Re: 2NFL - ESPN Insider Writeups, etc. 4 New Articles Added 8/25/06)
Re: 2NFL - ESPN Insider Writeups, etc. 4 New Articles Added 8/25/06)
Updated: Aug. 26, 2006
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No end in sight to Branch holdout
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By
Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Archive
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One wide receiver impasse was settled this week when the
Denver Broncos shipped the disgruntled
Ashley Lelie to the
Atlanta Falcons as part of a three-team trade.
Don't expect the league's other holdout involving a wide receiver to be so readily resolved.
Even with Friday afternoon's announcement that the Patriots have granted
Deion Branch permission through Sept. 1 at 4 p.m. to speak to other teams about a trade, and to negotiate a contract, there are no guarantees of movement in a mess that has very quietly grown increasingly contentious. The move by the Pats on Friday means Branch can reach a contract accord with another franchise. But step two is that New England has to come to terms with another team on compensation.
And, as has been the case in their dealings with Branch, the Pats will drive a hard bargain.
Despite the suggestion this week by Branch to a local TV station that he is "pretty sure" things will eventually work out between him and the Patriots, both sides appear well-entrenched in their respective stances. The move by the Pats on Friday notwithstanding, there are no guarantees that a deal will be consummated. It essentially means that Branch has one week to accomplish what hasn't been possible in the seven months since the 2005 season concluded.
If anything, in fact, the maneuver by the Pats, while surprising, simply reflects the stalemated state of negotiations and, apparently, the belief by New England management that it cannot strike a deal with Branch at this point. It is believed that neither Branch nor his representatives actively sought permission to seek a deal elsewhere.
Branch, entering the final season of his original five-year rookie contract with the team and intent on having his deal upgraded, hasn't inched any closer to reporting to camp, even though he is being fined at the rate of $14,000 per day during his holdout. And the Patriots haven't made any recent contract proposals to the Super Bowl XXXIX Most Valuable Player.
There has been, in fact, virtually no dialogue in recent weeks.
Other than Branch's fairly generic remarks this week, neither he nor agent Jason Chayut has said much of anything publicly. And the unwavering public pronouncements by Patriots coach Bill Belichick have been that he will work with and discuss only those players in camp.
On paper, and to some extent on the field, it would seem the Patriots have gained some edge in the battle of wits. The New England offense has moved the ball, quarterback
Tom Brady has completed 75 percent of his passes, and 17 different players have at least one reception through two preseason games. The Patriots creatively have used their large complement of tight ends, arguably one of the best groups in the league, to compensate for their lack of depth at wide receiver.
That said, New England is going to need better production from the wideout position once the regular season begins, and Brady knows it. Branch might not be a top-10 receiver in the league, but he remains without question New England's top performer at the position and one of the team's top players overall. The prospect of his not reporting until late in the season, when he can play in the six games necessary to accrue a year toward the pension and qualify for unrestricted free agency next spring, can't be an appealing one for a team that could face heightened competition from Miami in the division this year.
It's been reported that the Patriots offered Branch two proposals -- a three-year, $18.75 million extension with $8 million in guarantees, and a five-year, $31 million deal with $11 million in bonuses. Whether those reports are accurate isn't certain. What is now more certain than ever is that neither side, in terms of their dealings with one another, is budging. While some might construe Friday's actions by the Patriots as tantamount to blinking in a standoff, it's more a commentary on how stalemated the two parties remain.
Around the league
? Has there been, in recent NFL history, a more ill-conceived or botched strategy than Lelie's holdout? It is going to cost the four-year veteran somewhere in the range of $1 million to pay off the fines and penalties he accrued during his boycott of the Denver offseason program and training camp. And the end result is that a player who claimed he wanted to be a No. 1 receiver somewhere actually made a lateral move. His lot in Atlanta, where he is the No. 3 wideout behind starters
Roddy White and
Michael Jenkins, isn't much better than what he faced had he remained with the Broncos for another year. In fact, in many ways, he is actually worse off. Had he stayed in Denver and participated in all the activities in the offseason, Lelie would have banked $700,000 in 2006, and been eligible for unrestricted free agency next spring. He might still go into free agency, if the Falcons don't offer him an extension during the season, but penalties that he amassed mean Lelie is going into the red financially for this season.
