The NFL Scouting Combine
starts on Thursday in Indianapolis. On Friday, one of the
prospects not invited to the doings at the RCA Dome will show what he
can do, only 15 minutes away.
Working out at an indoor
facility named "Sport of All Sorts" will be
receiver James Banks, an Indianapolis native who started his college
career as a quarterback at Tennessee. He switched to receiver, and
then finished his career at Carson-Newman
due to some off-field issues. As far as we can tell, Banks has
behaved himself for a while now (which is more than Fabian Washington,
Andre Hall, Jerome Mathis, and Roscoe Parrish can say).
Our pal Jason Whitlock
described Banks as the "second-best quarterback prospect ever out of
Indy, after Jeff George." And George himself is directly involved
in Banks' efforts to land in the NFL.
"I have
thrown to a lot of great ones and I think James has a lot of potential,"
George told PFT on Wednesday. The "great ones" to whom George has
tossed the pointed rock include Randy Moss and Cris Carter in 1999 with
the Vikings.
The workout begins at noon
on Friday, and shuttle service will be available for any scouts that
hope to check Banks out.
But the device doesn't
give the team any type of compensation if he signs with another team.
Instead, the Steelers have only a right of first refusal.
The right of first refusal
can easily be overcome via a "poison pill" that makes the full amount of
a tender offer guaranteed if, for example, Starks plays at least five
games in any one season at Heinz Field. It's a valid device for
prompting player movement, and the league and the union were unable to
negotiate this twist out of the CBA after the Vikings' use of it to snag
Steve Hutchinson from the Seahawks was upheld.
So if a team signs Starks
to an offer sheet that doesn't include a poison pill, the NFL Players
Association can (and arguably should) claim that the NFL franchises have
implicitly agreed not to use the poison pill against each other.
Besides, why would the
Steelers give Starks a one-year contract in the amount of $6.895 million
that becomes fully guaranteed if/when he signs it when they could have
secured compensation rights for only $555,000 more?
Meanwhile, the use of the
transition tag on Starks means that guard Alan Faneca will hit the open
market. Why not use the franchise tag or the transition tag on
him?
All things considered, it
was a very bad decision by the one of the otherwise best front offices
in the league.
POSTED
7:09 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
WALSH TO TALK SOON?
The impasse between the
NFL and the lawyer for former Pats employee Matt Walsh could be resolved
soon.
The issue has been whether
and to what extent Walsh will be protected against potential civil
liability to the Patriots, both for the taking of any property from the
franchise or for what he might say about his activities now. The
league has tried to hinge indemnity on "truthfulness" from Walsh, an
amorphous concept that allows the NFL to leave Walsh exposed if the
league merely disagrees with what Walsh says, even if he genuinely
believes that he is telling the truth.
Walsh's lawyer, Michael
Levy, has proposed a requirement that Walsh act in good faith when
speaking about the situation. We believe that this a reasonable
position; if the league or the Pats think that he is intentionally
lying, and if they can prove it, then they can take the position that
Walsh's words are tainted by bad faith.
As we've previously said,
the Spygate II matter can't be resolved until Walsh talks, and shows
whatever it is that he has.
Also, the AP story
possibly contains a slip of the tongue regarding what it is that Walsh
knows and/or what he will claim that he did. The AP item
states plainly that Walsh taped the Rams' final walk-through practice
prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. But there has been no statement from
Walsh nor no report to this effect; the Boston Herald article
from February 2 doesn't cite Walsh as the source, or as the person who
supposedly taped the practice.
It could be that the
author of the AP article was told on background that Walsh taped
the practice -- and that the writer forgot that this specific contention
has not yet been made.
Regardless, if Walsh will
claim that he taped the practice, and if he has a tape, why does he need
indemnity or any other protection? Won't the tape speak for
itself?
Several members of PFT
Planet believe that, if Walsh has compelling evidence of previously
undisclosed cheating, the team will claim that he was acting alone.
Others believe that Walsh might have been doing the bidding of
"director of football research" Ernie Adams, the shadowy figure who
serves as Bill Belichick's right-hand man.
POSTED
6:45 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
PACKERS BID FAREWELL TO
FRANKS
Long-time Packers tight
end Bubba Franks fell on the depth chart in 2007. Now, he's fallen
off it altogether.
The
Packers have released Franks, an eight-year veteran who was selected
by the team in the first round of the 2000 draft.
Franks was due to receive
a $500,000 roster bonus and a $3 million base salary. He was
signed through 2011.
In 2007, Donald Lee became
the full-time starter at the position.
POSTED
6:35 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
HAYNESWORTH TAGGED, TOO
We mentioned earlier in
the evening that the Titans will soon apply the franchise tag to
defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.
Haynesworth gets the
non-exclusive tag, with a one-year tender of $7.5 million.
Not bad for a guy who 16
months ago took his cleats to another man's face.
POSTED
6:31 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
COLTS SIGN CLARK TO
SIX-YEAR DEAL
On Tuesday, the Colts
applied the franchise tag to tight end Dallas Clark. On Wednesday,
Indy replaced that tag
with a six-year deal.
Terms are not yet
available.
The deal presumably
carries a 2008 cap number lower than the $4.55 million franchise tender
that was extended to Clark. Otherwise, there would have been no
reason to do the deal before the start of the 2008 league year.
POSTED
6:14 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
PACK TAGS WILLIAMS
Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
reports that the Green Bay Packers have
applied the franchise tag to defensive tackle Corey Williams.
Williams is the third
player to be franchised on Wednesday. The deadline is 4:00 p.m.
EST on Thursday.
The Titans are expected to
slap the tag on defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, and the Patriots
could do the same with receiver Randy Moss. By our count, 10
players already have been hit with the tag.
POSTED
5:57 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
JETS HIRE O'DEA TO
COACH SPECIAL TEAMS
The New York Jets have
announced that they have hired Kevin O'Dea to serve as the team's
special teams coach.
He replaces Mike Westhoff,
who resigned after the 2007 season for health reasons. Westoff had
worked in that role since 2001.
O'Dea spent two years with
the Bears as assistant special teams coach. Before that, he was
the special teams coach in Arizona. He also has worked for the
Chargers, Bucs, and Lions.
POSTED
5:50 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
TRUFANT GETS FRANCHISED
With the deadline for
applying the franchise tag less than 24 hours away, more and more teams
are using it.
Adam Schefter of NFL
Network reports that the Seahawks have applied the franchise tag to
cornerback Marcus Trufant.
The placement of the tag
on Trufant and Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha means that Pats
cornerback Asante Samuel will be the biggest prize at the cornerback
position when free agency opens on February 29.
POSTED
5:45 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
VIKES DUMP DWIGHT
The Minnesota Vikings have
released safety Dwight Smith, according to Kevin Seifert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Smith was signed by the
Vikings prior to the 2006 season. An arrest for doing the lambada
in a public stairwell got him benched for the season-opener against the
Redskins. No such penalty was imposed against Smith after he was
arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession during the 2007 regular
season.
Seifert also says that
Smith had "occasional disagreements" with the coaching staff.
The Vikings will need to
replace Smith through the draft or free agency. Given that the
Vikings use the Tampa 2 system, safety position is more important than
it would be in other systems.
Possible candidates
include Gibril Wilson of the Giants and Ken Hamlin of the Cowboys.
POSTED
4:55 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
EXCLUSIVE TAG FOR
ASOMUGHA
The Raiders didn't simply
apply the franchise tag to cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. According
to Adam Schefter of NFL Network, they've used the "exclusive" version of
the tag, which prevents Asomugha from negotiating with any other teams.
As a result, the tender
changes from the average of the five highest-paid cornerbacks based on
2007 cap numbers to the same average based on 2008 cap numbers.
This means that the
one-year tender will be worth, at a minimum, $9.8 million. And if
someone like Asante Samuel signs a contract with a big 2008 roster bonus
in lieu of a big signing bonus, the number will nudge even higher.
The first-round pick in
the 2005 draft allegedly was involved in an argument with his girlfriend
that turned physical. The arrest occurred on Tuesday night; he was
released on bail on Wednesday.
POSTED
4:05 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
RAIDERS TAG ASOMUGHA (GESUNDHEIT)
The Oakland Raiders have
applied their franchise tag to cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, according to
Adam Schefter of NFL Network.
Asomugha will be tendered
a one-year contract equal to the average of the five highest-paid
cornerbacks in 2007.
A five-year veteran who
attended the University of California, Asomugha is eligible to talk with
other teams. If he signs an offer sheet elsewhere and the Raiders
opt not to exercise their right to match, the Raiders would be entitled
to compensation in the amount of two first-round draft picks.
Asomugha was a first-round
pick of the Raiders in the 2003 draft.
POSTED
12:35 p.m. EST, February 20, 2008
UPSHAW MEETING WITH
AGENTS TO DISCUSS CBA
A league source tells us
that NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw will, as he has done in the
past, conduct a preliminary meeting with a small handful of certified
agents in advance of Friday's full-blown session in Indianapolis with
hundreds of them.
The purpose of the meeting
is, we're told, to discuss the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The owners are expected to exercise their right later this year to
cancel the agreement two years early. Under that scenario, 2010
would be an uncapped year. As a result, talks on an extension need
to begin sooner rather than later.
But the perception is that
Upshaw is meeting only with "yes men," who will agree with anything and
everything Upshaw proposes.
If that's true, it's
unfortunate. Upshaw should welcome dissenting voices, hear them
out, and then make informed decisions about the positions he'll take.
Hopefully, agents on Friday who hear things that give them concern will
speak up in an effort to ensure that the union will try its best to keep
labor peace well into the next decade, and hopefully beyond.
The players should have a
meaningful role in this, too. We wonder whether they ever do.
We've mentioned a few
times (or a few hundred) the
draft trade
chart put together in the 1990s by former Cowboys coach Jimmy
Johnson.
For years, it has provided
the formula for trades involving draft picks. But changes to the
way that rookies are paid has made the chart less relevant, since it
doesn't take into account the increased financial investment required at
the higher positions on the board.
Recently, we asked one of
our regular sources to take a stab at preparing a new trade chart that
better reflects the reality that, for example, the gap between the value
of the No. 1 overall pick and lower selections should be narrowed, given
that the money paid to the first few selections continues to rise in a
disproportionate manner.
Coincidentally, others are
doing the same thing. Per a league source, the possibility of
changing the chart was discussed among some league insiders last year,
but no action was taken. The source says that, this year, several
teams and a few agents are actively working on a new chart.
As the source explained,
"The very large signing bonuses and backsides of these deals has really
devalued them. People think it is only the top picks but it is
really the whole round. If you moved say from nine to fifteen you
would save enough money up front and through the course of the contract
to afford an extra player. The reverse is also true. A team
moving from fifteen to nine has to spend enough extra money that they
are losing an extra player. The result of this is that it is so
much harder for teams to move back."
And
that's the broader point. By clinging to an outdated chart that
doesn't take into account the financial ramifications of drafting in a
higher position, trades are less likely to happen because the team
inclined to move up has to give up too much to get there.
The
deeper issue here is the fact that the ridiculous windfall paid to the
first few players drafted no longer makes drafting one of the first few
players a good thing for a bad team. As we've said before (and
surely will say again), forcing the worst team from the prior season to
spend $35 million guaranteed on a player who has never played a down in
the NFL is not the best way to make that team better.
That's why the better
approach would be to allow the team with the first overall pick to
instead pick its position in round one, and for each team after that to
do the same. As to some draft classes, the worst team might want
to go first. In others, it might make sense to force the Super
Bowl champion to use the first overall pick.
The other possibility is
for the team with the first pick to pass. But that would likely
cause all hell to break loose -- especially if the team with the second
pick opted to pass as well. And the third. And so on.
Short of revamping the
rookie salary structure (which hopefully will happen in the next CBA), a
new trade chart might be the only way for trades to happen at the top of
the round.
POSTED
10:08 a.m. EST, February 20, 2008
DOES THE COMBINE
PROMOTE STEROIDS USE?
Ross Tucker of SI.com has
put together an intriguing piece regarding the possibility that the
pressures of the Scouting Combine and individual Pro Day workouts
prompt some players to use steroids and/or HGH.
Tucker interviewed two
unnamed, recently-retired players who admitted to using
performance-enhancing substances while preparing for the lifting,
running, jumping, etc. that goes along with the draft preparations.
Said one player, a former
Division I-A star: "I hurt my shoulder during my senior season and
realized that it would not be healed in time for me to train or perform
to the best of my ability at the combine. I had worked too hard to
let one injury negatively affect my dream. I injected HGH because
a doctor I knew recommended it as the fastest way to heal from my
soft-tissue injury."
Another player wasn't
invited to the Scouting Combine, and thus wouldn't be subject to a drug
test. So he used steroids to train for his Pro Day workout.
"Taking steroids does not make you a better player, but it does enhance
your ability to train. I just knew how hard it was to get legitimate
attention being from a smaller school and realized I had to put up
really good numbers," the player told Tucker.
It's not surprising.
Guys who are that close to realizing their dreams are tempted to do
whatever is necessary in order to finish the job. The fact that
other guys are doing the same thing will only increase the temptation.
The problem, as Tucker
points out, is a system that puts too much emphasis on how fast a guy
can run in a straight line in a T-shirt and shorts, and how many times
he can bench-press 225 pounds. Though some teams smartly realize
that these measurables don't measure how a guy will perform once he is
on the field with other NFL-caliber players, there are still many scouts
who obsess over this data because ignoring the solid numbers of a guy
who becomes a great player is a recipe for termination.
So while Tucker argues
that the system should change, that's simply not realistic. The
better approach would be to aggressively test all prospects for steroids
and HGH.
Players also need to be
tested for HGH as well. Though Tucker claims that only a small
percentage of NFL players take steroids, the fact that there's no test
for HGH suggests to a person of average intelligence (that leaves me
out) and reasonable common sense (that too) that plenty of players are
secretly using HGH in an effort to return to the field from injury
before someone else takes their jobs.
POSTED
9:26 a.m. EST, February 20, 2008
PANTHERS WILL POKE
AROUND MOOSE, ALGE
An old face and/or a new
face could be heading to Carolina soon.
Both were officially
released on Tuesday. Muhammad, a receiver, played for the Panthers
from 1996 through 2004. Crumpler, a tight end who might be better
known as "Michael Vick's Crutch," has played against the Panthers twice
per year as a member of the Falcons.
Crumpler is a North
Carolina native, and played college football for the Tar Heels.
Even though free agency
officially won't open until February 29, vested veterans who are
released before that date instantly become unrestricted free agents.
POSTED
8:51 a.m. EST, February 20, 2008
ANDRE HALL ARRESTED
Well, the offseason is now
officially on. How do we know? Because guys are getting
arrested again at an every-other-day pace.
The latest guy to get
busted is Broncos
running back Andre Hall, who was
arrested on Tuesday in Florida for violation of Section 322.34(2)(A)
of the state's statutes. It's a misdemeanor charge for driving
with a revoked, suspended, or canceled driver's license.
Hall was booked and
released on Tuesday in Pinellas County.
It'll be three points for
the Broncos in the new Turd Watch II standings, which we'll put together
and post by the end of the week. So far, all of the points have
been "earned" by AFC teams, with no incidents in the NFC.
POSTED
8:24 a.m. EST, February 20, 2008
ANDERSON CAVING ON
CONTRACT LENGTH?
Browns G.M. Phil Savage
claims that the team is close to striking a deal with quarterback Derek
Anderson. And, apparently, Anderson is now willing to do a
three-year deal only.
"Talks have been a little
more frequent in recent days," Savage told Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "It seems that
the three-year deal is becoming more the focus. We've had
pretty good dialogue and will continue over the [NFL scouting] combine."
Savage told WKYC: "I
do feel like [an Anderson deal] is going to get done. I have
reason to think it will get done. We'll continue to work on it,
but I do think it will go down to the days before free agency."
The Browns presumably want
to sign Anderson for only three years so that they'll be able to defer
the ultimate decision in the Anderson vs. Brady Quinn dilemma for the
long-term job. Also, because the guaranteed money necessarily will
be lower on the three-year deal, the financial investment (and risk)
will be lower in the event that Anderson plays differently as the
clear-cut starter than he did as the post-Charlie Frye placeholder for
Quinn.
It very well could be that
the improvements to the team's offensive line, the presence of a
rejuvenated Jamal Lewis, and the performance of receiver Braylon Edwards
and tight end Kellen Winslow helped Anderson to overachieve -- and that
Quinn could do just as well, if not better, if that role.
Still, it's somewhat
surprising that Anderson would take a three-year deal. His other
alternative is to hope for a trade or an offer sheet during the
restricted free agency period. The worst-case scenario is to spend
one more year in Cleveland, at $2.562 million, and then hit the open
market in 2009 (or earn roughly four times this year's pay as the
franchise player).
Then again, there's a
chance that Savage is puffing as to the status of the situation, in the
hopes of defraying blame in the event that an impasse is reached,
Anderson is traded, and he turns into the next Dan Marino while Quinn
becomes the next Dan McGwire. If Anderson is going to leave, it's
far better for the Browns if the perception is that Anderson was being
unreasonable.
NFL.COM HAS THE COMBINE
COVERED
With the annual Scouting
Combine opening this week, the folks at NFL.com will cover the thing
like never before.
Click the ads on the main
PFT pages (or click here) to check out the special section of the league's
official web site, which includes among other things a list of all
players attending, sortable by position and school.
Players who declined the
invitation to attend the Scouting Combine are receiver Mikey Henderson
of Georgia and defensive end Kirston Pittman of LSU. All of the
top candidates will be there, but it remains to be seen whether and to
what extent the Darren McFadden's of the world will participate in the
workouts.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT CFT
Though the
letter-of-intent day has come and gone, Michael David Smith of AOL and
FOXSports.com and PFT and FootballOutsiders.com and the New York Sun
and WorkaholicsAnonymous.com (he was too busy to attend our most recent
meeting) is still keeping
CollegeFootballTalk.com current with all sorts of good stuff about
the NCAA version of the greatest game ever invented.
Most recently, MDS has
posted a blurb about more Rich Rodriguez recruits in Morgantown who are
allegedly posing a safety threat to Morgantown residents.
MDS also takes a look at a
recent ugly incident involving still-uncommitted quarterback Terrelle
Pryor.
POSTED
9:18 p.m. EST, February 19, 2008
A CLOSER LOOK AT MATT
WALSH
While the NFL world still
waits for something to happen regarding the indemnity impasse between
the league and the attorney for former Pats employee Matt Walsh, more
and more of our readers and friends have been tracking down information
about Walsh.
A couple of them
found this slideshow from Walsh's 2004 wedding. Two of the
photos caught our eye.
In the first one, Walsh is
in what appears to be his bedroom, with a collection of Super Bowl
posters. The irony is obvious, given that many in the media
believe that he was/is the source for the story that appeared in the Boston Herald
regarding alleged cheating by the Patriots in
connection with Super Bowl XXXVI. Here it is:
The other photo, shot in
the same room, shows a bunch of official NFL footballs that Walsh likely
didn't buy off the shelf at a local sporting goods store. And
unless the Pats routinely give multiple footballs away to low-level
employees, videotapes might not be the only thing he "borrowed" from the
franchise when he left:
Also, as to the
31-year-old Walsh's claim that he played golf at Springfield (Mass.)
College,
this link to the historical rosters of the team contains no one
named Matt Walsh in 1997, 1998, 1999, or 2000. It's possible that
he played in 1995 or 1996; those records aren't available on the page
linked above.
Does any of this have
anything to do with whether he knows something incriminating?
Nope. But to the extent he isn't able to tell a clear and
persuasive story, any evidence of embellishment or outright fabrication
will hurt him.
POSTED
8:34 p.m. EST, February 19, 2008
PANTHERS, COLTS, 'SKINS
NEEDS TO TRIM CAP SPACE
Not long ago, the days
before the start of a new league year required many teams to find ways
to trim cap space in order to get under the per-team spending limit.
