NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - The Offseason

[Japher]

HahA Screw you TO! He'll probably be coming to Cincinnati, now that Hush is gone. Stupid Bengals. TO and Ocho Cinco will have some nice sideline debates I'm sure.

[snoopy369]

Umm, that hole was filled by Lav Coles already, Japher...

[Tuberski]

Places with known personality conflicts with TO based on past issues --

Philadelphia (Andy Reid, D. McNabb)
Minnesota (Childress was iirc Off. Coord. in Philly)

You forgot:

Kansas City (Todd Haley receivers coach in Dallas 05-06) Had a "spat" with T.O.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2626816

The Cowboys denied Sunday that wide receivers coach Todd Haley will be disciplined as a result of an incident with wide receiver Terrell Owens last week, ESPN has learned.
When asked on Friday by ESPN's Ed Werder whether there would be disciplinary action after the argument between Owens and Haley, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said: "Yes, Against Haley."
He added, "This is not a reflection on TO."
The team on Sunday said no action would be taken.

AP Photo/Tony GutierrezCowboys wide receivers coach Todd Haley (left) instructs Terrell Owens during happier times at minicamp in June.


Owens said on his radio show Friday that his relationship with Haley was ruined by a blowup this week. It began when Owens missed the start of Wednesday's practice because of an upset stomach, and Haley berated him for being late. Owens held his tongue then, but they later argued during a meeting.
The story getting out seems to bother Owens the most because Haley vowed since training camp that all internal matters would stay behind closed doors. Owens spoke with reporters for 45 minutes Wednesday without ever mentioning any problems with Haley. But the incident was reported by several media outlets Friday before Owens gave his side of the story later on his weekly show.
From now on, T.O. said, "there will be nothing else, no other dialogue" between him and Haley.
"There will be no more friendly nothing because I don't trust anybody like that," Owens said. "I will go out and practice hard. I will respect him as a coach, and he should respect me as a player. Anything outside of that I am not going to be able to deal with.
"Right now, we are merely coworkers, and that's it," he added.
After a huge game in the Cowboys' 34-6 win over the Texans on Sunday, Owens softened those comments a little, but not completely.
"He's my coach and I respect him," said Owens, who had three touchdown catches. "That doesn't mean we have to go to lunch together, play cards together."
Haley and Owens chatted before the game and even hugged after the receiver's third touchdown on Sunday.
Owens caught only three passes for 45 yards in a loss to Philadelphia on Sunday. It was a key division game for the Cowboys and a personal revenge game for Owens after the Eagles dumped him midway through last season.
TV cameras showed Owens screaming at Haley -- who also carries the title "passing game coordinator" -- on the sideline during the game. Although teammates said some of his rants were encouragement, Owens admitted saying, "Why am I here?" about his limited action. Coach Bill Parcells later noted that 13 balls were thrown to Owens, five more than anyone else; two were intercepted and one was dropped.

Terrell Owens

Wide Receiver Dallas Cowboys Profile

2006 SEASON STATISTICS Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC 17 232 1 13.6 46 89

The confrontation between receiver and coach occurred Wednesday, the first time the Cowboys were back on the practice field. A strength coach was sent to get Owens when he was absent.
"By the time I step on the field, Todd starts cursing at me, this and that, and I'm like, 'Dude, I was in the restroom,"' Owens said. "He said, 'I don't [care] what you were doing. Everybody else is out here."'
Owens said he didn't respond, although he later apologized to Parcells and was told, "All right, just try to get out here a little earlier."
Then Owens and Haley butted heads during a meeting.
"I was venting, he was venting," Owens said. "I felt it stayed behind closed doors.
"It's all about frustration. Everybody is still frustrated from the loss on Sunday. At some point, we had our time to vent on Monday, Tuesday and have that bad taste that sick feeling out of your mouth. On Wednesday, it's a new day. It's a new game plan, a new team that we're getting prepared for. That's where our focus and direction should be. But obviously Todd, he's been frustrated, and he's taking it out on other people."
Owens has a history of not getting along with coaches, from his position coach to the offensive coordinator to the head coach. It led to his dismissal from San Francisco and Philadelphia.
Although Owens missed most of the preseason with a hamstring and had a highly publicized accidental overdose, he insists that he's been on his best behavior in his first season in Dallas.
"I know in the back of people's minds they are waiting for something to happen," said Owens, in the first year of a three-year, $25 million contract with the Cowboys. "I have made a conscious effort not to go down those roads again."
Owens made it clear that he'll still listen to Haley, but their discussions must be limited to Xs and Os.
"In business, you have people that work together and don't necessarily get along together," he said.
Owens said "anything is fixable," but he feels his trust in Haley "is being violated."
"I will have a hard time [trusting him] here on out," Owens said.

