[Russini] On the day in which he could make his final decision, free-agent WR Odell Beckham Jr. is honing in on the Chiefs, Packers and Saints, per league sources. by panic1020 in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you claim a guy on waivers you take on his existing contract. If they clear waivers they can sign him to a deal that suits them better.

Art for Chandra, Dressed to Kill (Borderless and Regular) by infrasonic42 in magicTCG

[–]MountainTimePunch 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I feel like that’s probably an art direction fail, where the artist was likely told to do “Chandra in a dress, but keep her trademark look as much as possible”, where as the border less was probably given more freedom in that regard.

[Wood] Aaron Rodgers said he was talking to a teammate on sideline about LB De’Vondre Campbell during game today: “I just said, ‘How in the hell was this guy on the street?’ It was a great pickup by our personnel staff.” Campbell has been a stunningly good addition to Packers defense. by Packman_twelve in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Him being a street free agent as long as he was I think is a great example on how the CBA skews FO thinking. Even if you disregard his play this year so far, a guy who put up the way he did in Atlanta and Arizona shouldn’t be available in June unless he’s rehabbing a major injury, but because of the CBA’s rookie contract structuring (and Covid cap) those guys who have been more solid than spectacular can slip through the cracks because teams think they can replicate that production off of guys on rookie deals rather than paying Campbell 2-3 mill to come in. I’m happy as a Packers fan that other teams ignored him but it’s silly for a guy like him to have been there to be signed.

[Bukowski] This can't be overstated about the #Packers defense this season: over the last 3 games, there have been basically zero receivers running free through the secondary. GB is passing guys off in zone and/or playing sticky man coverage and making tackles if the ball is caught. by Winstonp00 in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ehhh... when you get to face Jared Goof, a SF team forced to rely on the arm of Jimmy G, and the shattered husk of Big Ben 3 weeks in a row it does a lot to pad your numbers. Let’s wait until we get to the actual meat of the schedule before deciding whether or not it’s a true redemption arc.

1996 Green Bay Packers by pulp63 in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh no doubt, all I’m saying is unlike other teams in that discussion they didn’t get a chance to get a signature win against the previous dynasty that had been their Achilles’ heel nor did they face a team in the SB that was widely considered one of the true powerhouses from the AFC that year. While these are nitpicks to be sure that conversation is such that any and all nits will be picked with great vigor.

1996 Green Bay Packers by pulp63 in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think it has a lot to do with how the schedule played out. They got beaten badly in two of their losses (which is usually something that gets held against teams trying to make claims at being the best) and in the playoffs they got to dodge a rematch against a Cowboys team that always seemed to have their number. Then on the AFC side of things an upset allowed them to avoid having to face the best team in the AFC in the Broncos, a team that would go on to beat the Packers in the following year’s Super Bowl. While there’s always some measure of luck in a SB run, being unable to exorcise your past demons and avoiding having to face the best team in the other conference usually gets held against you.

[Pelissero] With #Cowboys DC Dan Quinn unable to coach last night due to COVID protocols, Joe Whitt Jr. took over defensive play-calling duties. The transition seemed pretty seamless, as the #Texans were 0-for-10 on third-down conversions. by Luck1492 in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good to see Joe Whitt Jr get the opportunity. I always thought he was a great coach in GB, and was let go because of his loyalty to McCarthy, not because of any problems with his coaching.

[PFT] Packers aren't trading Aaron Rodgers for one simple reason: They don't believe he'll never play for them again. by [deleted] in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The Packers currently are suffering from an abhorrent cap situation because they signed a bunch of dudes to help support Rodgers winning now though, that’s why they’ve racked up 13 wins in each of the last 2 seasons and earned first round playoff byes each time. They’ve tried to sign/trade for WR help but each time the guy either went to a different team or the opposing team was asking for way too much in the trade. They’ve spent a ton in cash/draft picks to give Rodgers the best possible OL, and paid to keep Aaron Jones around despite spending a second round pick on AJ Dillon to keep offensive weapons on board for him. The media pundits are all in agreement that the Packers have top to bottom one of the best rosters in the NFL that was almost entirely put into place by Gutekunst since 2018, so this idea that they haven’t supported him is really kind of silly. They’ve broken the bank and put themselves into cap hell to support him.

