The biggest rumor on Wednesday was that Falcons owner Arthur Blank wants Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson and is prepared to trade his team’s top four picks in the draft to the Lions for the right to draft Johnson should the Raiders select LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell with the first overall selection.
Detroit owns the second overall selection on Saturday and has been desperately attempting to trade down in hopes of acquiring more picks. A possible deal with Atlanta would give the Lions the eighth overall pick in the first round, one acquired from Houston in the Matt Schaub trade. The Lions would also receive the Falcons’ two second-round picks, 39th and 44th overall in the draft, plus a third-rounder, 75th overall.
By moving down, the Lions would miss out on coveted pass rusher Gaines Adams and Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas, but could end up with LSU safety LaRon Landry, Arkansas defensive end Jamaal Anderson or Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye.
The word in Oakland is that rookie head coach Lane Kiffin prefers Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn to Russell, meaning that Johnson could end up being a settlement-like choice between the young coach and owner Al Davis.
LJ wants big $$$
The main reason there has been talk of the Chiefs trading Pro Bowl running back Larry Johnson is the fact that he wants a new contract – his deal expires at the end of the 2007 season – and that he wants more money than LaDainian Tomlinson. The Chiefs have been talking contract with LJ, but aren’t close to making a long-term deal.
The way Kansas City operated their salary cap, they could be looking at simply placing the franchise tag on Johnson in 2008, knowing that he may have a rocky season in 2007 while playing behind a patched-up offensive line and probably Brodie Croyle at quarterback.
Johnson doesn’t like to workout in the off-season and many teams are afraid (reluctant?) to give him a huge contract, believing he could become self-satisfied and not play as hard as he has in the recent past. Johnson has rushed for 3,539 yards and 37 touchdowns in the last two seasons and scored 240 points, or 32.7 percent of the total KC offense.
The Atlanta Falcons would be completely stupid if they trade all of thier picks for Calvion Johnson. Johnson is only as good as the team around him(meaning getting passes to him by Vick). The falcons need LSU's Laundry or Okoye, and then get offensive lineman in the 2nd and later rounds. Roddy White showed at the end of the year he will step up and the addition on Joe Horn will force teams to be honest and that will give Jenkins and White more opportunities to make plays. Imagine having a potential all pro secondary Hall, Williams, Laundry, and Malloy.
IF the Falcons did that I'd stop watching, (they need linemen and DB's desperately, not receivers), BUT, they won't. The latest report (read: Atlanta Journal, Thursday, April 26th) has an article on that exact situation, and all roads lead to Atlanta keeping all their picks in order to pick up fresh bodies for Bobby Petrino's run oreinted offense (big bodies that can move the line) and needs for a pass rusher and def. back.
yea that would be dumb to trade all of those picks for him because they have other needs. if they have to i would trade the 1 and 2 round a brian fennerman for the lions 2nd pic. oh Mike is a good quaterback. if you knew anything about football you can see that they was running a college offense that's made for speedy quaterbacks and also they was running the West Virgina offense but Mikemac you don't know football go judge another sport like hockey or golf or maybe even kick ball since it don't take a sports brain to know that
Wow! I guess some people need to relax and live their own lives. I am a Mike Vick fan and my point was Calvin Johnson is only as good as the offense around him. I'm not judging just looking at the glaring needs of the Falcons.....safety, D-line, O-line. Laundry is the best defensive player at his position in my opinon but like the previos blog I don't htink he'll be around either but I hope so. If the Falcons can g et him then I hope they would and go after o-linemen in the 2nd round.
I think that would be a good move. They need to take presure off of Joe Horn. Besides, Joe Horn and Alge Crumpler are the only ones that can catch on the Falcons. They also need another running back, like Kenny Irons out of Aburn or Antonio Pittman out of Ohio State.I wouldn't trade my 1st or 2nd pick though. Besides, Dunn is getting old and can't carry the load by himself.They should give them Roddy White. The Lions know what to do with bad WRs any way.
Trading all those picks for Johnson would be stupid. The first reciever taken is never the best. Believe me when I say this, the two best recievers taken this year over the long haul will be Dwayne Bowe and Sidney Rice.
They should trade vick to detroit and get the second pick he is such bum and his real personality is coming out. Now they are investigating him for dog fighting. They found over 60 dogs at his house in Virginia. When is enough, enough. I wish Blank would get off his Blank and do something!! I am from Atlanta and am a huge falcon fan, but right now I woud take T.O. over Michael Vick!! Now thats bad...So if anyone is listening Get rie of Vick and Get Calvin Johnson, I have watched him play for 3 years and there isno one better than him.. So go get him....Rich McKay
The falcon's should trade vick for the 2nd pick in the draft and to get brady quinn because vick is garbage. He is always in trouble and who is their back up shockley even worse
wolfgang...It's a good idea trading Vick, but you also traded your backup Qb Matt Schaub, so I guess you are stuck wit Mike Vick. Atlanta needs defensive help. Norwood and Dunn can carry the load. Landry or Okoye are the two best fits for the ATL. Okoye though deals with the immediate need of front four production.
