The Rumor Mill

[ALinChainz]

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio



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POSTED 8:50 p.m. EST, December 9, 2004



MARVIN'S DEAL NOT QUITE SO MARVELOUS



While the mainstream media continues to parrot (to the delight of agent Tom Condon) the numbers that Marvin Harrison will receive from the Colts -- $66 million over six years! $23 million in guaranteed money!! -- a league source has given us the real skinny on Marvin's not-so-marvelous deal.



For starters, Harrison's deal contains a paltry (in comparison to the reports) signing bonus of $6 million.



So where's the other $17 million in guaranteed money? Um, there isn't any -- unless Harrison suffers a career-ending injury between now and the dates on which two obscenely large roster bonuses come due.



Specifically, the Colts owe Harrison a roster bonus of $7 million on the second day of the 2005 league year, and a whopping $10 million on the second day of the 2006 league year. The Colts have the right to guarantee both of these roster boni, which would spread the cap hit over the remainder of the deal.



As for salaries, Harrison will finish 2004 at the prorated rate of $4.559765 million, roughly a million less than his prior rate of $5.56 million salary under his prior contract. But since he's already been paid 13 of 17 weeks at the higher rate, the real reduction in his salary is only 4/17th of the gross difference, or $235,349.



In 2005, Harrison's total salary will be only (only?) $1 million.



In 2006, his base salary will be only (only?) $2 million.



In 2007, the base salary moves to $4 million. In 2008, it goes to $7.6 million. In 2009, it goes to $9 million. In 2010, $10 million. In 2011, $11.4 million.



So what does it all mean? In our view, it's a two-year (i.e., 2004 and 2005) deal that will earn Harrison a total of $14.75 million in new money.



The question then will become whether the Colts pick up a $10 million roster bonus in 2006 (unlikely), guarantee the bonus and spread it over the remaining life of the deal (more likely), renegotiate the contract (most likely), or part ways with Harrison (not very likely, but hardly out of the question).



The cap hit, if the Colts decide to part ways with Harrison after 2005, will be manageable. The signing bonus will trigger a $4 million hit. If the Colts decide to guarantee the 2005 roster bonus, the total cap hit resulting from a release after the 2005 season will climb to $10 million.



The bottom line is that the guaranteed money isn't $23 million -- it's more properly characterized as $14.75 million, counting his paragraph 5 salary in 2004 and 2005, since the 2005 salary will be vested on the first Sunday of the regular season and since the Colts definitely will not release Harrison before paying his $7 million roster bonus in March 2005.



Our guess is that, after 2005, the Colts will look at Harrison's total production, check the market, and decide whether to guarantee the $10 million (reducing his 2005 cap number considerable), offer him a new deal with a lower signing bonus and smaller annual salaries, or thank Harrison for a decade of loyal service, and move on.



The one sure thing is that there's no way this deal will still be in effect in 2008, at which time Harrison's salary will be $7.6 million -- and Harrison will be 36.



Thus, the total money that he'll earn, including the $10 million roster bonus due in 2006 and his $4.6 million salary in 2007, is more like $30.75 million over 3.25 years.



Not chump change, by any means. But hardly the windfall that's been portrayed to date.



POSTED 2:02 p.m. EST; LAST UPDATED 3:36 p.m. EST, December 9, 2004



COLTS GIVE MARVIN TOO MUCH MOOLAH?



Though we've yet to hear from any league insiders regarding the $67 million, seven-year contract handed by the Colts to receiver Marvin Harrison on Wednesday, we're willing to throw out our own take on this one.



The Colts got hosed. Again.



Don't get us wrong, here. Harrison is one of the best receivers in the game, and his stats from 1999 through 2002 are jaw dropping.



But it's hard to justify giving a 32-year-old receiver $23 million in guaranteed money. (Editor's note: The initial reports of a marquee player's guaranteed money typically are puffed by whoever leaks the info -- typically the player's agent -- to the media. Harrison's real number could be much less, but the true figures likely won't generate much media interest.) Between Harrison and quarterback Peyton Manning, the Colts have committed $57 million in bonuses and guarantees this year -- for two players.



Maybe we're missing something here, but there are 53 guys on the roster, and the Colts need to be able to put an adequate supporting cast around Manning and Harrison. With an average of $9.6 million per year in coin going directly to Harrison, it could be a challenge.



Perhaps the Colts are banking on a significant uptick in the salary cap in the coming years, fueled by new TV deals. Regardless, we think they should have allowed Harrison to hit the open market before bidding for his services in the dark. As stellar as he's been, we just can't justify paying that kind of money to a guy with nine years under his belt who goes a smallish 175.



Next up for the Colts is running back Edgerrin James, who might have an eye on his native Miami as free agency approaches. Using the franchise tag on James would cost the Colts approximately $8 million in cash and cap dollars in 2005.



Still, our guess is that owner Jim Irsay will find a way to keep James, if for no reason other than it preserves the team's star power as Irsay continues his quest to get someone else to pay for a new stadium. (We don't fault him for wanting free digs; it's worked for virtually every other NFL owner.)



And while Irsay will have Manning, Harrison, and James together for at least one more year, it'll be very interesting to see how the Colts manage to paste together the rest of the roster with so much cap money going to only three players.



MEATHEAD RUNS HIS MOUTH



In what possibly could be interpreted as a not-so-subtle signal to the folks who are trying to find a new head coach for the University of Washington, Vikings coach Mike Tice said Wednesday that the Huskies gig is one of the few college jobs that might lure him from the NFL.



"Certainly (Washington) would be one of those," Tice said, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "I feel I gave you enough ammo right there to read between the lines, as they say. Who wouldn't want to come home?"



Hey, dumbass. Last time we checked, you've got a job, with a team that's trying not to piss away its postseason chances for the second season in a row.



Sure, there's a chance that Tice will be fired as early as January 3, but if he wanted to let the folks in Seattle know he might be interested in the gig, there's a slightly less obvious way of doing so. Jeopardizing his team's already fragile psyche by talking about possibly leaving is just a stupid, stupid move -- one which we hardly consider to be out of character for Tice and his "talk, then think" tendencies.



THURSDAY AFTERNOON ONE-LINERS



The NFL acknowledged on Wednesday that the Keyshawn Johnson touchdown reception from Monday night should have been reviewed (and, in our view, overturned).



Seahawks WR Jerry Rice missed practice on Wednesday with a quadriceps injury; his status for Sunday at Minnesota is uncertain.



New Orleans has been eliminated from consideration for the 2009 Super Bowl because of unresolved stadium issues -- i.e., there might not be a football team there.



Denver coach Mike Shanahan sidestepped questions regarding his future with the Broncos.



Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger missed practice on Wednesday with a bruised quad, but he expects to play on Saturday against the Jets.



Redskins LB LaVar Arrington practiced for the first time in 11 weeks due to a knee injury.



The Rams added RB Aveion Cason, due to injuries to Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson.



The Packers cut RB James Jackson, two weeks after he was signed as insurance against injuries to Ahman Green and Dookie Davenport.

The Colts have signed the Hamburglar to handle kickoff duties, and our guess is that he eventually could supplant Mike Vanderjagt for the full gig.

Ravens LB Ray Lewis scolded the media on Wednesday for being too negative. (We're trying to find out whether Lewis' specific words were "Stop it or I'll cut you, man.")

Pats K Adam Vinatieri is still slated to become an unrestricted free agent after the season.



Bears LB Brian Urlacher suffered no ill effects to his surgically-invaded leg following Sunday's win over the Vikings.



