Thoughts from around the league

[MORGULON]

And then there was this news item on Deshaun Watson from the Athletic:

Let’s review the Deshaun Watson situation. His salary-cap number for the next two seasons is $72 million per season. If the Browns were to cut him after this season, it would be a $200 million dead-money cap hit, according to Over the Cap. Even if they stick with him until 2026, it’s still a $99 million dead-money cap hit to get rid of him. They are stuck with this. “This” is the fourth-worst passer rating in the league Sunday (51.1). His 3.8 yards per attempt was the third lowest in the league, and it was as bad as it looked. On Monday, the situation got even worse and more complicated as he was accused again of sexual battery and assault in a new lawsuit.

Watson's cap number per season is $72 million, and $200 million is the dead cap hit! Plus the Browns made themselves the hated around the league for signing him and guaranteeing all that money. Somehow, they managed to do even worse than the Broncos.

They might have an out clause if he gets in trouble for making a female an "unwilling sperm recipient".

 

[Vesuve]

Carolina is terrible.

Brian Daboll is probably getting fired.

Carolina is awful. Bryce Young won't pan out in the NFL, IMO.

Giants awful also...Daboll will finish the season and if canned probably for the better for him.

 

[DarkVictory23]

Washington's defense is still going to be trash even with Dan Quinn.

Atlanta should have probably waited to see whether Cousins is capable of actually moving before giving him that bag.

Chicago is probably not about to get their first 4,000 yard passer.

I've thought Burrow has been overrated for awhile, I think that might get fixed soon.

I wasn't sure about Stroud last year because his time-to-throw was pretty bad and he had a fairly easy schedule, but he might be legit.

New Orleans and David Carr aren't that bad. They might not be great, but they aren't terrible.

Carolina is terrible.

Brian Daboll is probably getting fired.



I think I'd like to visit this post again during Week 17 to see how much of these thoughts end up being good/bad...

Thought it'd be fun to take a look at how some of these takes aged at the halfway point of the season:

• Kirk Cousins still can't move, but I think ATL is probably pretty happy with how it's looking right now. With sweeping the Bucs, they are on a glide path to the playoffs right now.
  
  
• Chicago definitely doesn't have a 4,000 yard passer in Williams. Too early to declare bust or not, but he's not having a good season to this point.
  
  
• Joe Burrow is actually playing out of his mind so far this year, so that was a terrible take.
  
  
• My initial opinions on Stroud might have been justified. His long time to throw and having less of a cupcake schedule is catching up to him... he's actually struggling pretty good right now. On the advanced stats like QBR, Passer Rating, ANY/A he's just below average but when you look at Success Rate he's bottom of the league level right now.
  
  
• Never mind about New Orleans. Couple of injuries on the O-Line and Carr fell off a cliff... and then he got injured. Their season is over already.
  
  
• Carolina is terrible... but Canales might actually be able to work his magic and save Bryce Young's career. He's kind of showing me something halfway into this Munich game.
  
  
• Brian Daboll is getting fired. Giants defense has been above average this year but their offense is terrible. Daniel Jones is pretty much garbage. Can't believe we let this team beat us. (Hopefully what we saw against Los Angeles with Jones IV in the middle is a sign of where we are going forward this year because our run defense was a real back breaker in a couple of games).

EDIT: Bonus takeaway that I didn't make on this list - I can't believe KC is undefeated. Like, they've got a middling-ish defense and good-but-not-great offense and when you watch them they do not look great. I've watched probably half of their games this year and not once have I thought they looked like one of the best teams in the league.

 

[Chukarhawk]

Daniels is a bust, his trajectory is RG3.

definitely wrong about that one!!

 

[James in PA]

I stand by most of my early takes. DQ is proving me wrong so far. Despite their loss today, Washington looks good. Then again, nothing gives an organization a shot in the arm like a young franchise quarterback.

 

[DarkVictory23]

I stand by most of my early takes. DQ is proving me wrong so far. Despite their loss today, Washington looks good. Then again, nothing gives an organization a shot in the arm like a young franchise quarterback.

Yeah, they hit gold with Daniels.

What's funny is... Washington's defense is still really bad despite Quinn's rep. They were a bottom 10 defense going into this game and they did nothing that would make you question that standing today.

 

[MORGULON]

I predict Daniels coming back to earth as teams figure his weaknesses out.

If he has any

 

[James in PA]

Harbaugh is doing EXACTLY what I and many others thought he'd do with the Chargers: an immediate turnaround. I bet next year they are SB contenders already. Yeah, I hated his guts previously, but if he would have come to Seattle, that would have quickly changed. He probably wouldn't have taken the Seattle job, but did we even take a swing? Just frustrating knowing it was going to play out like this.

 

[DarkVictory23]

Harbaugh is doing EXACTLY what I and many others thought he'd do with the Chargers: an immediate turnaround. I bet next year they are SB contenders already. Yeah, I hated his guts previously, but if he would have come to Seattle, that would have quickly changed. He probably wouldn't have taken the Seattle job, but did we even take a swing? Just frustrating knowing it was going to play out like this.

I don't doubt that Harbaugh has done some good stuff because you can't be the number one rated defense in the NFL without doing something right, but I don't think we should discount SOS for some of the turnaround.

Their offense is still below league average. Not as bad as last year (to this point) but not much better either. All the turnaround has been on the defensive side of the ball and to that end, they have not beat a single decent offense.

The only one they beat who currently ranks as above league average is the Saints--who had Spencer Rattler under center behind a patchwork OL while that team was in the midst of a 7-game losing streak.

Our victory over the Falcons is the best offense either team has beaten thus far.

They're next 5 games will all be against top 10 offenses, so I'll be interested to see how those games turn out before I start having any sort of buyer's remorse. (Just kidding... even if they do great, I'll still be happy to not see Harbaugh's annoying face on the sideline every week.)