NFL updates/news

[kunah]

Anyone else think this Irsay nonsense with "Peyton can come back if he wants to come back" is a total joke? Irsay is only saying that because he wants to make Peyton look like the bad guy in this situation. Oh he wouldn't restructure the contract that I signed so we had to cut him. Find your balls Jim Irsay and cut him or give him a $28 million check. Stop trying to get the moral high ground. It isn't going to work. The fans in Indy absolutely adore Peyton and they all already realize you are a total moron who couldn't manage a pizza chain if your daddy didn't buy it for you. I don't think a single fan is going to blame him if he wants to leave for a contender and isn't willing to give Irsay back his $28 million in a restructured contract. No one in the history of sports has walked away from an absurd amount of money like he would be doing by restructuring.

Jim Irsay is the James Dolan of the NFL.

But why would the Colts want to pay 28 million to activate his contract for another 4 years? He's 35 and had all those neck and back nerve injuries and no one is sure if he can even play like he used to. I wouldn't sign him if I was the owner. On the other hand he IS the Colts franchise and a beloved hero in Indy.

It would be a shame if they can't bring him back with some kind of hybrid qb/oc/qb coach/management job. Have him start at qb and immeaditely start developing a new qb rookie of the future. Everyone could win if they have any brains. It would be nice to see him go out with class and not another Favre retirement fiasco.

And no,, he's not glib enough to announce. But we listen to Grudens inane yappings every week so I suppose anything could happen.

[Skarsguard]

Anyone else think this Irsay nonsense with "Peyton can come back if he wants to come back" is a total joke? Irsay is only saying that because he wants to make Peyton look like the bad guy in this situation. Oh he wouldn't restructure the contract that I signed so we had to cut him. Find your balls Jim Irsay and cut him or give him a $28 million check. Stop trying to get the moral high ground. It isn't going to work. The fans in Indy absolutely adore Peyton and they all already realize you are a total moron who couldn't manage a pizza chain if your daddy didn't buy it for you. I don't think a single fan is going to blame him if he wants to leave for a contender and isn't willing to give Irsay back his $28 million in a restructured contract. No one in the history of sports has walked away from an absurd amount of money like he would be doing by restructuring.

Jim Irsay is the James Dolan of the NFL.

I like how Jim Irsay said he wanted to keep it inside the "horseshoe" family but yet keeps tweeting and pulling political agendas on the air waves. Why would Payton want to go back to Indy anyways there in rebuilding mode anyways there probably not going to keep R.Wayne,Dwight Freeney,Robert Mathis, or Dallas Clark so why stay.

[Pendulous]

Some fun off-season stuff here. Eddie George totally trolling a TMZ cameraman when he mistakes George for Calvin Johnson.

[Robbyjawz]

Hines Ward was released today. Right move, but it won't feel right not having him on the Steelers.

[Logonov]

Hines Ward was released today. Right move, but it won't feel right not having him on the Steelers.

It is a shame, ESPN was speculating(and i mean not founded in fact) the release was solely to get under cap, where they could resign to a more appropriate contract. Ward's reaction just doesnt quite reflect that sort of action though. Truly a shame he will probably be wearing another team's colors.

[Skarsguard]

It is a shame, ESPN was speculating(and i mean not founded in fact) the release was solely to get under cap, where they could resign to a more appropriate contract. Ward's reaction just doesnt quite reflect that sort of action though. Truly a shame he will probably be wearing another team's colors.

I mean we have seen better players leave for other teams after there prime and I mean greats like Jerry Rice,Joe Montana,Emmit Smith,and even #4 himself.

[Logonov]

I mean we have seen better players leave for other teams after there prime and I mean greats like Jerry Rice,Joe Montana,Emmit Smith,and even #4 himself.

I cant say that even as a steeler fan, that you can put someone like Hines Ward on the level of guys like Montana, Rice or Smith. Theyre legends in the NFL. Hines is a Steeler legend, but a testament to the legacy of the NFL?

I've always found Favre to be the oddest case in the NFL, his greatness is a product of his longevity whereas with many NFL legends the longevity is a product of their greatness.

[Javiers]

I've always found Favre to be the oddest case in the NFL, his greatness is a product of his longevity whereas with many NFL legends the longevity is a product of their greatness.