ACK!

[snoopy369]

Well, that was quick. ESPN's reporting TO went to ...


... the Buffalo Bills
[q="ESPN.com"]
It didn't take long for T.O. to find a new home.

Terrell Owens has agreed to a one-year, $6.5 million deal with the Buffalo Bills, according to sources.

The Bills called a 6:15 p.m. news conference Saturday to announce the signing. According to a source, the entire contract is guaranteed.

Owens visited the Bills on Saturday. He was released by the Dallas Cowboys late Wednesday.
[/q]

[-Jrabbit]

Owens and Evans could be a lethal combination, especially after Marshawn gets back from his presumed 2-4 game suspension to start the year.

Trent Edwards must be salivating.

[snoopy369]

Still not sure it makes the Bills particularly competitive, though...

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Guess they had to sell tickets somehow.

100% guaranteed....

[snoopy369]

Well, it's only $6m. Not a ton of money, after all...

[SlowwHand]

[Ben Kenobi]

I'd hate to see the Edwards/TO combination.

The Bills aren't far away, and won't be in last place this season. They are likely to be better then the Jets.

[Zopperoni]

For those who've been living under a rock for the last 10 or so days, here's a quick recap of the first free agency highlights:

Quarterback

The two most successful QBs of last season, Kurt Warner and Kerry Collins, stayed put. Both players signed solid deals that will likely keep them in Arizona and Tennessee until they decide to retire.

Kansas City made the big move on Matt Cassel, trading a 2nd round pick to New England in exchange for Cassel and LB Mike Vrabel. Other teams around the league scrambled to add depth to their current QB stable, including the Houston Texans signing the legendary Dan Orlovsky!

Notable names still on the market: Jeff Garcia, and another trio of guys who all wore number 7 at one point: Kyle Boller, Byron Leftwich and J.P. Losman.

Running Back

The free agency class for RBs has been quite unspectacular. Tampa Bay signed the most promising name on the board, Derrick Ward. New England will take its chances on veteran Fred Taylor. Kevin Jones stays in Chicago and Cedric Benson will remain in Cincinnatti, despite not having been jailed--the Bengals are clearly going soft. New Orleans made a clever signing by luring veteran FB Heath Evans away from New England. Finally, Denver might finally have enough RBs after signing J.J. Arrington, Correll Buckhalter and LaMont Jordan. Josh McDaniels is becoming the Jon Gruden of RBs.

Not many notable names out there, except for perhaps former MVP Shaun Alexander. Another former MVP may still enter free agency as we all await to see what will happen to LaDainian Tomlinson. Former teammate Drew Brees has gone on the record saying that he'd like to see him play in New Orleans.

Wide Receiver

Terrell Owens was obviously the big news hitting free agency last week, and quickly found a new home in Buffalo. It remains to be seen how this plays out, but considering it's only a one-year deal, both parties will probably approach it as a business situation.

Other big moves were the signing of T.J. Houshmandzadeh by the Seattle Seahawks and the signing of Laveranues Coles by the Bengals. Coles is a good veteran receiver and this shouldn't hurt the Cincinnatti passing offense. The Seattle offense now becomes quite interesting with Houshmandzadeh and Burleson in the line-up alongside TE Jon Carlson who had a tremendous rookie year.

Some teams resigned some of their players: New Orleans retained Devery Henderson and Tampa Bay made the--in my opinion--strange move to re-sign Michael Clayton who has been monumentally unspectacular after his rookie season. Other teams signing solid talent to bolster their passing game include: Denver (Jabar Gaffney), Detroit (Bryant Johnson) and Tennessee (Nate Washington).

Notable players still available: Joey Galloway, Marvin Harrison and Amani Toomer.

