RUMOR MILL ARCHIVE

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio

The Associated Press reports that Giants defensive end Michael Strahan has expressed concerns about the direction of the team after the acquisition of quarterback Eli Manning and the release of veteran Kerry Collins.

"I am not saying we don't have an opportunity with Eli Manning as the quarterback, but there is a difference when you have a rookie as opposed to a veteran player, and that's at any position," Strahan said.

"As an older player in this league and on this team, you just hope that it's not a situation where we sit back and wait for somebody, three, four or five years down the road to develop.  Because by the time it happens, I doubt I'll be here to enjoy it.

"There is a reality we all know," Strahan said. "Oh, they are not in love with any of us.  They don't feel like they owe any of us anything, and I think as players, you can't feel like you owe anybody anything."

MORE DETAILS ON CHARGERS-GIANTS TRADE

Meanwhile, a league source shared with us on Thursday more details regarding the trade that brought Manning to the Big Apple.

We're hearing that the Chargers' original price tag for the No. 1 pick was three first-round picks -- 2004, 2005, and 2006.  We previously had heard that the Chargers wanted only a first-rounder and a second-rounder.

Of course, it's possible that these rumors are originating in Giants camp, in order to make the ultimate deal that the team swung look like something other than an impromptu date in a prison shower room.   

We also have been told that G.M. Ernie Accorsi was a calming influence in the war room as the seconds ticked away on the team's 15 minutes to exercise the fourth overall pick.  Coach Tom Coughlin was getting antsy, we hear, pressing Accorsi to call the Chargers about a trade.  Accorsi told Coughlin to be patient -- and with roughly ten minutes left on the clock the phone rang.

If the G-men had used the pick with an eye toward keeping it, we're hearing that they would have selected either Ben Roethlisberger or Roy Williams -- and that they likely would have traded down to No. 7 with the Browns, who wanted to jump up to No. 4 for a crack at Miami safety Sean Taylor.

STEELERS, BILLS TRIED TO MOVE UP

One of the reasons that the Giants were hesitant to slide down to No. 7 in the hopes of pulling the Rivers-for-Manning swap was that both the Steelers and the Bills were trying desperately to trade up in an effort to nab Philip Rivers.

And if the Browns had snared Sean Taylor, the Redskins likely would have listened to offers to slide back to No. 11 or No. 13, given their reluctance to draft tight end Kellen Winslow (due in large part to his selection of the Postons as agents) and their dearth of draft picks.

So even though the Steelers ended up with Ben Roethlisberger, the word is that he was a fall back option for coach Bill Cowher, whose first wish was to tap into his alma mater of N.C. State for the team's long-term answer at quarterback.

RAIDERS REEL IN ZEREOUE

The Oakland Raiders have added veteran running back Amos Zereoue to a backfield that saw the departure of Charlie Garner last month. 

Zereoue, who commenced the 2003 season as the starter in Pittsburgh due to a "gut feeling" on the part of coach Bill Cowher, was kicked in the cahones by the Steelers after a mediocre campaign.

Despite playing in all 16 games, Zereoue had the lowest rushing totals since cracking into the lineup on offense in 2001.  Though some observers attribute Zereoue's performer to an unsettled line, many league insiders criticized the undersized-but-elusive back's inability to keep his feet or to break tackles.

The former West Virginia tailback who was selected in the third round of the 1999 draft emerged in 2001 as a solid complement to Jerome Bettis.  After they shared touches in 2002, many thought that Amos was ready to take the next step.

He wasn't.

But we also think that Amos deserved more sniffs on the open market, and the Raiders deserve credit for recognizing that he's far from being washed up. 

BUFFALO'S "NEW ERA" IS SHORT-LIVED

Lost in the Buffalo Bills' decision to trade back into round one to draft quarterback J.P. Losman is the fact that the Bills supposedly acquired their starting quarterback for the balance of the decade when they picked up Drew Bledsoe on day two of the 2002 draft, for a first-round pick in 2003.

And let's not forget the pomp and circumstance that accompanied G.M. Tom Donahoe's supposed coup that brought the 1993 No. 1 overall pick to Buffalo for less than, as Donahoe claimed, he ultimately would have given up.  There was a rally complete with a marching band, and glowing praise from the team's 80-something owner, Ralph Wilson.

"This is a big day for Buffalo and particularly the Buffalo Bills," Wilson said the day that Bledsoe was introduced to a four-figure throng of fans.  "When I saw all the people outside, I thought this was the first day of the season.  You've given the area a spark and I know you have certainly given me a spark because I am looking forward to the start of the season."

Added former Bills guard Ruben Brown, who was cut earlier this year and later signed by the Bears, "Thank God that a guy like [Bledsoe] is coming so we can put all of the past behind us, because we're truly starting over right now.  You can honestly say that this is a new era."

And when Bledsoe got off to a fast start in 2002, Donahoe gushed at the team's good fortune.  "Drew is perfect for our personnel.  But he also is so good he covers up lots of our warts. We couldn't have gotten luckier."
 

And that luck resulted in a middle-of-the-road 8-8 finish in 2002, and an even luckier 6-10 record last year.

Through it all, the guy who hired coach Gregg Williams and who swung the trade for Bledsoe faces only periodic blame for the fortunes of the team.  League insiders continue to be baffled by the manner in which the Bills G.M. avoids scrutiny for the team's struggles.

So what will the Teflon Donahoe say to keep his job if/when the Bills struggle in 2004?  We suspect he'll tell Mr. Wilson that the team is breaking in a new coach, and that the decision to draft Losman diminished the ability of the current class of rookies to contribute right away.  Donahoe also might point to No. 13 overall pick Lee Evans' torn ACL of a couple of seasons ago, since players often need a couple of years to get back to their full potential.

Of course, in 2005 Donahoe will be able to point to the fact that they're breaking in Losman.

And then by 2006 Donahoe can tell Wilson that perhaps it's time to hire a coach who's better suited to maximize Losman's skills.

Through it all, Donahoe likely will continue to escape criticism, largely since the national media is reluctant to call out a guy who deftly spreads the scoop as a quid pro quo for positive press.

So as long as Donahoe maintains his mastery of the media, our guess is that he'll be around for as many "new eras" as Wilson is able to live to see.

It's been a rough week for the Giants, and a league insiders are getting a kick out of the stream of bad decisions that the front office in New York has made.

Sure, the Giants probably disagree.  They got the quarterback they wanted in the draft, and G.M. Ernie Accorsi thinks he's a Marino or Elway talent -- regardless of whether other seasoned talent evaluators don't see the comparison between those first-ballot Hall-of-Famers and Archie Manning's youngest son.

But the consensus is that the Giants gave up too much to get Manning, more (in fact) than it would have cost to get the No. 1 pick before Manning's agent, Tom Condon, hatched a power play aimed at keeping Eli out of San Diego.

Along the way toward overpaying for the rights to Manning, the Giants passed on an opportunity to pick up an extra second-round selection by sliding back to No. 7 via a trade with the Browns, who wanted to draft Miami safety Sean Taylor before the Redskins could snag him.  Sure, there would have been a risk that either the 'Skins or the Lions would have dealt the No. 5 or No. 6 selection, respectively, to someone who would have drafted Philip Rivers, but the risk likely was minimal.

And although the release of 2003 starter Kerry Collins was a foregone conclusion, the Giants managed to bungle it, cutting Collins while claiming that there was a misunderstanding regarding the question of whether the team wanted him to take less money in 2004.  If the Giants truly believed that Collins didn't understand the message that flowed from his Monday meeting with G.M. Ernie Accorsi, Accorsi could have utilized one of the various communications technologies that are now available for the purposes of transmitting, um, words from one person to another.

Instead, the Giants' equivocation regarding Collins' pay looks like cover, in the event this whole experiment blows up in their faces, as we predict it will.  And the notion that they would have paid him $7 million this year presumes that the team would have hammered out a multi-year deal with salaries in 2004, 2005, and perhaps 2006 that reflected his status not as a starter, but as a backup.  So, yeah, the idea that Collins could have made his $7 million this year by staying was disingenuous, at best.

Now that Collins is gone, the team continues to consider a list of washed-up veterans whose better days are buried somewhere in an old pair of sweat socks.  From Jeff Blake to Neil O'Donnel to Vinny Testaverde, league insiders are rolling in the aisles regarding the notion that one of these guys will be the 2004 week one starter as Eli Manning gets up to speed.

The icing on the cake (mmm, cake) is the acquisition of 280-pound quarterback Jared Lorenzen, a freak show-type oddity at quarterback whom the Giants quietly hope will supplant Jesse Palmer.  Word is that new coach Tom Coughlin thinks Palmer's role on "The Bachelor" shows that he's soft.  Apparently, Coughlin hasn't taken a good look at Lorenzen's midsection.

The whole affair causes many league insiders to conclude that the Giants essentially have conceded the 2004 season -- and that the team might not emerge from its coming funk until 2006, at the earliest.

As the losses mount over the next 20 months, good luck getting the fans and the media to fuhgetabout the string of bad decisions made during a one-week window in April 2004.

ANGELO ANGLING FOR WALE, WARNER, COUCH

Our Chitown mole tells us that three names have been regularly on the lips of Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo in recent days:  Adewale Ogunleye, Kurt Warner, and Tim Couch.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Bears have asked the Browns for permission to talk to Couch about a deal that would potentially vault him to the top of a depth chart that currently sports Rex Grossman as the starter.  Though it might all be a ruse intended to screw up the Packers' efforts to land their quarterback of the post-Favre era or a source of leverage against Kurt Warner's "I won two MVP awards so I forever deserve a lot of money" expectations, we're hearing that the interest in Couch is legitimate.  (The fact that Angelo and company didn't leak the discussions with the Browns to the Tribune or the Sun-Times tends to confirm that it isn't a calculated smokescreen.)

Ditto for Warner, who at the right price is a bargain, especially when the current starter has only three starts under his belt.

On the other side of the ball, Angelo still covets Ogunleye, who has confirmed that he'll sit out a full 10 games of the 2004 season if he doesn't receive a long-term deal from the Dolphins.  Ogunleye, according to the Miami Herald, wants a deal with a signing bonus in the range of $14 million to $16 million, similar to the contract signed last month by Jevon Kearse and Grant Wistrom.

Assuming the Bears and Dolphins can work out a trade for Ogunleye, Angelo would be required to come up with some cap room.  We're hearing that the Bears might consider dumping defensive tackles Bryan Robinson or Alfonso Boone and/or cornerback R. W. McQuarters.  

With the Vikings adding Kenechi Udeze in round one last Saturday, the Fins have less leverage for any trade talks with the Bears.  Still, we can't envision Miami accepting less than a first-rounder for Ogunleye, especially when they can get six games out of him in 2004 and trade him from under the franchise tag in 2005.

BRETT BASHES MCKENZIE

Packers quarterback Brett Favre has a message for disgruntled cornerback Mike McKenzie -- shut your yap and get your ass back in the fold.

Favre didn't use those exact words, but the idea was the same when he spoke out for the first time regarding the five-year veteran's boycott of offseason activities and his demand for a trade.

"He should be here, we expect him to be here and the Packers have the upper hand," Favre said, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  "He says he wants to be traded and all that stuff, but they don't have to do that. When paycheck time starts coming around and you're not getting one, it's amazing how quickly you start waking up.

"He is one of the top corners in this league, I'll say that," Favre added.  "But when you sign a contract, you sign a contract.  And we all make a lot of money and sometimes it doesn't seem fair that other guys make more who you know you're better than.  But that's the way this business works and as bad as that may seem at times, it will work itself out.  I hope he realizes that because he will hurt our football team if he's away, and he will really help our team when he's here.  I don't know what [more] the team can do.  I think they've done what they're supposed to do."

The cynical mind might wonder whether Packers coach/G.M. Mike Sherman asked Favre to speak out regarding the situation, given that the team generally has remained silent on the issue.  But Favre's words aren't out of character -- he conveyed a similar message to receiver Sterling Sharpe in 1994, when Sharpe skipped practice a day before the season opener.

As to McKenzie, Favre hinted to the possibility that he's staying away at the behest of his agent, who might fear that the client will soften his position once he's elbow-to-elbow with his teammates.  "Sometimes we don't make good decisions or [we] have people telling us the wrong things," Favre said. 

We agree with Favre on this one.  Too many agents manipulate their clients into taking unjustified risks with their careers.  McKenzie has a good thing going in Green Bay, and no one forced him to sign the contract under which he's currently operating.

Yeah, he wants more money.  But every player does.  The reality is that there's a time to pursue the money, and McKenzie's time to pursue it again hasn't yet arrived.  He might be regretting his contract in light of other deals given to other corners in other cities, but the market typically will go up after each given player gets paid.  The challenge, then, for every player is to continue to do the things that will allow him to be the one to push the bar a bit higher down the road.  

In a move that harkens to the  Bradshaw-Hanratty-Gilliam quarterback clusterfudge that nearly hampered the franchise from nabbing four Lombardis in a six-year span, the Steelers will be keeping quarterback Tommy Maddox -- and they plan to give him a raise.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that was the end result of a 45-minute meeting between Maddox and coach Bill Cowher on Tuesday morning.

Maddox, who is scheduled to earn $750,000 in 2004, will get a new contract most likely after June 1, when the Steelers release linebacker Jason Gildon.

More cap room also will be created when either Charlie Batch or Brian St. Pierre are released.  Batch, who was signed two years ago but who has been lost in the shuffle ever since, is more likely to get the boot, if for no reason other than the fact that he is earning $1 million a year.

If Maddox stays, he shouldn't be anything more than a Jon Kitna-type starter -- a guy who's keeping the chair warm until the rookie is ready to go.  In fact, our preference is to throw Roethlisberger into the fray right away, since baptism by fire seems to be the quickest way to move a young quarterback to his full potential.

To make it work over the next few years, Maddox must buy in to his role as (perhaps) a short-term starter and then a permanent backup.  And coach Cowher must avoid the temptation to play musical chairs with his signal-callers, as he has done with Mike Tomczak and Kordell Stewart and Kent Graham and Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox over the past eight seasons.  

We're generally pleased with the addition of Roethlisberger (despite that pre-draft ESPN piece in which he comes off at times as a thick-headed buffoon), and we've been clamoring for the Steelers to burn a first-round pick on a quarterback because the team needs to put the ball into one guy's hands and leave it there for more than 16 straight games.  

The real question now that they've used a high-level pick on a quarterback is whether they'll indeed give him every opportunity to develop into the long-term answer.

The irony in Pittsburgh is that ownership has shown unflagging loyalty to its two head coaches over the last four decades, but those two head coaches generally have shown none to their starting quarterbacks.  In the salary-cap era, Terry Bradshaw might have been cut before finding his groove in 1974.  This time around, Bill Cowher needs to hand the ball to Roethlisberger and allow him to provide the stability and continuity that the franchise has lacked at the position since Bradshaw retired.

The problem, of course, is that Cowher's self-preservation instinct might prevent him from risking a slow acclimation period with Roethlisberger, especially since Cowher has, for the first time in his career with the Steelers, only two seasons left on his contract.

