Der Fremde » we talked about Vlasic

The NFL has reached a $765 million settlement with its retired players over concussion-related lawsuits. There were over 220 lawsuits filed by 4500 players, including Tony Dorsett, Eric Dickerson, Mark Rypien, Tony Mandarich, Art Monk, Jim McMahon and Jamal Lewis, as well as the estate of the late Junior Seau. Make no mistake – these lawsuits fundamentally changed the sports landscape and the sports discussion as it relates to player safety across all sports. Lets look at some of the key takeaways from the settlement. Werent these lawsuits just about players complaining about risks they knew about? No. More please. The key allegation raised by the players was that the NFL concealed information. The players argued that the NFL knew of the long-term neurological impact of headshots and didnt share their findings and information with the players. Players like former Bears QB Jim McMahon knew there was some risk associated with playing football. However, he along with about 4500 other retired NFL players, contend that the NFL had better information about the potentially devastating impact of repeated headshots and deliberately concealed this information from NFL players. The players were basically saying this: We knew there was some risk of harm with playing football but not this level of debilitating injury. The NFL, however, knew of the risk and didnt share that with us. So concealment is a really important part of these lawsuits? Yes very important. As important as avoiding picking Alfred Morris in the first round of a PPR fantasy league. Who would have won at trial? Cant say at this point. Everything turns on the evidence presented at trial. To win, the players needed to show that the NFL had key information about the long-term and devastating impact of headshots and didnt share that with the players (so back to concealment). They would have needed a smoking gun so to speak. The NFL had some good arguments defending their position. First, they would have argued that players were aware of the risk associated with playing football and agreed to those risks each time they stepped onto the field. They would have also maintained that they didnt conceal anything. As well, the NFL would have pointed out that no one can say for sure what caused a players dementia, and even if it was caused by repeated headshots while playing football, how much of that damage was sustained outside the NFL in places like college or high school ball. So what caused the dementia and when it was caused become important issues. Theres more. The NFL argued early on that these lawsuits didnt belong in court in the first place, but rather should have gone to arbitration. The collective bargaining agreement provides that issues of player health and safety go to arbitration and not court. On the flip side, the players argued that since this case involved fraud, it properly fell outside of arbitration and within the jurisdiction of the courts. Bottom line is this: both sides faced challenges in this case and thats where we generally see settlement. The NFL is paying out $765 million as part of the settlement? Who wins with this settlement – the players or the league? The NFL did well. While $765 million is a lot of money, it breaks down to about $4 million per team in each of the first 3 years and then another few hundred thousand dollars per team for the next 17 years. The upfront payment of $4 million is by NFL standards a modest sum of money. To put it in perspective, thats what Falcons RB Steven Jackson will make this year. There was the potential a jury could have come back with a big monetary award against the NFL in the billions of dollars. This settlement helps the NFL avoid that type of potentially catastrophic award. So $765 million is a big number. Very big. But once disbursed across the leagues 32 teams, it becomes manageable. These lawsuits also generated a lot of negative press for the NFL. There were discussions focused on the death of the league. NFL MVP Adrian Peterson declared he didnt want his kid to play football because the sport was too dangerous. By settling these cases, the NFL can now look to change the conversation about football. Thats really important. Ok – how did the players do? This case was going to settle. It was surprising, though, to see it settle this early. For the players, an early pressure point would have been to force the NFL to produce sensitive documents going back decades. Thats something any business would not want to do, including the NFL. Still, the settlement suggests that the players had concerns with their case. Ultimately, though, this is not a bad deal for the players. Does this settlement mean the NFL is saying they were wrong and liable for this mess? No. The NFL expressly said that they are not admitting liability. Why wouldnt the NFL admit guilt? First – and this is key – they dont want to go on the public record saying they are guilty. If they did, a retired