#WHO is going to look to see if tim and brady make up and sit together on the bench again | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

juditmiltz · 5 years

Text

Why high-end home auctions in South Florida are the next big thing

41 Arvida Parkway

Imagine a red carpet leading to a waterfront South Florida estate where refreshments are served as deep-pocketed investors mingle, ready to raise their paddles in a heated competition to spend millions of dollars for a mansion.

That is an increasingly frequent scene playing out on local shores. Auctions of luxury homes are growing in popularity, as sellers opt for the certainty of a fixed sale date that comes with putting a home on the block. It also allows them to tap into an auction house’s database chock full of wealthy buyers worldwide, and limits expensive carrying costs on high-priced properties that can otherwise take years to sell.

Amid an overall sluggish sales market, auction companies say business is booming this year, with an increasing number of luxury listings either referred by sellers or by brokers who can use them as a sales tool, earning commissions on the deal.

“If you have the Hope Diamond or Jackie Onassis’ pearls or a rare Duesenberg automobile, you go to auction,” said Jim Gall, founder and president of Miami-based Auction Company of America. “And it’s the same principle for homes or condos.”

Auction company CEOs and real estate agents say the advantages to the seller go well beyond a quick closing. An auction can boost marketing muscle and create competition for a property. The sales are also considered “clean” — free of contingencies and financing — and come with six-figure deposits, which means a likely closing.

“This is the way the wealthy and uberweathy have chosen to buy real estate in the 21st century,” said Marc Hameroff of Engel & Völkers Miami. He is co-listing a $68 million waterfront estate at 41 Arvida Parkway in Coral Gables with Lourdes Alatriste. The home is set for an online auction by Concierge Auctions from March 19 to 22.

The growing popularity of auctions is evidenced in how Concierge’s business has ramped up in Florida. The number of sellers the firm spoke to rose from 102 in 2016 to 292 in 2017 and 522 in 2018, Concierge founder and President Laura Brady said. The company auctioned six properties in Florida in 2018 and is on target to hold 16 auctions statewide this year, which would top its record of 12 auctions in 2009.

“Florida is one of the leading markets for us in the $20 million-plus category,” Brady said.

Naples-based Elite Auctions has also seen its volume of properties grow, up 125 percent from 2017 to 2018 and up more than 150 percent so far this year, said Randy Haddaway, founder and CEO. He is also seeing an increase this year in sellers calling directly, to 75 percent from 65 percent.

“Traditionally, a house north of $10 million will take two to three years to sell,” Hameroff said. “Concierge will spend north of $250,000 in a six-week period and will get eyes on [the Coral Gables property] that would not normally see this, from all around the world.”

The benefits for sellers

A wider audience of potential buyers is just one of the reasons why luxury homeowners are going the auction route. Other reasons? The sheer size of the inventory of luxury properties, and the length of time they can linger on the market. In the fourth quarter of 2018, 183 single-family homes of $5.9 million or more were on the market in Miami Beach and the barrier islands, according to Douglas Elliman. The eight top-tier homes that closed in that period took an average of 349 days to sell — or almost a year. At that pace of sales, it would take 68.6 months to sell all the inventory — or almost six years, according to the Elliman report.

“It’s a buyer’s market, and sellers are going to have to look to other ways to create excitement and interest in their properties,” Gall said.

Once a property has lingered on the market for several months or years, it’s considered stale. “There’s no greater challenge a property faces than the stigma of sitting there too long and not being sold,” said Trayor Lesnock, founder and president of Miami-based Platinum Luxury Auctions. Meanwhile, taxes, insurance, landscaping and other maintenance costs can add up, along with mortgage payments, if there are any.

Huizenga’s 1575 Ponce de Leon

“Frustration is a big motivator — frustration that the traditional brokerage process has not given them any results,” Lesnock said.

And sellers often are eager for their next steps, like buying another property. “These people made money by being in charge, solving problems, and here is a problem they can’t figure out,” added Lesnock. An auction “gives them certainty and lets them move on with their lives.”

Kristina Gustafson used Platinum to auction her Wellington farm in 2017.

“The key is you get more buyers to the table and you get a definitive closing date,” said Gustafson, who was a Realtor at the time with Southfields Real Estate.

“I got what the property was worth on that day, and I was happy with it, and I was done,” said Gustafson, who currently owns three farms and a house in Wellington. “That was the big quotient. I was emotionally done, physically done, and I was ready to go on.”

How the auctions work

In South Florida, auctions are held live onsite at a property with registered bidders in person or either by phone or online. Concierge handles most of its auctions online, which has led to lawsuits alleging that the company used fake bidders to increase the price of homes or to make sellers think there was more interest in their properties than there really was, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Concierge has denied all the allegations.

Brady said online auctions offer privacy, transparency and the convenience of being able to bid from anywhere in the world. “Anyone can log onto the site and see the bidding of all auctions open and see bids and bid numbers,” she said. The bidders are anonymous.

Elite, on the other hand, only takes bids onsite. “Online — we don’t trust it. We don’t like it,” said Haddaway, its founder. “I like to see wealthy people competing against each other and seeing each other in person.”

Auctions can also have disadvantages, including the possibility of getting a lower sale price than the seller was hoping for. And if a buyer emerges who wants to lock in and buy the property before the auction date, the seller may cancel, but may be responsible for marketing costs that could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“The buyer comes in thinking they’re going to get a deal, and the seller thinks they will finally be able to move the property,” Haddaway said. “Is every seller satisfied with the number? Not everyone.”

In the world of auctions, properties can be sold with a reserve — a minimum bid — or without a reserve, which is referred to as an absolute auction.

Not having a reserve is “critical,” said Tim Elmes of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate-Fort Lauderdale Las Olas. With a reserve, “it’s like pissing in the wind. It’s a waste of money,” he said. “There’s no driver for people to come to the auction. If it’s absolute, they will fly in from out of town.”

Elmes recently had the listing and brought the buyer for a waterfront home in Fort Lauderdale Beach that sold for $8.1 million at an auction held by DeCaro Auctions International. There were 21 registered bidders, and Reno, Nevada-based real estate magnate Don Norman had the top bid for the mansion, which had been listed for nearly $13 million.

“I didn’t recommend the auction for this house,” Elmes said. “I think we could have sold it for more if had been priced correctly.” Yet the seller was happy with the outcome, he said.

The entire auction process, from listing to closing, can be completed in less than 90 days. Auction companies generally take about six weeks to market a property before holding the auction, and the buyer generally closes about a month after.

Before an auction is held, buyers are required to put down a bidder registration fee of $100,000 to as much as $250,000. Then the winner must put down more after the auction, to reach 10 percent of the sale price.

Buyers also usually have to pay a buyer’s premium of 10 percent, which covers the commissions. Gall said he started the practice for real estate auctions 35 years ago, borrowing the idea from Sotheby’s and Christie’s, which use it in their fine art auctions.

The commission split varies with the deal, said auction experts. “When a Realtor brings us a deal, we come up with a split advantageous to the listing Realtor because they are under pressure from the seller,” Gall said.

Lamar Fisher, president and CEO of Pompano Beach-based Fisher Auction Company, said 30 percent of his business comes from brokers, versus 70 percent from sellers. He offers added incentives to agents. “We can reward them if a broker brings us a prequalified bidder, and they ultimately win, they get additional points of commission.” The highest bidder

In recent years, auction companies have seen more homes that are listed for $20 million or more, with one recent sale breaking an auction record.

Concierge, along with listing broker Ralph Arias of One Sotheby’s International Realty, handled the sale of “Le Palais Royale,” a 60,000-square-foot waterfront estate in Hillsboro Beach late last year that marked the highest price ever achieved for an auction in the U.S., Brady said. Eleven potential buyers bid for the property — above an average of eight bidders, she said. In the end, records show, Teavana co-founder Andrew Mack paid $42.5 million for the estate, a massive discount from the original $159 million asking price in 2015.

Billy Nash, founder of Nash Luxury Real Estate at the Keyes Company, said he is “a big believer in the process” of auctioning a home. As the listing agent, he suggested that the Fort Lauderdale waterfront mansion of the late H. Wayne Huizenga go up for auction. It hit the market last year, asking $27 million. Concierge has set the auction for March 26, with no minimum bid.

