No time like the present to make a too-early thread, but its time will come.
First, congrats to the Rams of Inglewood. Great job ruining the neighborhood.
Second, The Too Early Power Rankings, before the final 36% of each team has been determined.
From last night, 7PM PST:
Had it locked in about a week ago, I’m guessing.
Giants 27th, Jets 28th, sounds about right.
Cowboys at #7? I am close to the number 1 fan and sources say he is about ready to throw in the towel on the team he has loved since the 70’s. I had suggested Chiefs as an alternative a few weeks ago, even tho I am partial to the Bucs. Of course without Brady the Bucs are iffy. I tend to pick teams for sentimental reasons tho.
Maybe he should try caring less about some billionaire’s sports team. Drop down to the #53 fan or so.
Right? Or maybe it’s time for a change of color.
KC was able to repair the OL in one offseason, so here’s hoping they can repair the pass rush in the same time frame.
Clark is as good as gone (post-June 1 cut); he completely disappeared in the 2nd half of the season and was practically useless in the postseason. Chris Jones is really good!, but not the level of guy who can carry a pass rush all on his own.
Tyrann Mathieu is a free agent and was the glue on the defense for much of his 3 seasons, but appeared to make a lot of ‘business decisions’ re: tackling in 2021. If they keep him, they’ll need to make sure it’s a creative contract that gives them outs if he ages poorly.
Mahomes is very high paid, of course, but his contract structure is SUPER flexible regarding creating cap room. He only counted as $7.4M million in 2021 and after they convert his roster bonus to a signing bonus, they’ll be able to create another $22M in room (from $36M to $14M cap hit). Maybe extend Tyreek a little to create more room, and they’ll be a decent landing spot for a few good free agents. They also get an extra 3rd rounder this year and next after the Bears hired one of their executives to be GM.
Ah, the old “shut up and don’t speak of it ever again” ploy. Works every time. Until…
Another Aaron Rodgers incompletion. Guess he wasn’t loyal enough to him.
Calvin Ridley has been suspended “indefinitely” for betting on NFL games. The suspension will last at least through the upcoming season
And he’s on Twitter…tweeting about it.
It’s a bright line. You don’t cross it. Best case for him is that he is so dumb that he thought being inactive made it OK?
11.1M salary that was guaranteed. He bet (according to him) $1500.
Good article about Ridley. It is believed that Ridley made a few parlay bets one weekend that included the Atlanta Falcons to win.
I may be go it alone here, but I do not think he should be suspended for an entire season (maybe 4 games) provided more facts against Ridley do not exist. The NFL and other sports leagues are now in bed with sports gambling. That does not mean I condone NFL players making bets, but the league has welcomed the close relationship with sports gambling after decades of avoidance. The type of bets made plus the fact that he was inactive (though by his own volition) coupled with the NFL’s hypocrisy don’t work for me. The NFL needs to own up to their role.
It’s proper to poke at the hypocrisy of the NFL getting in bed with sports gambling. However, I disagree that the league doing that makes it not a big deal for players to start betting on games. It is a line that can’t be crossed for good reason. That article you linked finishes well: “The league may be selling gambling, but those involved in the actual games need to never open up a sports betting site, much less place a wager.”
Can’t do it, period.
I agree that if the totality of his bets is the one weekend of parlays while away from the team, a whole season sounds heavy. but…he was definitely warned over and over what would happen. and he did it anyway. so, perhaps not the brightest bulb. he f’d around and now has found out.
Athletes shouldn’t gamble on their own sport. Period. After gambling for a number of years, I do not know a single person that has made bets once but only once. Especially when they had to step away for mental health. It would be a rare exception for a gambler to be completely truthful about either the frequency or severity of gambling losses, even at small stakes. I will be surprised if it is once and if he has a problem, I hope he gets past it. Anybody that has gotten themselves in a hole recognizes the signs.
Gambling has been around and available for a long time. The athletes know not to do it and consequences are clear. Personal accountability ranks high. I can have empathy for him and not judge why he did it. I am ok with the suspension. I truly hope it ends up being a good thing.
Interesting that he seems to have been ratted out probably by the people who took his bets.
He seems to have been up front with the NFL in their investigation. I’m not quite as cynical as Kid_Rock. I hope he is able keep from having a problem. But the fact that he decided to gamble while taking a mental health leave of absence seems exactly the wrong thing to do at that time.
The gambling sites are themselves invested in preserving the integrity of the games. Thus, they turned him in when they recognized the name.
So it took them 3 months to figure out who he was?
Seems like they need to put in a filter that makes it harder for people in the list of NFL people (I’m sure the NFL would be willing to provide a list of people they don’t want gambling) to the gambling people.
The Falcons received trade offers for Ridley and they would not listen knowing this investigation was going on (good for them). I wonder how long this investigation has been going on for
Sounds like he bet $11.1015M.
One article said either the league or the team was notified Feb 9th. And it said that Ridley fully cooperated with the league and gave an interview as soon as he was asked. And he answered all their questions truthfully and fully so it doesn’t seem like it should have taken very long to do the investigation.