GANG OF 4 BACKS DOWN, VICK DOES THE RIGHT THING, CHIEFS HAVE MONSTER CAP CASH & LEACH RETURNS TO LUBBOCK
This afternoon it appeared the CBA could be unraveling due to four highly paid veterans. San Diego wide receiver Vincent Jackson was the first to relent, "Vincent just wants to be a Charger" so said Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune. "He will play as the franchise player without any complaint" Acee said after talking to Jackson. No complaint? The franchise tag at WR is worth over $11 million for one year. He played for less than $200,000 last year after holding out, missing all of training camp & the first 8 games of the season.
Peyton Manning & Drew Brees were in search of a lifetime exemption from the franchise tag, a big deal since both are in their contract season & could be "tagged" come February. Both are represented by CAA, Tom Condon's agency & NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler tabbed this pair for special treatment by naming them in the anti-trust lawsuits. CAA & Kessler were fighting right up until about 5PM Tuesday & the NFLPA made it clear they weren't going to pursue special favors for any of the 10 plaintiffs. Brees took to Twitter claiming the media was spreading false reports about the franchise tag exemption. His "outrage" was almost laughable. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk was one of many who doubted Brees' sincerity & Florio simply advised the Saints' QB to Tweet "I want no special treatment. This was never about me. This is about players past, present & future." Minutes later Brees Tweeted:
"I want no special perks. My job is to get a fair deal for all players & I am proud to represent them all, past, present & future."
Well I'm convinced how about you? "My job?" I think Brees spent a total of 2 days at the negotiating table. He dissed the retired players on two occasions & trashed ownership in an afternoon-long Twitter stream. I'm sure the other 1,896 players were glad their best interests were defended by the brave quarterback. The players were fortunate enough to have Jeff Saturday, Mike Vrabel, Dominique Foxworth, Brian Waters & a few more, sitting across the table day after day after day. Peyton Manning never said a word, but as soon as the backlash began, he put the back peddle into gear. He will run away from this as fast as possible, Manning has huge endorsement deals to protect.
The last member, New England guard Logan Mankins hasn't uttered a peep, so it is unknown if he has decided to go along with the program.
Carl Eller, representing retired players, finally got a seat at the table on Tuesday. Guess better late than never. The good news is Eller said the retired players would not stand in the way of the new CBA being completed. He said they didn't get everything they wanted, but "It'll work."
Both sides stayed at the bargaining table until 8PM Tuesday night. The player reps meet today in Washington D.C. to get a full briefing as to the full agreement so a vote can be taken. Ownership will also vote, not till Thursday in Atlanta. If anything knocks this deal off the rails now, cancelling the 1st week of the preseason won't be far away. Then things could really get sticky.
In another story with really poor timing, 75 former NFL players have filed suit in Los Angeles charging the league hid knowledge of concussions causing a variety of conditions, some of them fatal. The suit also charges the league & the Riddell helmet company kept this information from the players for 90-years. The league was formed in 1920, it's 2011, yeah that's 91-years isn't it. The biggest names in the suit include Mark Duper, Rodney Hampton & Otis Anderson. I'm not a lawyer, thank God, but I think this is going to be a tough one to prove.
Eagles quarterback Michael Vick continues to do the right thing. He contacted Wayne Pacelle, President & Chief Executive of the Humane Society recently & asked what he could do to speak out against dog-fighting. Pacelle got him his most powerful audience ever, several U.S. Congress people. He appeared at a news conference with three of the representatives & Pacelle touting a bill to be introduced in Congress. The new law, if passed would make everything surrounding dog-fighting a federal offense. Bringing animals to fight, bringing a child to a dog-fight or just being on the premises by yourself. "I'm sorry for what I did to the animals. During my time in prison, I told myself I wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem" Vick said on Tuesday.
So you just got your Super Bowl ring but you're a little nervous about wearing it all the time, so how can you show the public you're a world champ? Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields has the answer.
Problem solved.
Kansas lost one of their top recruits, at least for the time being. Dreamius(I swear that's really his name) Smith is JUCO-bound because of low ACT test scores. The running back from Witchita took the test over & over for 18-months but couldn't score high enough to play in Division I football. His high school coach said his grades were good enough, "above the minimum on the sliding scale," whatever that is. I have a number of friends who are teachers, maybe one of them will be kind enough to enlighten me as to what the "sliding scale" is.
If the CBA is ratified & the lockout is lifted, free agency will be upon us in less than a week. The Chiefs are loaded with usable cap space, about $34 million. Under the new agreement Scott Pioli is going to have to spend about 95% of the total cap, or $120 million. That means the Chiefs have more than 28% of the spendable cap to work with. I have a few ideas as to who they should resign, see what you think.