So perhaps the more important contract at the outset of the Roethlisberger era isn't Maddox's, but Cowher's.  Because absent an extension for the coach, there's a good chance that the young quarterback might be on a short leash, which as we see it would contradict the very reasons for drafting him.

Relying upon an amendment to regulations adopted in the wake of the "Tank" Black fiasco, the NFL Players Association has revoked the certification of former IMG agent Darrell Wills.

In a Tuesday afternoon telephone interview with Profootballtalk.com, NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen said that Wills was decertified last week by the NFLPA Committee on Agent Regulation and Discipline.

The revocation of Wills' certification was based upon allegations by the NFLPA that Wills interfered with contractual relations between IMG and its clients, and that Wills actually borrowed money from his player-clients to set up shop as a stand-alone agent.

Although the regulations ordinarily contemplate a procedure that unfolds over a period of months as opposed to days, Section 6(B) of the NFLPA Regulations Governing Contract Advisors provides for immediate revocation "[i]n the extraordinary circumstance where the Disciplinary Committee’s investigation discloses that the Contract Advisor’s conduct is of such a serious nature as to justify immediately revoking or suspending his/her Certification."

"After the 'Tank' Black case," Berthelsen said, "the player reps passed a special provision permitting the Committee on Agent Regulation and Discipline to revoke certification when a disciplinary case is initiated.  The quid pro quo is that the agent is entitled to an expedited appeal."

Indeed, Section 6(B) states that an expedited appeal is available.  Bethelsen told us that, although the Disciplinary Committee has confirmed that arbitrator Roger Kaplan is available as early as the week of May 3 to conduct a hearing regarding the matter, Wills has not yet filed an appeal.

Berthelsen also told us that the preliminary injunction obtained last week by IMG against Wills was lifted at the specific request of the firm, after the NFLPA suggested to IMG that the union has exclusive jurisdiction over the question of whether and to what extent an agent will be permitted to represent an NFL player.  The NFLPA then promptly decertified Wills, preventing any IMG clients from signing with Wills prior to the draft.

As reported by Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal, Wills told IMG that, in light of his intended departure, Wills had made arrangements to assume responsibility for players such as Michael Clayton, Ben Watson, Anquan Boldin, Onterrio Smith, Talman Gardner, and Alonzo Jackson.

Berthelsen explained to us that, although the representation agreement for these players shows Wills as the agent of record, the reality is that they signed not with Wills, but with IMG.  On the surface, the notion that an agent can tortiously interfere with himself (without risk of going blind) might seem odd.  But Berthelsen told us that the agreements reflect the name of an agent and not the name of the firm because the NFLPA cannot impose discipline on an agency.

Berthelsen also said that Wills had an "air-tight agreement" with IMG that made clear the nature of the relationship.  "It was understood that he was recruiting players on behalf of IMG, and that if he signed any players they were clients of IMG," Berthelsen said.

Players at all times retain the right to change agents.  But Berthelsen said that Wills essentially was attempting to enable players such as Clayton and Watson (both of whom went in the first round) to derive the benefit of IMG's training facilities and marketing muscle -- and then to reap the benefits of the fee exclusively for himself, once the players were drafted.  

Berthelsen told us that Wills initially offered to repay to IMG the expenses related to the training of the players from the players' signing bonuses.  In other words, if the players stayed with IMG, they wouldn't have been required to pay a dime for their training.  But if they had been permitted to go with Wills, Wills was willing to refund IMG's training expenses -- with player money!

Thus, the overall circumstances suggest that the decertification of Darrell Wills was a no-brainer.  Still, it's hard not to wonder whether the NFLPA would have moved with such speed and tenacity if the aggrieved firm were not IMG.  Such a perception flows from the fact that IMG represents both the Executive Director of the NFLPA and the President of the NFLPA.  (And for that reason alone the NFLPA eventually should take a long, hard look at issues relating to the actual or apparent conflicts of interest that arise when player agents also represent entities other than players.)

But let's not wallow in those issues for now.  The bottom line here is that, if the allegations against Wills are accurate, he engaged in some pretty stupid and/or downright bad behavior, and the consequence was justified.  

So in his quest to hoard a handful IMG clients, Wills apparently has destroyed a potentially promising career -- his own. 

CHILLI SAYS SHE WASN'T CHOKED BY LEWIS

In a statement released on Tuesday, Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas of the hip-hop band TLC denies that she was assaulted on Monday by linebacker Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens.

The rumor that Thomas was admitted to a Baltimore hospital courtesy a Ray Lewis whupping apparently has been making the rounds on talk radio.  We just caught wind of it from a reader, and we quickly tracked down her statement, which is posted on MTV's web site.

"I feel the need to respond to a malicious rumor circulating in the media today that I was beaten up by Ray Lewis last night and that I am in a hospital in Baltimore," Thomas says in the statement.  "The last time I was in Baltimore was while on tour with TLC in 1999.  I don't know how this rumor got started, or who started it, but I want to make it clear that it is totally false."

Though Thomas's statement doesn't comment on whether the two are an item, other web sites link Chilli and the man who became famous in part for his chant about Dawgs.

If the rumor were true, Thomas would be the second member of TLC to have had a run-in with an NFL player.  Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, who died in a car accident on April 25, 2002, had an on-again, off-again relationship with former NFL receiver Andre Rison, which included a fire that she started at Rison's mansion following a 1994 argument and a wedding that was postponed at the last minute in July 2001.

Word around the league is that the primary suitors for soon-to-be-former Giants quarterback Kerry Collins are the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders.

Collins refused on Monday to reduce his $7 million salary for 2004, which means that he'll be cut loose by the team in the near future.  Because Collins is in the final year of his contract, the team realizes no cap savings by delaying his release until after June 1.

The 49ers' interest in Collins isn't surprising, given that the team currently has Tim Rattay penciled in at the top of the depth chart.  The Niners cut Jeff Garcia when he refused to swallow a major pay cut for the coming year.

The Raiders' interest in Collins is a bit more surprising.  Owner Al Davis supposedly intends to keep 2002 MVP Rich Gannon, and Marques Tuiasosopo showed flashes of potential before an injury knocked him out for the balance of the 2003 season. 

In the end, Collins might have made more money by taking a pay cut and staying with the Giants.  But his objective apparently is to have a chance to start, both in 2004 and beyond.  In New York, the investment that the team has made in rookie Eli Manning means that Collins simply has no chance.

WINSLOW SHOULD GET PAID LIKE SIXTH PICK

In response to the suggestion by agent Kevin Poston that No. 6 overall pick Kellen Winslow should get paid more by the Cleveland Browns than his draft standing indicates, a league source tells us that Poston's opinion means nothing to the league's traditional process of slotting salaries based on draft status.

"Winslow went at six and will get paid like a guy picked at sixth," said the source.  "The fact that the Postons think he was worthy of being number one doesn't mean a thing.  If he was good enough to be number one he would have gotten drafted at one."

The source also proposes that Winslow might be in line for a bit more money -- but not from the Browns.  "Winslow should tell the Postons to pay him the difference" between what the fifth overall pick receives and what Winslow will get at No. 6. "It was because of his agents that he didn't go at five, and no other reason," the source opined.

The source, of course, if referring to the notion that the Redskins passed on Winslow with the fifth overall pick because of his selection of the Postons as his agents.  The Postons currently are embroiled in a dispute with the Redskins regarding the contract of linebacker LaVar Arrington, and it widely was reported prior to the draft that the team would pass on Winslow if he hired the Postons.

At one point, Winslow planned to delay his decision until after the draft.  But then word abruptly broke that he was going with the Postons -- and we heard that the Postons pushed for Winslow to make the selection known before the draft so that no credence would be given to the idea that Postons clients go lower because of their choice of representation.

For now, however, it seems like the Postons are the only ones who refuse to acknowledge the link between their clients' draft status and their clients' choice of agents.

SCOUTS SCOFF AT NFL WRITERS

One thing to keep in mind as every writer who ever has used the words "foot" and "ball" in the same sentence breaks down the 2004 draft is that none of us are truly qualified to do so.

And that's why you won't see us ever assigning grades or rankings to teams following the draft.

As one league insider explained to us on Monday, the media generally doesn't know what it's talking about when it comes to the evaluating NFL talent.

"I don't remember the last time a sports writer spent millions on scouting a football player," the source said.  "They spend $15.95 on draft books by [Mel] Kiper or Pro Football Weekly and think they have all the answers.  What they fail to realize is Kiper and the kid from Pro Football Weekly have never scouted a game in their lives.  They get info from scouts and the only info they get is what scouts want to tell them.  They have no idea about medical information or character information, which is huge in the evaluation process.

"It always amuses me when I read their reports because they know less than 25 percent of what the average scout knows. Yet the press use their books as expert opinions and even steal some of those reports when they give an opinion about a player.  In short, they have no clue and never will."

Ouch. 

But the guy is right.  Kiper is no scout.  Peter King is no scout.  Chris Mortensen is no scout. 

Scouts spend months reviewing film and talking to coaches and criss-crossing the country scrutinizing blue-chippers and searching for hidden gems.

The reward for a job well done?  They get to do it all over again.

So we've got a ton of respect for the guys who spend their time doing this, and we'll never pretend to have a fraction of the knowledge that they possess.  Instead, we (and all NFL writers) use what they choose to give us -- and unlike guys such as Kiper, we don't pretend to have all the answers.

That's precisely the point Bill Tobin was making ten years ago when he said that Kiper has no more credentials to criticize draft picks than Tobin's postman. 

And that's why Tobin's words struck a nerve with Kiper that day.

CLARIFYING THE UDEZE FAMILY AFFAIR

We made a slight boo-boo last week in reporting that agent Thomas Barnes snared USC defensive end Kenechi Udeze in part because he hired Udeze's brother.

As the Sports Business Journal reports, Barnes is Udeze's brother.

Udeze officially is represented by Barnes and Jamal Tooson.  Tooson is a law student in California and Barnes is a young lawyer in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Both Tooson and Barnes recently were certified to represent players by the NFLPA, and Udeze is their first client.

As one league source told us, "This is an example of what's wrong with the system.  The friends-and-family thing happens because people think the job is easy.  It isn't.  The sad part is that the player doesn't realize he's getting thrown under the bus when he's represented by someone who doesn't know what the hell he's doing."

In Udeze's case, Tooson and Barnes should have insisted that he return to Indianapolis on April 2 for the combine medical re-check.  Udeze's failure to show for the session likely caused several teams to conclude that his shoulder injury was worse than feared.

To the Vikings' credit, they likely recognized that Udeze's failure to report for the medical re-check was the result of poor advice from his agents.  Though it remains to be seen whether they snagged at No. 20 the defensive equivalent of a certain gamebreaking offensive player who fell into their laps at No. 21 six years ago, the simple truth is that he likely wouldn't have been on the board at No. 20 if Tooson and Barnes knew a little bit more about how to navigate the challenges that an agent faces in the days preceding the draft.   

TUESDAY ONE-LINERS

The Giants are interested in a trio of quarterbacks with Jets connections as possible tutors for Eli Manning -- Vinny Testaverde, Neil O'Donnell, and Jeff Blake.

Giants QB Jesse "the Bachelor" Palmer will get competition for the No. 3 spot on the depth chart from free-agent QB Jared "the Batch-Eater" Lorenzen.

Steelers QB Tommy Maddox put off a meeting with coach Bill Cowher and the Rooneys because "he's too emotional" in the wake of the team's decision to draft Ben Roethlisberger; is Maddox the only person who doesn't realize he sucked last year?

Bucs WR Keenan McCardell wants a contract reflecting his status as the team's top receiver.

The Steelers have informed WR Plaxico Burress that they'll let him know after the team's upcoming minicamp as to whether there will be negotiations to extend his contract, which expires after the 2004 season.

Bucs RB Michael Pittman began serving 30 days in jail for his May 2003 bumper car incident with his wife.

The Jags and DE Tony Brackens are trying to work out a contract, since the team drafted no defensive ends in the first two rounds.

Walter Payton's son, Jarrett, has signed with the Titans.

POSTED 9:12 a.m. EDT; UPDATED 9:55 a.m. EDT, April 26, 2004

In the immediate wake of the 2004 draft, multiple league sources tell us that the New York Giants nearly backed out of the blockbuster Rivers-for-Manning trade and dealt the No. 4 overall pick to the Browns, who would have drafted Miami safety Sean Taylor.

The deal was so close to happening that we initially heard from a league source on Saturday afternoon while the Giants were on the clock that it was a done deal.  In the end, the Giants opted instead for the trade with the Chargers.

We're also hearing that the maneuverings by the Browns helped to cement the Redskins' decision to draft Taylor over Hurricane teammate Kellen Winslow (scroll down).

Though it's not clear what the Giants would have done with the seventh overall pick, our guess is that they would have pulled the trigger on a quarterback, possibly opting for Ben Roethlisberger instead of Rivers.

We're also hearing that the New York Giants front office is divided as to the question of whether they'll be keeping quarterback Kerry Collins around for 2004.  

The biggest impediment to his tenure with the team is an $8.95 million cap number for 2004, $7 million of which will be saved if he's released.  Some members of the front office want to keep Collins at a reduced salary -- others want to dump Kerry and hand the ball to Eli.

Interestingly, support for Collins has been building because he hasn't been bitching about the team's decision to draft Manning.  

"If I'm here this year," Collins told the New York Times, "I'll give them everything I have."

Meanwhile, there are concerns that Eli Manning might not be sufficiently mature to withstand the pressure of being a starting quarterback under the microscope of the New York media.  Some league insiders are describing the youngest of the Manning brood as a "mama's boy," and that he doesn't have the same will and toughness of big brother Peyton.

Whether Eli can perform well in New York remains to be seen.  But we can't recall a young quarterback ever walking into a situation with so much pressure.

Sure, there have been other No. 1 overall picks at quarterback.  Some have done well (Troy Aikman), some haven't (Tim Couch).  

But there's never been a situation like this one, where the pick is made and then traded for another first-round quarterback and a truckload of other picks, including a first-rounder in 2005.

The pressure on Manning and the Giants will be even greater since they ultimately gave up a lot more for Manning on draft day than they would have sacrificed if they'd pulled the trigger a week or two earlier.  

Our guess is that, in the end, the Manning experiment won't work.  There's simply too much pressure on Eli for too many reasons, and our guess is that a rocky start will only get worse, and in a few years after Ernie Accorsi is retired and Tom Coughlin is poop-canned, Eli will be looking for a new team.

Maybe he'll sign with the Chargers to be Philip Rivers' backup.

GIBBS MADE CALL ON WINSLOW

A league source tells us that Redskins coach Joe Gibbs ultimately made the decision not to draft Miami tight end Kellen Winslow, II -- and that one of the deciding factors was his selection of agents Carl and Kevin Poston.

The source says that there were other members of the front office who wanted Winslow, but that Gibbs made the call -- and that owner Dan Snyder deferred to the dude who took the team to three Super Bowls in ten seasons.

There had been multiple reports prior to the draft that Winslow's selection of the Postons would cause the Redskins to pass, given the Postons' involvement in the claim by linebacker LaVar Arrington that the team had screwed him out of $6.5 million in his December 2003 contract extension. 

