NFL Free Agency Day 2: AFC Arms Race

The NFL free agency period started Tueday and of course, a lot happened in the first week. We will be doing these sort of recaps until it starts slowing down. Enjoy.

Patriots Add Revis - The former New York Jet and Tampa Bay Buccaneer cornerback might be the most polarizing player in free agency. The reason is he did not take a massive deal from New England. All it took was a one-year deal with 12 million dollars meaning he could build off this season and have an even bigger payday in 2015. Revis trusts his game more than anyone in the National Football League, and this means bad news for the rest of the AFC where he returns after a year hiatus.

DeMarcus Ware joins Denver's party - Broncos have pushed their chips in, and they are ready to make a run again. Ware means they have a terrifying edge rush with Von Miller and Ware. People were trying to compare Philadelphia's 2011 offseason with what Denver has been doing in the past couple days. It is completely different. Denver had a team built and established, Philadelphia did not. Broncos are adding big ass pieces to their already great team. It is hard not to like any of their moves. 

Jets Deliver Decker - In the evening, Jessica James Decker tweeted 'So Excited!!!!!'  People thought it was a hint to what happened with her free agent husband, Eric Decker, but she claimed it had to do with her impending pregnancy. Well.... About two to three hours later, we learned Decker had a new deal to be New York Jets' number one receiver. I like the move. New York did not overpay him and gave him a standard deal. We actually get to see what Geno Smith's ceiling could be like now that he has at least one quality wide receiver. If New York could land James Jones, all the sudden New York has a potent wide receiving core. 

NFC North Foes Make Moves - Green Bay made a move that we will get to later today, but the rest of the NFC North made some moves. Let's start with the best one...

-Minnesota Vikings signed Linval Joesph whose a guy I thought maybe Green Bay should take a look at for a 3-4 end. Instead, Joesph plays a 4-3 defensive tackle for Mike Zimmer and Minnesota where he should have an impact, but what about Shariff Floyd?  We ignoring they drafted him last season.

- Detroit inked up Golden Tate which is perfect as he fits right in with the culture there. Not sure if Tate will have the impact people are assuming he will have being Calvin Johnson's number two. He did have nearly 900 yards last season, but Tate is very inconsistent in my mind.

- Chicago signed MD Jennings... wait why, why are you laughing?   

Rodger Safford... Still a Ram -  What a bizarre change of direction for St. Louis offensive lineman Rodger Safford as he was a Raider, and we had the opinion that he got signed to a big deal by Oakland then the Raiders owner decided 'HAHAHA JK LOL GUYZ' and failed his physical.  Safford re-signed with St. Louis which could end up being an okay move. Safford is not great and does not stay healthy, but he is still a young offensive lineman. 

Lovie Smith hates young quarterbacks - This makes zero sense as Tampa Bay signed Josh McCown and announced that he will be their starting quarterback. Does Lovie Smith get his rocks off by having a journeyman quarterback lead his team?  Mike Glennon was not a bad quarterback for his rookie season and now he gets put on the bench for Josh f-----' McCown. I realize he played well last year, but my goodness, he is not that good.  I do not like this start for Tampa Bay's offense.

Charlie. 

Catching up on NFL Coaching Hires

National Football League does not sleep nor does really any professional sport. Two coaches were hired during the holiday season, and another coach added today.  There are still three spots left to be filled in the NFL meaning more dominoes will fall in the coming month. But right now, we will look at the coaching hires made and make some opinions on how the hire will go for that team. We might as well give each coach a star rating because that's what we do at Sportandfashion-news. Rate and grade all sorts of shit. .

Bill O'Brien, Houston Texans 
Unlike some of the other coaching trees in the National Football League, Bill Belichick's coaching tree has been a flat out disaster for almost everyone. Bill O'Brien had the most success in two years at Penn State where he kept the team winning even under brutal circumstances. This team is not far off from being a playoff team. They need a couple more playmakers on defense especially in the backfield.  O'Brien brought on Romeo Crennel which he is not a great head coach yet proven to be a solid defensive coordinator. I am curious to see what they do at quarterback whether it is make a trade for one or draft either Teddy Bridgewater or Blake Bortles. Arian Foster's health would concern me slightly with this offense too. I would give this hiring three stars out of five. O'Brien is an impressive coach with what he did at State College, but I need to see something in the pros before I am convinced he is different than any of the other Belichick coaches.

Lovie Smith, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The thing about Lovie that I came to realize is Jeff Fisher and him are the same in the regard where they will always get you to seven or eight wins, no matter what. But there are more pieces in place here than what he had with Chicago when Lovie began there.  The defense alone was already good under Greg Schiano, and now they have a combination of Lovie and Leslie Frazier coaching this defense, it could be really special next year and no reason to think this team could be right back into the playoffs. They have weapons with Darrelle Revis, Mark Barron, Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy.  I would not worry about Revis playing in a Cover 2 defense because Frazier and Smith are too smart not to use him to the best of his ability. Buccaneers also have a young offense with Mike Glennon and Doug Martin plus a pretty stout offensive line with two good receivers. Smith's rating is five stars out five.  

Jay Gruden, Washington Redskins 
There is obvious reason why people are cautious of this hire given what happened with Andy Dalton in Cincinnati. Many people believe he got the job because who is brother is but as we saw a bit with Chicago, it is not a bad idea to take a chance on someone versus a retread in the NFL. Many might describe Washington as 'toxic' with Dan Snyder as an owner and someone who has hired now his eighth coach in 14 years of being an owner. Everyone will watch how the relationship goes with Robert Griffin III and Gruden. He did not really set the world on fire with Dalton, but Gruden may have made Dalton the best player he could be meaning he is not really that good. This is the shakiest hire thus far given how little we know about Gruden as a head coach in professional or collegiate football.  Gruden's rating is two stars out of five.

Charlie.