ESPN:NFL News

Pats CB Andrews avoids the pokey

Ravens | Mason impressed by Flacco's arm strength
Sun, 11 May 2008 16:57:42 -0700

Jamison Hensley, of the Baltimore Sun, reports Baltimore Ravens WR Derrick Mason was asked what impressed him about rookie QB Joe Flacco. Mason said, "Of course his arm strength. The one pass he threw to [wide receiver Mark Clayton], I think was about 50 yards down the field in the air on target. The way he commanded the huddle with the team that was in there with him [also impressed me]. I think that speaks volumes of him, and he's just got to continue to do that, and I think the more and more he's out there and the more and more he's around the guys, he'll get used to everybody and feel more confident. But, getting everybody in the huddle and getting going [was impressive]."

With about $1.7 million due him this season, Steven Jackson ranks as a major bargain among NFL running backs. But if the Rams want to keep him beyond 2008, it's going to cost the team.

Jackson is entering the final season of the original five-year, $7 million deal he signed in July 2004 after the Rams made him their first-round draft choice (No. 24 overall) that year. His next deal, whether it's here or elsewhere, will be far more lucrative.

"I think I've been a good person on and off the field," Jackson said Saturday at minicamp, "so I expect to be rewarded."

Jackson said his agent, Gary Uberstine, and the Rams' front office have yet to begin extension talks. "It's been a pretty big offseason around here, with the coaching changes and Ms. Georgia (Frontiere) passing," Jackson said. "I'm pretty sure that we'll get something done."

He made it clear that his first choice is to remain in St. Louis. "This is definitely where I want to be," he said.

Jackson's salary this year includes nearly $900,000 in incentives: $250,000 for each of his three 1,000-yard rushing seasons and $125,000 for making the 2006 Pro Bowl.

A monster season would push Jackson, 24, even further up the potential-earnings chart, and he's counting on putting up big numbers. "Well, we all know what happens in a contract year: you ball out," he said with a laugh. "So, I expect to."

STLtoday - Jackson has high expectations

Good news for SJax owners...

The San Francisco Chronicle, citing an unnamed source, reported that the Raiders have agreed to a one-year deal with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers DE Greg Spires.

ESPN - Report: Raiders agree to deal with defensive end Spires - NFL

Kevin Jones......eh.

Horn's headed for retirement.

One name is oddly missing from this entire article.

Sirius NFL Radio interviewed WR Brian Finneran yesterday. Finneran was able to participate in OTA's and says he feels 100%. He went on to say he will be taking the brace off in a couple months and should be in fighting shape for the start of training camp, after suffering a knee injury that kept him out of the 2007 season.



The Atlanta hell hole needs every bit of help it can get. Finneran can get some pressure off Roddy White

Brian Urlacher skipped voluntary workouts, trying to impress upon the Chicago Bears his unhappiness with his current contract. Since the team hasn't budged, he now says that he'll likely skip involuntary workouts as well.

The middle linebacker told Yahoo.com on Tuesday that he expects to boycott the mandatory minicamp that runs from May 30 to June 1.

"I would bet I wouldn't be there," Urlacher said, according to the Web site. "My agents and the team had some good dialogue early on, but nothing's happened lately. It's been almost two months since there's been any action on their end, and it's a waiting game right now."

Urlacher, who said he has recovered from neck surgery, has four years left on his nine-year, $56.5 million contract, but he believes the deal is outdated.

"It's easy for people to criticize me for wanting [a new deal], and I understand that it's a contract and I signed it," Urlacher said, according to the Web site. "But this is the NFL, and if I'd signed it and I'd played like [expletive], they'd have cut me or tried to get me to take less. In my mind, there's no difference. If they can 'break' a contract, I have a right to ask for more if I play well enough.

"When I signed my deal the salary cap was $75 million. It's, what, $116 million now? Things have changed. I understand that all of this, to a normal person, sounds crazy. It's all relative to what you do. If you're a chair-builder, and you feel you're the best at what you do, and other chair-builders are making more than you, then you'd want to be paid more, too."

Despite playing with back pain, Urlacher led the Bears in tackles last season with 123 and added five sacks and five interceptions.

The Bears have been unwilling to discuss Urlacher's contract status.

ESPN - Urlacher may protest contract by skipping mandatory workouts - NFL

Seattle radio station KJR-AM 950 is reporting today that Lofa Tatupu, the Seahawks' perennial Pro Bowl linebacker, has been arrested for drunken driving.

The Seahawks recently signed Tatupu to a long-term extension. Team president Tim Ruskell has taken a hard line against off-field incidents. Tatupu is the defensive leader of the Seahawks. This is the first off-field incident involving Tatupu that I can recall hearing about.

KJR has a copy of the police report showing Tatupu blew .155 percent and .158 percent in his breath tests. The legal limit in Washington state is .08 percent.

Tatupu is known as an unassuming hard worker, a leader who is vocal but not flamboyant. How unflamboyant is Tatupu? The police report says Tatupu, whose new deal is worth more than $40 million, was driving a 2006 Hyundai Accent, worth about $11,000 fully loaded with 30,000 miles, according to Kelley Blue Book.

ESPN - Report: Tatupu arrested for DUI - Hashmarks By Matt Mosley

Tom Brady goes off!
--------------------------

• -- Tom Brady Rips ESPN --
  Wed May 14, 2008 --from FFMastermind.com
• AOL Sports reports New England Patriots QB Tom Brady ripped ESPN Tuesday for its coverage of the Patriots' Spygate scandal. Appearing on the Boston radio station WEEI, Brady suggested that the reason Patriotgate has stayed in the news is that the media in general and ESPN specifically are looking to fabricate a controversy. "I think it's a way to really sell newspapers, and all the ESPN stations, they've got to fill the air, too," Brady said. When it was pointed out to Brady that many of the ex-NFL players who work at ESPN were harshly critical of the Patriots and suggested that they gained a huge advantage from stealing signals, Brady said, "It's just kind of the environment right now, though. I think that's the way that guys make it. They just say the craziest things. That's what ESPN has become. ESPN, to me, is like MTV without the videos, ESPN is without the highlights."

You know, and I bet Tatupu wont show up on TV with high powered lawyers crying that the cops were just screwing with him.

Hard working, totally unpretentious guy who hasnt let his money and fame go to his head. I'll probably get cursed for saying this, but thats the kind of guy you let go....

Oakland has released CB Duane Starks, just a couple months after signing him.

guess that didnt work out.......

In other news:
Buccaneers | Simms status still uncertain
Wed, 14 May 2008 13:10:36 -0700
Updating an ongoing report, Scott Reynolds, of PewterReport.com, reports the status of Tampa Bay QB Chris Simms is still uncertain. Simms has decided not to participate in workouts until the team defines his role. There is speculation he may be traded or released prior to the start of training camp.

Don't blame them.

Not unexpected. The Bills exuded class during this entire incident, and I'm glad Kevin Everett can still have a normal life.