Tiki Barber's Comeback Not Going So Well

In all the craziness of the past couple of days of NFL signings we all kind of forgot about Tiki Barber. He made headlines earlier this offseason when he announced he would make a comeback. Yet, no one has picked him up. Our friends over at FitzandVig.com pointed out that Tiki is most likely going to have to try to play in the UFL next season and show that he still has something in the tank. I think this whole comeback thing was a stupid idea and was doomed to fail from the beginning, so it's really not all that shocking. There are just too many young players that a team could bring in that have a better chance of being productive and will have about 1/2 the ego.

There is one story out there from opposingviews.com that claims Tiki is about to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I just can't see that being true.

Fitzgerald Begging Arizona To Sign Braylon Edwards

"Adam Schein of Fox Sports and Sirius NFL Radio reports that Larry Fitzgerald and Kerry Rhodes have gone to management of the Cardinals to lobby for the team to sign Edwards (ESPN)."

In a lot of ways it makes sense. The Cardinals have brought in Kolb and they might as well give him as many options as possible. That being said, I like Early Doucet and would like to see what he can do as a #2 WR. Edwards is good and they should grab him if the money is right, but I have a feeling he is going to want to get paid like he is a #1 WR and he just drops too many balls for him to get that kind of money.

Then again, the Cardinals are trying to lock Fitzgerald up long term and might want to do anything just to make him happy.

NFL Has Been Back For A Week And I'm Already Sick Of Rex Ryan

First off his new tattoo is fucking gay. Dude, you're 48 years old why are you getting tribal tattoos on your leg. I guess it makes sense since most Jets fans are a bunch of Jersey shitdicks anyways, so I am sure he just wants to fit in.

Then he comes out and does his normal blah, blah, blah speech about how they are going to win it all, and so on. This time he decided to challenge the rest of the league to beat the Patriots. Good for him I guess, I mean he knocked the Patriots out last year, so he has the right to talk shit. But this wasn't even shit talking I thought it was just lame...

"Again, I think we have to find somebody out there to beat New England besides us, and I think that would help. Anybody out there that wants to sign up for it? Are you good enough as a team to beat the New England Patriots? Forget about us, are you good enough to go out and beat the New England Patriots? I’m challenging the league."

Actually it's not even the quote that pisses me off. It's the fact that this has been a main headline in Boston papers and WEEI. Really guys? Is there nothing better to write about?

Fuck Rex Ryan, but also fuck the media's obsession with everything that comes out of his stupid fat mouth. It's all the same "we're gonna win it all", me this, me that. The only time I want to hear about another Rex Ryan story is when we find out that he got arrested having a bunch of kids locked in his basement and his wife does weird videos with them, because judging from his past and this tattoo, the story seems inevitable.

Breaking News: Randy Moss Retires

Randy Moss has decided to retire, and I couldn't be happier. I didn't want to see him go to the Jets, and to be honest I just didn't want to see him on another team other then the Patriots. I know he left on terrible terms, but that year when him and Brady broke seemingly broke every record was incredible and I will always remember it.

We will always look at Moss and think what might have been if his head was screwed on right, but even with his stupid ways he is a Hall of Famer and one of the best WRs I have ever seen.

Good luck to you Randy.

Shocking News: Brandon Marshall Has Mental Problems

Brandon Marshall says he was diagnosed earlier this year with borderline personality disorder, which has been known to stem from things such as unstable personal relationships, a negative self-image and a fear of failure. He made the decision to go public with the issue to raise awareness, and says he plans to eventually lobby Congress for funding to assist research efforts.

Yea, no shit Marshall. We kind of picked up on that from your time in Denver. Like remember that time you went out to a club with your buddies Javon Walker and Darrent Williams? Then for some reason Williams got shot.

Remember that time you beat up your girlfriend resulting in the police being called on 11 different occasions? Remember that time you got a DUI?

How about later when you beat up your fiancee? Or how about that time when your girl finally had enough and stabbed you.

But yea, I guess this can all be explained because you have a "borderline" personality disorder. How about you just admit you're a douchebag that puts himself in terrible situations, and that you're a terrible person. Go to hell Marshall I refuse to feel bad for you.

Patriots Cut Ty Warren (UPDATED)

"The Patriots made a series of moves Friday afternoon, including officially signing wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, as well as the release of linebacker Tully Banta-Cain, cornerback Tony Carter, tight end Alge Crumpler, tackle Nick Kaczur, defensive lineman Marcus Stroud, defensive lineman Ty Warren and rookie free agent Ryan Coulson. In addition, the officially announced the signings of third-round pick Ryan Mallett and fifth-round pick Marcus Cannon (WEEI)."