Oh, and how will Hank Baskett take care of his new wife Kendra Wilkinson when he has no job?!

Tight End

No major moves here, apart from the Kellen Winslow transfer from Cleveland to Tampa Bay, but that was a trade. Chris Baker was signed by New England and Robert Royal was signed by Cleveland.

Notable players still on the market: Owen Daniels (restricted FA) and L.J. Smith.

Offensive Line

Derrick Dockery was one of the first O-Linemen signed. Washington signed him after he was released by Buffalo. It was a game of "easy come, easy go" for Baltimore as far as the C position was concerned. The Ravens lost Jason Brown to the St. Louis Rams but managed to sign All-Pro Matt Birk from Minnesota. Indianapolis did a good job of hanging onto Jeff Saturday to anchor their O-Line once again and Jordan Gross stays in Carolina.

Notable names still on the open market: G Jahri Evans, G Michael Goff, G Pete Kendall, C Tom Nalen, T Jon Runyan, T Marvel Smith, T Mark Tauscher and T Tra Thomas.

Defensive Line

This is where the big dough fell, at least with regard to the first deal of this year's FA period. Albert Haynesworth signed a whopping 7-year deal worth 100 million USD (41 million USD guaranteed). This better work out well for the Washington Redskins or they'll be left with close to 6 million USD of dead money counting against their cap for every year Haynesworth is not there. It was amusing to see the pundits speculate on the positive effect of this move on Jason Taylor and then to see Jason Taylor be released just days later.

The Giants were big movers in the D-Line department, signing Rocky Bernard, Chris Canty and Lee Vickers to improve a D-Line that already ranked among the best in the league.

Antonio Smith moves to Houston, Chris Cole replaces Bernard in Seattle and Grady Jackson adds some weight to the Detroit interior line.

Notable names still out there: Bertrand Berry and Jason Taylor. In addition, it will be interesting to see how things play out with Julius Peppers.

Linebacker

No drama around Ray Lewis, the veteran remains in Baltimore. Jonathan Vilma also remains where he was, which is New Orleans.

Atlanta lost two starters, Keith Brooking to Dallas and Michael Boley to the New York Giants. However, they signed Mike Peterson from Jacksonville to fill the gap in the middle. Bart Scott found a familiar face in Rex Ryan in his new home in New York with the Jets, and Andra Davis will help Denver in its transition to a 3-4 scheme.

Notable names still available: Derrick Brooks, Napoleon Harris, Cato June, Zach Thomas and Marcus Washington.

Defensive Back

The Washington Redskins doled out some big money here as well with the extension of DeAngelo Hall. Several other teams made moves in CB department as well. Buffalo signed Drayton Florence, Baltimore signed Domonique Foxworth, Bryant McFadden went from one Super Bowl team (Pittsburgh) to another (Arizona), and Shawn Springs found a new home in New England. The Jets also traded with the Eagles to get Lito Sheppard, and the Detroit Lions got Anthony Henry from the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for Jon Kitna.

The biggest move in the safety market was the acquisition of Brian Dawkins by Denver. And Denver also signed Renaldo Hill. Philadelphia also lost Sean Considine to Jacksonville, but signed Sean Jones to fill the gap in the secondary. Jim Leonhard goes from Baltimore to the New York Jets and Anthony Smith signed with Green Bay.

Notable players still available: Atari Bigby (restricted FA), Dre Bly, Leigh Bodden, Rodney Harrison, Dexter Jackson, Chris McAlister, Lawyer Milloy, Gerald Sensabaugh, Darren Sharper, Dwight Smith and Roy Williams.

Kicker/Punter

Not a lot of movement here. Mike Nugent was signed by Tampa Bay and Dirk Johnson will punt for Arizona.

Notable names still on the market: John Carney and Matt Stover

[Imran Siddiqui]

Nice summary

[Japher]

Who names their kid Atari?!

"Hey Nintendo! Get your brother Playstation and your sister X-box and get over here!"

[reismark]

Cutler-Broncos relations deteriorate further

Ahem.

Go fvcking get him, Dominik!

[OzzyKP]

Who names their kid Atari?!

"Hey Nintendo! Get your brother Playstation and your sister X-box and get over here!"

Obviously his parents had different career aspirations for their son than Mr. & Mrs. Milloy.