Browns boot Baxter

by | Aug 9, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

Contract terminations typically aren’t huge news these days. Hundreds of guys playing otherwise meaningless preseason games right now will be bagging groceries and supersizing your McDonald’s order starting in the next couple weeks.

Cleveland’s decision to release Gary Baxter is worthy of slightly more than a sidenote, however. The injury-prone defensive back signed with the Browns in 2005, playing five games that season before injuring a pectoral muscle. He played three games in 2006, then tore both patellar tendons in a game against Denver.

Baxter has popped up from time to time in newspapers and network stories as he worked diligently to try and revive his career. He had surgery earlier this week to remove loose cartilage and the Browns decided they had seen enough.

It’s hard to blame the Browns. They haven’t gotten a ton of return on their investment since 2005. It’d be a great story if Baxter were somehow able to make it back from his injury woes. While it now looks like he’s got an uphill climb ahead, he deserves some credit for his efforts whether he makes it or not.

Leftwich, Culpepper land in Pittsburgh

by | Aug 9, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

When Charlie Batch got hurt it made sense that the Pittsburgh Steelers would bring on board one of the veteran quarterbacks left on the free agent market. But signing both Daunte Culpepper and Byron Leftwich had to be a bit of a surprise.

With Ben Roethlisberger firmly established as the starter in Pittsburgh it’s unlikely the Steelers will head into the season with both veterans. They also have rookies Mike Potts and Dennis Dixon on the roster. My money would be on Leftwich – he’s younger and he’s shown more competence than Culpepper during the last couple years – Daunte has never fully made it back from his knee injury a couple years back.

Batch is likely out for a month to six weeks. The one upside for both guys is the opportunity to get into camp gives them an opportunity to showcase themselves in preseason game action – giving them a much better chance to be in uniform somewhere on opening day than they had while they were sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.

EDIT: According to the folks at Sports Illustrated only Leftwich was signed – Culpepper also worked out, but the Steelers didn’t offer him a deal. Oops.

Pennington picks Miami

by | Aug 9, 2008 | NFL News

Chad Pennington told the New York Times that if he signed with Miami it would be because he liked the situation, not because he was “trying to prove a point.”

But he will get a chance to do just that – and he’ll get that chance right away. Pennington signed a two-year deal to that likely makes him the starting quarterback for the Dolphins when they start the season in Miami against Pennington’s former New York Jets.

While those crazy scheduling elves occasionally create some interesting story lines don’t expect Pennington to provide a panacea of any kind in Miami. While he has the all-time high completion percentage for quarterbacks with more than 1,500 attempts and he is likely a short-term step up from Josh McCown, John Beck and Chad Henne, Pennington joins a team short on offensive weapons.

Ronnie Brown, who is recovering from an ACL tear, and Ricky Williams, who is recovering from … well, he’s recovering from all sorts of issues over the years, provide potentially a solid-or-better one-two running back punch. But competing for the starting wide receiver positions are the undersized-and-young, but talented Ted Ginn, Derek Hagan, David Kircus, Ernest Wilford, and Greg Camarillo, among others.

And while the offensive line may be improved, left tackle Jake Long is a rookie, Justin Smiley is a free agent import, and Trey Darilek is … well, I don’t know who Trey Darilek is, but miamidolphins.com currently lists him as the starting right guard (The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports, however, that rookie Shawn Murphy appears to have overtaken him on the depth chart).

Look, the Dolphins of 2008 are better than the team that went 1-15 last year. And with Bill Parcells, Tony Sparano and co. running things they’re likely to continue improving. But that team last year was hideous and it’s going to take a couple years before the Dolphins resemble anything that will be playoff-competitive.

If Pennington survives to see a couple years from now, however, he might get a chance to lead that semi-playoff competitive team.

Bears’ Williams out 10-12 weeks

by | Aug 9, 2008 | Fantasy Football, NFL News

Avoiding injuries is vital for the success of most NFL teams, especially those already short on talent in several key areas.

Chalk up another rough break for the Chicago Bears, who learned Friday that rookie left tackle Chris Williams will miss 10 to 12 weeks after surgery to repair herniated disk in his lower back.

While the Bears told the Chicago Tribune that they have no plans to put Williams on injured reserve, the news leaves the receiver-less, quarterback-less Bears also short the guy they hoped would protect the blind side of whichever of two starting quarterback candidates sucks less during the preseason through at least week 9.

If you had yet to remove Rex Grossman, Kyle Boller or any of the Chicago receivers from your fantasy cheat sheets this news should be the last dagger in any hopes you had for them. Rookie running back Matt Forte reportedly looked okay in Thursday preseason action, but I’d drop him a notch on this news. He’s probably a fine back but he’s got an uphill battle ahead of him this season.

All in all this is a tough start to the 2008 season after a rough offseason and a far below expectations 2007. Not a good start.

Brett Favre meets the mayor

by | Aug 8, 2008 | NFL ... something

The Gun sent Zoneblitz this clip from ESPN.com just as the All-Favre, All-the-Time network showed video of Brett Favre being introduced, yes, it’s true, at City Hall.

It would seem that the Jets’ new toy would have better things to do like, umm, study his new playbook. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg in fact took time to introduce Favre during an apparently well attended press conference and gave him a couple of cheesecakes, among other gifts.

Favre laughed but looked slightly uncomfortable in front of the crowd while holding a Broadway Avenue street sign. He unveiled his Jets number four jersey and then, hopefully, went right to work.

“I’m happy to be here, I really am,” Favre told the crowd. “I wish the Packers well and I really wish the Jets well. … It’s much different. And it’s very exciting.”

To borrow a phrase from the late Chris Farley’s Saturday Night Live days, “Well, La De Frickin’ Da!”