Despite spending two high draft picks on Defensive Ends during the 2008 NFL draft, Jacksonville have secured 7.5-sack Paul Spicer, who has had a relatively productive couple of years, despite spending the majority of his career as a backup. Spicer is 32, and brings some much needed experience to what will be a young D-line considering the additions of Derrick Harvey and Quentin Groves, ostensibly signed to be his and Reggie Haywards' replacements in the next two years.
One thing that puzzled us during the draft was Spicer's status. He was certainly productive for long stretches of last season, yet the Jags still felt that not one, but two new starting Defensive Ends were neccessary. Clearly Jack Del Rio believed that a pass rush is the missing piece of the Jaguars' Superbowl puzzle, but perhaps the loss of Marcus Stroud on the inside will be felt more keenly than anticipated.
Friday 27 June 2008
Lynch Loses License
Buffalo Running Back Marshawn Lynch pleaded guilty to 'failure to exercise due care toward a pedestrian' today, finally ending the saga that has lasted for a whole month, despite being something that could probably have been cleared up in two days.
Lynch lost his driving license for an unspecified amount of time, something that should technically prohibit him from making a similiar mistake. One thing that seems to have become clearer is why this took so long. It seems that Lynch was genuinely unaware that he clipped 27yr old Kimberly Shpeley. She suffered a bruised hip and required 7 stitches to a wound on her thigh, and has stated that she is considering a civil lawsuit against Lynch.
Is it possible to hit someone, even in a Hummer, and not know about it? Perhaps a reader who owns one could let us know.
Commisioner Roger Goodell, who has been in New York State all week, has said that the league will "... wait and see what the facts are and then we'll decide whether it's a violation or if it has any involvement in our personal conduct policy."
It is doubtful that Lynch will serve a suspension, though he will likely be fined.
Lynch lost his driving license for an unspecified amount of time, something that should technically prohibit him from making a similiar mistake. One thing that seems to have become clearer is why this took so long. It seems that Lynch was genuinely unaware that he clipped 27yr old Kimberly Shpeley. She suffered a bruised hip and required 7 stitches to a wound on her thigh, and has stated that she is considering a civil lawsuit against Lynch.
Is it possible to hit someone, even in a Hummer, and not know about it? Perhaps a reader who owns one could let us know.
Commisioner Roger Goodell, who has been in New York State all week, has said that the league will "... wait and see what the facts are and then we'll decide whether it's a violation or if it has any involvement in our personal conduct policy."
It is doubtful that Lynch will serve a suspension, though he will likely be fined.
Commissioner has his say on Rookie contracts
With the NFL on collision course with the NFL Players Association over... well over pretty much everything, Commissioner Roger Goodell has spoken out on a few issues during a symposium at the Chautauqua Institution, N.Y.
Goodell calls the current C.B.A "financially unworkable", and says that he hopes a new deal will be reached by next March. One group of young men who should follow the negotiations closely, are those College students intending to declare for next year's draft in April. Today Goodell spoke at length on the spiralling contracts being handed out to high draft picks:
- Commissioner Roger Goodell
Goodell's words echo that of NFLPA president Kevin Mawae, who called rookie deals such as the $72m deal Matt Ryan signed with Atlanta 'disheartening'. Dolphins kicker Jay Feely concurred, and said that '90% of current players' are against the current system. With this in mind, surely this is one issue that will be easily resolved when the CBA talks start? Well, no actually.
You see, the NFLPA Union is represented by Gene Upshaw, who (providing Matt Stover hasn't had him replaced) will be the man in charge of negotiations with the owners. Unfortunately, Upshaw is dead against a rookie wage scale, and made this clear during the furore over Ryan's deal:
- NFLPA Chief Gene Upshaw
Upshaw seems to want to drive a hard bargain, securing not only rookie deals, but also veteran contracts at the current inflation-busting momentum. This makes no sense, as despite the 'rookie pool' that Upshaw uses to support his argument (Each team has a limited amount of the salary cap to spend on rookies per year), veterans are still being short changed compared to the top 10 guys coming into the league each year, many of whom will prove to be completely unworthy of such money.
We think that this could be a big issue when the NFLPA decides what it is doing with Upshaw. 49ers representative Walt Harris declares that he thinks Upshaw "...has done an exceptional job", and cites the current C.B.A as proof. Hold on a second Walt, you're suggesting that Upshaw did a good job on that? The league opted out of the agreement at the earliest possible opportunity, less than two years after the agreement was signed. All Upshaw did was give the owners every reason to hold out for a better deal this time around. The fact that when Matt Stover made public his desire to see Upshaw replaced, the idea was not completely rejected, suggests that there may be those within the NFLPA who are open to the idea of having Upshaw replaced before negotiations start.
And if you were a veteran who's union boss seemed intent on keeping your salary down at the expense of untested Rookies, wouldn't you feel the same?
Goodell calls the current C.B.A "financially unworkable", and says that he hopes a new deal will be reached by next March. One group of young men who should follow the negotiations closely, are those College students intending to declare for next year's draft in April. Today Goodell spoke at length on the spiralling contracts being handed out to high draft picks:
"There's something wrong about the system... The money should go to people who perform. (A First Round pick) doesn't have to play a down in the NFL and he already has his money, now, with the economics where they are, the consequences if you don't evaluate that player, you can lose a significant amount of money.
- Commissioner Roger Goodell
Goodell's words echo that of NFLPA president Kevin Mawae, who called rookie deals such as the $72m deal Matt Ryan signed with Atlanta 'disheartening'. Dolphins kicker Jay Feely concurred, and said that '90% of current players' are against the current system. With this in mind, surely this is one issue that will be easily resolved when the CBA talks start? Well, no actually.
You see, the NFLPA Union is represented by Gene Upshaw, who (providing Matt Stover hasn't had him replaced) will be the man in charge of negotiations with the owners. Unfortunately, Upshaw is dead against a rookie wage scale, and made this clear during the furore over Ryan's deal:
"we're dealing with such short careers with our rookies and with our players that if you entered into some type of scale or some type of structure for a rookie, it wouldn't make any sense in our business."
- NFLPA Chief Gene Upshaw
Upshaw seems to want to drive a hard bargain, securing not only rookie deals, but also veteran contracts at the current inflation-busting momentum. This makes no sense, as despite the 'rookie pool' that Upshaw uses to support his argument (Each team has a limited amount of the salary cap to spend on rookies per year), veterans are still being short changed compared to the top 10 guys coming into the league each year, many of whom will prove to be completely unworthy of such money.
We think that this could be a big issue when the NFLPA decides what it is doing with Upshaw. 49ers representative Walt Harris declares that he thinks Upshaw "...has done an exceptional job", and cites the current C.B.A as proof. Hold on a second Walt, you're suggesting that Upshaw did a good job on that? The league opted out of the agreement at the earliest possible opportunity, less than two years after the agreement was signed. All Upshaw did was give the owners every reason to hold out for a better deal this time around. The fact that when Matt Stover made public his desire to see Upshaw replaced, the idea was not completely rejected, suggests that there may be those within the NFLPA who are open to the idea of having Upshaw replaced before negotiations start.
And if you were a veteran who's union boss seemed intent on keeping your salary down at the expense of untested Rookies, wouldn't you feel the same?
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