“To get the global attention that trophy properties deserve, having an auction and creating a finite time frame to bring buyers to the table to me adds tremendous value,” Nash said.

But the luxury home auction that really started it all, according to Fisher, took place in 2013 and involved the future president.

It was the onsite auction of the Versace mansion in Miami Beach. The Nakash family ultimately paid $41.5 million for the estate but the backup bidder was Donald Trump, said Fisher, whose company held the auction. “He told me, stop at $37 [million] and he stopped at $41 [million],” Fisher said. Eric Trump was onsite, but Fisher said he dealt directly with Donald Trump.

Fisher is now set to auction embattled developer Robert Matthews’ Palm Beach mansion at 101 Casa Bendita on March 28, by order of a U.S. bankruptcy court. Previously listed for $44 million, it has a $31 million reserve. Federal officials have charged Matthews, the former developer of the Palm House Hotel in Palm Beach, with multiple counts of wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering over the unfinished development.

Amid the ongoing slow luxury sales market, Fisher expects auctions to keep thriving. He is now in negotiations with several sellers of condos in Sunny Isles Beach and South Beach and is hoping to have those auctions on the books soon.

Fisher sees it as a trend emerging. “The next wave is going to be the luxury condo, penthouse market,” he said.

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/miami/issues_articles/luxury-real-estate-auctions/#new_tab via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami

2 notes · View notes

penniesforthestorm · 3 years

Text

“No, I’m an idiot; you can ask anybody”: Justified Season Three, Episodes 8-10

Well. Howdy, folks. (The great thing about this is, thanks to tungle.hell’s lack of visible timestamps, most of you probably have no idea how long it’s been since I did the last one of these. At this point I don’t even know. But, on the off-chance that there is someone out there who’s been wondering when I’m going to make another one, here you go.) This trio of episodes is one of my favorites of the show’s entire run, so I might dive in with some extra insight here and there; if you want read back, click on through for the premiere, Episodes 2-4, and Episodes 5-7. Join me under the cut, and stop by my inbox any time:

Episode Eight: “Watching the Detectives”

-OK, off-topic, but first of all, this episode’s title happens to be one of my favorite Elvis Costello songs, and also, I know he didn’t write it about Twin Peaks’ Laura Palmer, but it’s about her nonetheless...

-We open with Sammy Tonin in a restaurant; Sammy takes a phone call with the Feds listening, and, following Quarles’ orders, links Raylan Givens to Boyd Crowder.

-Raylan, meanwhile, is sitting in his home-base bar in Lexington, listening to a sultry rockabilly singer. (Jack-and-Coke was my ‘starter’ drink when I was younger; it served a purpose but if I never have one again, I don’t think I’ll regret it...)

-Robert Quarles, in a car with Wynn Duffy and Mike the bodyguard, gets a call from a contrite Tanner Dodd. Duffy stops the car in front of the former home of Winona and Gary Hawkins, and lets Gary out of the trunk. Quarles tells Gary, “I want you to give a message to Raylan”, and then shoots him in the chest. Back at Quarles’ house/clinic, he’s approached by Ellstin Limehouse, who informs him of Boyd’s plans to run Shelby Parlow for Harlan County sheriff. Limehouse tells Quarles that he likes to back “the winning side”.

-Next morning, Raylan’s barman pal tells him there was someone tampering with his car; Raylan discovers scratch marks around the keyhole of his trunk. On the drive to work, he gets a call from the Lexington Police Department, and arrives at the scene of Gary Hawkins’ murder. He identifies the body for an already-suspicious LPD detective.

-At the Marshals’ Office, Deputy Tim reveals he knew that Gary was living under an alias in Tulsa, and he’s just been hassling Raylan about Gary’s fate for fun. Elsewhere in the building, persnickety US Attorney David Vasquez is approached by FBI Agent Barkley, the mole for the Detroit mob. Barkley asks to see Vasquez’s file on Raylan.

-Quarles meets with Tanner Dodd, who takes full responsibility for the hit on Boyd Crowder’s Oxy clinic. Quarles tells him he has one last chance, and sends him back to Harlan.

-Winona arrives at the Marshals’ Office, and Raylan informs her of Gary’s death. The LPD detectives question Raylan-- turns out his fingerprints were on the fatal bullet casing. He tells the story of tossing that bullet onto Duffy and reveals it was something he heard on the Johnny Carson show. The older and more skeptical of the detectives goes to Quarles’ house, and finds him insouciantly eating leftover spaghetti with Wynn Duffy at his side.

-Down in Harlan, Sheriff Tillman Napier starts his car, then gets out. The car explodes, tossing him to the ground. In short order, he goes to arrest Boyd.

-At the Marshals’ Office, Quarles and Duffy befuddle the LPD, and Winona gets pulled aside for questioning. Raylan realizes he’s being framed. Just as he’s trying to plead his case to Winona, Barkley and Vasquez show up, and Barkley hauls Raylan into Art’s office, accusing him of corruption.

-As Boyd is being perp-walked into the Harlan County courthouse, Raylan storms out of the meeting with Art, Vasquez, and Barkley. Tim offers to “take him downstairs” where the LPD is waiting, and after a chat in the elevator, he lets Raylan go check on his car. Winona calls; she’s found the gun inside her house. She brings it to Raylan, and tells him firmly, “Don’t come find me.” Back at the office, Barkley asks Tim, “Where is he?” and Tim cheerfully responds, “Where’s who?”, while snacking on some dried fruit.

-Sheriff Napier meets with Tanner Dodd (who planted the car-bomb), berating him for setting off the explosives too soon. Dodd tells Napier to pony up the money he owes, or the next batch of fireworks might ignite even sooner.

-Raylan’s in the clear; Agent Barkley didn’t want to divulge the source of his “tip”. Said source, Sammy Tonin, informs Robert Quarles that their association has come to an end. On a hunch, Raylan visits Quarles’ Lexington house, finding Wynn Duffy. Raylan warns Duffy that Quarles is on borrowed time, and Duffy doesn’t exactly disagree. Quarles, meanwhile, listens to a fire-and-brimstone radio sermon as he drives through the night, and pops a pill, ignoring his ringing cell phone as he pulls up to where Limehouse is waiting.

Episode Nine: “Loose Ends”

-Raylan hides the gun Quarles used in his bedroom. Next morning, Art pulls him in and asks him why he’s looking for Brady Hughes, a missing hustler who was last seen with Quarles. Art asks what Raylan has on Quarles that he can prove, and then tells him to back off.

-Delroy Baker, the Harlan bordello owner, takes three of his ‘girls’-- Ellen May, J.J., and Crystal--to rob a payday-loan office. Crystal gets shot, and Delroy tries to calm the now-hysterical J.J. and Ellen May with some blather about ‘soldiering on’. (We all agree that Delroy grew up in a cult, right?) They dump Crystal’s body in a slurry pond, and Delroy shoots J.J. Ellen May manages to escape into the woods.

-Ava visits Raylan at the Lexington bar, and after some banter, tells him that Boyd has some information he should hear. Raylan goes to Boyd’s jail cell, and Boyd connects Tanner Dodd to the clinic shooting and to Quarles. Raylan calls up Trooper Tom Bergen to help him find Dodd.

-Quarles visits Limehouse to discuss the campaign for sheriff, and Limehouse introduces him to Harvey, the county clerk. Over at Johnny Crowder’s bar, as Ava is preparing to open, a bruised and terrified Ellen May shows up, and Ava takes her inside.

-Raylan visits Tanner’s mother Imogene, a seemingly dotty woman who asks him to help her with her TV. Raylan gently explains that ‘some very dangerous people’ are after Tanner, and she drops the act. “The first time some no-dick lawman ran that game on me, Tanner was ten years old!” she snaps.

-Tanner, who has been hiding at Limehouse’s place with Errol, gets the call that Raylan’s looking for him, and Errol relays that to Limehouse. Limehouse admonishes him to see that Tanner’s “loose ends” are taken care of. Raylan goes to see Sheriff Napier, bringing along a friend he addresses as “Masters from the ATF”. He informs Napier that they’ve traced the car-bomb to Dodd, and not Boyd Crowder.