Denver coach Mike Shanahan suggested on Thursday that Lelie got some bad advice during his holdout. We don't often agree with Shanahan, but it's tough to disagree this time. About the only thing more amazing than the manner in which Lelie butchered his holdout is that some media people, who openly suggested that
Reggie Bush fire his agent after the Southern California tailback wasn't the first overall choice in the draft, haven't questioned the counsel that Lelie received during his disastrous holdout.
? Arguably the worst-kept secret in the league is that third-year veteran
J.P. Losman, a first-round pick in 2004, has won the
Buffalo Bills' starting quarterback job. In fact, those who have watched the alleged competition between Losman and journeyman
Kelly Holcomb up close insist that it wasn't even close. A somewhat controversial pick in 2004, Losman has demonstrated more maturity, and might yet vindicate the decision of deposed general manager Tom Donahoe to choose him with the 22nd overall selection in '04.
<!--------------------------START PLAYER CARD------------------><TABLE class=tableheadFixWidth cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width=200 align=right><TBODY><TR class=stathead><TD class=whitelink colSpan=2>
J.P. Losman</TD></TR><TR class=evenrow align=right><TD align=left>
Quarterback
Buffalo Bills
Profile</TD></TR><TR class=evenrow><TD align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width=190 bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR class=stathead align=middle><TD align=middle colSpan=6>
2005 SEASON STATISTICS</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" align=right><TD width="17%">Cmp</TD><TD width="17%">Att</TD><TD width="17%">Yds</TD><TD width="17%">Pct</TD><TD width="17%">TD</TD><TD width="17%">Int</TD></TR><TR align=right bgColor=#999999><TD>113</TD><TD>228</TD><TD>1340</TD><TD>49.6</TD><TD>8</TD><TD>8</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!---------------------INLINE MINI-PLAYER CARD ENDS HERE--------------------->
It will be interesting to see how the Bills handle Holcomb's situation. There are several teams still hoping to shore up their backup situation before the season starts, who view Holcomb as a good fit, and who likely would part with a low-round draft choice to acquire him. The
Indianapolis Colts snooped around Holcomb earlier in the spring and, if the shoulder problems that plagued No. 2 quarterback
Jim Sorgi throughout the offseason linger a while longer, might take another look at him. Dealing the much-traveled 10th-year veteran, however, would leave the Bills perilously shy of talent, with
Craig Nall and
Kliff Kingsbury the likely backups to Losman. New (but very old) general manager Marv Levy probably isn't inclined to trade Holcomb, but he might have more than a few suitors for him in the next week or so.
? Granted, it's a little late in the preseason to be thinking about bringing in a fresh quarterback, but there continues to be considerable buzz surrounding the possibility that someone will yet make a move to sign free agent
Kerry Collins, who must be looking pretty good to those frustrated
Oakland Raiders receivers right about now, huh? There were whispers that Indianapolis officials, while awaiting the results of the MRI on Sorgi's shoulder earlier this week, kicked around Collins' name. Colts president Bill Polian, while the general manager in Carolina, chose Collins in the first round of the 1995 draft. There continue to be rumblings that Tennessee, where some staffers simply don't feel that career backup
Billy Volek is the answer as even the short-term successor to
Steve McNair, might think about Collins as well. And even a team such as San Diego, where neither
A.J. Feeley nor
Charlie Whitehurst has played well enough during the preseason to cement the No. 2 spot behind first-year starter
Philip Rivers, might take a look.
? No team is going to claim
Drew Henson, officially released by the
Dallas Cowboys on Thursday but cut in the mind of coach Bill Parcells long ago, off the waiver wire. Doing so would mean a team would have to assume Henson's contract and, with his base salaries guaranteed through the 2011 season, it simply isn't going to happen. That's not to say that, once Henson clears waivers, he won't generate some interest. The guy is still only 26-years-old and he's got to be as good as some of the players holding down No. 3 jobs on depth charts around the league.
