Now, we wait to hear Steelers head coach Bill Cowher’s decision.
We know Raiders owner Al Davis will take his time deciding Art Shell’s fate.
Until he asks for a salary increase, we’ll take Nick Saban at his word that he’s staying with the Dolphins.
The obvious happened this morning, with both Arizona and Atlanta firing their respective head coaches.
The Cardinals were an under-achieving football team, one that never recovered from a second-half meltdown against the Chicago Bears in Week 6. Jim Mora is a good coach, but Michael Vick -- his quarterback -- turned his back on him and owner Arthur Blank simply didn’t understand his flippant radio remarks about wanting to the coach the U. of Washington. Mora would be a great choice at the U. of Alabama.
Both franchises will check out the same candidates, although Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops supposedly is high on Atlanta’s wish list. Former head coaches Steve Mariucci and Mike Martz, who transformed Jon Kitna into a 4,200-yard passer, should be considered simply for their past successes and Martz for his offensive brilliance. Of course, Martz can’t afford to ask for total control and definitely needs a talented defensive coordinator in order to be successful.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and USC’s Pete Carroll are on every owner’s wish lists. Ferentz seems reluctant to leave Iowa for any job other than Penn State’s. Carroll has denied that he has spoken with Arizona officials. Carroll would want too much money and power for either franchise at the moment. Plus, his USC team next year is believed to be a solid candidate to win the national championship.
The hot minority candidates will be Minnesota defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin, San Francisco linebackers coach Mike Singletary and Chicago defensive coordinator Ron Rivera. You can bet that Rivera is definitely on Arizona’s radar screen if Rod Graves remains employed there. San Diego offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, who played for the Falcons and Georgia Tech, should be a candidate in Atlanta if he doesn’t replace Cowher.
It's been more than three years since John Butler died. If you loved talking about the draft and potential prospects, there were few better in the NFL at sharing their opinions with writers like myself than the former Chargers general manager. I really miss him at this time of the year when everyone starts asking where players like Ohio State's Troy Smith or Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson belong in the draft.
I can remember how much Butler believed in Tomlinson even though the tailback played in a pretty weak WAC conference. So, Butler traded away the rights to Michael Vick in order to draft Tomlinson and later Brees at the top of the second round. I can't recall in NFL history when one team drafted two players who will undoubtedly finish 1-2 in the MVP race in the same year.
Run, Forrest, run
Most everyone remembers the great Tom Hanks' movie Forrest Gump and Chicago's return specialist Devin Hester, who broke the NFL record with his sixth touchdown return this season, was something of a Forrest Gump while at the University of Miami.
Hester was one of the best high school players ever in the state of Florida and was the Hurricanes' top recruit in 2003. Hester likes to think of himself as the next Deion Sanders, but in college the coaches tried him at running back and receiver and he simply couldn't crack the lineup. They eventually switched him to defense in 2004. Despite his awesome physical skills, he has struggled to be a factor in Chicago's secondary. He did make one awesome tackle Monday night, but he only saw the field because the Bears were minus three injured defensive backs.
Good, not great
Just to clear up last weekend's reported signing of running back Ladell Betts by the Washington Redskins, it should be noted that Betts didn't receive $3.5 million to sign because $3 million of it was deferred. He did collect $500,000 extra now to spend for Christmas shopping. In the next four months, he will collect $2 million in cash with the remainder of his bonuses down the line, like a $2 million roster bonus in 2008.
Vick at running back?
This rumor, which started more than a month ago, got serious legs this week due to the injuries to Atlanta running backs Jerious Norwood, who is definitely out for Saturday's game against the Cowboys, and Warrick Dunn. The word is that the coaching staff is considering some offensive plays with Vick at tailback and seldom-used Matt Schaub as the quarterback. But now that it's out, the Cowboys will be prepared for it and what's the sense of throwing to Vick? Besides, Vick has looked pretty good the past two games.
Eagles safety Matt Ware had the most claims: by Atlanta, Cincinnati and his assigned team, Arizona.
The Jets put a claim in for failed first-round pick Michael Haynes, a defensive end cut by the Bears, who was assigned to the Saints.
The Saints were assigned five players off claims, including two Cowboys, offensive tackle Rob Petitti and special teams/receiver Terrance Copper. They also got Giants cornerback Curtis Deloatch and Rams defensive back Dejuan Groce.
The Miami Dolphins were the only team to claim Browns running back Lee Suggs and no team put a claim for ex-Packer running Najeh Davenport.
The Steelers claimed Detroit running back Artose Pinner, but lost out on him to Minnesota, the priority team based on last season’s record.
The Packers put safety Michael Hawkins on their injured reserve list after waiving him.
