NFL off-season headlines
Farve reported to the Green Bay Packers the first weekend of August after deciding not to retire, and was soon traded to the New York Jets.
By RANDY SETTERBERG
The Trucker News Services
8/12/2008
A post-Super Bowl discharge of dubious developments includes one icon’s retirement, a coach’s poor judgment (surprise!), and two cellar-dwellers who are looking up from the bottom for very different reasons.
Favre-Well To Brett?
Amid speculation of yet another false alarm, Green Bay icon Brett Favre called it quits at an emotion-filled press conference last March. The future Hall-of-Fame quarterback leaves the game as the all-time leader in pass attempts, completions, touchdowns, and victories. He’s also the NFL’s only three-time Most Valuable Player, and he has a Super Bowl title to his credit. But the most impressive stat is one that will probably never be broken: including playoffs, Favre started 275 consecutive games--an incomprehensible number for someone playing the quarterback position. With all due respect to baseball’s Lou Gehrig, Favre is our nation’s true Iron Man, and the inscription on his bronze bust should proclaim as much when his induction into Canton becomes official.
But here are some interesting truths: Favre still makes the occasional public reference of his undying “passion” for the game. His locker at Lambeau field, complete with shoulder pads and nameplate, is still intact (though there have been discussions regarding renovation, removal, and personal delivery of the historic closet). And at press time, Favre had yet to file retirement papers with the league office, which though not conclusive, would suggest his tenure as Packer quarterback has concluded. If the latter were done, Favre would also relinquish his 2008 salary of nearly $12 million. But the Packers have their own plans to terminate Brett’s career: a retirement ceremony is planned at halftime of their opening game, where the #4 green-and-gold jersey will never be worn again. This, of course, doesn’t mean that Favre can’t reclaim his apparel should the mood strike him; it just makes that development much less likely to occur. For the sake of the team, let’s hope the next time Favre is spotted on camera he’s accessorized with a program guide and his family.
Vicktims
The off season usually provides every franchise with a mind set of confidence and the opportunity of achievement; after all, the slate is wiped clean, and every team is undefeated. Unfortunately, the Atlanta Falcons are starting at a conspicuous disadvantage even before the rookies are hazed. Thanks to the despicable--not to mention felonious--efforts of one Michael Vick, the Falcons’ insurmountable shortcomings are deeply woven into fabric of this franchise for the foreseeable future. The talent is too diluted, the depth too thin, and the community too dismayed over a team that just four years ago was one game away from the Super Bowl.
If Vick is the primary culprit, owner Arthur Blank was a willing accomplice. In 2004, Blank hired Rich McKay away from Tampa Bay as the Falcons’ President and General Manager. The ink on his contract was still glistening when McKay promptly authorized a 10-year, $130 million contract extension for a player who had more notoriety as a Nike spokesperson than as a competent NFL quarterback. Prior to hogtying your precious salary cap investment to an unproven commodity, ya think a background check might be in order? So in the spirit of a fresh beginning, Blank is cleaning house, literally. His 8,200 square foot Buckhead Mansion in Atlanta is on the block for a measly $10.9 million. He’s also reshuffled an inefficient administrative staff (15 new coaching changes), then invested another whopping $72 million in rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, the new “face of the franchise” and anointed team savior. Somehow McKay has managed to stay on the payroll despite having his General Manager’s duties stripped away. As for Vick? While he serves out his 23-month sentence on federal dog fighting charges, he’s earning 12 cents per hour washing pots and pans. But before you start passing around the collection plate, listen up: a judge ruled our pit bull assassin is entitled to keep $16.25 million of his $20 million signing bonus. Every dog has his day, indeed.
Raiding the Vault
If not for the trademark eyepatch logo and corresponding silver and black colors, one of the most storied franchises in NFL history would be completely irrelevant. Word has it the opposition already hails their incompetence. Just nine wins, baby, in the last five years, and a league worst 61 losses over that same span. Since their 2002 Super Bowl appearance, Oakland has, at one time or another, closed out a season last place in points per game, total offense, sacks allowed, turnovers, and giveaway/takeaway differential. This isn’t a fall from grace; the Raiders have flatlined, and no infusion of talent will resuscitate this ball club anytime soon.
