2025-2026 NFL Season Thread

[fatediesel]

Guess this means the Bucs won't be signing Richie Incognito:

Jay Glazer ‏@JayGlazer
Breaking: the Patriots have agreed to parameters of a trade to send Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins to the Bucs for a pick and TE Tim Wright

I'll be curious what round pick the Pats get. Mankins play had certainly fallen off and is due $6.25 million this year (and a $10.5 million cap number) and the Pats must feel confident they can effectively replace Mankins.

[dcowboy7]

Will guess 4th round.

[Brady_2_Moss]

Theres that cap space for revis extension.

[Moviefan1203]

Source - http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11...18-game-season

Retired NFL player Sean Gilbert, who wants to replace NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith, released a formal platform Tuesday highlighted by a plan to terminate the league's collective bargaining agreement and including support for an 18-game season as what he called a "carrot" to draw financial concessions elsewhere from owners.

Sean Gilbert has released his platform to unseat DeMaurice Smith as the NFLPA's executive director.
Smith, whose contract is set to expire in 2015, presided over the 2011 CBA that led to a three-year reduction of the league's salary cap. Gilbert said in a conference call that the deal has shifted $2.5 billion to owners from what players would have received under the previous CBA. If the current deal continues to its expiration in 2021, Gilbert projected a total transfer of $10 billion.

Summarizing his pitch to players, Gilbert quoted Ronald Reagan: "Are the players better off today than they were four years ago?"

Gilbert said he had proof that owners have violated the CBA's collusion rules, which if true would allow for early termination. He would not reveal details and said he had a "different set of facts" than those raised in a separate NFLPA lawsuit claiming the NFL had a secret salary cap during the uncapped 2010 offseason.

The platform makes 22 points on how Gilbert would proceed if and when he terminates the CBA, including demands for:

• A $1 million minimum salary

• Reducing rookie contracts to three years, with renegotiation allowed after one

• Free agency after three years

• Removing commissioner Roger Goodell from his role as "judge, jury and executioners on matters of players' discipline"

• Roster size increasing from 53 to 57

• 100 percent cash spending of the annual salary cap

• A contract dissolution benefit that awards players 10 percent of nonguaranteed money lost after early termination of a contract.

Gilbert acknowledged that owners might not be interested in some of his proposals but said: "Shoot for the moon. If you fail, you'll still be among the stars."

However, he predicted he could draw owners to a reasonable bargaining position by conceding an 18-game season, which Smith successfully fought off in the 2011 CBA. NFLPA president Eric Winston has maintained staunch opposition to an expanded regular season, but Gilbert said he has spoken to a number of players about the issue.

"Once I broke down what 18 games meant," he said, "in terms of playing only two preseason games and getting an increase in salary, they understood what I'm trying to implement in terms of growing the game."

Gilbert played 11 seasons as a defensive lineman in the NFL for the Rams, Redskins, Panthers and Raiders, retiring after the 2003 season. He made the Pro Bowl in 1993 while with the Rams and finished his career with 42.5 sacks.

[DoubleDownAgain]

Hopefully they will keep Smith, don't really want another potential work stoppage.

[fatediesel]

Gilbert is completely delusional if he actually believes the NFL would agree to most of those changes. It's typical political campaigning, promise a ton with little chance of actually being able to deliver. Maybe he could get some of the things he wants by going to an 18-game season, but not things like three-year rookie contracts/free agency after three years or taking away Goodell's power. In addition even if the league did agree to the 10% contract dissolution benefit it would just lead to players getting smaller contracts and and/or not putting large amounts of fake money in the contracts, and fringe players would never get more than one-year contracts.

[TitansFan4Life]

18 game season would ruin the game IMO.

Everyone would be dead by the playoffs. All this player safety talk, yet the NFL wants to add two games. The only positive part is that they'd take away two preseason games, but I'd rather stick to 16 regular season games like most true NFL fans would.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[bootsy]

Originally Posted by TitansFan4Life

18 game season would ruin the game IMO.

Everyone would be dead by the playoffs. All this player safety talk, yet the NFL wants to add two games. The only positive part is that they'd take away two preseason games, but I'd rather stick to 16 regular season games like most true NFL fans would.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Yeah I don't want it either. Leave it alone.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Gilbert is completely delusional if he actually believes the NFL would agree to most of those changes. It's typical political campaigning, promise a ton with little chance of actually being able to deliver. Maybe he could get some of the things he wants by going to an 18-game season, but not things like three-year rookie contracts/free agency after three years or taking away Goodell's power. In addition even if the league did agree to the 10% contract dissolution benefit it would just lead to players getting smaller contracts and and/or not putting large amounts of fake money in the contracts, and fringe players would never get more than one-year contracts.