The Saints placed quarterback Adrian McPherson on their injured reserve list after waiving him. McPherson, remember, was injured by the Titans mascot T-Rac, who ran into him on the sidelines with his golf cart.
Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck may be 2,000 miles away from the World of Terrell Owens in Dallas, but all he knows is that he could have played with the wide receiver.
“I think he’s a great player and I think I could work well with him,” Hasselbeck told me. “But we don’t need him. We have good receivers here. But, yeah, I think he’s gotten a bad rap. Me, I feel we would have a good relationship. From what I hear, he’s usually upset because they don’t throw him the ball. My thing is, he’s probably right.
“If he was my teammate, I would throw him the ball all the time until someone covered him. When he was in San Francisco and Trent Dilfer and I were in Seattle, I stopped him in pregame warm-ups and told him exactly that. He smiled and said, ‘Right on, man.’ I think he’s really a nice guy and a hard worker. That’s the one thing I love about him, how hard he works."
Hasselbeck compared T.O.’s style to how linebacker Ray Lewis operates and is allowed to function in Baltimore.
“In Baltimore, Ray is allowed to be that guy,” Hasselbeck said. “He’s allowed to lead and say, ‘Hey, this is the standard we’re playing at. If you’re not going to be in sync with this standard, I’m going to get it going without you.’ The thing wide receivers are generally not allowed to be that guy. Sometimes people say well, only the quarterback, the center or the tailback can be that guy on offense.
“Where I feel everything went sour for him is when he became that guy to the media,” Hasselbeck said, referring to when Owens would call out teammates for their lack of effort or style of play. “You don’t see Ray doing that with the media. Ray is as loyal to his teammates as they come. But I do know that Ray talks to his teammates. I’ve played against him. I hear what he says to his teammates. Calling them out. But had T.O. been on our team on some point, in the last few years, I think he and I would have jelled nicely.”
Hasselbeck believed that everything unraveled in Philadelphia because too many people were involved in T.O.’s business last season. Agents, executives, assistant coaches, trainers, team doctors, etc.
“Sometimes the basic thing gets lost in the process,” Hasselbeck said. “It’s like going back to high school and working things out with your teammate and the head coach. That’s all that matters. It can be as simple as all that.”
Henson experiment ends
Speaking of Dallas, it should be a shock to no one that coach Bill Parcells ended the Drew Henson experiment. The interesting aspect is that owner Jerry Jones invested so much money and effort into Henson and Parcells was allowed to pull the plug.
The key now is whether or not Tony Romo can actually be the quarterback of the future in Dallas. Romo probably will get a chance to play this season and then we will see how good he is. When he starred against the Seahawks in the first preseason game, Seattle didn’t blitz him once and played a very vanilla defense. A lot of quarterbacks would play very well in such a setting.
Deal upsets some
If you are Rock Cartwright or Ledell Betts in Washington, you have to be upset with the acquisition of Atlanta’s T.J. Duckett. The Redskins are basically telling those players that they can’t step in for Clinton Portis in case he misses games this season due to an injury.
No preseason for T.O.
Speaking of T.O., you don’t know how many people told me before the preseason even started that he wouldn’t play a game in August. That he would miss the entire preseason. I remember asking the Cowboys if there was anything to it. They said there wasn’t. My money is on Owens starting in the opener, though, against the Jaguars even he misses the entire preseason.
Before leaving the Falcons’ $11 million condo facility at the team’s top-flight Flowery Branch facility Wednesday night, I bumped into former NBA star Magic Johnson. He was checking into the guest suite next door to owner Arthur Blank’s room.
Johnson loves football despite the fact that his pro hometown, Los Angeles, is without the NFL. The former Laker has become a big USC fan.
“Every year I’ve been bringing in motivational guys to speak and meet with the players,” Falcons GM Rich McKay said. “I think it’s great for someone like Mike Vick to spend some time with Magic, who has experienced so much as a celebrity, as a star, and try to relate it to his own life.”
At the end of the evening practice, Falcons coach Jim Mora invited Michael Wallin, 35, to run into the team huddle. Wallin has been a regular at most practices at training camp.
“He screams out every players’ stats and seems to know something about everybody. He’s been a hoot,” said Falcons defensive end Patrick Kerney. “I’m sure there a 100 guys like him at the Cowboys’ practices. He’s been yelling for two weeks now.”
Why I like the NFC South
There is a debate in the NFC right now on which division is the strongest overall and my vote goes to the NFC South despite the defensive shortcomings of the New Orleans Saints. Reggie Bush, Drew Brees and the return of Deuce McAllister should at least make the Saints very exciting on offense.