I can't agree more. As a life long Lions/49er's fan, I was never a big Brett Favre fan. He beat on my teams way too many times, but damn did I respect him as a player. That is until he decided he was more important that any other player and did not want to go through the same off season as everyone else. Albeit it was the start of the sensationalism in sports coverage and he his constant 'retirement talk' every off season was more the fault of the 4 letter network. I still feel he could have handled the situation better, and was glad that Green Bay finally gave him the axe.

[conscript]

I've always found Favre to be the oddest case in the NFL, his greatness is a product of his longevity whereas with many NFL legends the longevity is a product of their greatness.

His numbers aren't that far off from others. Favre, Marino, and Manning are the top three statistical QBs in NFL history.
Favre: 298 career starts, 71838 yards, 508 TDs. 241.07 YPG, 1.70 TD/g
Marino: 240 career starts, 61361 yards, 420 TDs, 255.67 YPG, 1.73 TD/g
Manning: 208 career starts, 54828 yards, 399 TDs, 263.6 YPG, 1.92 TD/g
Other all time greats:
Montana: 164 starts, 40551 yards, 273 TD, 247.2 YPG, 1.66 TD/G
Elway: 231 starts, 51475 yards, 300 TDs, 222.8 YPG, 1.30 TD/g
Brady: 159 starts, 39979 yards, 300 TDs, 251.4 YPG, 1.88 TD/g

So Favre's numbers are at worst comparable to Montana and Marino and are better than Elway. His longevity impacted his rank on the all time charts, but his averages would have allowed him to be one of the best quarterbacks of all time even if he played 3-4 less years.

[Archangel Tyrael]

How are the Steelers doing?

[Elbren]

They're quite a bit over the cap (and that's without keeping Wallace) from my understanding. This year may not be too kind for them if they can't restructure a lot of their current deals. I believe they have a lot of money tied up in older players.

I thought I read where the cap should be going up significantly next off-season so they may not be as bad off as some think.

[Logonov]

-snip-

dont get me wrong, Favre has an impressive body of work and Should be HoF for it. You cant last that long in the NFL and not leave an meaningful and exceptional mark for your effort.

Quarterback comparisons are getting to be difficult to line up evenly. Montana, Marino, and Elway played a game where pass interference was a more violent and often receivers were beat up way more often for being the target of the ball.

Quarterbacks like Brady and manning (had manning played this year) did and will benefit from the newest system much like Brees and Rodgers did as well. Pass interference is way more heavily enforced and it seems like breathing on a receiver is worthy of a flag.

I wont say favre hit a sweet spot in the passing game, but in his prime, the rules still had that rough edge, but it wasnt gonna get a receiver killed.

Theres also variables of season lengths, medicine to recover, playoff appearances, and super bowl apperances.

[Robbyjawz]

There goes Lee Evans and Chris Carr for Baltimore. Why in God's name Foxworth isn't on that list is beyond me. Baltimore also applied the Franchise Tag to Ray Rice, SHOCKER! Hoping htey get a deal done quickly so they can get Grubbs back.

Pitt released James Farrior as well. They are getting under that cap like Balt did last year, the issue is that Baltimore had more depth in some of the slots they slashed, who is behind Farrior again? Sure WR is DEEP in Pitt, but it will just be strange no to see Smilin' Hines not in a Steelers uni. Oh, and Kemoyatu (sp?) also got lashed form Pitt.

[HuyyNguyen]

I'm pretty new here, so I just want to have an input. Go Cowboys. Thank you.

[Elbren]

There goes Lee Evans and Chris Carr for Baltimore. Why in God's name Foxworth isn't on that list is beyond me. Baltimore also applied the Franchise Tag to Ray Rice, SHOCKER! Hoping htey get a deal done quickly so they can get Grubbs back.

Pitt released James Farrior as well. They are getting under that cap like Balt did last year, the issue is that Baltimore had more depth in some of the slots they slashed, who is behind Farrior again? Sure WR is DEEP in Pitt, but it will just be strange no to see Smilin' Hines not in a Steelers uni. Oh, and Kemoyatu (sp?) also got lashed form Pitt.

I was surprised to see Carr cut. I thought I had read somewhere that they would only save $600k against the cap if they cut him now, but they'd save $2.5 M (ish) if they waited and cut him later. (June 1st?) I haven't read up on it, but I'm assuming it's a similar reason to why we haven't seen Foxworth cut yet.

