As his football world crashes down around him, you have to wonder why Falcons QB Michael Vick didn't seek a plea bargain when the first of his three co-defendants made a deal with the federal prosecutor. Now, with all three of them agreeing to seek a deal, Vick is now isolated with the dog-fighting indictment and may not have any information that can satisfy the government, thus avoiding some prison time.

The Falcons were always worried that Vick wouldn't seek a deal in order to save himself. Hey, in cases like these, a man may be innocent, but if others admit guilt and testify against you -- like these three men will do -- it is extremely difficult to beat the charges.

And who knows what other charges federal prosecutors may be holding over Vick. There is talk of another grand jury against him, plus talk about a RICO indictment, and those charges often start with a 20-year sentence.

Vick may decide to fight the charges in a Richmond courtroom if he can't strike a favorable deal -- little or no jail time -- with prosecutors. A jury may believe Vick and find his co-defendants untrustworthy. Hey, anything is possible with a jury. Vick only needs one juror to believe him.

Insiders always worried about the reckless, criminal-fringe side of Vick's entourage and friends. Now, all three of these so-called friends flipped on him in order to save themselves. Vick needed a friend like Greg Anderson, the personal trainer for Barry Bonds who chose prison over making statements that might have linked the home run king to illegal substances.

What Vick and his attorneys, Larry Woodward and Billy Martin, should be focusing on now is how to guarantee Vick is available for the 2008 season.

This season is lost because there is apparently enough ammunition available that Vick probably will be suspended for the season. Heck, Commissioner Roger Goodell could act as soon as Vick admits guilt in this case, which could happen by this weekend.

By admitting guilt, Vick is basically saying he gambled on dog fights and that he also lied to the commissioner about his involvement in the dog-fighting ring. Even if Vick was simply the money man supporting the ring and never tortured any animals, he is no less guilty.

But this is also America, where society is forever willing to give someone a second and even a third chance. The Falcons may never want him back as their quarterback if Vick admits guilt, but that doesn't mean another team won't sign him. Vick is a physical talent - he was the first visiting quarterback to ever win a playoff game in Lambeau Field.

After a season on the sidelines, Vick might even appeal to several teams as a running back. He did set the NFL rushing record for quarterbacks last season.

Granted, Vick would have to satisfy dog lovers everywhere. Those PETA pickets won't rest unless he's remorseful and helps build a dog shelter or two. What Vick won't see, though, is a team willing to give him $37.85 million over the last three years like the Falcons did when they renegotiated his original contract.

Atlanta's owner may have a difficult time getting his money back, too, if Vick doesn't play again for him. The bulk of Vick's money was paid in roster bonuses in 2005 and 2006 seasons. They might be able to get $3.75 million from his signing bonus and could argue that the $29 million in roster bonuses should be pro-rated, too, but that's going to be awfully tough to prove.

Holcomb available?

The Eagles have other issues after being whipped by Baltimore last night in a preseason game, but there have been rumblings that the Vikings, and others, have an interest in Philly quarterback Kelly Holcomb, who may end up a third stringer on Philadelphia's depth chart behind Donovan McNabb and A.J. Feeley.

But the Eagles won't give Holcomb away and are telling teams they plan to keep him on their final 53-man roster. The Eagles want decent compensation for Holcomb, who is definitely better than some teams' current backups.

Larry Johnson seems the closest to returning to work among the league's three major holdouts. Michael Strahan is still considering retirement from the Giants, although some suspect he may report once the team leaves its Albany training camp. And, basically, there is absolutely nothing new with No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders. With this long of a holdout, Russell may be looking at a red-shirt season at this point.

Johnson and the Chiefs have been making progress on a long-term contract that could include guarantees ranging between $15 and $19 million. Even if Johnson actually gets the higher number, he will still fall short of what LaDainian Tomlinson received ($21 million guaranteed and $60 million over eight years) received from the Chargers prior to the 2004 season.

But, then, LJ isn't as good as LT and many clubs don't view the running back position to be as valuable as quarterback, defensive end and cornerback. For example. the Colts will pay Dwight Freeney $30 million in guaranteed money between now and the 2008 season.