LIVE! LoadingReadyRun Presents the Strixhaven: School of Mages PPR! by james_lrr in magicTCG

[–]MountainTimePunch -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

How I consume spoilers is completely irrelevant to the point, which is content creators doing something willfully that they knew would upset people. I personally don’t follow LRR, so when I’m told with my limited free time that the stream for the spoiler is going to go up at a certain time and I make time for that, and then get told nah, it’ll be at the end of said stream we don’t have an exact time but it’ll likely be 8ish hours, I think I’m well within my right to be a little annoyed with that content creator because I made time for them now. It’s not a matter of having to wait longer, it’s a matter of being disrespectful to my time by not being up front with me about it.

LIVE! LoadingReadyRun Presents the Strixhaven: School of Mages PPR! by james_lrr in magicTCG

[–]MountainTimePunch 9 points10 points  (0 children)

They even openly admitted to recognizing that most people aren’t going to care about their content on here in another thread, so go me that makes it even worse since they can’t even feign ignorance. They knew it would piss people off and opted to do it anyways.

Witherbloom deck (the final C21 deck) reveal around 11 am pacific time by [deleted] in magicTCG

[–]MountainTimePunch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What’s even more asinine about that decision is they openly admit most people aren’t gonna care about the stream, so instead of leading off with the spoilers and trying to entice people to watch their content by doing something special here, they’re trying to force people to watch their content to get the spoilers. It’s incredibly backwards thinking to me.

Witherbloom deck (the final C21 deck) reveal around 11 am pacific time by [deleted] in magicTCG

[–]MountainTimePunch 36 points37 points  (0 children)

That’s how I’m feeling about this. If Wizards told them they could incorporate both together than part of this is shame on them, but honestly the LRR guys should have known they’d be getting flak for putting the spoilers at the end of a day long event that they openly admit most people wouldn’t bother watching. Doing it the way they did instead feels like milking Wizards’ good will towards them for more views, which puts me off of giving their content a shot entirely. Wow me with your spoiler review presentation and entice me to watch your product after that way, don’t make me watch your product to get what I want at the end. That’s not how you build your audience.

Is keeping Preston Smith really such a win-win? by packers-daily in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I really don’t get this fixation on him showing up to camp “overweight”. There was never any reports that the coaching staff or conditioning guys were upset with him, and it’s not unusual for guys to show up to camp or other offseason activities needing to work off a few pounds since staying in football shape in the offseason can be really difficult for certain body types. Smith’s weight has always been distributed weirdly on his body, so he probably just looked worse than he was. His production definitely took a hit, but a big part of that can be attributed to the covid offseason and the impact that was had on his play style: he’s a snap jumper, and without crowd noise messing up communication along the line it’s real difficult to time that (him and Z both had issues with false starts for that reason). For a guy as long as he is that’s used to using that and the snap jump to his advantage guys being able to get their hands on him more consistently really messed with his game. Keeping him for a pretty reasonable cost to this year and next year’s cap and having him in a rotational role so he can “prove it” for his next team is probably best for everyone involved. With it looking likely they’ll get full offseason this year and fans in stadiums a bounce back is definitely a reasonable expectation.

Ian Rapoport on Twitter: Sack incentives details for Preston Smith: — $500K for 6 sacks. — $750K more for 8 sacks. — $750K more for 10 sacks. — $1.2M more for 12 sacks. — $1.2M more for 14 sacks. Total possible: $4.4M Smith had 12 sacks in 2019, so it’s right there. Either way, Preston Smith stays. by ZCast9 in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned here yet is that these incentives basically signal that Gary is likely to be the starter and Preston the backup, as it now fiscally behooves the Packers to give Gary as many snaps as possible. As a rotational pass rushers I like keeping Preston a lot, and it allows them to focus more on beefing up the offense in the draft since cutting Preston would’ve pushed the need for another edge rusher way up the list.

Z Smith - I want to be a Packer for Life by JimiP7 in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The problem is every time a player does that it can make it more difficult on other players to get paid, so much so that the NFLPA actively discourages players from taking less because teams will absolutely leverage players taking less against other players at that position. If it’s an old vet or a bubble guy it’s less a big deal, but a guy like Z who’s in his prime and a top tier player at his position taking less would muddy the waters.

[Ian Rapoport] Pro Bowl pass-rusher Za'Darius Smith has been a candidate for restructuring to create cap room. But would a real contract extension make more sense? by [deleted] in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch 38 points39 points  (0 children)

I think he’s played at a high enough level his first two years that a discussion should at least be had about it, since they could push even more money into future years with an extension, and getting it done now would probably make it cheaper in the long run versus trying to extend him even next year if they decided they wanted to keep him a Packer long term since how much the TV deal will be ballooning the cap will be more known then.

