Kaspers Korner

The Denver Broncos have announced that they will attempt to trade quarterback Jay Cutler after they stupidly tried to trade him.

I did not expect this to happen this quick.  I thought this would happen when mandatory minicamps were held, but that is not till June for the Broncos.  Has anyone in the Broncos ever heard of going to his house and knocking on his door?

Arizona Cardinals nose tackle Gabe Watson signed his restricted free agent tender, according to Pro Football Talk.com.

Former Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Duke Preston on Sporting News Radio’s The Monty Show stated that the Bills might be grasping at straws.

Free agent linebacker Cato June visited the Houston Texans Tuesday, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Nick Cole signed his restricted free agent tender, according to Scout.com.

A double murder at the New York City condo of New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma is looking like the result of revenge on a elaborate internet scam, according to Newsday.

The NFL has sent out emails stating that as of May 1st the NFL Network will no longer be on Comcast, according to Pro Football Talk.com.

According to the Tennessean free agent wide receiver Torry Holt will visit the Tennessee Titans Thursday.

According to Scout.com, the Indianapolis Colts released linebacker Buster Davis, eventhough he signed a new contract last month.

According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Johnny Jolly’s felony drug possession trial was pushed back tone June 26th.

The Atlanta Falcons were one of the surprise teams last season thanks to their draft.  With the defense needed to be addressed this year can the Falcons pull it off again.

Falcons general manager Tom Dimitroff pulled off what most teams in the National Football League dream of.  That being selecting a quarterback with their first pick overall, and have him perform right out of the gates.

In addition to quarterback Matt Ryan the Falcons also took offensive tackle Sam Baker and linebacker Chris Lofton within the first two rounds.  Both turned out to be starters right out of the blocks.

This year the defense needs to be addressed as the Falcons lost five starters to free agency.  Which means that there will be a lot of young players starting.

The Falcons did address the departures of linebackers Keith Brookings and Michael Boley.  According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, they did that by signing free agent linebacker Mike Peterson who will replace Brookings and Coy Wire who will compete with Stephen Nichols for the starting strong side linebacker position.

In the secondary cornerback Brent Grimes will be the starter next season for the departed Domonique Foxworth.  Then to replace Lawyer Milloy the current plan is to use either Thomas Decloud or Jamaal Fudge.

The only problem right now is replacing the vacated starting defensive tackle spot.  Most likely the Falcons will use their first round selection on that.  Then their second round selection on a linebacker, since the linebacker position is looking deep this year.
However, the draft is unpredictable and who knows who wll be available when the Falcons draft 24th in the first round.

In any which case the Falcons are depending on young talent to perform right away to make the playoffs again.  In the NFC South that is a tall order to fill.

Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth plead not guilty to chargers from a traffic accident from December 2008.  If found guilty Haynesworth could miss significant time under the Personal Conduct policy of National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Just signed San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Marvel Smith down played his back surgeries in a conference with the media.

Free agent cornerback Ken Lucas visited the Chicago Bears on Monday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

According to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch and the Chicago Tribune, free agent offensive tackle Orlando Pace will also visit the Bears soon.

The New Orleans Saints have announced they have resigned quarterback Joey Harrington and training camp in 2009 will be held at their headquarters.

According to 1530 Homer, Chad Ochocinco has not showed up at voluntary workouts.

It is that time of year that players are declaring themselves fully healed as according to ESPN.com Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer says that he is fully healed from his elbow injury.

Also, Shawn Merriman has declared himself to be feeling great, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The agent for fullback John Kuhn, a restricted free agent, believes he will return to the Green Bay Packers, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette.

According to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, the Saint Louis Rams signed tight end Billy Bajema.

According to the Newark Star Ledger, New York Jets running back Thomas Jones was again absent from offseason workouts, which is believed to be about his contract as Jones is unhappy with it.

The Buffalo Bills release their opponents for the preseason, and it was not good news.  The question is now can they survive the preseason?

It was announced Monday that the Bills will play five preseason games, because they get to play in the Hall of Fame game this year.  The opponents are the Tennessee Titans, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Detroit Lions in that order.

