lol damn pretty crazy to see a dude who absolutely destroyed high school and college competition getting no burn at all in the NFL. Just goes to show how sick the NFL really is

You have to wonder how much of it is nerves and hype, though. A guy can get undrafted by one piece of hype, and all it takes is one fumble to end your NFL career.

There are some pretty lame people in the NFL.

Like who?

Denard Walker. But I think he's finally done. He was a waste for far too long, making more money in a year than some of us will ever see.

But I understand, the CB pool is so dreadfully shallow that a piece of shit like him can make a living... but at a low-demand position like Fullback, yeah, you gotta be Jimmy Kleinsasser or Tony Richardson to get paid.

Fuck, imagine MN's running game if you line up Jimmy next to McKinnie and Hutchinson and pull Birk with T-Rich lead blocking. Triple A would rush for 1,000 yards behind that.

How is that guy lame though? If he was good enough to make it in the NFL he is a really good football player. Even if he gets no burn at all, just being on an NFL roster is ridiculous. Also, Walker has 465 career tackles, so I dunno what you are talking about.

Walker's been in the league for like 15 years though, and I bet 80% of those tackles came after the catch was made.

Anyway, maybe he's good as far as corners are concerned... but like I said, that's a shallow talent pool. High demand, and corners are used up and tossed away faster than punters.

He hasn't even been in the league for 10 years yet (About to be his 10th season upcoming) but your point has nothing to do with my original point. I said it is crazy to see dudes who tear it up in HS and have good success in college barely play at all, I am sure this guy tore it up while at LSU. So now if this is "lame" like you claim he is, then that just makes my point for me. He was probably a successful CB while playing in college now in the NFL he's a bum.

I just think there's something weird that changes from college to pro... there are some people who are just sick in college who never even get a whiff. And a lot of these players would dominate, but teams just don't get it. Take John Randle for existence. He had nothing.

So why not take a chance on someone like Jason White, who is a proven winner, and an intelligent player? In the WCO he'd probably dominate. That's what doesn't make sense to me... and then a player like Michael Bennett who has very little football (lol I said basketball originally... of course he doesn't!) skills will be taken in the first round, why? Because he's really, really fast. Well let's draft sprinters more often, then.

On the point about Bennett, its obvious that sometimes being the best football talent doesn't always guarantee that you're the best fit for someone's NFL roster. I mean you guys are all smart enough to know that, but I'm just saying here that its kinda a shame because a lot of guys probably never get the chance in the NFL and could have been great. Inversely you hear these success stories of guys who rose out of nowhere to become stars, I bet just as many never even get a shot.

Opening play of Colts/Giants in the first game of the season, Will Demps gets looked off to a beer vendor in the second row. Reggie Wayne 79 yard td.

<font color=goldenrod>Wow. According to Yahoo Sports, Reggie Bush is headed for a holdout and may skip the entire 2006 season :| He's even toyed with the idea of re-entering the draft in 2007.

What a fucking whiney penis. He demands to be paid more than Mario Williams, and he clearly can't accept that he wasn't the #1 pick. The NFL seriously needs to do something about rookie salaries. Make it so that you can only make just over league minimum first year to avoid these holdouts.

If Bush re-enters the 2007 draft I hope he falls down to the 3rd round just because he's pulling this shit.</font>

Even though he is being greedy, Saints need to pay him. I don't really get why he is holding out for more money, I remember hearing a lot about how he has already donated a lot cash to the New Orleans community. I bet he just wants to be paid more than Mario Williams due to his ego, not the actual dollar difference

They'll just hold out so their contracts guarantee them big money in their second season.