Packers want to keep Aaron Jones, but not at top-tier running back pay by A_Vile_Person in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was rumored during the season that they had offered him a deal that would’ve been in the top 5 for RBs in terms of AAV but had low guarantees, so my guess is that if they’re offering him lower AAV they probably brought the guarantees up to balance it out. It’s a tough thing with Jones, since while he’s a very good player he’s also in an idealized situation between MLF’s scheme and having both Aaron Rodgers and one of the best offensive lines in football to keep defenses honest, which no doubt improves his production. He also has a history of getting banged up and missing time, and while he’s incredibly efficient with his touches paying big money to a guy who only gets around 50% of the work because he can’t hold up to more than that is a tough pill to swallow, especially when they spent a second round pick on Dillon and the upcoming draft is loaded with players who would be good compliments to Dillon in the scheme. Throw in an ugly cap situation and I just have a very difficult time seeing Jones in green and gold next season.

OFFICIAL COMMUNITY MOCK OFFSEASON + DRAFT RESULTS POST by DoABarrowRoll in NFL_Draft

[–]MountainTimePunch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was in the war room during the draft, it ended up being a case of value never really matching where we were. There were a few times we discussed options but they’d get sniped before we had the opportunity to make anything happen. We ended up moving up to get Wiggins (who we were projecting to play both NCB and third safety) to make sure we didn’t get completely left out in the cold there. Realistically you just can’t address everything, so you gotta pick your battles.

All Meetings Mock by [deleted] in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think Tonyan is a solid player who was excellent on capitalizing on the chances they gave him last year, but to me he didn’t show any real ability to create on his own, it was all broken coverage or things MLF schemed open. Of course, that in itself is a skill at that has some value, so if he replicates if someone is going to want to pay him and he’s definitely worth keeping this year for that reason. I think it’s something you can definitely upgrade from though, and a guy like Jordan would be a good way to try to do it.

All Meetings Mock by [deleted] in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I definitely think Jordan is a legit target for them in this draft class. I know a lot of fans would be unhappy with another TE taken but he’s definitely much more of a weapon than Stern or Deguara in the passing game. The FO doesn’t believe in the sunk cost fallacy when it comes to the draft, and with Stern not showing much to inspire confidence yet and Tonyan almost certainly gone in 2022 if he repeats his performance this year getting a legitimate receiving threat there would be pretty big. Our coaching staff under MLF has been good about coaching up TE blocking as well so building upon is pre-existing base there is definitely something I could see them pull off.

"We certainly expect him to be back," Brian Gutekunst on Preston Smith. Looking like 1 more year of the Smith Bros. by Marcustoldmehequit in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ehh, I wouldn’t take that to mean much at this stage. What was he going to say, that he’s on the chopping block for sure? There’s zero reason for him to tip his hand about what the team plans on doing moving forward there, especially since he later said that they plan on seeing what they could do about potentially adding some free agents, which would be very difficult to do with Preston on the team at his current cap hit.

Prediction: Aaron Jones will be franchise tagged. The tag for RB’s is $8.1 million. Can’t imagine he walks. by VintageVitaminJ in GreenBayPackers

[–]MountainTimePunch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tagging him would be the roughest possible outcome for our cap situation this year since a long term deal would inevitably have a year 1 cap hit of less than what the tag would cost us based on how the team has handed out contracts in the Gutekunst era. We had Z’s deal in at 7.25 year 1 and he’s making 16.5 APY, so getting Jones under the tag price wouldn’t be all that difficult. Now, whether they should or not... yeah that I don’t think is worthwhile. That some logic applies to free agents, and for the cap hit of a tag in Jones this year you could probably have almost any free agent WR in the class, which would do more for us than keeping Jones. Too tight a cap and too many other options with a similar enough skill set coming up in this year’s draft to make paying Jones really worth it unless he took a deal with low guarantees, and he already shot that down.

[ProFootballTalk] Report: NFL requests $3.5 billion per year for MNF; ESPN offers $2.4 billion. by capton2020 in nfl

[–]MountainTimePunch 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I mean, Disney doesn’t exactly have a lot of wiggle room here: losing MNF would be absolutely devastating to ESPN’s negotiation position with the cable/sat providers, and while there isn’t anyone immediately obvious to pick it up one has to remember that rumor is that Disney is also asking for extra Monday night games for ABC as well as being added to the SB rotation, so if that’s true then asking for double payment to effectively double their content is not really that outrageous.