Category: NFL (Page 402 of 1282)

      Why the Titans have a leg up in the Chris Johnson holdout

      June 21, 2010 /

      There doesn’t appear to be a quick resolution to the Chris Johnson holdout situation in Tennessee. He doesn’t want to play this season for the $550,000 he’s scheduled to make and recent reports indicate that he wants $30 to 40 million guaranteed.

      The Titans’ stance is simple: They don’t want to negotiate a player’s contract after only two seasons. That includes any player, even one has valuable as Johnson.

      According to ESPN.com, the Titans have a good reason not to cave into Johnson’s demands:

      There’s an interesting angle to Johnson’s case, and it applies to any of the potential training camp holdouts this summer; namely, the 30 day rule. [Ed. note: Someone in the league office must love the number 30, given the 30 percent rule in effect this offseason as well]. The 30 day rule essentially forces holdouts back into camp 30 days before the first game of the regular season (Sept. 9 when the New Orleans Saints host the Minnesota Vikings), which this year works out to Aug. 10. If the player is not back with their team by that date, they lose a year of service, which may affect their free agency status depending on what happens with the new collective bargaining agreement.

      Given how productive he’s been in his first two seasons, I don’t blame Johnson for demanding more money. That said, I think I side with the Titans at this juncture.

      Let’s say they give into Johnson’s demands and re-work his contract. Let’s even say that they give him $40 million guaranteed; will he eventually ask for more money in a couple of years if he continues to play well?

      In the current landscape of the NFL, free agents make the most money and that’s often regardless of whether or not they’re the best at their position. Johnson wants to be the highest paid running back in the league, but even if the Titans honor his wishes, he likely won’t be the highest paid within two years. Then what happens? He asks for another raise? I know this is a hypothetical, but it’s something that the Titans have to think about.

      I think Johnson deserves a raise, but if you step into the Titans’ shoes, it’s hard to fault them for bulking on the idea of paying him now. Generally speaking, teams don’t even consider re-working a player’s contract until after they’ve been in the league for three years. Johnson is one year early on his contract demands.

      Of course, no player did what Johnson did in his second year either, making this situation incredibly tricky for both parties.

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      Is LaDainian Tomlinson done?

      June 21, 2010 /

      There seems to be two schools of thought on LaDainian Tomlinson at this point in his career: You either fall into the category that believes he has nothing left in the tank, or you think his declining production is in direct correlation to the Chargers’ poor run blocking over the past couple of years.

      At least one NFL general manager “with multiple Super Bowl rings” falls into the latter of the two categories.

      From the New York Post:

      “If you watch the films from the end of last year, the guy had nothing left,” a general manager with multiple Super Bowl rings said last week. “It’s not a knock on him personally. All those carries are going to catch up to anyone.”

      The above quote comes from one of New York Post columnist Bart Hubbuch’s most recent columns. Hubbuch also writes that, “it didn’t take a grizzled NFL scout to notice in the Jets’ recent workouts that Tomlinson just doesn’t look like the same player who terrified opposing defenses with his slippery moves and sublime hands for nine seasons with the Chargers.”

      Well, no kidding. LT will turn 31 in a couple of days and it’s not like the Chargers limited his carries earlier in his career. He was their workhorse for the better part of nine seasons and there’s certainly a lot of wear and tear on those tires.

      The question is, can he still be productive? In a two-back system, I think the answer is yes, especially consider that the Jets have a better O-line than the Chargers, although the loss of Alan Faneca certainly hurts. Assuming the Jets keep all of their backs fresh, LT can still be a valuable piece.

      That said, I highly doubt we’re going to see a resurgence here. Again, he’s on the wrong side of 30 and has been slowing down over the past two seasons. I still think he can be effective, but he might not come close to the 730 yards and 12 touchdowns that he produced last season. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a nice complement to Shonn Greene in New York’s running game.