Really surprised that they cut Warren. I guess that he is washed up, or at the very least hasn't rebounded from his injuries fast enough. It does make me a little concerned, as Haynesworth better work out now. I know we got by without Warren last year, but I was expecting that he could be a force this year.

***UPDATE***

There are rumors the Patriots will bring him back under a reworked deal.

Harrison Apologizes To Goodell

"The interview that I did and the comments that I made about Roger Goodell were inappropriate, at the least," Harrison said. "They were way out of line, and I was speaking out of anger and frustration at the time. Any comments that I made that offended anyone, I apologize."

Harrison had every right to be upset with Goodell, and for the most part I don't actually mind most of what he says. I thought it was wrong he ripped his teammates, but with the stuff about Goodell I didn't really care. Still, this is smart, there is no reason to have your boss any more pissed at you then he already is. Plus, his comments were pretty over the top.

There Will Be No 'Hard Knocks' This Year

HBO said Friday the uncertainty of the lockout "made it impractical for a team to commit" to the popular training camp reality show. The series is set to return next year. It is really not surprising at all, but still very dissapointing. It is really the only thing that makes NFL camps interesting to the fans. I know we will all want to see who wins what job and what not, but to go inside the actual camp and see what these guys go through is amazing. Plus you get such gems at "now let's go get a snack", "kiss the baby", "child please", and so on.

We will miss you and hopefully it will be back next year (I think it will).

Who would you have wanted to see this year if the were able to do it?

To be me there would've been 2 very interesting teams... the Patriots and the Steelers. Not because those are DP and my teams, but there is just so much going on around them. Ochocinco/Haynesworth on the Patriots, the whole Harrison thing with the Steelers. Both of those would've been amazing.

So, who would want to have?

Breaking News: Patriots Land Ochocinco

The New England Patriots have acquired wide receiver Chad Ochocinco after he accepted a restructured three-year contract from the Patriots, a source told ESPN.com's John Clayton.

We will have more on this tomorrow.

Plaxico Burress to Giants, Steelers?

Apparently the gun toting wide receiver has his selection of where he wants to go whittled down to 2 teams, The Steelers and the Giants.

I'm not a big fan of Plaxico and don't really want him, but if he comes to the Steelers he can't hurt. At the end of the day he's 6-5 and would be a huge target for Ben in redzone situations.

He spent 5 years in Pittsburgh before the Giants so who knows, it could work, but I don't see him getting more than 600 yards.

I'm going to ignore this, but if Plaxico came back home, I guess I would be alright with it.

Some Football Stuff (2 UPDATES)

Matt Hasselbeck signed with the Tennessee Titans yesterday. I really like this move for both parties Hasselbeck needed to get away from Seattle as nothing has been going on there for a while and Tennessee needs to move on from the Vince Young/ Kerry Collins era. Hasselbeck won't hurt the team and will keep them competitive. Also, it will be a great transition until Jake Locker is ready to go.

Defensive end Charles Johnson agreed to six-year, $76 million deal, including $32 million guaranteed with the Carolina Panthers. Good thing the Panthers didn't lose him as he is really the only thing going on in Carolina other than Cam Newton. Do I believe he was a little overpaid? Yea, but what can you do.

The Redskins and Vikings have made a deal involving Quarterback Donovan McNabb. The deal is getting held up right now because McNabb's feelings are hurt about some contract stuff, but the deal is going to get done. I love the move for Minnesota who needs a QB to bridge between now and the Christian Ponder era (burst out laughing). I STILL believe in McNabb and I know he still has a few more good years in the tank. The Viking will be in the playoffs because of him.

A league source tells us that the Pittsburgh Steelers have found a way to keep their biggest free agent in town. Cornerback Ike Taylor has agreed to terms on a four-year deal, per a league source. This is a great move for the Steelers who locked up their best cornerback in a weak secondary. Ike is a lifetime Steeler and this should probably be his last contract in the NFL.

The Cowboys made some cuts yesterday. The Cowboys have released running back Marion Barber and receiver Roy Williams, Pro Bowl guard Leonard Davis and kicker Kris Brown will be cut. All of these players are underachieving except for Davis. Roy Williams should have been cut 2 years ago and Marion Barber needs to be a 3rd down back in the worst way.

***UPDATE***

It's easier to just keep adding to this post, so here is what else is going on...

- "The New York Jets addressed the No. 1 item on their free-agent list, coming to terms Wednesday morning with wide receiver Santonio Holmes, according to a league source. The deal is for five years and $50 million with $24 million guaranteed (ESPN)"

You knew they would resign him, but that is a lot of guarnteed money, I would think this is going to make it tough for the Jets to sign Asomugha, but I guess you could always restructure deals to make it work.