<font color=goldenrod>Then make it like this:

-Implement a rookie salary (a fluctuating price range but rookies can make no more or less than that amount)

-As soon as you are drafted, you automatically receive a one-year contract from the team at a certain rookie salary (1st rounders will make the rookie maximum, 7th rounders rookie minimum, and everything in between)

-After the season, the team you were on automatically gets the rights to your. Once again, you can only get a one year contract for the next season, this time there would be a "2nd year salary" or something. It'd be higher than rookie salary, and the window fluctuates depending on the player's production in 2007. If you choose not to re-sign with the team, it won't matter because this rule will effect any 2nd year guy. Even if you go to a new team you can't make more than a certain amount as long as you are a 2nd year guy.

-Given the average NFL career length this process shouldn't last longer than 2-3 years, but it'd keep young guys from being greedy and it'll force them to prove they are worth the big bucks in the 3rd or 4th year (when they can then sign any contract they want, like the present FA market)

-----------

Overall it's sorta like baseball's system. Obviously the players association would never allow this to happen but I think it would definately improve the game.</font>

Well, Ricky Williams broke his arm.

There goes my Canadian fantasy football team.

Ty Law signs with the Kansas City Chokes.

It is predicted that Bush will only miss a few days of training camp which start here in Jacktown this week.. This comes from the local paper with quotes from his agent..

Oh and Stima, for the record, the money he has "donated" to New Orleans is only because Fred McAffee made him promise 25% of all jersey sales to Katrina victoms.. That's why McAffee gave him number 25 (which he's had since high school)..

I remember right after the draft Bush was only getting good press from New Orleans, and was saying that he didn't forsee himself holding out at all.

I dunno man, pretty sure he paid cash out of his pocket so a high school football stadium could be rebuilt and a large number of schools are gonna be using it.

I know he had to donate 25% cuz of that deal, but he was putting that idea out there anyways, saying if he got to wear #5 he'd do the same deal.

Also I don't think anything needs to be done about rookie contracts, maybe just a cap on signing bonuses, I definetly wouldn't use the MLB system because the two sports are completely different. Rookies hardly ever go straight into the bigs in MLB, therefore you'd have guys like Reggie Bush selling tickets and he'd never get a cut of the money in the first year. Plus there is tons of other differences to go along with it. They really can't do much to change the current system they have now though. A lot of guys never even see the money they sign for anyways, due to restructures and releases. What you really need to look at is the signing bonus, since that is the only amount that is actaully given to the player no matter what happens.

Way too many risks in football to deny a big time player (like a Reggie Bush, Larry Fitzgerald etc) a big pay day til they are in their 3rd year.

God, the Buffalo Bills have had one of the worst offseasons I have ever seen. There's no way that team wins more than three games this year.

lol I can't believe they took Donte Whitner with the 8th pick. He is a pretty good player but they could have definetly done a trade (I'd say atleast 20 picks away) and still got him.

CHIEFS :mad: :foc:

WE WILL WIN THE WEST :mad:

Kansas City will be what they always are, a good team, not a real threat for the Championship though

LOL

We'll see who gets the last laugh son.

I wouldn't be too optimistic if I were you. Herm Edwards managed to change the Jets from a playoff team to a shambles (admittedly with a good deal of help from the front office)

Then we will lynch him.

The AFC is going to be interesting this year, mainly because the 'big four' in that conference (New England, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Denver) don't have as much depth as they have had in previous years. I think there's going to be a team, maybe the Dolphins, maybe the Jaguars, maybe even the Chiefs, who come out of nowhere and dominate the conference this year.

yep

Javon Walker will torch Ty Law

I don't know, those torn ACLs can ruin careers.

I think we're going to see a change in power from the AFC to the NFC in years to come, in respect to the dominant conference.

Crap he tore his ACL I thought it was his arm he hurt for some reason

Its amazing to me on how while most of the best NBA players either left school early or came from HS. Most of the top NFL guys however (LJ, Alexander, Manning, LT etc.) stayed all 4 years of school.

Well in the NBA you can be 6-7' weigh 185 pounds and bench press 185 4 times (Shaun Livingston) and still be good, where as in the NFL you can't really get by with those type of numbers.

