“J Pizzle” Needs “Surgizzle”

According to early reports out of PalmBeachPost.com, Joey Porter has decided to have arthroscopic surgery after receiving a second opinion to Dr. James Andrews’ initial prognosis. The culprit is his right knee, the same one that limited him in his play with Pittsburgh last season:

Porter, 30, needed arthroscopic surgery on the same knee in May 2006, a little less than a year after he received the same procedure on his left knee.

Porter, who signed a five-year deal in March with $20 million guaranteed, had not practiced since Friday and experienced soreness in his right knee since off-season conditioning drills.

Ted Ginn Jr. ends Dolphins’ hold out streak

When I first began this endeavor of covering the signings of each of the first round draft picks in depth, there wasn’t much NFL news happening. Now that camps are in full swing, there’s a ton of analytical work to do. With that said, we’re unfortunately going to have to cut the draft pick signing watch segment short.

Ted Ginn Jr. will be our 16th and final draft pick that we will be showcasing in this fashion. The terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but we’ll get those to you as soon as we find out.

2nd round pick John Beck signed a 4 year deal and reported for work this morning, quashing some concerns that the Miami Dolphins were not going to have their two high-profile draft picks in for their rookie training camp session.  According to the report, they had been working tirelessly to get it done over the weekend, hoping to avoid a “hold out hangover.”

Ted Ginn Jr. remains unsigned as of this posting, but all signs point to getting a deal done today.  The hang up at this time seems only to be incentives.

NGPF’s Short Slants, just in time for the weekend…..

– Dolphins head coach Cam Cameron has come out and said that the Dolphins had a trade partner for quarterback Daunte Culpepper.  Apparently the situation dragged out before disintegrating into dust.

While the obvious trade partner Cameron is referring to would be the Jacksonville Jaguars, we figured that the Jags were waiting for Culpepper to be released before bringing him in for a workout. If they were the Dolphins’ trade partner, though, Culpepper might already be in Jacksonville, signed, sealed, and delivered.

Wrapping up today’s major stories…

–  Nike has decided to pull the plug on a new shoe line named after Michael Vick.  Another Vick related product being nixed by the athletic apparel giant…the Nike Rape Stand 7000.  Sorry, kids.

–  One of the more interesting stories of the day not involving federal charges, was Daunte Culpepper’s first visit with a NFL team.  That team?  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  No, really. 

We don’t think there’s any chance of this actually going down, but considering that Culpepper played at Central Florida and Jon Gruden’s affinity for quarterbacks, it does kind of make sense to at least touch base. 

Brett Favre Continues His Slow Assault on the NFL Record Book…. 

It’s been a little over a week now since we first looked at some milestones that were on the horizon for running backs.  This time its the quarterbacks and two guys who are mentioned way too much by the mainstream media. 

Brett Favre is either first or second in just about every category there is for a quarterback, and is within striking range of owning every major NFL passing record.  He also leads the league in getting his ass kissed by T.V. commentators.(Look it up)

If you’re new to NGPF, then you probably are unaware that we are involved in a mock draft involving 12 sports blogging sites. The idea behind us joining was to A) do a little fantasy football warm-up, and B) demonstrate to all our vast, expansive, and often intimidating NFL knowledge.

Again, as a reminder, we were left with the #7 pick in the draft and ended up being “forced” to take a QB in the first round. This league in particular values touchdowns, both passing and rushing, as six points. Most leagues denote rushing touchdowns as six and passing TD’s as four points, so being “forced” in this situation was actually a bit of a windfall, in our ever-so-humble opinion.

Daunte Culpepper has finally been released by the Miami Dolphins, closing the chapter on a largely unsuccessful and frustrating comeback attempt from a significant 2005 season knee injury.

The Dolphins held onto him for as long as possible, hoping to get something out of a player who cost them a 2nd rounder and around seven million dollars a year. Instead, they were left with little interest in a disgruntled former Pro Bowler who refused to accept any trade and got feisty, taking them to court for said grievances.

