Perhaps it’s all that malt liquor I drank back in college, but the NFL offseason has been damn interesting this year, hasn’t it? There’s the confusion over who is a restricted free agent and who isn’t because of the uncapped year in 2010, the normal churning of rosters, the continuing and epic stupidity of the Raiders and Al Davis, and that’s before we even talk about the kick off of the free agency period at one after midnight on March 5th. By the time we get to the NFL Draft next month, Peter King will be a frothing catatonic state and the server running ProFootball Talk will be nothing more than a pile of molten metal. Hot damn, is this fun or what?
My first point of contention is how everyone is falling all over themselves to crown the Chicago Bears “winners” in the free agency period. They landed Julius Peppers, Chester Taylor, and some slappy TE who will probably do nothing at all for them. Listen, I’m more than happy to play along as we pretend that the Bears are still a relevant NFL team, but this is going a bit far isn’t it? Chester Taylor is a back-up and nothing more. The slappy tight end is… a tight end – tough to get excited there. Peppers is the marquee part of this thing and nobody – nobody – knows how he’ll perform in Chicago under high expectations, a new defense, and a fat contract in his back pocket. I’m dubious at the moment.
Then we have the Patriots, who managed to sign Vince Wilfork and Leigh Bodden to long term deals. Not a terribly productive time, but at the very least they didn’t go backwards – and considering how things have gone in Foxborough the last couple years, that’s incremental progress at least.
In other AFC East news, both the Dolphins and the Jets got better with the additions of Karlos Dansby and Antonio Cromartie, respectively. Normally, I’d feel a lot worse about this, but I’m busy getting my fantasy baseball prep done and breaking a 4-year slump in a league that I run. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself as the pain gets buried deeper and deeper in my sub-conscious…
Benjamin Watson continues his Please Somebody Sign Me Because This Is Just Getting Embarrassing Tour, while hopefully glancing over his shoulder to see if the Patriots will come calling. Sorry Ben, that ship has sailed – take your lack of blocking skills and stone hands elsewhere.
The Bengals are supposedly warming up to the idea of pairing Chad Ochocinco (still can’t believe I have to type that) with Terrell Owens this coming season. Normally, I’d say anyone who wants to sign that over-the-hill prima dona to a contract should be taken out and flogged in a back alley with little or no compassion, but in the Bengals case… it’s not a bad idea. Considering they seem to be going for headcases more than felons these days, that has to count for something, right?
Looks like Donovan McNabb might be filing a change of address card pretty soon. According to PFT, the Seattle Seahawks have themselves a fever, and the only cure is a guy who wears number five and develops a stomach virus towards the end of close games. Of course, they’re also supposedly interested in Kevin Kolb, but the Eagles would have to be out of their skulls to actually consider trading the kid away after he filled in admirably for McNabb when he was injured. On the plus side, McNabb wouldn’t have any problems adjusting to life in Seattle – they don’t have any wide receivers either.
Seemed like the world began to collectively whistle Yankee Doodle Dandy out of its butthole the day Mike Holmgren signed on to be the Cleveland Browns football guru. The thinking went something like this: “It couldn’t possibly get any worse, and this guy has actually won a Super Bowl, so things are looking up!” So far, he’s dumped Derek Anderson (good move), is shopping Brady Quinn (negligible move), and has traded for Seneca Wallace (okay move). The only problem is that Seneca seems to think he’s coming in to be the starter and all the other moves point towards that being the truth. That sound you just heard was the entirety of Browns fandom slapping their foreheads for being duped once again.
