NFL Off Season News

Two huge items hit the news today. Actually, one hit the news yesterday. It was the announcement by University of Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam that he is gay. It's a gutsy move by Sam and it may open the door for more gay athletes to come forward. This is the first time in league history an athlete has come out either before or during his career. The other athletes to come out did so after they retired. Sam is considered a tweener D-lineman meaning he's a little undersized to play defensive end in the NFL but would probably be converted to a 3-4 outside linebacker. Sam is the SEC Co-Defensive MVP for 2013 and he is certainly talented enough to get a real chance to be drafted anywhere from the mid first round to the third round of this year's draft. Some are predicting that Sam coming out of the closet publicly will hurt his draft status because teams won't want to put up with the media circus that may or may not surround Sam. I personally don't think it's a big deal. He's been accepted by his Missouri teammates and it's worth noting that none of them betrayed him by outing him in social media. It speaks well of Sam's Missouri teammates and it speaks well of Sam who inspired that loyalty. He's first and foremost a football player and it's certainly not like he was humping legs in the locker room. For heterosexuals this shouldn't be a big deal. The important thing NFL teams should decide is, can he play? For gays it's a big deal going a long way to help them with social acceptance. I have never in my life been asked what my sexual preference is and that's ok. It's nobody's business. My company didn't ask if I am a heterosexual, all they care about is do I do my job well. It just happens I am heterosexual but either way it's nobody's business outside of friends and family. It's a big deal now but by the May draft I predict it will be old news and non-issue.

 

The other news is that two congressmen are threatening the NFL with congressional action if the Washington Redskins don't change the name from one that is considered a racial slur. Here's a link to an ESPN article on this issue.

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10430475/senator-threatens-nfl-tax-exempt-status-washington-redskins-name

I've posted on this site before how I believe that former Cleveland Browns GM Michael Lombardi is a major tool bag. I don't need to expound on this any more but earlier this week Browns owner Jimmy Haslam seemed to come to the same conclusion because he fired Lombardi after just over a year on the job. Lombardi wasn't the only casualty because gone is CEO Joe Banner. There was a major disconnect between Banner and Lombardi and it was really manifested during the coaching search Cleveland conducted after the season ended. Lombardi was too picky and Banner was reportedly borderline rude to prospective coaches Ken Whisenhunt and Greg Schiano. Haslam also learned through the grapevine eventual Texans coach Bill O'Brien wouldn't go to Cleveland on a bet. Things got so bad that Banner was on the verge of firing Lombardi when word came down both men were no longer needed by the Browns. In his press conference Haslam stated that he was undergoing a learn-as-you-go situation and he owned up to any mistakes he had made in putting together his organization. He also said that his goal of making the Browns a contending team has not faltered and he is moving forward to that end.

That's all well and good and you kind of respect a guy who admits his mistakes. Let's not forget Haslam is rich, rich enough to buy an NFL franchise so he ain't no dummy. He also isn't egotistical enough to pass the buck when he surely could have. So this should give the long suffering Browns fans hope things will change. The new management has a slew of draft picks from the few good things Banner and Lombardi did including the Trent Richardson deal which sent him to Indianapolis and netted some picks for the Browns. It's a deep QB draft and the Browns do have Brian Hoyer, who was really doing a nice job before tearing his ACL, coming back. The Browns have a good defense and some nice offensive receivers. They need O-line help and a running back. Not a bad scenario for new head coach Mike Pettine going forward. The key for Pettine will be whether or not Cleveland's scouting department is worth a crap and whether Pettine has a plan to make the Browns better.

The last straw for Cleveland fans was the firing of native Ohioan Rod Chudzinski after less than a year on the job. For those outside of Cleveland the Browns were looked upon a joke after Haslam fired Banner and Lombardi but local writers in Cleveland saw this as addition through subtraction. Cleveland grew to hate Banner and they already hated Lombardi after his pissed off the whole fan base during his first stint as GM from 1987 to 1996. I don't know just exactly how he did this but when he was hired fans were angry and Lombardi never did a press conference as the GM in this past tenure to shield him from the venomous Cleveland press. Cleveland has had a horrendous run as a bottom feeder team in the NFL for 20 years. You kind of hope their fortunes will change.

