The vast majority of team rosters are set barring an unforeseen injury early in camp. Though there are still some "name" free agents available, like one-time Colts teammates Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James, most of those players are past their prime and still on the market for a reason. Here's my look at the best and worst offseasons for NFL franchises:
Falcons rookie head coach Mike Smith collected the NFL's Coach of the Year award from the Associated Press this season for the remarkable turnaround that he helped author in Atlanta. The Falcons went 11-5 and made the playoffs as an NFC wild-card entry after enduring the misery of 2007's 4-12 finish.
While driving to work early Thursday morning, Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett felt tears welling in his eyes as he peered through the tinted windows of his Mercedes sedan.
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
NEW YORK -- Take a bow, Howard Katz. This was your schedule. The other day, Roger Goodell told Katz, the NFL's schedule-meister, that if he had to take the public slings and arrows when the slate for the week was a clunker, "you should take a bow now.''
If the Falcons make the playoffs -- and they'll need help even if they win their final two games to finish 11-5 -- they'll be able to look back and thank Justin Blalock for making the biggest play in the biggest game of the season.
Five things we learned from the Falcons' 24-17 victory over the whoops-a-daisy Vikings ...
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
Musings, observations and the occasional insight while watching the strange doings of a Week 15 that from start to finish I just didn't understand ...
You have bombarded me with questions about the seemingly unfair way (and I'm sure Mike Smith, Rich McKay and Arthur Blank would not include the words "seemingly'' there) the Atlanta-Philadelphia game ended, and so I've scrapped plans to write about the new Dallas stadium 'til next week. Instead, let's examine the play, and the game situation, that I can guarantee you will be reviewed after the season by the National Football League. I'll start with one of the most cogent letters, from John Hyman, of Chicago:
The vast majority of team rosters are set barring an unforeseen injury early in camp. Though there are still some "name" free agents available, like one-time Colts teammates Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James, most of those players are past their prime and still on the market for a reason. Here's my look at the best and worst offseasons for NFL franchises:
Falcons rookie head coach Mike Smith collected the NFL's Coach of the Year award from the Associated Press this season for the remarkable turnaround that he helped author in Atlanta. The Falcons went 11-5 and made the playoffs as an NFC wild-card entry after enduring the misery of 2007's 4-12 finish.
While driving to work early Thursday morning, Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett felt tears welling in his eyes as he peered through the tinted windows of his Mercedes sedan.
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
NEW YORK -- Take a bow, Howard Katz. This was your schedule. The other day, Roger Goodell told Katz, the NFL's schedule-meister, that if he had to take the public slings and arrows when the slate for the week was a clunker, "you should take a bow now.''
If the Falcons make the playoffs -- and they'll need help even if they win their final two games to finish 11-5 -- they'll be able to look back and thank Justin Blalock for making the biggest play in the biggest game of the season.
Five things we learned from the Falcons' 24-17 victory over the whoops-a-daisy Vikings ...
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
Musings, observations and the occasional insight while watching the strange doings of a Week 15 that from start to finish I just didn't understand ...
You have bombarded me with questions about the seemingly unfair way (and I'm sure Mike Smith, Rich McKay and Arthur Blank would not include the words "seemingly'' there) the Atlanta-Philadelphia game ended, and so I've scrapped plans to write about the new Dallas stadium 'til next week. Instead, let's examine the play, and the game situation, that I can guarantee you will be reviewed after the season by the National Football League. I'll start with one of the most cogent letters, from John Hyman, of Chicago:
Who says that size matters? That phrase certainly doesn't apply to Redskins linebacker London Fletcher, who has been one of the NFL's top tacklers throughout his 11-year career.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight while a Week 6 that was flush with fantastic finishes unfolds before our eyes ...
One of my favorite things to do is research old sports stories. This is because I'm crazy. In any case, Sunday before the farce that was the Chiefs-Falcons football game, I was sitting next to Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson and I asked him if he had ever played in Atlanta. He said: "Sure, I was there for the Dave Hampton game." I had only vaguely heard the story about the Dave Hampton game, so I went back to look it up. Turns out, the story was more amazing than Lenny made it sound ... more amazing, really, than I could have imagined.
ATLANTA -- What we learned from the Falcons' thrill-a-minute 34-21 victory over the Lions at the newly renovated Georgia Dome, aka The House That Hebert Built.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we were witnessing the winning, but at times sloppy beginning of the Jets' Brett Favre era.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we arrive at the midway point of the NFL's fake-game schedule, putting us (thankfully) just 17 days away from when they start keeping score for real. ...
