Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 96 of 1503)

49ers’ rookie Kaepernick has surgery on leg

May 13, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

While neither he nor his new team have any concerns about whether or not he’ll be ready by the start of the season, the 49ers announced on Friday that No. 36 overall pick Colin Kaepernick recently underwent surgery to repair an injury to his lower left leg.

“It’s nothing serious at all,” Kaepernick told the Sacramento Bee’s Matt Barrows. “For me, going through the end of the season and then on to the Senior Bowl and everything – there wasn’t any time to get it handled.”

The Niners issued a statement about the procedure, stating that they knew about the surgery before they drafted Kaepernick in April. (I would have hope they would.) The team also stated that it had “no concerns regarding his health and are confident that he will be ready for the 2011 NFL season.”

Even if he weren’t, that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for Kaepernick or the 49ers. I think Jim Harbaugh will eventually turn Kaepernick into a successful pro quarterback. But it’s going to take some time.

Kaepernick certainly has all the physical tools to succeed at the next level (i.e. great arm strength, terrific athleticism, good intangibles), but he played in the pistol offense at Nevada. It’s going to be a couple of years before he learns the nuances of how to be a pro quarterback, including being able to read a defense and learn an entire playbook. I know Niner fans are excited for him to start right away, but it’s not a bad idea that the team is considering re-signing Alex Smith to an extension so that Kaepernick can watch and observe for a year or two. And if this injury slows him down in his first year then again, that may not be a bad thing.

External Sports, NFL

Colin Kaepernick colin kaepernick 49ers Colin Kaepernick surgery Jim Harbaugh

Forcier changes mind, won’t enroll at Miami

May 13, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Former Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier has changed his mind and will not enroll at the University of Miami according to SI.com.

A person familiar with his decision told The Associated Press on Friday that the former Michigan quarterback broke off contact with the Hurricanes about six weeks ago because undisclosed personal matters were overshadowing football. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Forcier has not publicly revealed the decision.
ESPN.com first reported Forcier would not attend Miami. A message left for Forcier’s father by the AP was not immediately returned Friday.
Miami added another transfer quarterback earlier this spring, when South Florida native Ryan Williams left Memphis after one season to join the Hurricanes. Returning quarterbacks Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris will vie for Miami’s starting job for 2011 in training camp, and Williams would have to sit out until 2012 unless the NCAA grants a waiver saying otherwise.

As SI.com points out, the last 10 or so months of Forcier’s collegiate career has been rocky. He lost the full-time starting quarterback job to Denard Robinson last year and despite his insistence that he would remain a Wolverine throughout his career, he announced his decision to transfer shortly after being ruled academically ineligible for Michigan’s trip to the Gator Bowl.

After considering Kansas State, Washington, Arizona and Montana, he signed an aid agreement with the Hurricanes in February. But after backing out with Miami, his playing status remains in flux.

Forcier has always reminded me of Jeff Garcia thanks to his ability to buy himself more time by moving around in the pocket and finding open receivers. He doesn’t have out-of-this world natural talent but given the right situation, I think he could succeed as a full-time starter somewhere. Of course, in order for that to happen he has to settle on a school and make sure he stays academically eligible.

College Football, External Sports

Tate Forcier

Report: Tom Brady “froze out” Randy Moss

May 13, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com shared an interesting tidbit of information in his latest column about Tom Brady and Randy Moss. The crux of Curran’s piece is about how Moss isn’t an ideal fit for the Patriots any more, but he also mentions how Brady “froze” Moss out in the receiver’s final two games with New England last season.

Moss’ main concern isn’t playing football, it’s making money. And anyone who’s been listening for the last decade has heard Bill Belichick lob the praise “football is important to him” realizes how ill-fitting Randy Moss would be here.
Never mind the fact that, after the Jets game last year, quarterback Tom Brady basically froze Moss out for his final two games in New England. Brady was tired of throwing picks on balls intended for Moss (he threw two against the Jets; he had just two more the rest of the regular season).

This seems like one of those stories in which the player(s) later comes out and says that it didn’t happen. But I wouldn’t put it past Brady to do something like “freeze” anyone (not just Moss – Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Jerry Rice, etc.) out. His no nonsense attitude and leadership are just two qualities that endear him to football fans across the country.