- Jacksonville Jaguars signed Paul Posluszny, which I think is a nice signing. He is a guy I wish the Patriots drafted a couple years back and he is coming off his best year in which he had 151 tackles.

- Not shockingly the Titans will be cutting Vince Young tomorrow.

- The Redskins have signed Donte' Stallworth.

- Packers resigned kicker Mason Crosby.

- Takeo Spikes will leave the San Francisco 49ers for the San Diego Chargers.

***UPDATE 2***

- DeAngelo Williams will be staying with the Carolina Panthers. Terms: Five years, $43 million, $21 guaranteed.

- Eric Weddle has resigned with the San Diego Chargers.

Carson Palmer Retires

Palmer has said all along that if the Bengals don't trade or release him he would retire. I guess he wasn't kidding...

"I honesty like Carson Palmer. He was a splendid player for us," Brown said, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "He is a good person. I wish him well and he has retired. That is his choice."

"I'm not expecting him to be back. Carson signed a contract, he made a commitment," Brown continued. "He gave us his word. We relied on his word and his commitment. We expected him to perform here. If he is going to walk away from his commitment we aren’t going to reward him for doing it."

Does Bengals owner Mike Brown have the right stance? In a way yes. Palmer signed a contract and he is trying to walk away from that. So, yes he is right for basically not allowing him to do so. That being said, the Bengals now get nothing for Palmer. How is that better?

With so many teams needing QB's (Vikings, Dolphins, Seahawks, Cardinals, just to name a few) the Bengals probably could've got a pretty good return for Palmer. Now, they get nothing, and it will just take the process of being good again even longer (can you even say "again" with the Bengals?), which is just sad for this franchise and their fans.

So while I do think what Palmer is doing is fundamentally wrong (though I can't blame him), getting nothing in return is the worst way for this to end for the Bengals.

Packers To Cut Nick Barnett

The Packers are going to cut LB Nick Barnett this week, which shouldn't come to much of a surprise as it will save Green Bay about $6.9 million in cap space. Barnett was only able to play in a handful of games last year, but he should be scooped up quickly as he is only 30 years old and is only a year removed from having 105 tackles, and 4 sacks.

The Packers should be fine as they made it just fine without him for most of last year, and still have a nice core of Matthews, Hawk, Bishop, and Zombo as their LBs.

Ravens About To Make A Bunch Of Cuts

Although NFL teams can't make cuts till Thursday at 4pm there are already pretty sound reports that the Ravens are going to be making some serious changes to there roster.

The Ravens are expected to cut Willis McGahee, Kelly Gregg, Derrick Mason, and Todd Heap. McGahee isn't a surprise at all he is going to make over 6 million next year, and really just isn't worth it at all, especially since Ray Rice is the obvious #1 back.

Although Mason is getting older (37) he is still coming off a pretty productive year (61 passes for 802 yards and seven touchdowns), but with Boldin on the roster the Ravens needed to find a way to save some money.

Heap is also still productive (five touchdowns, 40 receptions and 599 yards last season), but he has a hard time staying on the field. As for Gregg, he is scheduled to make over $3 million, but most people think there is a good chance the Ravens resign him.

The Ravens were getting a bit older, so I can understand the changeover, but I do think this could hurt them next year. McGahee sucks, but Mason and Heap have been good players for this team and they could miss that production. It will be interesting to see who steps up and picks up the slack.

Banta-Cain Has Abdominal Surgery (UPDATED)

Patriots outside linebacker Tully Banta-Cain underwent surgery for an abdominal tear on Friday, according to a league source. It was an injury he had been dogged by last season, and it flared up during recent offseason workouts. (The usual recovery time for such an injury is approximately 4-6 weeks.)

Banta-Cain is a guy I undervalue every year. Last season he surprised me once again with 50 tackles and 5 sacks. Sure those aren't all that impressive, but consider the leader of the Patriots in sacks had 5.5 this is actually a hit for the Patriots. In a way I am glad, I never liked Banta-Cain, I think he's weak and I hope this pushes the Patriots to add someone, but it won't. They will end up hope Cunningham or someone surprises them and can be their next pass rusher.


***UPDATE***

Or maybe the Patriots won't wait for him to comeback...

"ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that Tully Banta-Cain has been told by the New England Patriots that he will be released."

Obviously, the Patriots could just resign him once he is healthy again.

The Lock Out Is Over

Well who knows. But they have been reporting that it's over all weekend.

