Today at 4 PM ET is the deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag. So far 3 players have been tagged, with the Saints tagging Jimmy Graham, the Jets tagging kicker Nick Folk, and the Panthers tagging DE Greg Hardy. From the sounds of it the Redskins and linebacker Brian Orakpo are close to a deal but they will tag Orakpo if the deal isn't finalized by the deadline. The Dolphins may have have used the tag on Brent Grimes if a deal hadn't been reached. It's possible the Raiders could use the tag on OT Jared Veldheer or DE Lamarr Houston.
Last edited by fatediesel; 03-03-2014 at 03:36 PM.
Indeed. Next step is Soliai or Starks. We can't afford to lose both, it would create a huge hole in the middle of the line. I'd rather have Soliai back, but based on what I read today, it's not looking good...
NFL.com reports the league's competition committee has discussed a proposal that would move extra-point attempts from the two- to 25-yard line.
That means PATs would go from 19 to 42 yards in length. Kickers converted 1,262-of-1,267 extra-point attempts last season, good for a staggering 99.6 conversion rate. The play has become so automatic as to be pointless. Making PATs longer would place a greater emphasis on finding and keeping good kickers, as well as encourage more two-point conversion attempts. Although we're on board with modifying the extra point, automatically awarding seven points and reverting to six if a team fails on a two-point conversion may make more sense.
I like it. They were talking about eliminating the extra kick itself but giving teams an option to go for two if they want.
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Franchise player Jimmy Graham isn't expected to report to the Saints until his contract situation is resolved.
Graham was officially tagged as a tight end Monday. He'll put up a fight that he should be paid as a receiver. The tight end franchise number is $7.035 million, compared to $12.312 million for receivers. This could drag into the summer. Graham will almost certainly skip OTAs if a long-term deal isn't reached and could even stay at home for training camp. The fun is just beginning.
AWOL NFL Prospect Believes He's Following Internet Messiah's Prophecy
The story of Adam Muema, the San Diego State running back who left the NFL Combine because he believed God told him to, then spent three days at the airport, somehow manages to take even more unexpected turns.
It seems that Muema attended a Catholic Mass in Indianapolis before the Combine. There, a series of coincidences, combined with Muema's belief in numerology and the assurances of an internet figure who claims to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, served to convince him that he would be drafted by the Seahawks—but only if he skipped the Combine.
The L.A. Times catches up with the priest who celebrated that Mass. Father Jim Baraniak says that during the service, he noted that Muema was the first athlete to attend in the event's eight-year history. The number eight holds special significance to Muema, who has made references to so-called "Angel numbers"—numbers which believers hold reoccur disproportionately, as messages from a divine or mystical source.
That mention of the number eight at the Mass was a sign to Muema. But why the Seahawks? The program for the service said Seattle GM John Schneider would be speaking. Schneider did not actually show up—Joe Lombardi and Jack Del Rio spoke instead—but Muema apparently did not realize.
Muema became convinced that God was sending him a message: Leave the Combine, and the defending champions will draft you. He has already changed his Twitter profile to read "Seahawks #8." And based on a video posted to his Instagram yesterday, it seems he has apparently purchased a bunch of Seahawks gear to decorate his home.
More of Muema's belief system can be found on his Twitter account, where he makes frequent reference to Lord RayEl. Born Raymond Elwood, RayEl declared himself the Messiah three years ago, and communicates with his followers mostly through YouTube videos (and accepts donations at his website). It is clear, from Muema's tweets dating back months (but increasing in frequency in recent weeks), that Muema believes RayEl is God.
Muema has been dropped by his agent, and the projected mid- to late-round draft pick, having skipped the Combine, is unlikely to be selected without participating in SDSU's March 19 pro day, which he also believes he needs to skip to fulfill the Seahawks prophecy. In a brief statement, San Diego State said coaches have restored contact with him, but it's clear that Muema isn't looking for help.
Next time you're running about two quarts low on hope, or feel like you're on the wrong end of God's Whac-A-Mole game, think of Jim Kelly and be glad you're not him.
Jim Kelly is sport's Job. If it's raining anywhere, it's raining on Jim Kelly. He's as unlucky as a one-legged dog.
The former Buffalo Bills QB has endured more pain, grief and disappointment than many nations, and it's only getting worse. "Jim has had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows," says his brother Pat. "Lately, it's been some really low lows."
And yet when you see Jim Kelly, he acts as if he just won Publishers Clearing House.
"I've been blessed," says Kelly, 54. "I wouldn't change a thing."
Really? Because I wouldn't wish what has happened to him on a tax collector.
He's in 24-hour pain. He can't feel the skin on the left half of his face. He says his lip feels like it's constantly on fire. He has had his upper left jaw removed and all but two of his teeth -- and those two have had six root canals. He admits he hasn't been able to sleep in years without taking something.
"I honestly can't remember Jim sleeping through the night," says his wife, Jill. "I'm not sure he ever has."
Kelly carries around more hardware than a Home Depot. His back has two plates and 10 screws in it. His neck has a plate and six screws. He just had double hernia surgery. One day, he had to have a cyst removed under his nostril without Novocain. "I think they heard me three office buildings over," he says.
He should really be dead by now, but nothing seems to do the trick, not a plane crash, cancer, more operations than he can remember, a lifetime of disappointment nor bottomless grief.
He never wanted to play in Buffalo. He played 11 years in Buffalo. He ached to win a Super Bowl. Nobody got closer without winning one. He yearned for a son. He had a son, who suffered from Krabbe disease and died before his ninth birthday. He lives to hunt, yet hunting has nearly killed him.
