Loading ...A little NFL round-up…
by Dave
I saw some notable stories this past week in the NFL (and by notable I mean interesting and/or anything that has to do with Kansas City), so I figured hey, it’s never too early to talk about football. Kansas City made a great move when they got a long-term deal done with QB Matt Cassel. New GM Scott Pioli couldn’t have done the job done any better…allow me to explain why.
Cassel went from holding a clipboard, to holding the Chiefs' hopes and dreams.
Everyone knows Cassel’s story by now – career back-up who finally got his shot and shined – but questions still remain: is he the real deal? Was he good because of his coach? Because of the players around him? Or because of the system? The Chiefs and I are anxiously awaiting the answers to all those questions, but, thanks to Pioli, the Chiefs won’t be paying too much to find that out. Pioli structured a deal that allowed Cassel to get a little over 10 million a year ($63 million for six years with $28 million guaranteed) making most of the money in the beginning ($40.5 million in the first three years of his contract, when – no matter how he does – there is still hope). This way if Cassel turns out to be one of the great ones, then oops, there’s egg on Scott Pioli’s face as he is forced to restructure his All-Pro QB’s deal to keep him for his entire career…oh no! However, if he turns out to be a bust, just a system QB, Pioli can then cut him after year three (the amount of time QBs normally get to make a name for themselves) and the cap penalty is bearable.
Another big story was the retirement of Baltimore Ravens WR Derrick Mason. While Mason has yet to fill out the paperwork to make this move official, he has announced it, and this is bad news for Ravens fans and for Joe Flacco fans. This takes the Ravens best receiver and Joe’s favorite target out of the equation. Now it’s up to Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams to carry the load, something that they have yet to prove they can do. Clayton, entering his fifth season, has subpar numbers at best, but the argument could be made that he never really had a QB – well, he did last year and in it he racked up a whopping 41 catches for 695 yards and just three TDs. There’s the next Jerry Rice. Or Flacco could choose to throw the ball to Williams, who really turned some heads last season with his 13 catches for 180 yards and one touchdown in seven games. Wow. John Harbaugh better come up with some elaborate schemes and hope Todd Heap can stay healthy all year, because that’s all his young QB has to work with.
If Mason's retirement is official, the Ravens just lost their entire recieving corps.
If I were a defensive coordinator going up against the Ravens this year, with the roster they have right now, my game plan would be simple. I would blitz seven every down, have three people cover Heap, my best cornerback man-to-man with Clayton, and let Williams cover himself.
Finally, today is the last day for NFL teams to re-sign players they have placed the legendary “Franchise Tag” on. Two teams that are making the most headlines are the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers. The Cardinals need to do whatever they can to work out some sort of deal with LB Karlos Dansby. If they fail to, he probably goes somewhere in the NFC East (N.Y. Giants?) next off-season and with his loss (and probably Anquan Boldin, since the Cardinals motto seems to be “if we can win with ‘em, get rid of ‘em) their chances of ever getting back to a Super Bowl go from slim to none.
The Panthers are trying to work out a deal with Pro-Bowl DE Julius Peppers. Peppers had requested a trade at the end of last year, got tagged, demanded a trade, and now looks to be avoiding signing a long-term deal with the Panthers. I don’t know why, but I kind of get the feeling he wants to play somewhere else. The only silver-lining for the Panthers is that he recently signed a one-year contract tender for more than $16 million and mentioned that he would be open to signing a long-term deal. Translation: I’ll get as much money as I can out of this team without signing a long-term deal, say and do all the right things and bide my time, and when I finally do become a free agent, I will RUN to some other team as fast as I can.
Do i see a Freddie Mitchell sighting in the future at Baltimore’s Camp? Or possibly the likes of a stellar Billy McMullen.
i really wouldnt say he “shined” dave. he couldnt take that team to the playoffs which is pretty tough. and if you compare the chiefs to the pats offensive weapons it might take minimum three years, but for your sake i hope he proves me wrong and takes half the LSU tigers with him to the playoffs.