NFL News

Hip Hop NFL Free Agency News

The NFL the biggest sport in America is worth reporting on even though this is a hip hop site. Every Sunday afternoon during the season I will be watching the NFL as will be 90% of american men the other 10% are probaly cleaning the house for there woman or wearing a rainbow on there shirt. Free agency in the NFL is very similar to free agency in Hip Hop. If you get cut loose by your label you look for another label or a way to distribute your music, Every 3 months artists get cut by the labels for not moving enough units or to make way for the rookies coming on board. The same scenario is going on right now in the NFL except it only goes on once a year.

The Shutdown Five: Players for whom NFL free agency is humbling.

Free agency comes and goes every year, and for some guys, it’s an extraordinary blessing, leaving them feeling well-appreciated and awash in cash.

For others, though, it serves as a white-gloved slap to the face, rudely bringing to their attention the fact that they are no longer the belle of the ball. We’re a full two weeks into free agency, and as of yet, no one’s had the desire to ask them to dance. Their names are still big, but the demand for them is not, and that’s probably a difficult thing to deal with.

This is a list of those who may be dealing with that feeling right now.

1. Terrell Owens, wide receiver

Nate Burleson(notes), Antonio Bryant(notes), Antwaan Randle-El, Kassim Osgood(notes), Jerheme Urban(notes), Arnaz Battle(notes), Kevin Walter(notes) … all those guys have hit the market, and all those guys have found homes. Owens remains on the street, though. And not only that, since the Bengals took about 10 minutes to decide they’d prefer Bryant to Owens, there hasn’t been a mention of Owens visiting anyone else.

I’ve said it before: I think teams are making a mistake by dismissing Owens. He’s finally shown that he knows how to join a team, produce on the field and not be a distraction. It’s unfortunate that this knowledge has only come when his physical skills have started to diminish, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. He can still go. Some team will get him for a song, and be handsomely rewarded.

2. Joey Porter, outside linebacker

The Miami Dolphins literally could not wait to release Porter, and when they did, Porter had already chosen a list of teams for which he’d consider playing.

On that list, there were three teams. Unfortunately for Joey, that number did not match the list of teams who were actually willing to employ him. That list, to this point, contains zero teams.

That’s got to be a tough pill for Porter to swallow, because I don’t think there have been too many guys in NFL history that have had a higher opinion of themselves than Joey Porter.

3. Brian Westbrook, running back

Westbrook’s done nothing in his career but produce, produce and produce some more, but unfortunately for him, he’s got two labels on him that are absolutely murderous to free agency success: old and injury-prone.

He’s on the wrong side of 30 and he played in only eight games last year. His averages were still decent (4.5 yards per carry, 7.2 yards per reception), but I’m afraid the injury bug trumps everything else.

It also doesn’t help that there’s a strong class of running backs available in the draft, but at the same time, but that hasn’t stopped Chester Taylor(notes), Thomas Jones(notes), Larry Johnson(notes) and LaDainian Tomlinson(notes) from getting contracts. Meanwhile, I haven’t even heard of anyone having the slightest bit of interest in Westbrook.

4. Kevin Mawae, center

He’s an eight-time Pro Bowler and a member of the all-decade team, and while his agent says “several” teams have shown interest, the Titans, his original team, only want him back as a backup. I’d think that if someone out there had offered Mawae a clear-cut starting job, he’d have taken it by now.

5. Darren Sharper, safety.

Knee surgery has complicated matters for Sharper, but I’d have still thought someone would’ve snatched him up by now. Who could blame Sharper if he looked back at his ’09 season and said, “Exactly what more can I do for a team? What more can I possibly prove?”

But, like Westbrook, he’s stuck with a deadly combination: age, lack of speed and then the knee surgery, which is not known to make people faster. Of the five gentlemen on this list, though, I would think that, long-term, Sharper has the least to worry about. He’ll latch on somewhere.

