Category: NFL (Page 36 of 1282)

NFL News & Notes: Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan & “Free Hernandez”

McNabb was shortsighted with comments about Stafford.
Donovan McNabb recently said that he didn’t think Matthew Stafford was worth top 5 money in the NFL and while it’s hard to argue with his logic, he was also being shortsighted with his comments. Before the Lions selected Stafford with the first overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, they suffered through the likes of Joey Harrington, Jeff Garcia, Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky, Daunte Culpepper and Drew Stanton. And while Kitna did have one productive season under Mike Martz, there’s not a franchise quarterback among that group.

You see, it doesn’t matter what you, me, or McNabb thinks about Stafford as a player. The Lions firmly believe that he’s a franchise signal caller and thus, they were justified to pony up for his prime years. There have been exceptions to the rule but generally speaking, if you don’t have a quarterback, you don’t have a Super Bowl contender.

Are there flaws in Stafford’s game that he needs to fix? Undoubtedly. But he’s a strong leader, a hard worker, and is dedicated to his craft. If he weren’t, the Lions wouldn’t have signed him to an extension with two years remaining on his rookie deal. Besides, he didn’t receive as much guaranteed money as Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco or even Tony Romo, who only has one more career playoff win than Stafford. Plus, had the Lions chosen to make Stafford prove he deserves a new long-term deal, what’s to say he wouldn’t have led them to their first-ever Super Bowl appearance and demanded more than what they wound up paying him? It was a good deal for both sides.

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Patriots do right thing with Aaron Hernandez

Aaron Hernandez New England Patriots

When you read this article about the strength of the case against Aaron Hernandez, you realize immediately that the New England Patriots had little choice in releasing him after he was arrested for murder. It’s hard to cover your tracks in today’s world, and it appears that the police have a witness along with a ton of information regarding the timeline that implicates Hernandez. The defense seems to have an uphill battle in this case.

This decision by the Patriots also spares Roger Goodell and the NFL from having to deal with a suspension. Hernandez has been released so there’s no need to go through a process that will demand even more media attention.

NFL News & Notes: Titus Young, Mark Sanchez and More

Let’s spin around the NFL…

Jets to try and trade Sanchez? Good luck.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter suggested on NFL Live that the Jets will look to trade Mark Sanchez before Week 1 if Geno Smith shows that he’s ready to play as a rookie. To that, I reply: Good luck. Teams won’t want to take on the $8.5 million in guaranteed money that Sanchez is currently owed on his contract. (And if some team does then its just as insane as the Jets were for taking Sanchez with the fifth overall pick in the 2009 draft.) The NFL is a quarterback-driven league and there are a plenty of quarterback-needy teams around. But there are only a handful of quarterbacks in the NFL that can elevate the talent around them and Sanchez isn’t one of them. He’s a consistently average signal-caller that buckles under pressure and can’t avoid making costly mistakes. Any team that would be willing to part with draft picks and $8.5 million in guaranteed money is likely desperate for a quarterback because its roster is devoid of talent. How is Sanchez going to make a losing situation better? He’d be better off going to a team that already has an established starter so that he can be the backup.

Titus Young needs help.
You don’t need to be a shrink to realize that Titus Young needs serious help after he was arrested yet again in California last Friday. That makes three arrests in less than a week for the embattled wide receiver, who was released by the Rams back in February less than two weeks after he was claimed off waivers from the Lions. His father says that his son has a disorder that causes his brain to be compressed against the front of his skull and that Titus hasn’t been taking his prescribed medication. Forget football – this kid needs serious help. And somebody better give him that help before he winds up hurting himself or someone else (again).

The Chiefs made an interesting hire.
According to Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette-Journal, Chris Ault has agreed to a consultant position with the Chiefs. Why is this noteworthy? Because Ault is known as the guru of the ‘pistol offense,’ which had great success when he was the head coach at Nevada from 2004 to when he retired last December. Andy Reid runs the West Coast, but one would surmise that he’s ready to open up his playbook to incorporate the pistol formation, which could benefit running back Jamaal Charles. (I can’t imagine that Alex Smith would run the read-option on a consistent basis, although he has more mobility than people give him credit for.)

