To the east side this weekend, although it's not really a deluxe apartment in the sky. Enjoy the news stylings of sir Evan Silva and enjoy your baseball drafts.

Will try to check in Monday, and will be writing up team needs for the draft for the Tuesday column.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (79)

448 players became free agents at the start of the month. 177 have signed in the meantime, divided almost equally between players returning to their old teams and moving on.

The only players left will come at bargain-basement prices, but signings after April often make a huge difference. Here are the most interesting unsigned players I could come up with. Few players will make headlines here, but history says some will help.

I'll only include the best of the best restricted free agents because they are unlikely to move. Let me know who I left off the list.

Continue reading "Free Agency Reset" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (55)

Seriously. Ice Cube has purchased the comedy project "Tough Love", and is attached to star in the lead role of ... Tebucky Jones. Or at least someone based on former Patriots/Saints/Dolphins/Patriots safety Tebucky Jones.

A few years back, Jones realized his kids were spoiled brats and forced them to spend their summer on the streets of Oakland, California where Jones grew up. Life Lessons and comedy inevitably ensued.

Perhaps this means our script for "The Hank Poteat Story: You can't cut me!" has a better chance of being optioned.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and John Clayton have good breakdowns of the week that was in NFL Owners Meetings.

Overtime won't change, rosters weren't expanded, defensive players can't have a headset, and players can no longer spike the ball except on the end zone. Instant replay is here for good, including down-by-contact. It's no longer an illegal touching penalty if a quarterback hits an offensive lineman by accident.

The biggest issue effecting fantasy leaguers concerns the injury report, which it appears won't officially come out until Friday. We'll just know whether players are practicing or not before then. Considering the intentionally vague and dispare ways teams handled the injury report, I think this is for the best.

I find the rule changes and discussion fascinating, even if there wasn't a lot this year that will change the lives of fantasy leaguers. Just the fact that owners meet at all to improve the quality of the game is the point to me.

Continue reading "Owners Meetings wrap-up" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Nothing gets your morning news started like Tom Coughlin comparing himself to Hitler.

Hmmm. Have a couple of jokes here I could probably get away with using my jew card, but I don't have the heart.

Viscanthe Shiancoe says that Tarvaris Jackson has more zip on his passs than Eli Manning. In the same piece, Jackson says that his injured knee prevented him from running as much as he'd like last season.

I am intrigued by that statement because Jackson looked like the fastest quarterback in the league except Michael Vick last year. If he is a starter, Jackson could be a fantasy factor with his legs before he's any good with his arm.

Joe Buck won't host Fox's NFL pregame show next season. The show will stay in L.A. instead of rotating locations and will be hosted by Curt Menafee.

I don't dislike Buck the play-by-play guy as much as some, but this is still good news. First Jaws, now this, what's next, ESPN replacing Mike Tirico with Gus Johnson?

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It sounds like the Chiefs really believe in Brodie Croyle. He'll get all the chances possible to beat out Damon Huard in camp this August, although logic says that Huard will be the better candidate.

If Croyle gets the gig, Tony Gonzalez and Larry Johnson would see their outlooks downgraded.

If I was a football player (only need to double my weight), I'd definitely want Drew Rosenhaus as my agent. Frank Gore is one of the five best running backs in the league, but Gore had absolutely no leverage in requesting a huge contract extension. Rosenhaus got him over $18 million over the next three years, virtually all guaranteed.

Every running back in the NFL should either thank Rosenhaus for raising their salary ceiling or hire him after the wizardry he's pulled off with Willis McGahee and Frank Gore the last month.

Jaguars.com writer Vic Ketchman has an idea about how the Jaguars will use their tight ends this season. Jermaine Wiggins isn't blocking.

Levi Jones is not your average football player. Bengals.com has a nice look at him and the Joey Porter fight.

Interesting legal stuff about Pacman if you are into that sort of thing. It sounds like the recent felony charge will be difficult to prove.

Pac's old classmate Chris Henry could be in bigger trouble. Henry could return to jail for three months and his expected four-game suspension from the NFL may be growing. Good news for Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and the Kenton County penal football league.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm supposed to move on Sunday. While it doesn't seem like a great idea to make a new start on April Fool's day, it seems like an even worse idea to go to my fantasy baseball auction in Massachusetts (3 hours away) instead of move. But that's exactly what I'm doing, hoping to work around the move. Wish me luck.

My first experience with fantasy sports came with this league when I was 15. I have missed a few auctions in the meantime, but virtually no one else in the league has. My best friend is flying in from Colorado to be there this year.

I am a football guy now. It's my job, but it's also my favorite sport by far. It's an addiction. With that said, there is nothing better than a fantasy baseball auction. It's a holiday. It's why fantasy sports started in the first place and I indirectly owe my job to the sheer ridiculousness of ten guys getting together for 12 hours and making C.C. Sabathia jokes.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't mean that up there. I mean ESPN headquarters. This news is so sensible and makes me so happy, I can hardly believe it's true. Great day for football fans.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I cranked into the magazine this weekend, gleefully pumping out outlooks despite the first nice weekend in New York City since ... ever. I need to leave this coast someday. The reason this weekend was perfect to work - the fiancee was out of town. Take advantage of the time while you can. I hope she doesn't read this.

Anyhow, I hope to keep the momentum going this week and finish off the wide receivers. Among those hardest for me to project: Terry Glenn, Vincent Jackson, Darrell Jackson, Brandon Jones, and Santana Moss. Moss' projection especially has already yo-yoed a few times.

A couple links before I get back to the outlooks and our baseball show today...

Continue reading "Willis speaks his mind" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Compensatory draft picks will be given out this week, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.

This is one of the most underrated aspects of the offseason. Dan Pompeii of the Sporting News wrote a good article about the process a month back.

Tom Brady, Marques Colston, and Chester Taylor were three of the recent interesting compensatory picks. Maurice Clarett is another memorable one. But the part of the article that interested me was how certain teams "play" the compensatory pick game.

Continue reading "Compensatory Picks" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)