NFL Playoff Picture is set

Definately more interesting than what is going on in Hip Hop

Next week’s games
AFC: 6. Baltimore at 3. New England, Sun. 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
AFC: 5. New York at 4. Cincinnati, Sat. 4:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
NFC: 6. Philadelphia at 3. Dallas, Sat. 8 p.m. ET (NBC)
NFC: 5. Green Bay at 4. Arizona, Sun. 4:40 p.m. ET (Fox)

AFC PLAYOFF PICTURE

5. New York Jets (9-7) – Won tiebreaker to clinch No. 5 seed with win vs. Cincinnati. Will visit Cincinnati on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

6. Baltimore Ravens (9-7) – Clinched playoff berth with win at Oakland and won tiebreakers with Steelers and Texans for No. 6 seed. Will visit New England on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

Houston Texans (9-7) – Eliminated from playoff contention with New York win and Baltimore win.

Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7) – Eliminated from playoff contention with Baltimore win.

Denver Broncos (8-8) – Eliminated from playoff contention with loss vs. Kansas City.

Miami Dolphins (7-9) – Eliminated from playoff contention with loss vs. Pittsburgh.

Jacksonville Jaguars (7-9) – Eliminated from playoff contention with loss at Cleveland.

AFC DIVISION CHAMPIONS

1. Indianapolis Colts (14-2) – Clinched AFC South title and home-field advantage through AFC playoffs.

2. San Diego Chargers (13-3) – Clinched No. 2 seed and first-round playoff bye.

3. New England Patriots (10-6) – Clinched AFC East title and will play host to Baltimore on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS). Edged Cincinnati for No. 3 seed based on better strength of victory (72-88 to 70-90).

4. Cincinnati Bengals (10-6) – Clinched AFC North title and will play host to New York on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

NFC PLAYOFF PICTURE

1. New Orleans Saints (13-3) – Clinched NFC South title and home-field advantage through NFC playoffs.

2. Minnesota Vikings (12-4) – Clinched NFC North title. Clinched No. 2 seed and first-round playoff bye with win vs. Giants and Philadelphia loss.

3. Dallas Cowboys (11-5) – Clinched NFC East title with win vs. Philadelphia based on head-to-head sweep. Again will play host to Philadelphia on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, NBC).

4. Arizona Cardinals (10-6) – Clinched NFC West title. Will be No. 4 seed due to loss vs. Green Bay and again play host to Green Bay on Sunday (4:40 p.m. ET, Fox).

5. Green Bay Packers (11-5) – Clinched No. 5 seed with win at Arizona. Again will visit Arizona on Sunday (4:40 p.m. ET, Fox).

6. Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) – Clinched playoff spot and again will visit Dallas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, NBC). Fell to No. 6 seed with loss at Dallas.

Merriman tells his side of the incident with Skank Tila Tequila

As we reported earlier, San Diego Chargers Shawne Merriman was arrested for choking Skank Tila “Tequila” Nguyen. Our earlier story states deputies determined Tequila had been drinking.

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Merriman said he did not assault Tila, rather he was trying to stop her from driving while intoxicated.

“I was trying to help her, not hurt her,” he said. “I’m still glad I did what I did.”

Merriman also disputes widely reported claims that Tequila is his girlfriend.

Michael Vick Blogging – I’m sorry. That’s the place where I need to begin.

I’m sorry. That’s the place where I need to begin. My feeling of remorse. I ain’t never written a blog before, so putting my thoughts down on paper is a challenge – however it’s a challenge I must face.

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I can look a 250 pound linebacker in his eyes at the line of scrimmage and have no fear. But expressing myself when I know that there are millions of people who are so angry with me, and rightfully so, is a challenge unlike any other I have faced before.

What I did was horrendous. Awful. Inhumane. And I’ve no excuses for my actions. It makes my heart hurt now to think about what I’ve done. And I’m gonna be real honest, it took a while for me to get to this place.

Sitting in a prison cell didn’t make me feel remorse. It was meeting so many animal lovers, speaking with them and looking them in their eyes. Staring at them. Looking so deep into their eyes that I began to feel their pain. Allowing that pain to enter into my body is when I started to understand how bad it really was. I have been trying hard to connect with people who feel this pain,because for my whole life I was disconnected from the suffering of animals. And you might say, “come on Mike, how could you do those things to those dogs?” And you’re right…I
ask myself those questions every day. What kind of person does this? How does a human-being treat dogs or any animal with such pain and cruelty? And the hard part for me is the answer to these questions. Because the answer is ME. And I am trying so hard right now to become a better person, because who I was, I am ashamed of.