Did the Bills shift Nix out of the GM role too late?
Buddy Nix has had a rough go of things in Buffalo since taking over the mantle of general manager in 2010. Hindsight is always 20/20 but he’s made a handful of questionable decisions over the years, including overpaying Ryan Fitzpatrick and passing on the likes of Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson in previous drafts. Less than a month after he helped the Bills land former Florida State signal-caller E.J. Manuel to help run Doug Marrone’s offense, Nix will step away from his role as GM and transition to Special Assistant. It’s widely assumed that Buffalo will hand the GM role over to Doug Whaley, the Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel. If Manuel doesn’t pan out, Bills fans will be left wondering why the team’s front office didn’t move Nix out of the role much sooner.

Will Carimi even make Chicago’s roster?
The Bears seemingly landed a steal in the 2011 NFL Draft when they plucked Wisconsin offensive tackle Gabe Carimi off the board with the 29th overall pick. But as it turns out, the former Badger was just the latest in a long line of brutal first-round picks by ex-GM Jerry Angelo. Carimi missed nearly all of his rookie season with a knee injury and when he came back in 2012, he was brutal. Now it appears he might not even make the 2013 roster after he was a no-show for the first day of Chicago’s OTAs on Monday. The workouts aren’t mandatory, but one would think that a player on the roster bubble would want to show a new coaching staff that he isn’t the gigantic bust that everyone believes him to be.

Giants score big in NFL Draft

If you want to excel consistently, you have to have a team philosophy and know how to execute it year in and year out. That’s why teams like Pittsburgh and New England keep making it back to the Super Bowl.

The New York Giants are one of those teams. On offense everything revolves around clutch quarterback Eli Manning, and on defense it’s all about their front four. By putting pressure on the quarterback with their four down linemen, the Giants can neutralize quarterbacks like Tom Brady while other teams can barely slow him down.

With that backdrop, I was very impressed when the Giants were able to grab defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins in the second round and then Damontre Moore in the third round. This New York Giants fan blog has a great post breaking down both picks. Hankins in a beast who helps plug up the middle against the run, but Hankins is also very quick and mobile for a big defensive tackle. He reminds me of guys like Michael Dean Perry and Warren Sapp who were quick off the ball and could rush the passer up from the interior line position. On the Giants, where the defensive ends pose real problems in pass protection, Hankins will have even more opportunities to get sacks. He clearly has first-round talent so the Giants got great value here.

The value was even better when they were able to grab Moore in the third round. He dropped like a rock with poor performances at the combine and on his pro day, so there’s some risk here. But given his talent, Moore is a steal in the third round. And while the bright lights of New York City could be a problem for this guy, he’s going to the perfect team for his talents, and the guys in this locker room should keep him in line.

The NFC is loaded with media favorites San Francisco and Seattle, along with teams like Atlanta and Green Bay. The Giants slipped last year, but if these two guys pan out, you can bet the Giants will be in the mix for the NFC title.

Tebow circus leaves New York

The Jets unceremoniously released Tim Tebow the day after the NFL draft. The timing sort of sucks for Tebow, but who can blame the Jets for trying to get something in return for Tebow?

It will be interesting to see if anyone is willing to give this guy another shot. For the Jets, I think they took a major gamble grabbing Geno Smith. Don’t get me wrong, Smith has some talent and could develop in the right situation, but he seems immature as hell, and throwing him into the New York media circus seems like a huge mistake. Smith is very inconsistent and really needs to sit on the bench and learn for a while, particularly considering that the Jets will now run the complex West Coast Offense. If they throw him in too early, Mark Sanchez will look like a rock compared to Geno Smith.

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