Your “It’s Right There!” Monday Evening Open Thread

NFL News:

• Is OBJ gonna get paaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiddddddd?
  • Apparently the Giants are working with his agent to make him the highest paid wideout in the League.
    • I’m not sure what the Giants are thinking, considering he is coming off an injury and is only entering his 4th year. I’m all for paying players, but this seems like a bit of a reach and could completely screw the Giants over in the long run.
      • It’s not like they have a lot of needs right now or anything.
    • For reference, Antonio Brown currently sits atop the WR contract throne with approx. $17 mil a year, and Mike Evans is right behind him at $16.5.
  • UPDATE: According to the windbags at PFT, the Giants are offering him less than $16 mil per year. [Link not provided on purpose]
• Birdcano starting Center, A.Q. Shipley, is going to be out for the season with a torn ACL, after suffering an injury in practice over the weekend.
  • Let’s see…next man up is…a rookie? Oh dear lord.
    • Mason Cole is a 3rd round pick from Michigan who apparently was drafted to be the “center of the future” for the franchise.
      • Interesting choice Wilks, considering Cole played 3/4ths of his time in college at left tackle.
• Tom Heckert died last night at 51 from a rare disease called “amyloidosis,” which causes a buildup of proteins in many vital organs throughout the body.

  

  • Heckert formerly was the GM of the Eagles and Browns, and had been working in the Broncos front office, totaling a 27 year NFL career.
    • Tom Heckert Sr. also had a 20 year career in NFL front offices as well, which I’m sure had nothing to do with Jr. getting the positions he did
  • John Elway, obviously upset by the news, released a statement, then stomped 3 times and was unable to finish his breakfast.
• In a very long form read on NFL.com, Malcolm Butler is tired of being asked why he was benched in the Superb Owl by fans, and Los Titancanos don’t seem to care one bit as to why.
  • I mean, sure, I’m curious, but it was probably just violating Grumblelord’s “one strike and yer out!” policy on player conduct.
    • Fun fact: Grumblelord stole that policy from the Padres hitting coach, Matt Stairs.
• Over the weekend, WCS shared this (below) wonderful video in the DFO backroom comparing That Team That Left San Diego to the Diamond Dogs of Metal Gear V: The Phantom Pain.
  • The satire and sarcasm is thick and juicy, and doubly fun if you also happen to be as big a fan of the Metal Gear series as I am.

What the hell is on tonight?

• Basedball:
  • Dirt Giants at Surprisingly Less Racist Sox Considering Their Name – 5pm PST on ESPN
• Non-sports:
  • The Venture Brothers new season premiered on Adult Swim last night at midnight. I will most definitely be enjoying that tonight, and highly suggest that you do too.

Minor Site/Self Promotion:

• DFO’s Season Previews kicked off today with Ball’s Browns/AFL Playoff Preview.
  • Stay tuned for Bengals and Lions to be posting tomorrow
• I’d just like to take a second to point out that I correctly called the outcome of the BattleBots Desperado Tournament finals, picking both the winner and his opponent!
  • It’s less impressive when you point out that the roundtable went 4/4 on picking the same winner, but, I’ll take my extra half point for the runner up, thank you very much.

Preseason football begins this week, folks! You can put the nooses and cyanide tablets away until next offseason!