In the end, Winslow didn't fare much worse, going to the Browns with the very next pick.  Still, the initial comments from Kevin Poston (scroll down) seem to suggest that the Redskins might have made the right call.

COUGHLIN KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY

In the second round of a draft that eventually could turn out to be one of the most dubious in NFL history, the Giants selected Boston College offensive lineman Chris Snee.

Snee, coincidentally, has fathered a child with Coughlin's daughter, Katie.  Snee and Katie Coughlin aren't married, but they are raising the child together.

Though all parties have said that the pick had nothing to do with Snee's unintended contribution to the Coughlin family tree, we'd never expect anyone to admit that Coughlin consciously or unconsciously exercised his discretion in order to ensure that his daughter and grandchild would be living close by -- or that the grandchild's daddy would be making the most coin possible.

"Chris was the No. 1 guard on our board," Coughlin said in defending the move -- as if the board magically is generated through an objective, unbiased process with guarantees that no untoward influences infect the player rankings.

And even if Snee's relationship to the Coughlin family really didn't have anything to do with the pick, good luck convincing his teammates of that.  As we see it, Snee's presence will be nothing more than a potential source of resentment or acrimony, especially if, for example, there's a perception in the locker room that Snee isn't good enough to start -- but he's put at the top of the depth chart anyway.

With the Giants breaking in a new coaching staff and adding a new big-name quarterback about whom some players already are more than a bit leery, the last thing the organization needs is a sense that Coughlin is using his position to take care of family business.  

Thus, we would've passed on Snee.  

(And if Katie Coughlin had done the same, her old man wouldn't be in this predicament.)

Less than 24 hours after the Cleveland Browns selected their marquee client from the 2004 draft, Kellen Winslow, II, the Poston brothers already are puffing their chests and preparing for contentious negotiations with the Browns.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kevin Poston said on Saturday that he'll bargain with the Browns as if Winslow had been taken at any spot among the top six players.

"This was the most intriguing draft I've been around because you had six players who could've gone No. 1 overall," Poston said. "If the Jets had the No. 1 pick, they would've picked Kellen. A lot of teams had him No. 1 on their board."

In contrast, Winslow said he'd be happy with a fair raise over what the sixth overall pick received in 2003.  "The way I see it, give me the sixth-pick money," Winslow said.  "Look at last year's pick and I'm in camp.  That's the way I see it."

Later, Poston sounded a different tune.  "Kellen could easily be the LeBron James of the Browns," Poston said. "He's that talented. When you negotiate with top-value guys, to come up with that value is not easy."

Will Poston say that he can get Winslow to training camp on time?  "No, I can't.  You try to.  It takes two to dance.  You have to look at who the sixth pick was, who his agent was and other variables.  It's not in a vacuum like that.

"Kellen is the top-ranked tight end ever to come out of college," Poston said.  "It's in everyone's best interest to get him in on time, but if he gets in on time and doesn't have true value, what's the purpose?"

Poston also dismissed suggestions (which, by the way, originated right here) that the Redskins passed on Winslow at No. 5 because he is represented by the Postons -- who currently are involved in a $6.5 million stare-down with the 'Skins involving the contract of linebacker LaVar Arrington.

"I talked to coach [Joe] Gibbs. Believe me, he's not going to sleep well tonight. Kellen Winslow is the best tight end he's seen in 27 years of football and he was No. 1 on a lot of people's boards."

Gibbs might not have slept well last night, but we have a feeling that Browns coach Butch Davis will be staring at the ceiling on more than a few occasions as July becomes August -- and as Winslow isn't in camp.

CONDON PULLS OFF POWER PLAY

Though the final payoff didn't come before the Chargers took Eli Manning with the first overall pick in the draft, agent Tom Condon finally completed a major power play when Manning got his wish:  A trade from San Diego to the New York Giants.

League insiders are calling it just that -- a move engineered by Condon to fulfill several of his own objectives, after he persuaded Manning and his family that it was in Eli's interests not to play for the Chargers and to pursue a career in New York.

As a result, Condon places a high-profile signal-caller in the world's biggest TV market, he proves to the NFL universe that he's capable of pulling the league's strings, and he puts himself in position to reel in 20 percent of Eli's Broadway-based marketing revenue, which isn't a bad complement to the three-percent cap on his fee from Manning's football salary.

The only potential downside for Condon is that he still might be fired by Chargers quarterback Drew Brees, who'll presumably lose his starting gig (if not his place on the roster) since Condon's maneuverings resulted in quarterback Philip Rivers being added to the Chargers as the fourth overall selection.

But Brees' eventual decision might hinge on whether the Bolts hand the ball to Rivers from the outset of his rookie season.  If Brees keeps his starting job, Brees might not make a change.

Our prediction, however, is that coach Marty Schottenheimer will make Rivers his week one starter, if for no reason other than to finagle up to two more years as the team's taskmaster.  Although Marty is supposed to be on the hot seat in 2004, it's harder to justify firing him in January 2005 (or sooner) if he installs Rivers from day one.

Condon's plan also left some tarnish on the Manning family name.  Eli was booed mercilessly whenever his name was mentioned during the draft coverage, and league insiders have expressed to us their disapproval of Manning's refusal to play for the Chargers.

Eli's behavior also prompted some league execs to raise questions regarding whether there are more similarities than differences between the brothers Manning.  There is lingering criticism in league circles regarding Peyton's monstrous signing bonus and contract -- and more than a few folks firmly believe that Peyton eventually will experience due to his greed the same problems that guys like Troy Aikman, Jake Plummer, Drew Bledsoe, and Steve Young faced after the fallout from their huge contracts resulted in a diminished supporting case on offense, which resulted in them taking too many hits -- and which as to Aikman and Young resulted in a  premature conclusion to their careers.

Finally, we're hearing that roughly 15 percent of all NFL teams had Eli Manning listed as the third best quarterback in the draft, behind Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger.  One high-level exec told us that Manning might be better prepared to play now, but that Rivers and Roethlisberger have more potential down the road.

STEELERS GET IT RIGHT

Though we'll never know whether the Steelers genuinely were interested in quarterback Philip Rivers, since he was gone seven spots before Pittsburgh used its pick, the Steelers made the right call, in our view, by pouncing on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The Steelers haven't had a long-term, proven quarterback since Terry Bradshaw retired in 1983, and they desperately need continuity at the position, where guys like Mark Malone and Bubby Brister and Neil O'Donnell and Mike Tomczak and Kent Graham and Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox have shown periodic flashes of brilliance, wrapped around longer stretches of mediocrity.

Though Roethlisberger once was considered to be a potential top five pick, we first envisioned the possibility of Big Ben falling to No. 11 in late February.  Once others picked up on the possibility of the Steelers taking Roethlisberger or Philip Rivers, they tried their best to put out the word that they weren't interested in a quarterback -- primarily focusing their denials on Rivers, whom many folks thought would be the best quarterback left on the board at No. 11.

Instead, it was Roethlisberger, and the Steelers did enough to keep another team from jumping ahead of them and snagging the man from Miami (Ohio). 

UDEZE FALLS TO VIKES

The Minnesota Vikings took a gamble in round one of the draft, due to reports of a shoulder injury that pushed defensive end Kenechi Udeze from the top ten to the 20th overall pick.

As we reported -- and as most of the mainstream media ignored until draft day -- Udeze likely has a torn labrum, which some teams think will require surgery.  Concerns regarding his condition escalated when he failed to report for the combine medical re-check on April 2.

Earlier this week, Udeze's agent, Thomas Barnes, acknowledged that Udeze didn't show for the re-check due to a scheduling conflict, a contention that raised the eyebrows of more established agents.  As several agents told us, there's no excuse for failing to miss the medical re-check, and the move invited speculation that Udeze had something to hide.

If/when Udeze gets healthy, he gives the Vikings something they've lacked since Chris Doleman was in his prime -- a speed rusher who can take advantage of beef in the middle of the line (Chris Hovan, Kevin Williams) to make a bee line to the quarterback.

The Vikes also deserve kudos for getting the Dolphins to give up a fourth-round pick for the right to move up one spot.  The move allowed them to get the guy they wanted anyway -- and they'll pay him less money under the slotting system.

Given that the Vikings' much ballyhooed gaffes in round one in 2003 and 2004 resulted in them avoiding turd-in-training Ryan Sims in 2003 (they got tackle Bryant McKinnie instead) and landing the guy they wanted (Kevin Williams) for a lower contract in 2004, we hope that the folks at ESPN do some booty-smooching for Meathead Tice and company, given that they squeezed the nuts of the increasingly desperate Dolphins' front office and still got the guy they wanted all along.

Finally, and as we predicted, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue found a way to butcher Udeze's name from the podium, calling him "Oo-da-zay."

LEONARD IN MORE THAN A LITTLE TROUBLE?

The news that Rams defensive end Leonard Little was arrested for DUI on Saturday is potentially far more serious than the run-of-the-mill drunk-driving charge.

Due to Little's guilty plea to charges of involuntary manslaughter after killing Susan Gutweiler while on a 24th birthday drinking binge in October 1998, Little might have violated his probation.

The answer to that question presently is unclear, for several reasons.  Little's guilty plea came in June 1999, and he was sentenced to 90 nights in jail, 1,000 hours community service, and four years' probation.

A January 28, 2000 story from CNNSI.com suggests that the probation period didn't begin until after Little logged his 90 nights and 1,000 hours.  If this is accurate -- and if Little didn't complete the hoosegow and community service time before April 24, 2000, Saturday's arrest translates to a violation of his probation.

And if he violated probation resulting from the charge of involuntary manslaughter, Little might be playing for the Mean Machine come September.

Between observing the fact that Mel Kiper is starting to look like Jay Leno more and more each day and that Andrea Kramer seems to be looking more crotch-way than face-way, we hear that some of the Giants brass and locker room is none too happy about the forced Archie . . .  uh Eli Manning trade to the NYC boys.  From "we gave up way too much for a guy who listens to Daddy Dearest and seems to be a pussy" to "if he thinks he's going to come in here and everybody's going to love his greedy sorry ass he's full of sh-t" look for rough waters for Eli. Plus we hear that he will ask for #1 pick money -- which will further piss off the Giants vets (and fans).

SMITH WILL WATCH THE 2005 DRAFT - AT HOME

Word from several front office personnel guys is that Chargers GM A.J. Smith's handling of the Eli Manning affair -- even with all the traded picks -- seals his fate that he will not be back as the San Diego General Manager after 2004. Per one source : "Smith kind of fell into the job anyway when John Butler died . . . and has not shown any clear direction in what he does -- including getting strong-armed by Eli's daddy." Per another source "if Schottenheimer has a good season this year Smith's ass is gone . . . Marty will hire one of his cronies" (as in yes men). 

WILLIAMS AGENT GOES SELF-PRESERVATION?

We had to chuckle at the comment of one Pro Personnel guy today when told that Mike "Hello Supplemental Draft" Williams' agent Mike Azzarelli is telling all that he sent his disbarred client out of the country so Williams would not be offended by the NFL Draft doings. Per our jokester: "Yea right -- maybe he was worried about the Mike Danton agent dilemma coming into effect -- and figured that if his guy was out of the country he would be safer."

Though the Manning-to-New York scenario is looking less likely by the hour, we're hearing that several NFL teams are slobbering all over themselves like Homer Simpson at the possibility that a big, balding donut named Kerry Collins might hit the open market.

Word is that Miami, Dallas, Arizona, and possibly the Steelers would jump into the bidding for Collins if/when he hits the open market.

And if Eli ends up with the Giants, Collins most definitely will be gone.  Sure, the G-men would offer Collins something to stick around as the No. 2 guy, but with the chance to end up somewhere else as the starter we doubt Kerry would swallow a big pay cut from his current $7 million salary.

Especially when he has other options.  As one league source told us, "He's tough, he learned from past mistakes, he plays hurt, and he never bitches -- he's a poor man's Brett Favre."

WARNER WON'T GET MANY BITES

Contrary to Collins, don't look for Rams quarterback Kurt Warner to be fighting off gentleman callers when he becomes available after June 1.

Several league insiders believe that Warner still is not physically or mentally ready to take NFL hits again -- and there's a concern that he never will be.

There's another small problem generally known as Mrs. Warner.  

"She's a pain in the ass and she leads him around like a f--king clown," one league source told us.  Her history of active involvement in her husband's affairs -- including a phone call to a radio station during which she labeled coach Mike Martz a liar -- is a significant deterrent for any team who might otherwise be interested.

WAR ROOMS READY TO ROLL

With the draft one day away, let's take a general look at the structure of a standard NFL war room.

A league source tells us that teams have a main draft board containing all players whom each franchise thinks will be drafted, with the players ranked and/or organized based on each team's assessments.

The teams also have separate boards containing "priority" free agents and "street" free agents.  Priority free agents are guys who might have a shot at making the team -- street free agents are the NFL's human tackling dummies who'll fill up the roster and give the veterans a moving target to dismantle during minicamps and training camp.

And even before the draft, teams begin to make contact with representatives of players who have been targeted as priority free agents in an effort to line the guy up to sign a contract if he isn't drafted by someone else.

Word out of New York as of Thursday evening is that no discussions are occurring between the Chargers and the Giants regarding a trade of the No. 1 overall pick, and there's a growing feeling that the Chargers won't be able to get a deal done with anyone before Saturday.

Contrary to our initial conclusion that the Manning maneuver would drive down the Chargers' asking price for the No. 1 slot, San Diego now must get even more than they initially wanted in order to create the appearance that they made the trade not because Eli Manning and agent Tom Condon put a gun to their head, but because it was a good trade.

In 2001, then-Chargers coach Mike Riley described the trade that gave Atlanta the No. 1 overall pick (with which they took quarterback Mike Vick) as a deal that was "too good to pass up," and it'll take a similar package now to justify a trade, since everyone's reaction otherwise will be that the Chargers caved in.

In 2001, the Chargers got the fifth overall pick along with Atlanta's third-round choice in 2001, second-round choice in 2002, and receiver Tim Dwight.  The thinking is, then, that the Chargers would need to finagle something in that same ballpark this time around.

The problem is that it likely won't happen.

After all, when the price tag for flip-flopping first-rounders was only a second-round pick, the Chargers could find no takers.  Now that they're seemingly more desperate to make the move, teams never will cough up even more to make it happen.

At least one league insider believes that the Chargers ultimately will have to use the pick -- and draft Manning -- despite threats by Eli to sit out the entire season.  As a worst-case scenario, the Chargers would hold his rights through the 2004 season and trade him to another team next spring, a la the Texans and Drew Henson.

For agent Tom Condon, the effort to force the Chargers not to take Manning could blow up in his face.  For starters, current Chargers quarterback Drew Brees likely will fire Condon shortly after Manning's name is called on Saturday by the Chargers.  Then, with Manning on the shelf for a full year, Condon won't get three percent of Manning's eight-figure signing bonus -- which translates to at least $300,000 out of Condon's pocket in 2004.

Also, the entire episode could make teams shy away from Condon clients in the future, pursuant to what we'll call the "Poston effect."