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight gleaned from a day at the Atlanta Falcons training camp last week, where all things new -- be it a head coach, a general manager, a first-round quarterback, a lead running back or a kicker -- are positively the rage....
SI.com has dispatched 10 writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. For the complete schedule of postcards, click here.
Soon after the Atlanta Falcons informed Matt Ryan's agent, Tom Condon, that they were going to take him with their first pick on NFL draft weekend, Falcons president Rich McKay said to the veteran agent, "You know where we are. Can you do this early?"
The text message arrived on Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff's cellphone around noon last Saturday, three hours before the start of the 2008 NFL draft: trust your instincts. you have been training for this all your life. It came from Patriots vice president Scott Pioli, Dimitroff's close friend, former boss and mentor, and he took the encouraging words to heart. This was the first draft that Dimitroff, 42, would run, and the job ahead of him was monumental. Atlanta held six of the first 98 picks and had 10 holes in its starting lineup to fill, including quarterback. "This draft will be a milestone in the history of the Falcons," team owner Arthur Blank had said on Friday. "We're not starting a new chapter here. We're starting a new book."
One of my very good friends, Corey Bowdre, is also one of the biggest Falcons fans I know. He knew I was in Atlanta for the draft and sent me this text message Monday: "Not very impressed.''
Thanks to its wheeling and dealing ways, Cleveland essentially won't have a draft this year. San Diego's roster is so well stocked it doesn't really need one. But those are the exceptions, not the rule.
Just 17 days out from the 2008 NFL draft, we hold these "truths" to be self-evident:
In terms of getting better quickly, nobody in the NFL improved more dramatically in 2007 than Cleveland (six more wins than 2006), Green Bay and Tampa Bay (five each). With the league's offseason re-distribution of talent in full swing, and the draft still six weeks away, here are the five teams I think have done the most to better their lot in the NFL:
Strangely enough, the screaming headline news of Brett Favre's retirement led my thoughts in an unexpected direction: to the lowly Falcons, and some reflection on how different the fate of two franchises might have been had the Packers never wrested Favre away from Atlanta in their memorable February 1992 trade.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Tennessee Titans agreed to a two-year contract with former Atlanta tight end Alge Crumpler, one of many veterans released last month by the Falcons.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Michael Turner says he was won over by the Atlanta Falcons' aggressive efforts when he agreed to a six-year deal Sunday.
Not much has gone to plan for the Atlanta Falcons since the final month of the 2006 season or so, but you can't fault their execution in the pursuit and acquisition of free-agent running back Michael Turner this weekend.
The Atlanta Falcons added one running back Sunday, but will lose another in the near future.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Finally, something went right for the Falcons. Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff, pitted against the Oakland Raiders for the third pick in the draft, called tails in a Westin Hotel conference room when a league official flipped a coin Friday morning, and it came up tails. That broke the logjam for the third pick in the draft between Atlanta, Oakland and Kansas City. The order at the top is now official:
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we count down to the start of the annual meat market that is the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis ...
Now that Washington's bizarrely conducted coaching search has concluded with perhaps the fastest promotion in the history of the NFL -- Jim Zorn went from newly hired Redskins offensive coordinator to head coach in a couple weeks -- the theme behind this year's crop of coaching hires is: The cleaner the better.
ATLANTA -- He'd seemingly become the billionaire owner who now couldn't even buy a break.
Preparing to play in the Super Bowl sounds stressful enough, but if you ask me, the players on the Giants and Patriots have it easy. Try being a member of, say, the Atlanta Falcons or Miami Dolphins, two teams that didn't come close to making the playoffs and surely will undergo wholesale roster changes as they welcome their third new coach in as many years.
They say that birds of a feather flock together, but I don't think this is the company that the Falcons and Ravens really want to be keeping these days. With the not-so-surprising news that Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has told both teams that he's no longer interested in becoming their next head coach, I'm guessing the reality is starting to set in in Atlanta and Baltimore:
His name is not on the lips of casual football fans, but Indianapolis Colts assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell definitely is on the minds of officials looking to fill head-coaching vacancies.
If the Atlanta Falcons are interested in Marty Schottenheimer as their next head coach, it's news to Schottenheimer.
Thoughts on the upcoming Jets-Patriots game, a.k.a. The Payback Bowl, and other NFL Week 15 topics ...