Cause see, my whole life has been numb. I was numb to the violence in my community…cause I saw it all the time, ever since I was a child. I mean, how does one grow up in a city that’s nickname is Bad Newz? You can probably guess that from the jump, ya’ know I’ve seen some bad things in my life. And football was the only way that I could escape. As a kid, I even used to go out fishing, and most of the times I wouldn’t catch a darn thing, but just needed to get away from the chaos every once in a while. So, when the commissioner called my name as the #1 draft pick in the NFL – the first time a black quarterback had ever been chosen as the #1 pick, I thought my life was all good. But, what I didn’t realize then, that I have begun to realize now, is that even though I had more money in my pocket, big cars and big houses, I was still numb. And when I say numb, I ain’t talkin about not realizing the stuff that was going on around me, it was just like I was living life asleep. However, that is still no excuse for what I did. But let’s not forget that there are still hundreds of thousands of young people growing in similar environments and seeing violence at a young age has severe consequences.

Now that I’m trying my best to wake up, I know I have a lot of work to do. And this isn’t about trying to win a Super Bowl ring or a MVP trophy…this is about trying to save lives. I think back to when I use to play football and of course I use to see all those kids in the stands wearing #7 jerseys. And I would never want them to look up to the Michael Vick who did all of those terrible things to the dogs. I know where I need to do the most work is with all of the people around the world who continue to fight dogs. Let me be straight forward with y’all: What I did was wrong, and what you’re doing is wrong. We must stop dog fighting, and I will do everything in my power to be a voice of someone who has finally woken up from the numbness, and knows just how bad it really is. My mission now is to be a source of service to save many animals. I am working very closely with The Humane Society and will be launching a new campaign shortly. If I had one hope in life, it would be that my actions will speak louder than my words. I know it will be hard to forgive me until you see my sincerity through my actions, but I promise you and I promise myself that that day will come.

Lastly, I accept this challenge, not of writing this blog, but of redeeming myself.

Vick is an Eagle

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Vick arrived in Philadelphia Tuesday morning and remained there Wednesday evening. The Eagles will hold a news conference on Friday morning to announce his signing.

The Eagles will pay Vick $1.6 million his first year with an option for the second year at $5.2 million. Vick can also earn an additional $3 million in incentives over the two years of the contract.

49ers 1st Round Pick Michael Crabtree Threatens to Sit Out and be ReDrafted

Normally, the unpredictable football decisions of Al Davis adversely affect only the team he owns, the bumbling Oakland Raiders.
The NFL’s other 31 teams often benefit from his strange personnel moves, which allow talented draft picks and free agents to slide to them.

In April, the cross-bay San Francisco 49ers rejoiced when the Raiders selected wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey(notes) seventh overall. It allowed the Niners to select Michael Crabtree, a pass-catching machine out of Texas Tech, at No. 10. Predraft hype rated Crabtree higher than Heyward-Bey.

Now the Niners’ dream pick has turned nightmare. In a convoluted strategy, Crabtree is threatening to sit out the 2009 season by negotiating off mock drafts which didn’t occur rather than the real one that did.Rookie Michael Crabtree is threatening to sit out the 2009 season if the Niners don’t give him a deal guaranteeing more than $23.5 million.

Crabtree has decided that he shouldn’t have to be paid less because – based on all the made-up, predicted drafts – Al Davis made a mistake. He wants to be paid more than Heyward-Bey, demanding his contract reflect that it was actually he who was the higher selected receiver.

It’s a ground-breaking, if intellectually bankrupt, concept.

Crabtree’s camp said Thursday that he is even willing to sit out the year and re-enter the draft next spring unless he gets more than the $23.5 million the Raiders guaranteed Heyward-Bey. The news was first reported by profootballtalk.com. Anything less than that stratospheric number is “unacceptable.”