As to Eli Manning, league insiders are questioning his reputation for having a high degree of character.  If he really is one of the few NFL good guys, wouldn't he welcome the challenge to transform a moribund franchise, just like big brother Peyton did in Indy after being drafted No. 1 overall in 1998?

"The kid is coming across like everything his brother isn't," one source told us.

Some league insiders also think that Archie Manning got involved because the success of his offspring has caused many fans to forget that Archie was the original Manning.  Peyton and Eli are no longer "Archie Manning's kids"; instead, Archie is becoming "Peyton and Eli Manning's dad" -- and that's a serious blow to the ego of any former high-level jock.

A league source tells us that Giants quarterback Kerry Collins will promptly get a Big Blue shoe in his anal cleft if/when the G-men pull off a trade that will enable them to snag Eli Manning with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

Collins carries a ginormous cap number of $8.954 million into the 2004 season, $7 million of which can be dumped if/when Collins is released.

Since 2004 is the final year of Collins' deal, cutting him before or after June 1 won't affect the cap situation.

Word is that Collins was moping around the team's facility on Thursday as rumors of Manning's arrival intensified. 

That mope-a-rama will devolve into a full-blown squall session once, as now expected, Collins' $7 million goes buh-bye.

We're trying to confirm rumors that the temporary injunction that IMG obtained against former agent Darrell Wills was lifted on Thursday by a Florida appeals court.

To our continued amazement, the mainstream sports media continue generally to ignore (with the exception of Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal) this and other juicy agent industry squabbles.

Wills gave notice earlier this month to IMG that he was leaving, and he told IMG that he'd already made arrangements to represent six IMG clients.

IMG managed to initially block Wills from pilfering these players, notwithstanding the fact that Wills likely faces NFLPA discipline if he indeed recruited the IMG clients to leave while he still was an IMG employee.

But NFLPA discipline and court action are two different things, and it's conceivable that Wills won't be slapped with an injunction -- but that he might eventually be de-certified by the union.

JAGS JUMPING TO NO. 2?

Word around the league is that the Jacksonville Jaguars remain very interested in leaping to the No. 2 spot in the draft via a trade with the Raiders, where the Jags would select receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

The big "if" here is whether the Raiders decide to pounce on Fitzgerald themselves.  If the Raiders don't want Fitz, then look for a deal to be made.

Also, don't rule out the end result being a trade between the Raiders and the Cardinals.  Once the Raiders get the best offer out of Jacksonville, they'll likely call Denny Green and see if he'll top it for the right to reel in Fitzgerald, whom he undoubtedly covets dating back to their days together in Minnesota.

Other teams who could be interested in moving to No. 2 include the Falcons and the Browns.

JETS MOVING UP FOR CORNER?

With the Texans poised to draft cornerback Dunta Robinson at No. 10 and DeAngelo Hall certain to be gone before that, the Jets are looking to trade into the top ten for a crack at either of them.

To get there, the Jets will at a minimum need to move to the No. 9 spot, which soon could be in the hands of the Raiders.  If the Raiders chose to slid back a few more spots -- to draft, for example, Oregon State running back Steven Jackson -- a swap with the Jets could be a perfect match.

Based in large part on the NFL's commitment to hold a supplemental draft in the event that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the lower court ruling allowing him into the draft, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has refused to lift the stay imposed earlier this week, which will bar Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams from this weekend's draft.

Justice Ginsburg, in a brief written opinion, declined Clarett's motion to lift the stay imposed earlier this week by the Second Circuit, after oral arguments were heard regarding the question of whether Clarett should be barred from the draft.

But as the Second Circuit continues to mull over the issue, Clarett, Williams, and a group of no-names won't be on the draft board.

Meanwhile, Clarett and Williams should commence the process of getting back into the NCAA for 2004, if they are so inclined.  Although initial indications were that neither would have a chance to return to college ball, it's possible that the NCAA will find a way to let them back in, especially if the ultimate outcome is that the NCAA will be able to preserve its monopoly on players less than three years removed from high school. 

Reaction around the league to the decision of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning to insinuate himself into his son Eli's draft prospects has been swift, and harsh.

The consensus, based on the folks we've heard from, is that Archie should keep his mouth shut.

The NFL process is that players get drafted.  Sometimes players don't like their destination.  Usually, they bite their lips and cash their checks.

Not since John Elway (who ironically spurned big brother Peyton's Colts in 1983) has a college prospect attempted such a power play in order to dictate to the league the team for which he'll suit up.

The difference between Elway and Eli is that John had a little thing known as leverage.  He could've played major league baseball right away, if he'd chosen not to sign with the Colts.

Eli has no such option.  If he's going to play in the NFL, he's going to play for the team that writes his name on the piece of paper that gets handed to Tagliabue on Saturday.

For the NFL and the Chargers, it's an unwelcome distraction for a draft season that already has been undermined by the Maurice Clarett litigation.  And giving in to Manning sets a precedent for the league far worse than the potential fallout from underclassmen getting into the draft.  If Manning pulls this one off, you can bet that other players will play the "I don't want to be drafted by the worst team from last year" card in the not-too-distant future.

But if the Chargers take Manning with the No. 1 pick, they're setting themselves up for endless criticism unless Eli instantly becomes a superstar.  Even then, our guess is that Eli will play out his initial contract and then hit the open market.

So even though Eli and Archie has committed a serious breach protocol by trying to dictate his team on the eve of the draft, the only thing for the Chargers to do at this point is to trade out of the top spot.  

Our guess is that, even though the Giants might eventually get Manning at No. 4, the Chargers should try to keep Manning from getting the booty that goes with being the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

Other candidates to move up are the Jags from No. 9 (to get Larry Fitzgerald), the Cards from No. 3 (to get Fitzgerald), or the Browns from No. 7 (to get Robert Gallery or Larry Fitzgerald).

The good news for any team interested in moving up is that the Chargers might be forced to drop their prior request of a first-round and a second-round pick.  Previously, teams were willing to consider swapping No. 1's and giving up a third-rounder.

Either way, it's a lot better than the predicament the Chargers will face if they keep and use the pick. 

GIANTS LEANING TO ROETHLISBERGER?

A league source tells us that, unless the Giants trade up to No. 1 for Eli Manning or unless Manning falls to No. 4, the G-men likely will draft Miami (Ohio) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Though there are dissenting voices in the front office (including some folks who want the team to draft Iowa tackle Robert Gallery), the current consensus is to go with a quarterback -- and specifically to grab Roethlisberger if Manning is gone.

We're hearing that, although this approach meshes with the preferences of coach Tom Coughlin, Coughlin isn't ramming the pick down anyone's throat.  Instead, the decision to take Roethlisberger (again, if Manning is gone) is the product of genuine give-and-take among the powers-that-be.

UDEZE FLUNKED JAGS' PHYSICAL?

Contrary to published reports that the Jacksonville Jaguars didn't examine defensive end Kenechi Udeze when he visited the team on April 12 -- and therefore they necessarily are in the dark regarding the condition of his shoulder -- a league source tells us that the Jags did in fact examine Udeze, and that he flunked the physical.

So why wouldn't the Jags say so?  Because there's still a chance that other teams will think the Jaguars want to draft Udeze, which could prompt a lower-positioned team to jump above Jacksonville to take Udeze, which would push another guy whom the Jags might take farther down the board. 

Though we mentioned several weeks back the possibility that the Steelers could trade receiver Plaxico Burress to the Chiefs for the 30th overall pick in the draft, no other teams seemed to take notice at the time.

But when we mentioned it again recently, several other teams took notice.

With USC receiver Mike Williams now out of the draft, teams who were banking on drafting a wideout in round one now could turn to the Steelers with an offer to ship their top pick in exchange for Burress, who was drafted by Pittsburgh in the first round of the 2000 draft and who is entering the final year of his contract.

With more pressing needs to fill and a glut of receivers such as Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El, we don't expect Burress to be back in the 'Burgh in 2005.  The bigger question is whether he'll still be a Steeler come Sunday.

Multiple league sources have told us that Rams coach Mike Martz was called on the carpet by the front office for letting the cat out of the bag regarding the team's plans for quarterback Kurt Warner.

Per one source, the front office wanted to try to restructure his contract and trade him to another team.  With Martz blabbing to Warner about getting cut, the team's leverage in trade talks essentially disappeared.

On Monday, Martz told Warner that the team probably would release him after June 1.  This news prompted Warner's agent, Mark Bartelstein, to go public -- as he should have.

The end result, of course, is that the Rams compromised their ability to trade Warner or to draft a quarterback this weekend.

Team president John Shaw didn't make the situation any better, telling the New York Times that Warner would be released only if Marc Bulger signs a long-term deal (the price tag for which instantly went up) and if the team drafts a quarterback.  Of course, if those two things happen, the Rams definitely will no zero trade leverage.

So as the Rams try to scrape the ketchup off of their faces and put it back into the bottle, the end result could be that they can't sign Bulger (or at a minimum that his price tag will be too high), that they won't get the guy they wanted in the draft, and they'll get no value in trade for Warner.

And though the Rams are now trying to suggest that Warner and Bartelstein overreacted to the news and that Warner still could return, the damage has been done.  No one now believes that Warner will be back -- and not many did before Monday.

There's a rumor making the rounds in league circles that Eli Manning has let the Chargers know that he will not agree to a pre-draft contract with the team that currently holds the No. 1 overall pick.

Last season, the Bengals inked No. 1 overall pick Carson Palmer to a pre-draft contract.  The year before, the Texans did the same with David Carr.

This time around, however, there apparently will be no such deal -- which likely means that the identity of the first overall pick will remain unknown until Saturday afternoon.

Manning's agent, Tom Condon, is famous (or, as some would say, infamous) for doing last-minute deals that convert the urgency into maximum coin.  His most recent blockbuster came on behalf of Eli's brother Peyton, who re-upped with the Colts days before the team was required to slash and burn cap space in order to squeeze Peyton's franchise player cap number of more than $18 million under the 2004 ceiling.

So perhaps Condon hopes to do the same thing with Manning, if the Chargers take him notwithstanding his refusal to sign a contract now.  Given the inflation of the market for quarterbacks resulting from Peyton's deal, why shouldn't Condon try to apply that new market to the only spot in the draft that isn't limited by the slotting system?

The risk, of course, is that Manning won't get taken by the Chargers at No. 1 -- or by the Raiders at No. 2 or by the Cardinals at No. 3.  The downside, then, is a few million that Manning otherwise would've earned with the contract that goes with being the No. 1 pick.

SHARPE ANNOUNCEMENT A SMOKESCREEN?

Our initial reaction to the delayed announcement on Wednesday that tight end Shannon Sharpe is returning to the Broncos for another season was that the team and Sharpe possibly were in cahoots on this one, saying publicly that Sharpe is coming back so that the Broncos can take tight end Ben Troupe at No. 17 on Saturday with no risk of being jumped.

For this to be accurate, of course, Sharpe would have to be willing to play along with the Broncos.  And perhaps his years of success with the team might have prompted him to agree to a ruse that would help the Broncos secure his replacement.

A league source said in response to this potential scenario that "Shannon Sharpe isn't doing anything for anyone other than himself."

The source added that perhaps a $500,000 payment from coach Mike Shanahan might prompt Sharpe to play such a game, but that he won't extend any gratuities to the team based merely on his history in Denver.

Word out of Big D is that the Cowboys are looking to move up in the draft, with an eye toward grabbing Oregon State running back Steven Jackson.

As we see it, the 'Boys need to blow by the Bucs, who currently hold the No. 15 selection -- and whose best option at tailback is 32-year-old Charlie Garner.  If Jackson is still on the board when the Bucs pick, it's hard to imagine them not taking him.

And if the Lions don't take Jackson, the only team who has a glaring need before the Bucs are the Browns at No. 7.  But Butch Davis likely will be gun shy, since he wasted a first-round pick in 2002 on underachieving tailback William Green.

So once Jackson clears the seven spot, it'll likely be a free fall to No. 15.  (We still don't rule out the Steelers at 11 or the Jets at 12 or the Bears at 14 taking a shot at Jackson, depending on who else is available at the time.)

Don't look for the 'Boys to make a move until draft day.  Otherwise, they'll be exposed to a possible leap frog by the Broncos or the Eagles before they get a chance to make the pick.

NINERS MOVING UP?

We're hearing that, with Mike Williams likely out of the draft, the 49ers might try to move up in round one to guarantee a shot at an elite receiver, such as Roy Williams or Reggie Williams. 

Both Williamses likely will be gone by the time the 49ers pick at No. 16, especially if Mike Williams doesn't get back in.

The 49ers desperately need receivers, given that Terrell Owens at Tai Streets are gone.  Currently, the roster contains a gaggle of no-names, such as Cedrick Wilson, Arnaz Battle, Arland Bruce, Brandon Lloyd, James Jordan, and Brian Poli-Dixon.

Sheesh.  We'd take Freddie Solomon, Dwight Clark, and Skeets Nehemiah.  Now, complete with creaky knees and pot bellies.

BILLS TAKING AIM AT ROY?

If the Niners are going to make a move north, they'll need to worry about the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills expected Mike Williams to fall into their laps at No. 13.  Now that Mike Williams is gone, the Bills are plotting a leap into the top ten (and perhaps the top five) in an effort to snag Roy Williams.

The Bills' offense took a hit after 2002, when Peerless Price was franchised and later dealt to the Falcons.  Josh Reed didn't step up as a complement to Eric Moulds, and the presence of Roy Williams could open the field up, again, for suddenly embattled quarterback Drew Bledsoe.

SOME TEAMS SYMPATHIZE WITH WILLIAMS

Keeping with this whole Mike Williams thing, our discussions with sources at several teams over the past few days generated surprisingly sympathetic sentiments for Williams, who entered the draft only after the NFL threw the doors open to all comers regardless of age -- and then slammed it in Williams' face when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the ruling allowing Maurice Clarett into the draft.

"Williams is an innocent bystander," said one team source.  "If they want to exclude Clarett, fine.  But why punish Williams when all he did what was respond to an opportunity presented to him by the NFL?"

The key issue, as we see it, is whether the invitation extended by the NFL to all otherwise ineligible players was conditioned upon the viability of the ruling in the Clarett case.  Toward this end, the only thing we could find is the memo from the league office to the 32 member clubs regarding the decision to let the youngsters in.

As the league wrote to its teams on February 6, one day after the Clarett ruling was handed down:  "Unless the ruling is stayed by the courts, players who did not meet the prior eligibility requirements (three football seasons after high school graduation) will be eligible for the 2004 NFL Draft."

But was this same message communicated to Williams?  If it wasn't, Williams would seem to have a good argument that he should be permitted to enter the draft even if the courts don't let Mo Clarett back in.

According to NFL V.P. of public relations Greg Aiello, however, Williams indeed got the message.  Aiello told us on Tuesday night that Williams "knew we were seeking a stay and, if granted, we would not allow the new group of underclassmen into the draft."

Aiello was unequivocal -- "Williams was told this directly by our office before he applied."

As we see it, then, no tears should be shed for Williams.  He knew when he applied for the draft that he might not get into the NFL.

Hopefully for Mike Azzarelli (and/or his malpractice carrier), Williams also understood that when he signed with an agent he might have prevented himself from getting back into USC.