The problems with Henson seem at least twofold: First, his arm strength isn't nearly as good as advertised. Second, he plays tentatively, holds the ball too long, and isn't a quick decision-maker. Watching him during the NFL Europe League training camp in February, it was obvious the ball just doesn't come out quickly enough and that his mind is too cluttered. It seemed to be the classic case of a player who has been over-coached and whose game was too programmed. The staff of the Rhein Fire noted that it wanted Henson to have more fun, to play with some recklessness, but that never seemed to be the case. Indeed, there were times during the training camp in Tampa when former Hawaii star Timmy Chang, who is in camp with Philadelphia, was the much purer passer of the two. Henson is a terrific kid, a guy who forfeited $12 million of the six-year, $17 million baseball contract he signed with the New York Yankees to return to football, so here's hoping he gets a chance somewhere. Henson has the option of taking a lump-sum payment of about $2.6 million from the Cowboys or just collecting checks on an annual basis, with the salaries totaling close to $3.5 million.
? Hard to say what should be more worrisome to
Chicago Bears officials: The fact that second-year tailback
Cedric Benson breached coach Lovie Smith's team rules by leaving the sideline during last Friday night's preseason game, and watching part of the contest in the equipment room. Or that so many teammates were so eager to rat Benson out. Players don't have to be friends for a team to succeed. What's more important is that there is chemistry on a roster, and not one necessarily born over mixed drinks and appetizers. But the chemistry between Benson and some of his Bears colleagues seems to be a bit toxic. Before the latest story, in which several Chicago players were eager to squeal on the team's first-round pick in the '05 draft, there was this suggestion: Benson, projected by many to supplant the obviously more popular
Thomas Jones as the starting tailback, suffered an early camp shoulder injury that sidelined him for more than two weeks, because some Bears defenders were purposely overzealous in laying the wood to him during a practice drill.
Apparently, some of the veterans are still upset at Benson's prolonged rookie-year contract impasse that kept him out of training camp. If that's the case, those veterans must have selective amnesia, because Jones skipped most of this spring's offseason conditioning program, seeking to upgrade the final two years of his current contract. Management said this week that the incidents involving Benson will not affect the team. Don't tell that to Benson, who must walk through the locker room with his head on a swivel.
"I just think it [stinks]," said Benson, referring to the manner in which his teammates ran to the coaching staff about his absence from the sideline last week. "I was talking to Lovie once and he said, 'I know you don't trust people. But you should let your guard down a little, because there are people you can trust.' But damn. I'm afraid to let my guard down, because the moment I do is the moment that someone will ? you know what I mean?"
? Much has been made in the offseason about the "contract" that Tampa Bay wide receiver
Michael Clayton signed with head coach Jon Gruden this spring, a pact that held the third-year veteran accountable for his offseason workout regimen. But the 2004 first-round choice has another written bond as well, the journal that he keeps for his daughter, Madison, who lives with her mother in Louisiana. Every day, without fail, Clayton pens a journal entry. Why so?
"Because given that we're apart, that she lives in Louisiana with her mother, I want my daughter to have a way of knowing me," Clayton said. "Who I am, what I'm about, what my life is like away from her. I always worried, because of the circumstances between me and her mother, that I might not get to see her very much. I wanted her to know she has a father who loves her and thinks about her, and a little bit about him. So I started keeping the journal in college and I still add something to it every day for her."
? As noted here in the past, the guard position seems always to get short shrift among offensive linemen, and that isn't apt to change anytime soon. But this year's rookie class features some intriguing guards, at least four of whom figure to start on opening day, and the quality of the first-year players at the position runs into the late rounds of the draft. The four rookie guards currently projected as starters are
Davin Joseph of Tampa Bay, Oakland's
Paul McQuistan and
Jason Spitz and
Tony Moll of Green Bay. Of that group, only Joseph is a first-rounder. Two other rookie guards who won't start immediately, but who have made favorable impressions are Seattle's
Rob Sims and Denver's
Chris Kuper.
It isn't often that the guard class outshines the other line positions, but that could be the case in 2006. It looks like there will be only two starting rookie tackles,
D'Brickashaw Ferguson of the
New York Jets and New England's
Ryan O'Callaghan. There are three other tackles --
Marcus McNeill of San Diego,
Charles Spencer of Houston and New Orleans'
Zach Strief -- who have a chance to crack the lineup before opening day. McNeill was making a big-time run for the starting left tackle job with the Chargers, but suffered a setback this week when he had to undergo minor surgery for a broken bone in his hand, and will be sidelined for a week. The lone rookie who will start at center is
Nick Mangold of the Jets.
