May is historically dead time in football lore, the doldrum days featuring the minicamps, OTAs and training camp. But something is always going on in the NFL. As such, we will proceed with the ramblings of an old chief.
Micheal Vick is soon to be released from Leavenworth and then it’s on to a halfway house. Ultimately, his freedom could be restored by the beginning of training camp. But other issues remain: 1.) What owner wants to face the ridicule of PETA and doglovers everywhere?; 2.) He must face the fact that he lied to commissioner Roger Goodell prior to his indictment. Some league sources feel that the commissioner will levy an additional 4-8 game suspension for his deceit of the commissioner. The Micheal Vick saga continues.
Salary cap issues abound around the NFL. The NFL recently re-figured the salary cap by adding an additional one million dollars to each franchise. But what about the Chiefs, 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, each of which are approximately 30 million under the cap!?!? According to sources, they must be within a certain amount of the total salary cap number and aren’t even close at this point. How the Chiefs will get to this figure only Pioli knows, but a long-term contract for Matt Cassel seems likely.
Roger Goodell continues the legacy of Bert Bell, Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue. He is negotiating with Comcast to make the NFL Network as part of the standard cable package. In exchange for this, he has offered the Red Zone Channel (previously only seen on the DirecTV package) to both FOX and CBS. Although TV at times seems to drive the NFL, I firmly believe that the NFL always has the leg up on the networks. Mr. Goodell by these negotiations is getting a heads up preparing for the future negotiations with the players association. By the way, the RZC is the perfect anecdote for today’s instant-gratification, ADD-laden coach potato.
William Franklin, aka the Helicopter was released this week from the Lions. He will apparently be signed by the Rams — the only team in the NFL with a worse receiving core than the Chiefs. I have heard rumors of using Tyler Thigpen as the wildcat next year and potentially even as a wideout. He certainly has the speed and toughness to be a wideout in the NFL. Think Hines Ward, another college QB who was never a flat-out burner.
Chase Patton was not offered a contract by the Chiefs. They cited his lack of playing experience and four young QBs on the roster (Cassel, Thigpen, Brodie Croyle and Ingle Martin) as their reason. Hopefully, other teams will seize the moment and sign him to their training camp roster.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend, Chiefs fans!!
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Thanks for the post, I almost forgot how to read. I would leave Thiggy at QB and move Jamal Charles to WR. That would allow LJ and Kolby Smith as a one/two punch (couldn’t help myself). I still look for something else to happen before training camp.
Vick did his time in the pen, I hope he is cleared to play, ppl got to move on and it only hurts everything more when you continue to punish ppl coming out of prison, they just end up back. In all honesty if you look at the last year he played, he had similar stats to Favre but with 1000 more rushing yrds, lower compeletion percentage and a better TD to INT ratio… I bet he would a atleast average in terms of his QB piers.
Yeah hmmmmm I dont know what the hell to do with Vick
Vick should get a shot to come back. I see him handling his life better thru the NFL than thru the real world doing construction. He’s a celebrity, like it or not. How is he going to make it day to day in public? I don’t like what he did, but he has definitely served his punishment. And with that tarnished cloud hanging over his head, he’ll be enduring punishment for the rest of his life. Give the man a chance to try to redeem himself at least.
I have to say this “our wr’s are brutal” thing is extemely blown out of proportion. I would rather have our wr’s than: San Fran (Crabtree hasn’t done a thing yet), Miami, Tampa, the Jags (even with Holt), Titans, Rams, Bears, Vikings (if Harvin doesn’t pan out), Ravens, Giants (the young guys havn’t done anything yet), Jets. If Bey doesn’t blow up in Oakland, throw them in there, as well as the Bengals based on Ocho’s recent production. Even in Dallas, call me crazy but I’d take Bowe over Roy Williams any day. Overall, there are not a lot of strong receiving groups in the NFL. I feel fine with ours for now. We could use some depth, but it’s not urgent that we go out and land another probowler. I’d rather have that on the o-line.