Month: February 2016

I’ve made a few points about the latest “controversy” surrounding Peyton Manning but wanted to expand on some of them, not because I’m interested in tearing anybody down, but because we need to give ourselves some perspective about what happens when we put celebrities on a pedestal for whatever the reason may be.

As we know, the “hot topic” following Super Bowl 50 seemed to be mostly about the way Cam Newton conducted himself at the post-game presser. Newton, of course, has been the subject of multiple discussions for his bravado on the field, quotes about how he has approached his career and, in some cases, his off-field conduct. There are people who don’t like his celebrations, others who don’t want to hear him talk about the challenges a black quarterback may face, and still others don’t believe you should have a child out of wedlock as he does.

And then there’s the other QB who started in the Super Bowl: Peyton Manning. Ever since he arrived in the NFL, he’s been promoted by a lot of people as being this All-American good old boy who represents everything that’s right with this country and a role model for all to follow. This image wasn’t crafted by Manning or his family; it was largely created by sports media and fans who put him on a pedestal.

So take a quarterback who seems to be fodder for hot takes every time you turn around, and a quarterback who gets deified more than he gets criticized, and it’s no surprise that, when the two are on opposite sides of a Super Bowl matchup, they get compared to one another.
Continue reading The Problem With Placing Celebrities On Pedestals

Here are the news:

Continue reading It’s All Orange, Fat Man: 02/15/16

Hello all, and welcome to another edition of It’s All Orange, Fat Man. Hope your Sunday is going well. Today we’ll be looking at some news from the past couple of days such as Shiloh Keo getting arrested, Michael Vick posing as an Indian in Dubai, Emmitt Smith excited that there is noone left to break his rushing record except Adrian Peterson, and finally a RB from Pitt who is working out with the team despite being diagnosed with cancer.

Here are the news:

Continue reading It’s All Orange, Fat Man: 02/14/16

Several of us have gone over what the Broncos may need to do to clear cap space to make way for extensions for pending free agents. Here, I will go over the moves the Broncos are very likely to make, what the cap space will look like after that and the effect of the other moves and what that would mean for the Broncos’ ability to extend other players.

Let’s start with the Broncos’ estimated cap space and a list of the moves the Broncos will likely make:
Continue reading Broncos Likely Cap Space Scenarios

Broncos TE Owen Daniels is weighing retirement: https://t.co/XC9QSs6iHC pic.twitter.com/5FCduYG4ih

— USA TODAY Sports NFL (@usatoday_nfl) February 9, 2016

Quoth Daniels:

Of course, of course. [Retirement’s] definitely an option. But I’m a man of my word, I signed a three-year deal, so I’d like to keep playing. I feel good enough as long as I can get some work done on my 33-year-old knees.

Forget the contract: I certainly would not hold anything back against Daniels if he chose to go out on top.  Losing his production would hurt, but the expectation has to be there for Virgil Green to take on a bigger role and for Jeff Heuerman to come back off his ACL tear, regardless of whether Daniels comes back or not.

The salary cap implications for a Daniels retirement are the same as if he is cut: $2.5 million in savings and $2 million in dead money.  If Daniels were to retire, he could be subject to paying back $2 million of his signing bonus if the Broncos so choose.

As the weekend comes around the corner, the NFL is starting to amp up towards free agency and the Mock Drafts are going to be absolutely relentless up until May. I this weekend edition of It’s All Orange, we are going to dive into Andrew Luck’s possible big pay-day, Terrell Owens exclusion from the Hall of Fame, some College Shenanigans, a lady trying awkwardly hard to be Peyton Manning.

Here are the news:

Continue reading It’s All Orange, Fat Man: 02/13/16

The last of my offseason primers will cover the teams that are in the tightest cap situations. Most of these teams are ones that shouldn’t be active in free agency, unless they don’t mind punting more cap hits down the road, as some have done.

I’ve focused on the five teams who are projected to have the tightest cap situations. For each team, I’ll talk about the roster moves they will likely have to make to get themselves under the cap. My talks focus on what I would do, not necessarily what these teams will do. You will note there are at least a couple of teams who have not been smart with how they handle the cap or with recent roster moves, so chances are good they won’t do what I would do and simply make thing worse for themselves.
Continue reading Offseason Primer: Teams With Tight Cap Situations

We’ve discussed the likely moves the Broncos will make to clear cap space, and while a couple of moves seem to be locks (Peyton Manning’s departure, Britton Colquitt’s release), a few others remain up in the air.

I have previously discussed Ryan Clady and how his contract could be restructured to free some cap space. I suspect the Broncos will do everything they can to keep him on the roster.

But even if Manning and Colquitt are gone and Clady agrees to a restructure, the Broncos still need additional wiggle room if they are to accommodate the franchise tag for Von Miller and extensions for key free agents. So let’s examine scenarios that involve three other players who could come into play.
Continue reading Broncos’ Cap Clearing Considerations

As the weekend is rolling around the corner, so is the breadth of news in the NFL. NFL talk is going to start slowing down until the season opens with the franchise tag opening on February 16th and then moves to free agency shortly thereafter. We don’t expect the Broncos to make many moves here at In Thin Air but, we do hope the Broncos use this time wisely to scout for the draft as they have probably been doing all season long.

Continue reading It’s All Orange, Fat Man: 02/12/16

For anyone who is interested in knowing who are the teams in the best position to pursue big-name free agents, I have looked at seven teams who enter the 2016 season with a lot of cap space. This does not mean these teams will land the biggest names, but it does give you an idea who is in the best position to land them.

In considering players they might sign, I have not brought up Von Miller, Eric Berry or Josh Norman, because we know Miller will get the franchise tag and Berry and Norman are almost certain to get it, too.
Continue reading Offseason Primer: Teams With The Most Available Cap Space