49ers RB Kevan Barlow is pissed off about reports that he might be traded or released before a $6.5 million roster bonus comes due next year (hey, Kevan, our guess is that those reports eventually will change from "might be" to "will be").



From the "Once Bitten, Twice . . . Ah, What the Hell -- Let's Get Bitten Again" file: the Dolphins are still sniffing around Dan Marino as a potential front-office big wig.



Jim Mora, Jr. suddenly is a candidate for the vacancy at his alma mater, the University of Washington.



Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who wants to buy an NFL team, offered insights that hardly require much prescience -- the 49ers suck and the DeBartolo Yorks should sell the team to someone who gives a crap about winning.



A leading economist says that the Saints have no positive financial impact on New Orleans; perhaps they'll have one on Los Angeles.

[ALinChainz]

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio

http://www.profootballtalk.com

CHECK OUT THE RUMOR MILL ARCHIVES!



POSTED 4:28 a.m. EST, December 11, 2004



TEAMS ANTICIPATE NINE-FIGURE CAP



In response to the big-money deal given to Colts receiver Marvin Harrison (which as we've explained isn't as great as reported but nevertheless represents more money than the team arguably should have paid to a 32-year-old receiver whose best days arguably are flickering in the rear-view mirror), a league front-office type tells us that, moving forward, new player contracts will reflect the expectation that the new television deals will push the salary cap over $100 million.



The 2004 salary cap is $80.582 million.



But with an average 27-percent increase in Sunday afternoon TV deals with Fox and CBS, a hefty increase for the DirecTV package (some reports peg it as high as 75 percent), and an expectation that the Sunday night and Monday night packages will yield at least a 25 percent increase, the trek from $80 million to $100 million in maximum per team annual player compensation will be a no-brainer.



The only catch? Rudy Martzke of USA Today reported on Friday that ABC is willing to drop the MNF package unless there's a 25 percent reduction in the rights fees.



While this could be a ploy by Disney aimed at splitting the difference and holding the status quo, the question becomes whether the NFL would be able to find another network partner who would pony up the money to take over the Monday night showcase, even though ABC claims to be losing up to $150 million per year on the transaction.



NBC, which lost the AFC package to CBS in 1998, might make a run at the MNF franchise. We likewise don't rule out the possibility of Fox or CBS augmenting their Sunday afternoon slate with the Monday night bonanza. After all, Peter King reported last month that Rupert Murdoch wanted to buy the full package of broadcast rights and put the games on Fox and its various FSN cable outlets.



The real question, in our view, is what happens to SNF if ABC gets outbid for MNF? Disney owns both ABC and ESPN, and there's a chance (in our opinion) that the fallout of ABC losing MNF could be that ESPN and the NFL part ways, too. (If this means that the butt-kissing trio of Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, and Paul Maquire will no longer be calling the Sunday night games, we're all for someone else swiping the deal from the boys in Bristol.)



A split from ESPN could put the Sunday night package back on TNT, which prior to 1998 shared the Sunday night games with ESPN. It also could put into play other cable channels, such as the NBC-owned USA Network -- which once upon a time broadcast "World League of American Football" games (which was the predecessor to NFL Europe).



And let's throw one last potential fly in this here ointment. What about HBO for a Sunday night package? The NFL might be ambivalent about putting Sunday night games on a pay-only channel -- especially when the network in question utilizes oft-racy original content. But to the extent that HBO (which clearly has an interest in the sport given its "Inside the NFL" show and its two-year experiment with the "Hard Knocks" series) ends up at the bargaining table, the network's potential interest could be used to leverage a better deal from the ultimate purchaser of the package.



Plus, and as the plethora of boner-pill-and-beer commercials demonstrate, the NFL is willing to be accused of hypocrisy when it comes to getting paid. As long as the NFL telecasts are "clean," the NFL powers-that-be likely will find a way to rationalize a relationship with a network that shows R-rated movies -- and unrated original shows that, at times, would fetch an NC-17.



The bottom line is that NFL owners should take another breath or two before assuming that there will be a nine-figure cap come 2006. It definitely stands to be higher than $80 million per team, but there's still a big chunk of the TV package left unresolved -- and not all that many potential sources of the kind of coin that the league wants.



LAST WORD ON MARVIN'S DEAL



Our analysis of Marvin Harrison's actual contract numbers revealed a deal that was less than initially reported, but nevertheless a healthy sum for a 32-year-old receiver.



How healthy? As one league exec told us on Friday, the deal is "very good" for Harrison. At $13 million for 2005, $25 million for 2005 and 2006, or $29 million for 2005 through 2007, the contract is "much higher than the franchise tag and dwarfs Terrell Owens' deal."



So we think the Colts have paid too much, even under the more realistic numbers. Considering that Harrison and quarterback Peyton Manning don't go both ways (not that there's anything wrong with that), we think it's a mistake to tie up so much money in two out of 22 spots on the starting roster.



NFLPA SURVEYS MALPRACTICE INSURANCE



The NFL Players Association has sent a survey to all registered agents requesting information regarding their malpractice insurance, or lack thereof.



The eight-question form is the result of authorization granted by the Board of Player Representatives to the NFLPA Legal Department in March 2004. The union is looking into the feasibility of requiring agents to purchase malpractice insurance as a condition of becoming a certified contract representative.



Requiring the agents to have malpractice coverage serves two important purposes. First, it protects guys like LaVar Arrington, who ultimately could have a $6.5 million claim against Carl and Kevin Poston based on their admitted failure to read the final draft of his December 2003 contract extension. To the extent that agents don't have the assets to cover their mistakes, insurance will protect players who are harmed economically by the screw-ups of Johnny Armani.



Second, the requirement that agents have malpractice insurance will run off the slap d-ck "agents" who have two more shoes on their feet than clients in their stable -- and who use their status as certified contract advisers primarily as a tool for chasing skirt on Saturday night.



The only problem for the NFL in this regard is whether the union is willing to part with a major portion of the revenue stream that comes from a growing throng of agents who are willing to plunk down big money every year for the right to represent an NFL player, in the event they should ever happen to find an NFL player who is interested in retaining their services.



The biggest question is how much malpractice coverage should the union require the agents to obtain? For most types of insurance, the premiums get much cheaper as the limits increase above $1 million, since the chances of exposure in the range of $5 million to $10 million usually are remote. But with more and more players earning huge money, even a relatively minor error could unlock staggering civil liability. Thus, we have a feeling that it's not too cheap to have $10 million in protection against a failure to dot "i's" and cross "t's" when it comes to negotiating and reading (or, as in the case of some agents, not reading) contracts of this magnitude.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by ALinChainz
a hefty increase for the DirecTV package (some reports peg it as high as 75 percent)

75 percent ???

Damn, for a returning customer like me (this is my 6th season with the package) it's $139.... A 75pct. increase jacks that price up to 243 clams....

For a new customer, I believe it was 199 clams... Jack that up 75pct, that's 350 clams....

That's steep.....

[ALinChainz]

That is way steep bro ... I agree with that.

Going to start having to hold a damn telathon or something.

[ALinChainz]

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio

http://www.profootballtalk.com

CHECK OUT THE RUMOR MILL ARCHIVES!


POSTED 6:09 a.m. EST; LAST UPDATED 11:30 a.m. EST, December 12, 2004



EDDIE DONE AFTER 2004?



Word around the league is that running back Eddie George plans to call it a career at the conclusion of the 2004 season.



George, a 1996 first-round draft pick, spent eight seasons with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Oilers/Tennessee Titans before joining the Cowboys this season, following a protracted salary stare-down with the Titans.