Looks like we're playing emotional tennis here in Miami. First Jonathan Martin is leaving the team because he can't take the harassment from teammates especially Richie Incognito. Then it got all touchy-feely with both Martin and Incognito claiming to be friends and Kumbaya was being sung by all. Then on eve of the report on the harassment investigation Richie goes all balistic on Martin calling him a backstabbing so-and-so. All you can do is scratch your head and mutter WTF!!!! Now NFL.com has an article slamming Miami head coach Joe Philbin and team leadership for being "clueless". As in most things, we won't be rid of this story until a final resolution comes down from the NFL. All this overshadows the nice season Miami had in light of the bullying scandal. A late season collapse denied the Dolphins a spot in the playoffs but they were in the conversation right down to at least Week 15. Anyway, if you're interested here's the summery of the independent report made by Ted Wells from NFL.com.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000325899/article/summary-of-ted-wells-report-on-miami-dolphins

The biggest thing going for NFL football aside from the draft is taking place right now. Actually, since this past Wednesday events at the NFL Scouting Combine have been taking place with interviews with individual teams, medical probing and prodding and bench pressing. The on-field stuff began today and of course is being televised by the NFL Network.

 

According to draft guru Mike Mayock this is the deepest draft in the past 10 years which bodes well for all 32 teams but with Texas teams both needing lots of help that is really good news.

 

The drills began with the offensive linemen began this morning and there are huge raves for those guys. Texas A&M's Jake Mathews, Michigan's Taylor Lewan and Auburn's Greg Robinson wowed analyzsts. These three were even compared to the top tackles taken last season in Luck Joekel, Eric Fisher and Lane Johnson as possibly being even better. Mike Mayock was most impressed with Robinson who is listed at 6'5" and 335 lbs and ran a 4.92 40, benched 225 lbs 36 times. Mayock is quoted as saying, "He's saying, 'You know what, I am your top tackle'".

 

Michael Sam did his press conference today and you may not agree with his lifestyle choice but you can't help being impressed with him as a person. Here's a link to that presser.

 

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-combine/0ap2000000327928/Michael-Sam-I-did-it-on-my-time-my-terms

 

How seriously with the repercussions will be for Ray Rice cold cocking his fiancée in an Atlantic City hotel elevator this past week are still unknown but the GM of the Ravens, Ozzie Newsome, was asked about it at the combine and he said, "It doesn't look good.". Newsome did say he hasn't spoken to Rice since the incident but he did see the video on line. Newsome said he will speak to Rice soon and decide what to do about the incident. Rice and his fiancée Janay Palmer were both arrested at the hotel for aggravated assault at both apparently hit one another in the elevator. In the video Rice is seen dragging an unconscious Palmer out of the elevator and his attempts to pick her up a go to their room which were unsuccessful. Palmer looked like she was coming around late in the video.

 

http://www.tmz.com/2014/02/19/ray-rice-unconscious-fiancee-atlantic-city-video-arrest/

Here's a Day 2 recap of today's work by the quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs by NFL Network's Mike Mayock.

 

http://www.nfl.com/combine/story/0ap2000000328516/article/mayock-takeaways-manziel-bortles-draw-mixed-reviews

 

Kent State's Dri Archer (pronounced dree) set a 2014 combine record of 4.26 which was just a whiskey away from breaking Chris Johnson's all time combine record of 4.24.

Hey guy... that's a lot of reading. Can we get cliff notes guy?