This was just a big waste of time to me to be honest. I don't really even care about what happened or what was accomplished. It doesn't seem like anything that I care about. Logan Mankins will not be a free agent, and the franchise tag still exists.

The thing I'm most excited about is the free agent frenzy that is going to happen. Where is Nnamdi Asomghua, Santonio Holmes, Ray Edwards, Carson Palmer, and Braylon Edwards go.

Much like the Patriots, the Steelers also never sign guys that I get excited about so I can throw Nnamdi out the window.

Whatever, the lock out is "over", and training camp begins Thursday. From an outside perspective it seems as if the owners won.

Whoever Isn't On Mankins Side Is A D Bag

One of the hurdles right now with the CBA is Logan Mankins and him wanting to be free from the Patriots. The Patriots have lied to him, franchised him and lowballed him on a deal and Logan Mankins has had enough.

Mankins is the best guard in the NFL, he has played 7 years in the NFL and has never had a shot at free agency, and everyone and their mother want to vilify this guy because he wants to get the contract and money he deserves. If we weren't talking about an NFL player and talking about an average Joe here, people would be on the side of the average Joe, but because we are talking about a millionaire people want to sell him down the river.

I hope that Goodell and most of the owners side on Mankins side and set him free..... and then he signs with Pittsburgh.

Cedric Benson Goes To Jail.... Again

With all the Steelers getting framed for things the passed couple of offseasons, it's finally good to see the police finally arrested a criminal.

Travis County sheriff's spokesman Roger Wade said Benson was arrested in downtown Austin on a misdemeanor count of assault with bodily injury with family violence. Benson attorney Sam Bassett said in a statement the arrest followed "a conflict" between Benson and a male former roommate. ESPN

This isn't good for Benson figuring he is an unrestricted free agent, and the end is in sights for the lock out. Figuring there are going to be a lot of fines/ suspensions once the lock out is lifted I expect Cedric to be suspended for a game, due to his continuous awful off field issues.

Forgetting about this, any team that gets Benson will have a quality runningback. He has rejuvenated his career in Cincinnati and will be a high priority free agent, so it will be interesting if this incident effects that at all.

Harrison Apologizes

Harrison apologized for making those stupid comments a couple days ago. Here is the main part. I am going to skip the whole Goodell thing because he didn't really apologizes, and in my eyes doesn't really need to. What he did need to apologize for was ripping his teammates...

"I did make comments about my teammates when I was talking about the emotional Super Bowl loss, but the handful of words that were used and heavily publicized yesterday were pulled out of a long conversation and the context was lost. Obviously, I would never say that it was all Ben’s or Rashard’s fault that we lost the Super Bowl. That would be ridiculous. Both Ben and Rashard are great players and great teammates. Clearly the entire team bears responsibility for the loss, me included. It was a team effort and a team loss. My teammates know me well, and hopefully understand the things I said were not meant to accuse them of the loss. We all have discussed several things that went wrong in the Super Bowl since that day. What I do apologize for and take full responsibility for is for speaking in such a candid manner to someone outside the team (James Harrison - profootballtalk.nbcsports.com)."

There is a very good chance that his original quote wasn't as bad as it sounded, but you just don't go out and say things like that about a teammate. He needed to apologize for that, because that is team business and they have enough analyst in the media that will tell everyone what went wrong in the Super Bowl. There is no reason to go out and make problems with a team heading into the next year. I don't think it will after this, and I think it's smart that he did.

As for the "Goodell quotes", he shouldn't be that blunt. It's not going to help him when his next fine comes up, but I also can't fault a guy for being really pissed off when someone keeps fining you crazy amounts of money for playing football tough. Overall I haven't had a huge problem with most of hits. Sure there were some that deserved a fine, but there were also others that didn't deserve anything.

But as for Harrison denying he ever said those things about his teammates, that's just not true. He did, and is playing the out of context card.

I Wonder What The Going Rate Of Randy Moss Will Be

Yesterday Randy Moss's agent came out and said that he was in freakishly good shape. I don't know if that means anything, because I believe he was probably in freakishly good shape last year, it's just his head wasn't.

But Randy Moss is a pretty good question mark going into next season. He's 34, just had a year in which he was on 3 different teams, 2 of them being disasters and had statistically his worst season of his career.

There are rumors that the Jets might be the team that signs him because they have WR issues with 3 of their top 4 receivers are free agents (Brad Smith, Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards) So it would make sense to them to let Edwards go and save money for some of their defensive free agents. I think Holmes and Moss will probably be with the Jets where he will most likely thrive because there is no way someone goes from putting up such gaudy numbers to shit like he did last year.