Tamba Hali is the franchise player & he deserves a raise & a new contract. Any problems with that? Other unrestricted free agents Pioli should consider strongly would include Casey Wiegmann, only wants a 1-year deal & he has no desire to play anywhere else. Should be a 1-year $2 million guaranteed deal. For you "Survivor" fans, Wiegmann is married to former contestant Danni Boatwright, a truly beautiful woman.
Shaun Smith, Leonard Pope, Jon McGraw, Corey Mays & Terrance Copper could all be resigned for a very reasonable amount of cap. Keeps good continuity in your special teams as well.
Restricted free agents that I believe will be retained include Brandon Carr. Kansas City's "other cornerback" played extremely well down the stretch last season. He absolutely should be in the Chiefs' long term plans. Defensive end Wallace Gilberry had 7.5 sacks in limited duty, he needs to come back. Barry Richardson & fullback Mike Cox should also be back. Richardson isn't a starter IMO, but he is a valuable swing player at offensive tackle.
Where does Pioli go after his own guys? As I've said before I'd like to see a veteran inside linebacker to pair with Derrick Johnson. I'd be absolutely giddy if Kansas City could entice Frisco's Aubrayo Franklin to come to Arrowhead & play nose tackle. These two additions along with the rookies could make the Chiefs' defense a formidable one very quickly. A legitimate defensive end would be in order if Haley & Crennell have lost faith in Tyson Jackson....like I have.
After that I'd like to see an offensive tackle signed. New England's Matt Light & Dallas' Doug Free should be available, Free won't come cheap....really? A backup runner would also make sense, Thomas Jones was running on fumes midway thru last season. He's got a lot of miles on him, I think he's about finished.
Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach made his return to Lubbock yesterday. He was in town to do a book signing at the local Barnes & Noble. Hundreds of fans stood outside in triple digit temperatures to see the very popular coach. Former players showed up, people came from as far away as Amarillo to see Leach.
Near the end of his book, Swing Your Sword, Leach questions the "noble intentions" of Tech administrators. The people who gave basketball coach Bobby Knight a virtual free pass for a helluva lot of bad behavior. Leach talks about Knight's obscenity-laced meltdown in a grocery store salad bar while in the company of the schools president. Then there was the curse-filled local TV interview after a Red Raider loss. Finally & this one's a beaut, Knight deliberately left two of his players behind after a loss. He left them in Austin with no way to get back to Lubbock. When Leach brought up these incidents when he was facing his dismissal, he was told Knight never endangered a player's health. If Adam James really had a concussion, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you. Leach was fired because he outsmarted the administration during contract negotiations & they hated it. If you'll recall, Leach was fired two days before he was to receive an $800,000 bonus, no way they were going to let that happen. The lawsuits brought by Leach against Texas Tech & ESPN have yet to be tried.
Peyton Manning & Drew Brees were in search of a lifetime exemption from the franchise tag, a big deal since both are in their contract season & could be "tagged" come February. Both are represented by CAA, Tom Condon's agency & NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler tabbed this pair for special treatment by naming them in the anti-trust lawsuits. CAA & Kessler were fighting right up until about 5PM Tuesday & the NFLPA made it clear they weren't going to pursue special favors for any of the 10 plaintiffs. Brees took to Twitter claiming the media was spreading false reports about the franchise tag exemption. His "outrage" was almost laughable. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk was one of many who doubted Brees' sincerity & Florio simply advised the Saints' QB to Tweet "I want no special treatment. This was never about me. This is about players past, present & future." Minutes later Brees Tweeted:
"I want no special perks. My job is to get a fair deal for all players & I am proud to represent them all, past, present & future."
Well I'm convinced how about you? "My job?" I think Brees spent a total of 2 days at the negotiating table. He dissed the retired players on two occasions & trashed ownership in an afternoon-long Twitter stream. I'm sure the other 1,896 players were glad their best interests were defended by the brave quarterback. The players were fortunate enough to have Jeff Saturday, Mike Vrabel, Dominique Foxworth, Brian Waters & a few more, sitting across the table day after day after day. Peyton Manning never said a word, but as soon as the backlash began, he put the back peddle into gear. He will run away from this as fast as possible, Manning has huge endorsement deals to protect.
The last member, New England guard Logan Mankins hasn't uttered a peep, so it is unknown if he has decided to go along with the program.
Carl Eller, representing retired players, finally got a seat at the table on Tuesday. Guess better late than never. The good news is Eller said the retired players would not stand in the way of the new CBA being completed. He said they didn't get everything they wanted, but "It'll work."
Both sides stayed at the bargaining table until 8PM Tuesday night. The player reps meet today in Washington D.C. to get a full briefing as to the full agreement so a vote can be taken. Ownership will also vote, not till Thursday in Atlanta. If anything knocks this deal off the rails now, cancelling the 1st week of the preseason won't be far away. Then things could really get sticky.