Here's a link to a list of all the unrestricted free agents in the NFL this season. You may be surprised at some of the names who may change teams chasing that big contract. The listed is divided by position which is pretty convenient.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000316567/article/2014-nfl-free-agents-position

This Richie Incognito thing just won't go away will it. After the report about the hazing in the Dolphins locker room came out Richie was all mad at Jonathan Martin again. Then after a couple of days they are BFFs again and now the latest news is that the cops were called out to investigate why there were dents in the hood of Incognito's Ferrari. Turns out Richie wailed on the hood himself with a baseball bat! OMG what is wrong with this dude? It seems Richie has issues that go way beyond football. It's beginning to look like this story will ever be dead until after Richie retires or somebody kills him during a psychotic incident. Who beats up a Ferrari that doesn't have a screw loose? Nobody.

The NFL deadline for designating their franchise and transition tags passed yesterday. One week from today the free agent period begins and a lot of guys are being allowed to test the FA waters. Here's an article from NFL.com listing players who have been tagged along with a short list of the many players who didn't.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000330283/article/franchise-tag-tracker

 

A couple of players were released today which are somewhat surprising.

> The Eagles released WR Jason Avant. Avant was drafted the same year as Jeremy Maclin and he was Maclin's replacement when he was injured last season.

> RB L'Ron McClain was released by the Chargers. McClain is a fullback who can run the football as a tailback became expendable by San Diego who are likely making the move for salary cap reasons.

 

Here is an article from NFL.com listing the top 10 running back free agents going on the market next week.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000330467/article/free-agency-primer-top-10-running-backs

There is a definite change in the mood in the Crescent City, New Orleans if you didn't know the city's nickname. Moves made in the last week change the landscape of the Saints offense. All World tight end Jimmy Graham was tagged with the franchise player designation and he's not too happy about it. Players don't like the franchise tag because it's only a one year deal and a long term contract with a fat signing bonus is much preferred.

Another move was the release of WR Lance Moore. Moore has been a top notch receiver for the Saints and he's really been clutch and a TD scoring machine. He was released for salary cap purposes but his production will definitely be missed.

Among the biggest surprises is the impending release of RB Darren Sproles. Sproles has been an uber free agent signing since he came to New Orleans after several productive seasons in San Diego. Sproles touched the ball a whopping 165 times in 2013 and he has been one of Drew Bree's favorite weapons. He's also been a money fantasy football player. It can be argued that he's been much more productive than first round draft choice Mark Ingram has been. Now it will be up to Ingram, Pierre Thomas, Khiry Robinson and whoever else they draft.

The Detroit Lions owner, William Clay Ford, passed away from pneumonia today. He was 88 years old. Ford was the only remaining grandson of Henry Ford. Ford bought the Lions in 1963 for $6 mm and he was beloved by the teams he owned because of his loyalty to his employees but the Lions suffered through years of futility. They won only playoff game in the 51 years he owned the team. William Clay Ford Jr, Ford's only son among his four children is CEO of the Lions.

 

Arizona Cardinals RB Rashard Mendenhall is going to retire after a 6 year career which began in Pittsburgh in 2008. Cowboys fans will remember that Dallas passed on Mendenhall so they could draft Arkansas RB Felix Jones as a compliment to then starting RB Marion Barber. Mendenhall suffered a torn ACL in 2011 and his career was never the same again. He signed with Arizona as a free agent in 2013 but at the end of the season in a meeting with head coach Bruce Arians Mendenhall indicated at the time he was thinking about retiring from the NFL and pursue other interests. Arians planned on building his offense around their 6th round pick in 2013, Andre Ellington, anyway and Arizona already sports a full compliment of RB's including Alfonzo Smith, Stepfan Taylor and 2011 2nd round pick Ryan Williams so it would have been a challenge for Mendenhall to find a spot on the Cardinals roster.