The star-crossed season of the Atlanta Falcons continued, stunningly, Tuesday afternoon when coach Bobby Petrino told owner Arthur Blank he wanted out as head coach.
What we learned on a night when Monday Night Football came here to see the 3-10 Falcons for the third time (including one preseason game) this season, exactly three more than they've visited Lambeau Field to see the 11-2 Packers.
MORE GAME PLANS: Jets-Cowboys | Colts-Falcons
In August 2002, Andrew Young, a former ambassador to the United Nations and onetime aide to Martin Luther King Jr., met with Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. The meeting was not scheduled or scripted, and it lasted only a few minutes. Vick was coming off the field after a training-camp practice at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., and Young pulled him aside.
More Game Plans: Cincinnati-Buffalo | Denver-Detroit | San Francisco-Atlanta | Green Bay-Kansas City | San Diego-Minnesota | Carolina-Tennessee | Arizona-Tampa Bay | Jacksonville-New Orleans | Washington-N.Y. Jets | Seattle-Cleveland | Houston-Oakland | Dallas-Philadelphia
MORE GAME PLANS: Atlanta-New Orleans | Tennessee-Houston | Arizona-Washington | New England-Miami | Baltimore-Buffalo | San Francisco-New York Giants | Kansas City-Oakland | New York Jets-Cincinnati | St. Louis-Seattle | Chicago-Philadelphia | Pittsburgh-Denver | Minnesota-Dallas
Want to know how un-obsessed Atlantans are with the Michael Vick story now? Witness the local ESPN radio affiliate in the hours leading up to Monday night's game between the Falcons and the Giants. The hosts spent a 10-minute segment making fun of the male producer, who had spent part of his weekend getting a manicure, pedicure and his eyebrows waxed. "Nothing wrong with taking care of yourself," the producer argued. "It's time we put the 'man' back in manicure."
Somewhat unexpectedly, Tuesday turned out to be a pretty good day for the Atlanta Falcons, who learned that an arbitrator had ruled in their favor regarding their quest to recoup almost $20 million in bonus money from disgraced quarterback Michael Vick. The grateful Falcons will take any victory they can get, even if it shows up only in a financial ledger. Because in almost every other quantifiable category, the losses keep piling up in the first year of the Bobby Petrino coaching era in Atlanta.
Pro Bowl cornerback DeAngelo Hall sat out the first quarter of the Atlanta Falcons' game against the Houston Texans on Sunday after a run-in with the coaching staff the previous week.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) -- DeAngelo Hall faces "substantial discipline" that may include a suspension following his meltdown on the field and on the sideline against Carolina.
The Atlanta Falcons signed former Jacksonville quarterback Byron Leftwich on Tuesday, giving the team immediate depth and a potential contender for the starting job.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) -- Joey Harrington, who has been sacked 13 times in his first two starts for the Falcons, was feeling more heat on Monday -- this time from his coach.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) -- The Atlanta Falcons again are turning to Morten Andersen to solve their kicking woes.
MORE GAME PLANS: Bengals at Browns | Falcons at Jaguars | Texans at Panthers | Raiders at Broncos | Jets at Ravens | Vikings at Lions | Chiefs at Bears | Cowboys at Dolphins | Chargers at Patriots | Bills at Steelers | Bucs at Saints | Packers at Giants | Seahawks at Cardinals | Redskins at Eagles | 49ers at Rams
This story was orginally published in the Nov. 13, 1989 issue of Sports Illustrated.
SAN DIEGO -- Musings, observations and occasional insight as the NFL's long-awaited Week 1 finally unfolds in a blaze of, well, predictable results ...
Former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Rod Coleman had arthroscopic knee surgery on Friday and might not return until the Atlanta Falcons' Week 5 game at Tennessee.
MORE GAME PLANS: Falcons at Vikings | Dolphins at Redskins | Patriots at Jets | Broncos at Bills | Steelers at Browns | Panthers at Rams | Titans at Jaguars | Lions at Raiders | Chiefs at Texans | Bucs at Seahawks | Bears at Chargers | Giants at Cowboys
There were plenty of Falcons fans wearing No. 7 jerseys at the Georgia Dome. They got a chance to cheer for Michael Vick's replacement.
First, Michael Vick apologized to all the people he lied to. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank. Coach Bobby Petrino. His teammates.
ATLANTA (AP) -- This is one of those landmark days, a dividing line that will forever define the history of the Atlanta Falcons.
