WTF Mike Silver says we are the 28th best team in the NFL

[Mr. Arrowhead]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--po...GVzdAM-;_ylv=3

1. New York Giants: Is general manager Jerry Reese trying to get disgruntled defensive end Osi Umenyiora to snap?

2. New England Patriots: If Bill Belichick pulled off a trade in which he managed to swap picks with himself, would his reputation for masterful maneuvering reach an unprecedented plateau?

[ Dan Wetzel: Pats move up twice during first round in a dramatic shift in strategy ]

3. Green Bay Packers: Yo, Ted Thompson, feeling a bit defensive – and does having a 28-year-old superstar quarterback impact your thinking much?

4. Baltimore Ravens: When second-round draft pick Courtney Upshaw lines up across from new teammate Michael Oher in training camp, will their biological and surrogate parents be there to cheer them on?

5. San Francisco 49ers: How happy is Jim Harbaugh that the Niners drafted a receiver whose high school nickname was "E.T." and not "Edward Scissorhands"?

6. Houston Texans: With the drafting of Wade Phillips' newest pass-rushing toy, will the Texans' defense be Mercilus in 2012?

7. Pittsburgh Steelers: Got beef?

[ Les Carpenter: Draft picks spend more time in Radio City than anticipated ]

8. Detroit Lions: If the decision-makers in the Lions' war room "listened to our board" and started speaking in Matt Millen's voice, would the team's medical staff pass out handfuls of clozapine?

9. Atlanta Falcons: Hey, Thomas Dimitroff – if second-round pick Peter Konz could play guard and center at the same time, would you have made another Julio Jones-style trade to get him sixth overall?

10. Philadelphia Eagles: After assuring offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg that Philly's plan to use a third-round pick on former Arizona quarterback Nick Foles was "a great one", was Michael Vick tempted to add, "By the way – who's Nick Foles?"

11. New Orleans Saints: When Saints general manager Mickey Loomis called in his third-round pick of Regina defensive tackle Akiem Hicks Friday night, was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell tempted to grab the phone and interject, "Yeah, we know – we've got your war room wiretapped …"

[ Fantasy: A dozen draftees bound to make an immediate fantasy impact ]

12. Denver Broncos: Will Brock Osweiler become the tallest-ever teammate to bend down and polish Peyton Manning's dress shoes before a Quarterbacks' Night Out at training camp?

13. Dallas Cowboys: What was the Wonderlic score of the Dallas Morning News website editor who posted this headline about first-round draft pick "Morrris" Claiborne?

14. New York Jets: Am I the only one who wonders whether, based on their 2011 performance, the Jets should have drafted an offensive lineman before the sixth round?

15. Cincinnati Bengals: After Rutgers receiver Mohamed Sanu got a prank call telling him the Bengals were taking him in the first round Thursday night, shouldn't Redskins tight end Chris Cooley have been considered the prime suspect?

Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd is headed to Arizona. (AP)

16. Arizona Cardinals: If I'd been at Larry Fitzgerald's house for the first round of this year's draft, would he have reacted to the selection of Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd by racing jubilantly through his open-air living room and jumping into the pool?

[Yahoo! Sports Shop: Buy NFL player T-shirts and team gear]

17. San Diego Chargers: After learning that Chargers GM A.J. Smith had called him a "mean, nasty man", shouldn't first-round pick Melvin Ingram have extended his hand and retorted, "Pot, meet kettle"?

18. Carolina Panthers: How crazy is it that this year's No. 1 pick, Boston College middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, is smaller than last year's No. 1, quarterback Cam Newton?

19. Buffalo Bills: When general manager Buddy Nix described the Bills as "riverboat gamblers" after trading up to get North Carolina State wideout T.J. Graham in the third round, why did I immediately picture this body of water?

20. Chicago Bears: Will the new receiving tandem of Brandon Marshall and second-round pick Alshon Jeffery cause more havoc in opposing secondaries, or in the Bears' locker room?