CHIEFS LOOKING TO RISE?

Although the Chiefs previously were interested in shipping the 30th overall pick to the Steelers for receiver Plaxico Burress, we're now hearing that the Chiefs are looking to move up in the draft, in an effort to select a defensive tackle.

And as Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock explained on Sunday, the move could be a shot across the bow at 2002 first-round pick, defensive tackle Ryan Sims.

Sims has been a disappointment to date for the Chiefs, following a holdout and injury in 2002 and a part-time performance in 2003, apparently due to a lack of upper body strength.

The move also suggests that the Chiefs might eventually trade or cut Sims, whose rookie contract has five more seasons.

IMG NERVOUS ABOUT DEFECTIONS

Word around the league is that the folks at mega-firm IMG are worried that the six guys who planned to bolt with former IMG agent Darrell Wills could even up leaving the agency despite a temporary injunction prevented Wills from representing any of them.

Michael Clayton, Ben Watson, Anquan Boldin, Onterrio Smith, Talman Gardner, and Alonzo Jackson were ready to jump ship, and it's possible that Wills had them sign and submit letters to the NFLPA terminating their relationships with IMG.

Such a move would leave them free and clear of any obligation to IMG -- and potentially the property of any other agent.

Word around the league is that the Oakland Raiders (and specifically owner Al Davis) suddenly are smitten with Pitt receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and that the Raiders could end up taking Fitzgerald with the No. 2 overall pick.

We're hearing that Davis regards Fitzgerald as the next Cris Carter.  No offense to Carter, but we think Fitz will be even better.  As we see it, Fitzgerald does all the things Carter did well -- and Fitz can also do the things that Carter couldn't.

Though Fitzgerald isn't a speedster, he runs far better than Carter, who on his rare visits to the open field seemed to be moving as if he were carrying the ball in his egg hole . . . sideways.

Of course, the only sure thing when it comes to the Raiders and the draft is that they'll do something unpredictable.  But since Davis loves raw speed, drafting Fitzgerald would be as unpredictable as it gets.

Then again, the Raiders have done fairly well with Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, and Jerry Porter -- and no one ever will confuse any of them with Cliff Branch.

UDEZE'S AGENT TALKS TO PFT

After reading agent Thomas Barnes' quotes in Wednesday's Florida Times-Union (scroll down for the story), we here at Profootballtalk.com decided to pick up the phone and give Mr. Barnes a call to discuss the rampant rumors regarding the condition of defensive end Kenechi Udeze's shoulder.

We started the conversation with a simple question -- Is it true that Udeze didn't show for the combine medical re-check?

Barnes' response:  "It's true."

Barnes told us that Udeze had a scheduling conflict that prevented him from flying back to Indy for the April 2 session.  Barnes also explained that Udeze offered to make the trek at a later date -- and at his own expense.

On the surface, it seems like a common-sensical gesture.  As a league source later told us, however, the problem is that the medical re-check is attended by NFL team doctors who fly back to Indy on a date certain.  Thus, as a practical matter, postponement isn't an option.

The source also told us that, contrary to Barnes' statements in the Times-Union, the issue isn't Udeze's rotator cuff, but his labrum. 

So with a possibly torn labrum, how can a guy bench press 225 pounds 25 times at his pro day workout?

Per the source, use of a closed grip transfers much of the strain from the shoulders to the triceps (feel free to try this at your desks -- the boss isn't looking).  So, in theory, a guy with a bad labrum or two can still throw up the iron.

On the field, however, a torn labrum will manifest itself when a defensive end tries to extend his arms to fight off a blocker.

Barnes told the Times-Union that an MRI was conducted on Udeze's shoulder, and that teams can review the image of the joint.

We asked our source whether a torn labrum can be spotted on an MRI. 

"Sure," the source said.  "It's like spotting a whore in church."

We appreciate the fact that Barnes chose to speak with us, but the situation could be another example of what can happen when an inexperienced agent gets his baptism into the business with a first-rounder as a client.  Barnes first became certified by the NFLPA in September 2003, and we've been told that he was able to land Udeze in part because Barnes gave a job to Udeze's brother.

By the way, Barnes has no other active clients.

And as any experienced agent knows, no player ever should fail to report to the medical re-check.  Ever.

Let's try that again. 

Ever.

Although Udeze visited Jacksonville, Detroit, Washington, and Minnesota last week, it's unknown whether and to what extent team doctors examined Udeze's shoulder.  The Jags, as reported by the Times-Union, didn't.

So the end result is that there's now a cloud hovering over Udeze, regardless of the fact that he recorded three sacks in the Rose Bowl after suffering the shoulder injury in a late-season game against Oregon State.  And Barnes will now be hard pressed to remove any doubt regarding Udeze's shoulder in the hours that remain before Commissioner Paul Tagliabue starts butchering names at the MSG podium.

And maybe that's the silver lining for Udezi.  If he's on the board after Tags hands the reins to Gene Washington, his family will never have to hear (obstruct nostrils before speaking):

"With the ninth pick in the draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars select Ken-eck-Hi You-Deez."

The New York Times reports that the St. Louis Rams dispute reports that quarterback Kurt Warner will be released after June 1.

"What coach [Mike Martz] told Kurt and what Kurt interpreted are two different things," Rams president John Shaw told the Times in a telephone interview.

"The coach told Kurt, out of his respect for him, that there was the possibility he would be released on June 1.  That would be contingent on us signing Marc Bulger to a long-term deal as our starting quarterback and us drafting a quarterback this weekend.  Those two things would have to happen.  They haven't happened yet."

Shaw suggested that the Rams would try to get value on the market for Warner before cutting him loose.  "Before anything like him being cut would happen, we would try to trade him, and I think Kurt has value.  And if we were planning to cut him all along, why would we back in March give him a $1.25 million roster bonus?"

Meanwhile, Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil says that he won't be reuniting with Warner in Kansas City.  "You have to have interest in Kurt Warner, but we can't have interest in Kurt Warner because he's a starter in the National Football League and we have a starting quarterback in Trent Green,” Vermeil said. 

UDEZE'S AGENT DISPUTES INJURY RUMORS

The Florida Times-Union reports that agent Thomas Barnes disputes rumors that USC defensive end Kenechi Udeze has a torn labrum in his shoulder.

"If you can do 25 reps of 225 [pounds], then I don't think you have a torn rotator cuff,'' Barnes said.

Still, Barnes acknowledged that Udeze injured his shoulder in a late-season game against Oregon State.  He was sufficiently healthy in the Rose Bowl to record three sacks.

The Times-Union suggests that the Jaguars might be interested in Udeze but for the rumors.  The Jags, for now, are keeping their lips zipped.  "We're aware of some questions about his shoulder, but we're not going to reveal our medical opinion here,'' Jaguars V.P. of personnel James Harris said. "Doing so might affect our position in the draft.''

Coach Jack Del Rio speculates that the rumors were started by a team hoping that Udeze will fall in round one.  Still, the Jags are in the dark regarding Udeze's health, since they didn't perform a full medical evaluation of Udeze when he visited Jacksonville this month.

Still, Barnes thinks the Jags have enough information to address any concerns.  "Kenechi did . . . have a full [magnetic resonance imaging] exam done at the scouting combine [in late February], and the good thing is that the Jaguars have those records,'' Barnes said.

GEORGE'S AGENT TICKED AT TITANS

Agent Lamont Smith is frustrated with the Tennessee Titans regarding their failure to return calls regarding the status of running back Eddie George.

''Do they want to keep him?  Do you want him to stay?  Do you want to let him go?  If you want to let him go, why not deal him?'' Smith told the Nashville Tennessean.

Discussions on a restructured contract for George broke off in February, and since then G.M. Floyd Reese has ignored Smith.

''I have called him four times and my calls have gone unreturned, so that is the most bizarre thing I have seen since I have been in this business,'' Smith said.

''I just think, to me, this is the time that you should be talking because if he is not going to be there, there is another approach to this.  And the other approach is if you really don't think he is a part of the future, now is the time deals are being made.''

If, as many league insiders are beginning to believe, the Titans plan to part ways with George, it's better for George to know that now, so that G.M.'s who might be looking for a running back in the draft can factor George's availability into their  planning.

From the Titans' perspective, however, announcing their intentions prior to the draft hurts their ability to draft a guy who can fill the void that George's departure would create.  So although the Titans might be able to finagle some trade value for George by moving him before the draft, they likewise would be compromising their ability to get the guy they want to replace him on draft day, since they'd be setting themselves up to be leapfrogged by another team who wants a tailback.

Reese says that the Titans intend to get a deal done with George, and that a trade isn't in the plans.  But the reality is that the Titans' leverage against George will increase if they draft a rookie running back who can take his place -- and if the teams who otherwise would have been interested in signing George on the open market do the same.

The real issue, as we see it, is whether a team is willing to compromise its strategic position in order to help a long-term player by, for example, forcing the negotiations to a head early enough in the offseason so that the player can find a new home if an impasse is reached.  

And the problem is that one of the unintended consequences of the free agency system for which the players clamored is that the teams have no incentive to extend such gratuities to any player, regardless of his past contributions.  Once the decision is made that the player won't be part of the future, the team has every right (if it so chooses) to delay dealing with a player operating under a contract for which he received millions of dollars up front, if such a delay helps the team fulfill its overall objectives.

Even if such a delay likewise hurts the player's prospects.  

WEDNESDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS

Bucs RB Michael Pittman's sentencing hearing, which had been set for Friday, has been changed to a status conference for the purposes of discussing sentencing guidelines and options.

Jags coach Jack Del Rio says he'd loved to re-sign DE Tony Brackens.

Caveat emptor alert -- CB DeAngelo Hall likes himself.  A lot.  "I'm an electrifying player on defense and on special teams," Hall said Monday, according to the New York Post.  "I don't think the NFL has seen a player as electrifying as me, a player who can change the game at any given time, since Deion Sanders."

The Philadelphia Daily News has a great article regarding the impact of agent selection on a player's draft standing.

Word around the league is that N.C. State quarterback Philip Rivers could barge into the first round of Saturday's draft.

As we reported last week, the Browns traveled to Raleigh for a secret workout with Rivers on April 12.  We initially didn't expect them to seriously consider using the No. 7 overall pick on the leader of the Wolfpack, but league insiders presently are buzzing about the possibility that coach and de facto G.M. Butch Davis will pull the trigger, despite the addition of Jeff Garcia.

Some league insiders believe that Rivers will be drafted even higher than Miami (Ohio) signal-caller Ben Roethlisberger.

Rivers' stock has been rising rapidly of late, after a temporary swoon following a substandard workout that prompted one high-level scout to tell us that Rivers has a "first-round brain and a fourth-round arm."

Many folks around the league thought that the Steelers were secretly angling for Rivers at No. 11.  As it now stands, they might have to settle for Roethlisberger, who'll definitely be on the board after pick number 10 if Rivers goes to the Browns at No. 7 -- or higher.

We're also hearing that the Giants and the Chargers are smitten with Rivers.  The Chargers could trade down and draft him, or the G-men could stand pat and pounce at No. 4.

Stay tuned.

UDEZE DIDN'T SHOW FOR RE-CHECK

A league source tells us that USC defensive end Kenechi Udeze failed to show for the medical re-check that follows the annual scouting combine, and that his no-show has fueled concerns regarding the severity of a pre-existing shoulder injury.

Every year, a select group of prospects are flown back to Indy after the combine for another look-see of any problem areas.  Udeze's shoulder triggered an invite to the re-check, but he didn't make the trek to Indiana.

We're hearing that some teams think Udeze will need surgery right away, and others think he could play in 2004 with a brace and get surgery after the season.  Several teams, however, have now taken him off of their boards given the injury and the re-check no-show.

We're hearing that the Jags had been very interested in Udeze at the nine spot, especially after he ran a faster-than-expected 40 in his pro day workout. 

With Udeze's stock falling, look for Ohio State defensive end Will Smith to crack into the top ten, possibly going to either the Jags or the Texans.

JONES TO 'BOYS IF BRONCOS TAKE TROUPE

Word out of Big D is that the Cowboys are seriously considering drafting Virginia Tech running back Kevin Jones with the 22nd overall selection in the draft, if he's still available.

The thinking is that he'll be there.  We're hearing that the Broncos could be leaning against drafting a running back at No. 17 and toward taking Florida tight end Ben Troupe, if as expected Shannon Sharpe announces his retirement.  Though the Broncos have been hoarding tight ends over the past several weeks, they possibly were trying to make other teams think that they have no plans to draft Sharpe's replacement.

To the contrary, look for the Broncos to tab Troupe, assuming Sharpe bows out.

And even if Sharpe doesn't make an announcement before Saturday, our guess is that coach Mike Shanahan will presume that Sharpe isn't returning.  Sharpe previously said he's let the team know what he plans to do before the draft, and his criticism of the Portis-for-Bailey trade might have left a bad taste in Shanny's mouth.  We therefore don't expect Shanahan to do Sharpe any favors.

Back to Jones, the reputed speedster from Blacksburg has fallen out of the top ten based on a poor workout and concerns that his father is too involved in his career.  Our guess is that the Tuna will invite Daddy Dearest to take a hike, and that Jones will do for Parcells' offense in Dallas the same thing Curtis Martin did for him in New England and New York.

BILLS WANTED WILLIAMS

The team most disappointed by the decision that apparently will keep USC receiver Mike Williams out of the 2004 draft is the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills, we're told, planned to take Williams with the No. 13 overall pick. 

Williams at one time was considered to be a potential top five pick.  His stock gradually diminished, even though reaction to his April 8 workout was generally positive (despite a ssslow 40 time against the wind).

As we explained in one of our various mock drafts, G.M. Tom Donahoe goes after the best available athlete, regardless of need.  He therefore would've jumped on Williams even if Ben Roethlisberger or Philip Rivers were available, even though the Bills desperately need a young quarterback who can replace Drew Bledsoe, if the Bills decide to go in a different direction after the 2004 season.

LIONS ADDRESSING RB IN ROUND 2?

The Lions might have been the biggest unintended beneficiary of the Tuesday trade that sent running back Corey Dillon to the Patriots.  If, after all, the Pats hadn't landed Dillon, they possibly would have grabbed Michigan running back Chris Perry with the No. 32 overall pick, their second round one selection. 

As it now stands, the Pats won't go running back in round one, increasing the possibility that Perry will be on the board when the Lions are on the clock in round two.

We're hearing that the Lions are looking at taking Kellen Winslow (if available) with the sixth overall pick, and that they'll then look to improve the running game by getting local product Perry in round two.

WARNER HEADING TO SAN DIEGO, ARIZONA?

With quarterback Kurt Warner getting run from St. Louis, speculation as to his next destination is centering on the Chargers and the Cardinals.

In San Diego, Warner would be joining the team that threw a glass slipper his way when former safety Rodney Harrison loosened the hinge in Trent Green's knee during a 1999 preseason game.  But for that injury, Warner might never have seen the field on a regular basis.

And with the Chargers desperate for help at the quarterback position and reluctant to burn the No. 1 overall pick on Eli Manning, it's possible that they'll look to Warner as a 2-to-3 year solution while Drew Brees -- or some other young quarterback -- learns the ropes.

