BoltBacker

I expect goodell to announce a 2020 moratorium on kissing booths in stadiums next week, after he's rested over the weekend to really mull it over.

Never mind. I was thinking that goodell looked lost had clueless BUT that was before I heard about his latest plan to fight covid. Now that the players won't be exchanging jerseys after the game problem pretty much solved. It would be difficult to replace a forward thinking problem solver like goodell whether they were black, brown, purple or red.

Seems like an easy fix in these situations. Give him some incentives so that he does finish the year the most productive RB he makes ~$4.6mil. Keep in mind the best season this guy every had was 300yd/1td before last year. There is no guarantee he finishes above Coleman if you plan on splitting their carries 50/50. If McKinnon was even close to being healthy they might just give him his with for a day 3 pick to avoid the headache. The market for 28yo RB's looking for a new contract probably isn't very strong, especially when his year 28 season may be a lost season. Given his career resume I'm not really sure that $2.6mil is a slap in the face for Mostert. SF is at a HUGE advantage this year with so few changes going on if there is an abbreviated season with little/no preparation to the season. Rams relying on rookies to play huge parts in replacing key vets. Cardinals best player on offense and defense hasn't even played a down with the team yet. Continuity is the only reason I can imagine SF would throw some incentives into his deal.

Not saying this is a bad plan, but I don't understand it completely. 1. Are you saying that those college campuses will be closed and empty(other than the NFL teams and their coaches/trainers)? 2. I honestly think all pro athletes will be tested more often than that. It wouldn't be shocking to me if there was a test before every full contact practice(which might result in fewer contact practices). No matter what, you have a much better plan than anything goodell has come up with in the past several months.

Any league pretending that they can criss-cross the country staying in hotels in a new city every week and everything will be just fine is completely kidding themselves. I don't care if you test them 30 times a day. It's not the players you have to test multiple times every day it's every person in transit/hospitality/food preperation that they come in contact with.... in 30+ cities? Good luck.

I think this might be the biggest part of the problem. - For these leagues a proper finish is one where the networks will pay full price for the content.... no matter how bad the level of play is. In this sense I think the NBA may have the inside track because it really only takes a few dozen stars to make games watchable. Keep in mind the NBA will mostly be playing playoff games so they are actually playing for something which adds drama even if the level of play is lower. In the case of baseball/football they have to get through an entire SEASON(even if it's abbreviated) before a playoff game is played and they need so many more participants just to play the game. At least with baseball I don't think the lower level of play will be nearly as obvious.... but maybe that's because I'm not a baseball fan in the first place. The NFL is the most physical, requires the most players/coaches, and the diminished level of play is going to be painfully obvious. - For the networks a proper finish simply depends on ratings. They are paying big money for big ratings and there is certainly a pent up demand so ratings may be fairly high, especially at first. With the NBA having playoff games there's a pretty good chance fans will tune in even if there are problems. With the NFL the level of play(I would guess somewhere between pre-season level and scab games) may actually lose audience way, WAY before they get to the playoffs assuming the league isn't forced to shut things down well before the playoffs. - For the players a proper finish depends on the player imo, as we've discussed in this thread before. I'm guessing the bottom half of the NFL will absolutely be willing to take a risk so they don't lose one of their 2-4yr career. If I were a star, especially one that had any future guaranteed money either way, I don't know why I would take such a risk. Some will probably think it makes them seem more manly or tougher playing through no matter what. - For the fans a proper finish is probably out of reach no matter what. That's why I think it's disingenuous for sports media folks to claim, "Well if you want a season the only way it will work is........". Well, there won't be a season played at a level we have come to expect no matter what happens. More often than not those "journalist" sound like arm chair generals that are more than willing to risk the health of others so they have something to write about, podcast about, etc. Just think about the statement, "We can't outrun the virus". WTF?

I would look at it just the opposite way. The people that really want an NFL season to be successful are just gobsmacked that there isn't any sort of "plan" put in place other than business-as-usual. Seems to me goodell has just put his fingers in his ears and is pretending the pandemic doesn't exist which means there is almost NO chance the season goes off as planned. Dunno if the NBA plan will work..... but at least people would have to admit it's A PLAN dealing with the realities of 2020. Maybe the NBA plan has a ~50% chance of working? It would be difficult for me to believe anyone honestly thinks what the NFL is going to do has a better than 5% chance of going off without a hitch. Keep in mind the word "hitch" in this context could include a death count of people in and around the league. They are pretty much hoping for a miracle vaccine being available to everyone by the end of August by pretending the pandemic doesn't exist and won't affect the schedule in any way. I don't like Florio much and think he often has terrible takes, but in this case he's just stating water is wet. You don't have to "hate the NFL" to realize goodell is doing his best captain Ahab impression and that 2020 TV network money is his white whale. If goodell continues to bungle this maybe it's time for the first black NFL commissioner.