But he quickly became a forgotten man in Dallas, and some believe his lack of touches is a product of the rumored tension between coach Bill Parcells and owner/G.M. Jerry Jones, who was instrumental in signing George.



The emergence of rookie Julius Jones likely means that George won't see much more action this year with the Cowboys.



Eddie's ultimate decision could be influenced by the amount of interest he receives when he hits the free agent market in March.



DONAHOE MAKES LIKE A GROUND HOG



As the Buffalo Bills gradually improve their chances at securing a berth in the highly competitive AFC playoff field, we've noticed that, like Punxsatawney Phil, G.M. Tom Donahoe has developed a habit of periodically sticking his head out into the glare of the media/fan spotlight.



If the heat is on, Donahoe quickly hunkers down for six more weeks of winter, leaving others to face the music. Remember when grand poobah Ralph Wilson uncharacteristically lit into the team earlier this year? Donahoe was out of sight, while coach Mike Mularkey was forced to respond to rare criticism from a guy who is far more patient than an 80-something owner with no Lombardis on display should be.



Now, with the team winning six of eight games, Donahoe is rolling in the sunshine, enjoying once again favorable coverage from a carefully manipulated network of national media types and pontificating on all things football.



"We felt we had the right coach in place," Donahoe said this week, regarding criticism back in September/October that Mularkey was another Gregg Williams. "It was just that early on we had some bad luck. When we were 0-4, I was disappointed but I wasn't discouraged. The players were practicing hard. They seemed to respond to what Mike was doing. People in this building still believed."



But where was Donahoe to 'splain that the team was merely having bad luck when Wilson was bitching about the team's inability to score points and win games? If he really believed that the thing was a break or two away from clicking, he should've said so. Donahoe's silence at a time when the Bills were piling up "L's" faster than an alphabet soup factory tells us that he really didn't think it was an issue of bad luck. He, like everyone else, questioned whether it was merely a matter of bad team.



Some league insiders still believe, notwithstanding a run of recent success against generally soft opponents, that the Bills aren't very good. (We know this conflicts with a recent story regarding the fact that some teams fear what the Bills might do if they make it into the playoffs, but our network of sources doesn't always agree on things.)



Though Willis McGahee is generally regarded as a quality running back with potential, his 3.8 yards per carry average hardly qualifies him for a bust in Canton. As Donahoe's buddies in the media rave about how he's brilliant and a genius for drafting McGahee when Travis Henry was already on the roster, our suggestion is that we wait and see what McGahee can do when he's the starter from the outset of the season.



And the suggestion that offensive tackle Mike Williams is anything other than a turd ruffles the feathers of at least one seasoned personnel exec, who explained to us emphatically that "Mike Williams is still a bust," and he "sucks."



So the Bills, as some see it, aren't much different than the team that started the year 0-4. Sure, they're now 6-6 and in a position to finish 9-7 or 10-6. But even if they do, some league insiders simply can't see them matching up with teams like the Colts, Steelers, or Patriots in the playoffs.



Until then, however, look for the Donahoe P.R. machine to keep rolling -- and for Donahoe to continue to claim credit for building this burgeoning juggernaut. But when the ship sinks, Donahoe will be back in his cozy burrow, waiting to poke his head back out the next time the media is ready to start saying how smart he is.



HAPPY 39TH, GALE



Yours truly was barely six months old when Gale Sayers ripped through the 49ers for an NFL record six touchdowns.



The date was December 12, 1965.



And in the 39 years since Sayers set the single-game touchdown record, this is exactly the sixth time that December 12 falls on a Sunday.



So could the planets be aligned for someone to hit the end zone six times today?



Looking at the slate of games, we see several possibilities, as far-fetched as they might seem.



How about Corey Dillon in New England, facing his former team, the Bengals, for the first time ever? Dillon knows a thing or two about single-game records; he broke Walter Payton's twenty-plus-year-old mark of 273 rushing yards in 2000. (Baltimore's Jamal Lewis set the current standard a year ago.)



Or maybe Marvin Harrison against the Texans? The Colts shredded the Houston defense four weeks ago, and Harrison could celebrate his $6 million signing bonus by bagging a touchdown for each million he pocketed up front.



Then there's Julius Jones in Dallas. He's already matched Earl Campbell's record of three straight games with 30 or more carries. Why shouldn't this rookie take it the next step by scoring six times against a crappy Saints defense?



Six years ago, there was an inkling that Vikings receiver Randy Moss might be the next guy to score six times in the same game. He's never had more than three -- but playing at home against a banged-up, demoralized Seahawks defense could give Randy a chance to show his hammy is healed.



Bills running back Willis McGahee scored four in a game earlier this year. He's facing a Browns team that gave up 58 points two weeks ago.



Curtis Martin needs only six yards to drop Jerome Bettis into sixth place on the all-time rushing list. But if the Steelers gets near the goal line six times on Sunday against the Jets, Bettis could get those six yards back via six scoring plunges.



Cardinals rookie Larry Fitzgerald, with Josh McCown back in the lineup at quarterback, could match Sayers' mark against a San Fran team that's arguably as bad as the 49ers unit that allowed Gale and the Bears to hang 61 points on them in 1965.



Each of these scenarios is a long shot, to be sure. In our view, Sayers should be more concerned about his record being tied (and possibly broken) when the kid from USC who didn't win the Heismann gets to the NFL.



Still, with the game watered down by increased emphasis on downfield illegal contact, we're not ruling anything out -- especially when teams like the Saints, 49ers, Browns, and Seahawks are fielding defensive units.



PEE-PEE PUNCH FINE TOO LOW?



A league source tells us that many folks around the league are pissed (pun intended) that Saints special teams captain Steve Gleason was fined only $5,000 for slugging Carolina's Kemp Rasmussen in the wiener-and-walnuts following a kick return last Sunday.



Gleason says the fine was fair -- undoubtedly because he's the one to pay it.



Precedent suggests the figure should have been higher. Five years ago, defensive end Duane Clemons (then of the Vikings) made Cowboys tackle Flozell Adams regret not wearing a cup. Clemons was fined $7,500 for the blow to the fruit basket.



So what gives? At a time when the NFL is indirectly reaping the benefits of men taking medication aimed at making their wangs work right, it's ironic that the price tag for trying to bust up a guy's unit has dropped by 50 percent in five years.



As to Rasmussen, our guess is that he's still recuperating.



And as to Flozell, he'll probably be walking around with his hands over his 'Boys on Sunday, since Gleason will be in town when the Saints play at Dallas.



WEIS HEADING FOR SOUTH BEND



We know, we know. A day ago, we deemed it unlikely that Pats offensive coordinator Charlie Weis would end up coaching the Irish.



But with few NFL owners genuinely interested in Weis and few NFL coaches interested in the Irish, it was a match made in heaven.



Okay, maybe it was made in purgatory. Either way, it's a marriage of convenience for a guy that couldn't get a gig and a gig that couldn't get a guy.



As to Weis, we're still not quite sure what we think. He openly politicked (through agent Bob Lamonte) for a U-Dubya job in 2003, even as the Pats were getting ready for training camp -- and even though the Huskies weren't interested.



Not cool.



In 2002, Weis nearly died after gastric bypass surgery (which has a ridiculously high death rate anyway). Two years later, he's still kind of on the hefty side. Okay, take out the kind of. That stomach staple, it seems, was more like a dissolving paper clip.


And it's ironic, in our view, that the university accused unfairly for having a bias against black coaches would take a step toward breaking down one of the last accepted forms of discrimination.