If Warner grows a 'stache and a beard, maybe he can play Dan Fouts in the revival of Air Coryell, especially if the Bolts throw a lasso around Kellen Winslow's baby boy.

In Arizona, Denny Green could continue a trend that he started in 1993 with the Vikings by giving veteran quarterbacks a late-career shot in the arm.  From Jim McMahon to Warren Moon to Randall Cunningham to Jeff George, Green has shown an uncanny ability to resurrect careers.  (He even tried in 2000 to lure Dan Marino to Minny for a season, before handing the ball to a then-unproven Daunte Culpepper.)

With a developing offensive line and a receiving corps that will reach the elite level if Larry Fitzgerald or Roy Williams are added to holdovers Anquan Boldin and Bryant Johnson, Warner could find himself in an offense nearly as potent as the unit he led to the Super Bowl in 1999 and 2001.

IMG FEEDING FRENZY COMING?

League insiders are buzzing about the strong possibility that six IMG clients will be looking for new agents soon, as a result of the court decision preventing these clients from jumping to former IMG agent Darrell Wills.

The six players -- Michael Clayton, Ben Watson, Anquan Boldin, Onterrio Smith, Talman Gardner, and Alonzo Jackson -- were ready to go with Wills before a Florida court blocked the moves.

We're hearing that other agents already are scrambling to get into position to pick up one of more of these guys.

As reported by Liz Mullen of the Spots Business Journal, IMG won a temporary injunction that prevents former IMG agent Darrell Wills from soliciting any client of IMG within 18 months prior to his resignation and from soliciting any prospective client solicited by IMG within 12 months prior to Wills' resignation.

In lay terms, the guy in the black robe told Wills, as to any IMG clients, "No touchy."

The ruling flowed from a covenant not to compete contained in Wills' IMG contract.  Thus, even though players have an absolute right to fire one agent and hire another, Wills' commitment not to represent any IMG clients or prospects is legally binding.

But for the covenant not to compete, Wills could have hung a shingle and waited for any IMG client to give him a call.  Based on Mullen's report, however, Wills likely ran afoul of NFLPA agent guidelines by making arrangements to represent six IMG clients before giving notice of his intention to leave the mega-firm.  It remains to be seen whether the NFLPA attempts to take action against Wills and his fledgling firm based on apparent interference with IMG's relationship with these six guys.

A temporary injunction is a legal device that preserves the status quo pending a final resolution of the case.  To win such relief, the party requesting it must show among other things a likelihood that a permanent injunction will be required when the full-blown merits are considered.

As a result, it's likely that the Court eventually will enter a permanent injunction that prevents Wills ever from representing players falling within the time periods set forth above.  Moving forward, however, Wills will be free to use his contacts to haul in as many clients as he can, including any future IMG clients who weren't pursued by the agency within 12 months prior to his departure.

If, of course, they call him first.

The St. Louis Rams have informed veteran quarterback and two-time MVP Kurt Warner that he'll likely be released after June 1.

From Warner's perspective, getting the news out before the draft could help him in his quest for a new team, since a squad that is looking for a quarterback (e.g., the Chargers) might consider him in lieu of plucking a rookie.

But from the Rams' perspective, we don't understand why they suddenly decided to show their hand on Warner -- especially if they're interested in drafting a quarterback this weekend.  After months of denials and secrecy regarding their plans for Warner, the decision to inform Warner of his fate now makes sense only if the Rams have decided that they don't plan to draft a quarterback, but that they want other teams to think that they will.

Then again, the Mad Scientist might be trying to employ a bit of reverse psychology, hoping that teams like the Packers might conclude that they really don't want to select a quarterback in the draft so that they'll be able to jump past the Pack at the bottom of round one.

Back to Warner, the Chargers, Dolphins, Saints, and Steelers could show interest.  We also wouldn't be surprised to see Dick Vermeil sniff around the guy who validated Vermeil's coaching career by leading the Rams out of the NFL dregs in 1999 to their first Super Bowl win.

DID LAW RUN -- AND IF SO WHY?

Agent Carl Poston vehemently denies that cornerback Ty Law sped away from his car and later ran away from police officers on Saturday in Miami.

"He never ran away," Poston said, according to the Boston Globe. "He never ran at all.  And on South Beach on a Friday night, how can he speed away in a Rolls Royce when traffic is bumper to bumper?"

Still, the official police report indicates that Law did drive away and did run away before being arrested.

If the truth is that Law drove off and then ran away, the most pressing question is:  Why?

Did he think he could get away?  Probably not.

Could it be that perhaps Law had some property in his car and/or on his person that he desperately needed to get rid of?

Maybe, for example, he realized that he was wearing pants that belonged to his cousin -- pants containing the same kind of "magic beans" (as a reader put it) that were in Law's luggage in December 2000.

Just a thought.  We don't know why he bolted.  But, in our experience, guys who have nothing to hide don't engage in that kind of behavior.

And maybe that's why Poston is so strongly denying that Law ran.

USC receiver Mike Williams has sued the NFL based on its decision to throw the gates open to the draft -- and then attempt to slam them shut via appeal of the Clarett ruling.

If Williams tries to restore his college eligibility despite signing with an agent, USC coach Pete Carroll said the school will help Williams any way that it can.

Former Bucs WR Brice Hunter was shot and killed on Sunday after an argument with a neighbor in his apartment building.

The New York Post suggests that the Jets will draft CB Dunta Robinson at No. 12, if he's still on the board.

Vikings coach Mike Tice plans to hold WR Randy Moss out of a May 7-9 minicamp as he recovers from plantar fasciitis, a foot inflammation that developed in December of 2003.

There are growing whispers in league circles that USC defensive end Kenechi Udeze could do the draft day free fall, due to reports that he has a torn labrum that could render him unavailable for the entire 2004 season.

Udeze, a 275-pounder whose 4.7 in the 40 vaulted him upward on many draft boards.  We'll be chatting with our sources on Tuesday regarding the effect that the shoulder injury might have on his standing, but it's possible that Udeze will fall through round one.

Word is that the Texans were thinking seriously about taking Udeze at the No. 10 spot.  As it currently stands, Houston -- and possibly many other teams -- will take a pass instead.

Stay tuned.

EAGLES HAVE STEWART ON STAND-BY

A league source tells us that the Philadelphia Eagles have had serious discussions with the agent for running back James Stewart, and we're hearing that the Eagles will sign Stewart if they don't reel in a running back on day one of the draft.

The Eagles have been talking to the 49ers about a trade up to No. 16, at which spot they'd possibly take a running back.  Our guess, however, is that the 1-6 hole is too low for Steven Jackson, and too high for Kevin Jones, who's continuing a slow slide down the round one totem pole.

Stewart, an eight-year veteran who has spent time with the Jaguars and the Lions, has been unable to find work on the free-agent market.  The Eagles, in turn, are looking for another set of legs in the backfield, with the loss of Duce Staley and the potential departure of Correll Buckhalter via free agency after the 2004 season.

Stewart has 5,841 yards and 48 touchdowns in his eight NFL seasons.

BEARS LOOKING TO DROP, GRAB OGUNLEYE?

A league source tells us that the Chicago Bears might attempt to trade down from the No. 14 spot in the first round of the draft as a precursor to a trade with the Dolphins for defensive end Adewale Ogunleye.

The Bears would send the lower first-round pick to the Fins, and the Bears would pocket the extra pick or two they get for trading down.

As of April 16, Ogunleye's rights reverted exclusively to the Dolphins for 2004.  If/when Ogunleye signs his one-year tender, he'll receive $1.823 million in salary for 2004.  But the Dolphins are still willing to move Ogunleye, who's unhappy with the lack of a long-term deal, and who could ultimately refuse to sign the tender and hold out through week ten, if not longer.

Complicating matters for the Dolphins is the addition by the Patriots on Monday of running back Corey Dillon.  With the best team in the AFC East, if not the entire league, getting stronger in one fell swoop, there will be even more pressure on the Dolphins, Jets, and Bills to keep pace.  Though making a deal for Ogunleye will give the Dolphins a player or two who can make them better down the road (at which time Ogunleye would be long gone anyway), the absence of Ogunleye will only make the gap between the Fins and the Pats wider in 2004.

TEXANS TRYING TO GET TAYLOR

Word around the league is that the Houston Texans are trying desperately to get in position to draft Miami safety Sean Taylor, who likely won't be on the board after the Redskins exercise the fifth overall pick.

Former Redskins G.M. (and current Texans G.M.) Charley Casserly surely would love nothing more than to trump his old coach, Joe Gibbs, as the 'Skins try to load up on defense.

Possible trade partners are the Giants, who could slide back and nab quarterback Philip Rivers at No. 10, or the Raiders, who could nab Steven Jackson, Roy Williams, or Kellen Winslow if one of them fall through the top nine.

We're also hearing that the Arizona Cardinals have a surprisingly strong interest in Taylor.  One league source tells us that the Cardinals' interest in receiver Larry Fitzgerald could be a smoke screen intended to keep the Redskins or another team from jumping to No. 2 in order to nab Taylor.

RAMS SMITTEN WITH QUARTERBACKS?  

There are increasing rumblings in league circles that Mike Martz is taking a long look at available quarterbacks in round one, and that the Rams might make a move up to nab Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, or J.P. Losman.

The addition of a quarterback would seal the fate of veteran Kurt Warner in the short term (who'll probably be released after June 1 anyway), and it likewise might translate into the departure of Marc Bulger following the 2004 season, when he'll become an unrestricted free agent.

The Rams have been successful under Martz with street free agents who blossomed into superstars.  Now, in Martz's fifth draft as the team's head coach, he might be inclined to see what he can do with a blue-chipper.

FINS LOOKING TO MOVE DOWN?

Even if the Dolphins can land another first-round pick in exchange for defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, we're hearing that the Fins might trade one or both first-rounders in an effort to snag some extra picks.

For their current pick, which is at the No. 20 spot, we hear that the Fins are interested in parlaying the selection into a second round and third round pick.  They then would focus on landing multiple players (possibly along the offensive line) in the hopes that they'll secure via sheer quantity at least one solid starter for 2004 and beyond.

The Dolphins, we're told, originally were interested in Arkansas tackle Shawn Andrews.  They're now concerned that he'll be gone before Miami picks.  And even if Andrews is still on the board, word is that the Dolphins are concerned about his weight.

WIN-WIN IN DILLON DEAL

Folks around the league are praising both the Bengals and the Patriots for the trade that sent running back Corey Dillon from the Queen City to the land of the current Kings of the NFL.

For the Bengals, their patience translated into a higher pick in return for Dillon than anyone thought they'd ever get.  Last season, Dillon demanded a trade and eventually cleaned out his locker following the season -- moves that, in theory, should have done little to enhance his value via trade.

The Bengals could have shipped Dillon to the Raiders, but the folks in Cincy smartly (in hindsight) held out for something better, eventually landing the 56th overall pick in exchange for a guy whom they likely would have cut come June 1.

For the Pats, they get a guy far better than any running back who would've been on the board with pick No. 56 -- especially since the trade went down after the announcement was made that Mo Clarett is out (for now) of the 2004 draft.  For the Patriots, who had cultivated a glut of picks, it was a no-brainer to shed a second-rounder in exchange for a guy with proven talent.

And even if coach Bill Belichick can't coax good behavior out of Dillon, who should be thrilled to finally be on a winning team, the downside for the Pats is minimal.  Since the Bengals took the full acceleration of Dillon's signing bonus under the cap when the trade went down, the Patriots can cut Dillon loose at any time with no cap consequences.

A league source has confirmed that the Patriots have acquired running back Corey Dillon from the Bengals for the first of the Pats' second-round choices, the No. 56 overall pick in the draft.

On the surface, some might look at the move as a break from the Pats' aversion to proven turds.  The deeper question, however, is whether Dillon's history of running his mouth is the result of a flaw in character, or the product of seven seasons in football purgatory a/k/a the Cincinnati Bengals.

Truth be told, the Pats have picked up over the years their fair share of guys who didn't have stellar reputation.  Safety Rodney Harrison supposedly was a dirty player with a bad attitude, and Antowain Smith was regarded as a locker room cancer in Buffalo.  Both thrived in New England.

And given that running back is one of the few weaknesses on the New England roster, the real question is whether the Pats could have gotten a guy of Dillon's ability with the 56th overall pick in the draft.

In a word, doubtful.

As we see it, the fact that the Pats have scaled the mountain twice in the past three seasons requires something more than treading water.  To stay on top, they need to periodically be bold.

Acquiring Dillon is as bold as it gets, and if the guy can play like he did in Cincy circa 2000 despite a weak supporting cast and a horrible organization, the Pats might have cemented themselves as favorites to make it to Jacksonville for Super Bowl XXXIX. 

Before anyone crosses Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams off of their draft boards with a permanent marker, it's important to understand that the granting of a stay by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals doesn't mean that the pending decision of Judge Shira A. Scheindlin will be overturned.

Instead, the stay merely prevents Clarett and Williams (plus a gaggle of no-talent wannabes who wouldn't be drafted anyway) from getting into the draft unless and until the appeals court affirms Judge Scheindlin's ruling.

If a final decision affirming the ruling comes after Saturday, Clarett and Williams would enter the supplemental draft.  If in the end the ruling is overturned, Clarett and Williams would be advised to locate the words to "O Canada."

Disgruntled Patriots cornerback Ty Law finally has found a distraction from his disenchantment with the team.  And there's nothing like a good ol' fashioned legal brouhaha to make a player forget about a lingering contract dispute.

Law, according to the Associated Press, was busted on Saturday in Florida, and he's now charged with failure to obey a police officer and resisting a police officer.

Cruising South Beach in his 2004 Rolls Royce, Law was flagged down by a police officer for a lane violation.  Law initially pulled over, but then inexplicably sped off.

When the police finally caught up with him, he got out of the car.  Instructed to put his hands behind his back, Law "became agitated."  And then he ran away.

Law led the cops on a foot chase through the nightclub district.  Despite the widely-held belief that cops spend more time scarfing donuts than working out, the police somehow managed to track down the Pro Bowl defensive back, who reportedly told the police "not to touch him because he's a professional athlete."

Law was charged with the two misdemeanors and released on $1,500 bond.  

True to form, agent Carl Poston calls the whole thing a misunderstanding, according to the Boston Globe.  Poston explained that officers were directing traffic, Law did not understand the instructions, Law said so, and Law then was instructed to pull over.

"Basically," Poston said, "it was a routine traffic stop that turned into a misunderstanding due to an overzealous police officer."  

Poston claims that one of the officers used excessive force and tossed Law's wallet in his face, and that Law might file a formal complaint resulting from the manner in which he was treated.  (Memo to the cops:  Be prepared for a claim from the Postons that you lifted $6.5 million in cash from Law's wallet, too.)

Frankly, if this incident had happened to any player other than Law -- and if the spin were coming from any agent other than Carl and/or Kevin Poston -- we might pause before concluding that Law was in the wrong for bolting from the cops both via car and later on foot. 