 

 

A big piece of Seattle's front four just removed himself from consideration as free agent tomorrow. Michael Bennett has signed a 4 year deal worth $28 mm with $16 mm guaranteed. There was a lot of speculation that Bennett may go to the Chicago Bears and NFL.com's Albert Breer reported that the Bears and a mystery team offered Bennett more money than he ultimately signed for. In the end Bennett decided Seattle was home and he'll be staying for another four years at cost that's considered to be a nice hometown discount for Seattle.

 

NFL.com is reporting that Carolina is shopping for a deal to trade WR Steve Smith. This is a huge move considering what Smith has meant to the Panthers over the years. Just when Carolina is getting good again apparently the Panthers don't want Smith along for the ride.

 

It's being reported that defensive end Julius Peppers is on the trading block and if a deal is made Lamarr Houston will step into Peppers vacated spot for the Bears that is of course, Chicago can sign him. Houston is currently with the Oakland Raiders but will hit the free agent market tomorrow along with the rest of the NFL players eligible for free agency. Houston is good player and Chicago isn't the only team looking at Houston. On the Cowboys web site there was a point-counter point debate about who Dallas should sign as free agent. Current Dallas DT Jason Hatcher or Houston with good arguments on both sides.

 

Speaking of the Bears--again--the team has cut RB Michael Bush. Bush has had some very productive years in Oakland and Chicago but he's sort of outlived his usefulness in the Windy City. There is talk that he could be signed by his old team, the Raiders, because of the impending free agency of oft injured RB from Arkansas Darren McFadden.

 

Finally, here's a link to NFL.com's Adam Schein's list of logical free agent-team matchups when free agency begins tomorrow.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000332395/article/jairus-byrd-ben-tate-to-browns-logical-matches-in-free-agency

 

Free agency began on Tuesday and there have been a lot of signing but the most high profile signings are these:

 

CB Aqib Talib signed with Denver

WR Eric Decker signed a deal with the New York Jets

DE DeMarcus Ware has signed with Denver

CB Darrelle Revis signed with New England

WR Golden Tate has signed with Detroit

 

These are but a few of the signings. If you want to keep up with your favorite players you can keep track of all the free agent moves on NFL.com.

 

It seems like there is one fan of the Carolina Panthers sorry to see Steve Smith released this week. A post by a boy's father explaining that Smith was no longer a Panther cause the boy to tears swearing he didn't want to root for anyone on the Panther team now and that he didn't want to root for any team again! It seems like the man and his kids actually have met Smith and the little boy and Smith's youngest son are friends. Here's a link to an NFL.com interview with Smith include a partial video only of the boy's meltdown.

 

http://www.nfl.com/videos/baltimore-ravens/0ap2000000334492/Smith-s-exit-brings-child-to-tears?continuous=true

 

After a miserable two year stint in San Francisco that saw him hurt more that he was healthy, WR Mario Manningham is returning to old team, the New York Giants. Manningham signed a one year deal with Big Blue. Manningham's last big play was a pivotal grab in Super Bowl XLVI that enabled the Giants to score several plays later giving them the lead and eventually the win. Since then he spent more time in the hospital and training room than he did on the field.

 

Believe it or not, the Philadelphia Eagles are open to trading WR DeSean Jackson. I'm serious. Not only that but it seems the Patriots, who seem to be in an arms race with Denver signing talented free agents this off season, and the 49ers. Sign an aging Darren Sproles and trade your best WR? Interesting.

 

The Panther have more to worry about than a broken hearted little boy right now or how empty their WR cupboard is. Cam Newton released today he will undergo surgery on his ankle to tighten ligaments that have given him trouble since he rolled on it in a late season game against the Saints. It has given him pain ever since and that's why he's doing it now. The rehab is about 4 month meaning Newton should be back in time for training camp but he will likely miss all of the Panthers OTAs and QB schools.

