Osgood to boycott off-season workouts? Really?

by | Mar 12, 2008 | NFL Breaking News

The San Diego Union Tribune reported today that special teams demon Kassim Osgood might boycott off-season workouts if he doesn’t think he’s getting an opportunity to play wide receiver.

Kassim Osgood?

Really?

He’s a fine special teams player – a Pro Bowler, no doubt. But some of these guys, hint, hint, might want to take a closer look at the amount of money they make to step onto the field eight to 10 times a game and consider whether or not they want to risk that paycheck by, frankly, being idiots.

Brock Berlin likely to play in 2008

by | Mar 11, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency

Six months before the season is set to start, St. Louis Rams backup quarterback Brock Berlin is the odds-on favorite for most likely third-stringer to see action.

Berlin sat behind Marc Bulger and Gus Frerotte in 2007. He played in one game last season. But the Rams Monday inexplicably not only signed Trent Green to become the fragile Bulger’s primary backup. They also reportedly gave the concussed one $8.9 million for three years – including a $2.1 million signing bonus.

Frerotte, who once sprained his neck head butting a brick wall, shows admirable durability compared with this duo. Bulger, when healthy, is a top eight NFL quarterback, at worst. But he has missed 12 games in three seasons and Green, with two horrendous looking concussions that left his career temporarily in doubt, has played just 13 games the last two years.

So if I were Berlin I’d make sure I know the playbook.

What college sports should be

by | Mar 9, 2008 | College Football

When I saw the headline “Bowden says McElrathbey has left Clemson” on ESPN.com this afternoon I started racking my brain. The name rang a bell but I just couldn’t place it.

Was it from a mock draft? Was it from one of the “student athletes arrested” headlines that pop up from time to time?

Then I started reading the story and it hit me. I’d seen him featured on ESPN Gameday a couple years ago. Ray Ray McElrathbey is a running back for the Clemson Tigers. He missed 2007 with a knee injury and played in 13 games as a special teamer in 2006. But he’s more well-known for having taken custody of his younger brother Fahmarr two years ago due to his mother’s drug addiction.

Now McElrathbey, a junior from Atlanta, was leaving the team to get his studies in order so he can graduate in August. Coach Tommy Bowden told ESPN McElrathbey might transfer somewhere else where he can play more or go directly to graduate school.

It took a lot of work for McElrathbey to make it this far. Clemson applied for a waiver from the NCAA that allowed the school to set up a trust fund to cover the brothers’ living expenses – and raise $100,000 to help them out. The NCAA also allowed coaches and families to provide Fahmarr with rides to and from school.

And the elder McElrathbey has had his issues too. He was suspended for at least four practices in spring 2007, according to ESPN, because of academic concerns. But the sociology student made the fall semester honor roll while taking 21 hours of classes.

It appears as though Bowden may have hastened the departure by not renewing McElrathbey’s scholarship. “We’re pretty good at running back right now,” Bowden told the Charleston Post and Courier, while not confirming or denying the accusation.

If that is the case, then shame on Bowden. McElrathbey deserved the chance to finish out his football career.

That said, the school gave McElrathbey a fantastic opportunity and he appears to have taken that ball and run with it quite well. Best of luck to him no matter what his next stop might be. He proved himself a stand-up person taking over as his brother’s chief caregiver. And he pulled himself up by the bootstraps from a tough situation, used college football as an opportunity to better himself, and appears well on his way toward a solid future. Well done, young man. Zoneblitz applauds you.

Seahawks add Julius Jones

by | Mar 8, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency, Fantasy Football

The Seattle Seahawks have added Julius Jones to their stable of running backs, a move that further minimizes the presence of Shaun Alexander and possibly Maurice Morris.

The Seahawks agreed to terms with Jones, previously of the Dallas Cowboys, Friday night.

Media reports are conflicting about what this does to Alexander’s roster spot. The Seattle Times reports that there is room under the Hawks’ salary cap to carry both backs. Rotoworld.com is reporting that Alexander will likely be a post-July 1 roster cut – a move that would save the team more than $4 million under the cap.

But what is clear is that Alexander’s days as a feature back and a fantasy football stud, at least for now, are over. Alexander had missed nine games the past two seasons. And the Seahawks had already added T.J. Duckett, a big, short-yardage back, earlier in the week.

Jones, on the other hand, comes with fresh legs. He rushed for 1,084 yards in 2006 but had lost time to Marion Barber III in Dallas and was reportedly looking for a fresh start. He’s never had more than 267 carries in a season. But he has shown flashes of the ability to be a franchise back.

He closed the 2004 campaign, his rookie year, with 22 or more carries in each of the last seven games, including a trio of consecutive games where he ripped off 429 yards and five touchdowns on 93 carries.

While it’s speculation at this point, from a fantasy perspective Jones at this point would seem the odds-on candidate to lead the team in carries in 2008, assuming Alexander is eventually released. Duckett, however, could steal many of the goal-line carries, leading to another dreaded running back-by-committee situation.

Seattle coach Mike Holmgren nearly abandoned the running game at times during the 2007 season. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck had a great year but the team was eliminated from the playoffs by Green Bay in the divisional round.

Goodell cracks down on cheating, whines about cable access

by | Mar 8, 2008 | Business of Football

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is shooting .500 this week.

He announced plans to crack down on spying with extra inspections and harsher penalties following the embarrassment that was dealing with the New England Patriots taping of opponents this past season.

Inspections, according to media accounts, could be unannounced and would include locker rooms, coaching areas and press boxes, and would utilize a lower standard of proof for imposing discipline.

The loss of draft choices would still be a strong possibility, as happened in the Patriots situation. The team forfeited its first round draft pick next month for violations.

I think some of these rules are a bit overblown. If a team can photograph signals and decode them into something usable while a game is still going on I almost think they should be rewarded. That said, if it’s going to be against the rules the standards should be set, the investigatory techniques should be strong and the punishments should be swift and painful, and Goodell has been in front of this issue.

Goodell’s crack down on cable operators during a congressional hearing earlier in the week was a bit more laughable. He testified, according to Reuters, that the Federal Communications Commission should take strong action against cable companies he claims are using their position in the market to “discriminate against independent programmers” like the NFL Network.

The league has been trying to achieve broader exposure for its network. But it claims cable operators unfairly give their own affiliated channels a leg up through better channel placement and financial terms. Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable offer NFL Network only through added sports programming tiers that cost subscribers extra.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Florida, questioned why the government should get involved in a private business dispute. And Comcast spokesman John Demming said the sports tier is the fairest way to provide the service – those who want it pay for it, those who don’t want it don’t have to pay extra.

Lord knows I’ve had my issues with Comcast. My cable bill skyrocketed after the company took over my local Time Warner outlet. And they subtracted several stations off of my basic package, as well. NFL Network is one of the reasons I switched to DirecTV in the first place.

But why is the NFL, the most successful and powerful of the major professional sports, so adamant about maintaining its antitrust exemption when it comes to negotiating exclusive sports packages, such as DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket – a package that allows fans to watch games outside their regional market – but when things don’t go their way with the basic cable negotiations it’s time for Congress to intervene?

Just curious.