This year, there are only
three that currently are over the expected limit of $116 million.
The Colts are at $125
million, the Redskins are at $123 million, and the Panthers are at $120
million.
On the other side of the
coin, the Titans are at $79.4 million, giving them more than $36 million
in cap room. The Dolphins have $31 million in cap room, at $85
million. And the Niners are at $86.7 million, leaving them with
nearly $30 million in cap room.
We realize, reluctantly,
that football isn't the only sport played in the universe. And we
also realize, reluctantly, that some of our business partners have
business interests tied to one or more of those other sports.
With these realities in
mind, we offer those of you who don't spend every free moment following
the NFL an opportunity to enhance your preparations for fantasy baseball
leagues by getting your mitts on the RotoWorld Baseball Draft Guide.
Click here to buy it. And
click only here to buy it. (Otherwise, we won't be able to
persuade RotoWorld that we can put asses in the seats.)
POSTED
8:04 p.m. EST, February 19, 2008
COLTS FRANCHISE CLARK
A year after using the
franchise tag to hold defensive end Dwight Freeney in place, the Colts
have applied the tag to tight end Dallas Clark, according to John Clayton
of ESPN.com.
Clark receives a one-year
tender in the amount of $4.522 million.
Talks are expected to
continue on a long-term deal.
To date, six players have
been limited with the franchise tag. Several more could also be
slapped with the restriction, including Pats receiver Randy Moss, Titans
defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha,
Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant,
and Packers defensive tackle Corey Williams.
Last year, the franchise
tag was applied to seven players.
POSTED
4:33 p.m. EST, February 19, 2008
PFT HEROES 2007:
THE OZZIE NEWSOME AWARD
We've got a few more of
these non-trophy trophies to hand out, and we're getting into the
glamour positions: tight end, receiver, running back, quarterback.
Today's award is at the
tight end position, and the PFT Heroes prize will be named for Ozzie
Newsome.
The San Francisco 49ers
announced today that they cut 11-year veteran linebacker Derek Smith.
"Decisions
like this are a difficult part of a great business," 49ers coach
Mike Nolan said. "Derek has been an important member of the 49ers, and
you don't make these kinds of decisions without battling the emotion
that is natural when you are dealing with a player that has done so much
for your organization."
The 33-year-old Smith
started 14 games for the 49ers in 2007, but as the season went on it
became clear that the team would build its defense around younger
players, especially Rookie of the Year Patrick Willis. Nolan said that
youth movement was the primary reason for today's move.
"We made the decision
because we have quality linebackers who we think are the future of the
49ers," Nolan said. "Derek was a model professional during his seven
seasons with the 49ers, and he influenced a lot of the younger players
with his work ethic."
Although Smith, who had
one season left on his contract, had said he would have preferred to
play out the duration of his deal, he indicated at the end of the 2007
season that he knew he could get cut and added, "It's
a business, pure and simple."
POSTED
2:55 p.m. EST, February 19, 2008
KEYSHAWN WILL DECIDE ON
FUTURE SOON by Michael David Smith
Keyshawn Johnson says he
will decide in the next few days whether to return to the NFL.
Johnson, the former Jets,
Buccaneers, Cowboys and Panthers wide receiver, apparently has an offer
on the table from the Miami Dolphins. If he takes the offer, it will
reunite him with Bill Parcells, his coach in New York and Dallas who is
now the Dolphins' vice president of football operations.
"I
like challenges," Johnson told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. "The
challenge of helping to turn a team around, to help get it to the next
level, that gets my competitive fires burning. I have the itch, and
right now I'm trying to decide how strong that itch is."
Johnson currently works as
an ESPN analyst, and although his salary hasn't been reported, Silver
reports that Johnson's TV deal is "lucrative." Returning to the NFL
might even require taking a pay cut.
But if Johnson is itching
to compete, the TV studio is the wrong place for him. And while the
35-year-old Johnson is unlikely to ever return to the Pro Bowl form of
his prime, if he could play as well as he did in 2006 (when he caught 70
passes for 815 yards), he'd be the Dolphins' best receiver.
POSTED
1:54 p.m. EST, February 19, 2008
STEELERS RE-SIGN
KIRSCHKE by Michael David Smith
The Pittsburgh Steelers
and defensive lineman Travis Kirschke have reached an agreement on a
two-year contract, the
team announced on its web site.
Kirschke was scheduled to
become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the month. An 11-year
veteran, Kirschke has played the last four years with the Steelers.
Prior to that he played one season with the San Francisco 49ers and six
with the Detroit Lions. Kirschke played all 16 games for the
Steelers last year and started four when Aaron Smith was injured.
The Steelers have nine
players who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents; Kirschke
is the first to work out a new deal.
POSTED
12:53 p.m. EST, February 19, 2008
RAVENS, SUGGS DISAGREE
ON HIS POSITION by Michael David Smith
The Baltimore Ravens have
placed the franchise tag on Terrell Suggs, but before the value of his
one-year tender offer can be determined, everyone will need to agree on
which position he plays.
As John Clayton of
ESPN.com reports, that's not as easy as it might sound. The Ravens
gave Suggs
the $8.065 million tender offer of a linebacker, but Suggs says he
played more snaps last year at defensive end, which would require an
$8.879 million tender offer.
The franchise tender is
equal to the average of the salaries of the five highest-paid players at
a given position in the previous year, and the highest-paid defensive
ends made about 10 percent more than the highest-paid linebackers in
2007.
If Suggs can demonstrate
that he's really a defensive end and not a linebacker, he could be in
for a raise of $814,000 if he ends up signing the franchise tender for
the 2008 season.
But at this point, it
doesn't appear that it will make much of a difference. Both Suggs and
the Ravens say they expect to work out an agreement on a long-term
contract extension that will make the franchise tag moot. Of course, if
Suggs thinks the Ravens have begun free agency by trying to stiff him
out of $814,000 he's entitled to, it could make those negotiations a bit
more acrimonious.
POSTED
11:08 a.m. EST, February 19, 2008
SUGGS PLANS TO STAY IN
BALTIMORE by Michael David Smith
Although his contract
expires at the end of the month, Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs
says he knows he'll get the franchise tag, and that he has no plans to
leave Baltimore.
Suggs tells Mike Preston
of the Baltimore Sun that Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome
told him he'll get the franchise tag today, and that he's OK with that
as long as it leads to a long-term extension with the team.
"I talked to Ozzie earlier
today, and
he said they would put the tag on me," Suggs said Monday. "I'm
disappointed because I really wanted a long-term deal, and I think I
earned it. But this also keeps me in a Ravens uniform, and this is just
another way of eventually getting it done."
The 25-year-old Suggs
could either sign the franchise tender and play with a one-year, $8.065
million contract, or, more likely, continue to negotiate toward a
long-term extension that would make him one of the highest-paid
defensive players in the league.
Suggs said of the
six-year, $72 million contract defensive end Dwight Freeney signed with
the Colts last year, "I wanted to be somewhere around there. We went in
thinking that I can do more than Dwight can do. He can't drop into pass
coverage like I can. He can't play the run as well as I do, either."
Asked if he would hold out
of training camp if he doesn't get that kind of money, Suggs told
Preston, "At this point, I don't know."
POSTED
9:41 a.m. EST; UPDATED 10:08 a.m. EST, February 19, 2008
EAGLES DISPUTE LITO
SHEPPARD TRADE REPORTS by Michael David Smith
Multiple media outlets
reported on Monday that the Philadelphia Eagles had given cornerback
Lito Sheppard and his agent permission to seek a trade.
But the Eagles say it
isn't true.
"Any report suggesting
that we've allowed Lito or his agent to seek a trade is
absolutely, undeniably false," Eagles spokesman Derek Boyko told
Geoff Mosher of the News Journal.
The 26-year-old Sheppard
is a two-time Pro Bowler who still has four seasons left on his current
contract. He is scheduled to make $3.45 million in 2008, $4.45 million
in 2009, $3.7 million in 2010 and $4.25 million in 2011, the News
Journal reports.
That's not a lot of money
for a top-flight cornerback, so Sheppard may be seeking a raise. But if
he's seeking a trade, the Eagles say he's doing so without their
permission.
TUESDAY MORNING
ONE-LINERS by Michael David Smith
If unrestricted free agent
LT Flozell Adams signs with another team,
the Cowboys' plan is to make Pat McQuistan their starter.
The Patriots are expected
to have free agent WR Marty Booker
in for a visit.
A Baltimore man is suing
the Ravens for copyright infringement, saying
he created the original Ravens logo and the team is using it without
his permission.
In addition to releasing
WR Muhsin Muhammad,
the Bears also released RT Fred Miller and DT Darwin Walker on
Monday.
Asked about his role with
the team next year, Bengals OT Stacy Andrews, who just got the franchise
tag, said, "I'm
not worried about that at all. They have something in store for me,
whether it's at guard or tackle. Whatever is going to help the team I'll
do."
Another franchised
offensive tackle, the Panthers' Jordan Gross, has a similar view: "I
don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't put a period at the
end of the sentence as far as my relationship with the team is
concerned. One way or another,
I'm still
going to be a Panther next year."
The St. Vincent Sports
Performance Center in Indianapolis charges agents
$1,050 per player per week to get them ready for the combine.
Titans QB Vince Young says
of being back in college at Texas, "One day
I walk into class to a standing ovation and my teacher -- she's from
UCLA -- she was like, 'What's going on?' I guess she thought the
applause was for her."
One Pro Football Hall of
Fame voter
can't understand why former Chiefs LB Derrick Thomas didn't get in.
POSTED
8:39 a.m. EST, February 19, 2008
COUGHLIN EXTENSION
COMING THIS WEEK? by Michael David Smith
Bob Glauber of Newsday
reports that the Giants are finishing up negotiations with head coach
Tom Coughlin on a contract extension, and that
a deal could be completed this week.
Coughlin, who coached the
Giants to a Super Bowl title a year after most fans wanted him fired,
will sign a four-year extension through the 2011 season, and the deal
will likely average $5 million a year or a little more, Glauber reports.
Coughlin has one year remaining on his current contract with the Giants,
who extended his deal last year so that he wouldn't coach 2007 as a lame
duck.
As it turned out, the 2007
season became the turning point of his career, as he changed his
dictatorial style and developed better relationships with his players. A
contributing factor may have been the retirement of running back Tiki
Barber, the player who had been most publicly critical of Coughlin's
approach.
Coughlin has a career
coaching record of 111-95 in eight seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars
and four with the Giants. He will turn 65 before the 2011 season,
meaning this could be the last contract of his coaching career.
POSTED
7:35 a.m. EST, February 19, 2008
TEXANS RECEIVER
ARRESTED
According to a web site
with which we previously weren't familiar, Texans receiver
Jerome Mathis was arrested on Sunday for allegedly choking his
pregnant girlfriend.
He was booked on Sunday
evening and released on $3,000 bond.
Mathis has been charged
with assault-family violence. It's a misdemeanor, and Mathis faces
up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.
Mathis was drafted by the
Texans in 2005, and his rookie contract expired after the 2007 season.
Thus, he is eligible for restricted free agency.
POSTED
7:22 a.m. EST, February 19, 2008
NO RESTRICTED FREE
AGENT TENDERS, YET
There's not much time
remaining for restricted fee agent tenders to formally be applied.
Certainly, the procedure for limiting the options of players with only
three years of experience (and expired rookie contracts) will be used in
cities like Dallas and Cleveland, if guys like Marion Barber and Derek
Anderson don't agree to long-term deals.
There's some conflicting
information about the specific amounts of the 2008 tenders. The
lowest level, which gives the team a right of first refusal and (if they
choose not to match any offer) compensation equal to the round in which
the player was drafted is $927,000. For a right of first-refusal
and a second-round pick as compensation, the price is $1.47 million.
For the right of first
refusal and a first-round pick, the number is $2.017 million. The
highest possible tender, creating a right of compensation in the amount
of a first-rounder and a third-rounder, is $2.562 million.
Teams also have the option
of using the franchise tag on a restricted free agent.
Unlike franchise and
transition tenders, the restricted free agent tenders can be revoked at
any time.
Other celebrities who'll
appear on the show include Marlee Matlin, Penn Jillette, Kristi
Yamaguchi, Monica Seles, Mario, Adam Carolla, and Steve Guttenberg.
(We didn't know that Guttenberg was still alive.)
The show will air from
March through May. One contestant is eliminated each week.
But if Taylor performs like other football players who have appeared on
the show in the past (Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith), Taylor will be there
for a while.
Taylor, however, is the
first active NFL player to appear on the show, which could affect his
preparations for the 2008 season.
And that means he'll
likely be absent from offseason workouts and the first wave of so-called
Organized Team Activities. There also will likely be at least one
mandatory minicamp during that period of time as well.
Though it's entirely
possible that Taylor is doing this with the blessing of new Dolphins
V.P. of football operations Bill Parcells, this clearly isn't the kind
of stuff that the Tuna wants to see one of his players doing, and it
increases (in our view) the likelihood that Taylor will be traded or
released.
Taylor is signed through
2009 at base salaries of $7.5 million this year, and $8 million next
year. He toyed with retirement after the 2006 season, but opted to
return.
POSTED
6:21 a.m. EST, February 19, 2008
NO QUARTERBACKS TO BE
TAKEN IN TOP 20?
There's a belief in some
league circles that no quarterbacks will be among the first 20 players
selected in the 2008 draft.
The top two quarterbacks
on the board are, for now, Brian Brohm of Louisville and Matt Ryan of
Boston College. But Brohm isn't regarded as having much arm
strength and Ryan is thought to be lacking in athletic ability.
Another wildcard in this
process is quarterback Rex Grossman, currently of the Bears.
Grossman is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent.
Despite his flaws, he has extensive game experience and he can be had
for a much lower price, and without giving up a draft pick. Also,
the process of trying to get Grossman to become a more consistent player
might be easier than getting Ryan or Brohm ready for NFL action.
Other free-agent options
at quarterback include Todd Collins of the Redskins, Cleo Lemon of the
Dolphins, and Daunte Culpepper of the Raiders.
If Brohm and Ryan fade, it
would be the first time that a quarterback is not selected in the first
20 picks since 1997, when Jim Druckenmiller was the first quarterback
off the board at No. 26. The next quarterback drafted that year
was Jake Plummer at No. 42. In 2000, Chad Pennington was the first
quarterback selected at No. 18.
POSTED
10:58 p.m. EST, February 18, 2008
GENTLEMEN, START YOUR
TAMPERING
In two days, scouts and
coaches will descend on Indianapolis for the annual Scouting Combine.
Also attending a portion
of the multi-day event will be plenty of agents, who'll be present for
among other things a mandatory NFLPA meeting on Friday.
And with scouts and
coaches and agents in the same city only a week or so before the start
of free agency, anyone who thinks that there won't be advance
discussions about guys who might soon be on the market but who are still
technically the exclusive property of one and only one team is stupid or
naive or both.
It's the NFL's dirty
little offseason secret. Most if not all teams tamper with players
poised to become free agents. Some teams who used to not do it
started to do it because they concluded that they were at a competitive
disadvantage, because everyone but them was doing it.
But discretion is still
preferred. Eventually, someone will be sufficiently brazen to get
caught, and the league will make an example of that team in an effort to
get other teams to dial it in a bit.
Though today's example
isn't nearly enough to get a team nailed, it's proof of the nonchalance
that now prevails in matters of this nature.
Saints linebacker Mark
Simoneau is among this year's free-agent crop. And the Dolphins
are one of the teams believed to be interested in him.
Apparently, the guy who
currently belongs to the Saints will be testing the market early, via
his agent. From Friday's Miami Herald:"Simoneau's
agent William Vann McElroy said
he had a
meeting scheduled with Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland at next
week's NFL Scouting Combine, but he doesn't know which specific players
will be discussed."
Um, Vann? The only
players that should be discussed are clients of yours who currently play
for the Dolphins. Or who currently are unattached. Or who
will be eligible for the draft. Discussion regarding any other
players constitutes tampering by the Fins.
Again, this isn't a
smoking gun. But it's a glimpse at the attitude that pervades the
league as the Scouting Combine approaches.
There will be tampering,
and nothing will be done about it.
POSTED
10:03 p.m. EST; UPDATED 11:09 p.m. EST, February 18, 2008
TEAMS CAN'T USE
FRANCHISE TAG AND TRANSITION TAG
We've gotten several
questions from readers in response to our comment from earlier in the
day that the Bengals can still apply the transition tag to defensive end
Justin Smith, even though the franchise tag has been used on offensive
lineman Stacy Andrews. Some readers believe that the franchise and
transition tags are either/or propositions.
Per Article XX, Section
3(a) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a team can't use the
franchise tag and the transition tag.
In a prior version of this
article, we wrote that teams could use both at the same time, or a
second transition player in lieu of a franchise player. On closer
inspection of the language, it's now clear to use that this tweak is
available only in the final capped year of the agreement. The
relevant language of the CBA is extremely convoluted, but we still
should have read it more carefully. We apologize for the error.
Of course, the debate is
likely academic, since the usefulness of the transition tag has become
diminished in the wake of the 2006 revisions to the CBA. The
salary tied to the transition tender is now fully guaranteed when signed
by the player, but the team still gets only a right of first refusal and
no compensation if a decision is made not to match the offer.
Moreover, the presence of
the poison-pill device for crafting offers that as a practical matter
can't be matched by the player's current team renders a right of first
refusal useless.
So the transition tag is
something that has no real value, regardless of whether it can be used
once or twice in a given league year.
POSTED
9:32 p.m. EST, February 18, 2008
CHIEFS BEEF UP KICKING
POSITION
The Kansas City Chiefs are
attempting to get better at the kicker position, signing two free agents
who were generally available to anyone and everyone.
Joining the team are
Billy Cundiff and Nick Novak. Other kickers could be pursued
in free agency, such as Josh Brown of the Seahawks.
The Chiefs added five
other free agents on Monday.
POSTED
8:11 p.m. EST, February 18, 2008
PATS OFFER DEAL TO
THOMAS
Adam Schefter of NFL
Network reports that the
Patriots have offered a contract to free-agent linebacker Zach
Thomas, who was cut by the Dolphins last week.
Thomas and agent Drew
Rosenhaus visited with the Patriots on Monday.
Next up? A visit to
New Orleans. The Cowboys, Texans, Bills, and Jets also are
interested in acquiring Thomas.
POSTED
7:39 p.m. EST; UPDATED 8:11 p.m. EST, February 18, 2008
CHIEFS TAG ALLEN
The Kansas City Chiefs
have placed the franchise tag on defensive end Jared Allen, according to
Adam Schefter of NFL Network.
Allen, a four-year
veteran, was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. Last
year, the Chiefs limited Allen's movement as a restricted free agent
with the highest possible tender, which would have required any team
signing Allen to come up with a first-round pick and a third-round pick
as compensation.
It's unclear whether the
Chiefs used the exclusive or non-exclusive version of the tag on Allen.
Under the exclusive version, the tender will be higher, but he will not
be allowed to negotiate with other teams.
Allen is generally
regarded as one of the best defensive linemen in the game. But a
history of drinking and driving likely will give other potential suitors
pause.
UPDATED: The non-exclusive version of the tender has been applied to Allen.
So anyone who wants to give up two first-round picks for a crack at
Allen should feel free to do so.
Muhammad was under
contract through 2010, and was due to earn a base salary of $1.6 million
in 2008.
Schefter also reports that
the Bears are expected to release two other veteran players on Monday.
Muhammad was a
second-round pick of the Panthers in 1996, and he spent nine seasons in
Carolina. The
Panthers released him in February 2005 in lieu of paying a $10
million roster bonus. Less than 12 hours later (could it be . . .
tampering?), he signed a six-year, $30 million deal with the Bears.
With the Panthers still
scrambling to find help at the wideout position, we don't rule out a
return by Muhammad to Carolina.
