silvermike

We really don't know anything about the nature of the holdout so far. All that's coming out is that they're not close.

I wonder what Schobel or his agent said that tipped Buddy over the edge. There have been a few days since his "hmm, maybe in the next two weeks" story. Maybe he asked for another two weeks.

This is actually the earlier thread, as best as I can tell.

Free agents still get to use the team plane?

So he's definitely not coming back? Did Nix talk him out of unretiring?

True enough. Although the one advantage of taking a luxury pick like Spiller is that we have much less pressure to get him under contract than if we had drafted a guy we expected to be a bookend left tackle.

I think he's going to be close, now. #8 and #11 have signed, so there's a clear ceiling ($8M/per) and a floor (~$5.5M/per). He'll likely get a contract somewhere around 5 years, $33M, about half in guarantees. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen over the weekend.

You don't get to gloat about how right you were until the guy actually plays NFL football. Coaches congratulating themselves for their draft choices in training camp is meaningless.

I'd guess somewhere around $35M for a 5 year deal.

Ouch. Yeah, not worth holding your breath, until at least someone on the 6-10 range signs and someone in the 12-16 range signs. Hopefully Bradford will get done soon, and then the contracts will start lining up the rope.

I guess part of the problem is that there really isn't too much news that requires reporting. Transactions are swiftly reported by teams, and everything else is rumormongering based on what the teams, players, and agents want to be out in the press. There's not a lot of sleuthing to be done; you wait for the call. After that, it's analysis, and the internet is just better at it because it can give a ton more depth than the average viewer is interested in. You specialized, get a niche, and go from there. All that's left is just airing actual sporting events.

I'm really surprised that there hasn't been a more serious challenge to ESPN. Somebody else - maybe NBC-Universal - should have the heft to launch a 24-hour sports network that keeps viewers by occasionally showing games people care about. NHL rights are certainly out there for the taking, since they're stuck on Versus. The NBA still has games on TNT, which could probably be outbid (or else Time Warner could launch the network). That's two major leagues. I'd assume there's a lockout for NFL coverage, but there are tons and tons of college games to televise, plus AFL and UFL games to break into football. Then there's always more tennis and golf to bid on, and you've got enough for a full-time network.

Can he play left tackle? Seems like he might be in pretty good shape.

Don Shula's got him beat.

I think our problem is defining what we're giving a certain percentage of in the first place.

There's gotta be some cutoff of number of starts, or something, so that the list isn't just a bunch of guys who were the 53rd man in the roster during the last two weeks of the season.

And even if you gave 100%, wouldn't that mean that you died at the end of the game, with no energy to even draw another breath?

Even beyond all the other bizarre crap you're saying today, I'm amazed that you think the right of freedom of speech should be restricted because someone on a website thinks Clausen is awesome and Brohm is awful.

800 yards? Roscoe's not going to rack up 800 yards in the rest of his career.

Apparently "Our Wes Welker" has career totals that would end up as the real Welker's 4th best season.

Roscoe Parrish has never been a good wide receiver and he will never be a good wide receiver. He's a special teams-only guy who may not even have that any more. I'd be more surprised to see him to 500 receiving yards this year than to see him register 0.

I wouldn't stay up worrying about overpaying him. I mean, we might overpay him, and that would mean something like 4 years, $6M: which would be a huge raise from Jarius Byrd's $1m/season deal at a similar slot last year.

I saw that movie. So after that tidal wave crashed an aircraft carrier into the White House, I imagine it'll be tough to get anyone to come to Redskins games, but the sinking of California will benefit the NFL, since they're relatively uninvested in Los Angeles. And then the move to Tibet will definitely be good for the Bills, since we'll have record numbers of fans in China because of Ed Wang.

Sometimes, there's no inside scoop because there's none to be had.

What's the cutoff? I'd say a reasonable measure would be to only look at QBs that never started the majority of their team's games in a playoff year. That knocks out one-time backups like Tom Brady or Steve Young, but preserves Reich. Of other QBs mentioned, Todd Collins Don Strock, and Damon Huard (narrowly - he was 5-3 with the playoff bound 2006 Chiefs) are okay, but Hostetler, Mitchell, and Morrall have too many starting seasons.