player could sue them and rely on that statement. As you can imagine, an admission of guilt would be a pretty powerful weapon for a plaintiff to use against the NFL. As well, from a PR standpoint, the NFL doesnt want to characterize itself as the villain in all this. Finally, the NFLs position is that they are not responsible. So why admit to something you are not convinced you did. Wait a minute – retired players could still sue despite settlement? Yes. The settlement agreement will bind about 18,000 retired NFL players. Specifically, it applies to every NFL player that is retired at the time the Court rubber stamps the settlement agreement. That could happen in the near future. However, a player has the option to opt-out of the settlement agreement. If a player believes that he can do a lot better filing his own individual lawsuit, he would tell the court and the NFL thanks but no thanks, Im headed to court. Ultimately, the player would sit down with his lawyers and figure out what makes most sense. One more point – the Court has to be satisfied that the settlement is adequate and reasonable before it approves it (thats right – the Court has to approve the agreement). If it concludes the agreement is not fair, it may not approve it. So theres another reason the NFL didnt admit liability – what if the agreement is not approved. Expect the deal to be approved by the court and close to all players agreeing to the terms of settlement. Will we see new lawsuits filed by current players? Those would be tough to win. The focus of the retired player lawsuits was that players were unable to make informed decisions about playing football because the league concealed information about the devastating impact of repeated headshots. Today that information is readily available. So it would be very tough for a current player to argue that he did not have enough information to make an informed decision. Dont see it. So whats next? Wait and see if any other players opt-out of the settlement and head back to court. Does this settlement affect my fantasy lineup? Should I have drafted Lamar Miller? No, your fantasy lineup is unaffected. As for Lamar, he should have a good season as the Dolphins lead back. A-Rod makes me angry. Thats a separate column. Mel Stottlemyre Yankees Jersey . He made the comment at a media availability Saturday prior to Game 2 of the Boston-Montreal playoff series when a Quebec reporter said there is sentiment in Quebec that the NHL looks more favourably on Seattle than Quebec City when it comes to future expansion. New York Yankees Gear . Sweeting scored two in the first and three in the second before Strong (4-4) got two back in the fourth. Sweeting then scored three in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh to grab a commanding 9-2 lead. https://www.cheapyankees.com/2441g-alber...ey-yankees.html. Smith, an eighth overall pick, had two goals in only 276 minutes of playing time over 16 appearances last season. The left side midfielder played only 43 minutes in three games this season. David Hale Yankees Jersey . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency. Jonathan Holder Yankees Jersey . Pillar is batting .305 with 17 extra-base hits, 19 RBI and five stolen bases in 34 games for Buffalo this season. The right-handed hitter had an International League high, 18-game hitting streak this season and currently owns an IL high 26-game on base streak.One of the most interesting questions that the hockey analytics community has dealt with in recent years has concerned the old Ryan Suter and Shea Weber defence pairing in Nashville. When that pairing existed, both players were individually recognized as elite defenders, with Shea Weber being received as the slightly better of the two. The pairing eventually broke up in the summer of 2012, when Ryan Suter left Nashville for a $98-million contract in Minnesota. Though both are still great players, I think it’s fair to say that the reputation of each has taken a slight hit since the break. Part of this is tied into the fact that their underlying numbers have never been as impressive as some of the other game-changing defenders around the league at even-strength, who generally post quality on-ice Goal% rates and on-ice Corsi% year after year. This, of course, is because most every team is usually moderately to significantly better with their first pairing on the ice, with performance depreciating as lesser pairings and players replace them. Suter was the first to go through this. Last year, talk about Suter’s performance wasn’t critical, but appropriately focused on whether or not the team was simply playing their top-defenceman too many minutes. At the time, I think those concerns were at the very least fair – the Wild were a better possession team with him off of the ice than on, and he was playing basically half of every game. Despite improving on those underlying numbers this year, those concerns have not subsided. What’s interesting is