Texas Tech star Harrell heads to CFL

by | Jul 17, 2009 | College Football, NFL Draft, NFL Random Thoughts

Graham Harrell, the latest record-setting quarterback from Texas Tech University, has signed a contract to play for Saskatchewan in the Canadian Football League.

Nothing against the Roughriders (or is it the Rough Riders), but how can 14,000 yards passing and 119 touchdowns against 30 interceptions during a four-year college career not even warrant a training camp tryout in the NFL?

I realize Mike Leach runs a passing offense that skews some of those numbers. I also realize the stellar numbers of guys like Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons and Sonny Cumbie haven’t translated to success in the pros.

But in a league where backup guys like Dan Orlovsky, Quinn Gray, Cleo Lemon and Anthony Wright get recycled year after year after year, wouldn’t a fresh face like Harrell warrant a tryout?

Harrell completed better than 70 percent of his passes his last two seasons. He led the Red Raiders in chasing the national championship against traditional powers like Oklahoma and Texas by posting a six-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio. He threw for nearly 2,000 more yards than Kingsbury did – breaking his school passing yardage record five games into his senior season – in a similar number of attempts and completions.

He can run – he eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark as a rusher his senior year of high school – so he’d at least have an opportunity to complete in the new, fangled Wildcat fad that’s spread across the NFL. And he was considered a leader at Texas Tech.

I’m not saying all or any of those facts will make him into an NFL superstar. Is it possible he could join the ranks of all the other Texas Tech “system” quarterbacks and be junk in the pros? Absolutely. It might even be likely.

But the fact that this guy isn’t going to get a chance to prove or disprove those theories is confusing and disappointing. Not even a spot on someone’s practice squad? Really?

Somebody give this guy a shot.

Fan says Favre to Minnesota is done deal; fantasy ramifications for four

by | Jul 10, 2009 | Fantasy Football, NFL Random Thoughts

A caller to KFAN Radio this morning told hosts Paul Allen and Paul Charchian that a friend of his in the south had an order for 50,000 purple Brett Favre jerseys.

Okay, it would be preposterous to assume that the Vikings are officially signing Favre based on the musings of a guy who may or may not have a friend in the south who knows anything about pending jersey orders.

But the combination of that coupled with a Pioneer Press report that Favre has put a deposit down on a condo in suburban Edina and another from WCCO.com indicating that a contract has already been signed contingent upon Favre’s arm being alright are enough of an indication that it’s likely that this transaction has more like a 95/5 chance of happening than a 50/50 chance.

So someone should look at the fantasy football ramifications of this potential deal. First, not that you can help Adrian Peterson’s draft status much – he’s number one on most lists and top two in almost all projections. But Favre, even with not much left in the tank, has to be taken more seriously than teams have taken Tarvaris Jackson in the passing game.

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One of the worst columns ever written

by | Jul 5, 2009 | NFL Media

People have lost their jobs and their houses. The country has been at war for what seems like an eternity. The news is filled with reports of international threats from North Korea and Iran.

So what exactly were we supposed to feel when “MJD” posted this column about how NFL players are “poor” compared with other professional athletes?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a capitalist, just like the next guy. But I’m not going to feel sorry for Peyton Manning or Tom Brady – or any NFL-er making today’s NFL minimum wage – because they get paid less than basketball players, baseball players, golfers and whoever else happens to hit the jackpot.

And I don’t think Manning or Brady would ask us too either, … if they are as reasonably intelligent as they seem to be most of the time. Seven figures, eight figures – at some point it becomes just a number or to the exclusive restaurant where you can try to one-up your buddy who also makes seven figures.

MJD has written some interesting, informative stuff in the past. But this was one of the most pointless columns I’ve ever seen published. MJD, I think even though they are making less than the NBA-ers of the world, unless they snort it up their nose or find some other way to piss it down their leg, they are going to be alright.

I guess one of the downsides of the Internet is that there is room for almost anyone to write almost anything they want.

Revised bankruptcy plan hints that Vick still doesn’t get it

by | Jul 1, 2009 | NFL Random Thoughts

Michael Vick’s attorney shared “highlights” of a revised bankruptcy plan he intends to file by the end of the week, according to a wire service story posted on several sites.

