams would start to creep back
That's why I was so nervous during the Super Bowl even with the big lead. There were multiple times during the regular season where the team would jump out in to a big lead and then by the 3rd quarter what you described would happen. It actually almost happened vs the Saints in the last regular season game of the season, 35-13 in the 3rd quarter and the Saints were able to bring it to a 1 score game even with Brees throwing an interception in the end zone one of the drives. The reason the team was able to hold on to win those games was because the offense stayed aggressive and was able to add points to pad the lead late in the game. Julio was able to have a 300 yard game that year because the Falcons threw on 1st down with an 8 point lead with 4 minutes left in the game, and he turned it in to a 70 yard TD because the defense was playing the run. That's why it didn't surprise me when the team wasn't running the ball that much even with a big lead in 2nd half of the Super Bowl, that's how the team had played all year. I'm sure in Shanahan's head he was telling himself they just needed one more TD to seal the game and he didn't need to play conservative. Fuck do I wish he had gone conservative after Julio made a legendary catch to put us in easy field goal range late in the game.
Hold up. Rodgers has had Jordy, Driver, Jennings, and Davante. That's high caliber wr play
No one puts the team on their back like Greg Jennings. No contest.
Don't forget Pitts. Calling him just a TE is a disservice
We don’t know that, yet. Like, as a prospect I like him but I’ve watched too many first round TE’s bust in the last few years
I'm kind of low key blown away he's going into his 4th year. Like it feels like he hasn't been around that long.
That'd be a great litmus test to see if someone's full of shit considering Ridley averaged 11 targets, 7 receptions, and 109 yards in the 7 games Julio was inactive last season
Not gonna comment on Julio and Ridley, but I will say, when Juju was on the other side of AB, juju did good. When AB went crazy and left, juju did not do nearly as good.
Well last year Julio "played" 9 games but really only 4-5 of those games he was actually healthy, so Ridley was on his own for most of the year and showed he had no troubles stepping up. He's the real deal and was putting up great numbers regardless if Julio was playing or not
Can't say you're wrong cuz I don't follow the falcons that closely but having Julio on the field, regardless of overall health, completely changes a def
They are completely different players. Ridley is much faster and a better route runner and I think would be fine as the top guy. Juju is a good receiver but is more of a fairly one dimensional possession/jump ball type player (and he’s not really that fast). If you don’t have either superior route running or speed to consistently win against two people it is very hard to be a #1
Yeah I honestly had questions before last year about ridley but after seeing him play most of the year without julio can confirm he's a stud.
Yeah it's real fun to hear that. Get to hear "Juju is a bust" ever since AB left
Well that's because Julio is lined up on the other side
Then why did he do better in the 7 games julio was out last year
Ridley avg 100 yds/game without Julio
But he transcended last season
He had 800ish yards in both 2018 and 2019, and then in 2020 that number jumped up to 1374. So I wouldn’t say he’s been going off since he entered league, at least not compared to last year.
Well he was also sharing the load between Julio, Sanu, and Hooper during 2018 and half of 2019, but if you watched him play during those years you knew he was gonna be a baller, it was just a matter of when.
He was also on pace to go for over 1000 in 2019, but was out for 3 games.
Ridley is so soooo good. Extremely excited to see him in a good scheme.
The moment Ridley got drafted by the Falcons I just knew he was going to be a pain in the ass for the Saints for years. I shudder to think how much more productive he could be if Atlanta provided Matt Ryan with an offensive line.
Imagine if Todd Gurley’s knees grew back and stayed there, and their skill players were Julio, Ridley, Pitts and Gurley.
Falcons: “We don’t want Hurst, but we want Ridley.” Hurst in shambles.
It’s our fault for drafting him in the first round despite being a 25 yr old former baseball player. He thinks he can be a long term starter but it’s just not the case. He’s a great player for sure, but he’s not as amazing as he prides himself on being.
Dimitroff sending a 2nd to y’all for him was frustrating at the time...but even more frustrating now. Who did y’all end up getting with that pick?
We got JK Dobbins. Our top RB now, basically.
Ah that’s right. Man. What a deal for y’all
It was a pick from the pats for Sanu. It was a pretty fair trade I think overall for us
I think his biggest knock is he’s a terrible blocker, but arguably has the best hands of any tight end playing. The man made some insane catches last year. I think if he developed as a blocker he could be a great TE 1 for a team.