Interesting. I was going to post something almost the opposite. Not that I'm against knowing how to drive, I just think people get stuck wasting so much of their lives sitting in a car on the way to living their life. I wish I could go back to my 20's and tell myself to set up my life to drive for PLEASURE rather than NECESSITY. Spent the vast majority of my 20's commuting ~1hr each direction because I thought I was "saving" money. Often times that commute was longer due to traffic/construction/weather/etc. When you really think about that.... ~10hr+ per week.... ~500hr+ per year.... I wasted AT LEAST 5000 hours of my 20's just sitting in traffic staring at the bumper in front of me. That was in the days before podcasts and terrestrial radio was(and still is) absolute trash. What a waste of time/energy almost every single day. How much $ would I pay to have 5000 hours of my 20's back? Don't get me wrong, I also have some great memories of road trips I took in my 20's(and still enjoy them today) but those trips made for pleasure is such a small fraction of the time that I used to spend in a car. I would much rather live a 10min or less commute to work and just rent a car for those few road trips every year that you really enjoy.

Any team would be happy to give up a day 2 pick in the draft to POSSIBLY gain a slight advantage in a regular season game against the Bengals? Are you being serious? What would NFL teams be willing to give up to gain a slight advantage to win a pre-season game? A 4th rounder? That's the only rung lower than a regular season game against the Bengals.

Exactly. People honestly think they were DESPERATE to figure out a way to beat the Bengals? Not a Patriots fan by any stretch but that is completely ridiculous. Maybe they were bending to the rules to see what they could get away with. They found out. They got punished. Case closed. If anything a 3rd round pick seems very aggressive for such a small offense.

I really like this list, this makes a lot of sense to me.

"He has the 4th best INT rate in history. He's 4th, Tom Brady is 5th" Well, he and Tom Brady both have an INT rate of 1.8%. That is true. Derek Carr has a career INT rate of 1.9% and from what I hear from the national media most people think he should lose his job. Sam Bradford has an INT rate of 2.1% and is only 32yo and I can't tell you how many articles I've read by the national media in the past year moaning about the fact he doesn't have a job in the NFL.... it's just a TRAVESTY. Case Keenam has an INT rate of 2.2% and I hear people all the time site Keenam having a job proves that there is a conspiracy against Kap. Maybe there are several guys on this list that are middling to below average players? I certainly haven't heard many people point to Tyrod Taylor as a likely reason the chargers will go deep into the playoffs and probably win the AFC..... maybe they don't realize he has an INT rate of 1.5% (only Aaron Rodgers is better)! Tyrod Taylor has a better INT rate than Mahomes, after all. I will admit I'd much rather see Kap sit on the bench anywhere than subject myself to listening to Mike Greenberg talk about anything, but especially anything regarding the NFL.

Yeah that's true, and the culture of the NFL is more of a dogfight just to stay on a roster. I guess I would just worry that you will have scab level of play if all the good players sit out and the mediocre to below average players play with little or no time to prepare for a season. It's going to be a mess in 2020 either way. At this point we should just punt 2020. Let's all read self-help books, get projects done around the house, start a new hobby, or learn a foreign language. We aren't likely to really enjoy these half #### attempts at sports anyway.

Whenever I look at football sidelines at almost any level I see plenty of coaches/trainers/etc that would certainly qualify as the high risk category. Seems like a lot of folks are willing to volunteer others(not saying it's just you but using the discussion as an example) to risk their health. In this case even if you don't care if all the bus drivers/hotel workers/coaches/airport workers/team doctors/etc could potentially be at much higher risk than a 20yo athlete..... it's worth noting that these 20yo world class athletes are making $0.00 to take that risk with their health. As others have mentioned several times is Trevor Lawrence really going to take ANY risk? Why would he. If he sits out some sham of a 2020 CFB season does anyone honestly think he won't get drafted in the first round?

I would counter and say if I was one of the better than average NFL players and expected(at least in my own mind) that I would me making ~$10mil over the next few seasons I'd probably simply sit this one out. Players always THINK that their NFL career is going to be longer than it actually is. Adrian Peterson thinks he has four more years left. Maybe we will see above average players more likely to sit out while the guys that were on the fringe of the league will be more likely to play out whatever NFL career they have. I think some of the people in the "play for me at all costs" crowd are minimizing how much poorer the product is actually going to be with little preparation for the season and multiple players sitting out for both teams. What if the $60mil QB does want to play but his OT's playing on rookie deals don't see the benefit? They have plenty of time to come back and make their money if they are on their rookie deal. There are several NBA players that disagree with you and I'd bet as we get closer to the NBA restart there will be more as we get closer to that league playing actual games. The NBA has had a much, MUCH more thoughtful and safe approach to restart their season than the NFL has presented thus far. There are players that still don't seem to think it's worth the risk to participate in some asterisk of a season. Keep in mind the health complication rate in the African-American community is much higher than the population overall. It's much more likely that an NFL player has had someone in their family/friends network that has had a negative experience than just the average guy on the street. It's one thing to see statistics scrolling across a screen and tabulating your odds, it's a whole different thing if an ex-coach, teacher, uncle, grandmother, etc had a serious health complication or worse. That makes the health risk seem much more "real". I wouldn't blame any athlete for sitting out, and if they are getting paid well in 2021 and beyond it seems pretty silly to take any risk on 2020.