The key for the Bills surviving is the preseason without injury is going to be up to Bills head coach Dick Juaron.

The solution is simply play the starters the same numbers of snaps that they would in the first two regular season games, but spread it over the first three games.  That means the back ups will see a lot of time, because the first cuts should be made after the Bills third games.

What the news also means is that the Bills should open up training camp earlier, so that they get in the same amount of practice time that they would normally get before their first preseason game.

With their first preseason game early in August the Bills will have to deal with an assortment of heat related injuries.  That means we will really find out if the training staff of the Bills is up to par.

If the training staff is not up to the job, then it will affect the Bills dearly in the regular season.  It could even cost the Bills a playoff spot.

Many Buffalo Bills fans have been calling for owner Ralph Wilson to put former head coach Lou Saban up on the Wall of Fame.  Now, more than ever it is time for Wilson to put up Saban up on the Wall of Fame this upcoming season.

According to the Associated Press,  former Bills head coach Lou Saban died at 4 a.m. Sunday morning at the age of 87.

Saban coached the Bills first from 1962-1965, which included the two 1964 and 1965 American Football League Championships.  He coached the Bills again from 1972-1976.

According to the Buffalo News, Saban upset Wilson by resigning during the 1976 season, which lasts to this day as he is not on the Wall of Fame.

Many Bills are right now deservedly upset.  They wanted to see and honor a coach that has lead them to glory, but that was taken away from them by time and Wilson’s stubbornness.

The Bills will most likely issue a statement from Wilson.  However, there is only one option in this instance.

That is to bury the hatchet, put feelings aside, and honor the man.  After all a family is now grieving a loss of a tremendous person.

If Wilson is unwilling to do the right thing, then that will most likely be the straw that broke the camel’s back and drives fans away for good, which will show in season ticket sales.

The National Football League’s draft is coming up next month in April.  The dilemma that each team faces is figuring out if the player will make it in the NFL.

The sign that the draft is approaching is when the NFL holds the Combine.  That is followed by Colleges and University’s Pro Day work out, then work outs for individual teams, which is also supplemented by game films of the players.

Right now many media outlets are reporting player’s statistics from their Pro Day workouts.  However, people need to look through the numbers.

There are some aspects about these workouts.  They tell teams the individual abilities of the prospects.

However, they are not the real sign of a players ability to play in the NFL.

The real telling sing is game film.  As Allen Iverson once said, “What are we talking about? Practice.  Not the game I would die for.  Practice.”

The game on the field is so fast that there is no time to think, and a tremendous amount of pressure.

The game is all reaction.  Unfortunately, there are some of people that over think things instead of relying on instincts.

That means that the abilities these people display on game day is consistently lower than his full potential.  That is usually a huge red flag that the player cannot handle pressure.

Simply, the good teams know that Pro Day’s are just one piece of the puzzle.  Fans ultimately need to remember that as well.

Since I do not have access to game film you will never see this reporter give out a opinion on how a guy will do in the NFL.

The San Francisco 49ers announced that they signed offensive tackle Marvel Smith, which led the team to cut offensive tackle Jonas Jennings.

Baltimore Ravens restricted free agent punter Sam Koch signed his tender, according to Adam Caplan of Scout.com.

The grievance hearing between the Kansas City Chiefs and Chiefs running back Larry Johnson will be held next week.

The New Orleans Saints signed defensive tackle Rod Coleman.

Maurice Jones Drew hates the new rule changes, which he said in an interviews.

According to the Kansas City Star, Johnson’s cases was pleaded down.

The 49ers will reveal new uniforms at the draft.
Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry had a private workout for the Chiefs today,according to Steve Wyche of NFL.com.

Dallas police officer Robert Powell, who delayed Houston Texan running back Ryan Moats and his wife from seeing his wife’s mom who was dying, according to the Associated Press.

Over 40 year old quarterback Jeff George still wants to play.