Yeah I was going to say something like that.

In the NFL a huge part of success is being physically mature to handle the wear and tear of the business. Basketball is less physically demanding in some aspects, whereas in the NFL, you need to have that right "football build" before you should step on the field.

lol Odell Thurman just got suspended for 4 games for breaking the NFL substance abuse policy. The Bengals are like the Portland Trailblazers of the NFL

You know, the Vikings weren't quite good enough on defense last year, so they had to pick up fuckin' Dwight Smith, Tank Williams, Ben Leber, DeQuincey Scott, Chad Greenway and Cedric Griffin (is that the CB from Texas' name?),

Well, I just gotta say that with the pickup of Smith, the Viqueens actually have me a little happy for the coming season. I'll just turn it off when the offense has the ball.

Hey Diesel Mac, aren't you the one (of many) that hate the Cowboys? I could never understand why a Kansas City Chiefs fan would hate them, considering that if it wasn't for the Cowboys the Dallas Texans would have never moved to Kansas City.

No faith

I hate all Texas teams. Because I spent a year in Texas and it was the worst year of my life.

Fair enough.

Didn't that happen a couple weeks ago? That's why they took that Ahmad Brooks kid in the supplemental draft.

It was made official yesterday though.

No wonder Odell was a beast for me in fantasy last year.

The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off that the Saints goit rid of Smith.. He was one of the best D-Backs we had last year (next to the Predator).. All they said about it was he "didn't fit the scheme the new coaching staff is looking for"..

What, they don't like veterans who play hard every down??

Damn you Alphabean..

lol Solid replacement, a guy who barely played in his last season because he got kicked off the Virgina football for bad conduct.

<font color=goldenrod>Wooooooo, all Giants picks officially signed.

This is what Accorsi never gets credit for. Almost every year he gets all his picks signed before the start of training camp (an area a lot of teams struggle in)</font>

I'm ready for MATHIAS KIWANUKA to be an impact player this year and fill in at one of the positions that we struggled a lot with last year; Defensive End.

Kiwanukkkaaa

He can dunk from the free throw line :y:

<font color=goldenrod>Admittedly, at first I disliked the pick because we are stacked at DE, but really it's a smart move. Strahan's confirmed he's probably gonna retire within 2 years, Osi had a huge year but who knows if he can keep it up, and Tuck can go either way. Kiwi will may even spell Strahan a few drives each game this year.</font>

Browns lose center Bentley for season

http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/CLE/9574072

Wow, what a kick in the teeth to the Browns.

Young gets a bigger rookie contract than Williams. Reggie Bush will snap.

Wow, Browns are really getting jewed by their draft picks in the past years.

:y:

Nah, LeCharles Bentley wasn't drafted by the Browns, they signed him from New Orleans.

D'Brickshaw is a god damn animal, holy shit.

No reason for faith. In the last two seasons, my three reasons for having faith in the Vikings were traded away.

I doubt he has...he probably has comparable up front payments but from what I read previous Williams has huge incentives that will take his deal way past Young's reported figures if he hits them.

I heard if they both get their full contracts (like all the incentives etc which is doubtful) Vince Young's contract will be more money than Williams's

<font color=goldenrod>Willie Roaf retires from the Chiefs

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9575606

Well, there goes the best O-Line in the league</font>

No Rams training camp coverage on NFL Network :(

Nice of him to make up his mind before free agency and the draft

suicide watch on deisle cack.

He was good but now I'm kinda glad we don't have him anymore..

<font color=goldenrod>Holy shit. Vernon Davis' deal makes him the highest paid TE in the league</font> :|

There goes Larry Johnson's 2000 yard season - both tackles retired

BTW Willie Roaf has the coolest name ever..

Wow this rookie contract thing is getting ridiculous. People need to shut up

rofl thats sad

Nah we still got enough to get the job done like Will Shields. And Larry is awesome.