If folks didn't have enough to talk about football-wise with free agency and the upcoming draft we now have the Raiders talking about moving back to Los Angeles. Mark Davis, son of Al, says that if a deal can't be worked out to get a new stadium in Oakland he's sure the Raiders will be embraced in LA. Really Mark? Like they were last time when pop moved the team in the 80's and moved them right back to the Bay Area when he couldn't make a go of it there. No new stadium there either. Maybe it'll be different this time. Or maybe not. This just speaks of a guy trying gain a little leverage with the city fathers to get a new stadium. Maybe it'll work, maybe not but one thing's for sure. There is no "off season" in the NFL.

You wouldn't believe it but Philly isn't playing when they said they want to trade DeSean Jackson. I was skeptical about it until I heard Michael Vick on Mike and Mike this morning and in a roundabout way Vick answered the question of why would Philly want to get rid of one of its best playmakers and the reason is D-Jax is just not a good guy in the locker room, at least from Chip Kelly's perspective and Kelly would like to see Jackson gone. The fact is Kelly feels he can do without him and may be better with Jackson gone. Now comes the search for a team willing to trade for him.

 

Looks like former Jets QB Mark Sanchez will end up in St Louis assuming.........wait, now he's receiving interest in Philadelphia. Talking about passing a physical and everything. Does Sanchez really want to sign on as a backup? Does he really want to languish on the bench rather than find a team who needs to a guy to come in and start? That's what he'd do in St Louis and Philly. I kinda feel sorry for Sanchez because I think he got a raw deal playing for the Jets. No weapons, spotty O-line and a head coach who couldn't care less about offense.

The NFL annual meetings has made news but I'm not sure you'd call it "good". They have banned players from doing the slam dunk over the goal post crossbar as a celebration after a touchdown. Why? Because, one game last year involving the Saints Jimmy Graham who scored on a 44 yard pass and he celebrated with a two-handed slam over the crossbar than resulted in knocking the goal post out of whack. The game had to be stopped while the problem was fixed. Micro managing the game? Maybe. Legislating the fun out of the game? Maybe. It just seemed a little silly to me.

 

Roger Goodell said in a press conference today that it looks like there is great interest for expanding the playoffs to the point of support. What? That sounds like double talk to me. The NFL.com article seem to infer that expanded playoffs are inevitable but to say interest to the point of support seems a big wishy-washy to me. It sounds like a item for discussion, probably great debate, but no real support for it exists. Personally, I hope they never do. There is already talk about doing away with division winners getting a home field advantage because the playoff teams will be seeded according to their record. Or do away with divisions altogether and set up each conference as one big group and the top 12 teams record-wise make the playoffs and are seeded according to record. I think that sucks. The NFL isn't basketball. The NBA who has a bloated playoff structure where sub .500 teams routinely make the playoffs. The NFL has based their system on division play for as long as I can remember. The first goal of every team is to win their division because it MEANS something. It makes pro football unique. People who whine about wild card teams with a better record don't get it. Winning your division matters and should continue to matter. Wild card teams should be happy there are wild card teams otherwise you wouldn't be in the playoffs. Winning and losing for teams and divisions is cyclical and it shouldn't matter if the division is on a down cycle and you win the division with 8 or 9 wins and a wild card team is 10-6 or 11-5. Nobody complained because the 49ers of the 80's played in a weak division and routinely won their 8 division games with ease (there were 5 teams per division so home and home games with the other 4 teams gave you 8 division games.) That was half you schedule back then. Now with 4-team divisions you have 6 division games or roughly 40% of your schedule so your strength of schedule should be proportionally better. Each division plays the teams from one division in the NFC and one from the AFC leaving two games awarded by how you finished the previous season. So unlike years past when the only common opponents were division rivals for 8 games now you have division rivals (6 games) and common interdivisional opponents (4 NFC, 4 AFC) giving divisions a total of 14 games vs common opponents to decide the division. If you win your division you deserve to go to the playoffs and should be entitled home field advantage for at least one game. This ain't basketball and it shouldn't try to emulate the NBA structure. Nor should there be more playoff teams. Unless of course you routinely want sub .500 teams making the playoffs that have virtually no shot of winning the championship. There extra wear and tear on the players is bad enough right now. That's why I'm against an 18 game schedule. The NFL wants to talk about player safety and then add games to the schedule or playoffs seems like a pretty severely mixed message to me.