Jim Kelly and wife Jill lost their son, Hunter, in 2005, yet Kelly keeps trying to help other children with similar conditions.
"And yet he never complains," Pat says. "He's the toughest person I know."
Jim Kelly shrugs and says, "Yeah, sometimes you just want to say to God, 'OK. I give. Uncle. Just give me some time where I don't feel any pain anymore.' But nobody wants to hear about my problems."
Only once has he let himself feel a spoonful of self-pity. He turned to Jill and said, "Is this how it's going to be the rest of my life? Because I don't know if I can handle this the rest of my life."
But he will. He has handled more bad breaks than an orthopedist. He is the undisputed champion of Sucking It Up and Smiling.
Four straight seasons he took his Bills to the Super Bowl, and four straight times they lost. He still has never watched tapes of those losses, but last weekend, for the first time in his life, he watched a highlight tape of his 1990 season, which ended with the Wide Right loss to the New York Giants.
"I'm never going to watch it again," he says. "It only made it hurt worse. I don't like to think about any of them."
What bugs Kelly is that the Bills get no love for being the only team in history to make four straight championships. "You talk to John Elway or Dan Marino. They're amazed at how we were able to do that. ... But I know now why the good Lord did that. He was preparing me for what was coming."
What was coming was more heartache than a year's worth of Super Bowl losses could dump on him.
There was the 2000 bear hunting trip in Alaska, when the single-prop plane he was flying in went down in the Bering Sea. Kelly, upside down, kicked the window out and swam for shore in 39-degree water, then thawed himself with a Bunsen burner. "I thought I was a goner," he says. He came back 23 pounds lighter.
There was his 37th birthday, when his son Hunter was born.
Jim Kelly had hoped that one day his son would wear his number and his nephew would wear Andre Reed's No. 83.
"I dreamed about coaching my son in football," Kelly says. "Hunter would wear No. 12, and his cousin Chad [Kelly] would wear 83 [Andre Reed's number]. That script was written."
Hunter would be 17 today. Chad -- now 19 and Jim Kelly's godson -- was the first New York high school QB to pass for more than 2,000 yards and run for more than 1,000 in a season and signed with Clemson, where he'll compete as a sophomore for the starting job when spring practice begins this week.
Jim, meanwhile, went on to devoting his life to keeping other fathers from feeling the hole he's had in his gut ever since Hunter's death. He works every day to pass legislation that would fix the state-by-state flaws in infant-disease screening -- screening that could've saved Hunter's life.
"Thousands of babies are dying because they're born in the wrong state," Kelly says. "Some states test for eight diseases and some for as many as 60. Why can't every state test for the max amount? We give so much money to other countries and yet we're robbing our own kids of a quality of life."
After that came crippling back problems, murderous neck troubles, and then the jaw cancer, even though Kelly never smoked or dipped. It has ravaged him, leaving him with a prosthesis for his upper jaw and a pain that tucks him in nightly.
"I worry about him," Pat says. "I really do."
And yet what does his brother do for a living? He crisscrosses the country giving motivational speeches that bring tears to faces, goose bumps to arms and perseverance to hearts.
"His ability to lose, and lose big, and yet handle it, is so impressive to me," Jill says. "This has all made him an even better person than before, more patient even. It's made him want to help even more people than before. ... People hear him speak and think, 'How can I get some of this hope, this hope beyond circumstance that he has?' I've seen it. What he's been through is a curse, yes. And it's a trial, yes. But, really, when you think of how much good it's brought others, it's a gift."
Fine. But you wish this gift would just stop giving.
The Bills won't be playing a game in Toronto this season and will be playing all their home games in Buffalo. The Bills have an agreement to play a game in Toronto every year until 2017 but last season's game between the Bills and Falcons drew the smallest Toronto crowd yet, with less than 40,000 people showing up, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the remaining Toronto games are canceled.
The Bills won't be playing a game in Toronto this season and will be playing all their home games in Buffalo. The Bills have an agreement to play a game in Toronto every year until 2017 but last season's game between the Bills and Falcons drew the smallest Toronto crowd yet, with less than 40,000 people showing up, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the remaining Toronto games are canceled.
Thank God. All this series ever did was rob a home game from us.
[Show spoiler]
Bills signed SS Aaron Williams to a four-year, $26 million contract extension.
The deal includes $14.625 million guaranteed, comes with a $6.25 million signing bonus and makes him the eighth highest-paid safety in the league in terms of average annual salary. Williams, the 34th overall pick in 2011, struggled as a corner through his first two NFL seasons. But a change to safety for last season worked wonders, as he started 14 games, grading out positively against both the run and pass while racking up 82 tackles, four interceptions, one forced fumble and 11 pass breakups. Free agent Jairus Byrd is a goner.
[Show spoiler]
Bills signed SS Aaron Williams to a four-year, $26 million contract extension.
The deal includes $14.625 million guaranteed, comes with a $6.25 million signing bonus and makes him the eighth highest-paid safety in the league in terms of average annual salary. Williams, the 34th overall pick in 2011, struggled as a corner through his first two NFL seasons. But a change to safety for last season worked wonders, as he started 14 games, grading out positively against both the run and pass while racking up 82 tackles, four interceptions, one forced fumble and 11 pass breakups. Free agent Jairus Byrd is a goner.
Yeah, I got a text alert about this earlier. Excellent signing, Aaron Williams has a really high ceiling. We're working on an extension for Dareus as well.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Sounds like a fair deal.
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