BBB93005

Seriously, are we doing this again? The Falcons are better with Vick...because he is their starting QB Just like the Eagles are better with McNabb The Pats are better with Brady and so on and so on... Vick is not a miracle worker He is just better than his backup Like every starting QB in the NFL...almost

Hey in response to the Flanagan question...he's listed as Questionable with a Hernia. Don't know if that helps.

Everything is not George Bush's fault. I think we are getting off topic a bit here but oh well. You see these College Players have the ability to go to war and die, but they don't. They get a free education, because they are good at a game. Sounds like a decent deal to me. Your argument doesn't mean $hit to me...because to get my free education, I DID have to go to war. So screw some college punk who doesn't know how good he's got it. Cry me a river because they have to wait an extra year to be a millionaire

Please don't do this...we did this a couple days ago. It got pretty heated.

According to Yahoo, Rudi has missed almost every Wednseday practice this year. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/5548/news You need to scroll down a bit

It has nothing to do with being a minority or any of that race crap. People don't like when players hold out, because it hurts their team, that's it. I agree with both sides, and think both sides need to give. Fans need to realize first, that players care (and they should) about themselves and their families, before they give a damn about some dude in the stands. Because the fact of the matter is, when their career is done, the fans move on to the next superstar, and the player eventually becomes forgotten. So I say go make all the money you can. I know if I thought I could get a raise by holding out at my job...I would. Because in the long run more money is better for me and my family. I don't care about my boss.

Thanks, accidentally said ESPN. Appreciate the help/link.

Don't be an A$$, and it's forum. You're not "cool" because you call it Forearm.

The Packers won't do anything in the offseason, and Favre will walk away. It's sad to have to see him on this pathetic team. The Packers did absolutely nothing to improve this team in the offseason, they didn't even attempt anything. Their new GM Ted Thompson is Ron Wolfe's "protege" but there isno resemblance. This guy has done nothing.

It makes me think different about some of these guys. Not Terell Owens, but guys like Javon Walker.

If the Major League Baseball Players Union is the strongest in sports, then certainly the NFL Players Association is the weakest. Pro Football is the only one of the four major sports that does not have guaranteed contracts. Baseball, basketball and hockey all continue to shell out dough for guys who no longer can play the game or more sadly, have been cut (fired) by their teams. When the Anaheim (nee Los Angeles) Angels rightfully dumped pitcher Kevin Appier three years ago, the team still had to pay him $16 million over two years. Conversely, when the St. Louis Rams cut All-Pro tackle Kyle Turley this season after he had second surgery for a herniated disk in his back, all Turley got was a limp. Guys like Terrell Owens do more than catch touchdown passes, they sully the image of their peers who are not as fortunate to be earning $7 million a year. Take Ephraim Salaam, for example. Salaam signed a below-market deal with the Broncos mostly because he wanted to play in Denver, and the contract was sweetened with a clause that called for him to earn a $5 million dollar bonus his third year with the team. Guess what happened shortly before his third year with the team. Salaam had a nagging knee injury and the Broncos used it as an excuse to cut him. Good bye five freaking million dollars. The injury was not severe; in fact, Salaam now starts for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Broncos, like all other NFL teams, saw a player's unfortunate situation as a swell reason to give him his walking papers and not have to pay him a dime. For too long NFL owners have had it both ways. They have never agreed to guaranteed contracts because if they did the league would bleed cash as player after player sat at home collecting a check. The Players Association, being stonewalled for years over the guaranteed contract situation has shifted its focus to lifetime medical benefits. The owners have shot this proposal down year after year because, in their view on this point, football isn't really violent enough to warrant lifetime medical coverage. How is it that in a league where guys risk breaking legs, ribs and heads on every play, the owners in good conscience can not negotiate some type of plan for guys who get injured. Whenever a player gets seriously injured, the media focuses on the "cap hit" the team will take. Seldom is anything written about the "lifestyle hit" the player must now face knowing he will no longer get paid. It is because of this enormous chasm between ownership and players that contract holdouts are becoming more and more frequent. I am not talking about morons like Terrell Owens who make $7 million dollars a year here. I am talking about guys like Vikings center Matt Birk, who told his team that he would play injured, VERY injured, if they would simply guarantee the remaining years on his contract. They didn't. The NFL has become stick up artists. Guys like the Chargers' Antonio Gates are left with no recourse but to hold out when the balance of money and talent shift and they realize they are grossly underpaid. You may ask, "Why doesn't Gates just keep his mouth shut and get back to work?" Gates was making something in the neighborhood of $300,000 a year and his touchdown production could no longer be ignored in contrast. If he tore his ACL during a pre-season game he might have been shelved by the team or worse yet, cut. It's hard to retire on $300,000 when you have your whole life ahead of you. The behavior of the owners has directly dictated the behavior of the players in their attempts to get huge money in the beginning of their contracts as well as signing bonuses. All one has to do is look at someone like Lawyer Milloy, who dutifully played stellar safety for the New England Patriots. Milloy's deal had him earning pay raises in each year of his contract. When the portion of his contract arrived when he was to get paid around $3 million, the Pats asked him to restructure his deal. He refused and they cut him. The Players Union continues to sputter when it comes to negotiating with ownership. Led by Gene Upshaw, whose $2 million contract is guaranteed by the way, they continue to win salary cap raises in non-substantial increments, while the real elephant on the 50-yard-line goes unmentioned. Coaches in the NFL have guaranteed contracts! Redskins owner Daniel Snyder just finished paying Marty Schottenhiemer $5 million dollars over two years when he fired him to bring in Steve Spurrier. Spurrier signed a well-publicized five-year, $25 million deal, and after proving completely ineffective at the NFL level he quit. As he walks the sidelines of South Carolina, Spurrier can count on that Snyder check to help even out his finances. The NFL must do the right thing and either grant the players their wish for lifetime medical insurance or guarantee their contracts. By doing neither, the fans will continue to watch in anger as players hold out. A monster two years in a row combined with one year left on the contract results in a holdout. Sadly, for the fans, this is the only part of the deal that is guaranteed.

I hope so too. But, This could also be bad , as "D"'s could concentrate on him more, and hurt his #'s.

Make the trade if you can. A backfield of Edge and LT would be tough to stop. DO IT NOW!

So true, so very very true

I'm trying to unload some good backups for a great starter in my league right now too. It all depends on matchups in the future and injury prone starters. All that needs to fit into the equation.