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

[SlowwHand]

Sure.

[Grandpa Troll]

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth has been suspended indefinitely by the National Football League, days after he pleaded guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving under the influence of alcohol, the NFL said.


Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth on Tuesday pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter.

Stallworth, 28, pleaded guilty in a Florida court Tuesday to DUI manslaughter charges in the March death of construction worker Mario Reyes. Under terms of a plea agreement, he will serve 30 days. Prosecutors said he began serving his sentence immediately.

"The conduct reflected in your guilty plea resulted in the tragic loss of life and was inexcusable," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told Stallworth in a letter Thursday, the league said. Excerpts from the letter were posted on the NFL Web site.

"While the criminal justice system has determined the legal consequences of this incident, it is my responsibility as NFL commissioner to determine appropriate league discipline for your actions, which have caused irreparable harm to the victim and his family, your club, your fellow players and the NFL."

Stallworth's suspension is effective immediately, the league said. Goodell wrote in the letter that "in due course" the league would contact his attorney to schedule a meeting with him, after which a final determination would be made on discipline.

Stallworth was driving his black Bentley GT east on the MacArthur Causeway, which connects Miami, Florida, to the South Beach area of Miami Beach, when he struck Reyes on the morning of March 14, according to prosecutors. He had been drinking at a Miami Beach club, according to court documents. His blood alcohol level was 0.126 percent, prosecutors said; Florida's legal limit is 0.08.

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Reyes, 59, reportedly was heading to a bus stop after work when he was struck. Court documents said he suffered "critical head, chest and abdominal injuries" and died at a hospital.

When police arrived at the scene, Stallworth told them he was the driver of the car and admitted striking Reyes.

During Tuesday's hearing, Stallworth offered his "deepest condolences to the Reyes family."

"Though I cannot bring back Mr. Reyes or ease his family's pain, I can and will honor his memory by committing my time, my resources and my voice by educating this community about the dangers of drunk driving," he said.

Stallworth could have served up to 15 years in prison. But State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle noted in a statement that he cooperated with authorities and had no previous criminal record or traffic violations. Reyes' family supported the plea agreement, she said.

Stallworth's attorney, Chris Lyons, on Tuesday told CNN sister network HLN that Stallworth had reached an "amicable" financial settlement with Reyes' family but would not disclose the amount. He said the length of Stallworth's jail term "had nothing to do with Donte Stallworth being a celebrity, a professional football player or money."

Stallworth has shown "genuine remorse" and accepted responsibility for his actions, Lyons said.

Goodell wrote Stallworth that there is "ample evidence to warrant significant discipline" under both the NFL's personal conduct and substance abuse policies. "There is no reasonable dispute that your continued eligibility for participation at this time would undermine the integrity of and public confidence in the league," the letter said.

"Everyone associated with the league derives tremendous benefits from participating in our game and from the extraordinary support we receive from the public," Goodell wrote. "With these benefits comes, among other things, the responsibility to conduct ourselves in a lawful and responsible way, with no entitlement to or expectation of favorable treatment."

Goodell notified NFL clubs earlier this year that there would be increased emphasis on addressing driving under the influence and other misconduct, the league said. It noted the NFL offers a "safe rides" program used by most clubs to provide players and other employees with alternative transportation if they have been drinking.

Under terms of Stallworth's plea agreement, he will face two years of house arrest upon his release. He is also required to donate $2,500 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, serve eight years of probation and submit to random drug and alcohol testing throughout his probation. His driver's license was permanently revoked

[SlowwHand]

One event can change everything.

[Blaupanzer]

Particularly as evidenced by Mario Reyes, RIP. We keep our affairs in reasonable order so that some rich kid won't damage our loved ones additionally when he snuffs out our life. The silver kid gets a suspension and some community time. Mr. Reyes has his additional time permanently eliminated.

In this case, I agree with th NFL Commisioner's decision.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

I'd be interested in one. Is there a good place where we can play dynasty leagues?