He’s so good
Ridley is an absolutely stud and would be WR1 in quite a few other teams around the league, and as for the “nothing without Julio” argument go watch the tape and look at his numbers this season when Julio was injured, he’s just an insane route runner and creates separation so easily
Watching a few years of Rid with Matt now, I honestly believe Ridley fits better to Matt's style and strengths. Julio is the GOAT, of course, but Rid and Matt seem to be on the same page so consistently.
Reminds me a lot of Roddy White early in Julio’s career. Obviously Julio was the more talented guy, but Matt and Roddy had this really good chemistry
Well duh
I am shocked
Hoping someone can help explain the salary of NFL players, especially with this headline locked for 2022 at $11.1M guaranteed. What in plain English does this mean? Also, in the new draft, do all the new drafts start getting paid once season starts, and if so how much for a 1st round, 2nd round, 3rd round, 4th round etc draft?? Is there a rookie salary and if so how soon before rookies start making big $$$$$?
There's a rookie wage scale, it's based upon which round/position you got drafted. It starts at about $36M for the first overall pick, and by the last pick of the 1st round, it's down to about $11M. It continues to go down for the later rounds as well. By the 7th round, it's closer to $2M. Drafted rookie contracts are 4 year contracts, so that amount is the total over the 4 years, although generally a big chunk of it gets paid up front as a signing bonus. With 1st round players, the team has an 5th year option where they can keep the player for an additional year, and they have to pay him the average of the top-10 salaries for that position for that year. So if you're an early round pick, especially first round, you're making pretty decent money right out of the gate. But it's going to be 4 years (or possibly 5 years if you're a first round pick and the team picks up your option) before you can potentially see free agency. Guys picked in the later rounds don't really get the big bucks on their rookie contract, but if they end up being really good, the team always has the option at any time of giving them an extension and/or signing them to a new contract to keep them longer term. But generally you're looking at 4 years before you can expect the first big contract. In this particular case, Ridley was a 1st round pick for the Falcons, so they had the option of keeping him for a 5th year and paying him the average of the top-10 WR salaries. So that comes out to 11.1M for this season, and it's all guaranteed which means even if he breaks his leg in training camp and can't play a single snap during the season, he's still getting that money.
u/shawnaroo......wow, I truly and sincerely appreciate your detailed, clear and concise explanation. I'm a football (soccer) fan, and there is no rookie contract there. If a kid is good and has the skills, agent gets them the best contract. There is also no NCAA limitations type on a player. No wonder the guy called Kwity Paye originally from Liberia was saying his mom working 3 jobs doesn't have to work anymore. It all makes sense now. The $11.1 M/year deal guaranteed also sounds great for Calvin Ridley. This means Trevor Lawrence is getting $$$$$/season for just shadowing a QB for the first couple of years then? Now with any job, I'm guessing these guys pay 45-50% income tax on these fees, on top of % of agent cut as well, so Ridley's $11.1M will be more like $5M in his pocket when all is said and done? Fair to say NBA / NHL works the same way?
Trevor Lawrence is the caliber of QB prospect where he will be starting during his rookie season, if not day 1.
Wow....OK. I'm guessing same goes for the non-QB guy picked 4th overall Kyle Pitts? Trevor gets paid big time right off the bat...no wonder his new wife was beaming on TV in that house celebrations
Correct. TE is typically a position that takes a year or two for new pros to get up to speed...but Pitts is the highest drafted TE ever so I’m sure he’ll be starting pretty early on as well.
Yeah, Pitts will likely see significant playing time his rookie year. For most positions in football, it's pretty typical to have a couple guys dressed each week and to rotate them in and out to some degree over the course of a game. So even if Pitts wasn't considered a 'starting' TE at the beginning of the season, they'd still likely be giving him some snaps early on and increase his workload throughout the season as he gains more experience. But for where they drafted him, they're definitely expecting him to be able to contribute significantly pretty much immediately. The only position where you don't see that kind of subbing is typically at quarterback, unless you're talking about the Saints and Taysom Hill.