But with the Postons, it's never, ever, ever the player's fault.  It's always a misunderstanding or a screw-job or a lie or a deception or anything under the boiling yellow sun other than the fault of Poston's client, regardless of whether it's LaVar Arrington's phantom bonus or Charles Rogers' pre-draft pee test or Orlando Pace's exorbitant salary demands.  

Speaking of alleged misunderstandings, let's rewind to December 2000, when Law was arrested at the Canadian border for possession of Ecstasy while on a road trip to Buffalo.  Law said that the illegal pills were in his suitcase because the suitcase belonged to a cousin who stayed in Law's home, and that Law didn't check the suitcase before hauling it to Buffalo.

To the discerning eye, that story has more holes than a caterpillar's bowling ball.  Still, the thing blew over with only a $700 fine and the Pats stood behind Law, even though the incident caused him to be late for a team meeting.

More than three years later, it'll be interesting to see whether the Patriots are as charitable regarding Law's recent misbehavior, given his recent assertion that coach Bill Belichik is a liar.

Our guess is that the Pats will continue to take the high road with Law, even as Law and the Postons continue to wallow in the low. 

Cardinals running back Emmitt Smith says that he intends to play this year in Arizona.  The bigger question, as we see it, is whether new coach Dennis Green wants him there.

And Smith likely realizes that his ability to stick around in Arizona is tied directly to whether Green, who is rumored to be planning a purge of veterans, wants to have the aging all-time leading rusher on the roster.

"My vision is [Green's] vision," Smith said as he does his best to curry Denny's favor.  "My mission is to help this team win. Starter or backup, it doesn't matter to me.  I feel comfortable with where I am."

He shouldn't get too comfortable, in our opinion.  Smith received an above-market contract a year ago, primarily under the assumption that he could put asses in some of the many empty seats at Sun Devil Stadium.  He suffered an injury early on and missed most of the year.

And now as the team attempts (again) to rebuild, this time with a coach who has a reputation for winning, we see no reason to keep Smith around.

Green might not see a reason either, even though he suggested in February that Smith has a good shot to make the final roster.  The simply reality, however, is that Smith will receive too much money for his anticipated role.  Dumping him would therefore make good business sense -- and it would go a long way toward making the other players realize that there will be no sacred cows on Denny Green's watch.

In this regard, Smith's reputation for running his mouth could hurt him.  Though he's saying all the right things for now, we predict that he eventually will spout off about something (either publicly or internally), and his reward will be an involuntary trip to the free-agent market.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments on Monday in connection with the Maurice Clarett case; the ruling, which is expected by Saturday, could knock Clarett and USC receiver Mike Williams out of the draft.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a great article regarding the role of the 40-yard dash as a scouting tool; says Rams G.M. Charley Armey, "It's overrated.  A guy could run like Tarzan but play like Jane."

Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo, on RB Maurice Clarett:  "Someone will tolerate him.  I don't know if anybody really, really likes him. He's got a lot of issues that teams have to make a decision on."

Word out of Chitown is that the Bears are backing off on Miami defensive tackle Vince Wilfork based on a 15-pound weight gain since the February scouting combine.

Despite a specific admonition from Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo that he needs to keep his weight down in order to justify being drafted at the 14th overall spot, Wilfork has gone on a binge over the past two months, apparently doing most of the ballooning on his honeymoon.

With the Eagles, Broncos, Cowboys, and Patriots all eyeing running back Steven Jackson, don't be surprised to see the Bears slide down and select a receiver -- possibly Wisconsin's Lee Evans.

As the San Diego Chargers continue to run to the media whenever and wherever a team calls and mentions the words "trade," "number," "one," and "pick" within the same 10-minute window, we're hearing that the price of a swap into the No. 1 overall spot is scaring teams away from a deal.

The Chargers, we're told, want the first-round and second-round pick of a team in the top end of the draft in order to drop out of the No. 1 spot. 

No one is willing, however, to give up more than their own first-round pick and a third-rounder.

To date, the Chargers have disclosed that they've received calls from the Giants and Redskins regarding the No. 1 overall pick. 

A league source tells us that linebacker Carlos Emmons, who signed last month with the Giants, has a shoulder injury that could turn out to be severe.

Emmons received a five-year, $16.5 million contract to bolt from the Eagles to Big Blue.  The contract pays $10 million over the first three years of the deal.

Emmons and Barrett Green were inked by the Giants to replace Micheal Barrow and Dhani Jones, who bolted the G-men via free agency.

JAGS JUMPING TO NO. 2?

In version 4.0 of our mock draft, we predict a trade between the Raiders and the Jaguars, which would give the Jags the ability to draft Pitt receiver Larry Fitzgerald with the No. 2 overall selection.

Pro Football Weekly recently has put some teeth into this exercise in prognostication, reporting that the Jags are considering an offer to the Raiders of the ninth overall pick, their third-rounder, and safety Donovin Darius.

PFW suggests that, if a deal is made, the Raiders would target receiver Roy Williams with the No. 9 pick. 

We think that, instead, the Raiders would draft running back Steven Jackson, if he's still on the board.

For the Jags, there's no guarantee that Fitzgerald will be available, if they pull the trigger too soon.  Our guess is that the Cardinals will move immediately to No. 1 via a trade with the Chargers if/when word of a trade between the Jags and the Raiders breaks.  So if we were running the show in Jacksonville (and Jags fans everywhere should hit their knees tonight and thank the Lord we're not), we'd make the trade only after the No. 1 pick is burned on someone other than Fitzgerald.

CHIEFS SOURING ON SIMS?

They swung a later-than-last-second deal with the Cowboys two years ago on draft day, trading into the sixth overall spot ahead of Minnesota and plucking defensive tackle Ryan Sims off of the board while the Vikings fondled their horns.

The Vikes, who coveted Sims, were ridiculed for their failure to realize that, after the 15 minutes for the pick had expired, Minny could have turned in a card with Sims' name on it, and leapfrogged the Chiefs.

And 730 days later, the Chiefs could be in the market again for a defensive tackle in round one, according to Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star.

Sims' lack of upper body strength is limiting his availability to 30 snaps per game.  Whitlock, who knows a thing or two himself about man boobs, quips that the two-year tackle's torso looks like it was sculpted by golfer John Daly.

As a result, the Chiefs have been wining and dining most top-end defensive tackle prospects, even after Sims' line mate John Browning received a healthy contract extension.

It all could be another example of pre-draft puffery and prestidigitation; a diversion by the Chiefs to keep other teams from sniffing out their true intentions.

Then again, it also could be a message to Sims.

Either way, it's high time for Sims to unload the sports bra and get back into the weight room on a full time basis.  

A league source tells us that a trade of Cowboys offensive lineman Larry Allen to the Lions is not imminent.  The source expects that Allen eventually will be traded, and that it's merely a matter of where he'll go and what the Cowboys will get in return.

And contrary to reports that the net cap hit will be $4.5 million, the source tells us that the number actually is in the range of $8 million.

The ramifications aren't deterring the 'Boys from moving Allen, however.  With $10.1 million in cap space, the Cowboys can absorb a hit of that magnitude -- but it will restrict their ability to pick up many/any other free agents, given that they need to hold back enough cap room to sign their draft picks.

So unless the Cowboys plan to dump some additional veterans in order to clear cap space, Tuna and company likely will be relegated to the draft as the resource for landing a new running back.

MORE DETAILS ON POOLE WORKOUT

An NFC personnel exec has shared with us more details regarding the Friday workout of USC defensive back Will Poole.

On a fast rubber track, the source reports that Poole ran a 4.61 and 4.62 in the 40.  Other scouts have his time as low as 4.55.

Running the 40 on a rubber track will result in an adjustment of roughly 0.10 seconds, pushing his times to 4.65 to 4.72.

Poole isn't regarded as a burner, so the somewhat pedestrian times aren't as harmful as, for example, the 4.6 that reputed speedster Kevin Jones ran last month.

The source also tells us that Poole had a vertical leap of 33.5 inches, a standing broad jump of 9'11", a short shuttle of 4.06 seconds, a three-cone drill of 6.58 seconds, and a 60-yard shuttle of 11.15 seconds.

CONDON HURTING COUCH?

In response to news that talks have stalled between the Packers and eventually-to-be-former Browns quarterback Tim Couch, a league source tells us that, in his opinion, Couch's long-term interests might be taking a back seat to agent Tom Condon's desire to continue pushing the market for quarterbacks into higher and higher ground.

With Couch's career in Cleveland dead five years after he was the first pick in the first draft for the resurrected franchise, Condon's desire to get his three percent of the biggest number possible could be keeping Couch from landing in an arguably ideal situation, where he can learn for a year or two from one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game before getting a free and clear shot at becoming the starter.

Instead, Couch likely will hit the open market and Condon will nudge him to the highest bidder, regardless of whether going to the highest bidder now will position Couch for long-term success.

HOLCOMB TO THE 'BURGH?

Speaking of washed up Browns quarterbacks, there has been little discussion about the ultimate fate of Kelly Holcomb.

Our guess (and we emphasize that it's just a guess) is that Holcomb will be dumped by the Browns -- and potentially picked up by the Steelers.

If the Steelers don't draft a quarterback early in next weekend's draft, they'll need to address the position somehow, some way in the remaining weeks of the offseason.  Tommy Maddox isn't the answer, and Charlie Batch has been trying to figure out how to open the playbook since his arrival two seasons ago.

The fact that former Browns offensive coordinator Bruce Arians hauled Holcomb with him from Indy fuels our feeling that Holcomb will end up with the Steelers, where Arians is now the receivers coach.

The Steelers have seen first hand some of Holcomb's best work, and the fact that they'd be keeping him in the division will be a plus, especially when the Browns and Steelers get together twice a year.

Again, this is pure guesswork on our behalf.  But with the Steelers' options at the position limited if they don't send a piece of paper to the podium next Saturday with "Rivers" or "Roethlisberger" scrawled on it, Holcomb's addition could be a no-brainer.

A league source tells us that USC cornerback Will Poole significantly resurrected his draft stock on Friday, with a strong performance in a do-over workout.

Poole notched a median time of 4.55 in the 40 (we're trying to get more info as to the surface), and his best time in the short shuttle was 4.0 seconds.  He ran the three-cone drill in 6.60 seconds, notched a vertical of 33.5 inches and a broad jump of 10 feet.

Roughly a dozen teams attended Poole's effort to improve on his prior workout, which was subpar due to a recent illness that had caused Poole to drop more than ten pounds.  This time around, his weight was back up to 193, and his all-around performance was stronger.

ALLEN HEADING TO MOTOWN?

One of our Big D moles tells us that the Cowboys are on the verge of trading perennial All Pro offensive lineman Larry Allen to the Lions for a second-round pick in next weekend's draft.

Allen recently visited the Lions in connection with efforts by the 'Boys to unload the veteran's 2004 salary.  Since the cap rules require a full acceleration of any prorated bonus money, the move will result in a net cap hit of $4.5 million, which will leave the Cowboys $5.7 million under the current salary cap.

Allen will be the second high-profile player dumped off of the Dallas roster this offseason.  Earlier, receiver Joey Galloway was shipped to Tampa for Bucs castoff Keyshawn Johnson.  In 2000, the 'Boys sent two first-round picks to Seattle for Galloway. 

Allen's departure will leave safety Darren Woodson as the only link to the team's glory days of the 1990s.  Allen, drafted in 1994, was a member of the Super Bowl XXX champions.

A league source tells us that the Philadelphia Eagles are attempting to pull off a trade with the San Francisco 49ers in an effort to get in line in front of the Denver Broncos, in order to get a crack at Oregon State running back Steven Jackson.

Per the source, the Eagles will send offensive lineman John Welbourn to San Fran, along with at least one draft pick -- in addition to the Eagles' first-round selection, the 28th overall pick.

In exchange, the Eagles will leapfrog the Broncos, moving into the 16th overall spot in round one.  The Broncos recently moved from No. 24 to No. 17 in a swap with the Bengals, which included former Denver first-round defensive back Deltha O'Neal.

Welbourn, a fourth-round pick of the Eagles in 1999, appeared and started in 13 games last season for Philly.  Welbourn has been a regular in the lineup since the 2000 season.

Philly's jump to No. 16 hardly represents the checkmate move in the Jackson sweepstakes.  The Lions could render the jockeying moot by taking Jackson with the sixth overall pick, and the Pats are in position to package the No. 21 and No. 32 overall picks for a chance to soar past the Eagles.

Following our report regarding concerns as to Iowa tackle Robert Gallery's arm length (or lack thereof), we spoke with a college scouting director regarding the worth of this stat (or lack thereof).

Per the source, "it can be a bullsh-t stat.  You can have five scouts measure a guy's arms on five different days and I guarantee you will get five different lengths."

Gallery's arms, said the source, were measured at 32-1/4 at the Combine but 33-1/8 on another occasion.

"Which one is right?  I don’t know.  [Gallery] does not play like a short armed guy and that is the most important thing."  As to the rumor that arm length is a factor that could be causing Gallery's stock to fall, the source said, "To me it sounds like some team trying to put out some negatives hoping he will drop and that won’t happen. The guy is a player."

We've gotten our hands on the official Wonderlic scores for each of the players who attend the February scouting combine.

The Wonderlic is a 50-question multiple choice test, and the players have 12 minutes to finish it.  In theory, guessing should result in an average score of 12.5.

The genius of the bunch is Iowa defensive tackle Jared Clauss, who notched an impressive 45. 

And the dunce cap gets stapled to the grill of Central Missouri defensive end Roderick Green, who got only 3 questions right.