Not surprising at all to see Rice get Franchised. He and his agent have said recently that they were looking for Adrian Peterson money. I'm not sure what they were thinking there. The Ravens were all ready to work out a long term deal, but had no problems using the tag on him; especially since Rice was the only one they'd need to use it on this season. If they can get a long term deal done w/ Flacco, then there's a good chance Rice gets Franchised again next season too. Then where are they? Rice will be into his late 20's and who is going to pay big for a RB pushing 30 with that kind of wear-n-tear on the tires?

Surprisingly, Matt Birk is talking about playing again next season. Harbaugh was at the Combine and sounded rather excited to possibly have him back. I'm assuming he'd begin the year as the starter and they'd gradually work in whoever they pick up in the draft this year. (if we don't go w/ a MLB, I'd like to see them take Peter Konz)

Speaking of the draft, did anyone catch the Combine this past week? Some thought that the Ravens would be taking Vontaze Burfict in the 1st round. A MLB whose size and skill set supposedly resembles Ray Lewis, but he's had a lot of on-and-off the field issues. Well, he showed up at the Combine and put up 4.93 and 5.10 40 times; slower then a lot of the Linemen. When speaking to reporters he blamed his college coaches for his sub-par final season, admitted to punching a teammate and blamed the media for painting an inaccurate picture of him. THEN, he went to do team interviews and apparently bombed all of those. lol That sound you just heard was Vontaze Burfict dropping out of the 1st round like a rock.

Something else from the Combine. A local Baltimore sports radio station sent a couple guys to cover the Combine (Vinny Cerrato and another guy). When the show that was currently on cut to them for an update, you heard dead air but you could hear multiple people laughing rather loudly in the back ground. Then, Cerrato picks up the mic and says, "Sorry, I was just here telling Jim and Ozzie that Cundiff had no chance of making that kick with both hands around his throat." At this point, you can hear both Newsome and Harbaugh laugh even louder. (Yes, THAT Newsome and Haurbaugh) Harbaugh grabs a mic and just says, "Ooo, yeah. That one .... yeah, that kick hurt." They offer a mic to Newsome, but he declined. You hear him trail off as he walks away, " (laughing) I'm tryin' to work here man. Are you trying to get me in trouble?". Think I laughed for a good 15 - 20 minutes after that.

[Logonov]

Pitt released James Farrior as well. They are getting under that cap like Balt did last year, the issue is that Baltimore had more depth in some of the slots they slashed, who is behind Farrior again? Sure WR is DEEP in Pitt, but it will just be strange no to see Smilin' Hines not in a Steelers uni. Oh, and Kemoyatu (sp?) also got lashed form Pitt.

Worilds, woodley, timmons, harrison and foote. They create good linebacker corps and will be fine. O line and secondary are probably the biggest concern and getting under the cap.

[Robbyjawz]

Logonov, I knew about the OLB's, but isn't Timmons the only really tested MLB they have? Foote is the other MNLB out of that bunch, and I an unsure about how he'll be. I am now terrified that the Steelers are going to snatch Dont'a Hightower before Baltimore does.

[Elbren]

Logonov, I knew about the OLB's, but isn't Timmons the only really tested MLB they have? Foote is the other MNLB out of that bunch, and I an unsure about how he'll be. I am now terrified that the Steelers are going to snatch Dont'a Hightower before Baltimore does.

I really like Hightower, but I doubt he's still their when either team picks. Both teams would have to trade up significantly for a chance at him and I'd imagine his stock has only gone up w/ Burfict bombing so badly at the Combine. =\

[whatthefudge]

The NFL TV contracts are going to have to be redone in a couple of seasons, which means when the time comes the salary cap is going to go up by roughly 20 million give or take.

You see teams like the Steelers taking advantage of this, restructuring Roethlisbergers contract so that it is heavy on the back end allowing them to sign more players now. How come we don't see more teams doing this? Seems like a lot of players are salary cap casualties when teams could make an effort to get around it.

[Robbyjawz]

Because in truth, that sorta bones the team. Sure, you get a little mroe room for the Salary cap, but it gives a much larger chunk of money up front. What happens if someone decides to bomb that season ala Albert Haynesworthless? You just gave away a large amount of money that was guaranteed for signing the contract. The Steelers do get by each year by restructuring for the most part, and every year they are essentially in salary cap hell.
Other teams make hard cuts like the Ravens last year with Todd Heap and Kelly Gregg, while other teams just don't spend at all: The Bengals and the Bucs are perfect examples.