The Weird, Wacky and Awesome World of the NFL - General Banter thread V3

It's getting little or no talk here but three GAA players took part in The Combine as kickers on Sunday.

They were part of the International Player Pathway.

Now I know the Irish media hype up any Irish guy who even plays on a college team,( I've read reports of guys potentially making the NFL only to read further down the page that they are going to some FCS Division 3 school) but these guys have better chances, they were at least doing drills in front of teams in Indy.

They have now gone back to their camp in Florida awaiting contact from teams.

According to the guy who was coaching them and runs a kicker academy there was interest from teams who wanted to find out more after seeing them in Indy, but he would say that, wouldn't he.

Not sure if anything will come of it, kickers are a dime a dozen and there are plenty of college kickers out there who have played in real game situation, so why hire a guy from a completely different sport.

By the way the guys are Rory Beggan from Monaghan, Mark Jackson from Wicklow and Charlie Smyth from Down.

Beggan would be by far the most high profile in GAA, one of the most high profile goalkeepers in the game.

Trade itself for Wilson wasn't too bad, even though there were some questions at the time about whether he was on a downturn in performance. It was throwing the contract at him so early and unnecessarily that was incredibly dumb.

Watson is however shaping up to potentially be worse on all counts, though still has time to pull things back.

Oh yeah you're right about that I think, my apologies, but it still holds true that if a team signs them they don't take up a spot on the practice squad, you're allowed have one extra player if he's international like that.

I thought Steelers got rights over Ireland?

How did rees zammit get on?

Eagles signing Barkley, Cousins off to Atlanta

2 year deal realistically. Nearly all the guaranteed money is front loaded. Cousins again seems to get nice years for these deals with no other big QB signings.

Arent these guys among the 16 that are already signed to the IPP for 2024 - along with that Welsh rugby player.

They get a 2 year PS squad contract as an extra player on the PS, but are not allowed to be activated to the full roster while in the 2 year program (but can drop out and take their chances as a regular player if they want).

After 2 yrs in the IPP they are on their own. I think the NFL wants every team to have an IPP PS squad player - hence 16 being signed per annum from 2024 onwards.

It's a very weak division and adding Cousins makes them favourites. They had nothing at QB last year and went 7-10. I'm not convinced Cousins gets you anywhere in the playoffs, but, in that division, he probably gets you there.

A lot of bears fans very disappointed with the cousins signing because they were hoping to get decent picks in exchange for fields from Atlanta. I think we are starting to see that his real value in the league is lower than they might have hoped. Especially as he is entering his fourth year, I think they'll be very lucky if they get a third for him at this point, and wouldn't be shocked if they kept him for the year and also drafted Williams. In fact this would be ideal if bears fans could have patience and let Williams be a back up for a year, and see if fields can grow. But the first sign of any trouble and they'd clamor for Williams, and they'd get him too because our HC knows he's on the chopping block.

There's been a lot of discussion on Raiders fan groups about the idea that Fields might provide a cheap upgrade allowing the Raiders to stand pat at 13 in the draft and concentrate on other areas (and there are a lot of areas to be addressed). Atlanta was seen as a probably destination for Fields but now Cousins has gone there, it may well be a more realistic option for LV. Especially now Chicago know they cant command a kings ransom for him.