Jeff Garcia Should Talk to Matt Birk

by | Jun 7, 2008 | NFL News, NFL Rumors

Another piece from Yahoo! Sports (taken from ProFootballTalk, where we saw it earlier this week, but weren’t in a punchy enough mood to bother writing about), Jeff Garcia is STILL whining about his contract situation.

A few of his quotes:

“If it doesn’t work itself out, if a contract is not presented as far as a renewal to finish my career, then I will seriously think about what my alternate options may be. And it may come to not playing football anymore.”

“I feel like when you mistreat people there comes a time when it doesn’t matter how much you are paid, it’s going to lead to some drastic decisions.”

“It would be really difficult to go through this season and not have something done before the season.  I would like to see the appreciation put out there.”

Yeah, it must be tough to get paid $2 million a year to play in 13 games a year, put up some ok numbers, and head home early after getting tossed aside in the first round of the playoffs by a wildcard team.

Someone needs to take Jeff aside, and make him understand that he’s lucky to have that starting job in the first place–he had one ok half-season after Donovan McNabb went down in Philly, after two miserable seasons in Cleveland and Detroit, and many considered him washed up.  And even now, he hasn’t played a full season or thrown 20 touchdowns since 2002, nor has he averaged over 200 yards a game since 2003, his last in San Francisco.

Yeah, having better wide receivers would help his numbers, but that’s not going to change drastically at this point of the season.  If he’s there, he might have another decent year like last year.  If he’s not, Brian Griese or Chris Simms could probably do about the same–without the whining.

Until the next season, of course.

Cedric Benson Still Doesn’t Get It

by | Jun 7, 2008 | NFL News

Used to be, when you were talking about a former University of Texas running back who went to the pros, and just didn’t get it, there was only one guy you could be talking about.  Now, while Ricky Williams is supposedly on the straight and narrow, participating in OTAs for the first time in a long time, and actually trying to get better, Cedric Benson just can’t seem to get it into his head that his talent does not really make him invincible.

Benson, who was arrested about a month ago for supposedly operating a boat under the influence and then resisting arrest (which he claimed he did not do, and that they police used excessive force), did not help his situation by being arrested early this morning on the suspicion of driving under the influence.

Strangely enough, this might actually improve the situation in Chicago for fantasy football players–if Benson keeps this up, the Bears might just give up on him altogether, and just plan to go with second round pick Matt Forte into the season. 

Of course, that won’t make up for the lack of quarterback or wide receivers…

How to Handle a Contract Dispute

by | Jun 6, 2008 | Business of Football, Contract Squabbles

OK, I think everyone here knows that we here at ZoneBlitz are predominantly fans of the Minnesota Vikings, being the local team.  And, I think I can speak for my brother when I say that over the last 10 years, Matt Birk has become one of our favorite players on the team.  Local guy, Harvard grad, very down to earth from what we’ve seen/heard, and co-owner of a couple of fairly nice local restaurants.

There has been a lot made in some media outlets of his absence from OTAs this past offseason, apparently due to his being upset over his contract situation (which expires after this coming season).

Birk finally spoke publicly about the situation today, and I tell you what–Chad Johnson, Chris Baker and the rest could really stand to take some notes.

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Young Closer to 2,000 Yard Goal; Broncos Cut Henry

by | Jun 2, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency, Fantasy Football, NFL Breaking News

The Denver Broncos released Travis Henry Monday, just over a year after signing him to a five-year, $22.5 million contract.  GM/Coach Mike Shanahan took the somewhat unusual step of throwing Henry under the bus as he was releasing him.

“We did not feel his commitment to the Broncos was enough to warrant a spot on this football team,” he said.

Henry, who pulled a hamstring running sprints last month in minicamp, also missed time last year due to injuries, and was nearly suspended for a year due to marijuana use, although he was able to get the punishment overturned.

He did manage 691 yards and four touchdowns in his one season in Denver.

The Broncos added veteran Michael Pittman to their backfield last week, and also have Selvin Young, Andre Hall and rookie Ryan Torain on the roster.  Since it remains to be seen who (if anyone) will get the majority of the carries in Denver, fantasy owners should still stay away from the Broncos backfield in the early rounds.

Vegas, Baby

by | May 29, 2008 | NFL Gambling, We Forgot

Things have definitely been slow around here, lately–largely due to the offseason doldrums that are going on right now (no matter how we try, we just can’t bring ourselves to write extensively about OTAs and arrest reports.

But today we get to break out the one area we haven’t really talked about much on ZoneBlitz–’cause we’re on our way to Vegas.

It’s a little early to be thinking too much about NFL betting, but we figured we’d throw down at least a couple of futures bets on the Super Bowl.

At 30/1, the hometown Vikings are looking like one interesting bet. And if the Jags and Chargers are still at 10/1, they might be intriguing options, although I’m not convinced of either’s defense.

As for super sleepers, seems like every year I seem to think the Cardinals (45/1) are finally going to figure it out, and without looking up any of their offseason moves, it seems to me like the Panthers (60/1) had a decent offseason.

Here are the current 2009 Super Bowl odds we’ve been working off of (as of May 7, at least)–so, we’ll put this out there for any readers–what do you think are some good bets? Post them below, and we’ll let you know what we decide on.