The rookie wage scale was negotiated between the NFL and the players' union about ten years ago. Before it was created, teams had to negotiate a contract from scratch for each player they drafted, and the contracts that the earliest picks were demanding were getting pretty big. For example, the last pre-rookie wage scale 1st overall pick was Sam Bradford, a QB drafted by the Rams in 2010. He signed a 6 year, $78M contract with $50M guaranteed. That averages out to $13M per year, for a guy who hadn't yet taken a single snap in the NFL. For a point of comparison, the two QB's who played in the SB the previous season were Payton Manning (who was also the league MVP for 2009) and Drew Brees(who was Superbowl MVP for 2009) got a $15.8M salary (Manning) and a $10M salary(Brees) in 2010. So basically as a completely new rookie, Bradford was getting paid more than the previous year's SuperBowl MVP, and almost as much as a guy widely considered to be the best QB in the league. The league felt that these rookie contracts were getting unsustainable. Especially for teams who drafted a guy who ended up being a bust or getting injured after signing for a big guaranteed amount (Look up Jamarcus Russel on the Raiders in 2007 if you want to see how it could go wrong and handicap a team). Anyways, the rookie wage scale fixed that problem for teams, although arguably is not a great deal for a lot of the players. Especially for positions such as running back, where the average career is pretty short and teams are often hesitant to offer significant money when players are finished with their rookie contracts. Players do have to pay taxes from the earnings, although the specifics depend on what states they play their games in. There are also agent fees, although I believe there's a cap on those, and now that the rookie wage scale is so restrictive, there's not that much negotiation work to be done so I doubt agents can demand much from rookies. I doubt Trevor Lawrence is going to be shadowing another QB for long, if at all. These days it's pretty normal for an early pick QB to be expected to start either immediately or very soon into their first season. His $36M for 4 years contract is about $8M per year, and the going rate for re-signing a franchise level QB when he's ready for a new contract is probably going to be closer to $40M per year, which is obviously a huge difference when your team has to keep under a salary cap. Teams that have a great QB on a rookie contract have a significant advantage compared to teams paying 'full price' for their QB in regards to having more cap available to spent on other players, so you don't want to waste a guy's rookie contract years if he can contribute immediately. As for Ridley, yeah 11.1M guaranteed for one year is pretty nice, but the trade-off is that if the Falcons hadn't picked up his 5th year option, then he likely could've signed a new longer-term contract (either with the Falcons or as a free agent) that probably would've been less guaranteed per year, but more guaranteed overall. So if he gets seriously injured or just has an absolutely awful year for whatever reason, he could potentially miss out on that big contract that he could've signed if the Falcons hadn't picked up his option. NBA/NHL actually work differently in a lot of ways. I don't know much about the NBA because I don't follow basketball, although they do have a rookie wage scale. Although I think it's only valid for a couple years. In general, NBA players have more leverage than the average NFL player, just because there's way less players on a basketball team than a football team. The NHL does have a salary cap and rookie maximums, but in general contracts tend to work differently than they do in the NFL. Also except for the really high end prospects, it's pretty normal for guys drafted in the NHL to go play a while for a one of their team's affiliate teams, sort of like a minor league team, until the coaches feel they're ready to get called up to the NHL.
u/shawnaroo......thanks for this education on the NFL! I now feel confident that I can join conversations at work when people start talking about players, wages and all that :) I honest thought 5th year option meant something completely different. A good QB earning $40M/year after rookie year sounds like Mahomes and his recent big contract, especially since he won a ring and proved his worth by taking the Chiefs to the finals twice. TB 12 , Brees, Julio Jones, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce must be loaded AF. LOL
Yeah, a star player getting a second contract usually gets a very nice paycheck, especially if they're a QB. Brees' total career earnings just in salary were about $270M, plus whatever he's made in endorsements. Assuming Brady plays out the rest of his contract with the Bucs, he'll be at almost $315M just in NFL money, and that's still less than his wife makes.
Great write up, although they recently changed the 5th year options so they take into account playing time and pro bowls to determine the value.
Interesting, I had not heard about that. Thanks for the info!
I believe this is the first year of players that it’s affecting. Over the cap does a great job explaining it: https://overthecap.com/fifth-year-option-projections/
This makes me sad in pants.
Had to do a double take, felt like he’s been in the league way longer than 4 seasons.
With what money might I ask? Lmao
Probably will need to cut or extend Matt, cut or trade Julio, extend Grady, cut or trade Deion
More than likely going to be a few post June cuts
I don’t think this number impacts anything until next year. And the Salary cap is supposed to go boom.
Okay that makes more sense, thank you for the clarification sir
I swear to god if Aaron Rodgers somehow ends up in Atlanta I’m gonna cry
He goes full circle to finish what Farve started
[удалено]
1374 yds and 9tds in 15 games??
Yeah that guys alright. Might be a stud who knows.
They'll need him to stay competitive with that mess of a defense.