Freidgenism.



Fat guys have a hell of a time getting hired. Period.



It makes sense, in our view. Successful coaching in the college and/or pro ranks requires a lot of hard work (unless your last name rhymes with "worrier"). Whether it's a gland thing or just a weakness for Twinkies, fatness is deemed to be a lack of discipline -- a perceived character flaw that has kept big guys from becoming head coaches.



We can't think of many NFL coaches since the merger who were both large and in charge, of a team that is.



In fact, beyond John "D Cup" Madden and Andy "Michelin Man" Reid, we can't think of anyone else since the merger -- except for maybe the Tuna, who really isn't fat as much as he's big, um, boned.



If Weis can turn around the Irish (whilst chomping on a Danish), perhaps some large guys will get a shot at high profile head-coaching gigs in the NFL. Until then, our guess is that size does matter -- and we think it's providing a rubber ceiling for many otherwise qualified guys.



SUNDAY ONE-LINERS



Could Giants coach Tom Coughlin be changing? OL Wayne Lucier was late for practice on Thursday and he wasn't fined.



Former Green Bay G.M. Ron "The Words 'No Comment' Have Never Crossed My Lips" Wolf had this to say about the disintegration of the Browns under Butch Davis: "You reap what you sow."



Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch applauds Rams head coach Mike Martz for doing a great job with the crappy roster compiled by . . . G.M. Mike Martz.



Giants G Chris Snee will miss Sunday's game against the Ravens due to an inflamed gland (in light of the Gleason story and the fact that Snee sired a child with coach Tom Coughlin's daughter, we could have some fun with that one, but it would be way too easy).



The Titans have extended the contracts of several key assistant coaches through 2006, the final year of head coach Jeff Fisher's deal.



POSTED 11:03 a.m. EST, December 11, 2004



ERICKSON DRAWING LINE IN THE SAND



We've been saying it for weeks, and the media is finally starting to connect the dots.



Dennis Erickson wants out of San Francisco. The 49ers want him out, too. The problem is that neither side wants to make the critical move toward a divorce, since the remainder of Erickson's 5-year, 12.5 million contract hangs in the balance.



If the 49ers fire Erickson, they owe him $7.5 million over the next three years. If Erickson quits, he gets nothing.



The 49ers insist that there's no way Erickson will be fired, despite his team's 1-11 performance in a watered-down NFC.



Erickson is locking onto the fate of his assistant coaches as the basis for provoking his termination. The 49ers insist upon waiting until after the season to discuss whether changes to the staff will be made; Erickson wants to talk to management about it now, and he wants assurances that they'll all be back in 2005.



The San Francisco Chronicle, taking a respite from disclosing the obvious regarding the use of juice by baseball players, finally breaks down what's really happening.



The whole thing, as the Chronicle explains, shows how inept and dysfunctional the organization has become. Bill Walsh must be rolling in his grave.



Oh, wait a minute. He ain't dead.



Anyway, he and most 49ers fans might end up wishing for a quick and painless death in lieu of watching their beloved organization continue to flounder.



SATURDAY ONE-LINERS



Chiefs RB Priest Holmes plans to return at "100 percent" next season; the only problem is he might start to get the Marshall Faulk treatment in KC if Larry Johnson can continue to play well (and not pee the bed).



Bears QB Jeff George is expected to be No. 2 on the depth chart; Jonathan Quinn, Medicine Woman, who plays like No. 2, will be No. 3.



Chargers G.M. A.J. Smith denies rumors that the team will trade QB Philip "The Next Ryan Leaf" Rivers.



Browns interim coach Terry Robiskie thinks the Browns should stick with DT Gerard Warren, the first first-round pick of the Butch Davis era and the third in a string of top-five first-round busts by the team since returning to the league in 1999.



Bengals coach Marvin Lewis plans to use as motivation for Sunday's game against the Pats RB Corey Dillon's laughter when asked by Inside the NFL's Peter King whether he thinks the Bengals will ever be a winning franchise.



Packers coach Mike Sherman plans to keep calling the plays on offense, even after last Sunday's 47-17 loss at Philly.



Pats coach Bill Belichick says that, even if offensive coordinator Charlie Weis gets the head-coaching job at Notre Dame (unlikely, in our estimation), Weis will finish the season with New England.



Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger will play on Sunday against the Jets, despite a thigh bruise.



Seahawks RT Chris Terry will have surgery on his right shoulder and miss the rest of the season.



Jets RB Curtis Martin is only six yards behind Steelers RB Jerome Bettis for fifth-place on the all-time yardage list; Bettis will see Martin pass him when the Jets come to the 'Burgh on Sunday.



Denver coach Mike Shanahan says he plans to finish his contract, which has four years remaining, at $5.2 million per.



Rookie Scott Wells might start at center this week for the Packers.



Redskins assistant Greg Blache has interviewed for the job at Notre Dame.



Believe it or not, Giants DE Michael Strahan supports the decision to put QB Eli Manning on the field (perhaps because Strahan is on IR and doesn't have to personally suffer through the downward slide).



Indy mayor Bart Peterson hopes to strike a deal to keep the Colts in town by the end of the year.

[ALinChainz]

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio



POSTED 3:48 p.m. EST, December 14, 2004



MUELLER PLANNING A JUNE WEDDING?



A source close to Browns G.M. candidate Randy Mueller tells us that, if Mueller gets the gig, Hawaii coach June Jones will be on the short list for the head coaching job.



Jones and Mueller, we're told, are good friends. Jones previously coached the Atlanta Falcons, and he has been an assistant coach with multiple NFL teams.



Other candidates for the General Manager job are Ravens director of player personnel Phil Savage and Eagles exec Tom Heckert. Former Seahawks capologist Mike Reinfeldt also has interviewed, but as we've reported it's believed that Reinfeldt and Mueller are selling themselves as a package deal.



POSTED 9:03 a.m. EST, December 14, 2004



DONAHOE DUPES WILSON



Although many league insiders continue to question whether Bills G.M. Tom Donahoe has done enough in four years to merit continued employment, the one league insider who matters most -- Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson -- has decided to stick with Donahoe for the long haul.



Then again, in the 80-something Wilson's case, the long haul might be a trip to the Kwik-E-Mart.



"He can be here as long as he wants," Wilson said after the regenerated Bills thumped the hapless Cleveland Browns. "He's done a good job. I'm happy. We're friends. He had a very tough job to do coming in here."



The "tough job" Wilson refers to is a salary cap mess that remained after the late John Butler was fired in early 2001. You remember John Butler? He's the guy who rebuilt the Bills into a contender in the late 1990s, and who put the pieces in place for a Chargers team that suddenly is among the league's elite.



But Donahoe, with his 17-31 record through his first three years, is apparently doing a better job.



We don't fault Wilson for deciding to love the one he's with. If we were 80-something and owned an NFL team, we wouldn't be inclined to start from scratch, either.



But it could be that Wilson is allowing himself to become intoxicated by a run of success against a schedule chock full of turdish teams. Before jumping between the sheets with Donahoe, he needs to remember how he felt earlier this year, when he called out the team for its pathetic offensive play.



And how Donahoe was nowhere to be seen when it was time for someone to stand accountable.



TEAMS OVERESTIMATING COMING CAP BUMP?



On Saturday, we reported that many teams anticipate that, given the new television contracts, the salary cap could break the nine-figure mark in 2006, when the next wave of deals kicks in.



This could be wishful thinking, as it turns out.