-Johnny Crowder chastises Ava for not unlocking the bar’s front door. She tells him about Ellen May, and Johnny makes what’s clearly intended to be a grand romantic play. He alludes to Ava’s soft heart-- “You’re always bringing in broken things and trying to make them well” (i.e. It’s me, I’m the broken thing)--and when Ava suggests that he take in Ellen May, he hauls himself up out of his wheelchair onto a barstool, and softly tells her, “You know I always wanted a blonde.” David Meunier’s performance in this scene kills me every time (fwiw he’s a very attractive man); on the one hand, who would have guessed that Johnny was a dreamer? On the other hand... buddy. Ever hear of “reading the room?” Ava, thoroughly annoyed, says that she’ll turn Ellen May over to Delroy; after all, “It’s what Boyd would do.”

-Napier tries to lure in Dodd, telling him he’ll pay up; Dodd and Errol visit Lemuel Briggs, the eccentric tinkerer last seen in S1E11: “Veterans”. Dodd demands that Briggs ‘refund’ him for the car-bomb, and Briggs directs him to a bag of money on top of a cabinet inside his shop. As Dodd steps up to retrieve it, Briggs informs him that he’s standing over a ‘Bouncing Betty’ landmine. Errol shoots Briggs and takes the cash, promising to care for Imogene. Some time later, Trooper Tom calls Raylan, saying that Dodd’s ready to talk.

-Ava, toting a shotgun, hauls a bewildered Ellen May out of the bar’s back room. Delroy’s waiting out front. As soon as he sets down the money Ava asked for, Ava shoots him, and instructs Ellen May to help her clean up.

-Raylan and an actual ATF agent converge on Briggs’ shop; Dodd reluctantly agrees to talk but insists the landmine be defused first. Just as Raylan makes the connection between Napier, Dodd, and Quarles, Dodd drops the pistol he’s holding, and the change in weight makes the device arm itself. Raylan and the ATF agent manage to get clear, but Tanner isn’t so lucky.

-At a VFW debate moderated by Harvey the county clerk, Napier and Shelby Parlow face off. Napier jibes at Shelby’s current job as a big-box store greeter, but Shelby gets an assist from the newly-sprung Boyd Crowder, who electrifies the room by painting Napier as a “company man”. At Johnny’s bar, they’re toasting success when Ava asks Boyd for a word. Johnny, suspicious, watches them go. Boyd, for his part, seems a little less than thrilled that Ava actually killed Delroy, and is clearly surprised when she asks to take over the bordello.

-Errol brings the money to Imogene Dodd, telling her to call if she needs anything. Raylan, concealed in her parlor, thanks her and hands her the remote for the new TV, which he’s helped set up (whatever else, he’s not entirely without grace). He then goes to see Limehouse, who tries to bait him by mentioning not only Arlo, but Frances, Raylan’s mother. Raylan passes along another warning about Quarles, but Limehouse appears unconcerned.

Episode Ten: “Guy Walks Into a Bar”

-Deputy Mooney and another Harlan cop attempt to plant a bottle of pills in Shelby Parlow’s truck, but he wards them off with a rifle, telling them he has terminal cancer, and he’s prepared for his own fate. At Johnny’s bar, Shelby reassures Boyd and Johnny that he was lying about his health. (I know that Shelby’s story in S4 essentially amounts to a retcon, but Jim Beaver’s understated cool is a big factor in why it works.)

-Johnny and Boyd strategize how to go after Napier; Johnny mentions that Napier has a sister. Limehouse and Errol agree track her down, but Limehouse voices some misgivings to Boyd. Boyd does his best to smooth things over, and Limehouse gives him Harvey, the county clerk.

-In Lexington, rascally Judge Reardon gives Raylan some bad news: Dickie Bennett is about to be pardoned, so that the state can avoid a lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment.

-Boyd visits Napier’s sister Hannah, who insists that she’s estranged from her brother, clearly terrified that Boyd’s going to harm her. Instead, he says he’s come to offer her a job.

-Speaking of leverage, Raylan tries to get Attorney Vasquez’s help to keep Dickie behind bars; he offers to have Wade Messer testify. Vasquez reminds him that if the charges are dropped against Dickie, Messer will be released by default, since he was only charged as an accessory.

-At Johnny’s bar, transformed for the day into Shelby Parlow’s campaign headquarters, Boyd receives the word that Dickie might go free. Johnny asks, somewhat unnecessarily, if Boyd thinks Dickie’s stupid enough to come back to Harlan.

-Raylan calls in Dickie’s buddy Jed, who took the fall for Helen’s murder. Jed reveals that his grandmother had a pact with Mags, and Mags called in a favor. Raylan goes to see Granny, finding her in a nursing home with severe aphasia following a recent stroke. She’s able to get Raylan to bring her two milkshakes, and when he hands her one and sits beside her, she dumps it in his lap, then takes the second one and sips with a triumphant gleam in her eye. Back at the office, Art raises the idea that Raylan should give a statement in court against Dickie’s pardon.

-The votes are in: somehow, Sheriff Napier won. In Napier’s office, Robert Quarles lays out their further business relationship, including a desk job for himself. County clerk Harvey arrives with some bad news-- turns out, sister Hannah is on the county payroll, which makes Napier ineligible for office due to a nepotism statute. Shelby Parlow will step in until a recall election can be held. Quarles departs, fuming, only to be confronted by Boyd and Johnny. “Don’t forget who packed your bags,” Boyd sneers.

-In Wynn Duffy’s trailer, Quarles pops a few more pills. A young man with a pistol storms inside, demanding to know what happened to Brady Hughes. Quarles describes his own lurid history: forced to turn tricks as a child to finance his father’s drug habit, then initiated into the Detroit mob by killing his father at the age of 14. Duffy looks on in horror as Quarles assures young Donovan that he “tried to help” Brady (the naked hostage Quarles was keeping in the Lexington house).

-At Raylan’s Lexington digs, bartender Lindsay tries to give him a pep-talk about his statement, advising him not to bullshit. Duffy and Quarles arrive; Quarles is pissed about the election, and he still thinks Raylan is cooperating with Boyd. He threatens to kill Raylan, and Raylan clears the room and invites him to go ahead. Lindsay intervenes, pulling a sidearm from under the bar, and once Quarles and a distinctly fed-up Duffy have departed, Raylan and Lindsay get frisky upstairs.

-In court the next morning, Dickie Bennett babbles to Judge Reardon that he’s found a new purpose in life, and Reardon looks about ready to walk over and physically shut him up. Raylan gives a revised statement: let Dickie walk, and when he inevitably stumbles into another misdeed, the Marshal Service will be there to catch him. Outside, Raylan clues in a skeptical Art: there’s the unresolved question of Mags Bennett’s missing fortune.

-Errol brings news of Dickie’s pardon to Limehouse, who embarks on a parable about “hog-killing weather”-- essentially, it’s all a question of timing.

-In a motel room, Robert Quarles gets undressed, muttering all the while about refusing to give up and fighting one’s enemies to the bitter end. He walks into the bathroom, where Donovan has been gagged and bound against the toilet.

#tv #recap #justified season 3 #long post #did you miss my heart on purpose

0 notes

girldewar · 22 days

Note

🥰 or 😭 or 😵‍💫 <33333

woe! timbrady be upon ye. this is from a teenage runaway thing i was working on a couple years ago that i'd really love to revisit but unfortunately sort of left my brain in 2022 :/

It’s a nothing night, some random house show with a no-name high school band that was put on by a friend of a friend of a friend who Josh is maybe trying to fuck. Tim agreed to go because he’s seventy percent of Josh’s impulse control, and because if he didn’t, he’d be spending his Friday night fruitlessly dialing Shane for calc answers.

But it’s been an hour and the band’s just started their set, finally, now that everyone’s high enough that the singer’s whispery excuse for vocals sound revelatory instead of shitty. Josh disappeared half an hour ago with the girl, the friend’s friend’s friend, and Tim is standing sort of toward the edge of the crowd, largely uninterested in showing up to practice tomorrow with a bunch of extra bruises from the mosh pit.

