The joys of football are upon us, and NGPF is here to catch you up on the games you missed

Good morning, America! I’m not sure about you, but I had a great time sitting back and watching some football on the good old HDTV. (I probably can’t say the same for my girlfriend, but hey, she needs her training too, right? After all, my weekends should be all but gone in a few weeks here.)

Welcome to Next Gen Pro Football’s pioneering effort into the world of live blogging.

For many of us that don’t have NFLN, this is our first glimpse of an actual NFL game since February.  Tonight will feature a match-up between the defending champioin Indianapolis Colts, and one of the NFC’s major playoff contenders, the Dallas Cowboys.

The game is on Fox, and scheduled for an 8pm kickoff.  So you know that really means 8:15 or something.

We’ll be back in a few minutes to give our thoughts on what to look for in this game, unless of course you enjoy Joe Buck’s baseball commentary.

Part two of the series I accidentally forgot about

Yeah, oops. Don’t cry though, because now that I’ve remembered, I’m going to finish what I started.

Last time, as a reminder, we revealed our picks ranked between ten and six.

10. Vince Young
9. Donovan McNabb
8. Steven Jackson
7. Matt Hasselbeck
6. Frank Gore

The final five candidates have been consistent performers in the NFL, and will continue to be so until they hang up their cleats. These are the stars of this era, but folks like Gore, Jackson and Young could soon push for their own spots among the league’s best of the best.

 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.

All the major AFC news of the day.  Yes, all of it.  Don’t argue with me.

Can I make a suggestion?  Click the links.  They take you to the story we are referring to.  You will learn things.

– The biggest news of the day would have to be Denver Broncos’ linebacker Warrick Holdman going down with what NFL Live reported as a spinal cord concussion. The injury shook the teams and fans, which eventually led to Mike Shanahan cutting the day short.

Tampa trims the fat

In a downright surprising move today, Simeon Rice was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Finishing second on Tampa’s all-time sack list, Rice only managed to play half the season in ‘06. Despite his career low season sack total, it came as an astonishing move, just a day before the first Bucs’ practice of training camp.

After failing his physical, Rice’s $10.45 million cap figure for ‘07 became too expensive for the team to keep aboard. A player sure to garner Hall of Fame attention, Rice will enter his 12th season if he finds an interested team. The talk around the league is that after having played at such a high level for so many years, he might have lost that spark for the game once his shoulder started slowing him down.

Colts load up for title defense

Well the busiest day of NFL news in a long time continues, as Scout.com is reporting that wideout Anthony Gonzalez, the 32nd and final pick of the first round, has come to terms with the Indianapolis Colts.

Earlier this week, Peyton Manning lost his starting left tackle to retirement. Gonzalez will now be in camp to try and help offset that loss by providing a new, speedy target for Peyton. The 6′0, 195 lb receiver from Ohio State will get to learn from two of the best in the business in Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Gonzo’s physical skill sets closely mirror that of his two veteran counterparts, so the transition to the pro game could be a bit easier than what most rookie wide receives experience.

– 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.

Run, Peyton, Ruuun!

The Indianapolis Colts may be on the verge of losing their left tackle just a little over a week before they open training camp in Terre Haute, Indiana. Tenth year veteran Tarik Glenn, the Colts’ left tackle since he was drafted in 1997, is apparently seriously considering riding into the sunset as a Super Bowl champion.

If true, this would be a devastating blow to Tony Dungy and the Colts’ prospects of returning to the big game. Behind Glenn sits only second year man Charles Johnson, and we really doubt a sixth round pick from last year, who’s a better fit on the right side, would be given the assignment of protecting the Colts’ meal ticket.

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)

Dwight Freeney became the first of four remaining franchised players to sign, agreeing to a six year deal worth $72 million dollars. According to ESPN’s John Clayton, Freeney now moves passed the Patriots Richard Seymour in becoming the highest paid defensive player in league history.

Apparently ESPN is done promoting the $80 million that Niner cornerback Nate Clements picked up earlier this off season as the highest of all time; the actual value of that Niner deal was $52.75 over 6 years with $22.6 in guaranteed money according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Nancy Gay.

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:




Tony Romo’s Next Destination?

The contract extension talks between the Dallas Cowboys and their young quarterback Tony Romo seem to be over, at least for the time being.  In all likelihood, as the Dallas Morning News points out, Romo will probably receive a large contract at some point during the 2007 season. 

Depending on how the first month of the season goes for Romo, however, the leverage of either side could swing widely.  The downside for the Cowboys is if Romo has a great start to the ‘07 campaign he could start to think about opting for free agency in the spring.  The price tag to lock him up would certainly rise significantly.

Bears Decommission Tank

The Chicago Bears’ website is reporting that DT Tank Johnson has been waived.  The latest incident involving the Ex-Bear was, apparently, the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

And like so many teams this offseason, they seem to have no problem letting a player go who’s embarrassed their organization one too many times.  Anthony Adams, whom the Bears picked up this offseason from the San Francisco 49ers, will slide into the starting spot opposite Tommie Harris. 

Tank still has eight games to serve on his suspension, and after the most recent run-in with the law in Arizona on suspicion of DUI, that could balloon into a full year or more (i.e. Bye-Bye-Tankie).

The AFC Rejoices as The Boston Redsox and New York Yankees of the NFL Are Left Stranded, Crying

The most dominating QBs in the National Football League have become nothing but a pile of limbs and bloodied Super Bowl rings, leaving the league with a marketing disaster and both the AFC East and South left to emphatically high-five each other until their hands are chafed with love.

Several illegitimate children and their respective “baby mommas” are now calling the Brady residence in search of his money (and allegedly to send their condolences).

– 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.