POSTED
3:41 p.m. EST, February 18, 2008
MAYBE THE MEDIA SHOULD
EYEBALL WALSH
Though we're edging ever
closer to becoming part of the "real" media, we're still a long way away
from having the kind of time and resources that would allow us to engage
in a comprehensive investigation of a key figure in one of the various
stories about which we often tend to blather.
If, for example, we had
the time and/or the resources, we'd devote a chunk of it to finding out
more about Matt Walsh.
Precious little has been
done by the media to find out more about him, or to get a general feel
for whether he generally can be believed. From our perspective, we
think that what he says (and how he says it) about Spygate II will say
much about whether he is credible. Until he talks, however,
there's work that can be done to get a better idea of who he is and what
he's about.
For starters, the
contention that Walsh secretly recorded conversations with Pats V.P. of
player personnel Scott Pioli is great way to get a good feel for whether
Walsh is a truth-teller. Walsh's lawyer calls the rare public
utterance from Pioli a "complete fabrication." So if the Pats
and/or Pioli can prove that it happened, the failure of Walsh to tell
the truth to his lawyer on that topic would be relevant in connection
with an assessment of whether he's telling the truth about what he might
eventually tell Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) or anyone else.
Other easily available
information to scrutinize is Walsh's bio for his current job. In
it, he says that he
"served
primarily as an Area Scout and Video Assistant from 1996-2003" with
the Patriots. But Pioli told the Boston Globe that Walsh
was never an Area Scout. So if the Pats and/or Pioli can prove
this, it would be another strike against him.
In
fact, Walsh's overall bio requires the full-blown Fran Foley treatment.
Based on the
article regarding his then-looming nuptials, he was 28 in July 2004
and is a Gemini. Thus, he's presently 31. Unless he pulled a
Doogie Howser (or a Forrest Gump), it's hard to cram everything he
claims to have done into the period of time that would require him to
get a college degree, play two years of pro hockey, train with the U.S.
National Bobsled team, spend a year working for an Arena League team,
seven with the Pats, one with NFL Europe, and then become an assistant
golf pro in Hawaii.
The article about his wedding describes his time with the Pats as
including
"operations, public relations, video/game
planning, area scout." Game planning? Um. Okay.
Other questions about Walsh should be
asked. Such as, for example, how he found -- and how he can afford
-- a Washington, D.C. lawyer who
specializes in white-collar crime and government investigations.
Could it be that Senator Specter hooked Walsh up with Michael Levy,
and/or that Levy is handling the matter at no charge as a "favor" to the
Senator?
So while we're uncomfortable with the
notion that NFL Security is looking up on the guy, we think that the
media has an obligation to do so, especially if the media (us included)
is going to continue to write about the inflammatory things that Walsh
supposedly knows.
Andrews has four years of
NFL service, and started games last season at guard and tackle.
He'll receive the offensive lineman tender of $7.5 million. That
number is based on the five highest-paid offensive linemen in 2007.
If Andrews signs the
tender, the salary becomes fully guaranteed. The tender can be
rescinded by the Bengals at any time before it is signed.
The Bengals used the
non-exclusive version of the tag, which allows Andrews to negotiate with
other teams. If he signs an offer sheet elsewhere that the Bengals
choose not to match, the Bengals will receive two first-round draft
picks.
The move also means that
Bengals defensive end Justin Smith, the team's franchise player last
year, will hit the market on February 29.
POSTED
12:05 p.m. EST, February 18, 2008
NFLPA PAYROLL UP 58
PERCENT
Daniel Kaplan of
SportsBusiness Journal reports that the NFL Players Association's
most recent tax return shows a 58 percent increase in employee
compensation. For the 2007 fiscal year, the NFLPA paid out more
than $17 million to its workers.
The union's total revenue
was $59 million, up from the prior year's total of $54 million.
Per SBJ, Executive
Director Gene Upshaw's salary and benefits have skyrocketed from $3.31
million to $6.43 million.
More detailed information
will be available in the NFLPA's LM-2, which will be filed at some point
after May 31, 2008.
POSTED
11:36 a.m. EST, February 18, 2008
BUCS INTERESTED IN
DISCARDED FALCONS
Our friends at
PewterReport report that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
likely will be
interested in Falcons defensive tackle Rod Coleman and tight end
Alge Crumpler, once they are released.
Though the Falcons
announced on Friday that Coleman, Crumpler, and others will be cut, the
moves have not yet been announced by the league.
Two of Tampa's tight ends
-- Anthony Becht and Jerramy Stevens -- are due to become unrestricted
free agents on February 29.
MONDAY MORNING
ONE-LINERS
by Michael David Smith
Cowboys third-string QB
Richard Bartel is a player they would have liked to send to NFL Europa
if the league hadn't folded.
Another sign that DT Kris
Jenkins won't be playing for the Panthers much longer: He's making
a concerted effort to
sell his
South Charlotte home.
Former Redskins coach Joe
Gibbs is
back to work at the auto racing operation he owns.
Former Bills RB Thurman
Thomas says
he wants to help with efforts to keep the team in Buffalo.
POSTED
11:24 a.m. EST, February 18, 2008
EDWARDS IS CHANGING
AGENTS
When Lamont Smith and
Peter Schaffer of All Pro Sports and Entertainment negotiated in 2005
the rookie contract of receiver Braylon Edwards, the deal was applauded
privately in league circles, even by some of their most bitter rivals.
Their ultimate reward?
According to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal, Edwards has
fired them. Per Mullen, it's believed that Edwards will sign with
CAA.
NFLPA records indicate
that Edwards currently is not represented.
"It is very disappointing
to see a player of this magnitude whose agents negotiated such a good
deal . . . switch to another agent," a competitor of APSE told Mullen.
The reason for the move is
unknown. Usually in cases of this nature, an agent change is a
precursor to an effort to get a new contract. Edwards is signed
through 2009.
Given CAA's deep and
extensive Hollywood connections, it could be that Edwards didn't jump
because of any dissatisfaction with his contract, but because he hopes
to go the route of a former Browns great named Jim Brown and parlay his
sports stardom into a movie career.
Um, Braylon? Get in
line.
ADDAI NEXT?
There's a rumor making the
rounds in league circles that CAA has targeted Colts running back Joseph
Addai.
NFLPA records show that
Addai is still represented by Ian Greengross, who recently was hired to
represent running back Darren McFadden.
NFLPA regulations prohibit
interference with a relationship between a player and an existing agent.
We're aware of no specific evidence that CAA has violated this
regulation as to Braylon Edwards, Addai, or any other player.
As to Walsh, Belichick
says that he "couldn't pick Matt Walsh out of a lineup."
As to the notion that the
Pats spied on the Rams before Super Bowl XXXVI, Belichick had this to
say: "In my entire coaching career, I've never seen another team's
practice film prior to playing that team. I have never authorized,
or heard of, or even seen in any way, shape, or form any other team's
walkthrough. We don't even film our own. We don't even want
to see ourselves do anything, that's the pace that it's at.
Regardless, I've never been a part of that.
It's as broad a denial as
Belichick can issue, but we're confused as to why he'd even mention that
the Pats don't tape their own walk-through practices. Of course a
team won't tape it's own walk-through -- there's no benefit to it from
the standpoint of assessing or grading players because they're, you
know, walking. For an opponent, however, access to the
walk-through practice would have tremendous value from the standpoint of
deciphering the game plan.
Frankly, including the "we
don't even tape our own walk-throughs" angle in his argument makes us
wonder whether the normally tight-lipped Belichick is going a bit too
far.
Meanwhile, Belichick went
back to Spygate I (i.e., the taping of defensive coaching
signals) and tried to defend practices that the league already has
deemed to be a violation worthy of a $500,000 fine to Belichick, a
$250,000 fine to the team, and the loss of a first-round draft pick.
Belichick explained that
he merely misinterpreted the rule.
"My
interpretation was that you can't
utilize anything to assist you during
that game," Belichick said. "What
our camera guys do is clearly not
allowed to be used during the game and
has never been used during that game
that it was shot."
Belichick
also had this to say about the taping of
defensive coaching signals:
"On the
tape of
the
signaling
that we
talk
about,
that
film
usually
wasn't
even
completed
until
Thursday
or
Friday
of the
following
week.
It was
that low
of a
priority.
In other
words,
the
video
guys had
so much
other
stuff to
do on
Monday,
Tuesday,
Wednesday
getting
ready
for the
other
game,
that a
lot of
times
that
film
wasn't
even
processed
until
later in
the
week."
Again,
Belichick
could be
going
too far.
Why on
earth
would
the
video
staff
prepare,
for
example,
video
taken on
Sunday
of the
Jets'
defensive
coaching
signals
for the
following
week's
game?
The
value in
making
the tape
arises
when
they
prepare
to play
the Jets
again
that
year --
or when
they
face
teams
coached
by
members
of the
current
Jets
defensive
staff in
future
seasons.
Moreover,
we're
confused
about
why
Belichick
would
even
dredge
up
Spygate
I.
Here's
what
Belichick
had to
say on
the
topic:
"I wasn't comfortable talking about it earlier in the year because my No. 1 job is to win football games. The more distractions there are, I think the harder it is to prepare. I thought the more conversation about this would just take away from what my primary job and our primary job is, which is to win football games.
"I felt like now, the season has been over for a couple weeks, there are certainly a lot of questions out there about it, I thought this would be the timely point to address it as opposed to during the season, at any point. Of course, it came up a number of times."
But, right now, the only question that anyone still cares about arising from the five-month-old incident is what tapes or other materials Belichick gave to the league, and why the stuff was promptly destroyed.
Belichick didn't address any of those issues on Sunday. It's unclear whether he ever will in a setting other than a Congressional hearing room. Or a courtroom.
POSTED
9:11 a.m. EST, February 18, 2008
PFTV LOOKS AT THE FAVRE
DEBATE
As the offseason continues
to unfold, there's still an open question as to whether Packers
quarterback Brett Favre will return for another year.
PFTV looks at whether he
will, and whether he should.
Enjoy.
POSTED
9:05 a.m. EST, February 18, 2008
LEAGUE TO REIMBURSE NEW
ORLEANS FOR LOST HOME GAME
From the moment that the
NFL decided to yank from New Orleans, only three years after Hurricane
Katrina, one of the Saints' eight home games, we've been concerned about
the move. At a time when the city is struggling to rebuild, it
needs the financial boost that comes from those rare Sundays with a full
Superdome and everything else that goes along with it.
But is that enough?
The financial impact goes beyond ticket sales, parking, and concessions.
Hotels and restaurants will be pinched as well, and overall tax revenues
will be depleted as well.
Then there's the emotional
impact. New Orleans needs the Saints, now more than ever.
While we fully support the league's decision to expand its popularity
beyond our borders, there are 30 other franchises that have yet to take
one for the team by giving up a home game. Couldn't the Saints
have been given an exemption for a few more years? After all, the
Saints lost all of their home games in 2005; why should they lose
another one now?
Our suggestion?
Until the regular season is expanded to 17 games, allowing every team to
play eight at home, eight on the road, and one at a neutral site, the
team that wins the Super Bowl should be the team that plays a home game
overseas the following season.
It's a small price to pay
for toting the Lombardi, and it promotes parity by making it harder for
the team at the top of the mountain to make it all the way back there
the following year.
POSTED
7:07 a.m. EST, February 18, 2008
WALSH WAS FIRED FOR
TAPE-RECORDING CONVERSATIONS
Finally (and wisely), the
Patriots are beginning to put their side of the Spygate I and II stories
into the stream of public knowledge.
And, to their credit,
they're not doing so by leaking information to the media on an
off-the-record basis, but by making their position known in
on-the-record interviews.
Pioli, who rarely speaks
to the press, told the Globe that he became aware of the
situation because "two other employees saw him doing it, and I checked
after, and heard it on the tape myself."
Walsh's lawyer, Michael
Levy, called Pioli's version of the events "a complete fabrication."
"This is a predictable and
pathetic effort to smear Mr. Walsh's character rather than confront the
truth about the Patriots' conduct," Levy said. (And it's also
predictable that Levy would call it a smear campaign, even if this kind
of behavior is necessary to a full understanding of Walsh's overall
credibility.)
Pioli also explained to
the Globe the work that Walsh was doing for the team in late 2002
and early 2003.
"He had
come from video, so the first few months
his job was to make highlight tapes of
draft-eligible players, guys who were
going to be free agents," Pioli said.
"It's like the entry-level position that
we have all the scouting assistants in.
It's essentially the same job that I did
15 years ago, which was making copies,
picking people up at the airport, data
entry, more of the highlight tapes of
the players, the draft-eligible guys.
"The job
he was doing, there were two other guys
doing it, so essentially the work he was
doing wasn't up to the same level as the
other people, in my opinion. However, I
found out he was secretly tape recording
our conversations and he was fired."
Of course,
none of this changes the fact that Walsh
knows something (or thinks he
knows something) that has been of
interest to more than a few journalists
since September 2007 and that has made
him the subject of a legal chess match
regarding whether and to what extent
he'll be protected against litigation
if/when he tells his story to Senator
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) or 60 Minutes.
Though
information regarding why he was fired
is relevant to his overall credibility,
the content of any videotapes he might
have won't lie. Until those tapes
are disclosed, however, we're going to
be a little skeptical about whether
anything relevant or useful is on them.
Or about whether there even are any
tapes.
It's all
the more reason for the league and Levy
to work out a deal, so that Walsh can
engage in a high-stakes game of
Show-'n'-Tell.
Thomas, released by the
Dolphins on Thursday, already has been linked to the Saints, Cowboys,
Jets, and Bills. New England apparently will be his first visit.
The big question is
whether any team will be able to give Thomas medical clearance to play.
Concussions limited him to five games in 2007.
POSTED
7:43 p.m. EST, February 17, 2008
PATS TO PASS ON
STALLWORTH OPTION
A league source tells us
that the New England Patriots already have advised receiver Donte'
Stallworth that they won't be picking up the $6 million option due to be
paid to him on or before February 25.
As a result, the Pats will
be required to cut Stallworth by 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February 22.
Unless, of course, they work out a new deal with him before then.
Stallworth was signed by
the Pats before the team acquired Randy Moss. The decision not to
keep Stallworth suggests that the team will retain Moss, possibly by
applying the franchise tag to him and then trying to work out a
long-term deal.
The deadline for applying
the franchise tag is February 21.
POSTED
3:41 p.m. EST, February 17, 2008
PATS HAVE TO MAKE A
DECISION ON STALLWORTH
Last March, Donte'
Stallworth was the top receiver available in free agency. But when
the big money didn't flow his way, he signed what amounted to a one-year
"prove it" deal with the Patriots.
He received $1 million to
sign, a $700,000 base salary, a $300,000 workout bonus, and a $1.6
million roster bonus for being on the 53-man roster at the start of the
season. (He also could have earned another $400,000 in incentives,
but he fell 24 catches short of the 70 receptions necessary for the
first $100,000 payment.)
In the second year, the
deal includes a
$6 million
option bonus, due to be paid on February 25. Stallworth also
is set to earn a $2 million roster bonus on February 29.
So now the Pats have to
decide whether to pay the option, try to work out a new deal for less
than $6 million on February 25 and $2 million four days later, or cut
Stallworth loose.
If he's cut, he'll
immediately become a free agent, a couple of days before the official
launch of free agency.
It's unlikely, in our
view, that the Pats will fork over the $8 million to Stallworth.
The money is far better spent on Randy Moss, and Jabar Gaffney could
fill in as the third receiver behind Moss and Wes Welker.
Gaffney, however, is also
due to be a free agent, and he arguably has done enough in two seasons
with the Pats to persuade someone else to give him a chance to become a
full-time starter.
So Stallworth will end up
with $3.6 million for 2007 and a shot at signing a new deal with a new
team in 2008. Or maybe he'll hit the market, not get any huge
offers (like last year), and then strike a new deal to return to New
England.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
ONE-LINERS
The efforts of Bills CB
Terrence McGee to recover money from his financial planner
will be delayed because the guy filed for bankruptcy.
Regardless of whether or
not NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell promised to provide financial help to
the man paralyzed in a February 2007 strip-club shooting allegedly
instigated by Titans cornerback Pacman Jones, the reality is the the
league has no legal or moral obligation to Tommy Urbanski or his family.
"This is a
David-and-Goliath situation, with working people against a very greedy
and evil corporation called the NFL," she said.
Hang on a second, Mrs.
Urbanski. The last time we checked, your family sued the NFL under
a frivolous (in our opinion) theory that the league was in some way
liable for the off-duty, off-season criminal conduct of one of its
players. And that makes no sense at all.
And though the Daily
News article includes a quote from Goodell ("I'm sorry about the
tragedy the family is going through, but I don't feel we have any
responsibility"), the item is shamefully slanted against the NFL.
Indeed, the league has no
responsibility to Urbanski. None. Zero. The season was
over. Jones was on his own time. He allegedly engaged in
criminal conduct.
Plenty of men who commit
crimes also have jobs. Are their employers automatically
responsible to the victims?
In some instances an
employer can be responsible for criminal conduct of its employees.
If, for example, the Titans were playing a game in Nevada and if the
Titans had failed to enforce their curfew rules against Jones and if the
Titans knew or should have known that Jones had a habit of breaking
curfew by sneaking out of the hotel and raising hell at strip clubs, the
team might bear some of the blame. Absent facts like that, the NFL
is no different than any other company with an employee who commits a
crime during his free time.
Besides, the NFL's deep
pocket isn't needed; Jones has the money (now or in the future) to pay.
The notion that there's a pile of medical bills on the Urbanski's coffee
table is a red herring; health-care providers routinely cool their jets
while patients without sufficient means to pay the amounts due and owing
pursue justice from the persons who caused the harm.
Of course, the Daily
News doesn't bother to address such basic facts. Maybe the
person who wrote the story simply doesn't understand the way that these
things work, and maybe the person who wrote the story didn't bother to
try to find out.
Why should he? At a
time when the league is facing a growing number of thorny P.R. problems,
it's too easy to clumsily throw another log in the general direction of
the fire.
POSTED
12:38 pm. EST, February 17, 2008
WHERE WILL ASANTE LAND?
The Boston Herald,
which likely has been bracing itself for a defamation lawsuit in the
wake of its February 2 report that the Patriots taped the Rams'
final-walkthrough practice prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, is stirring up the
New England hornets' nest again by taking a stab at where Pats
cornerback Asante Samuel might land in free agency.
The Herald
points to the Jets and Browns as potential suitors for Samuel.
The head coaches of both teams have ties to Samuel; Eric Mangini of the
Jets and Romeo Crennel of the Browns served as defensive coordinators
during Samuel's career in New England.
But how about the Falcons
or the Dolphins? Both teams are flush with cap space after
jettisoning several high-priced veterans this past week. Atlanta
G.M. Tom Dimitroff was the director of college scouting in New England,
which puts him in a position to understand Samuel's potential value.
The added benefit of acquiring Samuel is that the Falcons would then be
able to trade disgruntled starting cornerback DeAngelo Hall.
In Miami, V.P. of football
operations Bill Parcells might be inclined to stir up the AFC East by
taking a top-shelf cover corner by a team coached by one of his prize
pupils and managed by the Tuna's son-in-law.
In the end, Samuel is
likely to give the greatest consideration to the highest bidder.
But while folks keep quoting Nate Clements' eight-year, $80 million deal
as the benchmark for Samuel, keep in mind that Clements' deal was only
(only?) seven years and $64 million. Per the language of the
contract, the eighth year will never happen.
Broncos cornerback Champ
Bailey hopes that Samuel shatters the nine-figure mark. "I think
Asante and [Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant], those guys should
definitely get $100 million, probably more. Every team needs
premier cornerbacks in this league. They’re worth it."
Bailey, of course, is
hardly unbiased. Since he's still regarded as the premier cover
corner in the league, a big deal for Samuel (who unlike Trufant can't be
limited with the franchise tag by virtue of his 2007 contract) would put
Bailey in line for an "adjustment" to his own deal.