He shoves the last of his gas station bag of Ruffles in his mouth, and he pulls out his phone. His messages are barren, Josh having ignored the rosy-cheeked emoji Tim shot him about ten minutes after he vanished. Besides that, the last thing Tim sent anyone was the house’s address, which has likewise gone unanswered. Tim flicks his phone off and slips it back in his pocket, frowning lightly. Pulls it out again unconsciously and feels the crease between his eyebrows deepen when the lock screen still comes up empty.

It’s not like he’d owed a response, obviously, but Tim’s not used to being ignored. For a moment he debates the merits of stepping outside just to leave a voicemail, but he wouldn’t be able to get back inside. Josh got them in the first time, and Tim’s pretty sure plus-ones don’t get priority re-entry.

He’s pulled the thread back up to double-text, because fuck it, honestly, he’s too bored and a little wasted for this, and anyway he has a faint headache coming on, when a voice says, too loud and too close to his ear, “Someone keeping you waiting?”

Tim bites down on a ridiculous grin. “Just this guy. Said he’d meet me here but he’s running late.”

Hands settle on his hips briefly before lifting up and away, rubbing over Tim’s upper arms. “Well that’s rude of him.” Tim can hear his smile. “What an idiot, bailing on a guy like you.”

“Oh yeah? A guy like me, huh?” Tim gives it another second for the incredulous laughter to bubble up, and then he spins around. He is sure his face is ridiculous. He’s smiling incandescently and his cheeks are flushed from the crowd and it’s so good to see Brady that he can barely remember to breathe. “Hey there.”

Brady’s smiling a little dumb and open-mouthed. His eyes are clear. He must have driven here from his parents’ house. “Hey. Sorry about that. Dinner ran late.”

Tim shrugs. His headache’s completely cleared up now and everything. “Just glad you’re here now.”

“Yeah,” Brady says, drawing it out a little and looking around. “This is kinda ass, isn’t it?”

Tim shrugs again. He’s feeling very magnanimous. “You’re just too sober to appreciate it.”

“Don’t actually know if that makes it better.” Brady doesn’t wait for an answer, and Tim doesn’t really want to give one anyway. He’s not sure why he’s defending it. He’s only here for Josh, and it’s not like Josh is around to hear them talking, now. But Brady — and this is why Brady is the best, why Tim texted him to come along instead of Shane or Jacob or, god forbid, Drake — Brady leans in close and breathes hot into Tim’s ear. “You wanna get out of here?” He puts on an affect so it’s a joke.

Tim swallows. His face hurts from smiling. “Where are you gonna take me?”

“Dunno.” Brady’s hands are back on his hips. “I know this real nice place near here, great food, sit-down service.”

“Sounds fancy,” Tim hedges.

“Well,” says Brady. He pulls back so they’re a normal distance apart. A safe distance. “Worth it, for a guy like you.”

#ty britt!!!#ask #alltheprettyplaces #rpf talk #718

7 notes · View notes

wsmith215 · 4 years

Text

2020 NFL offseason winners and losers

Let’s break down some of the winners and losers from this NFL offseason. Some of the stories in the short term were obvious — you don’t need me to tell you again who won the DeAndre Hopkins trade — but I’m going to try to take a look at the bigger picture to see how players, teams, coaches and others around the NFL were impacted by the moves and decisions made over the past few months.

Let’s start with a trio of young quarterbacks from the 2019 draft, all of whom are leaving the acquisition portion of the offseason as their teams’ starters. It begins with the player who might have the biggest shoes to fill of any player in NFL history:

Stidham is one of the most obvious victors of the past few months. We all knew the Patriots and Tom Brady would come to terms on a deal … until they didn’t. Then we all knew that the Pats were going to acquire Nick Foles or Andy Dalton or pull off some impossible run up the draft board for Tua Tagovailoa … and that didn’t happen either. Through the entire player acquisition window, the only competition the Patriots added for Stidham is veteran Brian Hoyer, who lost his last battle with Stidham for the backup spot in training camp in 2019. Barring a last-second move for Cam Newton, Stidham is going to be the Week 1 starter for the Patriots.

Merely having a chance to play is a huge opportunity for Stidham and one rarely afforded midround picks who aren’t forced into action by injury. Imagine if one of the other teams looking for quarterbacks in that draft range last year took Stidham instead? The Panthers paid Teddy Bridgewater in lieu of handing things over to Will Grier (pick No. 100). Ryan Finley (104) is buried behind first overall pick Joe Burrow in Cincinnati, while Easton Stick (166) is third behind Tyrod Taylor and sixth overall pick Justin Herbert in L.A. One other late-round selection will be starting in 2020 — see the next winner — but there are midround picks who don’t really get a chance to play meaningful football across their rookie deals. Stidham will get his.

Jarrett Stidham is taking over for Tom Brady in New England in 2020, and the Patriots are bringing back most of their offense. Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire

The Patriots didn’t exactly add any star weapons for their new starter, but they did address their threadbare tight end room by using third-round picks on Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene. Retaining guard Joe Thuney on a franchise tag and getting back center David Andrews from a pulmonary embolism means the Patriots should be well-positioned to protect Stidham. It’s obviously way too early to say anything about how he will perform, but he has gone from being an afterthought to taking the reins for Bill Belichick & Co.

Likewise, the Jaguars cleared out a path for their 2019 sixth-round pick, as they traded away free-agent addition Nick Foles after paying him more than $30 million for four starts. Jacksonville then sat out the various free-agent quarterback options and didn’t use either of its first-round picks on a signal-caller. The Jags even added Tyler Eifert at tight end and used a second-round pick on wideout Laviska Shenault Jr., though their desperate attempts to get anybody to take running back Leonard Fournette off their hands found no takers.

Again, even having a chance to take meaningful reps as a sixth-round pick is rare. The last sixth-rounder to throw at least 400 passes over his first two seasons was Tom Brady, who threw three as a rookie in 2000 and 413 while leading the Pats to a Super Bowl in 2001. Minshew is already way ahead of the game in terms of opportunity; now, with just Joshua Dobbs and sixth-round pick Jake Luton backing him up, Minshew should get a full season to prove he’s an NFL quarterback.

Let’s hit a 2019 quarterback trifecta! Lock flashed promise while going 4-1 across his five starts at the end of the season, though it’s worth noting that those four wins came against the teams ranked 20th (Chargers), 26th (Texans), 27th (Lions), and 30th (Raiders) in pass defense DVOA. At the very least, he did enough for the Broncos to feel confident about opening the 2020 season with him as their starter.

While Denver held out some hope for luring Tom Brady, it didn’t make a move for any of the other quarterbacks when Brady decided to stay east. The Broncos didn’t even bring in a significant backup — the depth chart behind Lock consists of Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien and Riley Neal. This is Lock’s team.

Drew Lock had seven touchdown passes and three interceptions while playing the final five games for Denver. Tim Warner/Getty Images

On top of that vote of confidence from general manager John Elway, no quarterback gained more weapons this offseason than the Missouri product. Lock already had a handful of exciting pieces in running back Phillip Lindsay, wide receiver Courtland Sutton and tight end Noah Fant. I can’t pretend I’m the biggest Melvin Gordon fan, and it’s not a great contract for the Broncos, but the running back can be valuable when he’s healthy and protecting the football. Elway then used his first two selections in the draft on wideouts Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler.

Denver didn’t address its problematic left tackle spot, but it did make a major addition on the interior by signing lineman Graham Glasgow to a $44 million deal. The Broncos finished up by adding experienced offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who has gotten Sam Bradford, Case Keenum and Daniel Jones to exceed expectations over the past few seasons. It’s fair to be skeptical of Lock after just five starts, but outside of a left tackle, the 23-year-old has everything he could have asked for from his organization this offseason.

On the other hand, there’s a member of that 2019 quarterback class who might feel left out among all the additions. Washington did avoid the lure of using the second overall pick on a quarterback, but it did little to help its starting quarterback.

