The Seahawks risk of taking the franchise tag off of linebacker Leroy Hill has paid off. The team has announced that the LB is sticking around, signing a deal that will pay him up to $38 million over the next 6 years.
The Seattle Times reports that the deal has $15.5 million guaranteed. Hill became an unrestricted free agent on draft day last weekend, as the team took the franchise tag off of him.
He found little interest on the free agent market, and the Hawks and the LB quickly found the right mix to get a deal done. It’s the second big signing for the Hawks in the past few days, as the team also signed cornerback Ken Lucas.
Having Hill as a free agent was the best thing that could have happened for the club, as they sides had not gotten very far on a new deal when Hill was the franchise player. As a free agent, things got done much quicker.
Hill was the Hawks 3rd round pick back in 2005, and in four seasons he’s played in 56 games, with 330 tackles and 13.5 sacks.
The new look backfield of the Broncos has cost third-year tailback Selvin Young his roster spot, as today the Broncos released him. The team has gone on a spree of grabbing running backs this offseason, including the #12 pick from last weekend’s draft, Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno.
The team right now has six backs that could compete for the starting job. Peyton Hillis and Ryan Torian come back from last season, and the team also has free agents J.J. Arrington, Correll Buckhalter and LaMont Jordan.
As for Young, he played in 23 games, making 13 starts in two seasons for the Broncos. He ran 201 times for 1,032 yards and two touchdowns and caught 38 passes for 247 yards.
Young was beset by back and groin injuries last season and was one of seven Broncos tailbacks who ended up on injured reserve.
NFL Legend MICHAEL IRVIN is on a mission to uncover the next great Dallas Cowboy when Spike TV presents “4th and Long,” a new series premiering Monday, May 18 at 10pm. Irvin will oversee the 10-week training camp of 12 pro football hopefuls and offer his wealth of experience and guidance to mold them into NFL-caliber players. Each week a different contestant will be cut, with the eventual victor heading to training camp with football’s legendary franchise, the Dallas Cowboys.
I will make no secret of the fact that I do not want to see Brett Favre join the Vikings. However, events during the last few days suggest that it might be a possibility.
Carefully chronicled by profootballtalk.com, there is something strange going on with Brett these days in a way that feels like when something strange was going on with Brett about one year ago. Brett and his agent, Bus Cook, asked the Jets for a release from the roster. Since the Jets had drafted Mark Sanchez, they were willing to comply. Brett issued a statement saying that “at this time” he is still retired.
The “at this time” part of the statement is what got people talking. After all, he essentially said the same exact thing last year before he began his campaign to be traded from the Packers.
Then, late on Wednesday night, proofootballtalk.com posted a story regarding a mysterious flight plan that showed a plane flying from Minneapolis to Favre’s home town of Hattiesburg and then back to Minneapolis all in the same day. While one could think of a million other reasons for someone to take this flight, it all seems a little too coincidental.
The rivalry between the Packers and the Vikings is one of the nastiest, rudest, and hate-filled rivalries in all of football. The rivalry is more than just a word, it’s a way of life for the respective fans, an American tradition right up there with apple pie and Skynard. The pinnacle of that tradition is best defined by a Vikings fan’s disdain for Brett Favre, the legendary leader of the barbarian hoard, and the reciprocated hatred from the cheese heads themselves.
So, for Favre to suit up in purple, one would have to begin to wonder if we have any loyalty left in this sport. It would be a crying shame.
Whether by accident or design, the Redskins’ inability to snag Sanchez, combined with the dumb luck of finding Texas DE Brian Orakpo still available at the #13 spot, set the tone for a defensive-focused 2009 Draft. Combine the draft picks (DE, CB, LBX2) with the free agents (DT, CB) and you have a team that evidently believes the best way to help a struggling offense is to field a punishing defense.
But is this philosophy counter-intuitive?
We have all heard the old adage that “defense builds championships,” so acquiring a true pass rusher in Orakpo and a cornerback in Barnes to compensate for the loss of Shawn Springs makes sense. But isn’t this the same team that finished the 2008 season with the #4 defense in the league? And who also, by the way, signed two mega contracts for free agents Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall? Wasn’t the offense the biggest area of concern, particularly on the line of scrimmage? Does this all mean that Derrick Dockery is the answer for all of the Redskins offensive line woes?
Looking a bit deeper at some of the later round picks and the UFA signings is perplexing, as the Redskins picked up even more wide receivers and tight ends and ignored putting a major focus on the obvious need of acquiring more youth on the offensive line. They even added yet another QB in the mix in the form of signing UFA QB Chase Daniel, a Colt Brennan-esque player who, like Colt, was a Heisman finalist in 2007.
So what does this all mean?
If the front office had a proven track record of success, we would be calling this offseason unexpected, a bit controversial, but perhaps brilliant. If owner Daniel Snyder were a genius, his plan this offseason would have been to achieve success in 2009 in four simple steps:
1. Light a fire under his QB’s butt to finally live up to expectations by demonstrating that his job is not safe.
2. Reserve the option to further re-vamp the offense in 2010 with a richer college QB class and a potentially uncapped year with no limits on how much money Snyder can spend to address issues on the offense.
3. Create a dominating one-two punch in Haynesworth & Orakpo for the next 3-5 years in the most competitive division in the league.
4. Put his enthusiastic but inexperienced young coach in the hot seat for one more year, knowing that he will set his sights on one of the currently unemployed big fish (Shanahan, Cowher) if the team doesn’t win a playoff game.