In another story with really poor timing, 75 former NFL players have filed suit in Los Angeles charging the league hid knowledge of concussions causing a variety of conditions, some of them fatal. The suit also charges the league & the Riddell helmet company kept this information from the players for 90-years. The league was formed in 1920, it's 2011, yeah that's 91-years isn't it. The biggest names in the suit include Mark Duper, Rodney Hampton & Otis Anderson. I'm not a lawyer, thank God, but I think this is going to be a tough one to prove.
Eagles quarterback Michael Vick continues to do the right thing. He contacted Wayne Pacelle, President & Chief Executive of the Humane Society recently & asked what he could do to speak out against dog-fighting. Pacelle got him his most powerful audience ever, several U.S. Congress people. He appeared at a news conference with three of the representatives & Pacelle touting a bill to be introduced in Congress. The new law, if passed would make everything surrounding dog-fighting a federal offense. Bringing animals to fight, bringing a child to a dog-fight or just being on the premises by yourself. "I'm sorry for what I did to the animals. During my time in prison, I told myself I wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem" Vick said on Tuesday.
So you just got your Super Bowl ring but you're a little nervous about wearing it all the time, so how can you show the public you're a world champ? Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields has the answer.
Problem solved.
Kansas lost one of their top recruits, at least for the time being. Dreamius(I swear that's really his name) Smith is JUCO-bound because of low ACT test scores. The running back from Witchita took the test over & over for 18-months but couldn't score high enough to play in Division I football. His high school coach said his grades were good enough, "above the minimum on the sliding scale," whatever that is. I have a number of friends who are teachers, maybe one of them will be kind enough to enlighten me as to what the "sliding scale" is.
If the CBA is ratified & the lockout is lifted, free agency will be upon us in less than a week. The Chiefs are loaded with usable cap space, about $34 million. Under the new agreement Scott Pioli is going to have to spend about 95% of the total cap, or $120 million. That means the Chiefs have more than 28% of the spendable cap to work with. I have a few ideas as to who they should resign, see what you think.
Tamba Hali is the franchise player & he deserves a raise & a new contract. Any problems with that? Other unrestricted free agents Pioli should consider strongly would include Casey Wiegmann, only wants a 1-year deal & he has no desire to play anywhere else. Should be a 1-year $2 million guaranteed deal. For you "Survivor" fans, Wiegmann is married to former contestant Danni Boatwright, a truly beautiful woman.
Shaun Smith, Leonard Pope, Jon McGraw, Corey Mays & Terrance Copper could all be resigned for a very reasonable amount of cap. Keeps good continuity in your special teams as well.
Restricted free agents that I believe will be retained include Brandon Carr. Kansas City's "other cornerback" played extremely well down the stretch last season. He absolutely should be in the Chiefs' long term plans. Defensive end Wallace Gilberry had 7.5 sacks in limited duty, he needs to come back. Barry Richardson & fullback Mike Cox should also be back. Richardson isn't a starter IMO, but he is a valuable swing player at offensive tackle.
Where does Pioli go after his own guys? As I've said before I'd like to see a veteran inside linebacker to pair with Derrick Johnson. I'd be absolutely giddy if Kansas City could entice Frisco's Aubrayo Franklin to come to Arrowhead & play nose tackle. These two additions along with the rookies could make the Chiefs' defense a formidable one very quickly. A legitimate defensive end would be in order if Haley & Crennell have lost faith in Tyson Jackson....like I have.
After that I'd like to see an offensive tackle signed. New England's Matt Light & Dallas' Doug Free should be available, Free won't come cheap....really? A backup runner would also make sense, Thomas Jones was running on fumes midway thru last season. He's got a lot of miles on him, I think he's about finished.
Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach made his return to Lubbock yesterday. He was in town to do a book signing at the local Barnes & Noble. Hundreds of fans stood outside in triple digit temperatures to see the very popular coach. Former players showed up, people came from as far away as Amarillo to see Leach.
Near the end of his book, Swing Your Sword, Leach questions the "noble intentions" of Tech administrators. The people who gave basketball coach Bobby Knight a virtual free pass for a helluva lot of bad behavior. Leach talks about Knight's obscenity-laced meltdown in a grocery store salad bar while in the company of the schools president. Then there was the curse-filled local TV interview after a Red Raider loss. Finally & this one's a beaut, Knight deliberately left two of his players behind after a loss. He left them in Austin with no way to get back to Lubbock. When Leach brought up these incidents when he was facing his dismissal, he was told Knight never endangered a player's health. If Adam James really had a concussion, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you. Leach was fired because he outsmarted the administration during contract negotiations & they hated it. If you'll recall, Leach was fired two days before he was to receive an $800,000 bonus, no way they were going to let that happen. The lawsuits brought by Leach against Texas Tech & ESPN have yet to be tried.
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