We often try to expose the puffing that agents do when players sign new contracts, and the headlines don't make the fine print. As Vito Stellino of the Florida Times-Union pointed out to us, the agents aren't the only ones who overstate the value of contracts.



"In effect," Stellino said, "the NFL has done the same thing with the TV contracts. The 30 percent hike for Fox and 25 percent for CBS sounds good, although it went up 100 percent last time.



"It's misleading because the hike is on the 'average' of the last contract, which was $2.2 billion a year from all networks. But it was backloaded, so this year the NFL gets $2.7 billion and next year it gets $2.8 billion. So the hikes aren't that much new money. The only real hike so far has come from DirecTV's 75 percent [increase]."



And just as the media allows itself to be duped by the numbers reported when a guy like Marvin Harrison signs a new deal, the media likewise failed to scrutinize the truth behind the NFL's new contracts.



Thus, Stellino told us that, based on his discussions with the powers-that-be, the league office expects no "sharp spikes" in the cap -- only "continued steady growth."



Based on this reality, Stellino guesses that the 2006 salary cap will be closer to $85-to-90 million (if that much), not $100 million as some teams expect.



In other words, the NFL (as Stellino explained) is now a "mature industry," not a "growth industry"; thus, significant increases in TV contracts -- and, in turn, the salary cap -- are unlikely.



"The real problem is that there doesn't seem to be a Rupert Murdoch out there who's willing to take big losses because it'll jump start his network the way he did in 1994," Stellino said. "He'd only do that this time if he got everything and the NFL -- wisely I think -- decided it wasn't good to be on only one network."



EDDIE READY FOR THREE MORE YEARS?



In response to our recent story that Eddie George may retire after the 2004 season, which was posted hours before George was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career, we've heard that George actually intends to stay in the NFL for as many as three more seasons.



As we see it, however, the challenge will be for George to find a team willing to pay him to continue to play.



After getting squeezed out of Tennessee this year and landing on his feet (financially, at least) in Dallas, George likely won't see much more than a one-year minimum offer come 2005. Though that wasn't enough coin to keep a guy like Ricky Watters around in the latter stages of his career, George will need to decide whether it's enough money to justify the effort -- and whether he thinks there's a chance someone will pay him comparable coin to do something other than play football.



In our view, it's hard to tell whether George has any gas left in the tank, since he barely has been used this year in Dallas. There have been indications that Eddie was a Jerry Jones acquisition, and George's disappearance is evidence of the Jones-Parcells feud. Regardless, the running back who had been regarded as having too much wear and tear has essentially taken a year off, which means that he might be a lot fresher and spry next time around.



RAIDERS CAP PROBLEM LIMITS PRACTICE SQUAD



A league source tells us that the Oakland Raiders quietly have been dealing with a salary cap problem that ultimately has required them to go with less than the maximum number of players on the team.



Specifically, the Raiders have had to trim down their practice squad. This year, the NFL expanded the practice squads from five players to eight. According to Raiders.com, the team currently has only seven players on the unit.



It's a somewhat irrelevant detail for a team that wouldn't make the playoffs even if it swapped conferences with its cross-Bay rival. But it nevertheless demonstrates what can start to happen if teams can't properly navigate the mandatory spending limits.



POSTED 12:40 p.m. EST, December 13, 2004



BOLTS' PLANS FOR BREES COULD BACKFIRE



The surprisingly 10-3 Chargers will find themselves after the 2004 season on the horns of a dilemma. And, as it turns out, one of their potential strategies for resolving the problem could end up causing one of those horns to be inserted into a place of the anatomy where horns typically do not enter.



Quarterback Drew Brees will be an unrestricted free agent. When the Chargers obtained quarterback Philip Rivers via trade on draft day (after selecting Eli "Zero Point Zero" Manning), it was a foregone conclusion that Brees would finish out his rookie deal in San Diego and then look for a shot to compete for the No. 2 position with another team.



But then it happened. Drew Brees became Dan Fouts with a different kind of facial growth.



The problem is that Brees will now attract plenty of interest on the open market, and that the Chargers have no way to get any value in return.



Unless, of course, they use a chunk of that reported $22 million cap surplus for the purposes of hanging the franchise tag on Brees. Then, they could trade him while at the same time picking up maybe a one and a three (and possibly more) in the 2005 draft.



General Manager A.J. Smith recently confirmed this possibility.



"We will franchise Drew if we so desire," Smith said. "Maybe franchise and trade him. I have no clue. I can't tell Dean Spanos we have an unrestricted quarterback who's playing great and he's leaving. It's not sound football."



But it's also not "sound football," we've learned, to use the franchise tag with the sole intention of trading the player.



"It is not proper under the CBA to designate a player as a franchise player for the sole purpose of trading him," Richard Berthelsen, NFLPA General Counsel, told us on Monday morning. "Any team using a franchise or transition tag must have a good faith intent to employ the player, and must negotiate in good faith with the player for a new contract."



One high-level league source told us that teams definitely warn their front office staffs against this kind of thing. The memo apparently hasn't made its way to Smith, however, given his public musings regarding the possibility that Brees will be franchised with the sole intent of trading him.



Both Berthelesen and Greg Aiello, the NFL's V.P. of Media Relations, told us on Monday morning that it's nevertheless possible for a team to pull a "sign and trade." Under this scenario, a contract that is acceptable to the new team and to the player is worked out in advance, as is the compensation between the new team and the old team.



The cap acceleration that the former team would suffer is avoided via, for example, a roster bonus that is due five days after the deal is signed. Option bonuses are another way to avoid a cap hit for the team who is trading the player.



With all that said, it will be difficult as a practical matter for anyone to prove that the Chargers franchised Brees with the sole intention of trading him. But if Smith keeps talking about the possibility of doing so, he might give provide more than enough proof to support a finding that the rules have indeed been violated.

[ALinChainz]

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio

http://www.profootballtalk.com

CHECK OUT THE RUMOR MILL ARCHIVES!



POSTED 9:53 a.m. EST; UPDATED 9:56 a.m. EST, December 15, 2004



SABAN TO INTERVIEW WITH FINS ON FRIDAY



A rock-solid, front-office type league source tells us that LSU coach Nick Saban will interview for the Dolphins head coaching vacancy on Friday morning.



On Monday, we reported that the interview would occur this week. Since then, other media sources dubbed the report premature.



Under his LSU contract, Saban has until January 1 to interview for an NFL job.



There's also talk around the league that if Saban takes the job in Miami, Titans G.M. Floyd Reese could become the President of the Dolphins, since Reese and Saban are good friends.



For a discussion of the problems that the Dolphins face in their courtship of Saban, scroll down.



POSTED 9:10 a.m. EST, December 15, 2004



SAINTS PLANNING TO PART WAYS WITH BROOKS?



A league source tells us that the New Orleans Saints will release or trade quarterback Aaron Brooks, if the team can find a way to absorb the resulting cap hit.



In 2002, Brooks signed a six-year, $36 million contract with the Saints, which included $5 million to sign and a $5.75 million option bonus paid in 2003.



Our calculations indicate that $5.96 million remains on the prorated bonus money. If the Saints trade him at any time in the offseason, they'd take the full $5.96 million hit. If the Saints release him after June 1, the team would absorb a cap charge of $1.98 million this year and the remaining $3.98 million in 2006.



Of course, the Saints also need to consider what it will cost to keep Brooks around. He carries a cap number in 2005 of $1.98 million plus his salary (we're trying to find out the specific number). The net hit, then, would be much less than $5.96 million -- but they'd also have to spend more money to get another quarterback on the roster.