Denver has upgraded their talent on their team a lot during free agency but they just lost a big piece of their offense today. RB Knowshon Moreno was just signed by the Miami Dolphins. Details of the deal are not public as yet. Moreno just completed his fifth season in the NFL. The first two saw Moreno get stuck with the nickname "No Show" because he spent a lot of time out of the lineup due one nagging injury or another. But, 3 years ago with his job and maybe his NFL future on the line he stepped up and had a great season. In 2012 the Broncos drafted Ronnie Hillman of San Diego State figuring to replace Moreno but Moreno was having none of that. He had another great season that fell one game short of the Super Bowl. In 2013 Denver drafted Montee Ball out of Wisconsin figuring, I suppose, to replace Moreno and, again, Moreno wasn't having it. He had a great season running the ball and being a valuable target in the passing game. His pass protection was unheralded but he excelled at that too. Hillman fumbled his way in John Foxes dog house and Ball never really showed much until December rolled around when you could see his game pick up. So, fantasy mavens, Montee Ball will be the bell cow in Denver and in all likelihood Moreno will share touches with Daniel Thomas and Lamar Miller. Neither of these two has done anything to distinguish themselves so far in their NFL careers so look for Moreno to be "da Man" in Miami.

It doesn't make sense. Oakland must have had a bazillion dollars in cap money available considering how many moves they have made signing players. They have resigned 4 players of their own and they signed nine players in free agency and they are not chopped chicken liver or "B" caliber players. They have signed WR James Jones away from Green Bay, Antonio Smith from Houston, Justin Tuck from the Giants and Lamarr Woodley from Pittsburgh to name a few. The most recent addition Oakland has made is RB Maurice Jones-Drew from Jacksonville. Jones-Drew will be signed to a three year deal pending a physical which is significant since he is coming off Lisfranc surgery that cut his 2012 season short. He is an 8 year veteran which is old for a RB.

 

It's official, Mark Sanchez has been signed by the Philadelphia Eagles. He swears he wants to start but in the back of his mind he has to know he'll be riding pine unless Nick Foles gets hurt.

 

Just a fantasy heads up. Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians has been quoted as saying that RB Andre Ellington may catch 10 balls a game in 2014....... Just saying.

In all honest I think Oakland started free agency $55 million under the $133 million cap (over 40% available)...when I first saw that number I thought it must have been an error...then I tried to name a handful of players on their team...

The back and forth about DeSean Jackson's status with the Eagles is over. The Eagles have released Jackson today. ESPN is reporting that the main reason is due to ties with west coast gang affiliations. D-Jax is only a six year vet who has been the Eagles best receiver since he was drafted. Right now there are people who will certainly be interested in D-Jax but the baggage he seems to be carrying with him could make a team stop and think him over. My boy Boomer said that a real possibility would be with his old head coach, Andy Reid, in Kansas City. KC has been looking for a compliment to Dwayne Bowe for a while and it really makes sense.

Here is the latest in the long list of signs the apocalypse is coming soon. Remember Ray Rice? You know, the fantasy footballer's beast the last few years? The RB who has starred for the Baltimore Ravens? The same RR who was caught on camera dragging his unconscious fiancée out of an elevator in Altantic City? The RR who, just seconds before, had cold cocked said fiancée in that very same elevator moments after she slugged him? Yep, THAT Ray Rice! Well, this past week Rice was indicted on third degree aggravated assault which carries with a conviction of up to 3-5 years in prison. That was Thursday. On Friday NFL.com is reporting that Rice and his punching bag---I mean---fiancée Janay Palmer got married!

