The NFL is making headlines Tuesday for striking down fiercely on Pacman Jones and Chris Henry My thoughts are summed up here on Pacman and here on Chris Henry. It's rough news for Carson Palmer, but Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh owners should be happy.

I'm not surprised at the severity of the suspensions, but I think the key thing to note is that the teams and and the NFLPA support the decisions. There won't be appeals. We can talk about due process with the law, but employers have the right to fire who they want because of trouble with the law. How many of us could survive multiple arrests and keep our job, whether we are convicted or not.

Continue reading "Synergy" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Patriots are among the most unpredictable teams in terms of player personnel. But it's clear they don't respond well to being told what to do by players. When they control a player's rights, they will do whatever they can to maximize their position. Richard Seymour is the only player who has stood up to the team and made them bend contractually in recent years. He's special. Deion Branch, Tebucky Jones, and now Todd Sauerbrun - not so much.

Sauerbrun did his best to talk his way out of town and back to Denver after signing an offer sheet with the Broncos. But Denver was short on salary cap space and there has been no report about a signing bonus in a deal. So the Patriots matched the offer and kept Sauerbrun despite Josh Miller's place on the team.

Continue reading "Don't put the Patriots in a corner" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was great viewing the responses for my weekend dilemmas at quarterback. I hesitate to drop Vick too low because he's the exact opposite of public perception. Everyone says he's too inconsistent, but Vick is among the most consistent fantasy quarterbacks because his rushing stats insulate him from a slump.

Through 13 weeks last season, he scored below 15 fantasy points only once, and that week he put up 12. Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb also only dipped below 15 once over that stretch. Tom Brady and Carson Palmer did it three times.

Of course Vick did it three times in his last four games, a stretch in which I question his motivation. Injuries also played a factor.

Continue reading "More Help" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Finishing up a rough draft on my quarterback outlooks this weekend and thought I'd ask for a little help from the hearty few who may peek at the blog this weekend.

Here are some tough battles that are tough to decide

Brady vs. Vick (initial projections give Brady slight edge but I planned Vick. Hell, let's throw McNabb in here even though he'll probably go in front.)

Vince Young vs. Matt Hasselbeck (Can't underestimate Young's rushing points)

Ben Roethlisberger vs. Philip Rivers

Let me know what you think.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

David Carr choosing to sign with the Panthers is odd on the surface. If his primary goal was to be a starting quarterback again quickly, he could have waited out an opportunity in Miami or possibly Cleveland. But despite coach John Fox and GM Matt Hurney's claims to the contrary, perhaps Carr choose Carolina because he knows he does has a chance to start before long there.

The Carolina offense was poor last year, and much of Jake Delhomme's struggles were rightly blamed on a predictable game plan and weak offensive line. But Delhomme has been a streaky quarterback since he took over the starting job with the Panthers, capable of mind-numbing decisions that veterans shouldn't make. His yards-per-attempt fell 1.4 yards last year to 6.5. If that number doesn't move, Carr will be an option during the 2007 season. I have never trusted Delhomme fully as a consistent fantasy option, and this move only lowers his 2007 value. There will be better QB2s out there.

Continue reading "Carr to Carolina" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Football Outsiders has an interesting chart of how often each team drafts each position.

Among the non-surprises: No team has drafted more running backs than the Broncos over the last five years and the Patriots have taken the most tight ends.

Among the most embarrasing records: San Francisco has drafted nine receivers in the last five years and has ... Arnaz Battle to show for it. The Colts and Titans are the only two teams have drafted more than 10 DBs over the last five years. Their defensive backfields are still pretty weak. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have somehow managed to only draft two defensive backs in five years! Might want to reconsider that strategy.

Continue reading "Thursday morning links" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (233)

Asante Samuel sees the money Dry Bly and Nate Clements are getting, and he's not happy about it. I think this is different than the situation with Deion Branch because the Patriots will pay for cornerbacks and Samuel would be difficult to replace on their roster. New England always has viewed receivers as highly replaceable.

Samuel is only an early example, though, of players who are unhappy because their new teammates are making so much money. A big factor in Samuel's displeasure seems to be New England's aggressive free agent spending. In the end, the Patriots have a lot of cap room. They will wait Samuel out and a long-term deal should happen sometime this year, probably before Week 1. And the threat of holding out during the season is a joke for Samuel and Lance Briggs. They both will make more in two games under their current one-year offers than they did all of last season.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is electricity in my new apartment, we taped an episode of the baseball fix this morning, and all is right with the world. It's a quiet time in the NFL news cycle, with precious little information that comes out before the draft. So let's make up some meaningless but fun power rankings.

This is completely subjective of course, and I have a feeling quite a few of you will disagree. I'd love to rank the Patriots first, but don't want to seem too biased. So I'll put them second. Here goes ...

Continue reading "Power Rankings" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Moving day was technically yesterday and yet the power still isn't on in my new apartment. Good stuff. May be staying at a hotel tonight, but this blog will be quiet until I'm up at NBCSports.com headquarters in Stamford tomorrow. Wish me luck (and to the Red Sox). See you later.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)