Brooks' play generally has declined since he burst onto the scene in 2000, after Jeff Blake went down with an injury. Brooks won the starting job over Blake in 2001, and then held out of training camp in 2002 until he got his new deal.



Since signing the deal, however, Brooks has tanked, culminating in a 2004 season that contains more than a few blooper reel plays. We recently reported that other Saints players have concluded that Brooks' has quit on the team.



The final decision hinges on many factors, including whether Jim Haslett is the coach -- and whether Tom Benson is the owner. The Saints also would be smart (an accusation that rarely has been hurled in their direction) to determine whether they can find (and afford) someone better than Brooks on the free-agent market.



ERICKSON'S PLAN FALLING APART



It looks like 49ers coach Dennis Erickson is losing his quest to retreat to college ball (again) and pocket the remaining $7.5 million on his contract with the 49ers.



The dance began last month, when we reported that Erickson was planning to head to the University of Washington, as the new head coach.



Once Erickson's desire to have his cake and spend it too was exposed, he flatly denied any desire to leave the 49ers.



"I'm going to finish this thing and do what I came to do," Erickson said.



Erickson also said, "If I wanted to be in college, I'd have stayed at Oregon State."



And Erickson added this gem when asked if he'd be coaching the 49ers next year: ''Oh, yeah. I mean there's no question about that. Like I've said, we have a long-term plan and we go ahead and go from there.''



So what happened?



Erickson, we believe, was banking on the fact that he could worm his way out of his contract -- and get paid to do so -- while at the same time landing in Washington.



Sure, he never was an official candidate for the Huskies gig. Just like he wasn't a candidate for the 49ers job two years ago (until he signed the deal). And just like he wasn't a candidate for the Ole Miss job, until his "secret" candidacy was exposed by ESPN.



Now that the cat's out of the bag (again), Erickson apparently has decided to drop the charade and pursue one of the remaining empty seats at the D-I level. Even Erickson is smart enough to realize that his "I won't fire any of my assistants" routine was merely a more sophisticated equivalent to driving around the parking lot with those five tarnished Lombardis dragging from his bumper.



"I have an interest in going back to college," Erickson now says, less than a month after issuing his categorical denial.



But Erickson is still equivocating. "It doesn't mean [that I'm leaving] at all."



It's obvious that (as we explained last month) Erickson is playing the 49ers for a buyout. The problem is that Dr. John York likely won't blink, even if he otherwise would have fired Erickson and paid the $7.5 million. York now knows that Erickson wants out, and York is going to force him to quit.



It would be smart for York to simply work out a severance package in lieu of forcing Erickson to stay when he doesn't want to be there. Still, even for $2.5 million a year, we can't imagine Erickson hanging around at a gig that he no longer believes in. Eventually, he'll walk away -- likely will nothing or close to it.



And that's the right thing to do, in our view. We can understand that a guy who gets fired should get the rest of his contract, since he otherwise would have stayed and fulfilled it. But for a guy like Erickson to try to weasel a seven-figure buyout when he's got one foot out the door and the other one in the air, that's just wrong.



So give it up, Dennis. You made $5 million for two years in San Fran. Given the performance of the team on your watch, you should be happy that no one is asking for a refund.



If we sound bitter, we are. Why? Because Erickson got on his high horse when we first broke the story that he was looking to get out. "I'd like to know the person who starts those rumors," Erickson said. "There's no accountability."



When it comes to accountability, Erickson needs to look in the mirror. The idea that he'd try to finagle a $7.5 million windfall is shameful -- and the fact that he's apparently going to be blocked from pocketing any more 49ers money than the coin that he (arguably) has earned while on the job is just, in our book, another Festivus miracle.



FINS MUST BE CAREFUL IN COURTING SABAN



We reported on Monday morning that LSU coach Nick Saban will interview this week for the vacancy with the Miami Dolphins. On Monday evening, the NFL Network confirmed our report (and, of course, the NFL Network got the credit for breaking the story).



On Tuesday, the Miami newspapers called the report premature.



Here's our theory. The Dolphins are trying to fly under the radar in their courtship of Saban, primarily because they fear that locking on to Saban will prevent them from luring an African-American candidate to interview for the job.



Under the NFL's minority hiring guidelines, at least one African-American must be interviewed for every head coaching vacancy. After the league fined Matt Millen $200,000 for violating the rules in connection with the pursuit of Steve Mariucci in early 2003, the NFL promised that future breaches would result in fines of $500,000, or more.



The problem is that Saban's contract permits him to interview for an NFL job before January 1. The only viable African-American candidates this year (Romeo Crennel, Donnie Henderson, and Romeo Crennel) aren't available for interviews until after January 2, the day on which all 32 teams will play their final regular season games.



So if word gets out before January 2 that the Dolphins have interviewed Saban -- and if the word on the street is that owner Wayne Huizenga will do everything he can to attract a big-name coach like Saban to help prop up a sagging franchise -- Huizenga will hear the same string of "thanks, but no thanks" that Millen received when guys like Dennis Green and Sherm Lewis suspected that they were merely token candidates for the Lions job.



Huizenga could choose to bite the bullet, in the end. He can interview Saban with every intention of hiring him, try in vain to interview one or more minority candidates, and then accept the fine if/when the NFL comes down on him.



The safer course would be to not interview Saban at all, interview others, and then offer the job to Saban anyway.



Either way, this example proves that the use of superficial rules for including minority candidates in the interview process are inherently unfair. Black or white, Saban is the clear-cut, no-brainer, top choice for an NFL gig this year. Why should the Fins be required to downplay their interest in Huizenga merely so that they can interview someone that they're not even interested in?



The irony here is that the racial disparity in the NFL head coaching ranks could be the result of much more troublesome -- and obvious -- racial bias at the college level. With the successful NCAA programs a prime source of potential NFL head coaches, the fact that none of them is headed by a minority candidate necessarily dilutes the pool of potential hires at the next level.



Hopefully, the NFL is keeping a close eye on the practical problems that its "thou shalt interview a black man" policy creates. We'd prefer to see the NFL -- and the NCAA -- take more substantive steps aimed eradicating discrimination on the basis of race. For now, teams like the Dolphins (and every other franchise with a looming vacancy) shouldn't be punished because the cupboard, at least this year, is relatively bare.

[ALinChainz]

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio



CHECK OUT THE RUMOR MILL ARCHIVES!



POSTED 9:00 a.m. EST, December 16, 2004



TEAMS DISAGREE ON WHERE CAP IS HEADING



As we continue to talk to various league insiders regarding the future of the salary cap, we've learned that, well, there's hardly a consensus as to where it might be headed.



Some teams think the next wave of TV contracts, which commence in 2006, will push the cap to $100 million.



Others think that the new TV deals won't affect the cap much at all.



Others predict a bump in the range of $5 million or so, pushing it to $90 million in 2006.



Though $10 million might not sound like much when the pinball machine hits nine figures, that extra $10 million (or the lack of it) could significantly affect a team's maneuverings in the player acquisition department, especially if they bet that the number will be higher than it ultimately is.



One big factor in all of this, as one high-end league insider type told us on Wednesday night, is the potential extension to the collective bargaining agreement. If NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw can pull some of these other big money revenue streams into the pool of money on which the cap number is based, the source says that the number could jump to as high as $115 million in 2006.



Of course, a jump of this nature wouldn't mean that the owners are making a lot more money -- only that they're now able to spend a big chunk of the "side" money they're earning on player salaries. And unless there's full and complete revenue sharing as to all of the revenue streams that could get pulled into the cap calculation, the NFL could end up with a version of baseball's big-market/small-market conundrum, since some of the teams that can spend up to $115 million a year on player salaries might not actually be able to afford to do it.



