Category: NFL (Page 1134 of 1282)

The Buffalo Bills hosted free agent safety Donovin Darius on Tuesday according to the teams’ official website.

Not that this is a done deal yet, but why did the Bills cut Lawyer Milloy last season and draft three safeties in the past two years if another aging veteran was just going to peek their interest this offseason? Darius is two years younger than Milloy, but he’s also coming off a torn ACL and a broken leg in back to back seasons, not to mention is virtually the same run-stuffing safety with tremendous leadership ability Milloy is. I thought Buffalo was going to develop second year safeties Donte Whitner, Ko Simpson and rookie John Wendling? Whitner was outstanding last year as a rookie.

According to the Chicago Sun Times, the Bears have decided to waive defensive tackle Tank Johnson.

Johnson was stopped by police in Gilbert, Ariz. after 3 a.m. Friday for speeding, and he was arrested for suspicion of driving while impaired. He took a blood test, and while the results may not be known for two weeks, the Bears aren’t waiting.

With his latest antics, Johnson obviously still felt he was above the team, even after one would think he would settle down after being arrested last year for housing an arsenal of weapons. And while it’s highly doubtful because of his age and talent, I hope no other team takes a chance on him. In a related note, however, the NFC Champions are now severly thin at defensive tackle. Stud Tommie Harris is coming off a season-ending hamstring tear injury, and with Johnson now gone, the team puts a lot of pressure on former 49er Anthony Adams and 2006 third rounder Dusty Dvoracek. The team could look at former Texans’ starter Seth Payne, but at 32 and coming off a torn ACL, he might not be much of an upgrade over Adams or Dvoracek.

Last week on AM1130 WDFN in Detroit, a show host asked Lions’ quarterback Jon Kitna on what he thinks the outcome of the season will be. His answer:

“I thought 10 games (wins) before I saw the schedule. I’ll keep to myself what I think we actually will win, but it’s more than 10 games.”

Obviously with the Lions being dreadful over the years, Kitna’s prediction was a bit surprising, but it wasn’t worth the national attention it’s been given over the last few days. ESPN, AOL Sports and various other national sites are taking aim at Kitna’s comments, but really, they weren’t a big deal.

First and foremost, anyone who has been around Kitna in a locker room or seen him play knows he’s a fiery competitor. Furthermore, he goes to bat for his teammates and believes fully in Mike Martz’s system, so for him to predict 10-plus wins isn’t out of this world. What is he going to say, “We’ll probably win four or five, because that’s usually par for the Lions”? No, he’s going to show that he believes in his squad and not give some cookie-cutter response like most players do. Man, I know it’s kind of dead in the NFL right now, – other than Pacman being a moron, that is – but relax.

In his latest blog for SI.com, Andrew Perloff ranked the 10 teams that had the most dysfunctional offseasons. At the top of the heap were the San Diego Chargers, because per Perloff, Marty Schottenheimer was fired due to not getting along with GM A.J. Smith and Cam Cameron and Wade Phillips left for head coaching jobs.

I get how losing all three of your top coaches could be considered dysfunctional, but it’s not like the Chargers hired three of the Muppets to replace them. San Diego deserves to be noted, but ahead of the Falcons (4th) or Bears (6th)? How could you get any worse than Michael Vick and his trick water bottle scandal or an alleged underground dog fighting investigation? On top of that, Atlanta lost two starters on defense (Demorrio Williams and Rod Coleman) for all of training camp and possibly the start of the season, plus receiver Brian Finneran for the entire year. Need more? Jonathan Babineaux allegedly killed his girlfriend’s dog in a fight (Humane Society loves this team) and – just like the Chargers – replaced all three of their top coaches. And they’re forth behind the Chargers, Dolphins and Chiefs? Wow.

What about the Bears? Lance Briggs and Alex Brown don’t want to play for the team anymore and Tank Johnson is in legal trouble for the second time in less than eight months. Plus their rookie tight end, Greg Olsen, took heat after a rap song he recorded while at the University of Miami got public attention because it degraded women.

Pff, replacing three coaches as the most dysfunctional offseason…please.

As a player, Gene Upshaw was a Hall of Famer. As the head of the NFL Players Association, Upshaw is public enemy #1 for many former and current players.

In my latest column for Bullz-Eye.com, I got the chance to speak with former Lions linebacker Richard “Dirt” Jordan about how Upshaw has abandoned many of the players he played with. Like many current and former players, Jordan wasn’t afraid to speak his mind about Upshaw, the health state of former players, and the league in general.

To read the entire column and what Dirt Jordan had to say, click the link above.