21. Washington Redskins: When the 'Skins released quarterback John Beck on Saturday, was he humming my altered-lyric version of this iconic '90s tune from his alt-rock namesake?

22. St. Louis Rams: In an effort to help veteran Cortland Finnegan mentor newly drafted cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson, will coach Jeff Fisher provide the former Titans standout with a Taser gun?

[ Rams' war room: Roll dice on Janoris Jenkin | Select next T.O. ]

23. Tennessee Titans: After NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock described second-round pick Zach Brown as "allergic to contact", how awesome would it have been to see Brown fly across the set at Radio City Music Hall, slam Mayock into the orchestra pit and yell "Gesundheit"?

24. Seattle Seahawks: What's more surprising – that Pete Carroll and Jon Schneider drafted a quarterback in the third round, or that Wisconsin's Russell Wilson is the team's highest-drafted passer in nearly two decades?

25. Oakland Raiders: How disconcerting is it that post-Al Davis Raiders are resolutely boring on draft day, and can't new GM Reggie McKenzie just indulge us with one ultra-swift, lowly regarded "reach" pick per year?

26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: If the Muscle Hamster runs wild at Raymond James Stadium, will they put a large, spinning wheel next to the pirate ship in Doug Martin's honor?

27. Cleveland Browns: As of Thursday night, is Colt McCoy nostalgic for a little one-on-one time with Brian Daboll?

28. Kansas City Chiefs: Do Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel seem overly optimistic in their assessment of the Chiefs' talent level – or am I just so pessimistic about K.C.'s quarterback situation that it completely clouds my thinking?

29. Jacksonville Jaguars: To realize value as the 70th overall pick, would Bryan Anger have to figure out a way to get footballs to explode upon making contact with a punt returner?

30. Minnesota Vikings: Yo, Matt Kalil – while proclaiming how much more Minnesota than California you are, were you neglecting to account for the possibility that the team which drafted you might soon be West Coast-bound?

31. Miami Dolphins: Does Jeff Irleand's latest rebuilding project involve replacing his best player – and, if so, why do I sense another protest brewing?

[ Jason Cole: Colts use Day 2 of draft to get Andrew Luck weapons in form of 2 TEs and a WR ]

32. Indianapolis Colts: Now that former Stanford tight end Coby Fleener has successfully convinced an NFL team he was worthy of being selected with the 34th overall pick, will he grow his hair out and lose the whole Rob Gronkowski impersonation bit?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Cassel>Manning

What Vegas thinks...

The Ravens and Cowboys are the only 2 halfway decent bets in the lot. The rest of them are just not good enough bets to justify putting money down this early.

The Broncos are a sucker bet from Vegas. Gotta love the sharks, man. They know how to make some easy money...

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

I dunno, they've only gone two decades without winning a playoff game.... I think the media should respect them for at least another decade, until they've really, really proven they're no better than the Browns.

Keep doubting Donald Stephenson!

[Ceej]

The explanation makes sense.

But worse than Seattle and St. Louis??

I beg to diff.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The Ravens and Cowboys are the only 2 halfway decent bets in the lot. The rest of them are just not good enough bets to justify putting money down this early.

The Broncos are a sucker bet from Vegas. Gotta love the sharks, man. They know how to make some easy money...

No shit. I'd love to see the millions they make after the season on Bronco wagers.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

The explanation makes sense.

But worse than Seattle and St. Louis??

I beg to diff.

Flynn and Bradford. Yeah - that's all it takes.

That's how little regard there is league-wide for Matt Cassel.

He's truly truly awful.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

They'd have gone 6-10 with Cassel as the starter all season, IMO. Cassel wins the Steelers game and loses both of the games that Orton won. The backup QB argument doesn't wash - they had a better QB for nearly 20% of the season than they're going to have next year.

Doesn't matter how talented the guy is in Orton's case, because Cassel's been taking the 1st string snaps since camp opened.

So while Cassel's not exactly the best QB in the league, he's had months of preparation as the #1 guy on the roster over everybody else. And almost 6 months of prep over Orton.