Vick is in deep trouble with this one. The story stated that they have had su####ions of him involved in this activity and now believe this confirms it. The house is occupied by his relative and he has no idea that this is going on, don't buy it for a minute. Could be the beginning of the end for Vick's reign in Atlanta will just have to see how this plays out. Agree that maybe Mr Blank and Rich McKay may have made a tragic error in letting Matt Schaub go but that is now water under the bridge. If I had to call it today as things stand now we may be looking at Joey Harrington as the starting QB in Atlanta come regular season which may lead us to another dismall year as Falcons Fans.
Last edited by Falcon#1Fan on April 26th at 9:52 PM.
No one thing will destroy Vick, however, when you start putting all of the issues together he is in trouble. Charecter issues and performance issues, they all add up. He does put people in seats, but football fans will come out with or without Mr. Vick.
I'm tired of people trashing Michael Vick, he is a damn good football player, he just needs some GOOD recievers around him that don't drop the DAMN ball and maybe the Falcons can be successful. Don't get me wrong it would be absolutely foolish to trade all those picks to get Calvin Johnson, I mean he is a great College football player and a MAN amongst BOYS, but he will not change the Atlanta franchise and he is not worth all of those picks. If you gotta trade up to get anybody its LaRon Landry cuz he is what they NEED and that would be an all-pro secondary 4 years to come(Jimmy Williams, DeAngelo Hall, LaRon Landry and Lawyer Milloy). So muscle up Atlanta Falcons,PICK LaRon Landry from LSU and make every team in the NFL fear this secondary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What about if the Cowboys offered up Julius Jones and a later pick or two in order to swap first rounds picks. It would give the Falcons the running back they need and the 22nd overall pick, which they could use for a db, and it would give Dallas the opportunity to add someone like Landry, Adrian Petersen, or Okoye. It seems to work for both sides :-)
Ok, let's not put Vick there w/o credible evidence. They had a tip, not more. It's Vick's property, but he wasn't there and they r unsure if he was. That's like the police arresting ur mother b/c u were smoking weed in her house. That makes no sense. Yes I'm a Vick fan, but I'm more of a Falcons fan. No 1 on this comment board is w/o their trouble, so don't throw stones. He's a good player and that gets my respect.
Tiffany, c'mon you must be kidding?. Keeping Mike V is not gonna help. He's too much trouble and he is not type of leader the Falcon need right now. Letting Schaub go was a major mistake. I say trade Mike "the trouble maker" Vick and get what you can out of him. I gotta say this, trading all 4 picks for 1 awsome collegian player is mighty stupid.
I have to agree that trading the 2 second round picks and a third round for next year is a little too much for Johnson, although I would love to see him play for the Falcons. I am as die hard a Falcons Fan as you will find dating back to the early 70's and have supported them through alot of rough years. Yes, without question Vick is an extremely talented football player but there comes a time when you have to look at his progression and determine if he is better today than he was yesterday and to this point he remains the same, granted he has not had receivers that catch balls on a consistent basis with the possible exceptions of Crumpler and Finneran, but the Falcons will never see another shot at the super bowl until Vick becomes more consistent in his passing game and learns to make better decisions, it would also help if he were able to see over his offensive lineman as Matt Schaub was able to do. It will be intersting to see if anything new develops under Petrino letting him make audibles at the line this will give us a look into just how smart he really is as a starting quaterback. Last note on the dog issue, 60 dogs on his property and he knows nothing, I have had property that I owned and others living there and can assure you if there had been 60 dogs at some point I would have known.
watching mike vick play reminds me of scouting for a pro baseball team. his skills fit a college offense, but do not fit well in the pro scheme. it's just like a high schooler dominating with his fastball at that level, but in major college and the pro's everyone can hit a fastball, so you need to learn to pitch with your head, and less with your raw physical talent.
John Czarnecki, a former sportswriter with over 20 years experience covering the NFL, has been the editorial consultant for the Emmy Award-winning FOX NFL Sunday since its 1994 inception. Prior, he provided exclusive information to CBS Sports' The NFL Today program from 1991 to 1993, holding a similar position.
Prior to joining CBS Sports, Czarnecki was a pro football writer for The National Sports Daily (1989-91), The Dallas Morning News (1989), and The Los Angeles Herald-Examin er. An archive of work can be found here.