Yahoo supports them. It's basically set up the same way, it's just that when you go to make another league the next year you have the option of continuing the old one. Though I don't think you can do things like have an injured reserve, which would be nice in a keeper league.

[prorma]

NFL Are You Ready For Some Football The Offseason

i personally think they do,

football players in england are on £70k-£135k a week thats insane and i mean thats without sponsers etc. i mean yeah they do work hard to get to this point but there not made to do this, they do it because there love and passion for the sport money shouldnt really come into it ,

i mean football players just used to do this on the weekend and work the rest of the week, just as a hobby

[Lord Avalon]

Excerpts from Peter King's MMQB:

Career mortality and why Sapp says veterans are no longer needed

It's happening to Derrick Brooks. After 11 Pro Bowls, six first-team all-pro nods, one Super Bowl victory and one Defensive Player of the Year award, football is saying to him, "We don't need you anymore.''

He always knew it would happen, and he's prepared himself for a career after football as well as anyone can, but it's happening too fast, and he's not really ready to go. He can't believe he's in his 17th week of unemployment after being cut by the Bucs, and no team in the NFL has offered him a chance to sign, even for relative pennies.

I'm stunned by it, quite frankly. I don't care if the guy gets wheeled into a locker room with two broken legs. Derrick Brooks is a football player's football player, one of the best students of the game I've ever seen. He keeps voluminous notes, he watches hours of tape on days off, he calls his coaches after midnight in the off-season to brainstorm. (True story. Ask the new Seattle defensive coordinator, Gus Bradley, formerly the Tampa Bay linebackers coach, about Brooks calling late one spring Saturday night with an X-and-O idea.) And to think that 31 teams in the National Football League can't use one of 53 spots on a roster for a leader like Brooks who still has the needle on one-quarter ... I don't get it. I called around the league to find out why, and I got a bunch of he's not the same Brooks ... we're trying to get younger ... he's not quick enough for our scheme. Blah, blah, blah.

I understand an NFL team is going to employ between six and eight linebackers, usually, depending on whether the team runs a 3-4 or 4-3, and I understand that Brooks isn't going to be an every-down player at 36. So the book says if you're going to have a linebacker playing 20 snaps a game, he'd better play a huge role on special teams. And Brooks, at his age, wouldn't be the kamikaze type you'd want out there. So it comes down to this: An NFL coach would have to keep one fewer special-teams demon in exchange for having one of the best leaders in the league. And that's why Brooks sits home in Florida today, waiting for the phone to ring.

But there might be something else.

"I'll tell you the real reason,'' his friend Warren Sapp said over the weekend. "Because it's not the same for the veterans anymore. The NFL doesn't need us. In this NFL, the old vets don't factor in. The kids don't listen to nobody. Nobody! My last year in Oakland, I'd try to talk to some of the kids. Tommy Kelly, Terdell Sands. But they had no interest. I thought the ghosts in that building were so valuable, but none of the young guys cared. Once in a while, one of the old legends would come in the building, or make a trip. Jack Tatum would be around, and I'd say, 'You know who that dude is? You know how he played?' And the kids would be like, 'Nah, I don't care.'

"The game's different now. Look at Vince Young. Why wouldn't he listen to Kerry Collins? I'm sure Vince thinks, 'Nobody's been through what I'm going through. Nobody's been through my kind of pressure.' Are you kidding me! Kerry Collins, fifth pick in the draft, has all the ups and downs, gets benched, makes those racist comments, has the alcohol problems, moves from team to team, comes back, has success ... Vince Young should suck up all the knowledge Kerry Collins has to offer! There's no better role model for him.''

I have heard that Collins went out of his way last year to try to help Young when the struggling quarterback was having his quasi-breakdown. Young had no interest. Maybe Sapp's on to something. If he is, it's a sad commentary on the kids of the NFL. I remember being in Tampa last year to do a story for SI on Brooks playing Adrian Peterson and the Vikings, and I thought at least one of the young linebackers, Barrett Ruud, tried to siphon off Brooks' knowledge.

