Around the league in less than two minutes…

– The Pittsburgh Steelers laid a whooping on the New Orleans Saints from start to finish in the first preseason game of 2007, with the big surprise coming from Mike Tomlin’s passing game absolutely torching the Big Easy secondary. Ben Roethlisberger was perfect on his ceremonious one drive, connecting two times to Cedrick Wilson for a total of 73 yards.

The other story of note? The Saints’ passing game was rusty, with Drew Brees finishing 1/6 for 6 yards & backup Jamie Martin rounding out the first half with a 3/8 and 26 yard outing. Painful to watch, frankly. But I’m sure the ship will right itself.

– Much maligned second round pick Alan Branch has signed, leaving the Arizona Cardinals with just one draft choice left unsigned (first-rounder Levi Brown).

– Unsurprisingly, Michael Vick’s welcome seems to be worn out in the ATL.

– In other Vick news, the court house he attended today turned into a full blown nightmare. Good thing Vick has the support of three morons from Boston.

– Jonathan Ogden is being placed on the PUP list due to a lingering toe injury, meaning he probably won’t be seeing much action until week one of the regular season.  He will then play all 16 games.  Duh.

On the lighter side of the NFL (for us, anyway), Pittsburgh native Brian Jackson (left, courtesy of Pittsburgh Post Gazette) has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation for impersonating uber-reserve tight end Jerame Tuman.

Says the Gazette:

The woman told police that a mutual friend introduced her to the man who said he was Tuman, and the man then convinced her to loan him the money over the course of a couple months on early 2006. Jackson was arrested after the woman sent a letter to Tuman through the Steelers asking for the money back. Tuman turned the letter over to Steelers security.

– Tarik Glenn has officially called it quits, and with that, the Colts’ chance of repeating takes a major hit. Peyton Manning’s blindside will now be protected by rookie second rounder Tony Ugoh. Little Trouble for Big Country.

– Dolphin’s rookie quarterback John Beck(also known as Not-Brady Quinn) was impressive in camp sessions today, and Ted Ginn was at home without a contract.

– Arthur Blank was allegedly on the verge of suspending Michael Vick for four games this season.

Steelers’ Troy Polamalu becomes highest paid safety in the NFL

The long awaited Troy Polamalu contract extension finally came to fruition today, and the five year deal includes just over $15 million in guaranteed money. The Pittsburgh Steelers were intent on locking up their superstar defensive back for the long term, and with camp just days away, they’ve managed to keep Polamalu away from the ‘08 free agent market.

Taz is viewed by many as the NFL’s best safety, and while that may be debatable, he’s now going to be paid like the top player at his position. Ed Reed had previously been the league’s highest paid safety.

First round pick Lawrence Timmons signed to a five year deal

There hadn’t been much noise on the draft pick signing front this weekend, but that all ended earlier today when the Pittsburgh Steelers came to an agreement with their first round choice. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting the deal to be for five years and worth between $12 and $15 million, depending on what incentives are reached.

– Can the Lions get Calvin Johnson into camp on time? If not, Jon Kitna might only throw for 40 touchdowns this year.

– The Vikings are dropping subtle hints about acquiring a veteran quarterback. We’re going to go ahead and drop subtle hints that the Vikings’ passing game will be horrendous.

– The Boston Globe lays out the Patriots’ options at cornerback. Maybe Bill Belichick should call up Deion Sanders.

– Football player Will Smith may soon be as rich as movie star Will Smith. The timing of Dwight Freeney’s mega deal couldn’t have come at a worse time for New Orleans.

We Don’t Just Pick. We Pick Big (Country).

Recently we here at Next Gen Pro Football were invited to participate in a fantasy football mock draft featuring owners of various sport-focused blogging sites. After the lottery balls had fallen, we were “awarded” the #7 selection in the order (out of 12) and left feeling a lot like what the Boston Celtics must have felt last month heading into the NBA draft (see: not good).

Having participated in FF for about a decade now, we’re going to take this as an opportunity to show you how to approach a draft when you’ll be drafting in the middle of each round, a notoriously tough spot.

Extra, Extra! “Vasher Signing Signals End of High Priced Cornerbacks,” Screams Mainstream Media

The Boston Globe joins the parade now forming to proclaim the cornerback market crash after the Chicago Bears inked Nathan Vasher to a five-year, $28 million deal.  Suddenly because of the less lucrative contract extensions signed by Broncos’ corner Dre Bly and Vasher, people are proclaiming Asante Samuel, well, cornered. 

Contract extensions traditionally are worth a lot less than deals signed with new teams on the open market as profootballtalk.com touches on.  Extensions are usually a goodwill gesture on the part of the team to ensure that a talented player will never see the deadly auction block that is free agency in the NFL. 

I know we’ll be covering this story in more detail later, but I found it particularly interesting that CNNSI.com, the same folks that boldly predicted the Miami Dolphins to be the 2006 Super Bowl winner, advises that you draft Willie Parker, Rudi Johnson, and Brian Westbrook before Peyton Manning:




– 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.