So what’s next for Daunte “Small Hands” Culpepper?

Patriots-Dolphins Pipeline Continues….

According to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, free agent running back Corey Dillon is looking to become a Miami Dolphin.  Although there doesn’t seem to be any discussions as of yet, this is the first indication since Dillon’s release from the New England Patriots of where he might end up.

The benefit for the Phins would be a big back able to fill the void vacated by Sammy Morris, who coincidentally signed with Dillon’s old squad.  Behind Ronnie Brown sits 3rd round pick Lorenzo Booker out of Florida State, and 5th year man Jesse Chatman, who has a total of 79 carries in four seasons. 

– Dolphins’ wideout Chris Chambers was pulled over for speeding, reckless driving, and, oh, a DUI early Saturday morning. It caught us off guard. We had no idea that guy even drank.

– The Dallas Morning News poses ten questions about the prospects of the Cowboys returning to the playoffs and winning.

– David Pollack won’t be playing football this year and will attempt a comeback in 2008 with the Bengals

– The Star-Telegram points out that there’s no need for a Larry Johnson trade involving the Cowboys: Arkansas super-back Darren McFadden is right around the corner.

Marc Bulger Extension?

ESPN’s John Clayton is reporting that the St. Louis Rams and quarterback Marc Bulger are finally progressing in their contract talks.

In our (humble) opinion, what took so long?

Bulger’s story seems to be similar to the situation that played out in the early 90’s in San Francisco. Playing in the shadow of Joe Montana, it looked as if Steve Young could do no right, and even while winning games and putting up big numbers, there was no clutch postseason victories. There wasn’t a Super Bowl victory.

Cap’n Cop-Biting Urinator Now Jobless, Soon To Be Homeless

Fred Evans was released by the Miami Dolphins today, and because of his unfortunate run-in with the law, and subsequent troubles that came to light a couple of days afterward, he’ll surely be looking at a suspension from iron-fisted Commissioner Roger Goodell. 

Evans surely would have been part of the Dolphins defensive line rotation this year, and as noted on this website, he wasn’t going to be released because of one transgression.  It was in the next couple of days that produced new-to-everyone-except-Fred information that this was not Evans’ first run-in with the law. 

25 Year-Old Man Who Drives Jason Taylor Off Road, Uses Racist Comments, and Attempts to Stab Him Ordered to Pay Whopping $228
JT’s Bounty Less than Anticipated

Quick.  Get in your personal death mobile and drive superstar NFL players off the road.  Call them the “N” word.  Grab the nearest and sharpest metal object you can find and attempt to slash him until he bleeds to death. 

Then, when the cops get there, kick and punch an officer, and when you’re handcuffed in the back of the car, try to kick out a cruiser window until the Five-O pepper sprays your face.

I found a piece in the Palm Beach Post blog regarding WSVN-Channel 7’s TV interview with everyone’s friend, agent Drew Rosenhaus, regarding his client Fred Evans, who has brought himself National recognition by getting wasted, vomiting in the back of a taxi, and then attacking (aka biting and kicking to the ground) the female police officers who were called to the scene.

The following is an excerpt from www.sun-sentinel.com:

Packer Trade Rumors

Rumors continue to circulate around the net that the Green Bay Packers will make a move before training camp opens July 28th. None of their draft picks seem to be inspiring awe, and they did next to nothing in free agency. While most of the talk circulates around current free agents still looking for a job, we find it hard to believe that making a move on one of them would help the team let alone make Brett Favre happy.

– With the Seahawks, Broncos, Dolphins and Cardinals all needing help on the interior of their lines, it will be interesting to see if any of these teams pull off a trade for one of the league’s many disgruntled guards.  Alan Faneca of the Steelers, Pete Kendall of the Jets, and the Niners Justin Smiley round out a talented bunch of guards looking for a (significant) pay increase….

The question will ultimately be if there are teams out there willing to part with a 2nd round pick and pay upwards of $18-20 million in guaranteed money.  To a guard.  Minnesota, Dallas, Cleveland, and Buffalo say hell yes.