? With the trade for journeyman offensive lineman
Lennie Friedman on Thursday morning, the star-crossed
Cleveland Browns have now acquired eight different centers since the end of last season:
LeCharles Bentley (unrestricted free agent),
Bob Hallen (unrestricted free agent),
Alonzo Ephraim (unrestricted free agent), Rob Smith (undrafted college free agent),
Todd Washington ("street" free agent),
Mike Mabry ("street" free agent),
Ross Tucker (trade) and Friedman (trade). Bentley was lost for the season when he suffered a ruptured patellar tendon on the first day of camp. Hallen and Washington retired. Smith is battling through a high-ankle sprain. Ephraim has been suspended for the first four games of the season because of a repeat violation of the NFL substance abuse policy. Mabry was released after the Browns added Friedman to the roster. The Browns traded last year's starter, former first-round choice
Jeff Faine, to New Orleans during the draft, because the signing of Bentley made him extraneous. Or so they thought.
? Even with an 85-yard runback, the longest in the NFL last season,
Antonio Chatman still averaged just 8.5 yards per punt return in 2005. Take away the 85-yarder and Chatman's average plummets to an anemic 6.7 yards. So it's hard to quibble with the decision of Green Bay first-year coach Mike McCarthy to release Chatman early in the spring and to seek an upgrade. The problem is, less than three weeks before the first game of the season, the Packers still haven't found a dependable replacement for Chatman, who signed with the
Cincinnati Bengals after his release. Green Bay invested a fourth-round pick in return specialist
Cory Rodgers, who set a record at TCU for career kickoff return yards and total return yards, but the rookie has struggled to catch the ball in camp, let alone run with it.
There's an outside chance that Rodgers won't even make the roster. Which means that the Packers' punt return man for the regular season, at least for now, will be
Charles Woodson. Yeah,
that Charles Woodson, who since leaving the University of Michigan toting a Heisman Trophy, has returned a dozen punts for 77 yards in eight NFL seasons. Despite the puny 6.4-yard average Woodson has posted in the NFL, with a 16-yard runback his longest, McCarthy termed him "a weapon" this week. We'll see.
<!--------------------------START PLAYER CARD------------------><TABLE class=tableheadFixWidth cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width=200 align=right><TBODY><TR class=stathead><TD class=whitelink colSpan=2>
Nai'l Diggs</TD></TR><TR class=evenrow align=right><TD align=left>
Linebacker
Carolina Panthers
Profile</TD></TR><TR class=evenrow><TD align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width=190 bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR class=stathead align=middle><TD align=middle colSpan=5>
2005 SEASON STATISTICS</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND: #bcbcb4" align=right><TD width="17%">Tot</TD><TD width="17%">Solo</TD><TD width="17%">Ast</TD><TD width="17%">Sack</TD><TD width="17%">FF</TD></TR><TR align=right bgColor=#999999><TD>31</TD><TD>28</TD><TD>3</TD><TD>0</TD><TD>0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!---------------------INLINE MINI-PLAYER CARD ENDS HERE--------------------->
? The knee injury suffered by Carolina weakside linebacker
Na'il Diggs in Thursday night's preseason game isn't believed to involve his anterior cruciate ligament. But if the injury sidelines Diggs for even a few weeks, it could have an impact on the fate of fellow weakside 'backer
Keith Adams on the roster. Signed by the Panthers as a free agent, after the longtime special teams ace became a starter in Philadelphia last season, Adams has been a major disappointment to the Carolina coaches.
There was a pretty good chance, before Diggs' knee injury, that Adams would not make the roster. There was supposed to have been competition between the two for the starting weakside job that became vacant when
Will Witherspoon departed to St. Louis in free agency, but it wasn't long into camp that Diggs claimed the No. 1 spot. On the flip side, the Panthers' coaches are thrilled by the preseason performance of second-year veteran
Adam Seward, a fifth-round draft pick in 2005 who was limited by injuries to just five appearances as a rookie.