One team that shouldn't be
taken seriously in the race for Samuel is the Colts, but not only for
the reasons articulated by the Herald. The Tampa 2 defense
doesn't put a premium on cornerbacks, who are expected primarily to
provide coverage in short zones and provide run support. Big money
for a guy like Samuel makes no sense in that kind of scheme.
POSTED
12:03 p.m. EST, February 17, 2008
PANTHERS INTERESTED IN
CRUMPLER
As the theory in league
circles went after coach Bobby Petrino dumped the Falcons in December,
Panthers coach John Fox instantly had acquired job security for 2008.
The fear in Charlotte was, some league insiders believed, that a
decision to fire Fox would result in Fox being hired by the Panthers'
rivals in Atlanta.
And now with Pro Bowl
tight end Alge Crumpler on the outs in Atlanta, the Panthers are
interested.
But the Observer
report is a bit confusing, because the author of the article has
misinterpreted the league's waiver rules. Per the Observer,
Crumpler must clear waivers before he becomes a free agent. And,
with all due respect, that's not correct.
Vested veterans (i.e.,
players with at least four seasons of credited service) aren't required
to pass through waivers, and thus immediately become free agents.
(The only exception applies during an NFL season; vested veterans must
clear waivers if released after the trading deadline.)
The Observer
reports that the Seahawks also are expected to have interest in Crumpler.
The issue is his health.
He was limited last season due to a knee injury, and teams will want to
check him out thoroughly before making the kind of financial investment
that he likely will be seeking.
Crumpler became a star in
Atlanta due in large part to the unique skills of quarterback Michael
Vick. Unable to see down the field while in the pocket due to the
fact that he is shorter than most folks realize, Vick would routinely
abandon the pocket, roll out, and either run the ball or throw it to
Crumpler.
POSTED
11:00 p.m. EST, February 16, 2008
ROSCOE GETS ARRESTED
With the "days without an
arrest" meter barely back into double digits, it's time to zero it out
again.
He was pulled over at 4:30
a.m. on Saturday while driving his 2005 Bentley.
We'll soon be rolling out
the official Turd Watch II standings. The two teams with arrests
thus far are the Bills and the Patriots.
POSTED
3:41 p.m. EST, February 16, 2008
SPYING AN INTERNAL
THING, TOO
As the heat continues to
rise regarding Spygate II, a reader has forwarded to us a link to a 1999
item from Mike Freeman, then of the New York Times and currently
with CBSSports.com, regarding the possibility that the New York Jets
(for whom Pats coach Bill Belichick worked at the time), might have been
secretly videotaping . . . their own players . . . in the locker room.
The issue came up because
an unnamed Jets defensive player entered a small room at the team's
practice facility, which contained a bank of video screens. Some
of the monitors included images of the locker room.
In Freeman's article,
NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw said that he believes 25 percent of
the league's teams use hidden cameras in the locker room.
But Upshaw didn't seem to
be all that bothered by it.
"When I'm in Denver, in a
meeting with the players at the Broncos' facility, you see certain
things in the room and know they're not lights," Upshaw said. "I
know management is listening. When I'm in Cincinnati, I know Owner
Mike Brown is listening. I don't want to say how I know, but I
know. But when it comes to this issue of cameras around the
players, it's not a big deal to me, because they are there for the
security of our players, and obviously the safety of the players is a
primary concern for me. I'd rather err on the side of caution,
than have some nut come into the locker room and do something.''
But, Gene, are hidden
cameras that no one knows about really going to deter a "nut" from doing
anything?
Art Modell, who owned the
Ravens at the time, confirmed Upshaw's beliefs: ''Some teams are
using surveillance equipment in the locker room, yes. But I'd fire
the first guy who did that here. No video cameras, no audiotapes,
no eavesdropping.''
''This is a sensitive
issue,'' Upshaw said. ''I'm sure it will be talked about a lot in
the future.''
It hasn't been. But
given the current focus on things the Patriots did or didn't do, let's
not forget that there are 31 other NFL franchises that might be doing
plenty of things that they shouldn't be doing, and that they merely
haven't gotten caught.
POSTED
2:38 p.m. EST, February 16, 2008
SAINTS CHASING THOMAS,
TOO
Before linebacker Zach
Thomas visits with the Cowboys, he'll spend some time getting acquainted
with the Saints.
According to Adam Schefter
of NFL Network,
Thomas will meet with the Saints before the Scouting Combine.
He's due to take a trip to Big D after the Indianapolis rookie
assessment event.
If Thomas signs with the
Saints, it'll be the second straight year that his team loses a home
game to England. Thomas didn't make the trip with the Dolphins in
2007 due to a concussion suffered in an automobile accident.
POSTED
1:51 p.m. EST, February 16, 2008
COLES SAYS JETS LIED TO
HIM
Last year, it was Pete
Kendall. Now, it's Laveranues Coles.
Coles tells the Newark
Star-Ledger that the team "lied" and "strung him along" about a new
deal over the past two seasons. He wants a long-term deal, and he
won't report to the team's offseason program without one.
"I don't want to seem like
another greedy player, but I feel I've earned the right to know where
I'll finish my career," Coles said. "I've done everything this
organization has asked me to do and I'm asking them to do this for me.
I think I've earned that much. I've put it all on the line every
Sunday for this organization.
"They've told me for the
past two seasons that they would take care of me and now I feel they're
stringing me along. I'm not going through this for another year.
"I've played hurt.
I've been a leader in the locker room. I've held the team together
in bad times. I was an intermediary between management and the
players. I sacrificed my numbers for the good of the team. . . .
I don't want to be a disgruntled player. I want to be someplace
where I'm happy."
Coles says that the time
has come for the team to deliver. "I don't want this to be a Pete
Kendall situation. I don't want to be like Brandon Moore and sit
out a practice to get a new contract. It shouldn't have to come to
that point."
The veteran receiver, who
left the Jets as a restricted free agent in 2003 and then was traded
back to New York by the Redskins two years later, has two years
remaining on his contract. He's due to earn $5 million in 2008 and
$6 million in 2009, and the team is willing to guarantee both payments.
That's rare, but it's not
enough for Coles.
The issue apparently has
come to a head because, when Coles tried after the 2007 season to get an
extension, the team cited his decreased production in support of its
position.
"I played hurt," he said.
"I ran clear-out routes for Jerricho [Cotchery]. They praised me
for my toughness and not worrying about my numbers. They tell me
that I'm an unselfish player.
"I do everything they ask
me to do and then when it comes to business, they tell me my production
is down. That's not right."
Coles, 30, believes he has
four or five good years left in him. But he wants to know where
he's going to end his career, and he hopes it will be with the Jets.
And if he's going to be on
the open market in 2010 (which by the way could be an uncapped year),
he'd prefer to hit the open market right now.
POSTED
11:12 a.m. EST, February 16, 2008
A SUGGESTED SOLUTION TO
THE WALSH IMPASSE
We've had a chance to
ponder in further detail the legal standoff in which the NFL and Michael
Levy, counsel for Matt Walsh, are now engaged. Mike Fish of
ESPN.com has made that effort considerably easier by
posting
the dueling indemnity provisions that the two sides have exchanged.
Here's the league's offer,
with what we believe to be the key language highlighted:
"This will confirm that,
subject only to the limited conditions set forth below, neither the
National Football League, nor the New England Patriots, nor any of their
affiliates will initiate litigation or arbitration proceedings against
Mr. Walsh for the truthful disclosure to Senator Specter
or his staff or to the League of facts of which Mr. Walsh may have
become aware while employed by the Patriots. This commitment
extends to the disclosure of factual information that might otherwise be
deemed confidential or a trade secret. In return, you have
confirmed that Mr. Walsh will share with the League office the same
information that he shares with the Senator or his staff, and that he
will do so at about the same time that he speaks with the Senator and/or
his staff.
"The commitment is
conditioned upon Mr. Walsh's promptly returning to the League Office,
after he has been interviewed by Senator Specter or his staff, any and
all documents or other items that he may have taken improperly from the
Patriots during the period of his employment there, or which are
otherwise the property of the Patriots, and his confirming, in writing,
that all such documents or items have been returned. If Mr.
Walsh's disclosures are truthful, the commitment not to initiate
litigation or arbitration proceedings referred to above shall extend to
the improper removal of any items that are returned."
Levy proposes the
following, again with what we think to be the key language highlighted:
"The National Football
League and any and all of its affiliates (the 'League'), on behalf of
itself and the New England Patriots and any and all of its affiliates
(the 'Patriots'), agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Mr. Walsh
harmless from and against all losses, liabilities, damages, costs,
fines, expenses, deficiencies, taxes, and reasonable fees and expenses
of counsel and agents, including but not limited to any costs incurred
responding to any investigation, inquiry, or proceeding or in the course
of enforcement of this agreement, which may be sustained by Mr. Walsh
arising out of, related to or connected with, directly or indirectly, (i)
the employment of Mr. Walsh by the Patriots and any actions undertaken
by him in the course of his employment, (ii) the taking or retention by
Mr. Walsh of any information, documents or other materials that may be
deemed to belong to (or constitute or contain confidential information
or trade secrets of) the League or the Patriots, or (iii) any disclosure
by Mr. Walsh of any such information, documents or materials to any
person or entity, including the alleged untruthfulness in that
disclosure absent bad faith on the part of Mr. Walsh ('Claims').
The League and the Patriots also fully and finally release and forever
discharge Mr. Walsh from any and all Claims that the League or the
Patriots may now have, have ever had, or may have, whether known or
unknown, suspected or unsuspected, related in any way to the matters
described above. The League and the Patriots are aware that, under the
law of certain jurisdictions, a release may not extend to certain claims
that a person does not know or suspect exist at the time when the
release is executed. To the greatest extent permissible, the League, on
behalf of itself and the Patriots, expressly waives the benefit of those
laws and acknowledges that it intends this release to extend to the full
extent described. Neither the League nor the Patriots will institute,
maintain, prosecute, or authorize to be commenced any action or other
proceeding against Mr. Walsh either in law or equity based in whole or
in part upon any of the foregoing."
Okay, you can wake up now.
As we see it, the sticking
point is the league's insistence on "truthfulness" from Mr. Walsh.
But truthfulness is in the eye of the beholder. As to Roger
Clemens, Andy Pettitte technically isn't being "truthful" regarding
Pettitte's Congressional testimony that Clemens admitted to using HGH.
Though Clemens isn't inclined to call his good friend Pettitte a liar,
Clemens could have taken that approach, if he had so elected.
In this case, a reasonable
reading of the indemnity language exchanged by the parties could cause a
reasonable person to believe that the NFL and/or the Patriots are
prepared to label anything and everything Walsh says as untruthful, even
if he genuinely and in good faith believes his statement. Indeed,
the Pats already have denied flatly any cheating in conjunction with
Super Bowl XXXVI. So if Walsh says that he videotaped the Rams'
walk-through (and if he doesn't have the tape to back it up), his
version would instantly be called "untruthful" by the entity whose
interests would be most clearly affected if what Walsh says is true.
In our view, "good faith"
is the key. Walsh is willing to sacrifice indemnity upon a finding
that any alleged untruthfulness was the product of bad faith on his
part. In other words, he can be sued -- successfully -- if there's
a finding that his statements to Senator Specter are made in bad faith.
It's not full indemnity, and it exposes Walsh to litigation based on a
contention that he's a disgruntled employee who stole sensitive
materials in the hopes of later selling them to other teams,
blackmailing the Patriots, and/or simply causing trouble when the
opportunity to do so ever might arise.
But he would be shielded
from a pissing match over who's right and who's wrong, with the NFL
and/or the Pats potentially taking the position that if Walsh is simply
incorrect it necessarily means that he's lying, and thus exposed to
liability for his words, or his past actions in retaining club property.
Our concern for the league
in this regard is that, by trying to win the legal tug-o-war with Walsh,
the P.R. battle is being compromised. More and more members of PFT
Planet are getting suspicious, since the general impression being
created in this regard is that the NFL either isn't doing enough to get
to the facts, or is trying in a roundabout way to keep them from coming
out.
Here's our suggestion (as
if anyone cares). The indemnity should apply only to claims for
breach of the confidentiality agreement, and should apply to any
statements made by Walsh in good faith. He should be required to
return the stolen materials to the team after meeting with Specter and
showing them to him, and he will face no liability for taking those
things.
As to any potential claims
for defamation, Walsh should be in the some position that he would
occupy if there was no confidentiality agreement. Thus, if he says
something that is untrue, he faces liability pursuant to the applicable
legal standard, which in the case of the New England Patriots presumably
would be the standard that applies to defamatory statements made against
public figures.
That approach should cover
everyone's legitimate interests, and it should help to reduce the
potential appearance that the league is trying either to engineer
Walsh's words, or to get him to shut up.
Besides, with litigation
relating to Super Bowl XXXVI now pending in New Orleans and Congress
likely to pursue this issue more aggressively if it perceives
stonewalling, Walsh eventually will tell his story in response to a
subpoena.
But that will take time.
Meanwhile, the shadow of what Walsh knows (and/or what he thinks
he knows) will continue to hover over the Patriots franchise, and over
the league itself. If it's inevitable that Walsh's words will be
heard, isn't it in the best interests of the sport to get everything on
the table sooner rather than later?
POSTED
9:58 a.m. EST, February 15, 2008
THOMAS TO COWBOYS?
At a time when plenty of
members of the Cowboys organization have high-tailed it to Miami, a
high-profile player could be heading from the Dolphins to Dallas.
According to Todd Archer
of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys have spoken with agent
Drew Rosenhaus regarding the possibility of
bringing linebacker Zach Thomas in for a visit after the upcoming
Scouting Combine.
Thomas is a Texas native,
and played college football at Texas Tech.
The Dolphins released the
long-time starter on Thursday, creating cap room in advance of the
coming free-agency period.
POSTED
9:49 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
WALSH HAS TAPES
For the first time since
the football world was introduced to the name Matt Walsh, it is now
obvious that Walsh has something that has made him sufficiently
scared to get lawyered up -- and then to clam up.
His lawyer, Michael Levy,
told Dave Goldberg of the Associated Press that
Walsh has videotapes. Tapes that he made.
And we assume that they
aren't bootleg copies of Death Blow and Cry, Cry Again.
Levy told Goldberg that
Walsh will turn over the tapes if he receives sufficient protection from
potential lawsuits or other legal actions.
"The NFL's proposal is not
full indemnification," Levy said. "It is highly conditional and
still leaves Mr. Walsh vulnerable. I have asked the NFL to provide
Mr. Walsh with the necessary legal protections so that he can come
forward with the truth without fear of retaliation and litigation.
To best serve the interest of the public and everyone involved, I am
hopeful that the NFL will do so promptly."
The deal offered by the
league requires Walsh to "tell the truth" and surrender anything that he
took "improperly."
"No one wants to talk to
Matt Walsh more than we do," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the AP
onFriday. "But his demand to be released from all
responsibility even if his comments are not truthful is unprecedented
and unreasonable. The NFL and the Patriots have assured Mr.
Walsh's lawyer that there will be no adverse consequences for his client
if Mr. Walsh truthfully shares what he knows. Why does he need any
more protection than that?"
Here's why. Because
if Walsh says, for example, that he personally taped the Rams' final
walk-through prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, the league and/or the Patriots
will claims that he hasn't told the truth. And thus he'll be
exposed to litigation for violating his confidentiality agreement.
So Walsh's reasonable concern is that he'll be protected only if he says what the
league and/or the Patriots want to hear him say.
Complicating Walsh's
ability to achieve a sense of comfort in this regard is the news that
the league has been doing some digging about him. "Sending a
former FBI agent to investigate his professional and personal life has
not left Mr. Walsh feeling confident that the National Football League
simply wants to encourage him to come forward with whatever information
he has," Levy told the AP.
In our view, Walsh needs
to have an opportunity to say what he knows without fear that he'll be
immediately called a liar -- and then sued.
Finally, and as we've
noted a couple of times in the past, why don't the Patriots merely
release Walsh from his confidentiality agreement? If the team is
confident in its position and secure in the notion that it has done
nothing wrong (other than, you know, the stuff to which it already has
admitted), then there should be no issue. By not providing Walsh
with a vehicle for speaking absent fear of litigation against the
blue-suited sharks from Covington & Burling, the league and the Patriots
risk creating the perception that they're trying to keep the truth from
coming out.
POSTED
8:49 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
SMITH FINALLY JOINS
'SKINS
After debating whether to
remain in Tennessee as running backs coach or to join the Redskins with
a bigger title and job, Sherman Smith
finally has decided to take the promotion.
"It was a hard decision
because I couldn't make a bad decision," Smith said.
We're not sure what that
means; he's either saying that either decision was a good decision or
that he can't afford at this stage of his career to make the wrong
choice.
But it's definitely a
significant moment for Smith. He has been with the Tennessee
Titans since 1995, two years before they came to Tennessee and four
years before they even were the Titans.
Smith will join the team
next week, and head coach Jim Zorn will call the plays in September, and
presumably beyond.
POSTED
8:31 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
PFT HEROES 2007:
THE MIKE WEBSTER AWARD
After a short break, we're
plunging into the PFT Heroes awards for the offensive side of the ball.
First up, the non-hardware
hardware goes to the top offensive lineman, and the award is named for
Mike Webster.
The first class action
against the Patriots, filed on behalf of Jets fans after Spygate I, was
criticized and generally scoffed at. It's current status is
unknown. (We've sent an e-mail to one of the lawyers for more
information.)
The second class action,
arising from what we've been calling Spygate II, will have greater
superficial appeal because one of the named plaintiffs was a member of
the Rams, who allegedly were cheated out of Super Bowl XXXVI.
But, as a reader has
astutely pointed out, the second action could have serious flaws.
While the first lawsuit
was based on a finding by the league that cheating had occurred, there's
no hard evidence that the Pats did anything wrong in connection with
Super Bowl XXXVI. Sure, the Boston Herald reported that the
Pats taped the Rams' final walk-through. But won't John Tomase
refuse to finger his unnamed source, even if it means cooling his jets
as a guest of the federal government?
Then there's Matt Walsh,
the guy whom many believe was the one with the camera. But what if
he wasn't?
Maybe the plaintiffs have
something more than the Herald report and a hope that Walsh will
sing.
Or maybe they don't think
they need it.
The plaintiffs can argue
that evidence of Super Bowl cheating was included in the materials that
the Pats surrendered to the league -- and that the league destroyed the
evidence in part to conceal the fact that cheating occurred in
connection with such an important game.
Frankly, we doubt that the
information given by the Patriots to the league included such proof.
But one of the primary problems with destroying evidence is that
subsequent proceedings in which such evidence would have been relevant
could result in an inference that the destroyed evidence would have been
incriminating on the question of whether cheating occurred.
Other interesting issues
could arise in the new lawsuit. For example, will Patriots fans
choose to opt out if the class of folks who paid for tickets is
ultimately certified by the court, or will they stand firm for their
$400? Also, will a class composed of members of the 2001 Rams be
certified, or will the Court find that the group is small enough for
each individual player to join in the suit as named plaintiffs, if they
so choose?
Then there's the venue.
New Orleans is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Many
residents are jaded and cynical as a result of the way they've been
treated by the government, with news of formaldehyde-infested FEMA
trailers only the most recent in a continuous line of indignities.
Jurors from that area might be inclined to believe the worst about other
humans, and to lash out at anyone/everyone who is proven to have engaged
in wrongdoing.
Of course, a lot has to
happen before a jury will ever be considering whether to impose a
verdict against the team. Regardless of whether Arlen Specter or
anyone else continues to chase this thing, the new lawsuit might
ultimately provide a handy forum for the tough questions that still need
to be asked and answered, regardless of what those answers might be.
POSTED
7:01 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
PFTV FREE AGENCY
PREVIEW: DEFENSIVE LINE
The PFTV guys begin the
preparations for free agency with a look at the defensive linemen who
might cash in.
If the non-exclusive tag
is used, Haynesworth will received a one-year tender offer worth $6.37
million, the average of the five highest-paid players at his position
based on 2007 cap numbers.
