One of the main questions that the Super Bowl champion Saints will need to answer this offseason is whether or not they will retain Reggie Bush for 2010. He’s still under contract for another year, but he’s due $8 million, which is hefty price tag for a part-time player.

Bush has never shown the ability to consistently run between the tackles and his durability is always a concern, but he will still be a hot commodity if the Saints decide to move him this offseason. He’s a threat to score with the ball in his hands, is a dangerous punt returner and is also the very definition of a playmaker. Some team would want him if he were to become available, especially if New Orleans agrees to pay part of his salary (or even if they don’t).

I can’t help making the obvious connection between Bush and the Seattle Seahawks, who recently hired former USC head coach Pete Carroll and who are in desperate need of offensive playmakers. If anyone knew how to best utilize Bush’s talent, it would be Carroll and offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates.

But let’s get back to the original question: Will the Saints look to move Bush this offseason? An outright release seems unlikely given that he’s only 24 and still adds value to their offense and on special teams. He proved his worth in the playoffs and even at $8 million, he’s worth 10 touchdowns a year in some capacity.

The problem is that the Saints have 18 restricted free agents that they need to make a decision on whether or not to re-sign, including Bush’s fellow backfield mate Pierre Thomas, All-Pro guard Jahri Evans, safety Roman Harper and offensive tackles Jermon Bushrod and Jammal Brown. Even in an uncapped year, $8 million would go a long way for a team that needs new deals for the aforementioned starters, not to mention unrestricted free agents like Darren Sharper and Scott Fujita.

The Saints have an interesting dilemma on their hands this offseason when it comes to whether or not to retain Bush. Considering they just won the Super Bowl, now isn’t the best time to start ripping their team apart but $8 million is a lot of dough to give one player when a team has 21 pending free agents to worry about.

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]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/09/will-the-saints-look-to-trade-bush-this-offseason/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/09/why-would-the-sixers-do-a-three-way-deal-for-stoudemire/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/09/why-would-the-sixers-do-a-three-way-deal-for-stoudemire/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:30:22 +0000 John Paulsen http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=34231

The Arizona Republic is suggesting that the Sixers could do a three-way deal that would send Amare Stoudemire to Detroit instead of dealing directly with the Suns.

Possibilities with Philadelphia could be stronger with two fronts, a deal between bringing in swingman Andre Iguodala for Stoudemire with perhaps young power forward Marreese Speights or a three-way deal involving Detroit with Pistons guard Ben Gordon winding up in Philadelphia and the Suns getting Iguodala and Detroit power forward Chris Wilcox. The rub with Iguodala, a 26-year-old former Arizona star, is inheriting a contract that will pay him $56.5 million over the next four seasons.

This sounds like wishful speculation. First, both Marc Stein and Chad Ford have confirmed that it’s the Sixers holding up an Iguodala-and-Dalembert for Stoudemire deal, so why would Philly give up the promising young Speights instead?

Secondly, why would they trade Iggy, an elite defender who can score, for Ben Gordon, an excellent shooter but just a mediocre defender? It’s not like Gordon’s contract (four years, $48 million) is that much better than Iguodala’s (four years, $57 million). Not enough to justify the drop off on defense, anyway.

While I love the NBA trade deadline, I’m ready for it to get here already. The amount of misinformation and speculation that happens on a daily basis is mind-boggling.

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Julius Peppers is ruling out a long-term deal with the Panthers, making it more and more likely that he won’t return to Carolina next season.

With that in mind, here are four possible landing spots for the defensive end next season.

Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles are loaded with depth at the defensive end position, headlined by Trent Cole and rounded out by Juqua Parker, Darren Howard, Victor Abiamiri, Chris Clemons and Jason Babin. But they still lack that playmaker opposite Cole that could really wreak some havoc in defensive coordinator Sean McDermott’s aggressive scheme. Unless a sleeper prospect falls to them in the middle rounds, it’s unlikely that the Eagles will be able to address their defensive end need via the draft. That’s where Peppers comes in. If Philly decides to be aggressive this offseason, they may try to acquire Peppers whether the Panthers decide to franchise tag him or not. (They may be in line to acquire more draft picks if/when they trade Kevin Kolb, Donovan McNabb or Michael Vick.) Paired with Cole, the Eagles would have one of the best pass-rushing tandems in the league.