Haskins’ receiving corps beyond Terry McLaurin was lacking last season, and the most notable free agents his team imported to help out its young starter were Cody Latimer and Richard Rodgers. Washington used midround picks on hybrid back Antonio Gibson and wideout Antonio Gandy-Golden, but it also traded away star left tackle Trent Williams without adding a meaningful replacement.

Loser: Cam Newton, QB, free agent

Things haven’t worked out for the former league MVP, who might have hoped to play out the final year of his deal with the Panthers while earning $19.1 million. Newton was instead cut, and the coronavirus pandemic has prevented him from finding a new team. He hasn’t been able to conduct a public workout, though he has posted videos on Instagram that show him going through drills. In the meantime, the starting jobs and most of the prime backup jobs have been filled.

There are still at least seven teams that should be looking for a backup quarterback, including the aforementioned Broncos and Jaguars, who don’t seem to want to challenge their young starters. The Cardinals, Rams and Seahawks all need a veteran backup, but there’s little chance of Newton playing meaningful snaps for those teams in 2020.

2 Related

The two most logical landing spots left for Newton are in the AFC. Let’s start with the Titans, who gave Ryan Tannehill $91 million in practical guarantees over the next three years. Tannehill’s hold on the starting job isn’t going anywhere at that price tag, but the former Dolphins starter missed 24 games over his final four years in Miami. There’s a reasonable chance he misses time this year, and the Titans currently have seventh-round picks Cole McDonald and Logan Woodside behind their starter.

Tannehill was revelatory as a play-action passer last season, which fits what Newton does best. From 2017 through the first half of 2018, Newton posted a passer rating of 114.7 on play-action attempts, the seventh-best rate in the league. The Titans are built around Derrick Henry and their power-running attack, and it’s not difficult to imagine how Newton could play a role in that attack. A few starts for the Titans could help rebuild his value before the 2021 offseason.

The ideal job for Newton would be in Pittsburgh. The Steelers should get Ben Roethlisberger back after he missed 14 games in 2019 with an elbow injury, but the longtime starter is 38 and has missed 38 games over his 16-year career. Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges were replacement-level quarterbacks last season, and Newton could viably make his case to serve as Roethlisberger’s long-term replacement in Pittsburgh if he plays well in a couple of spot starts.

While the Bears started this offseason suggesting that Trubisky would be their Week 1 starter in 2020, their actions suggest that his future is tenuous. Chicago traded for Nick Foles, and in restructuring the former Super Bowl MVP’s deal, it guaranteed Foles $21 million over the next three seasons. Then the team declined Trubisky’s fifth-year option, which would have guaranteed a $24.8 million salary in 2021 for injury.

Failing to earn a fifth-year option pickup has typically been a bad sign. Eight other first-round quarterbacks have had their fifth-year option declined. None of them made it to a fifth year with the team that drafted them. Six of them — Jake Locker, EJ Manuel, Christian Ponder, Brandon Weeden, Johnny Manziel and Paxton Lynch — didn’t take an NFL snap anywhere in Year 5. Teddy Bridgewater spent his fifth year sitting behind Drew Brees, while the only one of the bunch who saw meaningful action was Blaine Gabbert in San Francisco.

Trubisky will instead have to look toward a teammate for hope. The Bears declined Kyle Fuller’s fifth-year option after injuries and inconsistent play, but after a breakout season, they used the transition tag to keep him around before matching a four-year, $56 million offer sheet. Fuller ended up making much more than he would have if the Bears had simply picked up that option in the first place. They have spent years trying to surround Trubisky with talent to confirm their belief that he was a franchise quarterback in the making. Now he has to overcome their skepticism and the odds.

There was little trade interest in Howard before he was dealt to the Eagles last offseason, and after seeing his rushing yards and yards-per-game figures decline in each of the past three seasons, I figured that the league would see him as a relatively replaceable zone runner. Alfred Morris, a similarly productive rookie, wasn’t able to ever get a significant deal.

Howard instead got a two-year, $10 million pact from the Dolphins with $4.8 million guaranteed in Year 1. Miami also added veterans Ereck Flowers and Ted Karras in free agency before using first- and second-round picks on offensive linemen. The Dolphins traded for Matt Breida, but they didn’t use a significant pick on a running back, and Breida has been a boom-or-bust player with injury issues during his time with the 49ers.

Howard landing meaningful guaranteed money, a starting job and a team that invested heavily in offensive linemen has to be considered a victory.

Jordan Howard averaged 4.4 yards per carry but only rushed 119 times for the Eagles last season. Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports

In a similar way to Newton’s, Clowney’s market has been depressed by medical concerns and an inability to evaluate those issues under the current climate. For all we hear about how NFL teams don’t focus on sacks, Clowney’s three-sack total from 2019 hasn’t helped his case. The former first overall pick is unquestionably talented, but the massive deal he might have received under typical circumstances after a more productive season hasn’t arrived.

Naturally, it seems like the logical thing for Clowney to do is sign a one-year deal with a contender and try to rebuild his value in the hopes of signing a big deal next year. Under normal circumstances, that idea makes sense. This isn’t a normal season, though, and there’s a chance that Clowney — and many other veterans — might not be able to sign big contracts next offseason.

As Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap wrote last week, the uncertainty around 2020 stadium and ticket revenue could lead to a meaningful drop in league income, which would result in a shrunken salary cap. Teams have seen the cap rise by an average of just under 6% over the past decade, up from $120 million in 2011 to $198.2 million in 2020. With players improving their share of revenue in the new CBA, the cap was expected to rise well north of $200 million in 2021. Now, Fitzgerald projects, the cap could fall somewhere between $130 million to $175 million in 2021, depending on how revenues are affected by the pandemic.

Obviously, it’s too early to project what the situation will be like next year, and the league could come to an agreement with its players to push future revenues forward to try to account for a reduced cap figure in 2021, but we could be looking at a different financial landscape next spring. Teams that were planning for a $210 million cap would be forced to cut veterans to get compliant, flooding the market with talented players. Many free agents would likely look for one-year deals in advance of a massive projected cap increase in 2022 and 2023, when local revenue would return to form and the league would be flush with television revenue from new deals. Clowney might end up stuck signing back-to-back one-year deals as a result.

Losers: Teams with lots of guaranteed money tied up in 2021

While we’re again months and months away from having any idea about what the cap will look like next year, there are teams that have to be sweating the possibility of a reduced cap. Take the Eagles, who already have $263.3 million on the books for 2021, much of it tied up in players who are core pieces of the roster. Getting down to $210 million would require a couple of restructures and cuts of veterans like DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery and Marquise Goodwin. Moving to $175 million would require another $35 million in savings.

Barnwell and friends discuss sports — usually. • Podcast: Fantasy rookie draft » • Archive: Every podcast from Barnwell »

The Eagles would find a reduced cap most difficult, but teams like the Saints, Falcons and Steelers would also be in compromised positions. Again, the league and players could come to terms on a deal that could restore some of the missing revenue, and the NFL would get a bump from a possible 17-game season in 2021, but the alternative looms as a dangerous scenario for several of the league’s highest-spending teams.

I hit the most crucial parts of the DeAndre Hopkins trade when it happened in March, but it’s quietly a huge victory for Johnson. With the Cardinals slapping the transition tag on Kenyan Drake, Arizona was clearly moving forward with Drake as its starting running back. It wouldn’t have been surprising to see Chase Edmonds as the No. 2 behind him. Johnson was likely in line to get cut, where veterans like Devonta Freeman, Carlos Hyde and LeSean McCoy haven’t found a market.

Instead, the Texans traded for Johnson as part of the Hopkins deal, suggesting that Bill O’Brien sees him as a meaningful asset. With Houston treating Duke Johnson like a third-down back last season, David Johnson has a clear path to lead-back duties in an offense that ranked 11th in rush offense DVOA a year ago. There’s even a chance that the Texans pay Johnson the $9 million he’s due in 2021, which seemed out of the question when the offseason began.

While I wrote about why the Jordan Love decision might not be as bad as it seems for the Packers, it’s fair to say that Rodgers’ position can’t feel as good as it did a few months ago.