As part of the plan, the embattled former quarterback would pay 10 percent of the first $750,000 he makes off of his annual salary to creditors and 25 percent of earnings between $750,000 and $2.5 million.

Those numbers are an improvement over the first “plan”, which called for him to keep all of the first $750,000 and pay 20 percent of the amount between $750,000 and $2.5 million, and increasing percentages on amounts above that. He gets so generous that after $10 million he will pay between 33 percent and 40 percent.

How about this for a plan. He keeps enough off of the first $750,000 to live on – say $100,000. Everything from $750,000 on up goes to creditors until they are paid off.

This guy spends a couple years in custody, and then wants to have his cake and eat it too. Vick filed for protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy code in July 2008 after killing dogs and gambling got him in trouble with the law. He reportedly listed assets of $16 million and liabilities of $20.4 million.

It astounds me some of the financial issues professional athletes get themselves in. But with bad business deals, crooked advisors and other bad luck, I can see how it can happen sometimes. Vick, however, brought his troubles upon himself.

If he’s got $16 million in assets, as the filing claims, he should be liquidating those to pay the creditors first – the new plan does call for him to liquidate a $2 million home under construction and sell one of two Virginia homes.

Maybe I should be satisfied. It’s a better deal that the original plan, which called for Vick to keep ALL of the first $750,000 he makes. At least this extracts something from him. But to me this doesn’t seem like nearly enough.

What happens if Vick doesn’t get back to the NFL? It’s not unthinkable, given that while he was a fantastic athlete he never was a great passer. What if he is unable to ever earn a salary that gets to a level where the creditors’ bills are paid? And what is a guy coming off of a federal prison sentence and under bankruptcy protection doing building a $2 million house?

This is wrong. Vick needs to satisfy his creditors first. Then and only then should he be able to go and rebuild his own bank accounts.

He made bad decisions. He went to prison. But paying the people he is in arrears to should be part of the penalty for those decisions.

So, the attorney representing a committee of Vick’s unsecured creditors may claims in the CBSSportsline story that the committee supports the plan. I don’t. I realize individuals and companies file bankruptcy all the time in this country and creditors end up getting pennies on the dollar if anything.

This is a different case. This is a guy who A) has a ton of assets already, B) has the potential to get back into a lucrative game and make several millions more, and C) brought any financial problem he faces upon himself. This is a case where creditors can be made whole.

And as such I think this is a case where a message needs to be sent. You make mistakes and lose a bunch of money? Fine. Mistakes happen. But you don’t get off easy for making them. You pay them off first. Then you can worry about yourself again.

Stallworth buys down drunken manslaughter sentence

by | Jun 17, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL Random Thoughts

Cleveland wide receiver Donte Stallworth agreed to a plea bargain that will require him to spend 30 days in jail after killing a man while driving drunk in his car. With time served, according to the New York Times, he’ll serve 24 more.

Unreal.

Michael McCann, legal analyst for Sports Illustrated, visited the Dan Patrick Show Wednesday to discuss the sentence. It appears the agreement became possible when the family agreed to a financial settlement with Stallworth, he told listeners.

So despite killing someone, Stallworth was able to buy himself a lesser prison sentence. That doesn’t speak well of a legal system that is supposed to put everyone on equal footing regardless of their place in society.

Stallworth will be out of prison in time for training camp, if his current team in Cleveland or any other team out there decides they are willing to risk the public relations hit that employing him would hopefully entail.

The comparison has already been made several times in other places. Stallworth got a year-and-a-half less than Michael Vick did for killing dogs and could end up with several years less than Plaxico Burress, who came closer to killing himself than anyone else.

At least one organization is angry. Mothers Against Drunk Driving indicated that it is deeply upset with the sentence and that, if the sentence required a donation to MADD that the organization would decline the money. MADD indicated that it would be watching how NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deals with the on-field aspect of this case.

They’re not alone. Stallworth might not be behind bars when the 2009 NFL season starts. But that doesn’t mean he should be on the field. Hopefully the commissioner acts accordingly.