Category: NFL (Page 398 of 1282)

      Potential trade suitors for Vincent Jackson

      June 29, 2010 /

      It’s becoming increasing clearer by the day that Chargers GM A.J. Smith would rather clean toilets at a state penitentiary than pay Vincent Jackson what he wants (i.e. roughly $47.5 million over four years), which is the deal Brandon Marshall got from the Dolphins). With that in mind, will he inevitably try to trade the talented receiver?

      According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chargers have made it known that Jackson (who remains an unhappy, unsigned restricted free agent) is available via trade. Assuming the Bolts don’t want to trade Jackson to a division rival or a playoff contender in the AFC, below are the teams that make the most sense if San Diego does indeed trade him.

      REDSKINS: Daniel Snyder is so reckless with his money that he wouldn’t bat an eye if it came to paying Jackson as much as Marshall received. The Skins are also desperate for wideout help seeing as how Santana Moss, Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas formed one of the least productive receiver corps in the league last year. Mike Shanahan knows Jackson well from his days as head coach in Denver and therefore, knows how productive he can be in all areas of the game (route running, stretching the field, run-blocking, you name it). The Skins might be the front-runners for Jackson, assuming they’re willing to part with at least a first round pick to acquire his services.

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      External Sports, NFL

      This is why the Bengals should wait to give Benson a new contract

      June 29, 2010 /

      A week ago, word out of Cincinnati was that Cedric Benson wanted a new contract and the Bengals were entertaining the thought of granting his wish. But Benson’s latest misstep with the law might have cost him the opportunity to earn a little financial security from his current employer.

      From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

      The Austin American Statesmen is reporting that Bengals running back Cedric Benson was arrested and charged with assault with injury early Tuesday after an incident last month at an Austin bar where witnesses said he punched a bar employee in the face.

      Benson was booked into the Travis County jail where he later posted bail and was released, authorities said.

      According to the Austin police arrest affidavit, Benson was at Annie’s West bar in the Sixth Street entertainment district on May 30 when he got into an altercation with another patron that left him spitting blood from a cut lip.

      After staff intervened, witnesses told police Benson shoved a bar worker and was verbally abusive. After being asked to leave, Benson was escorted to the door.

      Bar employee Bryan White told police that once outside, Benson complained that “all these white boys are ganging up on me and kicking me out,” then punched White in the face.

      After signing with the Bengals, he said of his legal trouble: “Just, it’s a humbling experience. It keeps you grounded. It will bring your feet back to the ground if your feet weren’t grounded. Just kind of bring you home, (an) opportunity to look in the mirror, re-evaluate yourself and change yourself for the better. I just had to make a better decision, a few better decisions.”

      This is exactly why I wrote last week that the Bengals should wait to give Benson a new deal. He had gotten into trouble multiple times with the Bears before arriving to Cincinnati and he’s under contract for the 2010 season. Thus, there’s no reason for the Bengals to give him a new deal before he proves that he can produce again on the field and stay out of trouble.

      If the NFL suspends him, chances are he can kiss a long-term deal goodbye. The Bengals have proven time after time that they don’t make wise decisions when it comes to signing troubled players, but even they aren’t stupid enough to give Benson a new contract after this. In fact, he could be looking at nothing but one or two-year deals from here on out because no team is going to trust him.

      He potentially cost himself millions of dollars because he had to be an idiot in a bar. Talk about bad timing.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      Chris Henry’s death should motivate the NFL to be more proactive when it comes to the long-term health of players

      June 29, 2010 /

      I’m not a doctor and therefore, I’m not qualified to draw conclusions about what eventually happens to people’s brains after years of playing contact sports – most notably football.

      But the latest news involving Chris Henry’s death has sprouted a discussion that everyone can be a part of because it strips away the football aspect of the game and reminds us that athletes’ long-term health is at risk.

      Henry died last December when he fell out of the back of a truck and suffered serious head trauma. Despite the fact that he had no documented instances of concussions while at West Virginia or with the Bengals, recent reports state that he had suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, before his death. (In layman’s terms, he was dealing with brain damage even before he met his tragic end.)

      According to doctors, symptoms of CTE can include failure at personal and business relationships, use of drugs and alcohol, depression and even suicide. Henry’s legal troubles over the years have been well documented and just recently, his mother claims that he suffered two concussions while playing high school football, which resulted in headaches. She also states that he started smoking marijuana right around the same time.

      But just because Henry smoked pot doesn’t mean that it was because he had brain damage from playing football. He could have made a conscious decision to toke up, just as he could have made a conscious decision to conceal a firearm in January of 2006 (which led to an arrest), assault a valet attendant in Kentucky in 2007, as well as punch an 18-year-old boy while throwing a beer bottle through the window of his car in 2008.

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      External Sports, NFL

      Are the Bucs moving in the right direction?

      June 28, 2010 /

      Two years ago, the Buccaneers appeared destined for another playoff run after amassing a 9-3 record behind veteran players like Derrick Brooks, Jeff Garcia, Stylez G. White, Barrett Ruud, Kevin Carter and Antonio Bryant.

      But the team faded down the stretch, losing all four of its remaining games (including an embarrassing defeat to the hapless Raiders in the final week of the year) to miss the playoffs entirely. Following the season, both head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen were fired and replaced by the experienced Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik, respectively.

      Last year was a disaster for Morris and the Bucs, who finished 3-13 and statistically had one of the worst offenses in the league. Until Morris took over the play calling duties midway through the season, the once proud Tampa Bay defense also took a significant step back from what it was earlier in the decade under former coordinator Monte Kiffin (who left the team following the ’08 season to coach with his son at the University of Tennessee).

      But one of the main reasons the Glazers fired Gruden and Allen was because of the pair’s desire to rely mostly on veteran players. There was a lot of turnover from year to year under Gruden and Allen and the Glazers felt as though the two weren’t building a young core that could compete for many years, not just one.

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      External Sports, NFL

      Vince Young unlikely to be suspended

      June 28, 2010 /

      While speaking at the NFL’s Rookie Symposium over the weekend, commissioner Roger Goodell said that Titans’ quarterback Vince Young is unlikely to be suspended following an incident in which he punched a man in a strip club earlier this month.

      From FOX Sports.com:

      Goodell acknowledged that a first-time legal offender like Young is unlikely to face an NFL suspension. Young, though, is guilty of embarrassing the NFL with a physical confrontation that was caught on the strip club’s security camera.

      When announcing a six-game suspension for Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in April, Goodell said one of the reasons for the punishment stemmed from behavior that “undermines or puts at risk the integrity and reputation of the NFL, NFL clubs or players.”

      Asked whether Young did the same and if that would factor into his final decision, Goodell said, “I think you have to look at these cases individually and understand them in a way of what are the issues going on with any individual. The intent of the (personal conduct) policy is to intervene so you help some individuals make a better decision and avoid these troubles. So when I sit down and look at all the facts around Vince or any other player, you want to make sure they understand that and what the policy was designed to do and more importantly understand the responsibility (of being an NFL player).”

      Some think that Goodell is too harsh on players and maybe he is. But the thing he does well is look at each situation separately when it comes to making a decision about whether or not to punish a player. If he needs to compare two separate incidents in order to determine the appropriate punishment for a player he will, but he’s not going to suspend Young for six games just because he served Big Ben for that amount. Nor should he.

      Young made a mistake, but this was also the first time he’s been in any sort of trouble. Goodell recognizes that and while he can’t be pleased that the incident occurred, I think it’s fair that Young goes without punishment.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

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