      I think it’s a little early to stick a fork in him this season.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      Panthers’ Steve Smith breaks arm while playing flag football

      June 21, 2010 /

      Panthers’ wideout Steve Smith broke his arm while playing in a flag football game at his annual youth camp over the weekend. It was the same arm that he broke last season against the Giants.

      According to the Charlotte Observer, Smith has already undergone surgery and will likely miss all of training camp, although he’s expected to be healthy by Week 1 of the regular season.

      “Steve has talked to me and feels terrible about it,” says Panthers General Manager Marty Hurney. “Now his focus is on the rehabilitating process and getting back as quickly as he can.”

      While the situation is certainly unfortunate, it’s hard to fault an athlete for injuring himself while doing something good for the community. It was a freak accident.

      Someone that could benefit from Smith not being able to practice is promising rookie Armanti Edwards, who was taken in the third round of April’s draft. The former Appalachian State quarterback has impressed Carolina’s coaching staff in OTAs this offseason and could earn more playing time in the Panthers’ offense if he continues to turn heads in training camp and during the preseason.

      Update: Check that, the Charlotte Observer is now reporting that Smith was actually playing flag football in an adult league – not at a youth camp. Rut-oh.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      Cheated on your wife? Fine, just don’t ruin my football team.

      June 21, 2010 /

      Ben Roethlisberger was accused not once, but twice of sexually assaulting two separate females, while Tiger Woods admitted to cheating on his wife with multiple women, including at least one porn star.

      But neither of them hold a candle to Michael Vick in the category of most disliked athlete. The same goes for Al Davis apparently, seeing as how he was found to be the second most disliked sports personality among voters in a recent Forbes survey.

      From FOX Sports:

      For the second year in a row, Michael Vick topped a fan poll taken by Forbes as the most disliked national sports figure, myFOXphilly.com reported Sunday.

      The Forbes survey sampled sports fans and filtered out lesser-known figures like disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis and sports agent Scott Boras, who weren’t known by a lot of fans but really disliked by those who knew them.

      In the end, Vick was still held in a lower opinion than Ben Roethlisberger, Tiger Woods and Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis, with 69 percent of those polled disliking Vick.

      Davis was a surprising second with 66 percent, given the amount of bad PR that Woods (53 percent) and Roethlisberger (57 percent) had in the past year.

      Wait, Al Davis was second? So let me get this straight: you can commit adultery or be accused of sexual assault and still be more liked than if you ruined an NFL franchise. That’s kind of disturbing. I know I’m drawing a rather incomplete conclusion based on this unscientific poll, but I wouldn’t think that Al Davis would be ahead of Tiger and Big Ben on the most disliked scale.

      I guess it goes to show you how much Americans love their football.

      External Sports, General Sports, Golf, Humor, NFL

      An unconventional look at how teams could acquire Haynesworth

      June 20, 2010 /

      From ESPN.com:

      Former Green Bay contract negotiator and current National Football Post columnist Andrew Brandt hatched a trade idea that would give the Redskins financial relief in another way. It calls for Haynesworth to keep all of the Redskins’ money while the acquiring team takes on the expensive contract of another Redskins veteran — namely, running back Clinton Portis.

      Portis is due to make $7.2 million in 2010, of which $6.43 million is guaranteed. The Redskins would get some financial relief, and the new team would have to guarantee a total of $15.43 million for Haynesworth and Portis combined. The Redskins already have veteran running backs Willie Parker and Larry Johnson on their roster, while the Lions could surely use some backfield depth while Kevin Smith rehabilitates his knee injury.

      As I alluded to in the title, the idea is certainly unconventional, but not far-fetched. The Redskins want to recoup at least some of the money that they unwisely gave him last year and now that he’s unwilling to play, they might as well rid themselves of him in the process.

      That said, acquiring Haynesworth as is would be a bargain for any team because the Redskins have already paid most of his salary. Even though he’s an elite player when his head is on straight, why would any team want to acquire Haynesworth and pay Portis’ contract? Haynesworth is already forcing the Redskins into a corner, so teams might as well wait and see how the situation plays out, instead of taking a more proactive approach.

      External Sports, NFL

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