Around the NFL Thread

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Michael Crabtree - WR - Free Agent

"Sources around the league" tell Bleacher Report's Jason Cole that free agent Michael Crabtree's market has "crashed."

Cole's sources are just stating the obvious. Per Cole, Crabtree apparently believed he was going to make $9-$10 million per year before the start of last season. It would be a miracle for Crabtree to get even half that. The most likely outcome is Crabtree accepting $2-$3 million on a one-year, "prove-it" deal. To date, his lone visit has been to the Dolphins.
Source: Bleacher Report

Mar 31 - 2:21 PM

[Pattersonca65]

Niners plan on using Bush as an every down back? He won't make it through week 2...

Where do you see that?

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-foo ... -down-back

I saw that. But that is not what the article is stating. Tomsula said Bush can be an every down back, not that the 49ers were planning to do that. I think Tomsula was just blowing smoke like Harbaugh

[DoobieKeebler]

Mortensen reports the Browns are pretty much done with Johnny Manziel. Wow. Johnny Football is trying to reach Druckenmiller level speeds in his fall from grace.

I hope they don't have twitter or newspapers in rehab, because that is the type of news to make an addict say "**** it. I'm going back to the bottle/powder" (or whatever substance happens to be his vice).

[ChrisPozz]

Bucs traded Dashon Goldson and a 2016 7th-round pick to Washington for a 2016 6th round pick.

[MHSL82]

Arizona gym helps NFL players thrive http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12619 ... ng-arizona

PHOENIX -- Will Beatty's alarm clock doesn't usually go off early, especially in the offseason.

But he woke up at 6:30 a.m., knowing the sun would eventually come out and the air would warm up -- with no snow on the ground. That made it easy for the New York Giants left tackle to get out of bed 30 minutes earlier than he'd normally would during the season. In 90 minutes, Beatty would start to train alongside Pro Bowlers, veterans and Super Bowl champions. Mornings full of medicine balls, sled pulls, bench presses and sprints beat waking up to feet of snow in the Northeast.
Will Beatty, who protects quarterback Eli Manning's blind side, has been up early this offseason to train. Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
"It's a mental mindset," Beatty said. "Something you have to overcome -- waking up and the sun's just waking up with you. But when you're done, you have the full day head of you. "What distraction do you have at 6:30 in the morning that would keep you from coming in?"

Beatty was one of about 23 NFL veterans who, over the course of January, February and March, made Arizona their home away from home to train at Exos, formerly known as Athletes' Performance. For varying amounts of time -- San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick all but moved into Exos starting in January -- players got up early to train with Brett Bartholomew, who barked orders at the millionaire athletes like they were weekend warriors at the local gym on a Saturday morning.

And they loved it.

"If your partner gets hurt, that's on you," he yelled during a sled drill early on a Monday morning in March.

The group, which at times included players from 16 different teams, isn't about beating each other. That's left for Sundays in the fall. During winter weekdays, they try to make each other better. For one drill, Bartholomew divided the group into small clusters to go through a rotation of exercises -- push-ups, face pulls and so on. After the players get the hang of the workouts, the vibe begins to feel like an NFL weight room. The players feed off each other. Grunts are followed by yells of encouragement. They're pushing each other to get another rep and finish strong.

But being among a group of their peers is enough motivation, especially when some are elite stars.

"It's that competition," Beatty said. "Some of these guys you got to play against. You're taking notes. You're watching them."
Darrius Heyward-Bey says he hopes offseason training will help lengthen his career. Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire
It's a built-in support group, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey said.

"I get a group of guys who are all working to the same goal," he said. "It's cool that you have a quarterback like Kap and you got an O-lineman like (Buffalo Bills' Richie Incognito), and we're all working.

"It's almost like a team setting during the season. You got a full range of guys."

Sometimes the workout pairings are odd, if not ironic. During one rotation, Kaepernick paired with Seattle receiver Ricardo Lockette. And, for few hours, the San Francisco-Seattle rivalry was on hold.

Bartholomew won't sugar coat his critiques, regardless of a player's stature. He instructed Kaepernick how to fix his form in the same way he helped a junior college football player who lucked out, getting to train with the pro group.

"When you look at human nature, people tend to bond together in groups," Bartholomew said. "One of the big things about our program at Exos is there's no real formal marketing about it. It's just about word of mouth. Those guys being able to come in and work together. That's intoxicating to them in a way that allows them to, 'Hey, I get to measure up. I get to measure up against some of the best in the league.'


"Anytime you have multiple people working together, you're gonna have a situation where you can do more powerful stuff."
Brett Bartholomew, trainer at Exos gym
"Anytime you have multiple people working together, you're gonna have a situation where you can do more powerful stuff."

Each player is on their own program led by Bartholomew and a group of three or four other trainers. So when Patriots defensive back Patrick Chung arrived five weeks after winning Super Bowl XLIX, he went through the same workouts as the rest of the group, except his reps and weight differed.

Players have several options in for training in the offseason, but they say most don't measure up to what they find at Exos. That's why Darrius Heyward-Bey said he paid $500 a week to train with Bartholomew. That's in addition to rent, bills and other necessities of living away from home.

Heyward-Bey initially signed up for two weeks. He ended up staying for a month.

"It's great because that's how it is in the NFL," Heyward-Bey said. "You got coaches who got different personalities. A guy who's not scared that you're making more money than him, way more athletic than him but you respect a guy like that because he doesn't care who you are. "His job is to get you better and push you."

