Month: August 2010 (Page 10 of 59)
A report by Newsday’s Bob Glauber has me a little confused.
According to Glauber (or at least Newsday’s headline), the Bengals are “ready to release Antonio Bryant.” Glauber writes that there is “plenty of speculation” that the Bengals are ready to cut bait on Bryant, who has been limited to just one training camp practice because of knee problems.
The idea makes sense if Bryant was playing on a cheap one-year deal, but he’s not. He signed a four-year, $28 million contract in March, which included $8.25 million in guaranteed money. They’ve already paid him $7 million thus far, so why wouldn’t they see if Bryant’s knee could hold up at the start of the season? It’s not like they need the roster space at the moment, seeing as how they only need to cut five more players by August 31 to meet the NFL’s roster guidelines.
The only way this makes sense is if the Bengals were convinced that Bryant wouldn’t be healthy enough to play this season. But even then, they could place him on IR, use the roster spot for a healthy receiver and then hope Bryant is healthy heading into next year. I don’t see how coming to terms on an injury settlement helps the Bengals at this moment, unless Bryant is walking around Cincinnati tipping over garbage cans and punching babies and the team just wants to get rid of him.
Considering he worked out on Wednesday, it would make sense for the Bengals to take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to Bryant’s health. There’s no reason to eat $7 million and not at least see if he will be healthy enough to suit up at some point this season.
Merry training camp season, everyone. It’s been a long offseason, but football is finally gearing up again and to celebrate I’m rolling out a new series on TSR entitled “2010 NFL Question Marks,” where I discuss one or two of the biggest concerns that teams have heading into the new season. Granted, some teams have more issues than others, but I’ll primarily be focusing on the biggest problem areas. Today I’ll be discussing two potential issues that the Broncos face in 2010.
I’ve tried to stick with talking about only one position when discussing teams in this question marks series, but it’s hard not to bring up two key issues that the Broncos will face this season.
Brandon Marshall amassed 101 receptions and 10 touchdowns last season – almost half the number of TDs that Kyle Orton threw (21). The player with the next most receptions on the team last year was Jabar Gaffney, who finished with 54.
Needless to say, now that he’s in Miami the Broncos’ receivers have their work cut out for them trying to duplicate Marshall’s success.
The team did well by selecting former Georgia Tech product Demaryius Thomas in the first round of April’s draft. His skill set is off the charts and in time, he could make Denver forget about Marshall and become the Broncos’ go-to guy.
But he also keeps injuring his surgically repaired left foot and while he should be ready to go by Week 1, will the foot be a problem for him from here on out? How many times do we see a player hampered by an injury all season, even though he’s able to play every Sunday? Receivers have a difficult time making an impact in their rookie years as it is, so it stands to reason that Thomas could struggle this season.
“We did have a report of an altercation that took place at the Denver Nuggets’ practice facility,” Detective John White of the Denver Police Department told FanHouse by phone. “That case was investigated and ultimately presented to the district attorney’s office. … Ultimately, the district attorney’s office, after being presented with the findings by the Denver Police Department, decided not to pursue charges.
According to White, the player — who sources said lives in the Denver area and played previously with the now defunct Colorado 14ers of the NBA D-League — is “not a member of the National Basketball Association.”
According to a league source who spoke with one of the people in the gym, numerous players were taking part in drills when members of the Nuggets’ coaching staff told the player who later called police to be physical with Smith.
“They were just wanting the guy to be physical with J.R., telling the other guys, ‘Hey, body up on the guys and really make them work,'” the source said. “J.R. just lost it. He tried to choke the kid, and the kid called the cops.”
Smith has a reputation for being something of a nutjob and this isn’t going to help matters. He is an extremely talented player, especially offensively, but he has always had trouble staying on task.
The incident occurred on August 13, which might explain the trade rumors that surfaced shortly thereafter.
Before their sweep of the Braves this week, I would have said that the National League Wild Card is a three-team race. But now that the Rockies are putting together a very Rockie-like charge, this is definitely now a four-horse competition in the NL.
Let’s break down the contenders and make a prediction.
(Side Note: I’m fully aware that the Phillies and Cardinals still have a great chance of catching the Braves and Reds in their respective divisions, but I’m going by the standings as of Thursday, August 26. In a couple of weeks, I’ll update this list so for now, let’s just call this Version 1.0.)
Philadelphia Phillies
Games Remaining: 36
Games Back: 0
What I Like About Their Chances: I like the Phillies because quite frankly, they’ve been here before. They know what it takes to play good baseball in the month of September and their roster is chockfull of veteran players. Even though they haven’t shown it of late, the Phils also still have the best lineup 1-8 of any of the four Wild Card contenders and a three-headed monster in Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt (who has been outstanding in the month of August) and Cole Hamels. This is, by far, the most talented team of the four listed…
What I Don’t Like: …that said, this club isn’t playing very good baseball right now. In their last seven games, they’ve won only two and they were just swept at home by the Astros. Also, despite all of their offensive firepower, they’ve managed to score just 16 runs in those seven outings. They also have six more games against the Braves, who they are just 5-7 against this season. This is a club that seemingly can’t put it all together this season and you just get the sense that something’s missing.
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