2012 NFL Offseason Thread

[valo403]

Really interesting to see how this NFLPA appeal works out.

They're basically arguing that Goodell doesn't have the authority to impose punishment for acts that occurred before the new CBA, which is a term in the CBA. The issue I see is that the acts weren't discovered until after that date. This move allows the appeal to be heard by an arbitrator, as opposed to an appeal directly to Goodell, which seems like a much better situation for the players.

Legally it's a very interesting situation, one of those cases that will likely be discussed in law schools for many years.

[Bobblehead]

Do things like this seem backwards to anyone else?

The NFLPA should be the ones fighting for player safety yet in most professional sports leagues it seems like the players are the ones who fight against safety initiatives.

Yet in the long run it is the League which is named in lawsuits down the road. The only exception I can think of is the NFLPA who are (were) being sued by the retired players claiming their long term interests were not taken into account in the new CBA.

I'm not trying to give the NFL (or any league) a free pass. It just seems like the players association only exists to counter any league actions, instead of acting in the best interests of players as a whole.

[Montana Moe]

I think my position has been pretty clear regarding the Saints. If the players and staff continued to participate in the bounty program after being told to stop, they lied to the league, and deserve whatever punishment is handed out. What is frustrating me is the lack of actual, tangible evidence pointing to their continued participation in the program.

There are supposedly 50k+ documents proving this, yet all that we've actually been presented is the Williams recording, and an "independent investigation" confirming that there was "solid evidence" from an attorney that was paid by the NFL. I find it curious that the only players that were suspended were playing during the '09 season, no one that had joined the team since then. If the program was ongoing, you would think that there would be players from the 2010-11 season suspended, as well.

I've tried to take the high road and not get caught up in the "OMG, Goodell is a dictator! He has it out for the Saints!!!1!1" madness. I'd like to see my position supported with some proof. I'm not an attorney, so perhaps there is a pile of evidence we've been shown that I've been missing. Maybe they're saving it for the inevitable hearings?

[Senator Clay Davis]

With all the negative NFL stories out this week, how about a good laugh for everyone?

We’ve heard stories about NFL players going to the bathroom on the sidelines before.

It was just last year that Chargers kicker Nick Novak was spied urinating on the sideline during a loss to the Broncos. There have been other instances of players watering the grass, but things have apparently gone much further than that.

During an interview with Dan LeBatard of ESPN, via Larry Brown Sports, Wes Welker spilled the beans on a story about former Pats linebacker Larry Izzo. LeBatard, likely inspired by Welker’s inspired work in commercials for Depends, asked the receiver if it was true that Izzo had once defecated while on the sideline during a game. LeBatard originally heard the story from Zach Thomas and Welker confirmed it was true. What’s more, Bill Belichick gave Izzo a game ball for pulling it off.

“This is 100% true,” Welker said. “And Larry would be so mad at me if I said that this did not happen, because he takes ultimate pride in this whole deal. Of all the special teams tackles and Pro Bowls he’s made, I guarantee you that game ball is probably a more prized item for him than his Super Bowl rings.”

There were some details left out of Welker’s retelling of Izzo’s feat. We don’t know about how it was cleaned up, disposed of or other things that are probably best left shrouded in secrecy.

Izzo is now an assistant special teams coach with the Giants. No word on if he’s now handing
out game balls based on the same criteria.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...iots-sideline/

Bill Belichick may be a bit of an a-hole, but thats pretty damn funny to give him the game ball.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Do things like this seem backwards to anyone else?

The NFLPA should be the ones fighting for player safety yet in most professional sports leagues it seems like the players are the ones who fight against safety initiatives.

Yet in the long run it is the League which is named in lawsuits down the road. The only exception I can think of is the NFLPA who are (were) being sued by the retired players claiming their long term interests were not taken into account in the new CBA.

I'm not trying to give the NFL (or any league) a free pass. It just seems like the players association only exists to counter any league actions, instead of acting in the best interests of players as a whole.

The NFLPA, like any union, has a weird role in that they are tasked with both representing the interests of the membership as a whole as well as representing the interests of individual members. When situations come up that seemingly put those two interests at odds you get results like this.

I'd say that at this point the role really shifts into more of a 'make sure the terms of the CBA are properly enforced' area as opposed to a 'look out for the interests of the general membership' area. The latter was probably more applicable in the negotiation of the CBA, although that's debatable.

I agree though, it seems that unions, particularly in sports, often become more interested in winning fights with the league than anything else.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by bobblehead

i'm not trying to give the nfl (or any league) a free pass. It just seems like the unions only exists to counter any actions, instead of acting in the best interests of players as a whole.

fyp.

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Do things like this seem backwards to anyone else?

The NFLPA should be the ones fighting for player safety yet in most professional sports leagues it seems like the players are the ones who fight against safety initiatives.

Yet in the long run it is the League which is named in lawsuits down the road. The only exception I can think of is the NFLPA who are (were) being sued by the retired players claiming their long term interests were not taken into account in the new CBA.

I'm not trying to give the NFL (or any league) a free pass. It just seems like the players association only exists to counter any league actions, instead of acting in the best interests of players as a whole.

so true, Unions like this have to disagree. this is their way of justifying their existence... just like the NHL, as soon as a guy is suspended, the NHLPA is right there fighting it even if it is deserved. If i am Goodell, i dont allow them to have a say either...

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

fyp.

[Cheese]

Patriots signed Joseph Adai yesterday. Not sure what to think....
good leader? Ex Colt? bleh my mouth feels dirty.

http://www.kffl.com/gnews.php?id=785...grees-to-terms

[KTown]

Dolphins have apparently reached an agreement with Cameron Wake, 4 years for 49million and 20million guaranteed.

