Wellness

[gardenman]

And the Cowboys are now asking Kyle Orton to pay back three million dollars of his signing bonus in order to retire. Kyle Orton doesn't want to pay back the three million. This has potential to get messy. Legally and contractually Orton should pay back the signing bonus if that's what the contract stipulates, but if push comes to shove, the Cowboys would be smarter taking the loss and moving on. If they force him to come back and be the backup again this year he could make life pretty miserable for the team if he chose to. He could just sleep through meetings, annoy his teammates during practices and make no effort to contribute to the team. Disgruntled players are generally good guys to get rid of and it's better not try to force them to do something they really don't want to do. If Orton truly wants to retire and doesn't want to pay back the three million, then the Cowboys would be smarter to just let him go and take the loss. He could end up costing them a whole lot more if he poisoned the atmosphere around the team.

There was a brief flurry of insanity this morning when it was revealed that Johnny Manziel was the target of a sexual harassment suit. Once people took a longer look at the suit it became pretty clear that this was absolutely nothing. Pity. We could always use a bit more insanity where Johnny Football is concerned.

[Spurt]

On 5/21/2014 gardenman said:

That new Minneapolis stadium is going to be very interesting to see. I'm a bit concerned about the plastic roof though. The long term life of plastic film isn't generally good and that's a lot of plastic film to replace.

SPURT. I wouldn't worry too much about any guesses on who will win the NFC East. You can make a pretty good argument for any of the four. I still think the Eagles have a leg up and the Cowboys are in trouble, especially on defense, but if Romo has a great year he could rally them. I don't necessarily give the Giants as much credit as many others do. Installing a whole new offense with an older quarterback who's never played in that style of offense isn't generally an easy thing to pull off. The Redskins needed to fix their defense as that was their biggest problem last year. I expect RGIII to be good again, but I'm not sure that losing London Fletcher won't be a huge issue for an already shaky defense.

GARDENMAN-

Normally I don't pay attention to the so called "experts" and their predictions...but these 2 guys are totaly JINXES! .....

As far as Fletch---his skills were deteriorating and as much as I like the guy it was time for him to leave, but yes big shoes for the team to fill both on and off the field ....

Oh yes Orton and the 3 mill.....the Cowboys are always interesting....

And I saw where some people gave the Giants an "A" for their off season efforts....and unless they know a lot that hasnt been reported I'm not impressed....

[gardenman]

SPURT. Yeah, I don't really get the Giants' love, but the Giants did finish strong last year, so maybe they're right. We'll start finding out in September. I'm just not sure how good a fit Eli is for the west coast offense.

Tuesday the Eagles open up the first full squad mini-camp/OTA. That'll give the coaches a chance to see the new guys and the vets all on the field together. I'm intrigued to see what the other quarterbacks say about Jordan Matthews (our second round pick at wide receiver.) GJ Kinne worked with him in the rookie camp and came away raving about the kid. If Foles, Barkley and Sanchez come out of this session thrilled with him the Eagles could have found themselves a blue chipper in the second round. It'll be good to have the whole squad back on the field and see how things have changed since last year ended. The Eagles spent a lot this off season on the special teams side of the game to shore that up and I expect to see a big improvement there. The defense should be a bit stronger, though they did finish pretty strong last year.

The offense will be interesting to see. I'm pretty sure Chip has a few new cards up his sleeve. Every defensive coordinator is probably having nightmares trying to figure out how to defend Darren Sproles and LeSean McCoy in the same backfield. Keeping discipline in the defense when one of those guys goes into motion will be a big challenge for defenses. If you take a guy out of the middle of the field to cover the back who goes in motion then you're weakening the heart of the defense for the running game with two great running backs and a good offensive line. If you don't send someone out with that back who goes in motion then Foles can get the ball to him quickly and he's gone. Do you trust a defensive end to cover him in the line of scrimmage area and then turn him over to a DB down the field? Doing that though weakens the pass rush. It's going to be a pretty interesting year to watch and see how teams adjust to what the Eagles do.

[Spurt]

The Redskins on Friday signed top pick Trent Murphy – the 47th overall selection of the draft. Murphy signed a four-year deal worth $4.21 million, including a signing bonus of roughly $1.44 million. The cap hit for his contract will be $765,544.

