Inside Combine Thursday

Notes from Indy---Thursday

I got in a little later and then wound up in a meeting for over an hour, so I actually saw very little of the draftees themselves. Today was more about redeveloping connections, meeting new people, and getting acclimated to the lay of the land.

Some random gleanings, some of which y'all might already know:

Detroit franchised Cory Redding. That means the Lions now are paying their top 3 DTs(Redding, Rogers, Cody) almost $18M, or about 15% of the cap and about 27% of their current payroll. They have already met with Adalius Thomas' people and also Napoleon Harris.

The Jets cut Kevan Barlow, at his request. Expect him to wind up in Miami. Aaron Brooks is about to be released, and he's pondering retirement.

Troy Vincent got released by the Redskins but it's 50/50 he'll wind up there again.

Other guys on the chopping blocks: James Hall, Joe Horn (saints have asked him to redo his deal), Tory James, Kelly Holcomb, Samari Rolle, Jonathan Babineaux (who killed his woman's dog), Jerametrius Butler, Rock Cartwright, Renaldo Hill (the Dolphin), David Macklin

Next Coming, for you--Willis McGahee is as good as gone from Buffalo, and you can pre-order your TJ Duckett Bills jersey, if what I heard today is valid. Baltimore and Houston are the finalists to get him, and the price is no more than a 2nd rounder.

Like I said earlier, the Texans are playing the role of budget-lot used car dealers. They are listening to anyone who calls about anyone except Ryans and Mario Williams. They could have as many as 8 new offensive starters, including every skill position except Andre Johnson. I've heard at least 5 different people say that Jake Plummer is a done deal for them.

Also from the Texans: T Charles Spencer, their 3rd round pick last year, is not expected to be back in 2007. His leg fracture was one of those where the bone shatters, not a clean break. He's still in a metal brace contraption and won't be cleared for running until right about training camp. Big loss--I really liked him going into the 06 draft and he won the starting job in just 3 days of practice last summer.

Michael Turner almost certainly won't be back in SD. I'll try to find out more about destination later on, but they don't want to have to pay that much for a backup RB, plus they still like darren Sproles as a 3rd down back.

I don't think many of y'all still are buying it, but in case you are still clinging to the notion that Brady Quinn is going to Detroit or Cleveland, you couldn't be more wrong. And if Houston and Miami both pass on him, he could be on the board longer than Aaron Rogers was a couple years back, perhaps even as late as the Bears pick.

Indy is looking hard at signing a "ring-whore" veteran backup QB on the cheap, somebody like Brad Johnson.

I saw it last year and it amazed me, and I saw it again today and once again it amazed me: several agents talking on multiple cell phones at the same time. One famous agent had bluetooth earpieces in each ear, an assistant holding a Blackberry, and another assistant with two phones. Oy vay!
Tons of talk about PacMan Jones. I eavesdropped on Dan Arkush from PFW talking on the phone, and he said Bud Adams is prepared to release him if there winds up being any physical proof at all that Pacman was involved. I talked with Jason Cole of Yahoo (good guy) and he told me the same thing, and that Jeff Fisher isn't going to fight to keep him. Mike Reinfeldt (the new GM) has already told Fisher to prepare as if Pacman is no longer on the team. The name "Lawrence Phillips" kept coming up, and I think it's valid. Apparently pacman fired his agent today too, which drew raucous laughter.

Lots of talk about Lovie Smith's lack of an extension. I buy into Peter King's take that the Bears aren't convinced he's worth $4M and that the McCaskey's think they could pay someone else far less than that and still get very similar results. Last year here I noted that Lovie and Bears mgt. kept butting heads, and that appears to be ongoing; I saw Jerry Angelo and several Bears personnel, but I did not see Lovie anywhere.

Next year the Combine will be open to the fans, at least the player workouts will be. Which is ironic because almost all the players that most people would recognize don't work out unless they are freakishly gifted at something. The workouts are almost incidental to me.

Personal highlights for me: I met Rich Eisen, Jamie Dukes, and Steve Mariucci. And I have to say that mooch is one of those impossibly good-looking men in person, though he's shorter than I thought.

Pewter Report: Your source for inside and breaking news on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Login

NOT REGISTERED