Atlanta Falcons receiver Joe Horn welcomed the news that Michael Vick filed his plea agreement on dogfighting charges.
Brodie Croyle is not ready to be the starting quarterback for the Chiefs.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Joey Harrington has only limited experience with the idea of being in the right place at the right time in his career, so he doesn't necessarily see it as karmic payback or a favor from the football gods that Michael Vick's demise in Atlanta has led to the re-emergence of his NFL fortunes.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) -- While the Atlanta Falcons certainly knew this day was coming, it still hurt to get the news officially:
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- Falcons third-string quarterback D.J. Shockley was carted off the field with 4 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after spraining his left knee in Atlanta's 13-10 exhibition game win over the Buffalo Bills on Friday.
The Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday said they did not anticipate star quarterback Michael Vick's indictment on charges related to dogfighting.
It's bad enough that Barry Bonds, the Anti-Hank, is zeroing in on Hank Aaron's home run record. Pray that 756 won't come next month in Atlanta, where, until recently, the populace was reeling from a certified steroid-induced tragedy.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick will go before a federal court in Richmond, Virginia, next week on charges that he participated in a dogfighting ring spanning at least nine states, the court said Wednesday.
A few observations on the Michael Vick saga a day after he was indicted on dog-fighting charges by a federal grand jury...
Humpty Dumpty: When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.
Nothing gets chewed over more every NFL offseason than quarterback questions. Only Indianapolis and New England seem immune to the constant pattern of change, speculation and potential controversies at this position.
Ten last thoughts from around the NFL before I disappear on vacation for a while:
Falcons QB Michael Vick who increasingly seems as problematic off the field as he is on it seems to have found trouble once again. This time Vick is dogged by allegations that he was part of a dog-fighting ring operating out of a home he owned in Virginia. (We must say "owned" because once the dog-fighting rumors surfaced, Vick quickly sold the house for less than half of its assessed value. OK, so he's no Donald Trump.)
PITTSBURGH -- Sitting in new coach Mike Tomlin's office the other day, I got the impression he will be about as meat-and-potatoes as any other coach in football. On the wall of his office are three blown-up Steelers prints.
So now it's dog fighting. For at least the fourth time in a span of about five months, Michael Vick's name has once again surfaced in connection with a story that threatens to further tarnish his reputation, leading to a growing debate about the viability of his future as the face of the Atlanta Falcons franchise.
The best part of a future mock draft is determining the order of teams. If you care to argue about that or the players I selected, bring it on:
Random thoughts, musings, and the occasional insight as the pick-fest known as the NFL Draft looms less than 24 hours nigh ...
With the NFL Draft kicking off in fewer than 72 hours, here's what we're hearing around the league:
It's paralysis by analysis time in trying to discern exactly what's coming in this weekend's NFL Draft. But there are some things that simply make too much sense not to happen. Here are 10 moves that not only could happen, but we think should:
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's new get-tough policy has gotten rave reviews, and rightly so. But there's get-tough, and then there's getting ridiculous. As in fining Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher $100,000 for wearing a non NFL-approved cap to Super Bowl media day, while sipping from a non NFL-approved bottle of water.
Living in Boston, where Drew Bledsoe made his NFL name, I shouldn't have been surprised to hear the notion tossed out there almost reflexively, even before the news of the former Patriots quarterback's retirement had sunk in.
In just two weeks commissioner Roger Goodell will step up to the podium for the first time and open the 2007 NFL Draft. At this point, teams are finalizing their draft boards and targeting certain players. Here is the word circulating in the scouting community as to what may happen on draft day.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight in reaction to the release of the NFL's 2007 regular-season schedule ...
Musings, observations, and the occasional insight in the wake of this week's rather uneventful NFL annual meeting in Arizona ...
I learned two important things after writing last week's column on the recent struggles of defensive linemen selected first overall in the NFL Draft. One is that there are a hell of a lot of readers who thought I had overlooked Lee Roy Selmon and Ed "Too Tall" Jones, when, in fact, I was discussing the failures of defensive linemen drafted within the last 30 years. The other is that there are a handful of readers out there who think the 2000 draft class produced some of the worst first-round picks in recent history, including its top selection and the inspiration for last week's column, Cleveland Browns defensive end Courtney Brown. It was this second lesson that got me to roll back my sleeves and delve into some draft evaluations for this week's column.