But the Titans could
choose to use the exclusive version of the tag, which would prevent
Haynesworth from negotiating with other teams -- and which would base
his one-year salary on the 2008 cap numbers of the five highest-paid
players at the position.
With the free-agent market
relatively slim for defensive linemen and the Giants showing what a
powerful defensive line can do, Haynesworth figures to be a hot
commodity, even though it would be wise for teams to remember his hot
head, which manifested itself in various ways before Haynesworth entered
his contract year.
POSTED
3:41 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
CHIEFS TO CUT LAW
A league source tells us
that the Kansas City Chiefs soon will be releasing veteran cornerback Ty
Law.
Law, 33, was cut by the
Patriots in February 2005. He played for the Jets that year, and
then signed with the Chiefs in 2006.
Signed through 2010, Law
is due to earn a base salary of $6.5 million in the coming season.
POSTED
3:24 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
FORMER RAMS PLAYER SUES
PATS
Not long after the
Patriots were caught videotaping defensive coaching signals, a class
action was filed on behalf of Jets season-ticket holders. (The
current status of that action is unknown.)
Now, another class action
has been filed against the Patriots based on published reports of
cheating in connection with Super Bowl XXXVI. And one of the
plaintiffs played for the Rams, whose final walk-through practice
allegedly was taped secretly by the Patriots.
According to the
Cincinnati Enquirer, former Rams player Willie Gary has joined with
a Cincinnati ticket broker who attended the game to
file suit against the Patriots in a New Orleans federal court.
Super Bowl XXXVI was played at the Louisiana Superdome in February 2002.
The action seeks a full
refund for all persons who attended the game. At $400 a pop and
72,922 pops, that's $29,168,800.
Also, the suit demands
payment to all Rams players of the $25,000 difference between the
winners' share and the losers' share, and of the value of a Super Bowl
ring.
The lawsuit alleges that
the Patriots engaged in fraud, racketeering, breach of contract, and
violation of Louisiana’s unfair trade practices and consumer protection
act.
At a minimum, the filing
of this action means that, one way or another, former Patriots employee
Matt Walsh's story will come out. He will be subject to subpoena
via the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, and the
subpoena will overcome the terms of any confidentiality agreement.
POSTED
1:42 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
FALCONS CHOP CRUMPLER,
OTHERS
During the 2007 season,
Falcons tight end
Alge Crumpler publicly complained that then-coach Bobby Petrino was
trying to phase out veteran players.
Now, the team is merely
tossing them to the curb.
Crumpler has been released by the Falcons. He was signed
through 2010, and due to earn $3.4 million in base salary in 2008.
In addition to Crumpler
and defensive tackle Rod Coleman, who was cut earlier in the day on
Friday, the team has released left tackle Wayne Gandy, quarterback Byron
Leftwich, cornerback Lewis Sanders, linebacker Marcus Wilkins, and
receiver Jamin Elliot.
POSTED
1:08 p.m. EST, February 15, 2008
LEGAL FILING EXPECTED
TO OUTLINE DEATH THREATS AGAINST BUSH
Per a source with
knowledge of the situation, the lawyers for Saints running back Reggie
Bush plan to file in the near future a motion to force Lloyd Lake to
submit to deposition questioning on February 22.
Lake's deposition started
on February 12, but the session quickly ended due to the presence of a
private security guard in the office where the deposition was to be
conducted. Even after the security guard left the floor, Lake
refused to proceed.
In support of their
position that security is justified for the Lake deposition, Bush's
lawyers plan to allege that Lake told an unidentified witness the
following: "You are Reggie Bush's boy, ain't you? You ain't
even supposed to be in San Diego. Tell your boy when he comes back
to San Diego, he is dead." (We're told that the matter has been
referred to law enforcement personnel, who have requested that the
identity of the witness not be revealed.)
Bush's lawyers also plan
to allege that Lake made another threat against Bush during the same
week in which Redskins safety Sean Taylor was killed by an intruder to
his home, that Lake is a documented member of the "Emerald Hills Bloods"
street gang, and that Lake once was found to be in possession of an Uzi
sub-machine gun.
Finally, Bush's lawyers
plan to attack the notion that Lake was intimidated by the security
guard, based on part on an allegation that Lake appeared on a San
Diego-area talk radio show on February 13 and said that he was "not
afraid" of the security guard.
With all that said, we're
still not comfortable with the notion of a heat-packing private security
guard showing up at a deposition in a law office without advance notice,
even in the face of credible threats. Bush's lawyers should have
made arrangements to conduct the deposition at the courthouse where the
lawsuit is pending, and Bush's lawyers should have made arrangements to
have one of the courthouse bailiffs attend the session.
POSTED
11:55 a.m. EST, February 15, 2008
NEW REGIME STARTS
CLEANING HOUSE IN ATLANTA
The Atlanta Falcons are in
the process of their most public, and dramatic, attempt to break from a
recent past marred by poor performances and prosecutions for dog
fighting.
The move will undoubtedly
free up cap space for the team, which the Falcons then can use to
acquire players who'll fit the style of Dimitroff and new head coach
Mike Smith.
POSTED
11:32 a.m. EST, February 15, 2008
BUCS RE-SIGN BENNETT
In a move that could be a
sign of the team's unwillingness to sign long-time tailback Michael
Pittman to a new deal, the Buccaneers have announced that they have
reached agreement with Michael Bennett on a new contract.
Term of the deal were not
disclosed.
The Bucs acquired Bennett
in a trade last season with the Chiefs. He rushed for 189 yards in
Tampa, and generally was regarded as a forgotten man.
Beyond Pittman and
Bennett, the Bucs have running back Earnest Graham and 2005 rookie of
the year Cadillac Williams. But Williams is recovering from a torn
patellar tendon, and there is talk in league circles that his career
could be over.
Bennett qualified for the
Pro Bowl in 2002, his second NFL season. The sub-4.2 speedster on
Wisconsin appeared to be on track to do great things with the Vikings,
but a foot injury suffered during the 2003 offseason seemed to
permanently derail his career in Minnesota. Since then, he has not
shown the same kind of burst he displayed with the Vikings.
FRIDAY MORNING
ONE-LINERS by Michael David Smith
Giants DE Michael Strahan
spoke to schoolchildren Thursday and mentioned the criticisms from
ex-teammate Tiki Barber as one reason that the start of the team's
season was a challenge.
Cowboys RT Marc Colombo
says of teammate Flozell Adams, "I think he's the
best pass-blocking left tackle in all of football."
Redskins DE Andre Carter
describes the process of restructuring his contract to reduce his 2008
cap number: "It
was no big deal. The money and the years stay the same."
A former Lions receiver is
currently onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. [Editor's
note: Meanwhile, another former Lions receiver is
currently eating a popsicle shaped like a rocket. And an entire
fried turkey.]
The Bills
have released WR Peerless Price, LB Kevin Harrison and DB E.J.
Underwood.
The agent for Patriots CB
Asante Samuel says of the contract 49ers CB Nate Clements got last year,
"We
know what Nate got. Where he is is where we want to be."
Colts WR Marvin Harrison,
S Bob Sanders, and DE Dwight Freeney are all likely to
miss the start of training camp but be ready for the start of the
regular season.
The Denver Broncos have
placed receiver Rod Smith on the reserve/retired list, according to
media reports. But as Mike Klis of the Denver Post
explains, the move primarily is aimed at
allowing the
Broncos to avoid counting Smith's salary against the 2008 cap.
Also, the move frees up a roster spot.
Smith is scheduled to earn
a base salary of $1.5 million in 2008, the final year of his contract.
Thus, there will be no
farewell press conference or gold watch or other stuff that would
ordinarily accompany the ending of a career that began when Smith was an
undrafted free agent.
Smith, 37, missed all of
the 2007 season with a hip injury. He recently underwent further
surgery, and he hopes to play again.
WATCH THE COMBINE FROM
YOUR SPRINT PHONE
With the annual Scouting
Combine opening on Wednesday in Indianapolis, you can watch the workouts
on NFL Network via your wireless device.
But only if you have a
Sprint phone.
A live stream of NFL
Network is available at no additional charge to customers with the
Sprint PCS Vision and Power Vision data plans.
So, starting next
Wednesday, close your office door (or open an umbrella in your cubicle)
and fire up your Sprint phone for all-day coverage of one of the biggest
events of the NFL offseason.
Sprint, by the way, is the
official telecommunications partner of ProFootballTalk. Sprint
consistently has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting many of
the nation's biggest and best pastimes, and Sprint provides content for
sports fans that simply can't be found anywhere else.
POSTED
10:23 a.m. EST, February 15, 2008
CARDS TAG DANSBY
More than halfway through
the two-week period for applying the franchise tag, only two players
have been slapped with the restriction.
Last Thursday, the Eagles
used it on tight end L.J. Smith. Now, the
Cardinals have applied the tag to linebacker Karlos Dansby.
The move requires the
Cardinals to tender to Dansby a one-year contract worth $8.065 million.
If he signs the tender, the payment becomes fully guaranteed.
As a result, the Cards
currently have more than $24.5 million in 2008 cap space devoted to only
two players -- Dansby and receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The team
reportedly is trying to reduce Fitzgerald's deal by extending his
contract.
Still, with Fitzgerald due
to earn more than $31 million in base salary over the next two seasons,
it could be difficult for the penny-squeezing Cards to work out a deal
with Fitzgerald, unless he's willing to give up his enormous leverage in
the hopes of helping the organization field a competitive team around
him.
POSTED
8:39 a.m. EST, February 15, 2008
SPECTER PRESSES
FORWARD, WITH SUPPORT
Surely, NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell hoped that Wednesday's meeting with Senator Arlen Specter
(R-Pa.) was the last chapter in a book that Goodell can't wait to
finish. For Specter, however, there still are many pages left.
Specter plans to press
forward with his investigation of the manner in which the league handled
the Spygate scandal. According to Mike Fish of ESPN.com, Specter
claims that
he has the
support of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who chairs the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
Specter said that Leahy is
"prepared to have the committee pay for people who travel and
investigate." While that's a far cry from a hearing like the
Rocket-and-Pony show that unfolded this week before the House Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform, it's a step toward what ultimately
could be a full-blown Congressional inquiry.
In our view, it's
important for Specter to show that other Senators are on board with his
efforts. As we argued on Thursday, Specter's solo act was at its
ending point. Though there are questions that still need to be
answered, the mission needs to take root with others in Congress before
it can be taken seriously.
Fish also explains (and we
can't recall ever seeing this before) that the materials surrendered by
the Pats were destroyed in Foxborough by Jeff Pash and Ray Anderson.
Pash's role in this matter
is critical, in our view. Pash, you see, is a Harvard-educated
lawyer. He practiced for 13 years with Covington & Burling, the
firm that still handles the league's work. And any practicing
lawyer (even those who went to far less prestigious schools and work for
far less prestigious firms) know that the prospect of destroying
potential evidence is a serious matter.
Pash's involvement in the
destruction of the the evidence surrendered by the Patriots tends to
corroborate rumors (we repeat: rumors) that the materials turned
over by Patriots coach Bill Belichick included evidence of cheating by
other teams sufficiently widespread to give the league office concerns
regarding the potential impact of the evidence on the network
broadcasting contracts, which apparently contain language warranting
that the on-field competition is real.
Again, that's only a
rumor. But we believe that there had to be a very compelling
reason for Pash to permit the information to be destroyed. A
concern that the league couldn't keep the information out of the hands
of the media isn't, in our view, anywhere close to the level that would
prompt an officer of the court to disregard the kind of common sense
that every lawyer acquires at some point during his or her career.
POSTED
7:54 a.m. EST, February 15, 2008
LAKE'S DEPOSITION COULD
HAVE PROCEEDED
Though the presence of
armed security created controversy at the February 12 deposition of
Lloyd Lake in his lawsuit against Reggie Bush, the transcript of the
proceedings, obtained by ProFootballTalk.com, reveals that Lake refused
to proceed even after the man left the area in which the deposition was
taking place.
The deposition got off on
the wrong foot, with Lake and his lawyers showing up roughly 30 minutes
late for the session, which was conducted in San Diego.
And before the oath to
tell the truth could be administered to Lake, the presence of James
Rollins in the room created a stir.
"Who is this gentleman
here?" asked Brian Watkins, one of Lake's lawyers, after Lake had been
asked to raise his right hand.
It went downhill from
there. Though there was no apparent yelling or screaming (the
presence of a videographer tends to discourage that kind of stuff),
Lake's lawyers initially pressed for more information about James
Rollins, who was in the room "[f]or the purpose of ensuring security,"
as Bush lawyer Kevin Leichter explained during the deposition.
Watkins then attempted to
pose some questions directly to Rollins before Watkins was cut off by
Leichter: "This isn't your deposition, Brian."
Not long thereafter, Lake
began to chime in, saying that he is not comfortable with the situation.
Watkins ultimately refused to allow the deposition to proceed unless
Rollins could produce a business card.
"I don't want him in the
room," Lake eventually said.
Initially, Watkins seemed
to be willing to proceed with Rollins present, if Leichter and
co-counsel David Cornwell would supply more information about the man's
identity. They did, but Watkins and Lake still weren't comfortable
proceeding with Rollins in the room.
"I see no reason for a
security guard to be in the room but for intimidation," Watkins said.
"We're not going to go forward like that."
Leichter eventually asked
Lake on the record to confirm that he would not be comfortable with
Rollins in the room, and then Leichter and Cornwell asked Rollins to
leave the room.
But Lake was still not
comfortable, apparently because Rollins was able to continue to watch
the proceedings through a glass door -- and because it came out at that
point that Rollins was armed. The lawyers squabbled for a bit over
the notion that security was even necessary, and Lake eventually said,
"I'm gone. I gotta go."
At that point, Bush's
lawyers offered to tell Rollins to leave. But Lake and Watkins
persisted in their refusal.
"The intimidation has
already been laid," Watkins said. "He saw Mr. Rollins down in the
lobby. He followed my client as my client tried to locate this
suite. I know that he will be right outside lurking somewhere,
armed. It has intimidated my client and we're not going to take a
deposition under these circumstances."
But Leichter then made it
clear that Rollins was getting on the elevator and leaving. It
still wasn't good enough for Watkins.
"I know that he will be
downstairs or lurking around somewhere just like he was when my client
came up and he followed my client on his way up here. . . . I know
that he's lurking around the premises in some way, shape or form."
"He's not," Leichter said.
It wasn't enough, and the
deposition ended.
In our view, Bush's
lawyers should have sought an agreement from Lake's lawyers about the
presence of security well in advance of the deposition, and Bush's
lawyers should have gone to the court to get an order permitting
security to be present if Lake's lawyers had refused.
At the same time, however,
Watkins and Lake should have proceeded once Rollins left the floor on
which the deposition was occurring. It was wrong for Lake to
refuse to go forward once Rollins had vacated the area, and Lake and his
lawyers fairly should be required to reimburse Bush's lawyers for all
expenses incurred in setting up the deposition that didn't happen.
Per a source with
knowledge of the situation, Bush's lawyers plan to file a motion on
Friday to compel Lake to submit to the depositions process.
Presumably, Bush himself won't be deposed until after Lake is questions.
Bush's deposition currently is set for February 25.
POSTED
10:49 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
LEAGUE TAKES ON DOTY
Recognizing that the AP
story regarding the league's effort to overturn the ruling regarding
Mike Vick's bonus money was woefully light on details relating to the
effort to force Judge David S. Doty off the case, some Internet hack has
engaged in actual journalism work for SportingNews.com.
The league's tactic is
fraught with risk, and the allegations made are controversial and
inflammatory, including claims of judicial bias and misconduct.
From a pure rubbernecking
standpoint, we love it.
POSTED
10:19 p.m. EST; UPDATED 10:23 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
WHARTON DEAL WORTH $6
MILLION PER YEAR
A league source tells us
that
the
six-year deal to which Panthers left tackle Travelle Wharton agreed
on Thursday has an average value of $6 million per year.
It's presently unclear,
however, whether the bulk of the money is in the back end of the
contract, and the amount of guaranteed money is unknown.
Wharton would have become
an unrestricted free agent on February 29.
The deal appears to be a
good one, but the going rate in free agency for starting-caliber
offensive linemen has been seven years, $49 million.
UPDATE:
Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that Wharton will receive $12
million in guaranteed money, and $19 million over the first three years
of the deal.
POSTED
9:45 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
WAHLE SIGNS FIVE-YEAR
DEAL
Media reports indicate
that guard Mike Wahle's deal with the Seahawks is five years in length.
A league source tells us that, as a practical matter, it's a contract
that will last three or four years.
The source also says that
Wahle received a small signing bonus but "good" salaries.
Wahle was cut earlier this
week by the Panthers, and the only team he visited was Seattle.
Though some readers question why Wahle would be able to sign with anyone
prior to February 29, released players with four or more years of
credited service whose contracts are terminated in the offseason are
automatically eligible to sign with any team. Players with less
than four years of service are subject to waivers before becoming free
agents.
POSTED
9:33 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
PFTV LOOKS AT THE
FUTURE OF THE PRO BOWL
The fact that the season
is over doesn't mean that PFTV will be put on ice until July.
We'll still be cranking out new segments and posting them right here.
This week, we take a look
at the Pro Bowl. Specifically, does anyone care about it?
And what should the league do about it?
Enjoy.
POSTED
8:54 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
TWENTY-FOUR VOTES
NEEDED TO CONTINUE CBA
Though some might believe
that the looming decision by owners as to whether the Collective
Bargaining Agreement will be scuttled two years early requires 24 of
them to decide to pull the plug, a league source tells us that the plug
will be pulled unless 24 of the owners decide to continue with the deal.
And that's a huge
distinction.
As a practical matter,
only seven votes are needed to kill the deal early. Bills owner
Ralph Wilson and Bengals president Mike Brown voted against the CBA
extension in 2006, and there's no reason to believe that they've changed
their minds.
Meanwhile, Broncos owner
Pat Bowlen and Pats owner Robert Kraft recently have articulated
concerns about the CBA. So if they don't vote to extend, only five
more like minds are needed.
Per the source, there's a
growing feeling that, in the end, there will be more than enough votes
to trigger the early expiration.
But the source also points
out that some of the owners who already are taking strident positions
about opting out of the CBA early really can't afford to take a work
stoppage, due to their specific debt situations arising from the
purchase of their franchises and/or stadium construction deals.
As we said earlier this
week, the time is now for the league and the union to get to work on an
extension. By next year at this time, the last capped year will be
wreaking havoc on salary caps throughout the league -- and making the
owners more inclined to take an uncapped year in 2010. Once that
happens a work stoppage (i.e., no games for us to watch) becomes
less avoidable.
POSTED
8:37 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
OTHER TEAMS SITTING ON
MORE SPYGATE EVIDENCE?
A source tells us that
there's a strong belief in league circles that multiple NFL teams are
aware of evidence that might or might not have been turned over to the
the league by the Patriots in connection with the Spygate scandal, and
that such evidence could be disclosed if one or more of said teams
conclude that the league isn't doing enough to investigate the
situation.
Of course, it's unclear
whether the league is aware of such evidence because it's unclear what
the league has. Or, more accurately, had.
One thing that isn't
unclear is that there were indeed reports last year that the Pats'
practice of videotaping defensive coaching signals dated back to 2000.
We now recall Chris Mortensen of ESPN explaining this fact, and also
pointing out that Pats coach Bill Belichick claimed that he believed
that the practice fell within the scope of the rules.
With that said, we still
can't recall an affirmative statement from the league in Octboer 2007
(as reported by the AP on Tuesday)that the taping dated
back to 2000. If we were cynics, we might think that the league
engaged in a deliberate P.R. ploy to put the word out in this regard a
day before the meeting between Commissioner Roger Goodell and Senator
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), so that Goodell's disclosure to Specter -- and
subsequent disclosure to the public -- that the taping dated back to
2000 wouldn't be mistakenly met with dropping jaws.
