Kaspers Korner

Many people are blaming Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth’s drinking and marijuana use as the main culprits for the accident that resulted in a man being killed.  The fact of the matter is that even if he was sober the accident would have still happened.

Working in the transportation industry I have seen similar cases like this time and time again.  The reason is that my employer has to give us refersher courses on safety, since I work for a bus company.

People in a hurry do not pay attention to their surroundings, which gets children and adults killed.

All of us in the bus transportation industry are warned to watch out for kids darting in between cars to get to their bus, because you cannot see them.

Not having seent the video as it is sealed, just hearing the report that the victim was jay walking to catch a bus, which leads me to believe he was running in between cars to catch it.

Since he was running in between the cars even if Stallworth would of been sober he still would of hit the person.

Now, do not get me wrong I am not making any excuses for Stallworth as there is no reason to drink and drive the amount of money National Football League players make.

In the end as studies have shown people are usually distracted while driving, which means that this horrible incident would of happen any which ways.

The Buffalo Bills have been known to be cheap.  The reality is that you spend money on your own players.

NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora revealed how much each team spent in player salary per a win.

To no surprise the New England Patriots were the top team as it cost the team only $8.14 million per a win.

The Patriots spent the 10th most by spending $513.31 million.

On the opposite end of the spectrum the Oakland Raiders spent the 11th most amount of money by spending $513.21 million on player salaries.

However, it cost the Raiders $25.66 million per a win in player salaries, which is the most in the National Football League.
In the end As many Bills fans may hate it the Bills are taking the right approach by spending money on its own players just like the Patriots.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter Mike Tripplet is still in shock of the release of long snapper Kevin Houser.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the sod is being placed over the synthetic grass for the World Football Challenge.

The Cincinnati Enquire reports former Cincinnati Benglas running back Chris Perry has a warrant out on him for failure not to pay back taxes.

The Indianapolis Star reports that ten games of the Indianapolis Colts will be broadcasted in Spanish.   It is only further evidence of the Browning of America where white people will eventually be the minority in the US.  Not being racist just a true fact learned in Government Class in college.

The Tennessean reports that third round draft pick Jared Cook has agreed to terms with the team.   Also, running back Lendale White is committed to keeping his weight down.

The Miami Herald reports that the new Miami Dolphins CEO Mike Dee is a life long Dolphins fan.  Also, charges in Illinois have been dropped against Vontae Davis.  Finally, Jorge Perez has been hired by the Dolphins as vice chairmen along with former head coach Don Shula.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the San Diego Chargers training camp will be held at Chargers Park, which is usually at their Murphy Canyon but that is out due to a pipe that burst, and it will be closed to the public due to safety concerns.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Detroit Lions security director Ricky Sandoval has died of pancreatic cancer.

The Charlotte Observer reports that the Carolina Panthers claimed tight end Andrew Davie off the waiver wire.

The Washinton Post takes a look at the top story lines entering the 2009 season.

The Seattle Times reports on how much teams spent on players salaries from 2004-2009

The Newark Star Ledger reports that New York Jets linebacker Calcin Pace has been suspended for the first four games of the 2009 Season for violation of the substance abuse policy.

The Associated Press reports that Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor was awarded $1.5 million in a failed real estate deal. Also, a request for the release of the video involving Donte Stallworth accident was denied by a judge.
MIke Reiss of the Boston Globe reports on his Tweeter account that the New England Patriots first seven days of training camp will be double sessions.

The New York Giants were one of the best teams in the National Football League during the regular season as they compiled 12-4 record, but that all went out the window when wide receiver Plaxico Burress shot himself accidently with an unregistered gun.  That leaves many Giants fans going into next year wondering who will step up.

In addition to the release of Burress by the team the team did not resign long time starting wide receiver Amani Toomer whose best years has passed him by as he will be 35 years old this September.

That leaves Steve Smith as the top wide receiver on the team, which he deserves a shot at as he compiled 57 catches for 574 yards with one touchdown as the number three receiver on the team.

After Burress hurt himself the Giants replaced him with wide receiver Domenik Hixon who caught 22 passes for 294 yards receiving with one touchdown in five games.

Luckily the team also has a solid tight end in Kevin Boss who caught 33 passes for 384 yards receiving with six touchdowns.

Also, the Giants had the best running game in football last year led by running back Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw.

