NFL Update 8-6-09

With all of the fall out over Eli Manning's big deal with the Giants, there are some other QB's in the league who have to smiling. One in general is Phillip Rivers. If Rivers gets $97.5M I'm taking my little guy out back and we're going to start playing catch a little bit more, with emphasis on him throwing. Other people that are happy, newly acquired Jay Cutler and Peyton Manning who can re up and is sure to get more money than his brother.

Hurting - Not much happens during training camp except the M.A.S.H units seem to be growing. Here's a list of the players that have been hurt during training camp so far (just the bigger names, not ever single injury):

- Reggie Bush - That knee is not looking good. Maybe he should have kept Kim Kardashian just a little longer. I'm sure she could have at least helped him rub that knee down.

- Tommie Harris - After inking a big deal last year, this guy doesn't seem to be ready to play. They have been holding him out of full contact drills (11 on 11).

-Ben Utecht and Daniel Coats - both went down yesterday and the Bengals are now looking at starting rookie TE, Chase Coffman

- Early Doucet and Beanie Wells - both are being monitored, Wells from a sprained ankle and
Doucet from a shoulder injury.

- Mark Clayton - has bleeding in his hamstring. I'm not even sure I've EVER heard that type of injury before.

- Harry Douglas - has a torn ACL and is out for the year (Roddy White may get a contract extension now, since the Falcons are low on receivers).

- Stewart Bradley - out for the year and he was quietly the 2nd leading tackler on the Philadelphia Eagles. I can honestly say I didn't know that.

- Maake Kemoeatu - is out for the year with a torn ACL. This should have the Panthers looking for some defensive line help.

Bears Mini Camp

Switching gears a little to the gridiron, it’s that time of the year. Minicamp,…yes, that’s right minicamp, where an entire season can be deemed ‘on the brink’ before we even get a chance to play a real game. I’ll concentrate with my hometown (at least where I live now) Bears today. The biggest news out of the Bears camp is that it’s time to PAY THA MAN. Now, you might think that I mean Brian Urlacher, but I don’t, I say it’s time to pay Tommie Harris before you lose him. Yes, Urlacher wants more money and I guess I would too with all of the baby momma drama he has going on along with surgery on a bad neck. It’s really that second part that I have issue with.

Let me backup a second to say that football players don’t get paid well enough (compared to other sports) because although they can sign these enormous deals, many people don’t realize that these deals aren’t guaranteed. When a rookie signs a deal in basketball (NBA), he’s going to make that money whether he plays a game, is terrible when he plays, gets cut/released, or plays well above what he’s getting paid. In football it’s different, you have only today to make your money. NFL means Not For Long. When the average career of an NFL player is between 2 to 4 years,……..you gotta make your money when you can. When an NFL player gets cut, you don’t get a check anymore. It’s like you walking in to your 9-5 and they tell you that you got fired. Same thing.

Now, back to my issue. Urlacher just had surgery on his neck and wants to renegotiate his contract. Now, the surgery was deemed minor, but any time you have something ‘minor’ done to your neck that involved you being put under anesthesia, that’s an issue for me. I like Urlacher for what he is, great at making plays in space, not so great at getting people off of him and making plays. I personally don’t think he’s the best LB on the team, but he did sign a Ray Lewis like contract a few years ago. So he got his money. I want to see him play this year and then we’ll see about renegotiating. He had surgery on his neck people, I mean this is a guy who makes a living running at a high velocity and smashing into other people who are also running at a high rate of speed. If he has a bad neck (along with the back issues he has), he probably needs to get a new job, something safer.

With Tommie Harris, the Bears have a young (25 year old) DT who has made the Pro Bowl the last 3 years. Why not give this guy a reasonable (yeah depends on which camp you’re in, the Bears or Tommie Harris’) deal for the next 4 years and lock him up. That way you’ll have a defense that’s intact and can play at a high level. You’ve already signed your corners (whose jobs are easier when you have a good D line) to multi-million dollar deals, and you even gave your kicker an $11M/5 year deal.

On a Separate Note: The Denver Broncos have release troubled running back Travis Henry from the team. Talk about a guy with no job and several mouths to feed (9 babies by several different women).