Kansas City holds the leverage edge against Johnson because he still has one season remaining on his contract and the club likes what it has seen from Michael Bennett and Louisville rookie Kolby Smith. And if Priest Holmes's dream of returning to the field becomes a reality, KC wouldn't be in terrible predicament without Johnson. I mean, the Chiefs have greater concerns regarding a winning and losing than simply who is at running back.

Umpire in backfield

This past weekend was the first time that league officials experimented with shifting the umpire from the defensive side, usually at the depth of a linebacker, to the offensive backfield. For any long-time football fan, seeing no official in the middle of the defensive action probably looked pretty weird.

The league will also try this experiment during the third weekend of preseason games with the umpire on one side and the referee on the other in the offensive backfield. The idea is to see if the umpire can still call holding penalties while also removing him from the center of the play where occasionally he had players knocking him over.

"I'm not sure I like it," Rams Coach Scott Linehan told me after Friday night's game in Minneapolis against the Vikings. "It looks like (the umpire) could get in the way of the quarterback when he's scrambling in the pocket."

Having the umpire in the offensive backfield may have also cost the Rams a third-quarter touchdown when rookie receiver Derek Stanley caught a deflected pass. Ryan Fitzpatrick's pass hit a downed Minnesota defender on the arm and then the ball bounced up to Stanley. The pass was rule incomplete on the field and the play whistled dead. However, referee Ed Hochuli properly reversed the call and gave Stanley a 19-yard reception. But had umpire Chad Brown been in his proper place he may seen the catch and never blown the play dead, leading to a 54-yard touchdown.

No love lost

Linebacker Donnie Edwards, who couldn't work out a contract with the Chargers, is back with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he became one of the game's best tacklers and playmakers.

Edwards is still fuming, though, about San Diego General Manager A.J. Smith.

"Football is a great team game, but this guy thought it was all about him," Edwards said. "I mean, doesn't he think Marty (Schottenheimer) was trying to win? I always thought that we were all in this together, trying to win a championship. The players, the coaches, the personnel people, everybody on a team. But not in San Diego. It's all about how (Smith) sees it. No one else seems to matter.

Edwards used a couple other words when referring to Smith, but we really can't use those references.

Green homesick

Even before he was booed by the hometown fans on Saturday, new Miami quarterback Trent Green was telling a few Kansas City teammates that he was missing his former surroundings. Imagine that! Does anybody really think that KC is a better place (it is a much better football town) than Miami and South Beach, one of the hippest locations on earth? Of course, the Chiefs probably are a much better football organization than Miami these days.

There is no doubt that Larry Johnson was the second-best running back behind LaDainian Tomlinson over the last two seasons. Johnson isn't in training camp with Kansas City because he wants to be paid like Tomlinson and wants his $1.7 million base contract torn up. The Chiefs will give him a raise, maybe, but they will never give him the $28 million in guarantees that Tomlinson received.

I don't see how Johnson's holdout - apparently he listens a lot to his mother - comes to a satisfactory conclusion because Chiefs President Carl Peterson is pretty stubborn and firmly believes that no other team would give Johnson that kind of bonus money, either.

The Chiefs might go halfway with L.J., but there are reports that Coach Herm Edwards wouldn't mind trading him, believing the holdout distraction is not worth the aggravation. And if Johnson waits until the 10th game in order to get credit for this season, you can bet that next year the Chiefs will slap the franchise tag on him if they negotiate a fair contract.

Translation: he may never receive what he thinks he deserves out of the Chiefs.

No one knows whether Priest Holmes can really replace Johnson until he plays in a preseason game and displays his old magic. The Chiefs are taking a very hard-line stance on Johnson, and without him it won't matter who the starting quarterback is. KC won't win.

Packer prediction

The Packers were the 11th team I've seen this summer and I must say that their starting cornerbacks, Al Harris and Charles Woodson, may be the two most engaging players on the same team that I've met in a long time. Both veterans are great talkers and know the game. Both also played at a very high level last season, even though Woodson was hurt in 10 of his 16 starts. Another thing, they like small town Green Bay and their fans.

White or black, "we're all in the same boat," Harris said. "There aren't a lot of things to do. But our fans love their Packers and they love football. They are better fans than those in Philadelphia. I mean some of their fans rented a bus simply to go boo Donovan McNabb on one of his biggest days of his life when he was drafted in the first round."