It's different if we're talking on paper, but we're not. We're talking about the heat of the season -- Orton came in with basically a couple weeks of training and we were still able to win with that.

Thanks, partially, to his great effort. Thanks, partially, to a relatively talented team.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Then they punted the draft.

Where they finally finished our transition to the 3-4, and fortified our offensive line, and stacked the team with relatively solid depth, which people like yourself have been begging us to do for how long?

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Given the fact that they're getting 3 good players back in some capacity (maybe 100%...until Moeaki gets hurt again), they should be better. And the Winston pickup will help a great deal.

They're still a 1 and done squad at their best.

I don't disagree.

The Chiefs still have work to go. Acquiring better talent, and developing the talent they have.

But let's call a spade a spade here. This is not a Bottom 10 team.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Dave

Haters gotta hate.

You cant be so blind in your hate to say this team would not compete for SB with a good QB.

A 7-9 team won a playoff game 2 years ago and Tim Tebow won a playoff game this past season... it's not like any team is that far off in such a mediocre league. Hell, the Chiefs almost won the AFCW and they were awful last year.... to the ship!

[suds79]

I think we'll be better then that but there are two issues that could kill us.

# 1 - The QB. Hard to do much when you have the 23rd or so best starting QB in the league.

# 2 - We just assume that Jamaal Charles will be his same ole self coming off that ACL.

It doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see how this next season could go horribly wrong.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Clinically dumb.

But since you've provided zero reasoning to back this up, I'll just reiterate the point that it's clinically dumb.

Who should we be ahead of on that list?

Oakland? We're what, 2-4 against them under Pioli, without a win at Arrowhead?

Tampa? We'll find out this year, but give me Freeman, their draft and FA signings, and I'll take my chances in a tough division.

7 wins in 3 seasons - buoyed by a 10-win season against the easiest schedule in 10 years. (99 Rams)

No one in the national media is going to give them a second glance until they prove they can win on Sundays.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Again, here's what people refuse to acknowledge when it comes to my opinions.

I'm not saying this team is devoid of talent.

I'm simply saying that we don't know exactly what we have.

The overwhelming majority of this board has already declared our young players and FA acquisitions as successes.

We haven't seen enough of these players to make that claim.

Add to that, two of our best players are coming back from an injury that typically sees a decline in performance - and thge QB situation, and I see a team with a metric ****ton of question marks.

I think DJ hit the nail on the head.

If everything goes perfect, this might be a 11-5 team.

But this team could just as easily win 4-6 games - and not necessarily because of injury - but because these kids with little-to-no experience don't end up being anywhere near as good as this fanbase (and organization) think they are.

The point that I'm taking issue with is that you see the 4-6 option as the most likely.

All due respect, I call bullshit.

I don't doubt the question marks, but I'm very comfortable with things ending up more positive than negative with the vast majority of them.

My biggest pessimist POV is on Charles' recovery. On most of the other risks, I'm cautiously optimistic.

[evolve27]

Realistic assessment finally.

[Ceej]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Flynn and Bradford. Yeah - that's all it takes.

That's how little regard there is league-wide for Matt Cassel.

He's truly truly awful.

I certainly understand that's why.

But weren't most people considering Flynn - Cassel v. 2?

I just know KC is better top to bottom then both Seattle and StL.

Regardless, it's some dude's preseason power rankings. Just good for message board conversation.

[Just Passin' By]

Rams wins totals the past 5 seasons:

2
7
1
2
3

and he's got the Rams at #22. His rankings are a joke.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by suds79

I think we'll be better then that but there are two issues that could kill us.

# 1 - The QB. Hard to do much when you have the 23rd or so best starting QB in the league.

# 2 - We just assume that Jamaal Charles will be his same ole self coming off that ACL.

It doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see how this next season could go horribly wrong.

Hater.

[Bowser]

"Bottom 10 team" is certainly debatable, but the one thing that is NOT debatable is that if this team wins, it will most certainly be in spite of the most important position on the team. And if they DO finish bottom 10, you can be assured that a larger reason for that will be beacuse of our quarterback.