NFL Offseason so far

The NFL preseason, unlike most other professional sports seasons, is running as usual.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons license

The NFL preseason, unlike most other professional sports seasons, is running as usual.

Joe Flynn, The Delphi Staff

The NFL off-season just began, and it is already the craziest offseason of all time.

That’s a bold statement to make, but it’s true. Tom Brady, the so called G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time), is leaving his home of 20 years to go to Tampa Bay. Deandre Hopkins has been traded due to a so called feud between Hopkins and coach, Bill O’Brien. Hopkins is going to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for David Johnson and a second-round pick. It’s going to be a rough offseason and season for the Texans this year.

Tom Brady isn’t the only quarterback switching teams this year. Phillip Rivers, a lifetime Charger, is going to Indianapolis to revive his career. These players have spent their entire careers with one team, and at the drop of a hat they left.

I love football, and I’m a die hard Giants fan, but I’m no longer watching football. This offseason has been terrible for the sport. Tom Brady is leaving the Patriots, which is unbelievable, and Phillip Rivers signed a pathetic deal to try and win a title. This is what it must have felt when Joe Montana left the 49ers for the Chiefs in his final year. It’s a feeling of being sick to your stomach because Tom Brady threw out all the values that fans hold dearly and went to sunny Florida, leaving New Englanders freezing in the cold with no where to go.

Todd Gurley was released by the Rams and has been signed by the Falcons, which if you told me one year ago that the Rams would be releasing Todd Gurley, I would have said you were crazy. Gurley had a down year, most likely because his ACL injury is catching up to him. The Rams did Gurley right, however, by releasing him and letting him go somewhere else and not slandering his name by saying his knees don’t work right. The Falcons were also smart by only signing Gurley for one year instead of a long term deal, which would have definitely hurt the team’s payroll. I hope Todd Gurley gets back to form and has a healthy career, but that is most likely not the case because he’s a gamer and will play through his injuries. In the end, that will be his downfall as a player.

Other deals have been completed quietly because of all the big names being traded or signing with other teams. Stefon Diggs, who seemed like he would retire a Viking, was traded to the Buffalo Bills. Dak Prescott was franchise tagged, which usually means a player will be with the team for one more year and then released, but Dak Prescott is smart enough to know that the Cowboys will stick by him and give him a hefty paycheck next year.

Deandre Hopkins’ trade to the Cardinals makes the Cardinals rebuild process a lot faster. They also recently drafted Offensive Rookie of the Year, Kyler Murray, a quarterback who will be the face of the NFL soon. Murray’s main problem last season was that he had nobody to pass to. Murray had an aging veteran in Larry Fitzgerald, and a pair of young, inexperienced wide receivers. Now the Cardinals need to find a new running back and build up their defense in the draft, and they could be a contending team this year.

The biggest losers this offseason is Deshaun Watson, the Miami Dolphins, and the Detroit Lions. The Lions are trying to replicate what the Patriots have done defensively by signing some of their aging stars like Kyle Van Noy, and the Dolphins are trying to replicate the Patriots defensive air attack by signing aging cornerbacks who are only good at man-to-man defense. Deshaun Watson, the quarterback for the Texans, may be the biggest loser, however, because he is being buried coach Bill O’Brien’s, poor decisions. Watson now has no defense to back him up, no stars to throw to, and three washed-up running backs.

What may be the weirdest thing process for the entire offseason is that the Patriots are rebuilding. They need to draft a quarterback, which will probably be Justin Herbert, and they desperately need some good wide receivers. They need a blocking tight end and have to find some new linebackers this offseason. Just like the Patriots, the Bears need to rebuild again because their new coach hurt Mitchell Trubisky’s confidence this year, most likely ending his career. Trubisky was a promising player who was never given a real chance to be a star because his coach runs more of a run-heavy offense who wants the defense to do all of the work.

That’s the NFL offseason so far, but the offseason is far from over. There is still the draft, more free agents to be signed and most likely more trades that will be completed.