“We are prepared to do it,” David Wells, a cousin of Crabtree, told ESPN. “Michael just wants fair market value. Michael is one of the best players in the draft, and he just wants to be paid like one of the best players.”

The ridiculousness of a guy who’s never caught a professional pass deeming $20-something million “unacceptable” is a testament to the troublesome way the NFL pays its rookies. A sense of youthful entitlement combines with a flawed structure so that the unproven rookie often makes more than the veteran All-Pro.

While NFL players tend to earn their money – a disturbing percentage leave the game as near-cripples dealing with neurological problems – Crabtree would be best served getting to camp and focusing on the tens of millions he will earn rather than the few more he may not.

More intriguing, however, is what Crabtree is trying to pull. Contract negotiations and holdout threats aren’t new. This is. It isn’t just an unorthodox attempt to bypass the traditional (if unofficial) slotting of rookie salaries. It’s putting real value on the unreal speculation that surrounds the buildup to the draft.

Crabtree is trying to get paid off perception, not reality.

Pre-draft hype has grown exponentially over the years. What was once the domain of only hard-core fans has taken on a life of its own. All forms of media dedicate enormous resources to it. The Internet is awash in mock drafts. The draft itself has become a major event in its own right. Next April, the first round will move to Thursday prime time – where it will, no doubt, pull monster television ratings.

Still, as fun and harmless as it is to follow the various prognostications, all of it remains conjecture.

Perhaps Crabtree isn’t aware that even though ESPN will deem sportswriter speculation on “Who will the Raiders pick?” a “Cold Hard Fact,” it is, in fact, not.

Not only is none of the pre-draft coverage “real” – there is no reason to believe it is accurate.

Since there is virtually no benefit for a team to publicly disclose their honest opinions of players, teams blatantly lie about their plans. Why wouldn’t they? Everything you hear should first be assumed inaccurate, not something you can later use in contract negotiations.

The rest of the coverage and discussion that lead up to the draft is opinion – opinion based mostly on pathetically thin research.

Crabtree may indeed be a better player than Heyward-Bey, however much of the public and media sentiment to that regard is because Crabtree played on a high-profile Texas Tech team and scored a dramatic touchdown to upset Texas. Heyward-Bey, meanwhile, played on a fairly anonymous Maryland club.

Just because fans and media – very few of whom watch even a smidgen of tape, have access to team scouting reports or even comprehend the game of football all that well – were more excited about Crabtree means absolutely nothing.

Even if you could prove (and you can’t) that 31 NFL teams felt the same way, it wouldn’t matter. The draft isn’t about consensus opinions; it’s about the decision of each individual franchise.

In this case, the Raiders believed Heyward-Bay was better than Michael Crabtree and they put an oversized contract behind it. That was the only actual, factual thing that occurred. Whether everyone disagreed with Al Davis or whether his recent track record is sketchy doesn’t matter.

The pick is the pick.

Crabtree apparently operates in a world ruled by Mel Kiper Jr. He wants to be paid based on what was wrongly predicted to occur rather than what actually did. In his mind, he was the first receiver drafted, even if he wasn’t.

Talk about your mock drafts.

The New Dallas Cowboys Stadium will Offer $90 Pizzas WTF?

The colossal new Dallas Cowboys Stadium is living proof that everything is bigger in Texas. The menu in the luxury suites proves that things there are more expensive too.

Those enjoying a Cowboys game from a luxury suite at the new stadium will have to shell out $90 for pizza and $66 for a 12-pack of domestic beer, reports Steven Sipple of the Lincoln Journal World. Ninety bucks for pizza? That’s almost as much of a rip-off as Roy Williams.

It costs $800,000 per year to lease one of those luxury suites, a hefty sum that doesn’t include game tickets. On the bright side, the stadium’s official Web site says that “having your company’s name on a suite makes an important statement about your success” and can help make an impression on clients. (Namely that they’re paying you way too much money.)

As for the $90 pizza, that’s the cost for a plain pizza. No word on how much each topping costs but, suffice it to say, if you’re a fan of pepperoni you may want to consider refinancing your mortgage before you head down to watch the Cowboys.