Atlanta Falcons
Jamaal Anderson hasn’t turned out to be the pass-rushing force opposite John Abraham that the Falcons envisioned he would be when they selected the former Razorback with the eighth overall pick in 2007. Worse yet, after racking up 16.5 sacks in 2008, Abraham (the team’s best pass rusher) only produced 5.5 QB take downs last season and will turn 32 in early May. Some feel as though Abraham has lost a step, but he would flourish playing opposite Peppers on the same defensive line. Pep would also make the vastly underrated Jonathan Babineaux and 2009 first round pick Peria Jerry even more dangerous on the inside, but the question now becomes whether or not the Falcons will be active in free agency. GM Thomas Dimitroff didn’t make any significant splashes last offseason, instead opting to build his roster via the draft. But if Dimitroff decides to be aggressive, then Peppers makes a lot of sense for a team like Atlanta, which is clearly on the rise but needs to plug some of its defensive holes.

New England Patriots
Rumors surfaced last offseason that New England was a possible landing spot for Peppers, so it makes sense that the Pats would be viewed as candidates again this year. The Patriots definitely have a need for a pass rusher and Peppers said last year that he wanted to play outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme. Given that Adalius Thomas has fallen out of favor with Bill Belichick, there could be a spot opening up in the Pats’ defense. But considering players like Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork, Logan Mankins and Stephen Gostkowski all need new contracts, New England might decide to spend its money on retaining its own players instead of acquiring outside help like Peppers. Plus, keep in mind that the Patriots were burned in the Thomas deal, so they may be reluctant to shell out big bucks for another pass-rusher.

Carolina Panthers
There’s still a possibility that the Panthers will franchise Peppers again like they did last year. The problem with that is it’ll cost them roughly $20.1 million and therefore, it’s unlikely that they’ll go that route. Instead, they’ll probably make Pep their best offer and if he decides that the grass is greener in another stadium, then he’ll exit Carolina stage left. Of course, they could always franchise him and then try to trade him in order to get some form of compensation, but if they don’t find a willing trade partner than they could wind up footing the $20.1 million bill for him next season. Carolina seems like an unlikely destination for Peppers next year, but given how much history the two have together nobody should be surprised if he has a change of heart and returns to the Panthers in 2010.

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]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/09/four-landing-spots-for-julius-peppers/feed/ 2 http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/09/nfl-network-pursuing-chris-berman%e2%80%a6why/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/09/nfl-network-pursuing-chris-berman%e2%80%a6why/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:45:37 +0000 Anthony Stalter http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=34227

According to the Big Lead, the NFL Network is heavily pursuing ESPN talking head Chris Berman, whose contract expires at the “World Wide Leader” in three months.

If Berman were to move to the NFL Network, it would reunite him with longtime ESPN associate Steve Bornstein, who rose in the ranks alongside Berman in the 80s. A separate source says that Berman and Bornstein – currently President of the NFL Network – are very close, having known each other for almost 30 year.

The question for Berman is simple: Will the lure of more money for less work trump Berman’s love for baseball and the significantly broader audience at ESPN? In addition to Berman’s NFL duties at ESPN, he’s been calling the Home Run Derby for over 20 years and occasionally calls baseball games for the network as well as hosts Baseball Tonight from time-to-time. Two years ago, ESPN VP of production Norby Williamson said of Berman, “He is our most important person, he is the face of ESPN.”

Berman stopped being funny in the late 90s and his shtick is old. He’s a shell of his former self and I don’t know why any network would fork over tons of dough in order to woo him into their broadcasting chair. But hey, that’s just me.

The kicker is that DirecTV is also rumored to be hot and heavy for Berman, too. Apparently neither network has watched ESPN since 1998. That’s the only reason I can think of as to why both the NFL Network and DirecTV would fight (if you can even call it that) over Chris Berman.

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]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/09/nfl-network-pursuing-chris-berman%e2%80%a6why/feed/ 2 http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/08/5-villanova-beats-4-west-virginia/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/08/5-villanova-beats-4-west-virginia/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:53:14 +0000 John Paulsen http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=34224 The Wildcats upended the Mountaineers, 82-75, in Morgantown behind 21 points from Scottie Reynolds and 17 points from Corey Fisher.

