Kaspers Korner

The National Football League is a haven for awful characters as long as they have talent, and perform.  That is the exact reason why tight end Jeremy Stevens still has a job.

Stevens resigned with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, eventhough he has a long history of being a loser.   

In high school reached a plea deal and plead guilty to misdemeanor assualt, kicked a football teammate in the nuts, threatened referees after being ejected from basketball games for playing to aggressively, vandalized the school with a friend by punching holes in the walls, and violated school rules on alcohol and marijuana.

In college he raped a girl, and got away with it thanks to University Washington. He was also involved in two hit and run accidents.  One when he hit a house, and the other was when Stevens side swiped another car when the car slowed up for an accident. 

That is pretty sad considering that in Seattle after he turned pro he was arrested twice fr DUI.   He was also kicked out of his condominiums due to constant complaints of loud noise deep into the night, fireworks, and  vomit raining over the railing.

The fact is that the NFL needs to get rid of these turds.

The Philadelphia Eagles put cornerback Lito Sheppard on the trading block, after they signed Asante Samuel.  With teams not biting the Eagles are now going to try him at the wide receiver position.

Sheppard did play a little bit of wide receiver at Florida, and in the past floated the idea to Eagles head coach Andy Reid a couple of times before.  Now, he gets his wish as the team will insert him into certain packages.

The move is obviously to appease Sheppard, after losing his starting spot, along with the team not being able to move him. Sheppard is 5′10″ and the Eagles already have a bunch of other smallish wide receivers, including Desean Jackson who was drafted this past draft.

Will the move work out? The only other cornerback that was able to play wide receiver, and cornerback, was Dieon Sanders when he played for the Dallas Cowboys.  You can also add into the mix that quaterbacks have of cornerbacks that they are wide receivers with really bad hands.

In the end the experiment will most likely fail, and this will be Sheppard’s last year with the Eagle.

It is tornado season, and they are hitting with a fury.  That includes the neighborhood of a National Football League player’s grand father.

Claas Kampman, 71, is the grandfather of defensive end Aaron Kampman.  Claas’s home was destroyed in a tornado that hit Kelsey, Iowa.  He was also hurt in the process, which resulted in him having to go to surgery.

This quote by Packers director of media relations Adam Woullardis a classic, which appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel”Aaron said he has a chainsaw running and doing anything they can to help.”

It goes to show that despite of the Michael Vicks of the world there are good people that play in the NFL.  The unfortunate thing is that this good deed will barely go noticed outside of Green Bay.

Thanks Aaron.

Last year an unprobable thing happened, and that be a Kansas City Cheifs wide receiver Dwanye Bowe had an outstanding season.  It looks that could happen again with another rookie wide receiver.

Bowe last year caught 70 passes for 995 yards total, and with five touchdowns.  That even for a veteran wide receiver is a decent year.  However, Bowe was a rookie last year, and that makes it spectacular.

Most rookies catch about 50-60 passes on the year for about 500 yards receiving on the year.

Will Franklin is a fourth round pick from this past draft, and already he is turning heads. That being both teammates, and his coaches.

According to the Kansas City Star Chiefs quarterback Damon Huard said this, “He’s dropped a couple of passes, but everyone’s dropped a couple. As a rookie receiver, it’s always tough for those guys coming into a situation like this. But he’s got the skills to be a special player. If he works hard at it, he will.”

Right now the second wide receiver spot is wide open going into training camp. Jeff Webb and Devard Darling are the two wide receivers thought of to compete for the starting job.

However, if Frankling keeps working hard, and also impressing, he could be the one starting on opening day.

The Denver Broncos earlier this offseason had to deal with the injury to wide receiver Brandon Marshall.  Now, they can add another player to the list.

Tight end Tony Scheffler, according to the Denver Post, is having problems again with a foot he injured last year in passing camp.  Sheffler is the stating small tight end, or in other words the receiving tight end.

This is going to be a major problem for the Broncos.  The injuy happened last year, and still has not fully healed.  Eventhough, the team thinks hat he wll be fine in two weeks the reality of it is tht Sheffler is going to hav t shut it down at some point in time this season he will shut it down o ahve surgery to ahve a metal plate insertd in it.

Also, the team has to deal with defensve tackle Dewayne Robertson.  Robertson is being shut down until June, because of wrist surgery that was done this offseason, and secondly his chronic knee problems.

The philosiphy behid this is to keep Robertson fresh into the season.

The real answer is tell the fat ass lose some weight.  His knees will not have as much presure on them with the weight loss.  Also, his stamina will have increased with the getting into shape.

What the moves show is that there is a lack oommon sense in the organization.  After all we are talking about a team that totally missed on qarterback Jay Cutler having diabeties.

New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini is the person that started the whole Spygate saga as he told his bosses about Belichick’s spying practices.  This offseason he is being selective on what he is commenting on.

There are a lot of things that Mangini is denying, or redirecting to other places.  In regards to Spygate Mangini stated at a charity bowling event that it is a league matter.  Also, he redirected the contract situation of tight end Chris Baker to general manager Mike Tannenbaum.  Baker claims that during last season the organization promised him they adjust his contract.

However, he did actually comment on something, but the comment he made was not involving any team matters.  What he made comments on was the situation between the Miami Dolphins and Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor.

“I don’t know what published report that was, or who said it, but I can tell you that I make the decision and I am pulling for whomever gives us the best chance to win,” Mangini said.   The comments were in regards to a published report, in the New York Post, that the Jets organization is hoping that Kellen Clemens will beat out Chad Pennington for the starting quarter back position.

