NFL Offseason/Free Agency/Non Draft Thread

[Joemailman]

Ian Rapoport @rapsheet.bsky.social

Sources: The Steelers and All-Pro edge TJ Watt have agreed to terms on a long-term deal to make him the NFL’s highest-paid defender.

He gets a 3-year, $123M blockbuster deal in a contract done by RJ Gonser of CAA.
.

[Fritz]

Ted Thompson's biggest mistake, probably. Passing on TJ Watt to trade down for Kevin King and a fourth round pick that turned into a non-entity as a football player.

All GM's have misses, but that one was obvious and glaring. Bretsky is still apoplectic over that one.

Packers have made some good offseason late free agent pickups. I wonder if that could happen again. Doesn't seem to be anyone out there on the radar. Maybe camp cuts, maybe that.

[Joemailman]

Just look at all the money the Packers saved because TT drafted Kevin King instead of TJ Watt!

[Fritz]

Just look at all the money the Packers saved because TT drafted Kevin King instead of TJ Watt!

Ted was always careful with a dime.

[Patler]

Just look at all the money the Packers saved because TT drafted Kevin King instead of TJ Watt!

It is interesting to think about how things would have been different had they drafted him. It would have been nice having his performance. Who wouldn't have gotten paid to afford his contracts? Could have been improvements by both addition and subtraction!

[Joemailman]

It is interesting to think about how things would have been different had they drafted him. It would have been nice having his performance. Who wouldn't have gotten paid to afford his contracts? Could have been improvements by both addition and subtraction!

They drafted Gary and signed Z and Preston Smith 2 years later. At least one of those guys wouldn't have been here. They would have had a huge need at CB to be filled.

[MadScientist]

They drafted Gary and signed Z and Preston Smith 2 years later. At least one of those guys wouldn't have been here. They would have had a huge need at CB to be filled.

They still had a huge need at CB, even with drafting King. I get that there was good reason to select a CB at that pick, but they needed to select a good CB. Unfortunately, the pickings were slim after Buffalo grabbed White. Watt would have been vastly better as a guy who constantly pressures the QB makes all CB's look better.

[texaspackerbacker]

Entirely true about the badness of not taking T.J. Watt in the past. That's water over the dam, though.

In the present, I'm betting Pittsburgh is gonna regret paying him all that money, and it would have been a big mistake if the Packers had made a deal like that with him. I doubt his greatness will last three more years.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Ted was always careful with a dime.

But all the frogskins saved couldn’t stop time
Yo, Father Time fucks with everyone’s prime
A fluke Owl with Butte is a goddamn crime

[bobblehead]

They drafted Gary and signed Z and Preston Smith 2 years later. At least one of those guys wouldn't have been here. They would have had a huge need at CB to be filled.

Thank god King stopped that from happening!!!

[bobblehead]

But all the frogskins saved couldn’t stop time
Yo, Father Time fucks with everyone’s prime
A fluke Owl with Butte is a goddamn crime

I would say the "fluke" is that we didn't get 2 more. If Hyde had held onto that Krapernick pick 6 for instance.

And don't get me started on that incredible imitation of a turtle that fat mike did vs. seattle.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

I would say the "fluke" is that we didn't get 2 more. If Hyde had held onto that Krapernick pick 6 for instance.

And don't get me started on that incredible imitation of a turtle that fat mike did vs. seattle.

Coulda/woulda/shoulda is the story of my morose life, so I know regret all too well.

Give the Polar Bear credit for the fluke ring. Ditto, for acquiring players like Butte, Claymaker, Nelson, Adams, C-Wood and Peppers.

But by being “careful with a dime,” the Polar Bear essentially handicapped the Butte-led Packers from ever becoming a dynasty. For a team without a single owner, Polar Bear rarely cooked the cap for competitive purposes. Lynch and Gonzalez shoulda been Packers. Perry over hip hop safety Harrison Smith. King over Watt. Hyde over Hayward.

Arguably the most talented QB in NFL history. Prime years wasted by the Polar Bear’s incompetence. Nothing more than a one-hit wonder.

[smuggler]

We probably win the Super Bowl in 2020 if we just didn't use the pick at all.

[Joemailman]

Lions defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike suffered a torn ACL and will miss the entire season, head coach Dan Campbell announced today. Onwuzurike opened camp on the reserve/physically unable to perform list but it was only today that Campbell explained why.

"Levi is out for the year. Levi's surgery, it was significant, but it needed to be done. Out of his control but it needed to be done, so he will miss the season," Campbell said. "It was a knee, ACL, so he got that taken care of."

Onwuzurike has spent his entire career with the Lions, who drafted him in the second round in 2021. Last year he was one of the few Lions defenders who stayed healthy, missing only one game and playing in 61 percent of the Lions' defensive snaps.

[Fritz]

Lions defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike suffered a torn ACL and will miss the entire season, head coach Dan Campbell announced today. Onwuzurike opened camp on the reserve/physically unable to perform list but it was only today that Campbell explained why.

"Levi is out for the year. Levi's surgery, it was significant, but it needed to be done. Out of his control but it needed to be done, so he will miss the season," Campbell said. "It was a knee, ACL, so he got that taken care of."

Onwuzurike has spent his entire career with the Lions, who drafted him in the second round in 2021. Last year he was one of the few Lions defenders who stayed healthy, missing only one game and playing in 61 percent of the Lions' defensive snaps.

Lions seem to have shit luck with injuries. Losing Aidan Hutchinson last year might've cost them a SB trip, and half the team was on IR, it seemed. We're acutely aware of the impact of injuries on our teams, but you forget other teams have it rough sometimes, too.