Green Bay seemed to set a deadline on the Rodgers era, and the only shopping it did to help Rodgers this offseason was to swap out tight end Jimmy Graham for wide receiver Devin Funchess. I still think the Packers could go after a veteran wideout like Kenny Stills, but you can understand why Rodgers would be cranky right about now.

One year ago, the Rams were coming off a trip to the Super Bowl. Every team wanted to hire a coach who vaguely resembled Sean McVay. Their young core seemed set to compete for another title. After a frustrating 2019 campaign left the Rams struggling for answers on offense and out of the playoffs for the first time since McVay arrived in town, it was clear that Los Angeles needed to make changes during the offseason.

I’m not sure those changes really helped, as this offseason felt like a repudiation of the Rams’ philosophy. They lost legendary defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and longtime special-teams coordinator John Fassel. Just two years after handing out huge contracts to Brandin Cooks and Todd Gurley, they punted on both of those deals, cutting their former MVP candidate at running back while trading the wide receiver to the Texans. They were even publicly called out for not paying Gurley and Clay Matthews bonus money, which should hurt the organization when it tries to sign free agents in the future.

play

0:53

Sean McVay says the Rams are fully focused on the Cowboys in Week 1 after the NFL schedule release.

Furthermore, the Rams didn’t really resolve any of their problems this offseason. After trading two first-round picks to acquire Jalen Ramsey, they still haven’t signed their star cornerback to an extension. They swapped out Dante Fowler Jr. for edge rusher Leonard Floyd and used their top two picks to replace Cooks and Gurley, but they didn’t do anything to replace star inside linebacker Cory Littleton.

Crucially, L.A. almost entirely ignored an offensive line that crumbled in 2019, re-signing aging left tackle Andrew Whitworth while choosing to hope for a healthier 2020. With Jared Goff posting the league’s worst passer rating under pressure in 2019, McVay will need to conjure up a solution to get his prize pupil back on track this season.

Well, duh. The Buccaneers have Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski now. Even beyond those two additions, though, the offseason has gone extremely well for the Bucs. They needed to retain the core of their wildly underrated defensive line and managed to do so by franchising Shaq Barrett and re-signing both Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh. Their biggest hole heading into the draft was at right tackle, and they had to move up only one spot to get Tristan Wirfs.

This offseason was something out of a dream for Tampa Bay, which has a higher win projection in Vegas than the Patriots for 2020.

A particularly big winner in this scenario is Tampa Bay’s general manager. Licht has been the general manager for six years, and the Bucs have gone 34-62 during his time in charge. That’s the third-worst mark in football. The team has cycled through three coaches over that six-year span, and while Licht nailed first-round picks on wide receiver Mike Evans and defensive tackle Vita Vea, he’s also the one who drafted Jameis Winston and stuck with the embattled quarterback over the past five years. Licht also whiffed on most of his second-round selections, most notably kicker Roberto Aguayo, who was the low point of an almost comical inability from the organization to identify a competent kicker.

• All 255 picks » | Biggest takeaways » • Bowen’s favorites » | Pick analysis » • Experts on Round 1 » | Home setups » • Full class rankings from Scouts Inc. » More NFL draft coverage »

Licht is by all accounts a nice guy, and he has hit on a number of his midround selections too. Teams are generally too aggressive in getting rid of their top decision-makers, and I’m not saying Licht should have been fired. Typically, though, general managers with that sort of track record don’t get to enter a seventh offseason, and when Licht did, he managed to convince Brady and Gronkowski to come to town. Nobody would have batted an eye if the Bucs let go of Licht last offseason; now, if the Bucs live up to expectations, he might very well win Executive of the Year.

Loser: Tight end streamers against the Arizona Cardinals

If you played daily fantasy football or chose to stream your tight ends on a week-to-week basis in standard fantasy football, you knew about the Cardinals. Last year, Arizona allowed 309 points to opposing tight ends in PPR leagues, an average of 19.3 points per game. No other team was above 244, and the league average was 195 points, or just under 12.2 points per contest. It’s the second-worst season any team has posted against tight ends over the past 20 years, trailing only the 2013 Cardinals. Everybody from T.J. Hockenson to Ross Dwelley had their best games of the season against Arizona.

Vance Joseph-led defenses don’t always know what to do with tight ends — the Broncos ranked 26th against tight ends during his two years as Denver’s coach — but the Cardinals did something to address the problem this offseason by drafting Isaiah Simmons with the No. 8 overall pick. They’ve suggested that the talented Clemson defender will begin his NFL career at linebacker, where he’s likely to see plenty of action against tight ends in coverage. Arizona has managed to get the least out of athletic, hybrid defenders like Deone Bucannon and Haason Reddick in years past, but Simmons could very well ruin one of the easiest exploits in fantasy football.

Did any first-round pick end up in a more advantageous landing spot? Andy Reid told general manager Brett Veach that he thought Edwards-Helaire was better than Brian Westbrook before the Chiefs drafted the LSU back with the final pick of the first round. The only running back Reid had drafted before the third round across his career as a head coach and personnel executive before Edwards-Helaire was LeSean McCoy, who was the 53rd pick in the 2009 draft.

While the Chiefs have suggested that Edwards-Helaire will split time with incumbent Damien Williams, the future belongs to the rookie. Williams is a free agent after the season and wasn’t healthy for most of 2019 with hamstring issues. The Chiefs also said the same thing about Kareem Hunt and Spencer Ware in 2017, and when Ware went down with a knee injury in the preseason, Hunt was handed the job and finished his rookie year with 1,782 yards from scrimmage. Edwards-Helaire should turn into one of the most productive backs in football; the only real question is when.

Losers: Rookie coaches (and players)

It should go without saying that this is incredibly low on the list of upheavals caused by the pandemic, but while the NFL has managed to keep free agency and the draft on schedule, there’s no realistic way for football teams to practice. With team facilities closed, organized team activities (OTAs) have been postponed and will likely be canceled. Rookie minicamps are being conducted remotely. It’s unclear whether teams will be able to undergo a full training camp.

As a result, newcomers seem likely to suffer. Some rookie players already have a difficult time catching up with the speed of the league and the complexity of professional playbooks; now they’ll have to try to catch up on the finer points over Zoom. Likewise, rookie coaches who are attempting to install a new scheme and work with new players already were going to have their practice time reduced over the summer by the new CBA. They’re almost surely going to miss out on any pre-training-camp practice time.

The Chargers took quarterback Justin Herbert at No. 6 overall, but Herbert likely won’t get many live reps in front of his coaches before training camp. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Naturally, the teams with new head coaches and coordinators — the Browns, Giants, Panthers and Washington — are the ones that are most likely to suffer from this lack of teaching time. Teams with stability could benefit. In an indirect way, though they could not have possibly predicted what was going to happen, teams such as the Steelers and Texans who dealt away much of their draft capital could end up feeling better about their decisions, given that rookies may struggle to make an impact in 2020.

Winners: Veterans negotiating contracts with the Houston Texans

You probably knew that the Texans weren’t going to get out of a winners and losers column unscathed. I’ll leave the Hopkins deal aside, but it’s worth noting just how dramatically the contracts the Texans handed out differ from those of their peers. Slot corner Bradley Roby signed a three-year, $31.5 million deal when guys like Chris Harris Jr. and Brian Poole were forced to sign smaller contracts and Logan Ryan remains a free agent. Wideout Randall Cobb inked a three-year, $27 million deal when the wideout market totally cratered.

The biggest deal, though, belongs to Laremy Tunsil. The Texans didn’t sign the offensive tackle to an extension after trading two first-round picks and a second-rounder to the Dolphins last August. Tunsil said that even he would have made that trade from the Dolphins’ perspective, and he continued to dabble in negotiations when he chose to represent himself in extension talks with O’Brien.