In case Hixon doesn’t prove to be an adequate starter the team drafted wide receiver Hakeem Nicks in the first round of this past April’s NFL Draft and Mario Manningham in 2008’s Draft.

Fortunately, Hixon will get a chance to prove to be a good starter as it takes wide receivers three years to develop into stars.

In the end the Giants should be fine as long as the running game still is going strong.

Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell played great football in the first half of the 2008 season as he threw for 1,754 yards passing with eight touchdowns and no interceptions for a 99.59 quarterback rating.  With the talent that he is surrounded by it is a make or break season.

The Redskins have a lot of weapons on offense with wide receivers Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El, along with tight end Chris Cooley.

They even have talent on the bench with backup wide receivers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, along with tight end Fred Davis who were all taken in the second round of the 2008 National Football League Draft.

Also, the Redskins have a powerful running game led by running back Clinton Portis, which was ranked eighth in the NFL last year.

It became obvious that the Redskins front office have doubts about Campbell as they tried to trade for quarterback Jay Cutler and then in this past April’s NFL Draft they tried to trade up to draft quarterback Mark Sanchez.

In the end if that isn’t enough motivation for Campbell then he just wasn’t meant to be a starter.

Today’s Daily News covers June 30th as well due to me having to do a lot of errand running last night.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that safety Antoine Harris had minor surgery on his groin area, but should be ready for training camp.  They also take a look at the linebacker position.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that recently cut New Orleans Saints long snapper Kevin Houser is trying to get money back that he invested in a motion pictures studio.

The Baltimore Sun talks with Baltimore Raven head coach John Harbaugh about his upcoming visit with troops overseas in Iraq.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth had trace amounts of marijuana in his blood.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney was sworn in today as Ambassador to Ireland.

The Houston Chronicle writes about the story of defesensive end Connor Barwin and his story about his hearing.

The Indianapolis Star reports that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has made it clear that he wants no future legislation to help the Capital Improvements Board, which runs and maintains the new Indianapolis Colts stadium.

The Tennessean reports that the Tennessee Titans signed third round draft pick cornerback Ryan Mouton and fourth round draft pick linebacker Gerald McRath.  Also, Titan head coach Jeff Fisher packed his bags for the Gulf.

The Boston Globe reports that free agent linebacker Willie McGinest wants to return to the New England Patriots.

The Kansas City Star reports that construction on Arrowhead Stadium is on track for the teams home opener. Also, construction for the new Chiefs training camp facility has started.  Finally, offensive tackle Branden Albert is trying to be a leader by sticking to his diet.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the Minnesota Vikings signed fifth round linebacker Jasper Brinkley. Also, rookie wide receiver Percy Harvin might have to attend the 2010 Rookie symposium, because he missed it due to illness.

The Charlotte Observer reports that the Carolina Panthers released rookie linebackers Mike Juergens and Brit Miller.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo played with Tiger Woods in the pro-am at the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club on Wednesday and on Tuesday visited a 10 year old with leukemia.

The Philadelphia Daily News reports that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb will appear in the new IHOP commercials.

The Seattle Times reports on how Seattle Seahawks fans can attend practices open to the public.

The Tampa Tribune reports that former Tampa Bay Buccaneers LB Ryan Nece will hold the second annual Mind & Body Clinic for teen athletes 13-17 years old at Jefferson High School on July 9.

The Newark Star Ledger reports that offensive lineman Mike Fladell was cut by the New York Jets after failing his physical.

The Newark Star Ledger also reports that the New York gaints signed fourth round running back Andre Brown.

The Denver Post reports that Denver Broncos wide receiver slammed the city of Denver during his 2007 DUI arrest.  Really, who doesn’t hate the city that they get arrested in.

Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook has been the main weapon for them for as he has 1,200 total yards or more the past five years.  However, it is the beginning of the end for Westbrook as an Eagle.

Even though Westbrook has been a critical asset to the Eagles offense he has one big problem in being able to play a whole year as he has never done that yet.

To help shoulder the load with Westbrook the Eagles drafted running back LeSean McCoy in the second round of this past year’s National Football League Draft.

The Eagles had no choice as they had to find some solution to keep Westbrook healthy as he will be 30 years old this September, which for running backs it means that their skill will start diminishing.

Also, the Eagles lost backup Correll Buckhalter to free agency as he signed with the Denver Broncos.