But Harris made a bold statement to me. Harris said second-year safety Atari Bigby reminds him of Brian Dawkins, the Eagles' All-Pro. Harris thinks Bigby, who is working on the second team right now, can be that good.

"I really like him, too," Woodson said of Bigby. "Keep an eye on him. You'll see what we like when the (game) lights come on."

Bears won't deal Orton

Kyle Orton, who won 10 games as a rookie quarterback, is now third on the depth chart behind Rex Grossman and Brian Griese. And he's a quarterback that the Falcons are keeping an eye on just in case Joey Harrington busts out. But the word in Chicago is that Orton isn't available at any price. "If we wanted to do something like that, we never would have allowed J.T. O'Sullivan to end up in Detroit," said one Chicago insider.

We all know that Chicago has never had the greatest quarterback situation, but the front office likes these three players and won't make a deal with the team on a Super Bowl mission. Another thing to consider is that Rex Grossman is in the final year of his contract.

Bucs to collect?

Tampa Bay has filed its grievance against quarterback Jake Plummer to recoup $7 million in signing bonus money that the Broncos paid him. It is an odd situation, but the Bucs technically view Plummer as a holdout because they did trade a seventh-round pick to Denver for his rights. And when team acquires a player's rights, they technically are obligated to the terms of that player's contract. This is why it's the Bucs, not the Broncos, seeking the money.

The Bucs believe they will eventually get the money from Plummer, who claims he's retired. Remember, if Plummer would actually change his mind and play for the Bucs, they owe Denver a fourth-round pick.

Bulletin board stuff

Todd Monken developed a few NFL receivers while coaching at LSU and now he's a first-year assistant for Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville. He really likes Mike Walker, a third-round pick out of Central Florida. The Jags play the Saints this season and Monken started to make some comparisons.

"When Joe Horn went down, the Saints had (Devery) Henderson. What was that other guy's name? Colston, Goldston (rookie Marques Colston). You can't tell me Mike Walker is not as good as that guy Goldston or Colston. And they had a good quarterback and had explosive guys and just put them in the right spots to make it work. Why can't we do that?''

Colston, a seventh-round pick last year, is billed as the Saints' No. 1 receiver. Meanwhile, the Jaguars former first-round picks at the position - Matt Jones and Reggie Williams - continue to struggle. Jones has another sore hamstring while Williams is listed as third team on the depth chart.

"It is what it is. Guys take reps based on where they're at. If they (Williams and Jones) can't figure (it) out, you can't paint more of a vivid picture,'' Monken said. "It's time for Reggie and Matt to do it. If not now, when?''

Every kid's favorite

Hats off to Tennessee quarterback Vince Young, who takes plenty of time to sign autographs after practices. But what was really impressive was when it was Young's official team day to sign, hundreds of kids showed.

Young signed for everyone, spending more than an hour.

Now, that everyone knows that No. 2 pick Calvin Johnson, the best player in this year's draft, received $1 million more in guaranteed money than Reggie Bush, the best player and also the second player selected in last year's draft, it is mind-boggling to think that the Raiders and top pick JaMarcus Russell can't strike an agreement. Yes, there should be a higher market for a quarterback, but with his long holdout Russell is virtually guaranteeing himself that he won't see the field this season unless Daunte Culpepper and Josh McCown suffer serious injuries.
 
The Raiders are stuck on about $30 million in guaranteed money while Russell's agents are asking for $35 million. Oakland's offer is a reasonable percentage increase over the $26.6 million last year's No. 1 pick Mario Williams received. But this holdout figures to continue unless Russell comes down.
 
If that never happens, the next scenario is for Russell to sit out the year and re-enter next year's draft. If that happens, Russell might get what he's asking now or then again, he could drop a little because teams may view his price as too high. Is that a risk he's willing to consider right now?

Croyle really No. 1?

After watching the Chiefs and Vikings practice against each other last week, the best young quarterback on the field was the Chiefs' Brodie Croyle and not Tarvaris Jackson, Minnesota's starter this season.

Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards is rotating Croyle and Damon Huard in drills and figures to do the same once preseason games start. But if you listen to the team whispers, the job is really Croyle's to lose. He's the future, plus everyone knows that Huard is best coming off the bench.