:foc:

Rookie Contracts will end up putting the NFL on a strike in a couple of years.

Nah the percentage of the profits shared with the players will be what ends up causing a strike...why would rookie contracts cause a strike?

I mean i could be wrong, but think about this. There is no way in hell any rookie period should be paid more at there position then an established all pro player. Vernon Davis has no business being paid more then Antonio Gates or atleast 10 other tight ends in the league. This type of thing will continue to happen. Reggie Bush will probably end up being paid better then most of the top running backs in the league today. What I think this will do is make players start holding out for bigger and bigger contract extension. Teams wont be able to afford there star players cause rookies at the same position are getting paid more and they think they deserve more then a rookie. The collective bargaining agreement that the NFL has in place will be in shambles. Contracts extension will be bigger and bigger. More players will be switching teams then ever before. The league will take a stand and say " Hey this is nuts. Rookies are getting paid to much and because of that are 3 and 4 year players are getting paid WAY to mush " and you know the players union will be deadset against the league stopping this, because the players are making alot of money and they dont want that to be taken away. Which is why i can see a strike in the future.

I could be wrong. I'm not sure how the CBA is set up now, but its possible.

Refresh me on the profit sharing issue again. I've heard something about that, but not really sure what it means.

Basically the players want to make a cut of what the team makes, so whatever the team profits is divided among the players. I'm not sure on the exact percentage right now, I think its around 50%? I assume they take an average of what all the teams make or something, since some teams make more than others but they all have the same salary cap.

So when the next CBA comes up, the NFLPA is gonna be pushing for a larger percentage, while the owners obviously are not. So that is going to lead to a strike I think, the rookie contract thing really can't lead to a strike since there isn't a president for a rookies contract. It is not like a team HAS (like required by the CBA set by the owners/NFLPA) to pay huge money to guys and the rookie numbers are inflated anyways. Hardly any of these rookies will see the money which they signed for. What you need to look at is the signing bonus and the first year salary, since those are the only amounts which are guarented to go to the player. Rookies who aren't first rounders kinda get screwed tho, since they sign pretty low 5 year contracts, so if the rookie ends up being really good, the team has their rights for low money for those 5 years. If you end up sucking tho the team can just cut you with no problems, so you got guys like Deion Branch barely making 1 million dollars in his 5th year because of that.

The rookie contract thing isn't really that big of a deal, it happens every year, you got like 10 or so guys coming out and getting a huge signing bonus and thats that. Pretty sure with guys like Vernon Davis (or more likely their agents - I am sure every agent wants to be able to say they worked a rookie into getting the highest contract at their position) they just want to be called the highest paid tight end in the NFL, I highly doubt when the dust clears that he wil end up making more than somebody like Gates or Heap

But in a sense they are beacause like you said. Gates contract dosnt guarantee him all that money. While a rookie like Davis is coming in with a quarter of Gates contract guaranteed and up front and alot of it guaranteed through the next 5 or so years. I say Gates, because he didnt get that huge Rookie contract like others have. He earned his money and he's the best TE in the league. So he should be mad when someone who hasnt played 1 year of football is making more money then him.

Teams are being forced to draft someone they can actually afford and not someone they really need but cant pay. See Houston. Reggie Bush wasnt drafted #1 cause Mario Williams was the better pick. Reggie bush wasnt drafted #1 because Mario Williams was a guy Houston could afford. Every year rookies salaries coming in are getting higher and higher. No team wants to pay a gu 50 mill and a 13 mil bonus up front when he hasnt done anything yet. Sooner or later these rookie salaries will need to be capped. Say for instance Reggie Bush gets a contract that makes him the highest paid RB in the league. And two years later he flops. Then you have lets say Tomlinson who his basically dominating his position and he says two years later " Hey my contract that i got like 3 years ago (?) isnt good enough. I should be paid more then this guy ( insert Reggie Bush's name and contract here ). How do owners argue against that? How does the owner of the Chargers say " Yah we know your the 3rd or 4th highest paid RB now behind a flopping Reggie Bush and two other rookie rbs that were recently drafted, but we arent going to give you that kind of money" They cant. They either have to pay or trade him or let him go in FA. Because Tomlinson has the best argument possible for being paid like the highest RB in the league. Its a trickle affect that i think only now is starting to be realised, but in a couple of years i think we could see 10-15 superstar all pro caliber players moving from team to team because of contract situations stemming from how big of contracts unproven players are being payed .