Still, you have to admit NFL players get the short end of the stick when it comes to CBA's. It's the only major sports league league without guaranteed contracts. the NFL players union is the weakest of any major American pro sport and yet it's the most successful league.

[dcowboy7]

Waaaay greater injury factor than the others.

[DoubleDownAgain]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Still, you have to admit NFL players get the short end of the stick when it comes to CBA's. It's the only major sports league league without guaranteed contracts. the NFL players union is the weakest of any major American pro sport and yet it's the most successful league.

I don't get this argument. There is a cap, and a floor. So the players are going to get the same cut of the pie, regardless of how the contracts are configured.

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by DoubleDownAgain

I don't get this argument. There is a cap, and a floor. So the players are going to get the same cut of the pie, regardless of how the contracts are configured.

Except all the rules about shifting money around, and the incentives, means that $ paid is not the same thing as salary cap hit.

[BLMN]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Guess this means the Bucs won't be signing Richie Incognito:



I'll be curious what round pick the Pats get. Mankins play had certainly fallen off and is due $6.25 million this year (and a $10.5 million cap number) and the Pats must feel confident they can effectively replace Mankins.

Heard on the radio yesterday that Mankins refused a paycut. Honestly he won't be missed, he was on a decline in my point of view. Last season he got smoked on a bunch of games. Guard is a position that you can plug in there someone decent (Kline or Cannon) and you can get through it. We do need though depth on the TE position. This kid from Tampa Bay is more like what Hernandez were here that hybrid TE/WR.

[fatediesel]

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter
Browns WR Josh Gordon has been suspended one year, per league source.

So Josh Gordon suspension upheld. One year. And now Gordon will miss all of next year's training camp as well.

This should have been decided months ago so if the suspension was upheld Gordon wouldn't miss training camp next season. Pro Football Talk has previously speculated that the significant length of time it took the hearing officer to make his decision could give Gordon a chance at getting an injunction, so this may not be the end.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

This should have been decided months ago so if the suspension was upheld Gordon wouldn't miss training camp next season. Pro Football Talk has previously speculated that the significant length of time it took the hearing officer to make his decision could give Gordon a chance at getting an injunction, so this may not be the end.

Retweeted by Adam Schefter
Jamison Hensley ‏@jamisonhensley 2m
When #Ravens play #Browns in Week 3, Ray Rice will be coming off suspension while Josh Gordon will be in early stages of his year-long one.

Source - Twitter

[dcowboy7]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

This should have been decided months ago so if the suspension was upheld Gordon wouldn't miss training camp next season.

How about just dont get in trouble then you dont have to worry about a decision.

Its a wacky idea i know.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by dcowboy7

How about just dont get in trouble then you dont have to worry about a decision.

Its a wacky idea i know.

I'm not defending Gordon's actions, but they knew he failed the test last winter and Gordon had been informed that he faced a year-long suspension in April. Why not have the hearing on his suspension in May or June with a decision before the start of training camp?

Gordon's circumstances were also unique in that his B sample tested below the limit, so if the vials had just been labeled separately he wouldn't have been facing a suspension. In addition the NFL has an extremely low threshold for a positive test at 15 nanograms per millimeter, whereas the World Anti-Doping Agency, which sets the limits for the Olympics and numerous other agencies, puts their threshold for a positive test at 150 nanograms per millimeter. The low threshold made it possible that Gordon was telling the truth when he said he failed the test due to secondhand smoke, although even if that's true Gordon should not have put himself around people smoking when he knew he was one strike away from a year-long suspension.

[DoubleDownAgain]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

Except all the rules about shifting money around, and the incentives, means that $ paid is not the same thing as salary cap hit.

In the end all money paid out counts against the cap, sure there are tricks to put off the cap hit into future years but in the end the players get what they get. If all contract years were guarenteed you'd see the average salary go down. I'm not sure as a fan why you'd want players contracts to be guarenteed.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by DoubleDownAgain

In the end all money paid out counts against the cap, sure there are tricks to put off the cap hit into future years but in the end the players get what they get. If all contract years were guarenteed you'd see the average salary go down. I'm not sure as a fan why you'd want players contracts to be guarenteed.

Depends I mean I feel bad for the guys who get massive numbers but end up with not much money... I think like D.Halls contract with the raiders was 89 million but he ended up only getting like 800k when he was cut or something lol.

*I'm sorry 72 million and he was cut after eight games and only got 8 million which after taxes would be like 4million..

[TitansFan4Life]

Only guys I ever feel sorry for are the guys on the bubble in preseason that lose their jobs to injury and never get another chance again.

I could never feel sorry for DeAngelo Hall getting $4mil for playing in 8 games. Sounds amazing to me.