NFL (since 2016)

[crystal falace]

"Free agency started last night and was pretty crazy some huge money being spent. Osweiler getting £18m a year for the Texans, leaving the Broncos without a QB, Giants have spent a fortune on good but not great players, Oliver Vernon has more guaranteed money than JJ Watt. lots more deals but cant be bothered to list them all."

[southbankbornnbred]

"The Chiefs would be ideal for Bell, especially after losing Mahomes to injury. But they'd have to cough up a very high draft pick for him. Alternatively, we just sack Gase, appoint Williams as interim HC, and bring in a decent OC who will use Bell properly. But he won't win a super bowl during his time with the Jets - and probably won't make the play-offs within two years, either."

[southbankbornnbred]

"If he goes, then my gut feeling is that Gase will follow him out of the door very quickly - pushed by the owners who are probably going to cut their losses. Letting Bell go would be a sign that they are going to do it all differently, again, under a new HC. Utterly pathetic waste of time, resources and energy, this whole dalliance with the frog-eyed idiot Gase. The only qualifier I would add is that it was the former GM who chose Bell, not Gase's mate who is currently in charge. So there's a feeling that Gase did not want Bell and would have spent the cash on a WR."

[crystal falace]

"seems like the Chiefs and texans are the 2 teams most interested in Bell. Chiefs offence would be borderline unstoppable with Bell, i cant imagine the texans have much draft capital left to trade after the huge tunsil deal"

[southbankbornnbred]

"Right now we have a HC who is clearly out of his depth and on borrowed time and, foolishly, we have allowed him to put his own GM in charge of wider team affairs. So they'll most likely both have to go. Shambles. If I'm one of the best running backs in the league, which Bell is, then I'd look hard at any offers. He's good enough to be winning super bowls."

[southbankbornnbred]

"TM - that does not surprise me at all. I bet he's asked to move, because he's not getting the ball. We paid a fortune for him and yet gave him nine carries in the last game. To be really honest, excellent RB though he is, if we traded him now for a high pick I wouldn't be too worried. We over-paid for him, salary-wise, and I'm not sure any team should be spending that much on a RB - in the current NFL unless it's Saquon Barkley. Bell could go elsewhere and be part of a far more successful ""win now"" franchise. Even if we ditch Gase, which we should do yesterday, we'll take a couple of years to rebuild again under any decent coach we miraculously manage to get our hands on. We could do with the high picks and the cap room to help that process. Gase has only been in charge for six months or so, yet he has already put us back two years because of what any new HC would need to do through the draft. Gase wasted every pick after the first round this year. Our #3 round pick was waived within two months and is already on his third NFL practice squad. For the right offer, I'd trade Bell. He's almost too good to be at the Jets right now. We're utterly shambolic and need to get the structure of the franchise right before turning our attention to building a decent team."

[crystal falace]

"Just seen on the live CBS feed that the Bucs are now open to trading OJ Howard, patriots had enquired about him previously and were told he's not for sale. would love to see them go back in for him, but they have very little cap space currently. I couldnt even see the Jets getting too big of a haul for Lev Bell as his cap numbers moving forward are pretty huge and almost fully guaranteed, would just be a case of the Jets wanting to get the cap hit off their books."

[Takashi Miike]

"SB, you thought it couldn't get worse, I just heard they're trying to trade Bell before the deadline"

[southbankbornnbred]

"Crystal - yes, it's true. I remember when they were discussing it, openly. Even Jets fans were thinking ""don't do it, man"". There's been the odd bit of chatter about it in New York-New Jersey down the years, but it quickly gets shut down by rabid fans. Thankfully, the one good thing that Johnson & Johnson have done for the Jets is tie us to the stadium for a long time - putting paid to any of that talk. To be honest, that is pretty much the start and end of their ""achievements"" list."

[southbankbornnbred]

"Cough - Yep, division-wise I'd agree with that and probably add the NFC East. Some of the rivalries in those two divisions go back almost a hundred years now. First Bears-Packers game was in 1921."

[crystal falace]

I remember reading something that the patriots were on the verge of leaving New england before Robert Kraft stepped in and bought the team and funded a new stadium out of his own pocket. How different things could have been

[Far Cough]

"In my opinion, the division with the richest history is the black and blue division, the Vikings were relatively late to that party though, it was weird when Tampa Bay was part of it, I mean Minnesota, Detroit, Green Bay and Chicago would be covered in 12 inches of snow and Tampa you was on the beach, .....Probably"

[southbankbornnbred]

"Of the ""new"" franchises, the Ravens (really the old Browns) have a bit of that, too. That probably says a lot about Bodymore. But they have some way to go because they don't have the history."