Not sure what to think of this. I think his play last year slipped from years before.

That being said there is not much too look forward too other than a few players on our squad and Wake is one of them.

[flames_1987]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Patriots signed Joseph Adai yesterday. Not sure what to think....
good leader? Ex Colt? bleh my mouth feels dirty.

http://www.kffl.com/gnews.php?id=785...grees-to-terms

Really strong signing, high Football IQ playing and blocking for Peyton. Can catch the ball out of the backfield. Pats running game will still be weak however

[flames_1987]

NFL Related: Eli Manning was amazing on SNL last night.

[Montana Moe]

A lot to digest in Peter King's MMQB this morning. Plenty on Seau, the Saints, the Vikings, etc.

After Seau's death, the tide is turning. Fans (scores of them on Twitter at least) have bleated, "The league's got to do something to improve players' lives after football,'' and said the league has to make sure players can walk away from the game as close to normal human beings mentally as possible.

When discussing this issue with a few people the other day, the overwhelming sentiment was that these players know and accept the risk when they decide to make football their career. Frankly, there are too many educational, cultural, sociological, and financial issues that muddle the argument to boil it down to the "they don't have to play, so it's their own fault, the league doesn't owe them anything" mindset. Maybe I'm just a bleeding heart.

I think it's likely the league has damning evidence on the Saints players. But I also think if the league's going to destroy the character of a heretofore well-respected player, Jonathan Vilma, by putting a scarlet letter on his chest for the rest of his life ("B'' for bounty leader), it needs to come clean with more evidence on Vilma than it's provided thus far.

I don't believe the league has shared nothing, which the union would have us believe, but I also don't believe the league has shared nearly enough evidence to convince anyone that Vilma deserves to be banned for a year. If it's true Vilma offered his teammates $10,000 to knock Kurt Warner and Brett Favre out of a playoff game three seasons ago, let's see the proof.

It's good that Mary Jo White, a well-known and highly respected set of legal eyes, combed through the league's evidence in the case and pronounced it conviction worthy. But White was also retained by the league. What do you think she would have concluded had she been retained by the players association?

This basically sums up my opinion of the Saints situation to date. I'm perfectly fine with the suspensions, but I'd like to see actual proof of what they're being accused of. I was quick to take the NFL's word that they had caught the Saints execs and players red handed, that they had mountains of evidence (50,000 documents, remember?) pointing to a willful disregard of an order to stop an existing bounty program established in 2009. Maybe we'll see it, maybe we won't, but I'm past the point of taking the word of "The Shield" as gospel.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

A lot to digest in Peter King's MMQB this morning. Plenty on Seau, the Saints, the Vikings, etc.



When discussing this issue with a few people the other day, the overwhelming sentiment was that these players know and accept the risk when they decide to make football their career. Frankly, there are too many educational, cultural, sociological, and financial issues that muddle the argument to boil it down to the "they don't have to play, so it's their own fault, the league doesn't owe them anything" mindset. Maybe I'm just a bleeding heart.

Well, I think there is some merit to that sentiment. However, there is not enough education of the players on what to expect after football, on several different levels.

If you can recognize something in yourself based on education, you're going to be more likely to seek help. If you're left to believe that life after football is peaches and cream and when you get there, your peaches are rotten and your cream is sour and all you know is this is not what I want.....bad things can happen.

The NFL needs to get serious about educating its players on how to handle life after football and how to handle the different adversities that retired professional athletes can face.

I don't think that education will keep a single athlete from playing, but it will help them when they're done.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

NFL Related: Eli Manning was amazing on SNL last night.

I was impressed too. He has more personality than I would have thought. I can see how he is a good leader for the Giants.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I've dealt with enough unions to know that in a lot of the cases, they are there to disrupt and counter the employer instead of actually working towards the best solution.

They're a contridiction.

If I was a player who was affected by this bounty program (aka a target), I would be absolutely livid that my union is trying to get someone off who tried to injure me.

The same union they pay money to that is supposed to represent the victim as well. It seems to get lost in the shuffle.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

NFL Related: Eli Manning was amazing on SNL last night.

I don't know if amazing was the right word, but he was very affable and one of the better athlete hosts in recent memory. I loved his Big Brothers ad that mimicked his brother's own spoof ad.

Best line of the night:

"That's how I throw a grenade!"

[Bobblehead]

I've been reading a few interesting articles wondering if these debilitating injuries may end up leading to the end of the NFL.

The issue is that many of these concussions happen in college and as more is learned about the long term effects the student athletes are not compensated like NFL players, so that would lead to lawsuits and/or costly insurance. And those costs may end up crippling the athlete feeder system to the NFL.

That may never happen, but I think those sorts of scenarios are going to be more reasonable the more the long term cumulative effects of brain injuries are learned.

[valo403]

I mentioned this above but figured I'd add a link to the intelligence squared debate on football tonight.

This is the question:

Corruption and a growing concern for head injury have put college football in the spotlight. Are football programs’ millions in profits exploitation? Or are they still a celebration of amateur sport? Does football’s inherent danger and violence have any place in institutions of higher learning? Or does it provide young men with educational opportunities they would not otherwise have?

You can watch online here at 6:45pm ET time tonight

http://fora.tv/live/intelligencesqua...paign=Football

I believe the podcast will also be available following the event. Should be very interesting, I'm definitely looking forward to it.

[Drake]

Perfect. Jacoby Jones signed a two year deal worth $7 million with Baltimore these afternoon.

Joe Flacco better throw it to him in the playoffs as:
Lee Evans dropped it in the AFC Championship Game these year
T.J. Houshmanzadeh dropped it in a AFC Divisional Round in 2010 against Pittsburgh

Can't forget that Jacoby Jones won a game for Baltimore back in January too.