The guy whose career just wouldn’t end has… ended… his… career.

The Indy Star has broke the biggest story of the week (and that’s not saying much): Tampa Bay FB Mike Alstott is set to announce his retirement at 2 PM PST today.

You can continue breathing now.

After spending 11 years with Tampa, he will retire as their all-time TD (71) and rushing TD leader (58). To that I say: wow, they sure haven’t scored too many touchdowns over the years.

Stop working. Stop doing your homework. Stop hanging out with your wife/girlfriend. Catch up on the NFC training camps.
– The New Orleans Saints will help open the season against the Steelers on Sunday, and as is the norm for the Hall of Fame game, many of the players aren’t too excited about an extra preseason game.

Sean Payton, however, has taken this in stride, and believes this field trip to Canton will be a great learning experience for the team. It’s also going to be an opportunity to let a special teams group gel that will look completely different from the ‘06 unit.

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.

Tampa Bay reaches terms with the 4th overall pick in the 2007 draft

Adam Schefter of NFL Network reported earlier today that Gaines Adams has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, making him the highest picked player yet to sign with his team. According to the Sun Sentinel, the deal is for six years, and although the terms haven’t been disclosed yet, The Red Zone is reporting the deal to be for as much as $46 million with just over $18.5 million in guaranteed money.

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. 

Welcome to the 7th Installment of Fantasy Impact 2007

It’s been a couple of days since our last Fantasy Impact, but we’re back, this time to talk about the NFC South. Tread carefully guys, this division is crammed full of 2006 FF busts. It does, however, feature some highly ranked players at quarterback and wide receiver.

And who can forget the NFL’s best running back tandem in New Orleans, Atlanta’s old reliable tight end, and the giant question mark known as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense?

ESPN is reporting that free agent Donovan Darius, released by the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this offseason, has signed with the Oakland Raiders. For the Raiders this means that they’ll have two starting safeties who are much better at the line of scrimmage than in coverage. Current starting free safety Stuart Schweigert is the odd man out, and we’re surprised it took this long for the Raiders to bring in somebody to replace him. He’s easily been one of the worst players on what has actually been quite a good defense operating under Buddy Ryan’s son the last couple of seasons.

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.