Mangini is a fan of ballroom dancing, and admitted to watching Taylor on Dancing with the Stars, when Taylor was dancing.  He went on to state that Taylor did a good job, and that the longer he wants to stay out of Miami’s camp he things he should.

Typical coach crap no guts to talk about the tuff stuff, but will talk about non team matters all the time.  It will be interesting to see how he handles the media’s questions on how they can be so horrible, after they spent all that money on the offensive and defensive line.

The Cleveland Browns suffered another major injury, and this time it is to cornerback Daven Holly.  One has to wonder what is up with all the major injuries year after year.

Holly suffered cartilage and ligament damage after he landed akwardly going after a jump ball, while defending wide receiver Braylon Edwards.  Couple of years ago center LeCharle Bentley tore his ACL in the first training camp practice.  Also, several players have developed staph infections after going through surgery.

So, what is the problem?  Nobody can really put a finger on one exact thing. 

However, you can look to an area for preventing injuries in the first place.  That being the coaching staff. 

First, football has become a year round sport.  Minicamps are held right after the draft in May all the way till training camp begins.  Also, players in today’s National Football League workout year round, which was not the case in the early days of the NFL.

Most importantly is somethng that should not be happening when it is, and that being contact in minicamps.  Minicamps are suppose to be conducive of an environment for learning new offensive, or defensive, systems being installed by coordinators.

The injury to Holly is a clear example of it.  A jump ball is when a quarterback throws a ball up in the air in a general area so that the wide receiver can outjump the cornerback for it.  That also involves contact as the wide receiver and the cornerback usually wide up colliding in midair.  Thus, making them land in an unusual way. 

However, Gene Upshaw is in charge of the NFLPA, and he has never made a stink about it, and never will as long as he is in charge.  Unless it is a superstar that gets hurt.

When Kevin Mawae was elected president of the NFLPA he was thought to be just another puppet of Gene Upshaw.  That is far from the case as he landed a knockout punch to Upshaw.

In an interview on ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd show Mawae said this, “As a guy who has been in the league for 14 now going on 15 years and being around other veteran guys, for a young guy to get paid that kind of money and never steps foot on an NFL football field, it’s a little disheartening to think of.  It makes it tough for a guy who’s proven himself to say ‘I want that kind of money’ when the owners, all they’re going to say is, ‘Well, you weren’t a first-round pick.’ ”

Talk about holy crap, but this one takes the cake.  It should not be surprising Mawae stated before that he thought New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini got rid of him, because he knows the rules.  If Mangini were to break one he would speakup about it to Mangini.

So, why now just speak out, and not months ago?  It is just purely is the timing of it.  The owners unanimously voted to opt out of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.  Also, add in the current deal that Matt Ryan signed just for being the third overall draft pick. 

There are two outcomes to this when it comes to Upshaw.  First, he completely turns 180 degrees, and agrees to institute an National Basketball Association type of cap. Or, he can be a complete stubborn mule, and tell the current players no.  If he does this then you can expect the players to pull a coup de tat, and replace him.

If the players knew what was best for him they throw him out now.  In ESPN’s Jogn Clayton’s blog Upshaw responded to the owners financial stress, Why don’t they just take a pill?”

The only person that Upshaw cares for is me, myself, and I. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.com stated, “Mawae had better tread carefully, or Gene Upshaw will break his neck.”

The Atlanta Falcons broke the bank for another quarterback.  However, Matt Ryan has not even took a single regular season snap in the National Football League.

The Falcons and Ryan have come to a six year agreement that is worth $72 million, with $34.75 million guaranteed, according to Adam Schefter.

That is only three million less in guaranteed money than what Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger got earlier this offseason. 

Is anyone else out there thinking that Gene Upshaw is a complete idiot, because I sure the hell do. 

The fact of the matter is the Upshaw thinks that it is necessary to have rookie contracts this way.  That is in his world he thinks it helps veterans to get more money.

What it does is that it is causing resentment between veterans, and Upshaw himself.  Eventually, Upshaw will be thrown out the door if he doesn’t come off his high horse. 

The reason being that owners are going to want restrictions on rookie salaries, so they can make drafting at the top viable again for teams that draft there.  With that in mind there will never be an Collective Bargaining Agreement without some kind of restrictions in place.

If current players are smart they will dump Upshaw, and bring in someone who is level headed, and has their best interests at heart, and not his own. 

Jason Taylor will be done with “Dancing with the Stars” as next week is the season finale, but you can guarantee the Miami Dolphin head honcho Bill Parcells will still be mad at Taylor for even just being on.  However, if Parcells actually learned more about it he would actually be happy.

Yeah, Taylor is using the competition as a means to get himself a job in acting after football, but there are actually physical benefits to the competition.  Even Tayloy himself stated that he is in the best shape of his life, and that includes the year he won the MVP award.

Many stars that appear on the show lose weight.  That is due to them usuing muscles they have never used before, and the amount of practice it takes to get down a routine.

There are many similarities between dancing, and what a defensive end does. 

First is footwork, both need to have quick feet as for both are fast moving. 

Second is use of the hands, in dancing a person is constantly grabing, and leting go of their dance partner, which defensive ends also do with offensive tackles. 

Finally is concentration, in dancing as well a person has to concentrate on his routine.  Also, they have to concentrate on making sure that his technique is also sound.

If Parcells actually would cool his hot head he would see that Taylor is in the best shape he has ever been in years.  However, this is Parcells we are talking about, and that will mos likely never happen.