ELI HASN'T EARNED RESPECT OF LINEMEN



A league source has 'splained to us that the root of the problem with quarterback Eli Manning and the New York Giants is that the veteran members of the team's offensive line have not yet been sufficiently inspired to play hard in an effort to protect him.



The fact that Manning hasn't played well in his four starts has done little to reverse the "show me something" attitude that the blockers had when Eli replaced Kurt Warner. The fact that the offensive linemen haven't been busting ass to buy time for the first overall draft pick makes it harder for Eli to show them anything.



Working against Eli, we're told, is lingering resentment from the manner in which he forced a trade from San Diego to the Giants, and the perception that he's the next golden boy in the Manning lineage.



The powers-that-be in New York want to see Eli become more aggressive. As we've previously explained, he doesn't have that same "take charge" demeanor as his brother, Peyton. Without it, and absent some/any indication that he can play, it'll be hard for him to inspire the five big guys in front of him to enable him to maximize his potential.



FEW SACRED COWS IN NEW YORK



Speaking of the Giants, we've also been told that there will be only a handful of untouchable vets on the roster in the 2005 offseason. Any of the others will be subject to trade, release, or public flogging.



On offense, only tight end Jeremy Shockey, running back Tiki Barber, and quarterback Eli Manning are safe.



On defense, defensive end Michael Strahan and corners Will Peterson and Will Allen are safe, due to their contracts.



Our guess is that coach Tom Coughlin will spend plenty of time slashing and rebuilding in the offense, beginning with the offensive line.



And even though guard Chris Snee didn't make the list of sacred cows that was repeated to us, it's safe to say that Coughlin will keep his own in-house version of Meathead around for a while.



H-BACK OR H-BOMB?



There's a buzz in Redskins camp regarding newly-signed tight end Dan Goodspeed. Goodspeed, a converted lineman who played some tight end in college and in the XFL, goes six-foot-seven and 315 pounds.



We're hearing that members of the Redskins defense (including linebacker LaVar Arrington) were befuddled when Goodspeed, wearing jersey No. 68, lined up at practice in an eligible position.



We're also hearing that the coaching staff likes what Goodspeed brings to the table, especially as Joe Gibbs, Joe Bugel, and company search for a blocking scheme that will unleash Clinton Portis on a consistent basis.



Our take -- it can't hurt. If they can develop a really big guy into a blocking tight end (who can catch a pass or two from time to time), then the 'Skins are a step closer to creating a modern version of the defense-flattening running game that punctuated Gibbs' first go-'round with the 'Skins.



POSTED 9:22 p.m. EST, December 15, 2004



CROP REPORT SHOWS $5 MILLION INCREASE




On Wednesday afternoon, Clarence Beeks told the various Randolph and Mortimer Dukes that the NFL crop report will increase by roughly $5 million, from $80.5 million per team to $85.5 million.



The increase was first reported by the Dallas Morning News.



A league source told us that the teams also were told at the labor meetings in Dallas not to expect the cap to increase by much in 2006. We recently reported that some teams expect the cap to break $100 million in 2006, when the new TV deals kick in. But as Vito Stellino of the Florida Times-Union explained to us (correctly, it appears), there won't be a significant jump from '05 to '06.



SAINTS WILL SAVE ON CAP BY DUMPING BROOKS



Earlier on Wednesday, we reported that the Saints are exploring the possibility of trading or releasing quarterback Aaron Brooks. Based on salary information we've obtained for Brooks in 2005, clearing Brooks off of the books makes a lot of sense.



As it turns out, our estimate of the annual cap proration for Brooks' signing and option bonus was on the money at $1.98 million per year for 2005 through 2007. Dumping Brooks before June 1 or trading him at any time will result in a $5.96 million cap hit.



Keeping him, however, will require the Saints to pay Brooks a salary of $5.5 million and a workout bonus of $250,000.



So with a 2005 cap number of $7.73 million, the Saints will save $1.77 million on the 2005 cap by trading Brooks -- even more by dumping him after June 1.



Our guess -- Brooks is at the end of the road in New Orleans.



Maybe he can hook up with the Falcons and play backup to cousin Mike.



POSTED 2:10 p.m. EST; UPDATED 2:34 p.m. EST, December 15, 2004



BROWNS NEXT FOR SABAN?



Not long after we reported that LSU coach Nick Saban would meet with the Miami Dolphins on Friday morning regarding the team's vacant head coaching position, school officials released a statement indicating that there had been an initial get-together between Saban and the Fins on Tuesday night.



However, the statement doesn't describe the session as an interview.



“I owe it to the people of Louisiana and the fans of LSU football to let them know I have had a preliminary conversation with the Dolphins to exchange ideas about their head coaching position,” Saban said in the release. “No decisions were made in this meeting and they will continue their search for a coach. I will continue to be committed to LSU, our football program and totally focused on our bowl game versus Iowa .”



So we revisited the issue with the source who tipped us off to the meeting set for Friday. We were informed that Saban has indeed cleared his schedule for Friday (including recruiting visits) for an undisclosed meeting with an NFL team.



It could be that Saban and the Fins will be spending the day together conducting the full-blown interview process, and that the release was carefully worded in an effort to keep folks from concluding that Saban is the top choice for the job. As explained farther down this here page, the Fins risk non-compliance with the minority hiring guidelines if the selection of Saban feels like a fait accompli, since Miami then wouldn't be able to cajole any African-American candidates to sit for the job.



But it's also possible that Saban will spend Friday interviewing for the Browns head coaching vacancy. Even though Miami owner Wayne Huizenga likely is ready to assume the position when the time comes to dole out cash and control to Saban, Saban's agent, Jimmy Sexton, knows a thing or two about leverage. If he can get two teams (or more) hot on Saban's trail, the potential price tag will only go up.



Our bottom line for now is that Saban plans to meet with some NFL team on Friday. We'd previously assumed it was the Dolphins. It still might be. But with the Browns likewise absent a head coach and Saban having strong ties to the organization, don't be surprised if the next news release out of Baton Rouge indicates that Saban will be talking to the folks in Cleveland.



Since Saban's contract permits him to interview only with NFL teams before January 1, the only jobs for which he even could interview are jobs that become vacant before the end of the NFL regular season, which wraps up on January 2 -- unless an owner pulls a Jerry Jones/Bill Parcells secret rendezvous. With Vikings owner Red McCombs due to make a decision by New Year's Day on whether he'll pick up the option on his April Fool, it's possible that a team like the Vikes could also secretly enter the fray for Saban.



Of course, that scenario might be giving McCombs way too much credit. Why would he want to spend good money on a coach who actually knows what he's doing?

[ALinChainz]

by Profootballtalk editor Mike Florio



CHECK OUT THE RUMOR MILL ARCHIVES!



POSTED 9:30 a.m. EST, December 17, 2004



MIAMI MUTINY COMING?



As the Miami Dolphins prepare to make an offer to Nick Saban for the head coaching position (scroll down for more), we're hearing that many players don't relish the prospect of playing for Saban.



A league source tells us that Saban is regarded in some circles as more Tom Coughlin than Bill Belichick -- a hard-charging taskmaster who'll repeatedly drop the M-F-bomb on assistant coaches, players, and anyone else who doesn't do something the precise way Saban wants it done.



We've been told that one player's reaction to the news that Saban might be the next head coach was to call his agent and say, "Get me the f--k out of here."