It's a good thing we're
not cynics.
But even if that's what
happened, we can't say we blame the league for refreshing everyone's
memory before giving Specter a nugget that he might have otherwise been
able to paint as new information.
The Middlesex (N.J.)
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a quasi-law
enforcement group, and it has issued to Pierce a summons based on the
condition of one of two pit bulls that escaped from Pierce's house while
he was in Arizona for the Super Bowl.
But Pierce is not accused
of fighting dogs. "This summons is for neglect. There is no
pitbull fighting or any of that nonsense here," said agency chief Walt
Mychalchyk. "After the dogs got loose, we found that one was
underweight and had a respiratory illness. The other one was
fine."
Pierce doesn't face jail
time for the charge, and it's not an actual arrest. Though we're
tempted to give the Giants three points in Turd Watch II, we've decided
that it's not the kind of thing that results in points being "awarded."
POSTED
6:50 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
WAHLE SIGNS WITH
SEAHAWKS
Free-agent guard Mike
Wahle is a free agent no more.
Wahle told the
Afternoon Blitz on Sirius NFL Radio that he has signed a contract
with the Seattle Seahawks.
The deal reunites Wahle
with former Packers coach Mike Holmgren, who selected Wahle in the
second round of the 1998 supplemental draft.
POSTED
3:50 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
LEAGUE WANTS TO DROP
DOTY
In a new Associated
Press story regarding the legal dispute regarding Mike Vick's bonus
money, the lead item is that the
NFL has formally appealed Judge David Doty's recent ruling that
$16.25 million cannot be recovered by the Falcons.
The kicker is that the
league wants Judge Doty to be removed from the case.
It's unclear whether the
request to disqualify Doty applies only to the Vick dispute, or whether
it generally addresses Doty's role as the presiding judicial officer
over the settlement of the lawsuit that resulted in the current
Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players
Association.
Per the AP, the
league believes that Doty's public comments show that he has a bias
against the NFL.
Stay tuned.
POSTED
2:52 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
PACMAN COPS ANOTHER
PLEA
Slowly but surely, Titans
cornerback Pacman Jones is putting his legal imbroglios behind him.
Terry McCormick of the
Nashville City Paper reports that
Jones has reached a plea deal on felony obstruction charges pending
against him in Georgia. In that case, Jones allegedly went Pacman
on a police officer's hand.
He pleaded no contest to
the charge, and he received a sentence of three years of probation and a
$500 fine.
"We maintain that Adam is
innocent in these matters, but felt that it was best to go ahead and
accept this agreement rather than fight it in court and risk possible
incarceration," said attorney Manny Arora. "You have a situation
where the accounts of the five police officers and those of Adam and his
pregnant girlfriend do not corroborate."
Sorry, Manny, but we still
aren't willing to allow guys who plead no contest to then turn around
and say "I didn't do it." Under the law, he did it.
The next question is
whether Jones will face additional discipline from the NFL as a result
of the most recent plea and/or his plea deal on charges arising from
last year's strip club shoot-'em-up in Las Vegas. Jones was
suspended for all of the 2007 season, and one of the major reasons for
the banishment was Jones' failure to disclose the Georgia arrest to the
Titans.
The 12-year veteran
appeared in only five games last season, due in large part to a couple
of concussions, one of which was sustained in an automobile accident.
Glazer reports that Thomas
plans to keep playing. Our first guess? He'll land in New
England, where he'd actually reduce the average age of their starting
linebackers.
Thomas was signed through
2008, at a base salary of $5.65 million.
POSTED
12:32 p.m. EST, February 14, 2008
BENGALS TO PLAY
HARDBALL WITH JOHNSON
Publicly, Bengals coach
Marvin Lewis has said, in no uncertain terms, that receiver
Chad Johnson won't be traded. To the extent that some might
think it's a ruse aimed at driving up the price tag, think again.
David Elfin of the
Washington Times, citing two unnamed sources, reports that the
Bengals plan to play hardball with Johnson.
So there will be no trade.
It's not surprising, and it's consistent with everything we've been
hearing on the subject. Johnson's options are to play for the
Bengals, or to not play at all.
Whether Johnson can remove
the stick from his backside and play productive football in Cincinnati
remains to be seen. As Lewis pointed out on Wednesday, Giants
defensive end Michael Strahan put his differences with management aside,
and was rewarded with a Super Bowl trophy. For Johnson, who is
under contract for three more seasons, there's no incentive or reason
for the Bengals to restructure his contract yet again.
Elfin is working this
story because Johnson recently has been linked to the Redskins.
Citing unnamed sources, the Washingtpon Post has reported that
the 'Skins are interested. But, as Lewis has explained, there
can't be a trade effort if one party to the trade doesn't want to talk.
Then again, several league
insiders have expressed to us a strong suspicion that the Redskins have
engaged in private talks with agent Drew Rosenhaus and/or Johnson
himself about working out a trade. As one source opined, "If you
don't think the Redskins are tampering with Johnson, you're living on
another planet."
POSTED
11:42 a.m. EST, February 14, 2008
TIME FOR SPECTER TO CALL IT QUITS
We initially had mixed feelings about the decision
of Senator Arlen Specter to suddenly stick his nose into the affairs
of the NFL. On one hand, we thought that it was good that
someone was asking questions that needed to be asked. On
the other hand, we were skeptical of Specter's motives, and we were
aware that he has close ties to Comcast, which has been caught in a
quagmire with the league regarding the availability of NFL Network
to those of us who would be inclined to watch it.
But we're now thinking that Specter has made his
point. He has gotten his meeting with the Commissioner.
Now, Specter should leave it alone. If Specter doesn't, we
think he'll quickly become the target of an effort to expose the
possible fact that he's merely carrying water for Comcast.
Of course, the league can hardly complain about
this. By using its own connections in Congress to force the
Comcasts of the world to carry NFL Network on basic cable, the NFL
willingly entered the political arena. To the extent that
Comcast has friends who can create problems for the NFL, such
troubles go with the territory on which the NFL now treads.
Still, Specter has gone about as far as he can with
this. He's not the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
and the guy who is has made it clear that he
isn't inclined to hold hearings on the matter.
That said, there really won't be closure on Spygate
until we know what Matt Walsh knows, or what he thinks he knows.
Walsh made a dramatic entry into this story two days before Super
Bowl XLII, but he has since clammed up. Until his version is
told, it's impossible for this story to truly end.
And while Walsh's words might not change the minds
of the folks on the fringes, there is a gulf of people in the middle
who can and will be swayed by more evidence about what really
happened, specifically as it relates to published reports of spying
prior to Super Bowl XXXVI.
In this regard, we also think it's time for the
Patriots to put their own cards on the table about what did or
didn't happen. To date, they've only said that the report of a
pre-Super Bowl videotaped walk-through practice are false.
More details would be nice, to the extent that the team wants
neutral observers to accept that the Boston Herald staked its
reputation (and circulation) on a controversial, inflammatory item,
and lost.
At this point, we don't know what to believe.
And we can't form an opinion without more facts. Although we
hope that such facts ultimately will be forthcoming, we think that
Arlen Specter's role in this saga should end. There's nothing
that Specter can do to force further disclosure, and any additional
efforts by him to attack the NFL could come off as vindictive and
unseemly.
With all that said, we won't play the "Doesn't
Congress have better things to do?" card. Congress is the sole
federal lawmaking body for our nation, and new legislation doesn't
appear out of thin air. The following that the NFL enjoys and
the benefits it reaps from the antitrust exemption make its
activities a matter of national concern. Besides, Congress
spends plenty of time on issues far more frivolous on potential
cheating in pro sports.
Specter, however, isn't Congress. He's one
member of Congress who is dangerously close to being perceived
as having an ax to grind. If Congress decides to take these
matters up, so be it. Again, there are still questions that
need to be asked. But Specter has asked all that he should.
THURSDAY MORNING
ONE-LINERS by
Michael David Smith
The Patriots are
raising ticket prices, with increases ranging from 10 percent to
51 percent.
The Chiefs have
claimed OT Anthony Alabi, one of the nine players purged from
the Dolphins' roster this week.
Says new Ravens coach
John Harbaugh of assembling his assistants, "It surprised me about
how many people wanted to be Baltimore Ravens. I didn't think
it would be this successful
putting together a staff."
Says Bengals coach
Marvin Lewis of the way he'll improve the team this off-season, "We
have to take a hard look at rushers on defense.
That has to be a priority."
Jaguars FB Greg Jones
had laser eye surgery Wednesday, the same day he signed a
contract extension.
New Titans offensive
coordinator Mike Heimerdinger won't have QB Vince Young's undivided
attention this off-season because Young is in Austin
working on his degree at the University of Texas.
The Raiders' decision
to re-sign RB Justin Fargas makes it likely that one or both of the
other veteran backs on the roster, Dominic Rhodes and LaMont Jordan,
could get cut.
Says Earnest Byner of
being replaced as the Redskins running backs coach, "It's
kind of a relief, actually. At least now you kind of know
where you stand and have some direction."
Falcons coach Mike
Smith has
rounded out his coaching staff with the hiring of linebackers
coach Glenn Pires and assistant strength and conditioning coach
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson.
Said Saints coach Sean
Payton of his defense, "I'm talking about getting
some more good young players to help on that side of the ball."
Hall of Fame QB and
Seahawks broadcaster Warren Moon is
scheduled to appear in court this morning and could get jail
time for violating conditions of a sentence after he pleaded guilty
to negligent driving in August.
POSTED
9:14 a.m. EST, February 14, 2008
GREENBERG CHANGES THE
TOPIC AGAIN
Kudos to our own MDS for
spotting on Thursday morning an awkward moment during ESPN Radio's
Man-Girl and Meatball in the Morning (we only call the show by its
real name when we're praising it) that arose when Mike Golic opted to
bring up his own steroid use in explaining the failure of Andy Pettitte
to tell Roger Clemens that he was using HGH.
Mike Greenberg stammered
and stuttered and then immediately changed the subject.
MDS theorizes that it's
another attempt by Greenberg to protect the Man-Girl and Meatball
brand.
"This
follows a pattern," MDS writes for AOL. "Golic has never had a
problem discussing his steroid use, but Greenberg is clearly
uncomfortable with it. Whenever Golic talks about having used steroids,
Greenberg cuts him off, as if he's worried that Golic talking about his
own steroid use is somehow going to damage Mike and Mike in the
Morning."
We think it actually goes
a step farther. We think that Greenberg not-so-secretly fantasizes
about Mike and Mike on the Monday Night Football, but Greenberg
realizes that if Golic wallows too much in his admitted steroids use it
could hurt the chances of that ever happening.
ANOTHER NON-FOOTBALL
COLUMN
I'll admit it. I'm
fascinated with the whole Roger Clemens Goes to Congress fiasco.
So fascinated that there's another SportingNews.com column from a
certain Internet hack on the topic.
This one takes a look at
whether either of these guys could be convicted of perjury in the
aftermath of Wednesday's hearing.
And while some readers
continue to be confused by the fact that Congress is even pursuing this
thing, keep in mind that it's the natural consequence of an effort by
Congress starting three years ago to remove illegal performance
enhancing drugs from pro sports, in order to ensure that young athletes
don't use the stuff. The Mitchell report was a result of those
efforts, and the decision of Roger Clemens' lawyer to publicly bad-mouth
that Mitchell report prompted Congress to explore the report's accuracy.
Explore it Congress has,
and now Roger Clemens has an irreparably tarnished legacy, which will be
stained even further if he is indicted for perjury.
POSTED
8:02 a.m. EST, February 14, 2008
PANTHERS TO TAG GROSS
One week into the period
for using the franchise tag, only one player has been slapped with the
restriction on his ability to leave -- Eagles tight end L.J. Smith.
But others are likely to
face similar restrictions, including
Panthers
tackle Jordan Gross. Using the tag on Gross would require the
team to extend a one-year deal worth $7.455 million.
NFL clubs have until
February 21 to apply the franchise tag.
The going rate for
starting-caliber free-agent offensive linemen is seven years, $49
million, with guaranteed money in the neighborhood of $20 million.
A new high-water mark likely will be set this season, possibly by
Steelers guard Alan Faneca.
POSTED
7:43 a.m. EST, February 14, 2008
HEAP HELPS RAVENS
With the Baltimore Ravens
intent on using the franchise tag on linebacker Terrell Suggs but in
need of cap room in order to make it happen, the team's star tight end
is doing his part to help out.
Todd Heap agreed to a
so-called "simple restructuring," which means that he reduced his 2008
base salary to the veteran minimum and took the rest as a guaranteed
payment.
So Heap gets $2.27 million
of his 2008 salary now, and he'll get the rest of it (another $730,000)
later.
POSTED
7:13 a.m. EST, February 14, 2008
ODOM WANTS TO STAY IN
TENNESSEE
Though defensive tackle
Albert Haynesworth is getting most of the attention in Tennessee as free
agency approaches, defensive end Antwan Odom is due to hit the
free-agent market on February 29, too.
And though there's no
reason to believe that a deal will be done in the immediate future, Odom
would like to stay with the Titans.
"He's
going to give them an opportunity to keep him before March 1st,"
agent Richard Rosa told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
"Defensive ends are hard to come by, especially someone with Antwan's
size and speed. . . . We believe the market will be tremendous for
him."
Among the other 12
potential free agents in Tennessee is defensive end Travis LaBoy.
If both Odom and LaBoy leave, the Titans will have to look elsewhere at
the position.
One possibility is former
Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse, who grabbed the big money with the
Eagles in 2004 but who since has fallen off the face of the earth in
Philly. Terry McCormick of the Nashville City Paper
makes the case for a return to Tennessee by Kearse, the defensive
rookie of the year with the Titans in 1999.
POSTED
10:33 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
QUINN DENIES INCIDENT
OUTSIDE GAY BAR
Browns quarterback Brady
Quinn claims that he wasn't involved in a New Year's Day incident
involving alleged taunts to patrons of a gay bar in Columbus, Ohio.
"At
no time that night was I involved in a verbal or physical altercation,
nor did I have any interaction with the police," Quinn said in a
statement issued by the team. "I want to be clear that I did not
engage in any of the alleged conduct, nor did I make inappropriate
comments to anyone. Any allegations to the contrary are either
untrue or the result of misidentification."
But the report in the
Cleveland Plain Dealer wasn't based solely on the 911 call placed to
police; a Columbus police spokesperson says that, when officers arrived,
Quinn was involved in an argument with a man who later was arrested.
The statement also points
out that Quinn had dinner on New Year's Eve with his girlfriend.
Girlfriend. As in, "I'm neither gay nor curious."
The significance?
When the Pats and Steelers played during the regular season that year,
the Steelers ended New England's NFL-record 21-game winning streak.
When they got together again in Pittsburgh in January 2005 (I was there,
and I still have a couple of frozen body parts from it), the Pats could
have used the information gathered during the regular-season game to
topple the Steelers.
POSTED
10:04 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
SPECTER WANTS NFL TO
INDEMNIFY WALSH
Chris Mortensen of ESPN
reports that Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)
wants the
NFL to provide indemnity to Matt Walsh for any legal entanglements
that might arise from any decision by him to speak about what he knows
(or what he thinks he knows) about the past practices of his former
employer, the New England Patriots.
Last week, Mortensen
reported that the NFL would indeed provide such protection.
It would create an awkward
situation for the Patriots, who would essentially be suing the league if
they were to elect to take action against Walsh.
Viewing the matter more
broadly, why wouldn't the Pats simply release Walsh from his
confidentiality agreement, insofar as it relates to any practices that
he reasonably believes to be cheating? That's the real question
that should be asked, in our view. If the Pats have nothing to
hide, why not give Walsh a blank check to talk?
Though Specter doesn't
have the ability to convene a hearing before the Senate Judiciary
Committee because he's not the chairman, a refusal by the league or the
Pats to permit Walsh to talk could be used by Specter to cajole his
colleagues into issuing a subpoena to Walsh.
POSTED
9:42 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
LEWIS WON'T SWAP STINKO
Although Bengals coach
Marvin Lewis has been one of the apparent targets of receiver Chad
Johnson's ire, Lewis has said for the second time since the 2007 season
ended that the receiver known as Ocho Stinko
won't be
traded.
"They can stop the
presses, quit killing trees and move on to other things," Lewis said.
"There is, at no point, anyone in the Bengals organization who has ever
uttered anything about trading Chad Johnson. Nor will he be
traded."
Regarding the report that
the Redskins are interested in acquiring Johnson, Lewis said, "There is
no such thing as behind-the-door deals in the NFL. That will not
occur because the team in question is not willing to trade their player.
Nor have they thought about trading their player. Nor have they
discussed trading their player. Nor will they discuss trading
their player."
Though Johnson has been
characterizing his unhappiness as a desire to play for a winner, there
are strong indications that Johnson actually wants more money.
Lewis hinted at that fact: "The Giants just won a Super Bowl with
maybe their best defensive player who was contemplating supposedly
retirement. He came back, he didn't get paid any more money and he
just played. That's the way it is."
The position taken by
Lewis is consistent with everything we've heard since Stinko launched
his campaign for a trade. The Bengals won't trade him. So
his options are simple -- play for the Bengals, or don't play at all.
POSTED
9:29 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
RAIDERS RE-UP FARGAS
After generating only
1,016 yards in four full seasons with the Raiders, running back Justin
Fargas busted out in 2007, nearly equaling that totaling 14 games, with
seven starts.
For that, Fargas has been
rewarded
with a new contract. According to Adam Schefter of NFL
Network, it's a three-year, $12 million deal with $6 million in
guaranteed money.
Fargas was a third-round
pick in the 2003 draft. He was scheduled to become a free agent on
February 29.
POSTED
4:53 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
REESE SAYS SHOCKEY WILL
BE BACK
Attention, teams that
might be interested in trading for tight end Jeremy Shockey. The
Giants plan to keep him.
Or, alternatively, the
Giants want you to think they're keeping him, so that you'll give
up too much to get him.
Giants G.M. Jerry Reese
told Newsday on Wednesday that Shockey "is
our starting tight end." Reese also said that the team has no
plans to trade or release him.
Ah, yes. But there's
something neat about "plans." Every once in a while, "plans"
change.
Rookie Kevin Boss
performed admirably after Shockey's injury. Coincidentally (or
not), quarterback Eli Manning's performance improved consistently after
the loud-mouthed Shockey was silenced.
Still, the more relevant
question is whether anyone else would want Shockey at this specific
time, given that he's still recovering from a broken leg suffered less
than two months ago.
"Would you make a trade
for someone with a rod in his leg who can hardly walk?" an unnamed
league official told Newsday.
POSTED
2:58 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
GOODELL WILL MEET
WITH SENATOR ON POSSIBLE BILLS MOVE by Michael
David Smith
The meeting that NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell is having today with U.S. Sen. Arlen
Specter (R-Pa.) isn't his only scheduled meeting with a senator.
In addition to the
Goodell-Specter Spygate meeting, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
has scheduled a meeting with Goodell and Bills owner Ralph Wilson to
discuss what can be done to keep the team in Buffalo.
"[Goodell] and I are
going up to meet with Mr. Wilson in the near future to discuss the
future of the Bills and try to figure out
ways we can help the Bills to stay in Buffalo," Schumer told
reporters in a conference call today.
The Bills plan to have a total of eight preseason and regular-season
games at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in the next five years, and
that has led to some speculation that Toronto, which is a bigger and
wealthier city than Buffalo, might ultimately be an attractive home
for the Bills on a permanent basis.
But Schumer said he's
confident that the team will stay in Upstate New York.
"Commissioner Goodell is committed to doing anything he and the
league can to keep the Bills in Buffalo," Schumer said.
U.S. Rep. Brian
Higgins, D-N.Y., also said today that he wants to do all he can to
keep the Bills where they are. In a letter to Goodell, Higgins said
the league should consider allowing full community ownership of the
Bills, modeled after the Green Bay Packers, or at least allow local
fans to own a minority stake in the team.