“I know our division is tough, but I understand the hype over the (NFC East),” said Carolina head coach John Fox, whose previous job was as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. “It’s hard to compare. They have the big markets and Dallas has T.O. But we’re going to find out this season who is the best because we all play the East during the regular season.”
The Panthers have critical home games against the Cowboys and the Giants, a team they whipped in the playoffs last season. The Giants, remember, are the defending East champions.
“I think it’s difficult for anybody to say right now who is really the best,” Falcons head coach Jim Mora.
Just consider this: the top three teams in the South all have elite pass-rushers with the addition of ex-New York Jet John Abraham with the Falcons. The Panthers have the game’s resident athletic freak, Julius Peppers, and the Bucs have Simeon Rice.
The way the schedule breaks this season, the South also plays the AFC North, meaning the Steelers and Bengals, plus the improving Ravens, are on every team’s schedule.
“Whoever wins our division will be battle-tested and ready for the playoffs,” Fox said. “Our division and the East, because we all play each other, might have a tough time having two 11-win teams like we did last season.”
And if the East and South beat each other up, Fox realizes that if the Seahawks and Bears are as good as they were last season, they both will have a better shot at gaining home-field advantage for the NFC championship game.
Bears have interest in Lelie
No team seems interested in the Raiders’ Jerry Porter while the Bears still seem to be fishing around Denver receiver Ashley Lelie.
The Broncos want a high pick, first or second-rounder for Lelie, while the Bears have offered a fourth-round pick. The inclusion of defensive end Michael Haynes, the Bears’ No. 1 pick in 2003, shouldn’t be that tempting to the Broncos because of his bad back and his lack of production in Chicago.
The Falcons aren’t interested in either player despite the loss of receiver Brian Finneran for the season.
Mora said on Wednesday that he’s considering using cornerback DeAngelo Hall as a receiver.
“Depending on the flow o####ame, say there are a bunch of three-and-outs for our defense, we might be able to get him eight to nine offensive plays a game,” Mora said. “It’s not that DeAngelo is asking for this. I simply believe he can do so many special things when he has the football. And using him as a receiver, you can control more of what he’s going to do as opposed as to using him as a punt returner. A lot of bad things can happen on punts.”
However, if Hall is needed a lot on defense, he many never see the field on offense.
Making Mora laugh
One of the first things I told Jim Mora today was that I know one general manager who would select Michael Vick over Peyton Manning if he had to choose between those two quarterbacks.
Mora laughed when told the GM’s name.
“No question Michael is very special, and he’s having a very good camp so far, but he will only be a footnote as a quarterback if he doesn’t win a Super Bowl,” Mora said.
In my book, the same could be said of Manning if he never wins a title. Then again, many clubs believe the Colts have the league’s best overall talent and are geared to win this year’s Super Bowl.
Apologies to Thompson
My apologies to Green Bay GM Ted Thompson who insists that the Rams never called inquiring about trading backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and that the Packers would never be interested in the Harvard passer.
Another thought on Green Bay ... the tension that pervaded the building when Mike Sherman was the head coach is gone. The little people, the secretaries, those in the Pro Shop, enjoy the new working atmosphere under Thompson and new head coach Mike McCarthy. This is a bigger deal in Green Bay because it is such a small city.
“It was never a good working relationship between Ted and Coach Sherman because no matter how much Ted tried to open a dialogue with him, it never happened,” said a Packers’ source. “There simply wasn’t enough give-and-take between the two. And all Ted wanted to do was to help him and improve the team.”
Anyone watching a couple days of Green Bay practices will tell you that quarterback Brett Favre hasn’t looked very sharp. One local reporter said he’s been completing about 53 percent of his throws in 7-on-7 drills and in team drills. He went one stretch on Wednesday where he completed only one of five passes, including one batted down at the line of scrimmage.
“Brett and the offense really isn’t in rhythm right now,” said first-year head coach Mike McCarthy. “We’re installing plays into our offense while the defense has been playing a lot of man coverage. What I mean is that we’re not running plays to beat what the defense is throwing at us and so they’ve looked better a lot of times. But it’s way too early to be jumping to any conclusions about Brett and the offense.”
The Packers have been holding Ahman Green out of drills and expect to keep it that way for another week or so. GM Ted Thompson said he hopes that Green can see some live action in the third preseason game, Aug. 28, in Cincinnati against the Bengals.
Meanwhile, Samkon Gado and Noah Herron are receiving the bulk of the work in camp. Gado even got drilled by No. 1 pick A.J. Hawk near the sidelines and took a few seconds to gather himself.
A very young team, Green Bay appears to have had an excellent draft when you consider that two rookies, Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz, are projected to be the starters at left and right guard, respectively. I realize it is early but second-round pick Greg Jennings from Western Michigan looks as good as any returning veteran at wide receiver. He may end up being the best receiver in this year’s draft.