Tunsil did well. He ended up signing a three-year, $66 million extension, meaning he’ll make a total of $76.9 million over the next four years. The deal shattered the tackle market, where the largest average annual salary belonged to Lane Johnson at $18 million per season, and Johnson’s deal is really a paper extension for cap purposes with base salaries that will void next offseason. The largest real deal for a tackle is Trent Brown’s four-year, $66.8 million pact from last offseason. Brown averaged less than $17 million per season on his deal. Tunsil averaged $22 million on his extension and $19.3 million over the next four years. Nobody in the league got a bigger contract this offseason after adjusting for positional expectations. Tunsil even gets to hit free agency again before turning 30. Not bad for a part-time agent!

I mentioned three other 2019 quarterbacks earlier, but I’ll add a fourth to the list with the first overall pick from last year’s draft. It isn’t complicated, of course: Murray was given the gift of DeAndre Hopkins, who will add to a receiving corps that already featured Christian Kirk and Larry Fitzgerald. The Arizona offense was also better after adding Kenyan Drake last season, and Drake was retained on a transition tag. Kliff Kingsbury’s offense will not lack for weapons.

I’m still a little worried about the offensive line, but the Cardinals did re-sign left tackle D.J. Humphries after his best season and added Josh Jones to compete with Marcus Gilbert on the right side. Last year’s MVP was a second-year quarterback who took a leap forward after his team spent the offseason surrounding him with the right weapons. It’s asking a lot of Murray to follow in the footsteps of Lamar Jackson, of course, but Murray should have the pieces he needs to take a leap forward in 2020.

I’ll finish up with one of the most interesting unresolved sagas of the offseason. No, Prescott doesn’t have his deal yet, though the star quarterback will have long-term financial security once he signs the $31.5 million franchise tag. The Cowboys continue to say they intend to keep Prescott around on a long-term deal, but they did add Andy Dalton and suggested last week that Prescott “has to accept what [the Cowboys] want to pay him.”

play

1:09

Domonique Foxworth makes a case for why the Cowboys should sign Dak Prescott to a long-term contract.

Of course, Prescott doesn’t really have to accept that. The Cowboys can franchise him again in 2021 for $37.8 million, but with a third franchise tag costing them $54.3 million, they realistically have to get Prescott signed before the end of the 2021 season. And if the Cowboys think Prescott’s demands are unreasonable now, they’re not going to get cheaper, given that the likes of Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes are going to raise the market by signing extensions of their own.

I’ve got a much bigger piece on the Prescott situation in the works, so I’m not going to get into the will they/should they questions here. What I will say, though, is that Prescott is in the catbird seat. The Cowboys let go of Jason Garrett, but they retained offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and star wide receiver Amari Cooper before adding another valuable weapon in rookie wideout CeeDee Lamb. Prescott lost veteran center Travis Frederick to retirement, but he’s well-positioned to deliver a big season for an offense that finished second in DVOA a year ago. If Prescott does that, well, the Cowboys might need to accept what Dak wants to be paid.

Source link

The post 2020 NFL offseason winners and losers appeared first on The Bleak Report.

from WordPress https://bleakreport.com/2020-nfl-offseason-winners-and-losers/

#Sports Report

0 notes

junker-town · 4 years

Text

Everything about this NFL season is breaking our brains

Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images

At this rate, the playoffs are going to be pure chaos.

Alright NFL, you did it. You broke me. Are you happy? I don’t think it’s too much to ask that after 13 weeks, the league could give us a basic idea of which teams were good, which ones were bad, and who might have a chance to make it to the Super Bowl. Instead I sit here, a sad and broken man, without any clue what the actual hell is happening in the NFL.

Platonic ideals of parity aside, this season has completely gone off the rails. Rewind two months ago and it all felt so easy. The Patriots and Chiefs would likely contend for the AFC Championship. On the other side, you had the 49ers and the Saints. Now, who knows?

I’m truly left feeling like this is going to be a weird trap year when an obvious favorite flames out in the first round to some barely-.500 team in the kind of shocking postseason that leads to discussions about whether the whole system needs to be revamped.

Let’s start with the AFC. So you have the Patriots, but they don’t look invincible this season, not by a long shot. Losing to the Texans on Sunday night seriously damaged any absolute faith you could have in this team. The natural progression is to say, “Well, maybe the Texans really are that damn good.” Except they’ve lost to the PANTHERS this season and got decimated by the Ravens.

So then we go to the Ravens. They seem incredibly good and are coming off a big win over the 49ers to improve the resume. Lamar Jackson is playing some of the most exciting football in the NFL, period. They definitely fit the bill. Then you remember they lost to the Browns and barely scraped by against the Bengals.

The Bills? Look. I’m excited for Bills fans, but it’s going to be a cold day in hell when I anticipate anything positive for the Bills. Trust me, Bills fans don’t want anyone saying they have a chance at winning anything for fear of a jinx, and I’m much happier not going through a table in a frozen parking lot.

The AFC could be an Occam’s razor situation. Maybe the simplest answer is the correct one, which causes us to circle back to the Chiefs. Ah yes, the Chiefs. Easily the NFL’s must-watch team at the start of the season. They then went on to lose to ... the Texans and Colts.

If you can make sense of this, I’d love to hear it. All I see is a complete crapshoot that logically can only end with the Ryan Tannehill-led Titans finding a back door into the playoffs, beating the Patriots or Chiefs and playing ultimate spoiler.

Surely things must be more normal in the NFC, right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Saints are the hot pick, and it’s understandable. Veteran team, Drew Brees, they’ve already clinched their division, the whole nine yards. When the Saints are good, they’re damn near unbeatable, and when they’re bad, they lose by 17 to the Falcons, which is an actual thing that happened less than a month ago. And lest we forget, they needed an undrafted kicker in Carolina to shank a 28-yard field goal to survive against the Panthers a mere week ago.

The 49ers are in the picture too. They’re at 10-2 and really are the total package. A stout defense with a young, exciting offense. There’s no reason to bet against them when a prospective playoff run is on the cards — except that loss to the Seahawks. “It was overtime,” you might say, to which I’d remind you that San Francisco got a serious scare from the Cardinals, Steelers, and Washington this year, all of which came down to single digits.

Drop a level and we have the Packers, Seahawks, and Vikings. They suffer this same weird round-robin effect of ugly losses, close scares, and unconvincing victories that make it tough to really get on board in a meaningful way.

This season is so wacky that Washington at 3-9 isn’t just in the playoff hunt — it could still win the NFC East.

Nine teams below .500 could still make the playoffs with four weeks left in the season.

I need to stop think about this. Let’s go around the league.

This juke is poetry.

Lamar juked him right out of his shoes @Lj_era8 pic.twitter.com/eVVxNrMnct

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) December 1, 2019

Yes, I know it was wet on the field — but stop trying to hate on fun. Lamar Jackson is just so damn fun to watch. The only thing that would have made this clip better is if Jackson literally caused people to lose their shoes, which I also fully expect to happen by the end of the season.

I love this play more than life itself.

PUNTER TO KICKER TOUCHDOWN! The @MiamiDolphins pull off the trickery! #PHIvsMIA : FOX : NFL app // Yahoo Sports app Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/uPnyeJSIAR pic.twitter.com/lf4M4xFvVO

— NFL (@NFL) December 1, 2019

There is nothing more perfect in this world than a punter throwing a touchdown to a kicker. It’s two unlikely flavors that somehow go together — like pickles and peanut butter (trust me, try this). In any event, not only is it the kind of bald-faced weirdness I can get behind for a team whose season is over, but it was incredible enough that it rectified one of the worst NFL plays of all time and proved that somehow this can work.

Maybe the best part of this play is that it’s called “The Mountaineer Shot.” I’m a fan of any play that sounds like the most dangerous moonshine you’re ever going to drink.

Congrats Florida, for spawning the dumbest NFL fans of the season.

We got anti-vaxers here at Bucs-Jags. First time I’ve seen that crowd at an NFL game. pic.twitter.com/6OkcYF9gGb

— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) December 1, 2019

I like the referee imagery, though. It’s on brand. Nothing says “making a grave mistake while turning a blind eye” better than a ref. It’s just a shame you can’t go to instant replay when your kid contracts measles.

Or in Arkansas’ case, the mumps.

Arkansas athletics released a statement yesterday about the Mumps incident on the U of A campus. Sources tell me the number of football players with Mumps is significant.