By the first week of March most of the players at Exos were weeks, if not months, into their training for the 2015 season. Some were pushed by how 2014 ended. Some were pushed by age, not wanting to lose their jobs to younger players.
The Chiefs' Dontari Poe says he came to Exos to get a leg up on the competition. Peter Aiken/Getty Images
Dontari Poe, the Kansas City Chiefs' Pro Bowl nose tackle, will begin his fourth season in the league this fall. He began training earlier than normal "to get a leg up and kinda get some stuff right with my body."

Heyward-Bey knew after the 2013 season, his fifth in the league, he needed to make an effort to extend his career. Speed had been his calling card, but it wasn't going to last forever. He knew his future depended on the offseason, which led him back to Exos after six years away.

"It's a cutthroat business," he said.

"When we do start OTAs and we do start little practices and stuff, I literally feel like I'm better than you because I have the leg up. But at the end of the day, who knows what's going to happen. You don't know. But I can walk in feeling good. I can go to each workout knowing that I'm in the best shape of my life."

[ChrisPozz]

NFL has fired some of its worst officials

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... officials/

[ChrisPozz]

Polamalu retires from football

http://www.heraldstandard.com/new_today ... af308.html

[Pattersonca65]

A little contention in Seattle? Come on Seachickens give RW $25 million per year.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/seattle-s ... 00275.html

[NinerSickness]

The Chargers may be trying to trade Phillip Rivers.

Should I torture myself by getting my hopes up?

[Pattersonca65]

The Chargers may be trying to trade Phillip Rivers.

Should I torture myself by getting my hopes up?

It is not worth the effort. If you could put Rivers in a time machine and take a few years off of him, it would be something to get excited about. But the 49ers are in a rebuilding/reloading process and unlikely to be competing for a Super Bowl with or without Rivers. Rivers would probably be retired or in serious decline but this team is ready to compete for a super bowl

[ChrisPozz]

"This Isn't Just Any Super Bowl:" Plans for "Super Bowl City 50" Unveiled

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Su ... 17591.html

[NinerSickness]

It is not worth the effort. If you could put Rivers in a time machine and take a few years off of him, it would be something to get excited about. But the 49ers are in a rebuilding/reloading process and unlikely to be competing for a Super Bowl with or without Rivers.

Totally disagree. The Niners + Rivers would be SB favourites IMO. The Chargers' non-QB talent level isn't anywhere near that of the Niners.

[Pattersonca65]

It is not worth the effort. If you could put Rivers in a time machine and take a few years off of him, it would be something to get excited about. But the 49ers are in a rebuilding/reloading process and unlikely to be competing for a Super Bowl with or without Rivers.

Totally disagree. The Niners + Rivers would be SB favourites IMO. The Chargers' non-QB talent level isn't anywhere near that of the Niners.

Super bowl favorites? Not even close. The 49ers would be far from super bowl favorites with Rivers. Not only that, if the 49ers OLine issues don't pan out, Rivers would end up as roadkill.

[ChrisPozz]

New York man charged with stealing identity of ex-NFL player Mike Rumph

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12782 ... nfl-player

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Mike Wallace - WR - Vikings

Mike Wallace believes he's the fastest player in the NFL.

Wallace says he's run a 4.21 40-yard dash in the past. "I’ve run a lot of routes and I’ve got a lot of miles on my legs, but I still feel that there’s nobody (in the NFL) who can run with me," Wallace said. "I might have slowed down a little, but I could still run 4.25." Wallace's boast is impossible to prove, but his elite speed was still in good working order last season. He'll be able to take the tops off teams for his new club.
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press

May 5 - 2:55 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Tom Brady - QB - Patriots

Ted Wells released his "DeflateGate" report Wednesday and found it's "more probable than not" that the Patriots manipulated the footballs in the AFC Championship game.

"It is more probable than not that Patriots personnel participated in violations of the Playing Rules and were involved in a deliberate effort to circumvent the rules," Wells concluded. "In particular, we have concluded that it is more probable than not that Jim McNally [the Officials Locker Room attendant for the Patriots] and John Jastremski [an equipment assistant for the Patriots] participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee. Based on the evidence, it also is our view that it is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities." Brady doesn't come out well in the 243-page report, but Patriots higher-ups like coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft may have been unaware of the wrongdoings. It's now up to the NFL to hand out discipline.
Source: Profootballtalk on NBC Sports

May 6 - 1:23 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Ahmad Brooks is being accused of sexual assault. This offseason cannot end any sooner.

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Tom Brady - QB - Patriots

The Miami Herald reports "everything" is being considered as the league mulls its punishment of Tom Brady in the Patriots' ball-deflation scandal.

There's mounting speculation that Brady will be suspended, but the question is for how long. If the commissioner's office does decide to come down on the league's golden boy, we doubt it would be for more than 1-2 games.
Source: Miami Herald

May 7 - 2:13 PM


Tom Brady - QB - Patriots

PFT's Mike Florio says a Tom Brady suspension seems "unavoidable."

There is no smoking gun tied to Brady in the 243-page Ted Wells DeflateGate report. But there is plenty of circumstantial evidence and Brady has two other factors working against him: He refused to cooperate with the investigation and the Patriots have a history of being on the gray side of the rules. ESPN's Adam Schefter has joined PFT in suggesting the Patriots will likely be forced to start Jimmy Garoppolo when they open the 2015 season.
Source: ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com

May 7 - 9:12 AM

[Mamba Mentality]

The NFL isn't going to suspend their golden boy. Brady will probably get slapped with a fine, and everyone will get over all this **** just like spygate.

[ChrisPozz]

Ex-49er A.J. Jenkins to try out for Jets

http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-fr ... 06134.html