Very often in the NFL, there is a debate in the war room right up until the minute the ultimate decision is made on a draft pick, particularly in the first round. That was not the case in April for the Eagles, who failed to do as expected by both staying at their original position (No. 23) in the first round and then pulling the trigger on 26-year-old but relatively inexperienced Baylor tackle Danny Watkins, a Canadian native who only began playing the sport four years earlier. Head coach Andy Reid, offensive line coach Howard Mudd and general manager Howie Roseman all were on the same page from the moment they were on the clock. More incredible is their plan to make him a guard, a
View original here:
Eagles put first-round pick Watkins on fast track
It’s the fall of 1987. NFL players are on strike and Houston Oilers coach Jerry Glanville is sitting in a room with officers from the Houston Police Department. They’re about to watch a surveillance video of two alleged Oilers leaving the picket line to smash the windows out on a bus that brought Houston’s replacement players to their first practice. “The police say to me, ‘Coach, if you can identify these guys, we’ll arrest them and they’ll be in jail within two hours,”‘ Glanville said last month. “I said, ‘OK, boys, let’s do this.’ So we look at the video and I’ll be damned. It’s my two starting safeties.” Uh-oh. “The police say, ‘Coach, can you identify these two men?”‘ Glanville said.
More here:
NFL strike of 1987 was full of drama and hilarity
Keenan Clayton doesn’t know what his sophomore season in the NFL will be like. Clayton’s hoping to earn a starting spot as the Eagles’ weak-side linebacker, but because of the lockout, he just isn’t sure. “I hope so,” Clayton said. “It’s what I’m working toward. But I know that eventually me and [Jamar Chaney] will be out there together, some way, somehow.” It remains to be seen if Clayton will join Chaney on the field whenever the 2011 season begins, but there they were on Monday, both on the field, working out together. Clayton, for the first time since several Eagles began training and working out at the Memorial Sports Complex in Marlton, N.J., joined his teammates to take part in
Read the rest here:
Clayton working hard to earn starting gig
Another new face showed up at the Eagles’ lockout workout Monday. No, not Donovan McNabb. Keenan Clayton, the Eagles’ second-year linebacker, worked out with several teammates for the first time this season at the Memorial Sports Complex, doing drills under the supervision of the Power Train staff. He joined fellow second-year linebacker Jamar Chaney, offensive tackle Austin Howard, defensive tackle Trevor Laws, running back Eldra Buckley and professional hockey player T.J. Brennan, a Buffalo Sabres draft pick. After the hourlong session on a muggy morning, Clayton discussed the benefit of working alongside Chaney, a staple of the lockout workouts, and made what sounded like a prediction
Read more from the original source:
Clayton brings big ideas to Eagles’ workout
Players involved in labor negotiations with the NFL traveled to Minnesota on Monday, but not just to meet with their legal team. They are there for a fifth round of “secret talks” with the league, a source with knowledge of the situation said. Minnesota is home to Arthur Boylan, the U.S. magistrate judge assigned to run court-ordered mediation and who has been present for the previous talks. Also constants in the room have been NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, New York Giants owner John Mara, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, New York Jets fullback Tony Richardson, Baltimore Ravens
See original here:
Minnesota welcomes league, players for labor negotiations
Joe Gibbs had witnessed the jarring scene too many times. “A player would be upset with his contract, (and) we’d be in serious discussions,” says the Hall of Famer who guided the Washington Redskins to all three of their Super Bowl titles during his 16-year head coaching career while recalling moments that typically unfolded in his office. “And during the conversation, it dawns on you, ‘Are you in financial trouble?’ That happens over and over again. “It played out a lot.” Even in retirement — Gibbs stepped down from his second stint with the Redskins after the 2007 season — he remained bothered that so many players were flirting with fiscal ruin. So he reached out to Redskins owner Daniel
See the rest here:
Joe Gibbs behind NFL rookie financial seminar this week
The clock continues to tick. And the NFL and players continue to work. With the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears — the participants in this year’s scheduled Hall of Fame Game — scheduled to open training camp just three weeks from Friday, time is beginning to run short for negotiating teams as they look to preserve the preseason in its traditional form. The two sides return to the bargaining table later this week for a fifth round of “secret talks.” The league and players have spent a total of nine days in four different locations — suburban Chicago, New York’s Long Island, Maryland’s Eastern Shore and suburban Boston — during this phase of negotiations. They’ve also communicated away
Read the original:
Parties must reach resolution soon to preserve full preseason
The war of words between NFL owners, players and the lawyers representing each faction appears to simmering down. But just as the two sides are reportedly closer than ever to agreeing on a new revenue-sharing system, some of the NFL’s fiercest rivalries are heating up. Players from the Giants, Eagles, Steelers and Ravens might be unified in their fight against the owners, but recent public barbs reflect that there won’t be any love lost when they get back on the gridiron. It started with Steelers linebacker Lamarr Woodley’s recent appearance on the NFL Network, where he stated that Ravens quarterback and former University of Delaware star Joe Flacco of Audubon would never win the Super
The rest is here:
Rivals trading pointed barbs
So the latest speculation — because again, that’s all that’s available right now — is that the Cardinals could end up with Kevin Kolb as their quarterback by trading not a draft pick but cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. That was the talk a couple of days ago on Philadelphia radio station WIP (H/T to Paul Calvisi and Dave Burns on Sports 620 KTAR for the heads-up) and frankly, it’s not the first time DRC’s name has come up in such speculation. Around the draft, people were spitballing the idea the Cards would send Patrick Peterson to Philly for Kolb, and that morphed into DRC. Some of that is connecting of the dots. The Cards need a QB and most assume Kolb is the most reasonable
Read more here:
Speculation on a Dominic Rogers-Cromartie for Kolb trade is just that
Sal Paolantonio went on the radio and said he thinks the Eagles want players, not draft picks, in return for Kevin Kolb. This lends credence to the idea that they could get someone like Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie from the Cardinals in a Kolb deal — something that’s been speculated since the Cardinals (who needed a quarterback, not a cornerback) selected Patrick Peterson in the draft.
View original here:
Report: Eagles want players, not picks, for Kolb
Each day seems to bring more speculation about what the Cardinals will be willing to give up in exchange for the Eagles Kevin Kolb. ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio recently said the Eagles want to get a player who contribute immediately, not a draft pick, in exchange for Kolb. That makes sense because no team knows where it will be drafting in 2012. Will the Cardinals have the fifth overall pick again? Or the 31st? It’s tough to base a trade on future value. On the flip side, player-for-player trades in the NFL don’t happen oftn. I doubt if DRC is on the block. He’s been inconsistent in Arizona, and there’s no question coaches’ patience will run out if DRC doesn’t mature and put in the necessary
Original post:
Trade speculation: DRC for Kolb
Most anticipate that, if the NFL and NFLPA agree to a new CBA with the courts playing no role in the outcome, the free-agency system will function similarly to how it did from 2006-2009, which means players with four or more accrued seasons would qualify. So as we hopefully get closer to a labor settlement between these sides, there’s no better time to evaluate this potential class of fourth-year free agents. They are obviously the youngest of the bunch, and their inclusion would add considerable depth to the overall free-agent class. The wide receiver position is particularly intriguing, and given the host of big-name older receivers also set to hit the market (Randy Moss, Terrell Owens),
Here is the original post:
Fourth-year players would make free-agent class worthwhile
Recent Comments