Owner Al Davis has adopted a new slogan: if you can’t beat ‘em, out spend ‘em. This off season, Oakland went on a shopping spree that made Paris Hilton’s chauffeur blush. The Raiders landed five marginal players whose contractual value totals a collective $228 million for 29 years worth of football. Are you kidding me? What’s worse, $65 million of that is guaranteed. If Oakland calls this an investment in its future, an economics professor would call it a sunk cost. Now I completely understand the significance of the entire “Black Hole” mantra.
Here’s what the 79-year-old Davis has yet to comprehend: there is a sound reason these guys were available. He would have been better served mailing out fuel redemption cards to season ticket holders; at least that would have given them some incentive to attend home games. Now he’s got a bunch of amoral, petulant, injury-prone rejects whose shelf life won’t outlast their signing bonuses. Someone…anyone…needs to take this timeworn maverick by the scruff of what’s left of his neck and politely remind him that there’s more to a playbook than a fly pattern and the phone number of the local public defender.
Through unprecedented innovation and ingenuity, Davis is credited for helping develop, nurture, and cultivate the NFL into the game we enjoy today, and rightly so. It’s a shame he hasn’t been able to replicate that same vision over the last two decades. His Hall-of-Fame credentials notwithstanding, Davis is his own worst enemy and must be held accountable for the remnants of what was once a proud Raider nation.
Mike’s Shenanigans
Demonstrating once again that intelligence resides in the mind of the beholder, Denver coach Mike Shanahan released Travis Henry after only one season in a Bronco’s uniform. Henry pocketed $6.7 million in bonuses and salary in lieu of the five-year, $22.5 million contract Shanahan sanctioned in 2007. The reason? Shanahan cited Henry was “too inconsistent as a person” to remain on Denver’s roster. Since the coach refused to elaborate, permit me to develop the story.
As a person, Travis Henry is irresponsible at best and an outright disgrace at worst. The Broncos finally cut him, but if they had done so literally, Henry would have been thankful. Here’s why: at age 29, Henry has, at last count, fathered nine children by nine different women across four Southern states. He drives a six-figure Mercedes, spent nearly $150,000 on bling, but purposely thumbed his nose at his parental obligations. That didn’t fly with Superior Court Judge Clarence Seeliger, who ordered Henry to establish a $250,000 trust fund to finance $3,000 per month in child support…and that’s just for one child. This after Henry borrowed nearly $10,000 from his former team, the Tennessee Titans, to keep him from incarceration for violating additional back child support directives.
So where does our self-proclaimed cerebral coach fit into all of this? Knowing full well that Henry was a two-time offender of the NFL’s substance abuse policy--and thus one ganja toke away from a year’s suspension--Shanahan signed off on our fornicating fullback, thus placing owner Pat Bowlen’s money at risk. Henry subsequently came up “dirty” on a random drug test last year, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “Rocky Mountain High.” Oh wait; it gets better: Henry claimed he was victimized by second-hand marijuana smoke, and Shanahan, in an attempt to cover his player’s backside (not to mention his own hindquarters), claimed that Henry had passed a lie detector test regarding that issue. Behind closed doors, Henry somehow buffaloed the league office and won his direct appeal to the NFL. But Shanahan had to confess he didn’t know of Henry’s deviant sexual behavior or the consequences, even though NFL character background checks are accessible at the drop of a helmet.
Now Shanahan has brought in former Buccaneer Michael Pittman, ostensibly to fill Henry’s shoes. He won’t disappoint; Pittman has a history of criminal social disorders dating back to his college days. Over the past 11 years, Pittman has been arrested no less than three times on various domestic violence and assault charges, culminating in probation and a “batter’s treatment” program. The St. Petersburg Times reported that Pittman's wife, Melissa, once informed detectives that she was the target of more than 30 additional incidents of domestic violence that she never reported to police.
So the question is, what will it take before Shanahan thinks Pittman is “too inconsistent as a person?”
Randy Setterberg is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and West Coast correspondent to the Gridiron Goose’s NFL Update. He may be reached at NFLupdate@hotmail.com.