"I always wonder during games, 'How Derrick get there so fast?' '' Ruud said. "Then I'd watch the tape, and I'd see he started running to the spot before I would have, because he just knew his keys and he knew the tendencies of the offense better than anybody else.'' But I also heard that while Ruud was a willing listener, the other young 'backers weren't.

Brooks told me he wants to play one more year. His gut feeling is he'll get picked up. His agent, Roosevelt Barnes, told me the same thing Sunday evening. Some teams have sniffed around -- the Saints, most notably -- but no offers have been made.

"I'll tell you how committed I am to play, and playing well,'' said Brooks. "I was hurt most of last year. First time in 14 years I've been hurt, and I played hurt. It affected me, obviously. But I wanted to play well so badly this year that I skipped the Pro Bowl after the season, and the day after our season ended, the day after we lost to Oakland in the last game, at 1 or 2 in the afternoon, I was in the trainers' room doing my rehab work on my hamstring. I didn't want to have any setbacks by playing in the Pro Bowl.''

When new coach Raheem Morris called Brooks Feb. 25 and asked him to come in and see him, Brooks knew he was being let go. He snapped into the phone: "Are you kidding me!'' Since then, he's devoted time to training, and to his young education causes, including seeing his first senior class of 16 students graduate from the Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School. It's the first charter school in the county that contains Tampa, and Brooks swells with pride about the lives he's helped change by giving inner-city kids a chance at a better education. All 16 of his charges will be attending college in the fall.

The fall. That's when Brooks hopes he's playing. Somewhere.

"The reality in this game is we're all going to walk into work one day and be told, 'You're out of a job.' '' he said. "I don't think it's my time yet.''

It's not up to him. For someone who always controlled his own fate with his effort and his play, that's the hardest part.


The retired players are still restless. If you thought the $26 million settlement the NFL Players Association reached with retired footballers would have calmed the masses, you're wrong. First, because more than 2,000 players share in the settlement, the money per player is about $10,000. Good, but not life-changing. Second, because the pensions for many players are as low as $172 a month, restitution needs to come quick, and it needs to come now. "We have more than a few destitute Hall of Famers,'' said former Bills guard Joe DeLamielleure. "And we have golf tournaments to raise money for all these different charities, and that's a good thing. But we can't even take care of ourselves.'' DeLamielleure said he liked what he heard from new NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, but he's not throwing any confetti until he sees the lot of the retired men improve.


From Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think the most amazing thing I've heard in the past month, and I've confirmed it with someone close to Roy Williams, is that the Dallas receiver was never on a consistent weightlifting program in his life before this off-season, when he got after it at Valley Ranch. "I'm serious,'' this acquaintance of Williams told me. "Roy never lifted before. Now that he has, and now that he's serious about making himself a great football player, especially with T.O. gone, I think he's really going to have a good year.''

2. I think the most worrisome thing about that previous note is what it says about what in tarnation the Detroit Lions have been doing for the past decade. No weight program that receivers had to live by during the season, and out of season? That is downright ridiculous.

[Lord Avalon]

Peppers signs $16.7M Panthers tender

HARLOTTE, N.C. -- Julius Peppers' long stalemate with the Carolina Panthers is over.

The four-time Pro Bowl defensive end signed his one-year, $16.7 million tender under the franchise tag Wednesday, ending the chances that Peppers could hold out at the start of training camp.

Peppers said at the end of last season that he wanted to play elsewhere and pleaded with Carolina to allow him to become a free agent. The Panthers still placed the franchise tag on him, limiting his movement.

Peppers refused to attend offseason minicamps and optional workouts, and there were concerns he wouldn't show up for training camp. But by signing the deal, the Panthers likely are assured of his attendance when players report Aug. 2.

"Julius is more than satisfied with the outcome and is looking forward instead of backward," Peppers' agent, Carl Carey, said. "He is motivated. He's prepared and he's ready to play football."

Carey said the Panthers made no promise that they won't place the franchise tag on him again next season. General manager Marty Hurney said signing the tender does not mean they'll now try to trade Peppers.