Per the source, the word likely will spread throughout the league that potential free agent acquisitions should think twice about coming to Miami, if Saban ends up being the head coach.



POSTED 6:39 a.m. EST; UPDATED 8:46 a.m. EST, December 17, 2004



FINS IGNORING DIVERSITY POLICY?



On Wednesday, we reported that LSU coach Nick Saban had cleared his Friday calendar for an interview with an undisclosed NFL team. We assumed it was the Dolphins, until LSU released a statement on Wednesday that Saban and the Dolphins met on Tuesday night.



But it looks like the parties will indeed be spending more time together on Friday as the courtship prepares to make a significant step forward.



The Miami Herald reports that the Dolphins are expected to offer the head coaching job to Saban as early as Friday. The package, per the Herald, will be worth between $4 million and $5 million per year, and will include control of the football operations.



So how do the Fins avoid a $500,000 fine (or worse) by hiring Saban without interviewing an African-American candidate for the job, as mandated by the NFL's minority hiring guidelines?



Team president Eddie Jones tells that Herald that the Dolphins "will be in full compliance with NFL policy," including the tampering policy and diversity procedures.



He offers, however, no details.



Jones' reference to the tampering policy suggests that the team might take the position that it would have interviewed Romeo Crennel or Donnie Henderson or even Jerry Gray but for the fact that those guys can't be interviewed until January 2, at the earliest. We think such an argument would fly about as well as a featherless ostrich.



Teams already have tried to play semantics with the mandatory requirement to interview at least one minority candidate. Although Cowboys owner Jerry Jones previously got away with conducting a phone interview ("Dennis Green? Hello. You've been a head coach. I'm looking for a head coach. You wanna be a head coach again someday? Thanks for the info. Bye."), the NFL laid down the law after Lions CEO Matt Millen launched a single-minded pursuit of Steve Mariucci -- and then couldn't persuade black coaches to sit for a token interview.



So unless the Fins previously already have interviewed in-house minority candidates like special teams coach Keith Armstrong, defensive line coach Clarence Brooks, tight ends coach Bernie Parmalee, or secondary coach Mel Phillips, it will now be nearly impossible to convince any of these guys (or anyone else) to sit for the job, just as Millen was unable to entice in-house candidate Sherm Lewis to interview for the Lions gig once it was clear that Mooch was the man.



Since the Dolphins surely knew they'd ultimately be chasing Saban, it would have been smart for them to previously interview all of their in-house assistant coaches for the job, especially in the wake of Ron Wolf's recent lamentations regarding his failure to recognize the potential of Packers quarterbacks coach Andy Reid when defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes (who, ironically, is black) was hired in 1999 to replace Mike Holmgren.



In this regard, we think that every team should invest the time and effort to interview the entire staff of assistant coaches before looking elsewhere for a head coach. Continuity is important in any organization, and the players will be the first ones to compare the well-hyped outsider to the guys they knew from the former staff.



And that's the other issue the Dolphins need to think about. Even if they're willing to fork over a league-imposed fine that could be only 10 percent of the salary they'll be paying to Saban in year one of his contract, the guys in the locker room have to be ready to play for the new coach.



"You've got to interview more than one person," said Jay Williams, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "See who's out there and can carry themselves as a man when they interview. That's how you get to know who's the best man for the job. Don't go making decisions because that's what the fans and reporters want you to do.

"It's just like when scouts go to small colleges and find diamonds in the rough. You may find a diamond in the rough in a minority pool."



We agree with Williams in theory, but we also believe that the Dolphins have every right -- given their objective of winning football games and putting rumps in the seats -- to go after the guy who's generally regard to be at the top (rightly or wrongly) of the head coach "A" list.



The problem is, as we've previously explained, that there aren't enough quality minority candidates in the pool -- primarily because not enough potential candidates are getting the proper grooming at the college level and in coordinator positions with NFL teams. Until more and more African-Americans are serving in the jobs from which pro head coaches typically are harvested, the pool will continue to be relatively shallow -- and teams like the Dolphins will continue to find themselves in a no-win situation.



WEIS POISED FOR SUCCESS IN SOUTH BEND?



Last Sunday, we offered our thoughts regarding Pats offensive coordinator/Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis, which thoughts were based, admittedly, on our relatively limited knowledge at the time. We didn't care much for his overt politicking for the University of Washington job in 2003 (as the Pats prepared to open training camp), and we question the wisdom of anyone who would subject themselves to a 1-to-2 percent chance of death via gastric bypass surgery unless their obesity was presenting them with a greater than 1-to-2 percent likelihood of imminent demise.



But since Sunday, we've gotten to know Weis a little better, in two ways. First, we've heard him speak for the first time -- and we liked what he had to say. There's a lot of Tuna in Charlie the Manatee, and he brings the right amount of confident arrogance to a job that desperately needs someone with the stones to aim high.



Second, Weis has plenty of admirers around the NFL. One league insider thinks he's the best offensive coordinator in the league. "He knows how to utilize talent and pick apart a defense," said the source.



Though Weis has been linked most prominently to Pats coach Bill Belichick, both of their roots trace to Bill Parcells. Weis was a successful high school coach in New Jersey, and he used to "hang around" Giants camp in the late 1980s. He struck up a relationship with Parcells, spent a season in the team's personnel department, and then became a defensive assistant and assistant special teams coach in 1990, the year Parcells and the Giants won their second Super Bowl.



There are also rumblings of approval around the NFL of Weis's efforts to build a solid staff in South Bend. Weis reportedly is pursuing former Mississippi head coach David Cutliffe to serve as the team's offensive coordinator, and Virginia assistant Al Golden for the defensive coordinator job. Cutliffe likely will be joined by several members of his former Ole Miss staff.



With all that said, we're still grappling with Weis's decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery, unless it was indeed medically necessary. From all appearances, it didn't quite work -- and he nearly died.



We also got a chuckle out of the fact that Weis managed to keep under wraps his pending lawsuit against the doctors who performed the operation until after Weis got his long-awaited shot at a head coaching job. With the folks who dole out million-dollar contracts generally averse to the notion of getting into bed with people who have a propensity to litigate, it was wise for Weis not to disclose the fact that he'd sued.



Our only question is whether members of the Boston media knew about the lawsuit but agreed, as a favor to Weis, not to publicize it until after he landed a head coaching job. It seems a bit too coincidental, in our opinion, that a lawsuit pending for several months finally was mentioned only a day or two after Weis was introduced as the next head coach of the Irish.

[Katydid]

Isn't Mike Florio the one who tests trash bags and throws a mad fit when the bottom tears out?

Kind of fat and red faced with short hair and a big nose?

Someone said he was gay.

Heck he might know Joe Thunder LP, AlinChainz says he is gay.

Someone else said he throwed a mad fit and had a heart attack.

[ALinChainz]

No idiot.

Please keel over.

[Katydid]

Originally posted by ALinChainz
No idiot.

Please keel over.

You couldn't roll me over if I was dead.

Folks when Al isn't here he visits my NON DLR DAILY REFLECTIONS (AA Anonymous thread in hitchWORLD).

He's not an alcoholic, must be the porn Flappo and Sesh post.

Come to think of it, I'm not an alcoholic either...But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Plus I hate porn, but DLR ARMY NON tossed me in there when I started the thread back in SEPT.

On the other hand...just stay over here and keep AL busy...

[POJO_Risin]

Wonderful...now we have a tainted forum...that will be fixed momentarily...

[POJO_Risin]

Don't worry...the stupid whore is banned from this forum...

[ALinChainz]

Excellent.

I knew something smelled in here.