A precedent of this very exact situation has been set as the Jacksonville Jaguars went through the same thing, because running back Fred Taylor could not stay healthy.

The Jaguars drafted running back Maurice Jones-Drew in 2006 to help shoulder the load as well and then after the 2008 season the Jaguars cut Taylor.

With Westbrook’s contract having voidable years after the 2011 season, and Taylor being cut after three years from when Jones-Drew was drafted, he has at the most three years left with the team.

In the end as much as Eagles fans love Westbrook if he is still missing games to injury then the front office will eventually have no choice and will have to cut him.

The Buffalo Bills seemingly have their franchise quarterback in Trent Edwards.  However, they still need to groom another young quarterback.

Times have changed as over a decade ago the best teams in the National Football League all had good backup quarterbacks that could come in and let the offense not miss a beat like the Buffalo Bills during their Superbowl years when they had quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Frank Reich,

Right now the Bills have quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick and Gibran Hamdan as the backups to Edwards.

Fitzpatrick started in 12 games last year with the Cincinnati Bengals as starting quarterback Carson Palmer went down with a elbow injury.

Fitzpatrick did am okay job as he completed 59.4 percent of his passes for 1,905 yards passing with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions, but if he is going to survive on the Bills he needs to do a better job than that.

Hamdan is an unknown commodity as he has never started a game in the NFL and so far in organized team activities and minicamp.

They need another young quarterback, because Edwards so far has not proven yet that he can play an entire season as he has missed games to injuries in both of his first two years.

That way in the Bills have a quality option at backup so the offense will not miss a beat as not every good quarterback can stay healthy as Brett Farve has.

In the end Bills head coach Dick Jauron said it best, “You can never have enough quality quarterbacks.”

The Jacksonville Jaguars going into the 2008 season were picked as one of the teams to win the Superbowl, but that got derailed as their interior of their offensive line was decimated by injuries.  Now, the question is can they stay healthy?

It took all of one game as the Jaguars lost starting guards Maurice Williams and Vince Manuwai for the season in their very first game.

Also, they were without center Brad Meester until week eight of the season.

That is all it takes for a team’s season to get messed up as the offensive line is the foundation to their offense as in 2007 they were the second ranked rushing offense in the National Football League, but fell to 17th in 2008 with the injuries.

Once the the running game fell apart the Jaguars offense fell apart.

The problem is that many offenses use the running game to set up the pass by using playaction off a successful running game.

The Jaguars have no threat at wide receiver so that means it is hard for the Jaguars to move the ball by just purely passing.

So, when the Jaguars lost the ability to run the football instead of being in third down and short like they were usually the Jaguars found themselves in a lot of third down and long situations.

Fortunately, the Jaguars did get smart this offseason by bostering the depth on their offensive line in drafting offensive tackels Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton, along with signing offensive tackle Tra Thomas in free agency.

Even with the additions that the Jaguars made offensively the problem is that they are a team in a very tough division being in the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, and Tennessee Titans.

As John Clayton has said, “The team that wins the Superbowl is the team that plays the least amount of winning teams and stays healthy.”

Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels has proven to be a formidable weapon in the Texans offense.  With his rookie contract expiring and no new long term deal in place Daniels is in a tough spot.

Daniels wants a long term contract, but that has not happened yet and had to resort to signing his Restricted Free Agent tender of $2.792 million, which is measely.

Daniels in 2008 caught 70 passes for 862 yards with two touchdowns and in 2007 caught 63 passes for 768 passes with three touchdowns. 

Other tight ends that have those kinds of numbers make more than five million a season.  So, Daniels is making a little over half of what they make.

Currently, to become a free agent you need to have player four years in the National Football League.

With the current Collective Bargaining Agreement going into its last year in 2010 things are about to change and for players like Daniels it is not good.

In any normal year after the 2009 season Daniels would become a unrestricted free agent, but without a salary cap for the 2010 season players are going to have to played six years to become unrestricted free agents.

The only way that will change for 2010 is if NFL team owners and the NFLPA reaches a new CBA.

For Daniels that means he has only two choices after this year going into training camp them being hold out of training camp or demand to be traded.

The will be able to fine him for holding out of training camp this years as he signed his tender, but if he doesn’t sign it next year he will not have to report to minicamp and the team cannot fine him as he will not be under contract.

In the end if the Texans are smart then they will get something done soon.