According to the league’s slotted salary system for rookies, Moses will sign a deal worth $3.05 million over four years. His contract comes with a signing bonus of roughly $690,832. Moses – the 66th pick of the draft – will carry a cap hit of $577,708.

During the offseason, only the top 51 contracts count against the cap. Because the roster already features 90 players, including Moses, Washington would have to make a roster move to add any more players.

The Redskins currently rank fifth in the NFL in spending behind Baltimore, Cleveland, Seattle and Chicago.

[gardenman]

OUCH!!! The Cowboys could be in big trouble. Linebacker Sean Lee, their best defensive player, injured his left knee in a collision with rookie offensive lineman Zach Martin while covering a screen pass in the first day of OTA's. These are supposed to be non-contact drills, but apparently someone didn't get the message and now the Cowboys could be without Lee for the season. He's getting an MRI tonight to confirm the extent of the injury, but early reports are very pessimistic. If it's an ACL tear then you're looking at six months or so, at best, which would have Lee back around December.

That's a bad injury for both players. For Sean Lee it's bad to get injured yet again and for Zach Martin it's going to make his job much, much more challenging. Rookies aren't generally coddled too much and after taking out the best defensive player on the team, he's likely to be treated a bit harshly by his teammates. It's likely to make him a bit tentative in his blocking for a few days/weeks so he won't inadvertently injure anyone else, but if you try to play football at less than full speed you're likely to get injured yourself.

[gardenman]

And forget that potential six month recovery time for Sean Lee. Later (still unconfirmed) reports indicate a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus damage. That slows everything down a ton. Nine months (at best) is a more optimistic recovery timeline for that level of an injury.

Word is that the Cowboys wanted Ryan Shazier, the Ohio State linebacker, in the draft but the Steelers nabbed him just before the Cowboys could make the pick. The Cowboys then went with Zach Martin instead and now in the first day of practice Zach Martin has taken out their starting all-pro linebacker Sean Lee leaving a rather large hole in the middle of that Cowboy defense. That's not a great way for this preseason period to kick off for the Cowboys. Romo had best bring his "A" game this year as it looks like the Cowboys will be in a lot of shootouts. I don't see them winning a lot of defensive battles this season.

[yellowrose]

Zach didn't take out Sean, more like Sean took out himself. From what I'm reading and seeing, the torn ACL was a result of Sean planting foot and changing directions, and knee went out before contact. My heart goes out to Sean. He has yet to play a full season, and now with injuries to both knees, I wonder if his career is done. There's a lot to like about Sean, but if he can't stay on the field, he can't help us.

This season, I just may dig a hole and bury my head in it.

[teganslaw]

There must be some of curse following the Cowboys. They always have trouble with injuries to the best players. Maybe Jerry Jones needs to make some of pact with the devil in order to win. (Just kidding.) But this is one of the worst things that can happen to the team.

Tony Romo might have a rusty start in the first few games. They will need the reserve players to step up. Maybe they will surprise everyone this coming season.

[Spurt]

On 5/28/2014 yellowrose said:

Zach didn't take out Sean, more like Sean took out himself. From what I'm reading and seeing, the torn ACL was a result of Sean planting foot and changing directions, and knee went out before contact. My heart goes out to Sean. He has yet to play a full season, and now with injuries to both knees, I wonder if his career is done. There's a lot to like about Sean, but if he can't stay on the field, he can't help us.

This season, I just may dig a hole and bury my head in it.

Hi yellowrose.....so Sean Lee is out-- I guess the coaches are hoping that your 4th round pick Anthony Hitchens will be a decent backup...or you can pick up a free agent--one is our old former LB Rocky McIntosh, my Redskins drafted him in 2006, he was cut in 2011, been to Rams and Lions.......or Jonathan Vilma who is also a free agent.

I think it's the Skip Bayless JINX his teams are the Spurs and the Cowboys---I rest my case...

[Spurt]

On 5/28/2014 teganslaw said:

There must be some of curse following the Cowboys. They always have trouble with injuries to the best players. Maybe Jerry Jones needs to make some of pact with the devil in order to win. (Just kidding.) But this is one of the worst things that can happen to the team.

Tony Romo might have a rusty start in the first few games. They will need the reserve players to step up. Maybe they will surprise everyone this coming season.

Hey Tegan so how are the OTAs going for the Colts?....