Maybe i'm looking to far into this.

Texans might not have drafted Reggie because atm he seems to be a bit of a jerk, also.

But yeah, rookie contracts definitely need some sort of cap. Sooner or later there will be another Tim Couch.

WHO DAT?!?!?

So Gates doesn't get big money coming out because he was unknown rookie, so what does he do? He gets big in like 1 or 2 seasons then holds out demanding a bigger and better contract (Much like Deion Branch is doing right now) Pretty sure Gates held last year and got a new deal before the season.

But yeah true players love seeing other plays making tons of money because then they feel they can go out there and get the money as well. This has been happening forever though, while the salaries continue to get higher - the amount the teams make gets higher and the salary cap gets higher. So it is all balanced increases really. I am sure David Carr was making a lot more than a lot of other starting QBs in the NFL when he came too, samething with Peyton Manning or any first round top 10 pick. It is just the way the NFL has been working for years now (I'd guess around the time free agency came into play) Vernon Davis being the top paid TE is a bit ridiculous, I totally agree with that but things like Mario Williams' contract, Vince Young's contract really aren't to me since it happens every single year.

Stima knows his shit.

I think when Manning came out Bret Farve and Elway were the highest paid still. When Carr came out Farve was still the highest paid. I dont recall ever seeing a rookie get paid the most money at his position. I'm not completely sure though.

Gates had one great year, but that year was pretty much amazing. You could make an argument that he was one of the best players in football that year. The fact that he was undrafted and got hardly any money at all, yet he established himself as the best TE in the league, was cause for a better contract.

Remember that one AlphaBean post when he was making fun of Rectal Pertruder and he was all "Oh snap! That's the sound Peyton Manning's chinstrap makes when he puts his helmet on." :wavesad:

:|

Whenever someone says the words "we still got enough" while talking about their team, you know that they're all but screwed for the season.

Well yeah they weren't the HIGHEST paid at QB but they were definetly up there.

an average QB makes a lot more than an average TE too, gotta take that into consideration.

How many TEs are like "big time" guys? Gates, Gonzo, Heap, Shockey (kinda over -hyped IMO) and uhh

Trent Green will suck without Willie, check out his stats when Roaf has been out with an injury. Would be surprised if the Cheifs even made the playoffs now, people don't look at the OLine as a big or see them as "easy to replace" since they aren't big time stars and don't have people buying their jerseys but they are the most important players on the offense. Without them none of the Superstars are gonna get shit.

ESPN Breaking News:

Bush, Saints Agree to Deal

I knew it would happen by Monday..

WOOOOO

I will post pictures..

WHO DAT??

You're more annoying then me. Atleast my team will see the playoffs.

So will mine.

Green is a good descision maker he'll be aaaigght.

Went to Cowboys training camp yesterday...T.O.'s body is sick he looked noticably bigger than the other wr's. Hopefully he can keep his mouth shut.

Yeah, it's just sad that y'all can see past the playoffs..

good one :y:

Don't get me wrong, I like the Colts.. But, as a Saints fan for over 20 years, can you blame me for being optimistic this season?? Fuck sake, I'm optimistic every season, it's just that this year, I have good reason to be.. New coaching staff, new QB, new phenominal young RB, new LB, etc etc etc..

Once again, can you blame me??

There's no problem being optimistic, but i'm trying to remind you that your team is the Saints.