Almost There
The NFL Draft is tomorrow. College spring games are wrapping up. The Redskins will open the training camp “season” on July 20th. Football will soon be upon us dear readers. So I thought I’d check in again with some of the mid-off-season news I have come across. Starting with my opinion of how the Bucs should approach the draft.
Like Another Hole In The Head
Last year when Chucky brought eighteen quarterbacks to camp, he was called insane. This year, the new regime already has four guys on staff, and are telling anyone that will listen that Josh Freeman out of K-State is high on their board. What was the knock on the Big XII signal callers last year? That the conference didn’t play defense. And given that this guy wasn’t even in the top three in his own conference, why in the name of Bo Jackson, should the Bucs add a FIFTH clipboard holder to the staff? I really should add this to my auto-text; but the Bucs need a young franchise quarterback. If the Bucs pick him, they need to drop Josh Johnson and Luke McCown. Keep Leftwich and Griese as mentors, and hand Freeman the reins starting against Dallas.
What this team needs is a strong lineman (offense or defense) or a game-breaker on offense. Someone for McCown to get the ball to. Percy Harvin. Yeah, I heard about the drug test. Can we please drop this faux-outrage over a positive test for pot? I doubt that Percy wakes-and-bakes. And if he does, imagine how fast he’d be if he didn’t. He has been, to say the least, injury prone. You temper that with a contract laden with performance incentives. As good as the training, conditioning, and medical programs might be at a place like Florida; they are 10 times better in the NFL. I think he’ll be okay. If the Bucs can land Harvin we should be just fine, next year. 2009 will be a struggle, to put it mildly.
We’ll know for sure about this time tomorrow night.
Jolly Old
News out of the League office is that the NFL and “Visit London” have been in various stages of talks to bring a future Super Bowl to Blighty. At first I thought this was a terrible idea. Then I remembered that 95% of the people who go to the game anymore are celebrities or corporate fat cats. So they can have it on the Moon for all it matters.
Think about this though, when exactly should the game start? A stateside contest traditionally kicks off at 6:18 PM ET. To accommodate that start time, the game would start at 11:18 PM GMT. Not exactly a great time for the players or those in attendance. The upcoming game between the Bucs and Patriots will have a 1 PM ET kickoff that translates (with summer time) to 5 PM local time at Wembley. Very manageable for everyone involved. Most importantly for the NFL, the fans back home.
Wait. What?
I’m not sure what exactly to make of this piece by unfortunately named Eriq Gardner. It seems like classic trolling. But this isn’t a forum post. It’s an article in a fairly well respected on-line publication. Putting aside the scale of the monies involved (for now), what exactly is wrong here? A player can simply forgo negotiations with the team to which he is “assigned” for one year, and then re-enter the draft. Or not. Maybe find his fortune in some other arena. Not to mention the, small, but relevant number of players who have stated their unwillingness to play for the team that selected (or would have selected) them in the draft.
And to state that the rookie salary pool is unfair is to ignore the current attitudes of everyone involved with the NFL right now; from players to owners to even the fans. They all want to see the established veterans able to stay with the teams on which they became stars. Instead of handing $20 or $30 million checks to guys who haven’t done a thing. I know that feelings and opinions do not law make. But you have to also take into account what the author dismisses; seniority means something. It means something in your job I bet. I’d wager that Eriq here had to work is way up from cub reporter making 10 cents a word (or whatever young reporters make) up to his current lofty position.
Finally, what he proposes would essentially turn the NFL into Major League Baseball; a payroll free-for-all where the teams with the largest bankrolls would get the best players. While that might work just fine for Baseball, but it would send the League into a death spiral. I won’t go down that path much further than to say it would be a result of lack of interest, and player fragility. We can discuss it more in the comments if you’d like.
Place Holders
The cover-boy(s) for this years’ edition of EA Sports’ NCAA video game have been revealed. Each platform will feature a different player; Michael Crabtree (XBOX), Brian Johnson (PS3), Brian Orakpo (PS2) and Mark Sanchez (PSP). Alas there is no version for Wii (as of yet). One wonders if they did it this way knowing that they already had next year’s covers all set. Just waiting to see which picture of The One they were going to use.
Seriously, barring some serious individual or team-wide collapse, is there any doubt that Tebow will be on every cover for NCAA Football 11? Not to say that it’s his birthright or anything, just that they generally select the most popular or highest profile player from the previous season. And unless the Gators simply flop or Supe gets injured, he’s going to be that guy.
That about wraps up this edition. I’ll come back next weekend to talk about the Bucs’ draft. Have some fun in the comments.