[crystal falace]

"Always baffles me how these teams can just up roots and move across country to a new location and its happened alot over the span of the NFL. 1921: Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago and became the Bears one year later. 1934: Portsmouth Spartans moved to Detroit and became the Lions. 1937: Boston Redskins moved to Washington, D.C. 1946: Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles. 1960: Chicago Cardinals moved to St. Louis. 1961: The AFL's Los Angeles Chargers moved to San Diego after spending only their inaugural season in Los Angeles. 1963: The AFL Dallas Texans (not to be confused with the short-lived NFL franchise of the same name) moved to Kansas City, Missouri and became the Kansas City Chiefs. 1982: Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles. Although the NFL refused permission for the move, the team won the right to relocate (as well as the right to remain as a franchise in its conference and in the league) through a court case. 1984: Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis and became the Indianapolis Colts. The team's offices were slipped out of Baltimore in the middle of the night to avoid a proposed eminent domain seizure by the state of Maryland. Further information: Baltimore Colts relocation to Indianapolis 1988: St. Louis Cardinals moved to the Phoenix area, playing games in nearby Tempe and became the Phoenix Cardinals. The team was renamed the Arizona Cardinals in 1994. The team now plays in another Phoenix suburb, Glendale. 1995: Los Angeles Raiders moved back to Oakland after 13 seasons. 1995: Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis. Further information: History of the National Football League in Los Angeles 1996: Cleveland Browns players and coaching staff moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. The move was one of the most controversial in major professional sports history. In response to a fan revolt and legal threats, the NFL awarded a new franchise to Cleveland in 1999, which for historical purposes is considered a continuation of the original Browns franchise. Further information: Cleveland Browns relocation controversy 1997: Houston Oilers moved to Memphis and became the Tennessee Oilers. The team originally planned to play the 1997 and 1998 seasons in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis before moving to Nashville. However, due to poor attendance, the team moved to Nashville in 1998, playing in Vanderbilt University's stadium. The team was renamed the Titans in 1999, when their new stadium was opened. The NFL granted Houston a new expansion franchise in 2002. 2016: St. Louis Rams moved back to Los Angeles after 21 seasons in St. Louis. The team is to move to a new stadium in nearby Inglewood in 2020. 2017: San Diego Chargers returned to their original home of Los Angeles after 56 seasons in San Diego. The team is playing in the suburb of Carson before joining the Rams at their new stadium in 2020. 2020: Oakland Raiders were approved to move to a new stadium in the Las Vegas area in 2020.[7] The team played in Oakland for the 2018 season and, due to being thwarted in its plans to play in San Francisco by their regional rivals the 49ers, were forced to play in Oakland in 2019 as well before completing the move to Las Vegas in 2020.[8][9]"

[southbankbornnbred]

"Tonka - yep, agree with that. Steelers have always been a good side, but they have an admirable fan base who are hardened folk for whom football is an escape. Blue collar area and a blue collar attitude, I think. I like those sides. It keeps the fans grounded in the city."

[Far Cough]

"I loved Glanville's quote to one of the officials, ""it's called the NFL Not For Long, or Not Fucking Long if he really wanted, I miss characters like that"

[southbankbornnbred]

"We could do with Warren Moon, though..."

[southbankbornnbred]

"I'm quite sure that you all are, but you are all aware that the Titans are the old Oilers? The Texans came along later. House of Pain baloney. When the cash didn't add up, they upped and left. Chasing rainbows."

[tonka]

"Agree with your list Southbank. Having seen a few NFL games ""live"" In general the more downtrodden, shitty a city is the better the fan/match experience tends to be. Cleveland/Pittsburgh spring to mind. The worst I experienced was the San Diego Chargers, saw them play the Pats in 2010 The tailgate was the best bit"

[southbankbornnbred]

"And then they went to Tennessee and named themselves something else. They were so committed to Houston and the people of Houston, that the city had to swill around and create another team. Fairweather. These transit sides will never get my vote."

[Far Cough]

"What about the Oilers ""House of Pain"" and Jerry Glanville's smash mouth football? Oh and leaving tickets at the will call for Elvis"

[southbankbornnbred]

"You can probably put the Saints in there, too, but that's a bit of a post-Katrina thing. I don't remember them being quite so proud of, and unswerving towards, their side before the hurricane, which galvanised a lot of people in New Orleans and created a sense of ""them and us"" which got people behind the Saints."

[Hermit Road]

Ever seen the video of the Bears fan catching the ball. Bill Burr does a decent take on it. https://youtu.be/ClheHZ5MX8Y

[southbankbornnbred]

"If I'm going to be honest the teams that have fanbases which I admire, other than the Jets' own, are: Eagles Browns Bears Steelers and...I say it through gritted teeth...and not because of the past 19 years...but... The Patsies. Because all of those teams have hardcore fans who give a shit about the game, but who have a sense of humour about their sides and a commitment to their cities. And don't give me that baloney about the Seagulls' ""12th man"". I don't recall them kicking about in the 1990s. They are the NFL's version of the post-96ers."

[Far Cough]

"Oooh, someone threw a dildo on the pitch, outrageous, I mean come on, it's hardly blow up sex dolls being floated around in football over here, is it?"

[southbankbornnbred]

"Raiders fans are the most fickle imaginable. They don't care where their franchise goes - they just want success even though they will barely turn up to watch them in city number three. Oakland, Los Angeles, Oakland, Vegas. They will move from Vegas in about ten years, too. Same with the Rams and Chargers. Literally a bunch of fair weather fancydans. At least the 49ers have always been committed to their city. Probably the only team worth following in California. Not that I would - bunch of West Coast nasals! ;-)"