Stat of the week: They're doing a pretty good job in San Francisco of rendering Terry Donahue persona non grata in the team's history books. Between 1999 and 2004, a stretch that coincides with Donahue's tenure as director of personnel (1999-2000) and general manager (2001-2004), the 49ers drafted 54 players, essentially enough to fill a regular-season roster. From that group, only a dozen players remain on the current San Francisco roster. The only drafts over which Donahue presided, and from which there are still more than two players remaining are the 2004 (four of 10 players) and 2003 (three of seven picks) lotteries. San Francisco chose seven first-rounders -- defensive linemen
Reggie McGrew (1999) and
Andre Carter (2001), cornerbacks
Ahmed Plummer (2000) and
Mike Rumph (2002), offensive tackle
Kwame Harris (2002), linebacker
Julian Peterson (2000) and wide receiver
Rashaun Woods (2004) -- during the Donahue Era. The only one still with the team is Harris. The 49ers had 20 first-day selections 1999-2004, a group that should represent the nucleus of the roster, and just five remain.
The list: Unless something changes between now and Kickoff Weekend, this will be the first season since 1978 in which the Oakland Raiders' roster did not feature at least one Heisman Trophy winner. The list of Heisman winners in that 27-season stretch: Jim Plunkett (1979-86), Marcus Allen (1982-1992), Bo Jackson (1987-1990), Tim Brown (1988-2003),
Desmond Howard (1997-98) and Woodson (1998-2005).
Punts: The
Arizona Cardinals, who traded for New England tackle and part-time starter
Brandon Gorin this week, might not be done trying to add reinforcements to their offensive line. Line coach Steve Loney, who was at Minnesota the past four seasons, is monitoring a pair of Vikings linemen,
Mike Rosenthal and
Adam Goldberg, who could be on the bubble when roster reductions are made. ? It might not happen next week, when teams are mandated to reduce their rosters to 75, but no one should be surprised if there are a few "name" players released by New Orleans before the start of the season. Saints coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis seem to understand there is no quick-fix for the team, and that rebuilding the roster is going to be a process. ? In the spring, it appeared that
Ron Dayne would go to camp as the No. 1 tailback in Denver. A few months later, and Dayne is fighting for his roster life, with youngsters such as
Mike Bell,
Tatum Bell,
Damien Nash and
Cedric Cobbs perhaps pushing him out the door. ? Despite the contentions two weeks ago that the Raiders would not trade
Jerry Porter, there remains a decent shot that the veteran wide receiver will still be dealt before the start of the season. There are too many teams that need wideouts and one of them figures to step up and make a deal. Plus, the relationship between Porter and coach Art Shell isn't going to get any better. ? The biggest beneficiary in the departure of tailback
T.J. Duckett from the Atlanta depth chart via trade actually might be fullback
Justin Griffith, a Pro Bowl-caliber player who doesn't get much credit. Known more for his skills as a lead blocker, Griffith is also an excellent receiver, and he might get the chance to net some carries now, too, in short-yardage situations. Griffith, who has played a major role as the Falcons led the league in rushing each of the last two years, is entering the final season of his contract, and reaching an extension with him is a priority for the team. ? Despite an offensive tackle depth chart thinned by injuries, Tampa Bay isn't likely to jump at the chance to bring two-time Pro Bowl blocker
Lincoln Kennedy out of retirement. Kennedy auditioned for the Bucs on Thursday, perhaps hoping that his former Oakland Raiders bosses, general manager Bruce Allen and coach Jon Gruden, might have a job for him. But like his earlier visits in Dallas and Washington, the audition did not bring a job offer. Kennedy was said to be out of shape, even though he claims to have recently dropped about 40 pounds, and there was no job offer. He failed his physical in Washington, in part because team officials there were leery about his rapid weight loss. ? Pay little heed to broadcast reports that the
Kansas City Chiefs are close to a contract extension with tight end
Tony Gonzalez. While something could get done before the end of the season, there has been little dialogue between the two sides lately. ? New England has taken a wide receiver,
Troy Brown, and turned him into a part-time defensive back. Now, the Patriots are trying to take a defensive back, seventh-round draft choice
Willie Andrews, and transform him into a part-time wide receiver. The rookie from Baylor, who figures to be involved in the return game for the Pats, has demonstrated some pass-catching skills, and the coaches will continue to provide him some work as a receiver.
The last word: "[Mike] Nolan doesn't know what he's doing. He's a first-time head coach with too much power. He has too much power as a first-time head coach. He walks around with a chip on his shoulder, like he's a dictator, like he's Hitler. People are scared of him. If it ain't Nolan's way, it's the highway." -- Tailback
Kevan Barlow, who later offered a tepid apology for the remarks which followed his trade from San Francisco to the New York Jets, on his former 49ers head coach
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