that Suter isn’t the only player who has looked a bit unimpressive by first-pairing standards since the split. For the third straight year, Weber is posting negative possession numbers relative to his team – that is to say, with Weber off of the ice, Nashville’s in better territorial control of things. And, this season, Nashville’s actually getting a better portion of the goal-scoring with Weber off of the ice. I think this gets into a larger question about first-pairing and heavily-used second-pairing defenders who may be playing too many minutes, and how we can go about identifying them. What I’ve decided is to pull the twenty-two defencemen who have already logged at least 700-minutes at 5-on-5, then eliminate any defender who (a) is posting positive possession rates relative to the rest of his teammates; and/or (b) is posting positive goal rates relative to the rest of his teammates. As you would expect, this criteria cuts the 22-defenders (including Subban, Giordano, Karlsson, Doughty, et al.) down considerably. Who are we left with? I’ve graphed out the remaining heavily-used defencemen by relative possession rates, relative goal rates, and relative zone start rates below. Bubble color will indicate zone starts – players with blue bubbles see softer deployment, and players with white bubbles see tougher deployment. The size of the bubble indicates how big of a disparity the player’s zone starts are from the team average. The first thing you will notice – no Ryan Suter! Despite the unparalleled ice-time, he’s actually putting together a respectable season. Furthered development of Jonas Brodin – his frequent defence partner – may be helping. I think there are two other bubbles that stand out here pretty considerably, and those are Dennis Wideman and Johnny Oduya.dddddddddddd Wideman, because he’s the only defenceman posting negative possession and goal rates despite seeing favorable zone start deployment and Oduya because he is just getting absolutely crushed this season, and the disparity in Chicago’s numbers with him on the ice versus with him off of the ice is jarring. What’s interesting here is that both are regarded as second-pairing defencemen. Oduya (and by extension Niklas Hjalmarsson) actually plays more than the venerable Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook pairing at 5-on-5, though the margin is somewhat small. The same is true with Wideman (and by extension Kris Russell), who generally play as much as, if not a sliver more than the great Giordano/Brodie duo at 5-on-5. Now, there’s no doubt that their big step-up in minutes at 5-on-5 has created opportunity for other, more skilled defenders to get more power-play time. But, is the trade-off worth it? It’s a legitimate question, based on the above. There is, also, Shea Weber – the player we talked about earlier. He’s become the player in the middle of the analytics debate, where the ‘eye test’ suggests he’s one of the best in the business, and the numbers suggest that’s probably not accurate. His frequent partner, Roman Josi, sits right next to him on the graph. It’s clear to me that Weber and Josi are being used in a shot and goal deterrence role after a quick glance at their deployment – aside from the zone starts, they currently rank #1 and #2 in quality of competition faced, another item worth recognizing. Jump through that hyperlink, though, and you’ll notice that Weber’s deployment is identical to that of Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Mark Giordano. Both of those players thrive in similarly difficult minutes. It’s certainly one of those topics where I think more in-depth examination is warranted, especially as it pertains to Weber – the player that we thought was carrying Ryan Suter around for all of those years in Nashville. The numbers say he’s doing a decent job in very challenging 5-on-5 minutes, but they also say he’s underperforming a bit relative to other Norris Trophy hopefuls, and maybe has been for some length of time. Nashville is likely satisfied with having a player of Shea Weber’s abilities on your roster. He’s playing the toughest minutes on the team, and one could easily take the side that his getting beat-up a bit with some harsh deployment is of the benefit to the Predators as a whole. Would the likes of Ryan Ellis (56.1% Corsi%), Mattias Ekholm (55.2% Corsi%), Seth Jones (55.4% Corsi%), and so forth be as successful territorially this year without the Weber/Josi shutdown pairing eating up some of the tough minutes? I think the reasonable answer to that is no. But, on the other hand, Weber’s not in a position unseen around the league – we talked about Vlasic and Giodano being deployed in almost identical spots, for example. Why does this particular group in Nashville seem to struggle relative to other great players and pairings around the league? If I’m David Poile, and I’m paying this particular player $7.8-million through the 2026 season, it’s an issue I’m investigating further. ' ' '