 

-The Baltimore Sun reported that Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith visited Rice and Palmer after Friday's ceremony and said the newlyweds are "in a good place." - NFL.com

 

It's not often newlyweds are described as being "in a good place". Best wishes to the happy (?) couple.

At this point, she gets what she deserves.

There is a new "bus" in Pittsburgh. No, Jerome Bettis isn't coming out of retirement. Legarrett Blount, most recently of the New England Patriots, is now a Steeler. Now the Steelers have a really potent one-two punch in Blount and Le'Veon Bell. Toss in Jonathan Dwyer and you could say that the Steelers won't likely draft a RB too high.

 

Jermichael Finley isn't currently employed. He's a free agent and it looked like he would sign with Seattle at the beginning of free agency but Finley still hasn't been cleared to play as yet from the serious neck injury that got him carted off the field last season.

 

DeSean Jackson is still making the rounds with Kansas City already dropping out of the race presumably due to cap issues. My question is this, I know D-Jax is good but his alleged shady affiliations mean he is getting a very serious background check during this whole process but if the New England Patriots didn't have the Aaron Hernandez issue in their closet would you think the Pats would like a new and improved version of Deion Branch?

 

There have been a couple of moves of note in the NFL in the last day or two and one affecting fantasy football aficianados. Well, maybe two.

 

After a day or two of rumors the Tennessee Titans have released RB Chris Johnson. That's right, CJ2K is on the open market. The past two years have be rather mediocre for Johnson and he's been a bit of a disappointment to fantasy owners too. At one point early in his six year career the debate was, who's better? Johnson or Adrian Peterson but those comparisons are long gone after the past two disappointing seasons. Under Jeff Fisher and Mike Munchak CJ2K averaged 300 touches a year. 300. He's 29 now and he's slowed some. He's still fast but he really doesn't break tackles or make people miss the way he used to. New Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt or the Titan's GM figured they could replace Johnson and save $8 mm on their salary cap. All the Titans have now really is Shonn Greene which aint' saying too much but there are prospects in the draft.

 

Houston fans will be happy to know former TE Owen Daniels has a new job. The Baltimore Ravens signed him to a deal that reunited him with former Texans head coach Gary Kubiak who is not the OC for the Ravens. This give Baltimore a good one-two punch at TE with Daniels and Dennis Pitta. The Ravens have also signed veteran running back Justin Forsette who will be entering his 8th season. The played for Jacksonville last season and has also played for Houston, Seattle and Indianapolis in his career.

 

The Buffalo Bills have acquired WR Mike Williams from the Tampa Bay Bucs in exchange for a sixth round draft pick. This deal reunited Williams with his college coach at Syracuse Doug Marrone. In fact Williams quit the 'Cuse football team midway through the 2009 season. Now, 5 years later the two are back together and Marrone is apparently okay with the move. Buffalo get him for cheap, $1.8 mm this year and Tampa escapes a bad contract given Williams last July worth $40.5 mm over six years. Williams has had off-field issues including an arrest this past December for trespassing and criminal mischief not to mention being fined for missing meeting with the team last year. Buffalo has got a lot of talent at WR now including Stevie Johnson. Tampa Bay does not but they are picking high enough in the draft to last a top WR like Mike Evans or Sammy Watkins.

 

The first round pick of the 2012 draft for the New York Giants David Wilson was lost last season due to a neck injury that required surgery to repair. The Giants filled in for Wilson as best they could with guys like Brandon Jacobs and Peyton Hillis but none was the breakaway threat Wilson poses. He is still not cleared to practice yet and head coach Tom Coughlin swears he won't use Wilson in any contact drills until he gets a 100% clean bill of health from his doctors. This past week the Giants signed RB Rashad Jennings who was with Oakland after spending his first three seasons with Jacksonville. Jennings is a definite upgrade for New York but the caveat with him has been his lack of ability to stay on the field. Maybe things will be different in the Big Apple.