But since owner Daniel Snyder has nothing to hang his hat on save signing a rogue’s gallery of aging free agents at above market rates to go along with a small handful of ugly playoff appearances over the last decade, we once again have to wonder whether or not 2009 will be another frustrating season for Redskins fans.
The latest on the Braylon Edwards front is that he won’t be going anywhere in 2009, as John Clayton over at ESPN reports that it now appears unlikely that Edwards will be traded before the start of the season. It’s going to be tough at this point to move Edwards, as the big sticking point according to reports is that wherever he goes, he’s going to want a new deal.
Seems like the deal that was going to send him to the Giants for a 2nd, 5th and a player was the best that the Browns were going to get, and now that the draft has passed, it’ll be tough to take something for him for the 2010 draft and try to explain it to the fans.
Of course everyone thought last season that the Giants deal with the Saints of Jeremy Shockey that died on draft day meant it would never get done, but then it did awhile later in the offseason. In this case though, it just has a vibe to it that Edwards will not be shipped out before the start of the season.
The Saints are going nowhere, as finally after a full year of talks, the team has announced they have reached a tentative agreement with the state of Louisiana to stay at the Superdome through 2025. The agreement states that the team will not need a new stadium to stay in the state, but the Superdome will be upgraded and the state will resurrect an abandoned section of the Central Business District with a refurbished office tower and a new sports entertainment district.
The NO Times-Picayune reports that the sides are expected to formally announce the deal at a press conference later today. The deal reportedly could save the state $281 million when compared with the current agreement that pays the Saints $23 million in subsidies, the state would make $85 million in improvements to the Dome, and Saints owner Tom Benson and his family would buy the vacant Dominion Tower and New Orleans Centre and lease office space back to the state.
“Our community is coming back slowly, and I think this is going to be the shot in the arm that’s going to keep it going in that direction, ” Benson said Wednesday. “I really believe that this is going to be something that is going to be very sound for our community.”
The agreement to approve $85 million in upgrades to the Superdome will need approval from the Legislature. The article says that the money to make the improvements will come from the state’s surplus. “There was a lot of excitement about the savings to the state, ” Superdome Chairman Ron Forman said. “There were still concerns because this is a tough fiscal year. But we also believe that if we are going to have professional sports in New Orleans, this is so much better than what we had before. And when we show the savings to the legislators, we think we will get whatever we need.”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter Scott Brown breaks down the idea that those with the Comcast cable system may not be able to watch the NFL Network after today. Here’s a portion of the article from today’s edition:
Football fans that subscribe to Comcast may not have access to the NFL Network after today.
The NFL won’t renew the contract it has with Comcast unless the country’s largest cable provider includes the NFL Network on its basic cable package.
The NFL Network is currently offered by Comcast, which serves an estimated 850,000 people in the Three Rivers region, on a sports tier. Subscribers that want the channel have to pay extra for it.
Comcast and the NFL have been at odds for several years over placement of the NFL Network among Comcast’s levels of programming. The resulting impasse could be resolved next month when an administrative law judge offers a recommendation to the Federal Communications Commission on how to resolve the dispute.
The NFL and Comcast had a court hearing April 13 in Washington D.C. The NFL says it is seeking fair treatment for its network.
Comcast has offered to carry the NFL Network on its basic cable package if the NFL charges the same prices for distribution as Versus and The Golf Channel, both of which are owned by Comcast.
The NFL has balked at the offer because its network receives higher ratings than Versus and The Golf Channel.
Click HERE to read the remainder of Scott’s article
While it’s clear the Rams have the intent of starting Jason Smith (they’d be crazy not to), the player who could make the most impact is none other than the 35th selection of the draft. While USC linebacker Rey Maualuga was still available (and was not chosen, to those fans still crying about it, get over it), the Rams selected the Buckeye.
From everything I have seen, he has an opportunity to become a big force in the middle. The Rams need a force inside that will attack and Laurinaitis is exactly that player. Don Banks at SI.com said this about the ILB:
“Rams fans are going to love Laurinaitis, who craves contact and will quickly emerge as a leader for a team desperate for some.”
I couldn’t agree more with statement. While Rey Maualuga was seen as a force, the same goes for Laurinaitis. In fact, some people might have just forgotten how good Laurinaitis is. Fox Sports has a great article about how, for some crazy reason, teams ignored him for no reason in particular. I’m sorry if I appear to be high on this guy, but let’s look at what he has accomplished as a player in college.
First off, he is only one of five players to ever earn First-Team All-American for three years. He’s increased his yearly tackle stats every year, and he has never missed a single game because of an injury ever. If that isn’t consistent, excellent production, I don’t know what is. In three years, he has won not only the Lott Trophy (which is awarded for personal character), but was awarded the Butkus Award (which is awarded to the nation’s top linebacker), the Jack Lambert trophy twice (which also is for the best linebacker in the nation). On top of this, he has won the Nagurski Award for the top defensive player at any position. Now, maybe one could be a fluke.
But you simply don’t get that many accolades over a period of time if you aren’t an amazing player. Not only that, but as a junior, the consensus was that he was a top 10 pick, but he decided to return to Ohio state “out of a sense of obligation to his teammates and his coach.”
So in summation, he’s been a consistent player who improves every year, has an incredible character, and has won national awards for being the best of the best not only at his position (three awards for that, let’s remember) but on defense as well. 367 tackles, 9 interceptions, 13 sacks, 4 forced fumbles aren’t that bad of stats for three years.
But hey, Rey Maualuga had a higher draft grade by Mel Kiper.
