Chiefs Dealing Jared Allen?

by | Apr 17, 2008 | 2008 Trades, NFL Draft

Thanks to the regulars over at RandBall, who clued us into the latest goings on in the life of a former Minnesota Golden Gopher kicker AND pointed us to a Jay Glazer article on the possibility of the Chiefs trading Jared Allen.

Apparently Allen is flying to Minnesota this week, and planning to meet with Tampa Bay next week, leading up to the NFL Draft on April 26th.

Two sticking points to the deal would be the new team agreeing to a contract with Allen, and working out compensation with the Chiefs. Both the Bucs and the Vikes have plenty of cap room, and need for a pass rushing DE. It is thought that a 1st round pick along with a 2nd or a 3rd would likely be the asking price for Allen–the Vikes pick 17th in round one, and the Bucs pick 20th.

We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on this one, as a deal would have significant implications on the draft needs and predictions for all teams.

Spring of Their Discontent in Tampa?

by | Apr 10, 2008 | Contract Squabbles

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers started this offseason with $44 million in cap space, and quickly added Jeff Faine, Ben Troupe, Warrick Dunn, Antonio Bryant, Marques Douglas, Teddy Lehman, Eugene Wilson, and a handful of other free agents.

Now comes word that RB Earnest Graham, who filled in admirably last year when Cadillac Williams went down with a torn platellor tendon, wants his share.  And maybe a little extra for his trouble?

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NFL Draft Pubs Reviewed

by | Mar 25, 2008 | NFL Draft

***UPDATE*** ZoneBlitz.com’s take on 2008 NFL Draft Needs have started going live–check them out here.

I’m sure all of you readers (both of you) have been wondering why it’s been all Andy as of late, and no Tony. Well, truth be told, I’ve been busy working my real job, working behind the scenes here at ZoneBlitz (you have no idea how much time went into making all of the links on the page red), and actually taking a trip down to Florida to catch a little spring training action.

That’s right, the guys at ZoneBlitz are actually baseball fans too. Kind of.

Anyway, the week before I left, I finally swung into my local bookstore, and grabbed a few draft publications. Why? Even though I know they are outdated before they even go to print, and largely useless when it comes to team needs and mock drafts, I do it every year, because I’m a sucker.

But this year, they actually serve another purpose…

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49ers Lose Draft Pick for Tampering

by | Mar 25, 2008 | NFL Draft

The San Francisco 49ers have lost a 5th round draft pick in this year’s draft, and will exchange 3rd round picks with the Chicago Bears after being found guilty of tampering with Bears LB Lance Briggs last season.

Briggs, who was designated as the Bears franchise player last season and initially held out over the issue, eventually signed his one year tender and reported to the team. Sometime during the season, the Bears filed charges that the 49ers had made contact with Briggs’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus.

Despite making threats of leaving last year, Briggs signed a 6-year, $36 million contract with the Bears early in free agency this year, meaning the 49ers lose a draft pick, and give the Bears a better pick in the third for…doing nothing that resulted in them getting an advantage over another NFL team.

At the same time, I wonder if the penalty would have been tougher had they actually landed Briggs–the Patriots did have to give up a first round pick (but only one of theirs, not the one they got from the 49ers) for Spygate.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to read about how great Drew Rosenhaus is, I highly recommend his book A Shark Never Sleeps. He’ll fill you in on how smart he is, how great he is with women, and how important he is. It definitely is an…interesting read.

Bills Considering Losman as Backup Plan

by | Mar 12, 2008 | Fantasy Football

We read on ProFootballTalk.com (who linked to BuffaloBills.com–which appears to have lost their site somehow?  That can’t be good) this morning that the Bills are considering keeping JP Losman around as the backup to second year QB Trent Edwards next week.

If this is true, and not just a negotiating ploy by the Bills, I’d push any expectations for Buffalo down a couple pegs.

Yes, it gives them a nice backup situation if Edwards goes down–but it also means that Edwards could be looking over his shoulder all offseason, preseason, and regular season, worried that if he screws up, he’ll get the hook. 

The crowd might react the same way–if the Bills get out of the gate slowly, and Edwards doesn’t excel, you can always expect them to want the backup. 

Given Edwards is a second year player, it would also be nice to have a veteran QB who can serve as a mentor, to help him through rough spots.  And given where Losman is in his career, I doubt he’d be the happiest camper in the world if he’s expected to play the mentor role (and I’m not sure I would want him as the mentor in the first place).

Given the season that Losman had in 2006, I’m not sure I would hold it against him for being upset about the decision to make him a backup, as long as he isn’t a d—–bag about it. 

From the statistics, it looks like he largely outplayed Edwards in 2007 as well, despite Dick Juaron constantly going back and forth.  To be fair to Juaron, both Losman and Edwards were injured at times–but I don’t see how Losman lost the job while injured with Edwards playing ok but not great and the team going 3-2, while Edwards retained his starting job through injury after Losman played ok but not great and the team went 3-2.

In the end, regardless of who ends up at QB in Buffalo in 2008, it shouldn’t have a significant fantasy impact, other than maybe a bye week filler.  With an average at best receiver corps, the Bills QB can expect to hand off to Marshawn Lynch a fair amount–and Lynch can expect to face a lot of stacked fronts to stop him, unless they are able to get Lee Evans involved in the game early and often.