Croyle is pretty composed young man and the way he sees it his career is way ahead of schedule because he figured to be sitting behind Trent Green for two seasons. But with Green gone, his opportunity has come much faster.

Now, there is some Brett Favre in Croyle. Not the arm, but the aggressive nature. He wants to go down the field and take a few chances.

"I get the 'Don't be a gunslinger' talk about twice a week in practice," Croyle said. "Don't be Brett Favring it. I'm trying to take care of that. But the other night in the huddle, I said, 'Boys, give me some time because I'm throwing it deep.' That got a chuckle out of the linemen. But we're keeping that to a minimum right now."

Of course, Croyle can laugh now at his NFL introduction last season. He says the speed of the NFL has slowed down a bit, but all he remembers of his first pass against the Steelers was looking at Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu lined up near the line of scrimmage.

"We ran play action and sometime while I turned around Polamalu was way back in cover two," Croyle said. "I was thinking, "wow, that was really fast. That's covering a lot of ground.' I ended up throwing my first completion and interception for a touchdown all on the same pass. When I came to the sidelines, all the guys were laughing and one of them said to me, "It's fast, isn't it?' After a while, I think I finally settled down. And that's what I'm working on now. Trying to make better decisions."

Where's the game?

Peyton Manning and I had the same problem in Terre Haute, Ind. on Sunday night. I couldn't find a bar that had the NFL Network in order to watch some of the Saints-Steelers' preseason game. Manning couldn't get the game, either, from his dorm room at training camp.

"You have to tell the league they have to fix this," Manning said. "It doesn't make sense to have the first preseason game on their network and we can't watch it. This shouldn't be happening."

Camp Cupcake

This is the reference line to how new Cowboys coach Wade Phillips is running his training camp. At least, this is the observers' view of camp when compared to four summers under Bill Parcells.

Phillips has always been known as a players' coach and practices have been a little milder until Monday's when a couple of fights broke out, one initiated by running back Julius Jones.

There are a couple NFC general managers, though, who are worried about the Cowboys, believing that Phillips will really improve the play of pass rusher DeMarcus Ware and safety Roy Williams. If Tony Romo can improve, Dallas is being discussed as a potential playoff contender to Chicago and New Orleans.

With Raiders owner Al Davis admitting his club's frustration over potentially paying a $17 million option bonus to No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell, it's impossible to say which way this contract turns if reports are accurate that receiver Calvin Johnson, the second overall selection in last April's draft, received $27.5 million in guaranteed money today from the Detroit Lions.

Specific details on Johnson's contract haven't been released, but most believe to reach that $27.5 million level the Lions had to use an option-bonus format. Detroit had a smaller rookie pool number than the Raiders to negotiate with.

The Raiders simply don't want to pay huge option bonuses to their future quarterback without any forfeiture clauses. The entire league is waiting to see how the Russell contract will be structured simply because of its future implications with other top draft picks. Plus, most salary cap experts believe the Raiders will never get to $30 million in guaranteed money and that Russell may want more than that.

There has been some speculation that Oakland's total guaranteed money offer is $24 million, or what the 49ers gave Alex Smith two years ago. But that doesn't make much sense, either.

Minter struggling Teams never know when certain veterans are going to hit the wall physically, but Carolina's trade for Bears safety Chris Harris on Thursday puts an exclamation point on free safety Mike Minter's tenuous future with the Panthers. Minter may still have a job, but he may not longer be a starter. What is scary for the Panthers, who still have one of the game's best defensive lines, is that Harris is a physical hitter but Chicago thought he was a step slow in pass coverage. The other starting safety in Carolina is inexperienced Nate Salley.

Speaking of the Panthers, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins is working himself back into shape and he may actually weigh a little less than fellow tackle Ma'ake Kemoeatu. They are both in the 360-pound range at the moment. Many think that Jenkins, who has been slowed by injuries for a couple of seasons, could be on the verge of returning to his 2003 form when he was the game's best interior defensive lineman.

More money for Smith?

The reverberations of the Dwight Freeney contract seem to be headed toward New Orleans. Will Smith, the Saints' excellent young defensive end, is entering his fourth NFL season. He had 10