Random tidbits from around the league
Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 11:13 pm
I've been chatting with a few people and doing some legwork since the draft. Some of what I've picked up...
--Josh McCown will be the starter in Oakland at least until their bye week, no matter if he's thrown 5x INTs to TDs. The Raider coaches love Russell but don't want to risk his confidence behind what still looks like a very inferior OL. On that front, Jake Grove is back to playing C full-time, Gallery is expected to win the RG job, and every other line spot is up for grabs. Mario Henderson will be given every chance to win the LT job.
--the Rams are planning on using Adam Carriker at DT, inside James Hall. Hall was a very good pass rusher when paired with a physical guy with quickness at DT, and if Carriker is anywhere close to as good as Shaun Rogers when he worked with Hall, the Rams DL is suddenly an asset in a division with some iffy OLs.
--the Titans are toying with moving Michael Griffin to nickel CB (Finnegan and Harper will start), which means they blew the draft even worse. If they wanted a corner, they could have had Aaron Ross, and Ross was the #2 PR/KR guy in this draft to boot, something the Titans need in Pacman's wake.
--Keyshawn is apparently insisting he's not interested in playing in GB, which is precisely why he's going to wind up there. I know his agent met with the Packers twice this week, and Favre called Key to pitch the Pack to him. From what I've head it's 50/50 between Green Bay and San Francisco for Keyshawn, though Key's agent specifically mentions that they have yet to contact the Chargers but will.
--the Lions are leaning strongly towards cutting Damien Woody, who is due a $5.5M salary/bonus if he's on the opening day roster. Manuel Ramirez "blew away" coach Marinelli with his fierceness and brute strength. Woody has actually worked his way back into decent shape (he's down to about 328, was up to 365 by season's end), so there might be a market for him and if he's motivated he could make a difference for an awful interior OL like the Dolphins or Texans.
--there is a lot of fire behind the smoke of the Vick dogfighting issue, a lot. I'm actually in Virginia right now and I've talked with some of the people who talked to Don Banks of SI.com, and I know someone who knows the lenghty back story real well, and there's no way Vick isn't going to face indictment on some charges. Banks even returned an email I sent him, very cordial I might add. They have pictures of Vick choosing dogs from a breeder, receipts of purchase of food and training supplies for dog fighting paid for by Vick, at least $40K worth of documented evidence. Everyone I talked with believes that Vick's boys will take the fall for him, but there's no way the NFL can ignore this. If Pacman got a full year for his lousy decisions and being affiliated with bad people doing bad things, Vick is due at least 8 games for this. It's not imminent, but Falcons fans had better learn to digest the fact that Joey Harrington is likely to start as many games as Mike Vick next season, and it just might be during the later part of the year.
--Josh McCown will be the starter in Oakland at least until their bye week, no matter if he's thrown 5x INTs to TDs. The Raider coaches love Russell but don't want to risk his confidence behind what still looks like a very inferior OL. On that front, Jake Grove is back to playing C full-time, Gallery is expected to win the RG job, and every other line spot is up for grabs. Mario Henderson will be given every chance to win the LT job.
--the Rams are planning on using Adam Carriker at DT, inside James Hall. Hall was a very good pass rusher when paired with a physical guy with quickness at DT, and if Carriker is anywhere close to as good as Shaun Rogers when he worked with Hall, the Rams DL is suddenly an asset in a division with some iffy OLs.
--the Titans are toying with moving Michael Griffin to nickel CB (Finnegan and Harper will start), which means they blew the draft even worse. If they wanted a corner, they could have had Aaron Ross, and Ross was the #2 PR/KR guy in this draft to boot, something the Titans need in Pacman's wake.
--Keyshawn is apparently insisting he's not interested in playing in GB, which is precisely why he's going to wind up there. I know his agent met with the Packers twice this week, and Favre called Key to pitch the Pack to him. From what I've head it's 50/50 between Green Bay and San Francisco for Keyshawn, though Key's agent specifically mentions that they have yet to contact the Chargers but will.
--the Lions are leaning strongly towards cutting Damien Woody, who is due a $5.5M salary/bonus if he's on the opening day roster. Manuel Ramirez "blew away" coach Marinelli with his fierceness and brute strength. Woody has actually worked his way back into decent shape (he's down to about 328, was up to 365 by season's end), so there might be a market for him and if he's motivated he could make a difference for an awful interior OL like the Dolphins or Texans.
--there is a lot of fire behind the smoke of the Vick dogfighting issue, a lot. I'm actually in Virginia right now and I've talked with some of the people who talked to Don Banks of SI.com, and I know someone who knows the lenghty back story real well, and there's no way Vick isn't going to face indictment on some charges. Banks even returned an email I sent him, very cordial I might add. They have pictures of Vick choosing dogs from a breeder, receipts of purchase of food and training supplies for dog fighting paid for by Vick, at least $40K worth of documented evidence. Everyone I talked with believes that Vick's boys will take the fall for him, but there's no way the NFL can ignore this. If Pacman got a full year for his lousy decisions and being affiliated with bad people doing bad things, Vick is due at least 8 games for this. It's not imminent, but Falcons fans had better learn to digest the fact that Joey Harrington is likely to start as many games as Mike Vick next season, and it just might be during the later part of the year.