PHOENIX -- Very impressive performance by Lane Kiffin this morning at the AFC coaches breakfast here at the NFL meetings. (Each year the AFC coaches meet the press one day, the NFC coaches another. They sit at round tables, eat some fruit or eggs, chug coffee and update the world, usually carefully, about their teams.)
The Texans are reportedly on the verge of trading for Falcons quarterback Matt Schaub. Let's break down what the deal will mean for both teams:
If we've learned anything from the first few weeks of the NFL's unrestricted free agency period, it's that bigger bank accounts usually lead to riskier decisions within the marketplace. The recent increase in the NFL's salary cap -- it has grown by nearly $25 million over the last two years -- has given more teams more license to indulge in the kinds of moves that they wouldn't even consider a few years ago. I'm talking about aging running backs signing for good money and guards -- yes, guards -- finding fat paydays after years of being dismissed as the most expendable components of an offensive line. It's these types of trends that have made this offseason all the more interesting.
Now that I'm on my sabbatical, Andrew has seen fit to feed me a diet of international cuisine. Kiwis, Brits, a Scot who plays American football; this is really a treat. Of course, for those of you who want hard news from the gridiron, I'd suggest you visit the sites of some of our more intrepid reporters at this point, while I float dreamily on the air currents of my sabbatical.
Brooks, a former NFL wide receiver and cornerback, spent the last seven years as a scout for the Seahawks and Panthers.
He hadn't even accepted the job as Louisville coach, but Steve Kragthorpe was already on the recruiting trail. He was dining with Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich in Oklahoma City to discuss the Cardinals' opening in the wake of Bobby Petrino's sudden departure to the Atlanta Falcons, when Kragthorpe got up from the table and called Brian Brohm on his cell phone.
With Super Bowl XLI approaching, Tony Dungy will garner more positive press than Barack Obama. Count on myriad gushy stories about Dungy's grace. Nonetheless, one description that will be elusive is Dungy as genius. Despite making history to highlight his brilliant career, Dungy still hasn't overcome the maddening tendency to overlook his football acumen.
This sweet spot in time before the Super Bowl is supposed to be a feel-good moment for pro football, and to a large extent it is. Two African-American coaches, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, are taking their teams to Miami and reminding NFL owners that their executive ranks are still weirdly monochrome; an impeccable, Canton-bound quarterback, Peyton Manning, led the greatest comeback in conference title game history on Sunday; and New Orleans made it into the penultimate round. The only way life could be better for the NFL is if Michael Vick stayed out of the news.
1. Run, Charles, run: He may or may not try to become governor of Alabama, but Charles Barkley is being drafted for a different kind of run. USA Today is reporting that TNT has proposed that Barkley race 67-year-old referee Dick ("Knick") Bavetta on Feb. 17, the day before the NBA All-Star Game. Barkley has been riding Bavetta on-air for being too old and presumably too slow to get up and down the floor as a ref, challenging him to a match race. Sir Charles has even joked that Bavetta's tombstone will read, "He keeled over while racing the Chuckster." No word yet if Bavetta will accept, but this sounds more interesting than whatever that All-Star weekend "skills" competition is supposed to be.
The juxtaposition couldn't have been more obvious. On the day the 65-year-old Bill Parcells retired from the NFL coaching ranks (again) because he could no longer summon the mental energy that another year on the job required, the Oakland Raiders hired a head coach in Lane Kiffin who is less than half Parcells' age.
Because I'm not sure if I'm ready for a world where the most famous living person named James Brown is a jovial NFL studio host, here are 10 things I learned about the sports world this weekend...
1. Peyton Manning finally has gotten the Colts past the Patriots. Good for him. It was starting to look like the closest Peyton would get to the Super Bowl is starring in 23 different ads during the game.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and hopefully the occasional insight on championship game-Sunday ...
Nick Saban had to have known when the Little Debbies were wrong.
Misconception of the Week: Bobby Petrino's going to be Mike Martz and turn the Atlanta Falcons into the Greatest Show on Georgia Turf.
Here are a few words of advice for new Atlanta Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino: Talk to former college head coaches who took jobs in the NFL before you. Chat with Nick Saban and Butch Davis. Seek out Mike Riley and Steve Spurrier. Don't just enjoy that fat, five-year, $24 million deal the Falcons recently gave you. Think about all those other highly successful coaches who walked into the league with hyped reputations and ambitious ideas. Pay very close attention to where they are now because that could be you one day.
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