With league meetings ongoing in California several rules were passed, and some actually made sense.  However, two of them absolutely doesn’t

The two that I am talking about are The Tom Brady rule, which prevents defensive players on the ground cannot lunge at a quarterback.  Secondly, the Hines Ward rule, which prevent contact to the head on blindside blocks.

The Tom Brady incident was purely a freak accident.  Of course the National Football League had its usual, “Oh crap a superstar quarterback went down.  We have to make sure that doesn’t ever happen again,” moment.

As Si.com’s Ross Tucker said of the rule, “The Ward and Brady rules represent a type of re-engineering that won’t easily happen overnight.”

The fact of the matter is that defensive players are taught no matter what the situation you fight through it to make a play.

Now, players are going to have to be taught no matter what you make a play, but if you wind up on the ground you have to make sure you get up completely first.

The bigger problem is the Hines Ward rule.  The reason being is that it is going to even have effects on the running game.

The effect it is going to have is that it is going to completely eliminate the art of trapping in running games.

A trap block is an offensive lineman vacates his spot on the offensive line to come down the line to block a defensive lineman who is let go to surprise him from the sides, thus making it easier to open a hole for the running back.

The problem is that there is usually helmet contact in the collision, because the instantaneous reaction from the defender to brace for the impact.

Defenders are taught all the way in high school that when you come through a line of scrimmage untouched you are going to get trapped.

Coaches then teach defensive lineman that you immediately respond by turning to meet the offensive lineman.  Then you crouch down and throw your shoulder and arm into the blocker to nullify his block.

I can tell you from my own personal experience of being a defender on the Cheektowaga Warriors highschool football team that heads collide in this instance everytime.

The elimination of the trap block would make it even more harder for teams to run the ball.  That would lower scoring, which would make the games boring.

If the league doesn’t respond to this, then fans will turn away from boredom and go find something else to do with their money.  That means the loss of sales revenue.

If referees start calling penalties on trap blocks, like I expect, head coaches and offensive coordinators will stop calling this type of play.  Thus, an art form that has been in the NFL for decades will be lost forever.

The Cleveland Browns hired Eric Mangini as head coach to bring discipline, along with winning seasons.  If Mangini doesn’t perform right out of the blocks, then it will be a short stay for him in Cleveland.

Mangini’s contract is for four years, according to ESPN.com.  Most coaches are given three years, but Mangini’s situation is completely different.

Mangini was given a lot of power, because he was hired first.  So, he recommended his close longtime friend George Kokinis.  So, that means the two are on equal level when it comes to power within the team.

Ultimately, the two answer to owner Randy Lerner.  That is not good, because soon as things go bad on the team Kokinis and Mangini will be blaming each other to save their skin.

The fact of the matter is that the Browns have a lot of talent on both the offense and the defense.  The most important decision that Mangini will face wll be at quarterback.

The Browns have a young quarterback in Brady Quinn and a young veteran in Derek Anderson.  Mangini defered to training camp to make a decision, so he can make a decision base on their performance in practice and in preseason games.

Simply, Mangini’s fate rests in the hands of his quarterbacks, because if they fail then Mangini will have also failed.

The Carolina Panthers are currently working on a contract extension for quarterback Jake Delhomme, which will most likely be his last with the team.  The Panthers need to invest in the future now.

Delhomme turned 34 this past Januaryl, which means his career is coming to a close.  The question is now how much more does he have in the tank.

Delhomme last year returned from Tommy Johns surgery after tearing up his throwing elbow in the 2007 season.  His future, like many other quarterbacks at his age, will depend on how healthy he can be.

No matter if Delhomme is healthy or not the Panthers need to invest in a quarterback of the future.

The fortunate thing for the Panthers is that they can bring along the draft pick slowly allowing him to back up for Delhomme for a couple of season, which was the case in Green Bay as current starter Aaron Rodges was Brett Farve’s backup for three seasons.

With that being the case the Panthers do not have to even invest in a high draft pick for Delhomme’s successor.  Most likely though the Panthers will use a pick within the first three rounds to make sure that there is a good shot at success.

For now all Panther fans can do is sit back and just watch the games with a watchful eye to see if Delhomme still has it or not.