— Trey Schaap (@trey1037TheBuzz) November 27, 2019

The effective end to the Panthers’ season is sadder than you could ever imagine.

Here’s fourth-and-the-season for the Panthers. pic.twitter.com/VresISdjTj

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) December 1, 2019

Kyle Allen running serpentine out of the frame is a metaphor for Carolina’s entire season. It’s just so sad — especially when you see that No. 13, Jarius Wright, was open in the end zone for almost the entire play.

Until Allen left like Poochie.

Carolina lost to Washington and while the Panthers’ season isn’t technically over ... it’s totally over.

Shoutout to the Jets for truly bringing futility to new levels.

It takes a special level of skill, determination, and horrible play to lose to the 0-7 Dolphins and the 0-11 Bengals in the same season. It’s community outreach. Nobody is better at making the rest of the country feel slightly better than the Jets.

I’d like to submit an alternate lip reading ...

Brady: "Guys, listen up. We gotta be faster, quicker, more explosive..." pic.twitter.com/kUcB1UR0OI

— Vikings Blogger (@firstandskol) December 2, 2019

“Guys, we got a beef ... STOP! Hey. We got a fondue set! Cook quicker! Cook everything! If you f*** up one more onion. Alright?! Make you you poach the chicken OFF THE BONE! Everyone on the same page? Good because we’re running out of f***ing oil and I’m not eating Top Ramen.”

I’ll let you be the judge. Either he said something to try and motivate his team, or he was unhappy with the fondue preparation on the sideline. I know which truth I believe.

0 notes

cjbball · 7 years

Text

The One That Counts

by Cesar Jesus

We take a look at recent and current legends and make our claim to what we consider to be their signature title.

It’s the heart of transaction season right now as free agency is underway, summer league is grooving, and recently drafted players are getting settled in their new digs. But let’s take a step back from the madness of today to appreciate what some legends have carved out in the last few decades.

Today we decide which particular championship matters the most to a player’s legacy. The key here is distinguishing between the series they put up the best numbers in versus the series that defines them as a player. However, you’ll see those paths sometimes intersect. I’ve compiled a list of 5 stars who have claimed at least three rings since the turn of the century. Let the debate (with myself) begin…

Shaquille O’Neal

Rings – 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006

Shaq was an absolute monster during the Lakers ’00 – ’02 three peat run, garnering Finals MVP in each series and dominating anyone the opposition could throw at him. The Lakers only lost a total of three games in those Finals series due to rather weak Eastern conference foes and a prime of his career Shaq.

Upon being traded to Miami in 2004, he and Dwyane Wade pushed the Heat to the conference Finals in 2005, and finally broke through in 2006 with a win over the Mavs to get him to 4 rings.

However, this one is pretty easy. There was nothing like Shaq in 2000. He had one of the most dominant seasons and postseasons I can ever remember. I’d argue that Duncan and Kobe had better careers than Shaq, but neither ever touched the season-long of debilitating shit Shaq served up in the 99-00 season. Nobody could guard him, and he was at his absolute physical peak. He was solid, super quick on his feet, and opened big spacing for a slew of shooters.

This was his 8th season in the league and 4th playoff run with the Lakers, so there was a lot of chatter going around that Shaq was never going to see the promised land. In the end, I think he should have won at least 5 or 6, but more on that later…

Tim Duncan

Rings – 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014

Oh Timmy! The stable force behind San Antonio playoff runs for nearly two decades first took the Spurs all the way behind a twin tower combination alongside David Robinson in 1999. Once Shaq got lazy and stopped training, they nabbed three more in the 2000’s as the core of Timmy, GINOBILI!, and Tony Parker led the way.

Then there was a lull. From 2007 to 2013 the Spurs were continually counted out every season. This is the season they’ll fall off, they’d say. The Spurs would respond by having a great regular season, but not being able to finish the job when the postseason came around. It was widely accepted that Duncan, Parker, Manu and Pop were all going to be Hall of Famers, and amongst players there was league wide respect for what they had done. It was a great run already.

But the Spurs, and especially Tim Fucking Duncan, were not done. After coming a few missed free throws and a Ray Allen dagger short of winning the title in 2013, they returned again to the Finals in 2014 for a rematch with the Heat.

I remember watching the press conferences before Game 1, and I saw something special in Timmy’s eyes. He’s a quiet laid back dude, but make no mistake, he has the killer gene. 4 titles is great, but when you can add another, 7 years after the previous one, spanning your range of titles to 15 years (99 to ’14), you put a hell of an exclamation point on your resume. I liken the Pats and Brady’s recent Superbowl to what Timmy and the Spurs did in 2014.

Kobe Bryant

Rings – 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010

For Kobe, it all comes down to being petty. You don’t have to be a rocket scientologist to guess this one.

Kobe was the clear second banana for three straight Laker titles in his earlier days in the league. Cool.

Then after years of being a chucker for first round fodder, he took a fairly forgettable Lakers team to an even more forgettable Finals series in 2009 where they topped Dwight Howard’s Orlando Magic. It was good for Kobe’s 4th title. That’s the same as his former teammate had now. Cool.

In 2010, it all came together for the Mamba. He was back in the Finals against the same Celtics team that had shot down his 2008 Finals run, and there was a chance at ring number 5 on the line. That’s one more than that guy he used to play with. I wonder if that thought popped in his head at any point during that postseason run. Nah, probably not.

Well, the Lakers won in 7 games, Kobe got his second consecutive Finals MVP, and he unleashed the most petty phrase in NBA Finals history.

Dywane Wade

Rings – 2006, 2012, 2013

Just imagine if you asked this question to D-Wade, what do you think he’d say?

Sure, Wade teamed up with his superbros LeBron James and Chris Bosh on their way to 4 straight Finals appearances and two rings, but the son of South Beach will always be defined by 2006.

There was certainly some funny stuff going on with some calls he was getting in that series, but it was clear that Wade was the best player in his first NBA Finals appearance against the Mavs. Wade was a lane slashing machine and could get into the paint at will. Throw a wall of defenders at him, and he’d pivot and wet a 15 footer from the elbow or find an open teammate.

Miami went on to won in 6 games, and Wade set himself apart from his 2003 draft class compadres by striking first blood on a ring. Now sitting on three rings and a Finals MVP, there is nothing left for this guy to prove.

LeBron James

Rings – 2012, 2013, 2016

LeBron first tasted a championship while with the Heat in 2012 with a 4-1 win over the OKC Thunder, but it felt more like a sigh of relief than a victory. The monkey was finally off his back, and the haters could no longer talk, but that was about it.

2013 continued to build on his legacy, but hoops purists left the table still wanting more. For a lot of folks, it felt more like the Spurs shit the bed and the Heat had fallen bass ackwards into good fortune. Here he was two titles in, but there was still more to be desired from this guy. I guess it’s part of the gig that comes with being labeled the Chosen One.

He almost singlehandedly had the Cavs in position to beat the Warriors in the 2015 Finals, but there is only so much one man can do.

In 2016, LBJ finally got HIS title. There was no shitting of the Tempurpedic and hand delivered jewelry this time around. No injuries to major players on either team to play the “what if” game (BTW, Steph Curry scored 17 in overtime against Portland AFTER he tweaked his ankle, so I’m not buying that he was hobbled). With the help of a clutch Kyrie bucket, Lebron and the Cavs had ended a 52 year title drought in the city of Cleveland.

The King had come home and delivered on his promise. He finally had the title that without question elevated him to all-time great status and into legitimate GOAT conversations. Sure, there’s a chance he’ll add one or a few more onto his count when it’s all said and done, but this is by far THAT title.

Now if only team Banana Boat all signed for the vet minimum with the Lakers next summer…

Legends Bonus

Michael Jordan – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998

Magic Johnson – 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988

Larry Bird – 1981, 1984, 1986

#tim duncan #kobe bryant #lebron james #shaquille oneal #dwyane wade #miami heat #san antonio spurs #lakers #los ángeles lakers #cleveland cavaliers #michael jordan #larry bird #magic johnson #boston celtics #stephen curry #team banana boat

1 note · View note