On top of the $16.7 million in guaranteed money, Peppers could earn another $1.5 million if he makes the Pro Bowl and up to $1 million based on playoff bonuses, giving him one of the highest single-year contracts in NFL history.

Peppers, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2002 draft, had a career-high 14½ sacks last season. After missing all offseason workouts, he'll have to catch up on new defensive coordinator Ron Meeks' system.

"We have had very good communication with Carl throughout the process and all the indications were that Julius was going top sign in time to be in for training camp," Hurney said. "That's what happened today. Obviously we're very excited and I think Julius is excited."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4284304

[Grandpa Troll]

The NFL suspended Jets linebacker Calvin Pace for four games without pay Thursday for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances.

Pace will miss New York's first four games of the season and be eligible to return for the Monday night game at Miami on Oct. 12.

In a statement issued by the Jets, Pace said the ban is a result of him taking an over-the-counter dietary supplement that he was unaware violated the NFL's policy.

Pace, in his second season with the Jets, is eligible to participate in preseason practices and games. The suspension begins Sept. 5 and he can return to practice on Oct. 5, a day after New York's game at New Orleans.

"I am responsible for what I put into my body and I should have paid closer attention to the league's guidelines," Pace said. "I regret that this has happened and apologize to my teammates, the entire Jets organization, as well as the fans. Hopefully, this does not distract from our ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl."

The team also issued a statement: "We respect the league's decision and look forward to Calvin's return for our Monday night game at Miami."

Pace started all 16 games at outside linebacker in Eric Mangini's defense last season, and was expected to have a prominent role in new coach Rex Ryan's aggressive 3-4 system.

He finished second on the team last season with a career-high seven sacks, and added 67 tackles, five forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries. Pace signed a six-year, $42 million deal with New York last offseason that included a $20 million signing bonus. He spent his first five NFL seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, who selected him with the 18th pick in the 2003 draft.

Second-year linebacker Vernon Gholston, who had a disappointing rookie season, is expected to fill in at one of the outside linebacker positions, opposite starter Bryan Thomas. Ryan repeatedly said he was excited at the progress made by the former Ohio State star during minicamp and offseason workouts. Marques Murrell and Jason Trusnik will also be options to fill in.

[Zopperoni]

This is a bit sketchy at this point, but there is a story that former Titans and Ravens QB Steve McNair has been shot and killed.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10643962

No details yet, but tragic if true

[SlowwHand]

Holy crap.

[SlowwHand]

BREAKING NEWS: Steve McNair shot, killed in downtown Nashville
WATE.com - Mark Nagi - 6 minutes ago
... to a report posted Saturday afternoon on newschannel5.com, former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was shot and killed in downtown Nashville. ...
Steve McNair reported killed
San Antonio Express - 7 minutes ago
WTFV in Nashville is reporting on their Web site that former Tennesee Titans quarterback Steve McNair has been killed. Police said McNair suffered a fatal ...

Nashville Post (subscription)
Steve McNair shot to death
Nashville Post (subscription) - Nate Rau, Ken Whitehouse - 7 minutes ago
Former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair and a unidentified 20 year old woman have been found dead in downtown Nashville. ...

[SlowwHand]

Wiki has it now.

Steve LaTreal McNair (February 14, 1973 - July 4, 2009)[2], nicknamed Air McNair, was an American football quarterback in the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Houston Oilers third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft. He played college football at Alcorn State.

McNair was selected to the Pro Bowl three times and was the Co-AP NFL MVP in 2003.

[Grandpa Troll]

R.I.P.

I allways thought he was a good quarterback, damn..shot to death

[Dis]

I've always been a big McNair fan. I've always thought he was too overshadowed by McNabb whom I felt to be a bit over rated. And Vick who was greatly over rated. RIP

Very few details about this yet. No motive or anything. It sounds like he was living in a bad neighborhood, though you can't really tell for sure. But the street name seemed like a downtown street... Surely he had money didn't he? He should have been living in some secluded mansion. We'll have to wait for more details I suppose.