Hey, you don’t want to work, Randy? No problem. But you’re not getting the ball. Good luck trying to get that contract extension you’ve been seeking. I’m not going to stand idle while you look out for No. 1 and the rest of us fight for the TEAM.

And what happened to Moss in the end? He turned out being the poster child for what not to do when you’re a player seeking a new contract. Now he’s practically begging for New England to take him back after he eroded in Tennessee last year. Had he just shut his mouth, continued to work hard and helped the Patriots win, he probably would have received a new contract (at least eventually, barring what happens with the lockout).

But because he put himself ahead of the team, Moss got the treatment he deserved in the end.

External Sports, NFL

New England Patriots Randy Moss Tom Brady

NFL Players seeking $707 million in damages

May 13, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

According to SI.com, locked-out players asked a federal judge on Thursday to make $4 billion in disputed broadcast revenue off limits to the league and to award them at least $707 million in damages.

Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the players, urged Doty to rule quickly on the request to put the $4 billion “war chest” in escrow because of the ongoing lockout. The players have argued that the league can make it through the work stoppage in part because it illegally secured that money by renegotiating TV contracts for 2011 that allows the NFL to get paid even if there are no games to televise.
Gregg Levy, an attorney for the league, said the players have no right to damages, and he accused them of “sandbagging and ambush.”
Levy told reporters afterward the league never intended to finance a work stoppage with money from the networks. He said the players don’t have the right to access the money, however, and balked at the proposal for an escrow arrangement.
“It would in effect give the players some entitlement to that money which we don’t believe they are entitled to,” Levy said.
The damages award alone could amount to a huge piece of leverage for the players in their fight with the NFL over the next collective bargaining agreement. And so could making the broadcast money off limits.
“I think that the owners predicated a lot of their strategy in having a revenue stream for 2011,” said Marc Greenbaum, a labor law professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston who is following the case. “If Judge Doty grants the players’ request, an important part of their strategy is undermined.”

It’s interesting to read how the owners “never intended to finance a work stoppage with money from the networks.” Then how were the owners going to fund their lockout? With loans? Were they going to borrow money from their parents? And what was going to happen to all that TV money if the lockout wiped out the entire 2011 season? The owners were just going to let it sit there as they lost money hand over fist? Come on – that was their insurance policy.

Granted, I don’t think the players should be awarded that money either. In fact, had they not foolishly worked it into the contracts that the league would get paid no matter if there was football to televise or not, I think the money should go back to the networks. I mean, the networks paid to televise football. If there is no football, then there should be no deal.

But alas, the TV networks agreed to pay the league no matter what, and now they’ve unknowingly created a monster in the form of this $4 billion revenue pot.

External Sports, NFL

2011 NFL lockout NFL lockout nfl players vs owners

Vikings haven’t discussed acquiring Young

May 13, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Despite hiring his former quarterbacks coach in Tennessee and the fact that he’s working out with Adrian Peterson this offseason, the NFL Network’s Steve Wyche reports that the Vikings have not held internal discussions about acquiring Vince Young.

The Young-to-Vikings rumors started in January after the team hired his former quarterbacks coach, Craig Johnson, for the same position in Minnesota. And now that Young and AP have started working out together, there’s growing sentiment that VY could wind up starting in Minnesota next year while rookie Christian Ponder holds the clipboard.

But the Vikings haven’t even considered that possibility according to Wyche. It would make sense for the Vikes to acquire a veteran quarterback to help tutor Ponder, but it seems like a reach for them to go after Young (a player with maturity issues).

The more likely scenario is that Minnesota will wait for Washington to cut Donovan McNabb and then sign him to a two-year deal to help aid Ponder’s development. McNabb has played in the West Coast Offense his entire career and the Vikings hired former Atlanta QB coach Bill Musgrave, who will be installing his version of the WCO this year. Granted, there’s no guarantee that McNabb would want to sign with Minnesota knowing that he would eventually have to turn the offense over to Ponder, but at least the Vikings would give him the opportunity to start next year. (Assuming of course that Ponder doesn’t set the world on fire in training camp and preseason and win the job outright…if there’s even a training camp and preseason, that is.)

Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 96 of 1503)

49ers’ rookie Kaepernick has surgery on leg

Forcier changes mind, won’t enroll at Miami

Report: Tom Brady “froze out” Randy Moss

NFL Players seeking $707 million in damages

Vikings haven’t discussed acquiring Young

FOLLOW US!

CATEGORIES

Pages