Quarterbacks

Player                         School              Wonderlic

Clausen, Casey  Tennessee                     20

Fife, Jason     Oregon                             26

Harris, Josh    Bowling Green                   25

Kent, Robert    Jackson State                   23

Krenzel, Craig  Ohio State                       38

Lorenzen, Jared Kentucky                        28

Losman, J.P.    Tulane                            31

Manning, Eli    Mississippi                        39

Mauck, Matt     Louisiana State                30

McCown, Luke    Louisiana Tech              20

Navarre, John   Michigan                         24

Pickett, Cody   Washington                      19

Rislov, Scott   San Jose State                  30

Rivers, Philip  North Carolina State           30

Roberson, Ell   Kansas State                    11

Roethlisberger, Ben Miami (Ohio)             25

Rutherford, Rod Pittsburgh                      17

Schaub, Matt    Virginia                           30

Smoker, Jeff    Michigan State                 23

Symons, B.J.    Texas Tech                     22

Van Pelt, Bradl Colorado State                 25

Running backs

Player                         School              Wonderlic

Alexis, Rich    Washington                                 11

Bell, Tatum     Oklahoma State                           18

Carthon, Ran    Florida                                        17

Clarett, Mauric Ohio State                                 20

Cobbs, Cedric   Arkansas                                   14

Croson, Duron   Fort Valley State                     20

Davis, Josh     Nebraska                                      26

Echemandu, Adim California                              18

Farmer, Clarenc Arizona                                      25

Jackson, Steven Oregon State                           28

Jones, Greg     Florida State                                25

Jones, Julius   Notre Dame                                 16

Jones, Kevin    Virginia Tech                             15

Knight, Derrick Boston College                         27

Moore, Mewelde  Tulane                                   19

Payton, Jarrett Miami (Fla.)                                12

Perry, Chris    Michigan                                      20

Russell, Fred   Iowa                                             14

Turner, Michael Northern Illinois                       35

Williams, Shaud Alabama                                   24

Wilson, Quincy  West Virginia                          17

Works, Renaldo  Oklahoma                                21

Wright, Jason   Northwestern                            39

Fullbacks

Player                         School              Wonderlic

Fleming, Troy   Tennessee                      21

Karney, Mike    Arizona State                   10

McHugh, Sean    Penn State                    26

Polite, Lousaka Pittsburgh                        26

Tapeh, Thomas   Minnesota                    11

Wade, Alex      Duke                               34

Wilson, Travis  Kansas State                   25

Tight ends

Player                         School              Wonderlic

Anderson, Court San Jose State                       14

Blizzard, Bobby North Carolina                         16

Cooley, Chris   Utah State                                  32

Dugan, Jeff     Maryland                                     24

Euhus, Tim      Oregon State                               34

Foschi, John Pl Georgia Tech                            23

Gaines, Michael Central Florida                          14

Ghent, Ronnie   Louisville                                  10

Hartsock, Ben   Ohio State                                 32

Peters, Jason   Arkansas                                     9

Pierce, Brett   Stanford                                        26

Ryan, Sean      Boston College                           35

Troupe, Ben     Florida                                         15

Utecht, Ben     Minnesota                                   22

Walker, Mike    Minnesota-Morris                    13

Watson, Ben     Georgia                                      41

Willis, Keith   Virginia Tech                               18

Wilson, Kris    Pittsburgh                                   31

Winslow, Kellen Miami (Fla.)                             12

Wide Receivers

Player                         School              Wonderlic

Abney, Derek    Kentucky                                  34

Beard, Kevin    Miami (Fla.)                                15

Berrian, Bernar Fresno State                              20

Brown, Maurice  Iowa                                         30

Carter, Drew    Ohio State                                 19

Clayton, Michael    Louisiana State                  19

Colbert, Keary  USC                                            21

Collins, Chris  Mississippi                                  14

Copper, Terranc East Carolina                           18

Cotchery, Jerricho  North Carolina                     27

Danielsen, Lane Iowa State                                26

Darling, Devard Washington State                    19

Evans, Lee      Wisconsin                                    27

Fitzgerald, Larry   Pittsburgh                             18

Francis, Carlos Texas Tech                                22

Hackett, D.J.   Colorado                                    24

Hamilton, Derrick   Clemson                              12

Henderson, Devery   Louisiana State                17

Jenkins, Justin Mississippi State                       17

Jenkins, Michael    Ohio State                           20

Johnson, B.J.   Texas                                          16

Johnson, Tony   Penn State                                12

Kight, Kelvin   Florida                                         17

Krause, Ryan    Nebraska-Omaha                    20

Luke, Triandos  Alabama                                   20

Mann, Maurice   Nevada                                   27

Manning, Tim    Jackson State                          16

McCoy, Derek    Colorado                                25

McIntyre, Jeris Auburn                                     10

Moore, Clarence Northern Arizona                  22

Morant, Johnnie Syracuse                                27

Newson, James   Oregon State                         13

Parker, Samie   Oregon                                     14

Perez, Carlos   Florida                                       13

Sam, P.K.   Florida State                                   21

Smith, Freddie  Georgia Tech                           20

Standeford, John    Purdue                                19

Starling, Kendrick  San Jose State                   12

Taylor, Jamaar  Texas A&M                            22

Thomas, Sloan   Texas                                      18

Thurman, Andrae Southern Oregon                 16

Watts, Darius   Marshall                                  17

Whittaker, Huey South Florida                        23

Wilford, Ernest Virginia Tech                          19

Williams, Reggie    Washington                       17

Williams, Roy   Texas                                      17

Wilson, George  Arkansas                              25

Woods, Rashaun  Oklahoma State                 21

Wright, Carlos  Tennessee State                    13

Youngblood, Kevin   Clemson                         17

Centers

Player             School                         Wonderlic

Cecil, Toby Texas Tech                                      30

Grove, Jake Virginia Tech                                   31

Hadnot, Rex Houston                                          27

Hardwick, Nick  Purdue                                       28

Jackson, Scott  Brigham Young                         29

Leckey, Nick    Kansas State                              28

Sewell, Josh    Nebraska                                      25

Sigler, Kurt    Eastern Washington                    27

Stepanovich, Alex   Ohio State                          21

Wells, Scott    Tennessee                                   30

Offensive guards

Player             School                         Wonderlic

Bell, Jacob Miami (Ohio)                     22

Carey, Vernon   Miami (Fla.)                               18

Chambers, Kirk  Stanford                                    29

Christensen, Quinn  Brigham Young                23

Clarke, Adrien  Ohio State                                  24

Crawford, Regis Arizona State                           30

Darilek, Trey   Texas-El Paso                              27

Downey, Khiawatha   Indiana (Pa.)                   22

Hall, Antonio   Kentucky                                    20

Hayes, Joseph   San Jose State                         26

Herrera, Anthony    Tennessee                         23

Locklear, Sean  North Carolina                          19

Pape, Tony  Michigan                                         23

Parrish, Josh   Washington State                      18

Peterman, Stephen   Louisiana State                 20

Reuber, Alan    Texas A&M                               24

Rimpf, Brian    East Carolina                               35

Smiley, Justin  Alabama                                      21

Snee, Chris Boston College                                19

Snell, Shannon  Florida                                       28

Terry, Jeb  North Carolina                                  41

Offensive tackles

Player             School                         Wonderlic

Andrews, Shawn  Arkansas                     20

Andrews, Stacy  Mississippi                     15

Bubin, Sean Illinois                                 24

Butler, Kelly   Purdue                              29

Cavka, Marko    Sacramento State           23

Clabo, Tyson    Wake Forest                    22

Dorsey, Nat Georgia Tech                        35

Gallery, Robert Iowa                               23

Jones, Adrian   Kansas                            17

Joseph, Carlos  Miami (Fla.)                    7

Lekkerkerk, Brad    California-Davis          29

McFarland, Dylan    Montana                   35

Molinaro, Jim   Notre Dame                     16

Olivea, Shane   Ohio State                      18

Rogers, Jacob   USC                               29

Scott, Jake Idaho                                    32

Starks, Max Florida                                 35

Strojny, Drew   Duke                              28

Wharton, Travelle   South Carolina          12

Wilson, Mark    California                        30

Defensive ends

Player             School             Wonderlic

Adibi, Nathaniel    Virginia Tech                       17

Allen, Jared    Idaho State                                   19

Babin, Jason    Western Michigan                    22

Ball, Dave  UCLA                                                 25

Emanuel, Kevin  Florida State                            17

Geathers, Robert    Georgia                                 22

Green, Roderick Central Missouri                      3

Harriott, Claude    Pittsburgh                             17

Hill, Marquise  Louisiana State                          13

Hilton, Isaac   Hampton                                      23

Johnson, Shawn  Delaware                                42

Johnson, Trevor Nebraska                                 32

Kelly, Tommy    Mississippi State                     25

Laboy, Travis   Hawaii                                        29

McCray, Bobby   Florida                                    14

Nyenhuis, Gabe  Colorado                                 7

Odom, Antwan    Alabama                                 10

Osunde, Uyi Connecticut                                   21

Phillips, Shaun Purdue                                        17

Ritzmann, Constantin    Tennessee                   24

Schobel, Bo Texas Christian                              27

Scott, Darrion  Ohio State                                12

Shull, Andrew   Kansas State                            21

Smith, Antonio  Oklahoma State                       19

Smith, Will Ohio State                                         23

Stevens, Larry  Michigan                                   12

Taplin, Greg    Michigan State                           13

Torbor, Reggie  Auburn                                     32

Udeze, Kenechi  USC                                          18

Vaughn, Khaleed Clemson                                 16

Defensive tackles

Player  School  Wonderlic

Anderson, Tim   Ohio State                                25

Askew, Matthias Michigan State                      10

Bingham, Ryon   Nebraska                                 21

Boschetti, Ryan UCLA                                       24

Bradley, Jon    Arkansas State                           12

Campbell, Darrell   Notre Dame                          21

Canterberry, Dietrich   UNLV                             21

Carstens, Jordan    Iowa State                            39

Childress, Ahmad    Alabama                             15

Clauss, Jared   Iowa                                             45

Dickerson, Mondre   Tennessee                       10

Dockett, Darnell    Florida State                         17

Edwards, Dwan   Oregon State                          29

Harris, Tommie  Oklahoma                                  11

Johnson, Spencer    Auburn                              22

Johnson, Tank   Washington                            16

Leisle, Rodney  UCLA                              21

McNeil, Demarco Auburn                         23

Olshansky, Igor Oregon               29

Siavii, Junior  Oregon                            15

Sopoaga, Isaac  Hawaii               8

Starks, Randy   Maryland                        20

Terrill, Craig  Purdue                              26

Tubbs, Marcus   Texas                21

Washington, Donnell Clemson                  8

Wilfork, Vince  Miami (Fla.)                     10

Williams, Corey Arkansas State               13

Nose tackles

Player             School             Wonderlic

Hilliard, Cedric    Notre Dame                             29

Lavalais, Chad  Louisiana State                         10

Pugh, Chad  Texas Christian                              19

Womble, Jeff    Florida State                              18

Inside linebackers

Player  School               Wonderlic

Cordova, Jorge  Nevada                                     18

Davis, Rod  Southern Mississippi                    18

Fowler, Ryan    Duke                                           32

Koutouvides, Niko   Purdue                               28

Miller, Caleb   Arkansas                                   34

Reynolds, Robert    Ohio State                          17

Seigler, Richard    Oregon State                         23

Spencer, Cody   North Texas                             18

Vilma, Jonathan Miami (Fla.)                              23

Outside linebackers

Player  School  Wonderlic

Bockwoldt, Colby    Brigham Young                  28

Boulware, Michael   Florida State                      24

Buhl, Josh  Kansas State                                    21

Chillar, Brandon    UCLA                                    24

Colas, Cols Virginia Tech                                   18

Cooper, Marquis Washington                           29

Dansby, Karlos  Auburn                                    15

Fox, Keyaron    Georgia Tech                             16

Gardner, Gilbert    Purdue                    14

Harrell, Jonathan   Northern Iowa                     17

Hickman, Bryan  Kansas State                           16

Hollowell, T.J. Nebraska                     17

Joe, Leon   Maryland                                           22

Johnson, Landon Purdue                                   27

Jones, Maurice  South Florida                           14

Lehman, Teddy   Oklahoma                                39

Lewis, Alexander    Wisconsin                          12

Moore, Lewis    Pittburgh                                   25

Pope, Derrick   Alabama                                      12

Pope, Kendyll   Florida State                              18

Richmond, Greg  Oklahoma State                      10

Smith, Daryl    Georgia Tech                               13

Strother, William   New Mexico                         15

Thomas, Dontarrious Auburn                           22

Toles, Deryck   Penn State                                 28

Tufts, Sean Colorado                                          23

Watson, Courtney    Notre Dame                      24

Williams, D.J.  Miami (Fla.)                                 21

Williams, Demorrio  Nebraska                            12

Cornerbacks

Player  School  Wonderlic

Alexander, Roc  Washington                             11

Allmond, Marcell    USC                                     16

Brooks, Greg    Southern Mississipp                21

Brown, Rufus    Florida State                             12

Carroll, Ahmad  Arkansas                                  17

Colclough, Ricardo  Tusculum                          11

DeLoatch, Curtis    North Carolina    16

Duff, Vontez    Notre Dame                                 16

Gamble, Chris   Ohio State                                  9

Gardner, Rich   Penn State                                  24

Greer, Jabari   Tennessee                    21

Hall, Deangelo  Virginia Tech                            23

Hutchins, Von   Mississippi                               26

Jordan, Randy   Kansas State                            22

Lesueur, Jeremy Michigan                                 16

Poole, Will             USC                                        14

Ratliff, Keiwan Florida                                         18

Richardson, Lawrence    Arkansas                    6

Robinson, Dunta South Carolina                      13

Samuels, Stanford   Florida State                       22

Shoate, Jeff    San Diego State                           34

Smith, Keith    McNeese State                           17

Strait, Derrick Oklahoma                     15

Thomas, Joey    Montana State                         19

Thompson, Chris Nicholls State (La.)               22

Thornton, Bruce Georgia                                    15

Vasher, Nathan  Texas                                        13

Waddell, Michael    North Carolina  18

Ware, Matt  UCLA                                              22

Wynn, Dexter    Colorado State                         22

Free safeties

Player  School  Wonderlic

Allen, Will Ohio State                              13

Baker, Rashad   Tennessee                     17

Coleman, Erik   Washington State            22

Curry, Kentrell Georgia                            22

Dixon, Daryl    Florida                             23

Eiland, Deandre South Carolina                16

Everage, Brandon    Oklahoma               15

Jones, Sean Georgia                               18

Lewis, Keith    Oregon                             11

Pruitt, Etric   Southern Mississippi            22

Reid, Dexter    North Carolina                  18

Schweigert, Stuart  Purdue                     28

Shivers, Jason  Arizona State                  14

Taylor, Sean    Miami (Fla.)                     10

Washington, Rashad  Kansas State          15

Williams, Madieu    Maryland                   16

Williams, Quintin   Wake Forest               26

Strong safeties

Player  School  Wonderlic

Bua, Tony   Arkansas                                         14

Earl, Glenn Notre Dame                                       23

Parker, Arnold  Utah                                            18

Sanders, Demond Iowa                                       20

Scott, Guss Florida                                              17

Williams, Virgil    Washington State                   22

Wilson, Gibril  Tennessee                                  14

Winn, Marcus    Alabama State                         18

Punters

Player  School  Wonderlic

Jones, Donnie   Louisiana State                        29

Larson, Kyle    Nebraska                     14

Lee, Andy   Pittsburgh                                        25

Nicassio, Jesse Eastern Washington               19

Sander, B.J.    Ohio State                                     23

Verhalen, Scott East Texas Baptist                   18

Placekickers

Player  School  Wonderlic

Kaeding, Nate   Iowa                                           26

Kimball, David  Penn State                                 34

Scobee, Josh    Louisiana Tech                         30

Setta, Nick Notre Dame                                       25

Yliniemi, Kirk  Oregon State                               30

FRIDAY ONE-LINERS

Redskins LB Antonio Pierce likely will be signing an offer sheet with the Vikings on Friday, the deadline for luring restricted free agents.

The Packers won't be making an offer to Rams RFA DE Bryce Fisher.

Dolphins RFA DE Adewale Ogunleye isn't expected to sign an offer sheet prior to Friday's deadline for doing so.

The full list of seven players who'll attend the draft is:  Eli Manning, Robert Gallery, Roy Williams, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, DeAngelo Hall, and Kellen Winslow.

The Raiders signed CB Denard Walker, which makes us wonder about their ultimate plans for franchised-and-unsigned CB Charles Woodson.

The Steelers hosted CB Dunta Robinson on Thursday.

USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow is hyping QB Philip Rivers, based on Chow's season in Raleigh with Rivers.