POSTED
11:48 a.m. EST, February 13, 2008
ESPN SLAMS DOOR ON
BERMAN YOUTUBE CLIPS
Though in many
respects the damage already has been done, ESPN apparently has
asserted its copyright protections as to the various Chris Berman
videos posted on YouTube by the user who goes by the name
"ampex2000."
Berman videos posted
by other users also are now blocked, with the same message.
It's unclear why ESPN
waited so long to assert its rights. Pretty much anyone who
has wanted to see the videos has seen them by now. Many, many
times.
Soon-to-be 42-year-old
P Jeff Feagles has
signed a two-year deal to remain with the Giants. (Feagles
is freaking old, says a soon-to-be 43-year-old Internet hack.)
Marijuana possession
charges against Vikings S Dwight Smith
have been dismissed.
POSTED
11:07 a.m. EST, February 13, 2008
JAGS MAKE JONES
HIGHEST-PAID FULLBACK IN LEAGUE HISTORY
The Jacksonville Jaguars
have announced that a
new contract
has been reached with fullback Greg Jones. A source with
knowledge of the contract tells us that it's a five-year, $17.4 million
deal, which includes up to $3 million incentives. (We've been
unable to reach agent Drew Rosenhaus to confirm these numbers.)
Per the source, Jones will
receive $4.5 million in bonus money, in the form of a $2.5 million
signing bonus, a $1.5 million roster bonus due on the third day of the
2008 league year, and a $500,000 roster bonus due in 2009.
In each year of the deal,
Jones gets a per-game roster bonus worth a total of $50,000, and a
workout bonus in the amount of $50,000.
The base salary in year
one is $525,000. In 2009, it goes to $2.48 million. For
2010, the base salary is $3 million. In 2011, it's $3.1 million.
For 2012, it moves to $3.4 million.
The base deal averages
$3.4 million over five years, $400,000 per year more than the six-year,
$18 million deal signed last year by Ovie Mughelli, who moved from the
Ravens to the Falcons.
Jones would have been
eligible to reach free agency on February 29.
POSTED
10:17 a.m. EST, February 13, 2008
AP STORY RAISES
QUESTIONS
For once, we have to agree
(albeit reluctantly) with something that we heard on Mike & Mike in
the Morning on ESPN Radio.
Discussing the
brilliantly-timed Wednesday meeting between NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell and Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) regarding the Spygate scandal,
Mike Greenberg expressed confusion regarding an Associated Press
item that was printed in USA Today, and that showed up on many
sports-related web sites on Tuesday evening.
Addressing the aftermath
of the signal-taping incident that resulted in a $500,000 fine against
Pats coach Bill Belichick, a $250,000 fine against the team, and the
loss of a first-round pick in the 2008 draft, Dave Goldberg of the AP
writes: "The tapes and notes dated as far back as 2002 and the
NFL said in October that Belichick acknowledged to Goodell that
there had been spying since he became New England's coach in 2000."
Greenberg and on-air
partner Mike Golic expressed confusion as to the assertion that the NFL
said in October that Belichick admitted to spying dating all the way
back to 2000.
We agree. As far as
we can tell, the NFL didn't say anything about Spygate in October, and
we can recall no assertion by the league or admission by Belichick that
he had been videotaping defensive coaching signals since his first year
with the Patriots. The entire issue was dead until the days
preceding the Week Fifteen game between the Pats and the Jets.
Then, Spygate disappeared until two days before the Super Bowl, when the
names Arlen Specter and Matt Walsh became inextricably linked to the
controversy.
A cynical mind might think
that the NFL is pushing the issue in this regard in order to subtly
persuade Specter (and the general public) that the Spygate investigation
was more comprehensive and thorough than Specter has described it to be.
And if anyone out there
has a link to any item in which the NFL plainly states that Belichick
admitted to spying that extends back to 2000,
send it in.
POSTED
8:35 a.m. EST, February 13, 2008
KREMER UNLOADS ON ESPN
Former ESPN reporter
Andrea Kremer, who now works the sidelines for NBC's Sunday night
package,
has some choice words for her former employer in the wake of the
decision to relieve Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber of their
sideline-reporting duties.
Said Kremer to Michael
Hiestand of USA Today: "They were doing the role that ESPN
asked them to do -- more feature-ish stuff -- and they were fired for
it? If you don't like them in that role, change their role.
Don't humiliate them like that. The way [ESPN] handled it was
terrible, just disrespectful. . . . They treated two professionals
in a completely non-professional way."
We've routinely criticized
Tafoya and Kolber for not actually engaging in any in-game sideline
reporting, but in merely talking from the sidelines during the game
about things that could have been reported before kickoff. If they
were doing this at the direct behest of management, then the reporters
aren't to blame.
Kremer also said that she
is "offended" by the move because "it sets back women" who work as
sideline reporters at NFL games: "[N]o one accused the four of us
for being on television for our looks or figures. . . . This isn't
five years ago, with eye candy on the sidelines. We established
ourselves as reporters, professionals. Now, you've completely
minimized that. These women don't have to prove themselves
anymore."
Fred Gaudelli, who
produces the Sunday night broadcast and who previously produced MNF
for ABC, told Hiestand that the latest move is another example of ESPN's
"mismanagement" of the longest-running prime-time sports series in
television. "I just don't think the people there making
these decisions know how a live event gets put on television. They
know studio shows. But the people making the decisions just don't
understand live events. They're not equipped to make these
decisions. If they left things to [producer] Jay Rothman, they'd
be better off."
As to the ongoing debate
regarding the role of Tony Kornheiser in the booth, Gaudelli said, "If
you ranked MNF's five announcers on ability, Kolber and Tafoya
would be in the top three. . . . But ESPN has a big bet on
Kornheiser."
While we've heard that
friction between Kornheiser and Kolber might have contributed to the
move, the relationship between Kornheiser and Tafoya is strong.
Our old pal Paul Charchian tells us that Kornheiser and Tafoya once made
a joint appearance on Charch's KFAN radio show, and they said that they
keep an open phone line to each other while watching American Idol.
We wonder whether they did
so again last night.
POSTED
8:01 a.m. EST, February 13, 2008
QUINN ACCUSED OF
TAUNTING GAYS
Quarterback Brady Quinn
made no headlines on the football field in 2007. He's now making
headlines for something he allegedly did on the first day of 2008.
According to the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Quinn was accused in a 911 call made on New
Year's Day of shouting insults at a group of passersby outside of a gay
bar in Columbus, Ohio.
A man named Seth Harris
placed the call after encountering a group including Quinn.
Harris told the operator that "Brady Quinn from the Browns" was "trying
to cause a fight. I just walked outside and
he exchanged many profanities with me and called me a faggot, of
course."
Police
responded to the scene, Quinn and friends were present.
"When
we got there, he was very cooperative and just stopped," said Columbus
police spokeswoman Amanda Ford. "I think his friends were like,
'Let's get out of here.'"
Hmmm.
But why would Brady Quinn and his buddies be hanging out in the
"gay-friendly Short North neighborhood"?
Oh.
Never mind.
POSTED
7:44 a.m. EST, February 13, 2007
SMITH NOT SURE ABOUT
BEING 'SKINS COORDINATOR?
Former Seahawks
quarterback Jim Zorn and running back Sherman Smith have joked/promised
each other that, when one of them becomes a head coach, the other would
be hired as the offensive coordinator.
But with the first half of
that equation settled (for anyone who has been in a coma since Saturday,
Zorn is the new Redskins coach) and the back end reportedly a done deal
if Smith wants it, Smith seems to be wavering.
"I
think it's mine to turn down," Smith told
the Washington Times. "But I need
to go up there and see if the time is right.
It boils down to asking the question, 'Do I want
to be a coordinator?' So much is overblown
about the coordinator's position. It's not
like the [Titans'] coordinator goes up on a
mountaintop and comes down and gives us a plan.
We all worked together to put the plan in, so it
is not one guy doing the planning and the rest
of us nodding our heads. We all worked
together."
Um. Is he serious?
Regardless of what a coordinator actually does,
it's a step up toward the ultimate goal of
becoming a head coach.
Now, it could be that Smith's spider sense is
telling him that Zorn will be a short-timer in
D.C., and that Smith would prefer to stay with
the franchise for which he has worked since 1995
in lieu of being out of a job come 2009.
If that's why he's hesitating, he obviously
can't say that.
But, still, we're not sure that publicly
questioning his own ambitions is the best way to
go, either.
Meanwhile, Seahawks running backs coach Stump
Mitchell has taken the same job in Washington,
replacing Earnest Byner. If (as we
presume) Mitchell, who joined the 'Hawks with
Mike Holmgren in 1999, was still under contract
with Seattle, Holmgren could have blocked the
move.
POSTED
7:16 a.m. EST, February 12, 2008
BEARS BRINGING BACK
BOOKER?
When then-Bears receiver
Marty Booker was in the process of being traded to Miami in 2004, he
had this to say regarding the possibility of the deal falling apart:
"How could I go back to play for a team, a staff, and management that
didn't want me, that wanted to get rid of me? How could I feel
comfortable and dedicate myself to people like that?"
Apparently, Booker has
since resolved those feelings.
According to the
Chicago Tribune,
Booker's first preference in the wake of being dumped by the
Dolphins is to return to Chicago.
Booker could replace
Muhsin Muhammad in the starting lineup. The Bears also are facing
the departure of Bernard Berrian, a deep threat whose potential arguably
has been wasted in Chicago's vertically-challenged passing game.
Booker was traded during
the 2004 preseason, and he wasn't happy about it.
"I didn't see it coming at
all," Booker said at the time. "I was sitting there getting ready to
play in [a preseason] game, and then they came down to my room and told
me I was traded. I mean, it was unbelievable. . . . The only
thing that they are concerned about is their defense.
"I am hurt. This is
where I signed a long-term contract. I gave so much to this
franchise. The Bears have done so much for me. All of a
sudden, they don't want me. I am stunned."
Several other teams
reportedly are interested in Booker. He was scheduled to earn a
salary of $4.3 million in 2008.
POSTED
9:17 p.m. EST, February 12, 2008
WAHLE HEADING WEST?
Adam Schefter of NFL
Network reports that former Panthers guard Mike Wahle is traveling to
Seattle on Tuesday night for a Wednesday meeting with the Seahawks.
Wahle was dropped by the
Panthers on Monday, in a move that will be processed as a post-June 1
transaction for cap purposes.
Wahle was a second-round
selection of the Packers in the 1998 supplemental draft, which
coincidentally was the last year in Green Bay for former head coach Mike
Holmgren. Now, as the Big Show is getting ready to let the curtain
fall on his career in Seattle after the 2008 season, they could be
reunited for another one-year stint together.
POSTED
7:24 p.m. EST, February 12, 2008
GOODELL, SPECTER
MEETING ON WEDNESDAY
NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell and Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) will meet on Wednesday to
discuss Specter's concerns regarding the Spygate and the league's
handling of it.
The meeting will occur in
Washington, at Specter's office.
In the days prior to the
Super Bowl, Specter went public with concerns he had expressed to
Goodell regarding the September 2007 cheating scandal involving the
Patriots. Specter has focused on the league's decision to destroy
evidence of cheating confiscated from the Pats.
On the same day that
Specter's concerns became known, the New York Times provided the
first quotes from Matt Walsh, a former employee of the Patriots who
might or might not know about other cheating that did or didn't occur.
The next day, the Boston Herald reported that the Patriots
videotaped the Rams' final walk-through practice prior to Super Bowl
XXXVI.
POSTED
6:51 p.m. EST, February 12, 2008
SECURITY GUY HAD A GUN
Charles Robinson and Jason
Cole of Yahoo! Sports report that specific incident that triggered Lloyd
Lake's decision to put a halt to his sworn deposition was the revelation
that the man hired to provide security for Bush and his lawyers
was packing heat.
Specifically, the man
opened his jacket at one point, exposing a gun. In response, the
deposition ended.
"I'm stunned by their
conduct," said Paul Wong, one of Lake's attorneys. "We take this
matter very seriously. You shouldn't be able to bring a gun to a
deposition and threaten people. We don't even allow police
officers to bring their guns to their own depositions.
"If they were afraid for
any reason or concerned about security, they should have raised that or
notified the court in advance, and they didn't. We could have done
the deposition in the courtroom if they were worried about security."
As we explained earlier in
the day, we believe that Bush's legal team should have raised this issue
in advance of the deposition.
But we also think that
Lake shouldn't have left without trying to call the judge assigned to
the case for a ruling.
POSTED
6:33 p.m. EST, February 12, 2008
ESPN ADDRESSES BERMAN
VIDEOS
In a statement sent on
Tuesday afternoon to PFT (and others, including
MDS of AOL), ESPN V.P. of Public Relations Josh Krulewitz addressed
the stream of videos that keep popping up on YouTube, and that paint
Bristol institution Chris Berman in an unflattering light.
"The off air videos are
now nearly a decade old and do not reflect his typical workplace
demeanor, his relationships with co-workers, nor the contributions he
has made to ESPN over many years," Krulewitz said. "Chris has a
tremendous connection with sports fans and his body of work should not
be judged by a few minutes of unguarded language uttered years ago. We
aren't excusing the language used and will be emphasizing to our
workforce the importance of using appropriate language in the
workplace."
Other than Berman's
dialogue with a female colleague regarding whether she "squirmed" while
she drank wine he had bought for her (including his momentary racist
facial expression and sound effects when she told him that she had the
wine at a Japanese restaurant) and the step-by-step guide for smuggling
Canadian Codeine into the U.S. of A., none of the things in the videos
that have been released to date are all that troubling. It's
actually a bit refreshing to see that Berman is as human as the rest of
us.
POSTED
4:17 p.m. EST, February 12, 2008
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER
BERMAN VIDEO
And so it continues.
It's a new day, and
there's yet another eight-year-old clip of Chris Berman off-camera
moments, from the YouTube user known as "ampex2000."
This time around, the
30-second clip is a montage of various references by Berman to former
MNF play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. The video is titled
"Chris Berman has always hated Al Michaels."
It's hard to perceive
abject hatred in the segment, so we'll assume that whoever it is that
has been posting these on-camera videos is also privy to some of the
things that Boomer said about Michaels when not at the desk.
Here's the clip:
POSTED
3:00 p.m. EST, February 12, 2008
LAKE LEAVES HIS
DEPOSITION
A source close to the Lake
v. Bush lawsuit tells us that Lloyd Lake left his deposition on Tuesday
because he was "intimidated" by private security personnel that Bush's
legal team had brought to the session.
As we hear it, the
decision to use private security was made based on alleged threats from
Lake to Bush in December 2007, and from Lake's lawyer's past
representation that Lake is a gang member. Also, Lake previously
has spent time in federal prison.
It'll be interesting to
see what the judge does about this. A plaintiff's failure to
submit to a deposition can get the case thrown out. On the other
hand, the question of whether security personnel would be permitted in
the room for the deposition is likely something that Bush's legal team
should have raised well in advance the deposition. If Lake's
lawyers objected, Bush's lawyers then could have brought to matter to
the attention of the court for a ruling.
POSTED
11:29 a.m. EST, February 12, 2008
RAVENS TO TAG SUGGS
A year ago, the Baltimore
Ravens opted not to place the franchise tag on linebacker Adalius
Thomas. Though the team hoped to re-sign him, he quickly landed in
New England.
This time around, the
Ravens have another linebacker heading for free agency. But
Terrell Suggs won't be able to walk away.
"We
will be using the franchise tag on Terrell if we don't have a
long-term deal in place between now and then," G.M. Ozzie Newsome said
on Monday.
Doing so will require the
Ravens to pony up a one-year deal worth $8.065 million. That
number will be even higher if the Ravens opt to use the "exclusive"
version of the tag, which would prevent Suggs from entertaining offers
elsewhere.
Last year, the Colts
slapped the exclusive tag on defensive end Dwight Freeney.
Eventually, Freeney signed a six-year, $72 million deal, with $30
million in guaranteed money.
Coincidentally, Freeney
and Suggs are represented by the same agent, Gary Wichard.
Per the Baltimore Sun
the Ravens currently have $5 million to $6 million in cap space.
So they'll need to do some work to make room for Suggs.
New Rams personnel chief
Billy Devaney
doesn't rule out trading out of the two hole.
POSTED
10:23 a.m. EST, February 12, 2008
WILSON VISIT TO LIONS
CONFIRMED
On Monday night, one of
our moles in Motown spotted free-agent linebacker Al Wilson, prompting a
conclusion that Wilson might be visiting with the Lions.
Wilson was released in
2007 by the Broncos and did not play last season. He suffered a
neck injury late in the 2006 campaign.
POSTED
10:07 a.m. EST, February 12, 2008
GOODELL, UPSHAW NEED TO
START TALKING NOW
With growing indications
that the owners will exercise in November 2008 their prerogative to pull
the plug two years early on the labor deal, and in light of the
administrative headaches that will arise in the ensuing last capped year
under the deal of 2009, we think it would be wise for Commissioner Roger
Goodell and NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw to begin talking sooner
rather than later about extending the deal.
If talks don't begin until
November, it will be too late to avoid the last capped year. And
if the owners bite the bullet that is the last capped year, they might
be more inclined to take an uncapped year -- especially since an
uncapped year won't be the financial free for all that most people think
it will be. For example, guys who already have contracts for 2010
won't be entitled to join in the bonanza, and only players with six
seasons of service will be able to hit the unrestricted market.
Also, specific restrictions will apply to the ability of the final eight
teams from the prior season to sign free agents.
And with Upshaw already
talking tough about the refusal of the union to reduce its share of
Total Football Revenue, the volume will only increase as various owners
chime in with their views on whether the numbers need to change.
In turn, that will make it harder for something to get done before the
point of no return is crossed.
Of course, it might
already be too late to work out a deal. As Upshaw recently pointed
out, this isn't hockey. The owners aren't losing money.
They're making it. A lot of it.
So the true source of the
consternation here could be the ever-vague notion of supplemental
revenue sharing. The last CBA hinged on the owners coming up with
an acceptable plan for addressing the ever-growing disparity among teams
like the Pats and 'Skins and teams like the Cards and Jags. It
could be that the teams who are making the money resent the idea of
giving it up to teams who aren't, and that the teams who aren't making
it believe they aren't getting enough.
Regardless, the league and
the union are on a collision course. And unless they start trying
to work this situation out right now, there might not be enough time to
do it later.
POSTED
9:11 a.m. EST, February 12, 2008
PETERSON HAS ALL THE
OFFSEASON MOTIVATION HE'LL NEED
Following a season in
which he set the single-game all-time rushing record and finished with
1,341 yards and the Pro Bowl MVP award, Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson
has plenty of extra motivation for his sophomore season.
Based on quotes obtained
by James Black of Yahoo! Sports in an article titled "Don't
get carried away with Peterson hype," fellow Pro Peterson has more
to do before he'll be regarded as the best running back in the game.
"You can't just give the
guy the title and say he's the greatest running back off of his first
year in the league," said Chargers fullback Lorenzo Neal. "Adrian
Peterson has a chance to be a great running back in this league but a
lot of people want to crown him the best after one year."
Added linebacker Shawne
Merriman: "When I came into the league, a lot of linebackers who
were around for a long time said, '[I]t's easy to go across the water
one time.' Or it's easy to get double-digit sacks one time, but if
you can consistently do it, that puts you in an elite group."
Peterson even picked up a
mild dissing from Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who complained that
one of Peterson's touchdown runs was aided by holding.
The real issue for
Peterson is his ability to avoid the kind of hits that break bones and
tear ligaments. His bruising style will continue to put him in
harm's way, and after enough injuries he'll lose his speed.
Eventually, he'll learn how to avoid contact.
The sooner he does that,
the more likely he'll have the kind of career that places him among the
best ever to play the game.
POSTED
8:41 a.m. EST, February 12, 2008
BRUNELL OUT, DILFER IN
FOR 'SKINS?
