Kickoff
Jul 7, 2008 Amobi Okoye is an adult, Kickoff, National Media, Non-NFL football, Non-Texan stuff
Somewhere, a village is missing its idiot. Tim already commented on this, but, seriously, “Favre to the Texans” is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in a long, looooong (see what I did there?) time. And claiming it is a good fit, considering that we have TWO QBs that most teams would be happy with is just beyond asinine.
Jared Zabransky is shocked — SHOCKED — that the WAC is not mentioned. Interesting article breaking down which conferences turn out the most NFL starters by position. I have nothing to add.
Age Ain’t Nuthin’ But A Number. Nice article from ESPN regarding the coming-of-age of Amobi “Manchild” Okoye. Dude gets cooler every time someone write something about him. I want to hang out with him, actually.
Sam Adams seems like a man who likes BBQ
Jun 2, 2007 Jacoby Jones is unheralded, Non-NFL football, Pacman Jones' gunrack, Sam Adams, Teams that aren't the Texans
Some random Texans-themed nuggets from around the web for your Saturday afternoon perusal.
***From Len P’s latest Tip Sheet (Insider only):
The Texans met this week with defensive tackle Sam Adams, recently released by the Bengals, and will stay in touch with the 13-year veteran as he continues to rehabilitate from arthroscopic surgery to clean out some debris from his knee.
Finally, some word about the whole thing. Still, this seems pretty vague. My inkling is that the Texans don’t want to tip their hand regarding their level of interest in Sam, which would both jack up Adams’ asking price and make other teams looking at Adams bump up their offers out of the gate. I mean, if they weren’t interested in Big Sam at all, why would they “stay in touch” with him after the fact?
Then again, I am probably reading a LOT into this blurb because of how much I want to see them sign Adams.
***A somewhat-tedious-to-read explanation for why the UFL is not likely to succeed. I only include this link because the author uses Jacoby Jones to make her (his?) point.
For example, you know who Keyshawn Johnson is if you’re even a causal fan of the game. But do you know who Jacoby Jones is?
Who?
See that’s my point. Jacoby Jones is a wide receiver from tiny Lane College, drafted by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft. That’s one of the rounds Hambrecht and Cuban say they’re going to “compete” with the NFL for players. That’s great for the player and for the NFL, because the NFL doesn’t have to worry about paying that player who may have dropped to the lower rounds for weird reasons more than a third round pick, and the player at least has another place to go, but don’t think there’s going to be a bidding war — in fact, I predict the opposite.
The Jacoby Jones [sic] of the world may try to use the UFL as a negotiating ploy, and wind up not being signed by the NFL team. It’s basic math — there are more “third round level” players, than first round level players, so someone else who fell past the eyes of NFL scouts may look better in free agency than the third round pick using an upstart league to cause a bidding war. So Jacoby Jones goes to the UFL and gets the same money he would have earned as a third round pick by the Houston Texans. Fine, so he’s happy. Meanwhile, the UFL gets a player no one ever heard of, and no one save for his family, friends, and the curious, will come out to see or turn on the TV to watch.
An interesting angle, I suppose. I don’t know that I can imagine any draftee going into a GM’s office and saying “yeah… I don’t know about this offer… I mean, the UFL is going to give me almost double.” Methinks that, in most cases, the GM is going to warn the player not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out. Which is sort of what the author was saying, I guess, but I don’t believe the UFL will give Johnny Third Round any sort of leverage to being with. If you want to play in the NFL, the UFL is going to have to come with some dollars that the NFL wouldn’t even consider before you are jumping ship.
Plus, even with third round players, I assume that many (most?) of them assume that they will become NFL stars. With that mindset, do you take slightly more to go to the UFL and hope that (a) they pay you as much as a comparable NFL star would be making in eight years or (b) hope you can pull a Warren Moon and jump over to the NFL, or do you sign on the dotted line with a team someone has heard of before? I know what I would do.
***Self-professed “foul-weather fan” (he likes both the Bengals and Texans) Dustin McKeehan offers an entertaining new blog, “Odell, Where Art Thou?” I’m not usually one to pimp other blogs, especially those about other teams, but I really enjoyed this one.
***The inimitable guys over at Battle Red Blog have a quick and dirty discussion of why Goodell’s latest act is just plane dumb.
The Commish is taking things to a whole new level, one that is analogous to smashing a gnat with a sledgehammer. Prohibiting cold beer on an NFL flight or at a team function is absolutely absurd.[...] No one from the League will complain publicly, I imagine, because clearly it is a politically incorrect position to take, but I for one find this to be an abuse of power that will solve nothing.
I have to agree; this is ridiculous. It’s almost admitting “well, I can’t prevent them from going to strip clubs, but I need to show some sort of control.” The irony, of course, is that such a stance will likely cause players to go out upon the plane’s landing, thereby increasing the likelihood of drinking and driving or being intoxicated in public. Strippers everywhere should be worried.
Chris Leak prays this league gets started quickly
May 31, 2007 David Carr has Post-Concussion Syndrome, Non-NFL football, Teams that aren't the Texans
Frequent DGDB&D commenter stacy emailed this story about Mark Cuban starting his own AFL/WFL/USFL/XFL/whatever. Apparently, Cuban has decided that there is far more demand for professional football than there is supply, stating
We think there is more demand for pro football than supply.
See? Told ya.
Anyway, part of the plan for this league is to lure practice squad guys and third stringers from the NFL by paying them slightly more. I’m only slightly exaggerating.
That would allow the new league to fill its rosters with players taken lower than the second round, as well as late NFL cuts and free agents who escape the NFL draft.
Now, correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn’t that make the as-yet-unnamed league similar to a minor league? I mean, how in the world is this league going to “compete” for the attention of football fans any more than the Buffalo Bison compete with the Cleveland Indians?
Oh… they are going to play on Friday. I get it; they are going to put subpar football up against high school football. I suppose this plan is better than trying to play on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Still, I hope they don’t plan on putting any teams in Texas, Florida, New Jersey, and anywhere else there is a big high school football culture. I can’t imagine too many people are going to stay home to watch minor league football instead of seeing Junior lead the Fightin’ Alma Maters to victory over the Othertown Hated Rivals. Maybe that’s just me, though.
The bottom line is this: Unless this league can pull a USFL and lure some bona fide stars, I don’t see how it will rank even above the Arena League in terms of drawing fans. At least with Arena Football, you have high scoring short-attention span theater during real football’s offseason. With this league, you will see David Carr throwing to Devard Darling while Ahmad Carroll defends.1 Yee. Haw. Maybe Art Shell could find a third life coaching one of these teams. And I’m sure He Hate Me would be interested in some kind of special teams role.
SO… I suppose this is typical Cuban. He’s really just a more personable Donald Trump crossed with George Steinbrenner. At the end of the day, he likes to hear himself speak. This time, though, maybe he should stick to basketball. Or computer nerderation. Or at least something that isn’t a guaranteed flop. Because he has European basketball players taking enough flops for all of us.
We now return you to your reguarly scheduled Texans-centric blog, already in progress.
1 Or, more likely, Teddy Lehman would blow past Robert Gallery and sack Carr. Also, I get some kind of bonus points for the Devard Darling reference.