In Reynolds, Fisher and Reggie Redding, Villanova certainly has the guard play to make a deep run come March, but they lack the size inside to handle the likes of Kansas’s Cole Aldrich or Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins. I think ‘Nova will run into trouble in a matchup with Kansas and Kentucky because both teams have good guard play and the requisite size down low.

The Mountaineers look like another Bobby Huggins-coached team. They’re physical and play good defense, but can go through long stretches where they have trouble scoring.

NBA.com’s David Aldridge does not like to write trade columns, but fans love them, so he relented. Here are a few of the more interesting tidbits:

…by this time next week, it’s almost a certainty that Caron Butler will be gone from Washington, and highly likely that Tyrus Thomas will no longer be a Bull. By the 18th, Indiana’s Troy Murphy and Philly’s Andre Iguodala are certain to have new addresses as well, though those teams may well go right up until the 3 p.m. deadline to max out their suitors’ offers.

Not a bad start. Aldridge predicts at least two stars (Butler, Iguodala) and two starter-quality players (Murphy, Thomas) will be on the move. Here’s what he says about Butler:

The Wizards’ desire to move Butler has only increased in recent days, since they found out they will indeed get some cap relief from the NBA this season after losing Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton to suspension for the rest of the season. Washington’s cap number will be reduced almost $4 million, according to sources — pro-rated amounts of the remainder of Arenas’s $16.1 million and Crittenton’s $1.47 million salaries — taking its cap number to a little more than $74 million. The cap threshhold is $69.9 million, meaning Washington could avoid paying tax if it can pare another $4 to $5 million in salaries off its books.

That means Butler, though I suspect the Wizards will ask inquiring teams to remove Mike James and/or DeShawn Stevenson from their payroll as well.

Butler winding up somewhere in Texas is most likely, with Washington probably deciding between Dallas’ and Houston’s competing offers before next week’s All-Star Game. The Wizards are determined to get a young player back, though, and the Mavericks’ only non-geezer is rookie guard Rod Beaubois — while Houston has a young guard like Kyle Lowry and an expiring big man contract in forward Luis Scola to pair with McGrady’s $22 million expiring deal.

With the way Antawn Jamison has been playing (22-10-2 in February), some consider him to be the Wizards’ most valuable trade asset. But at 33 years old and with a tough contract to swallow (two more years at the tune of $28.4 million), I believe Caron Butler is the better acquisition. Butler is four years younger and has just one year remaining ($10.6 million). Butler has had his ups and downs this season, but he’s a swingman in his prime and he proved he still has it in a brilliant 31-point, nine-rebound effort against the Magic the other night.

From a pure personnel standpoint, the acquisition of Butler makes more sense for the Mavericks, who would like to upgrade from Josh Howard. A small-ball lineup of Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Caron Butler, Shawn Marion and Dirk Nowitzki would be pretty scary.

The Rockets already have Trevor Ariza and Shane Battier at small forward, so Houston’s interest seems to be more of the “buy low” variety, and that’s not a bad way to go about things. Daryl Morey has T-Mac’s $22 million expiring deal and several young assets — Lowry, Carl Landry and Chase Budinger — to dangle.

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Super Bowl XLIV between the Saints and Colts was watched by more than 106 million people, which surpassed the 1983 finale of “M*A*S*H” to become the most-watched program in U.S. television history.

From ESPN.com:

Nielsen estimated Monday that 106.5 million people watched Sunday’s Super Bowl. The “M*A*S*H” record was 105.97 million.

The “M*A*S*H” record has proven as durable and meaningful in television as Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs was in baseball until topped by Hank Aaron. Ultimately, it may be hard to tell which program was really watched by more people. There’s a margin for error in such numbers, and Nielsen’s Monday estimate was preliminary, and could change with a more thorough look at data due Tuesday.

“It’s significant for all of the members of the broadcasting community,” said Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp. CEO. “For anyone who wants to write that broadcasting is dead, 106 million people watched this program. You can’t find that anywhere else.”

And people wonder why companies spend so much on one 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl. It’s incredibly hard to get that many people to tune into your product or brand at one given time, so companies have no problem shelling out millions for ads on Super Bowl Sunday.

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