In the same article that
leads with the saga of Ocho Stinko, Jason La Canfora of the
Washington Post reports that veteran quarterback Mark Brunell likely
won't return to the Redskins in 2008, and that new coach Jim Zorn
might pursue 49ers backup Trent Dilfer.
Brunell's departure isn't
a surprise. He plunged to No. 3 on the depth chart in 2007, and
was the subject of multiple trade rumors before the season.
But Dilfer (or some other
veteran backup) could be the No. 2 guy in D.C. next season if Todd
Collins leaves via free agency. Dilfer was the No. 2 quarterback
behind Alex Smith in 2007, but the late-season performance of Shaun
Hill, and the new three-year deal Hill recently signed, could prompt the
Niners to part ways with Dilfer and his $1 million salary in 2008.
Though La Canfora
correctly points out that the Redskins retain until March 1 (actually
February 29) the exclusive ability to re-sign Collins, the widespread
manner in which teams disregard the rules against tampering means that
Collins' agent, Brad Blank, will surely spend the next two weeks
entertaining hypothetical offers from other teams that might be
interested in adding Collins. Thus, before accepting any deals
from the Redskins, Blank and Collins will as a practical matter know
what other teams are willing to do.
Per the reports, doctors
currently are in the process of determining the specific type of
leukemia from which he suffers.
Leukemia is a cancer of
the blood, and certain types of it can be treated and cured.
Udeze was the Vikings'
first-round draft pick in 2004.
POSTED
8:06 a.m. EST, February 12, 2008
'SKINS WANT OCHO STINKO
On the heels of a coaching
hire that has made the franchise the focus of plenty of criticism,
Redskins owner Dan Snyder apparently is looking to create a diversion.
Jason La Canfora of the
Washington Post reports the team team is
interested in trading for troubled Bengals receiver Chad Johnson.
The Post cites
numerous unnamed sources in support of the proposition that agent Drew
Rosenhaus is working quietly behind the scenes to pull off the deal.
Four years ago, Rosenhaus worked the back channels to get running back
Clinton Portis from Denver to Washington.
The Post also says
that a trade could result in a "hefty new contract" for Johnson.
This assertion corroborates rumblings that the entire ordeal, which
appears on the surface to be about putting Chad on a winning team, is
actually about putting more money in his pocket. And it could be
that Johnson and Rosenhaus have settled on the "I want to play for a
winner" approach in order to avoid the formula that made T.O.'s last
season in Philly a disaster.
If the move goes down, it
would be unwise. The Redskins need to focus on continuity, not on
upheaval. We thought (apparently wrongly) that Snyder had figured
that out; after all, the team didn't do much of anything in the 2007
offseason, and the end result was a berth in the postseason.
Then again, there's a
chance that it's all a ruse, aimed at changing the subject in D.C. while
at the same time building goodwill with Rosenhaus by possibly shaking
suitors for Stinko out of the bushes.
POSTED
10:25 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
AL WILSON TO LIONS?
Our moles in Motown tell
us that linebacker Al Wilson has been spotted there. The strong
suspicion is that he'll be talking with the Lions about possibly joining
the team.
Wilson was out of football
in 2007 after suffering a neck injury with the Broncos late in the 2006
season.
He has since been cleared
to return to the field.
POSTED
9:45 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
PATS PETITION, VIDEO
ARE WAY OFF BASE
In one of the worst cases
of collective sour grapes we've ever seen (we've used that term twice
today), there's
a
petition and a
step-by-step video on the Internet regarding the contention that the
Pats were jobbed out of a Super Bowl win over the Giants.
The claim is that, after
the Giants converted a fourth-and-short with less than one minute and
thirty seconds remaining in the game, the clock should never have
stopped, but should have continued to run.
Though the guy on the
video acts like he knows what he's talking about, he doesn't. (His
mistake was assuming that the FOX announcers were giving out complete,
accurate information.) Rule 4, Section 5, Article 5 expressly
permits a Referee's timeout "when there is the possibility of a
measurement for a first down, or if the Referee is consulting with a
captain about one."
That's precisely what
happened. We've watched the video. After the play, Carey and
other members of the crew were gathered in an effort to determine
whether Jacobs had made a first down. Though a measurement wasn't
deemed necessary, Mike Carey had to eyeball the situation before making
a decision.
That's why six seconds
were actually added to the clock. The clock should have
stopped once it became clear that whether Brandon Jacobs had made it
past the sticks would require a look-see.
As the disgruntled Pats
fans are now arguing, Carey had zero discretion to kill the clock while
he tried to confirm whether it was first-and-ten Giants, or first-down
Pats. And that contention is just flat wrong.
The other reality that is
being overlooked here is that the Giants would have been moving with a
somewhat greater sense or urgency if Chris Berman had been saying "tick
. . . tick . . . what the f--k do they think I'm doing here? . . .
tick."
So it's a non-issue.
Even if more than 16,700 fans mistakenly think it is.
POSTED
9:15 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
PFT HEROES 2007:
THE PAT TILLMAN AWARD
The latest PFT postseason
award goes to a safety, and it is named for former Cardinals safety Pat
Tillman.
Tomorrow, we flip over to
the offensive side of the ball.
POSTED
8:14 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
FASSEL THOUGHT HE WAS
THE FRONTRUNNER
The media and the fans
weren't the only ones who believed that Jim Fassel had the inside track
to the head-coaching gig in D.C.
Fassel himself believed
it, too.
In a Monday afternoon
interview with Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN, Fassel said that he thought
he was the frontrunner for the job that went to Zorn.
Fassel also confirmed that
he had a role in the hiring of the guy who got the job he wanted.
He said that he gave owner Dan Snyder three persons for each of the
coordinator positions, and that Zorn was the top name on the offensive
side of the ball.
Indeed, Fassel said he was
involved in all of the staff moves, which implies that he had a voice in
the firing of Al Saunders and Gregg Williams, too.
As to the notion that
Fassel was bumped due to concerns of widespread criticism from Redskins
fans if he got the gig, Fassel said, "That would really, really hurt me.
You can't let your fans control any of that."
Fassel also said that he
shouldn't have taken a job with the Ravens after being fired by the
Giants. "My biggest mistake was going to Baltimore," he said,
calling the situation there "such a mess."
Again, Fassel's candor is
refreshing. But we think it will hurt him, not help him, as he
tries to look for new work.
For example, his strong
words about the Ravens won't persuade guys like owner Steve Bisciotti or
G.M. Ozzie Newsome or former coach Brian Billick to explain, "Jim did a
great job for us; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Instead, they're likely to say, "Our biggest mistake was hiring Fassel."
Moreover, Fassel's
inability to realize that he shouldn't be running his mouth about his
disappointments with the 'Skins and the Ravens raises legitimate
questions about his ability to control his tongue if/when he's ever a
head coach again. Let's face it, if he doesn't realize that it
would be prudent to be discreet when it comes to dissing two of the 30
branches of tree that he'd like to inhabit again, how can he be trusted
to say the right things -- and not say the wrong things -- as the face
of a franchise?
POSTED
5:05 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
PANTHERS CUT WAHLE,
MORGAN by Michael David Smith
The Carolina Panthers
released guard Mike Wahle and linebacker Dan Morgan today, the team
announced on its web site.
"These
were tough decisions because Dan and Mike have been valuable members
of our team and have done everything we have asked of them over the
years," said head coach John Fox in the team's statement. "They are both
very dedicated to the game of football and earned the respect of
everyone who worked with them."
Morgan was Carolina's first-round draft pick in 2001 out of Miami, and
at one point looked like one of the league's most promising young
linebackers. But injuries have derailed his career. He missed 13 games
in 2007 with an Achilles injury and missed 15 games in 2006 because of a
concussion. Although Morgan's 59 starts are the most for a linebacker in
franchise history, he'll be remembered more for the games he didn't
play: In seven seasons he missed 53 games.
Wahle was a high-priced free agent acquisition from Green Bay in 2005. He made the Pro Bowl that year and started all but three games for the
Panthers in the last three years.
DOLPHINS CUT TRENT
GREEN, 8 OTHERS by Michael David Smith
The Miami Dolphins have
cut quarterback Trent Green and eight other players in the first major
personnel move of the new Bill Parcells-led front office regime.
The other veterans who had
their contracts terminated were wide receiver Marty Booker, tackle L.J.
Shelton and defensive tackle Keith Traylor. The team also waived tackle
Anthony Alabi, defensive tackle Anthony Bryant, tackle Marion Dukes,
defensive tackle Marquay Love, and tackle Joe Toledo.
Green's tenure in Miami
ends eight months after the Dolphins sent a fifth-round draft pick to
the Chiefs in one of the NFL off-season's most highly anticipated moves. Green started five games before a severe concussion ended his season. It
is not yet known whether that concussion also ended his career.
The 38-year-old Traylor
may also be finished. Traylor has had a long, impressive career, with
stops in Denver, Los Angeles (a brief stint with the Raiders), Green
Bay, Kansas City, Denver again, Chicago and New England before signing
with the Dolphins. But he missed the final game of the 2007 season when
he was suspended by former head coach Cam Cameron, and old,
past-their-prime veterans who have verbal altercations with their
coaches aren't the types of players Parcells wants in Miami.
The 31-year-old Booker led
the team with 50 catches and 556 yards in 2007. His departure means
that, for now anyway, 2007 first-round pick Ted Ginn is the Dolphins'
No. 1 receiver.
"This
is never easy, especially since all of these players worked hard
during their tenure here," Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland said in
a team statement. "In particular, in the case of each of the veterans,
it’s especially difficult to release players who have been productive
and valued members of the organization. However, we feel these decisions
are in the best interest of the team."
POSTED
3:44 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
DESHAUN FOSTER ON WAY
OUT? by Michael David Smith
There's increased talk
coming out of the Carolinas that the Panthers could part ways with
running back DeShaun Foster during the off-season, and perhaps sooner
rather than later.
The Charlotte Observer
reports that the Panthers would
save about $4.75 million on their 2008 salary cap if they cut
Foster, who is heading into the final season on his contract. And the
Winston-Salem Journal reports that the Panthers
could try to trade Foster and then cut him if they can't find any
takers.
Foster was the Panthers'
leading rusher in 2007, with 247 carries for 876 yards. But he wasn't
their most effective rusher, as DeAngelo Williams averaged a full yard
and a half more per carry than Foster, finishing the season with 144
carries for 717 yards.
Considering that Williams
is 24 and Foster is 28, the Panthers must see Williams as playing a
bigger role in the franchise's future than Foster. And that means Foster
is likely on the way out.
POSTED
2:39 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
ELI PICKS UP AN EXTRA
$1.5 MILLION
As reported initially by
Adam Schefter of NFL Network a few weeks back and reiterated by Liz
Mullen of Sports Business Journal in the wake of the Giants' victory in
Super Bowl XLII, quarterback Eli Manning reeled in an additional $1.5
million in total incentives based on victories at the various levels of
the playoffs.
He made $250,000 for
winning at the wild-card level, $500,000 in the divisional round,
$250,000 for the conference title, and another $500,000 for the Super
Bowl.
The incentives were
included within Manning's rookie contract.
"For the first-pick
quarterback we have done things like that on virtually all of them, to
varying degrees," agent Tom Condon told Mullen. "We had a good,
hefty one in there for Eli."
The money will count
against the Giants' 2008 salary cap.
POSTED
12:53 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
FASSEL BURNS BRIDGE
BACK TO NFL GIG?
Three days ago, it looked
like Jim Fassel would be the next head coach of the Redskins. Two
days ago, it all changed, in a surprising way.
"There was something going
on behind the scenes, there's no question about it. I thought
things were falling my way, then, suddenly, this happens. It's
strange."
The condensed version?
Fassel thinks that Executive V.P. of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato
promoted Zorn behind the scenes, and that Cerrato GENERALLY doesn't know
what he's doing.
"Dan [Snyder] wanted to
make a big splash, and I think he was worried about the Baltimore
thing," Fassel said, referring to his termination from the Ravens during
the 2006 season. "He worried about the public relations, and he
didn't know which way to go.
"I heard someone say there
are no more George Youngs or Jim Finks in this league, people who really
know the game. And I think that happened here. I don't think
Dan surrounded himself with enough football people."
Though Fassel probably is
right, he is doing himself no favors (in our view) by complaining about
the situation. The practical reality is that, moving forward,
other teams will be leery of doing the dance with him for fear of having
to suffer the spray from his sour grapes.
Speaking of sour grapes,
Fassel also takes a dig at the man who got the job, Jim Zorn.
"Someone said to me that
Jim Zorn has three jobs he hasn't done now," Fassel said. "He's a
head coach, and he's never done it. He's an offensive coordinator,
and he's never done it. And he's calling the plays, and he's never
done it."
The difference between
Zorn and Fassel, however, is that Zorn has a job. Fassel doesn't,
and his decision to talk publicly about it (compelling as it may be)
might be the final straw that prevents him from ever becoming an NFL
head coach again.
INTERNET HACK BRANCHES
OUT, RELUCTANTLY
Try as I might to ignore
all sports other than football, it has become impossible.
With the good folks at
Sporting News now slapping the label of "legal analyst" on some
Internet hack who writes two NFL columns per week for the mag's web
site, said hack is required to pay attention periodically to other
pastimes, at least insofar as they give rise to periodic legal
imbroglios.
The first non-football
offering relates to the Roger Clemens conundrum.
Here it is.
POSTED
12:28 p.m. EST, February 11, 2008
NO CAPERS FOR COWBOYS
After it seemed like a
sure thing that former Panthers and Texans coach Dom Capers would land
in Dallas as a member of Wade Phillips' staff -- and as the potential
defensive coordinator if/when Phillips gets the tap and the
head-coaching job goes to Jason Garrett -- Todd Archer of the Dallas
Morning News reports that
Capers won't be joining the team.
Capers last served as the
defensive coordinator in Miami. He was fired along with most of
the staff after former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells became the Fins' V.P.
of football operations, and after former Cowboys exec Jeff Ireland
became the G.M. there.
Capers informed the team
on Monday morning that he'll pass on the opportunity.
And with a large buyout
likely in hand from the Fins, it's not like he needs to work. In
fact, because the Dolphins would get a dollar-for-dollar credit as to
any coaching money Capers earns elsewhere, he'd essentially be working
for free.
POSTED
11:42 a.m. EST, February 11, 2008
RUMORS PERSIST THAT
KORNHEISER DROVE DECISION ON SIDELINE REPORTERS
As the sports media
continues to privately discuss and debate the surprise decision by ESPN
that sideline reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya will be relieved
of those specific duties in 2008, rumors are rampant that the move was
the result of at least a management desire to create more talky time for
Tony Kornheiser or at most a move by Kornheiser to clear out two of the
voices that were cluttering up the broadcast.
If the latter is true,
Tony's next eventual target could be play-by-play man Mike Tirico.
As the grapevine goes, there is some tension between the two of them.
For now, Tirico is the
only non-Kornheiser left on the two-season-old broadcast. In
addition to Tafoya and Kolber, Joe Theismann a/k/a Joey Sunshine got the
shoe last year.
Though Kornheiser has
gotten better due to the presence of the generally deferential Ron
Jaworski, it's odd to think that Kornheiser is the spoon that stirs the
MNF stew. We realize that the franchise is craving another
Cosell. But, all due respect, Tony ain't Howie.
(Then again, it could be
worse; it could be Mike the Man-Girl and Mike the Meatball and Mike the
Furniture-Rearranger, every single week.)
Meanwhile, it is becoming
more and more obvious that Tafoya and Kolber's roles on the MNF
coverage will be dramatically reduced. Though the official network
statement from Sunday implies that they'll still have relevance, Michael
Hiestand of USA Today writes that the duo will be "largely
shelved."
For Kolber, the real
question is whether she wants to mess with jumping from the NASCAR city
to the NFL city in order to contribute little if anything to the Monday
night production -- especially since she'll have a baby to care for by
the time September rolls around.
POSTED
10:34 a.m. EST; UPDATED 10:44 a.m. EST, February 11, 2008
INSIDE THE NFL
NOT DIFFERENT ENOUGH? by Michael David Smith
Peter King of Sports
Illustrated has some interesting thoughts in his weekly Monday
Morning Quarterback column about the HBO’s decision to cancel Inside
the NFL, the show on which he served as a reporter and commentator.
"I think the demise of
Inside the NFL, to the best of my knowledge, was not so much about
money as it was about
not being different enough anymore,” King writes. "That's what we,
as a staff, were told by HBO Sports president Ross Greenberg and
executive producer Rick Bernstein."
But King then goes on to
note a key way that Inside the NFL was, in fact, different from
other NFL studio shows.
"For example," King writes
(and PFT has previously noted), "even though the Cardinals hosted the
Super Bowl this year, our Super Bowl week piece by producer Christine
Wilt about how the 1925 NFL title was stolen from the rightful winners,
the Pottsville Maroons, and now resides with the Cardinals had to be
embarrassing to the Cardinals franchise. That's not a story most studio
shows would have done, ever, and certainly not during Super Bowl week."
The key distinction, from
this perspective, between HBO and CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN and NFL Network is
that HBO doesn’t have a lucrative contract with the league to broadcast
NFL games. That makes HBO more independent than the other networks, and
therefore more willing to air pieces that might not make the league
office happy.
For that reason alone,
Inside the NFL is certainly different enough that football fans
should hope it returns in 2008 on some network that understands the
importance of independence from the league.
MONDAY MORNING
ONE-LINERS by Michael David Smith
Giants WR David Tyree got a chance in the NFL thanks in large part to his
college position coach putting together a highlight tape of Tyree's
great special teams plays and sending it to pro scouts.
Redskins defensive coordinator Greg Blache
says it's "awesome" that Jim Zorn has been named the team's head coach.
The Cowboys
appear set to add former Dolphins secondary coach Brett Maxie to their
coaching staff.
Says Eagles assistant coach Sean McDermott, who grew up near Philadelphia and
has spent his entire coaching career there, "I know how lucky I've been to grow
up in this area, be an Eagles fan forever, and then get a chance to work for the
team.
Sometimes it still feels like a dream."
It'll soon be time to get
re-acquainted with terms like "cash over cap" and "supplemental revenue
sharing."
According to Daniel Kaplan
of Sports Business Journal, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones believes
that enough of his 31 colleagues will vote to opt out of the current
Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players union in November 2008.
In November, either party
to the deal may give the other side notice of an intention to end the
contract two years early. The deal currently runs through 2012;
opting out would trigger expiration after the 2010 season.
But while Armageddon is
still roughly three years away, the mess would initially unfold on the
first day of the 2009 league year, given the accounting rules that apply
in the final year before an uncapped season.
Two years ago, a new labor
deal was negotiated not on the eve of an uncapped year, but on the eve
of the last capped year, which uses various devices to prevent teams
from getting an early start on spending limitless money on player
salaries. And with the union surely smarting from the decision to
pull the plug in November 2008, it's unlikely that both sides will get
together and hammer out a deal before March 1 of 2009.
It's also unlikely that
the union will give up the inherent leverage of an uncapped year.
Why should it? The owners apparently want to roll back the
financial gains made by the players in 2006, and likewise to correct
some of the noneconomic terms that were essentially ignored by the
Management Council at a time when the focus was on striking a deal with
the players for a percentage of Total Football Revenue, and at the same
time working out an arrangement among the owners for the partial sharing
of currently unshared revenues as to which, among some franchises, there
is a huge (and always growing) disparity. Asking the union to play
a little givesy-backsy is not the way to preserve labor peace.
So we'll be dusting off
some of our old articles regarding the realities of an uncapped year and
the last capped year. We'll also be pondering what ultimately
could be the end result of this exercise -- a spin-off league of
smaller-market teams committed to sharing all revenue, and an existing
league with big-market franchises who want to keep as much of what they
make as possible.
For our most recent stuff
that isn't up there, click here,
and if you want to go even farther back in time,
click here for more than five full
years of archives. (Or you can celebrate the fact that -- yawn
-- pitchers and catchers have reported.)
