49ers a Fantasy Force?

by | Jul 31, 2008 | Fantasy Football

Matthew J. Darnell writes a blog for Yahoo! called The Shutdown Corner, which has made it to my RSS list due to his take on covering the NFL, and the fact that Redskins TE Chris Cooley regularly posts there, and actually seems to often have some interesting insights into the life of an NFL player (Cooley famously reported that he knocked himself out of his fantasy football league playoffs a couple years back with a 3 TD performance late in the season).

One of his regular features of late has been a love/hate review of each team as training camp opens.  Yesterday, he reviewed the San Francisco 49ers…and I almost cancelled my subscription.

(more…)

Henry only suspended four games

by | Jul 31, 2008 | NFL News

Chris Henry, who missed the first eight games of last season after being suspended for various legal issues, has been suspended for the first four of this season.

He can play in the final 12 – if he can find a team to sign him, according to the Associated Press. The Cincinnati Bengals released him after he was accused of punching a University of Cincinnati student and breaking his car window with a beer bottle.

The jury in the case couldn’t come to a verdict resulting in a mistrial. But to this point it appears as though Henry may have worn out his welcome in the NFL – there have been few reports of him getting tryouts. He’ll likely get a shot somewhere eventually, but as far as naming an NFL Douchebag (or is it douchbag?) of the Decade it’d be a tight vote between Henry, Adam “Don’t call me Pacman” Jones and Michael Vick.

Carter working out with Miami? Really?

by | Jul 31, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

Remember Quincy Carter?

Yeah, the guy Jerry Jones fell in love with a few years ago?

Apparently the Miami Dolphins aren’t happy with the quarterbacks they have in camp. The Palm Beach Post and other publications are reporting that they are working out the 30-year-old Carter, who has been out of the league since 2004.

Coach Tony Sparano told the paper it doesn’t mean he’s unhappy with John Beck, Chad Henne and Josh McCown (and why would he be unhappy with that trio of current and future stars?). How does Carter, whose previous stints include failure in the Canadian Football League and struggles with drugs – both during and after his NFL years – warrant another NFL shot when guys like Byron Leftwich and Daunte Culpepper are without jobs? Just curious.

Not that guys who struggle with drugs don’t deserve a second chance – they do. The bigger issue, in my eyes, is that when he played before – drugged or not – he was a mediocre NFL quarterback … at best.

Limbaugh wants to own an NFL team

by | Jul 31, 2008 | Business of Football

In a move that might make NFL executives queezy (but might give the patriarch of the Zoneblitz family a reason to watch the NFL again) Rush Limbaugh has expressed interest in buying the St. Louis Rams or another franchise.

The Huffington Post cites a Fox News St. Louis report in which Limbaugh said “It’s a dream to own part or all of a National Football League team.”

We’ve always thought Limbaugh was a blowhard who really enjoys listening to his own voice. And his Monday Night Football experience ended in controversy five years ago after just a few months. Not sure where we’d fall on that one. But he’d definitely make things interesting. Like Mark Cuban in the NBA or Al Davis in the NFL, who knows what he’d do or say to shake things up.

Report: Packers offer Favre $20M to stay retired

by | Jul 31, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

According to separate reports the Green Bay Packers have both talked internally about trading Brett Favre within the division and (according to www.620wtmj.com) offered the quarterback $20 million to stay retired.

Apparently the latter was to no avail – Jim Rome this afternoon cited ESPN in saying that Favre has chartered a flight to Green Bay.

Mark Murphy released a statement cited by WTMJ in which he said he and Favre had a nice visit. But it sounds like the split is getting uglier and uglier. Kind of sad… sort of.