On the downside, special teams could be looking for a kicker. Billy Cundiff hasn’t impressed anyone and there’s a very good chance that Jon Ryan from Regina, Canada could beat out former third-round pick B.J. Sander for the punting job.
Bears players like Jones
The Chicago Bears are the cream of the NFC North based on their 13 wins last season. They won with defense and Thomas Jones rushing to career numbers last season because they had a rookie quarterback in Kyle Orton. The defensive guys love and respect Jones, who feels he is underpaid and is currently nursing a sore hamstring. Jones may miss another week of practice.
With all the heat in the Midwest during the first week of training camp, head coach Lovie Jones has switched almost all of his one-a-day practices to the evening. But when the Bears work, they give it their all. And it seems like the defenders aren’t holding back on running back Cedric Benson. No love taps for him during live drills.
Could it be that the players prefer Jones to Benson, who loves to talk about rushing for 1,700 yards this season and finally being the starter after a messed up rookie season? Or, are the Bears simply enjoying toughening up Benson?
When to rest and when to retire
It makes perfect sense in New England that Tom Brady takes a couple days off from practicing (and throwing) to rest his arm. The Patriots would probably be finished if they ever lost Brady, the game’s best quarterback. Matt Cassell needs all the work he can get, considering he couldn’t even start at USC.
All those who believe that Priest Holmes will play this season for the Kansas City Chiefs raise their hands? The acquisition of Michael Bennett, who was coveted by Rams coach Scott Linehan, by the Chiefs virtually clears the way for the Chiefs to allow Holmes to retire. And speaking of retirements, guard Will Shields is pretty unhappy that teammate Willie Roaf hung it up, considering the two made a vow at this year’s Pro Bowl that they both would return this season. Roaf, though, had to go back on his word once he re-injured a bothersome hamstring during mini-camps. When you’re a big man like Roaf, it’s virtually impossible to get into playing shape when you can’t run.
Extra money for vets
There is going to be a lot of extra millions under the salary cap this season – one executive told me there could $200 million left once all the rookies are signed league-wide – and players are wondering if owners will spend it, securing valuable veterans for the future. Well, the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Bucs have done exactly that, showing the money to Roy Williams and Ronde Barber, respectively, with big bonuses and long-term deals.
The Raiders opened training camp this week and the big local story was that disappointing receiver Jerry Porter, who took some big bonus money from Al Davis more than a year ago, wants to be traded after totally rebuffing the new work standards of Art Shell, a Hall of Fame player now in his second stint with the Raiders as the team's head coach.
Porter, who was nursing a sore calf while missing two days of practice, returned to the field on Friday and then spent his post-practice time venting to NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw about the Raiders holding him hostage. Upshaw, who is making the rounds of training camps, played with Shell for over a decade. Upshaw's bottom line is that he's happy that he's not Shell these days.
Randy Moss, who doesn't speak with local reporters, looks fit. He has publicly supported Shell and outside of practicing, is pushing his new juice product. If Porter doesn't come around, Doug Gabriel will move into a starting role. The club also has high hopes that Johnnie Morant, a third-year player from Syracuse, can push for more playing time.
Bad idea
How much goodwill is Reggie Bush flushing down the drain if he becomes a holdout with the Saints? Bush owns New Orleans right now, buying a new condo, donating money for the high school fields and pushing ticket sales through the Superdome roof as the team returns this season to the city after missing a whole year because of Hurricane Katrina.
Bush is in a great situation. Most fans in New Orleans still despise owner Tom Benson for attempting to move the franchise to San Antonio. If Bush drags his feet over getting $27 million guaranteed (as opposed to "just" $25 million), you can bet the fans, many still living in trailers, will remove Bush from his favorite son status.
Ray would shine
Falcons executive Ray Anderson appears to be the favorite to replace Shell as the league's head of football operations. It makes great political sense to hire Anderson, a minority, for the position. If the league has a new commissioner by the middle of August, his first move will be to fill this vacant role. Former Houston GM Charley Casserly was considered the favorite for this position because of his friendship with Roger Goodell, the league's No. 2 executive, but the word is that Casserly has been talking to CBS Sports about working there.
More than just hurt feelings
Hey, Bears running back Thomas Jones isn't faking a hamstring injury. He merely tweaked it attempting to meet the club's conditioning test. Yes, Jones is perturbed over his contract status because he is coming of####reat season and was the team's most consistent offensive performer last season. It's tough for veteran players to see untested rookies and second-year players earn more merely because of their draft status. I'm not saying Jones is a great football player, but he's the type of player others should emulate when it comes to effort and toughness.
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.
