The Raiders = Bengals West

[Shake n Blake]

(09-04-2018, 12:01 AM)jorev5 Wrote: I don't know, I was upset when we lost Justin Smith 

Same here. I was also upset when we lost Housh, JJo, Nelson, Whit, Steinbach, Zeitler, etc.

Just because the Bengals are good at retaining key guys doesn't mean they've never let key guys go. 

(09-04-2018, 08:07 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I didn't know Nugent was, either! 

Leon Hall?  Isn't he like 137 years old?

The Raiders were getting a TON of media attention from their one good year with Carr, but they are going to take a while to be good.  I like Gruden, but really question the decision (I understand the financials) of letting Mack go.  What message does that send?  And he is one of the best 5 defensive players in the league and stays healthy.  

I was kind of rooting for them because I like Gruden and Carr, but I think they will struggle in their division. 

This pretty much became a lock when they signed Jon Gruden. As far as I know, Jon has always had a 4-3 defense. He hired Guenther who has always run a 4-3. Mack is a 3-4 OLB. He's really too small to earn a $23.5 million yearly salary as a 4-3 DE...and good luck getting 10+ sacks in a 4-3 defense led by Gruden and Guenther.

People get hung up on "the message" (talking about the media), but how is this any different than the Patriots trading Richard Seymour, Logan Mankins, etc etc? Were the Patriots sending any messages about not paying their top guys?

I guess I see both sides. I understand "keeping your own", but the teams that usually win the most, are teams with young affordable talent. Just to put this in perspective, Mack is now making what Atkins and Burfict will be combined. Meanwhile, the Raiders now have a wealth of great picks. It's a tough pill for their fans to swallow, but only time will tell if it was the right move or not. 

Fwiw, Mack is 27 and these picks "should" set the Raiders up well for when they make their move to Vegas.

Btw, Leon Hall is actually younger than Jonathan Joseph, although Joseph has aged MUCH better. We kept the wrong guy there.

(09-04-2018, 10:13 AM)Nately120 Wrote: Ehh, the Bears may as well make a big move while their QB is on the cheap.  Plus, this sort of reminds me (the Bears are my NFC team) when I preached the Bears should trade up to get Carson Palmer in the 2003 draft to go all-in while their defense was elite.  I was told they could hang on to those picks and get by with Rex Grossman or Kyler Boller.

Sometimes you just have to make a big move.  Plus, the Packers were players in the get Mack sweepstakes, so the prospect of the Bears starting the season in Green Bay and seeing Rodgers and Jimmy Graham on the field and then watching Khalil Mack line up to drive Trubisky into the turf would have been too much to stomach.

I'm not assuming the Bears will win anything of note any time soon because of this trade, but there are a lot of NFL fans that like the idea of having a roster with the potential to win it all within the next 3-5 years and letting that hope carry on for 20-30 years or so.  Decades of keeping that window open forever and ever.  Don't trade up for a QB, don't sign any big free agents and so on.  

I get that angle as well, and it crossed my mind. The Bears really aren't that close though, and swinging and missing on a move this huge could set them back for a decade. They'd better hope Nagy is the next Doug Pederson.