Monday, May 6, 2013

May Day: No Shortages of Off-season Drama Around League

Despite still being four months away from the kick-off to the 2013 NFL regular season, which is set for Thursday September 5 in Denver, we're still seeing plenty of drama around the league.

The beginning of May usually revolves around the aftermath of the NFL draft, but this year we're seeing a little bit of side-drama. No surprise, of course, that it revolves around the New York Jets. Oh, and Tim Tebow. You'd think that we'd be used to this by now.

Jets Release Tebow; Tim Receives Numerous Other Job Offers

The news of the release of New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow a week ago comes as no surprise, but what may come as a bit of a surprise is the fact that he's already received a variety of different job offers. None of which have come from NFL teams.

Among the offers, whether serious offers or not, are the Canadian Football League and the Lingerie Football League (believe it or not).

The CFL's Montreal Alouettes own the rights to Tebow, but if he were to agree on a contract with the Canadian League team, he'd have to compete for a backup quarterback spot. That doesn't exactly sound like something Tebow would be interested in. Not to mention, the CFL isn't the best fit for Tebow at the quarterback position.

Hall of Fame NFL and CFL QB Warren Moon may have said it best when he said Tebow wouldn't make it as a CFL quarterback. The fields are larger and the league relies more heavily on the passing game. He's not a pocket quarterback and would need to play somewhere where the offense can revolve around his play-making abilities, not just his arm. Tebow's inaccuracy would hurt him in the more pass-oriented Canadian Football League, so the CFL doesn't appear to be a viable option.

About a week ago, the Legends Football League (formerly the Lingerie Football League) offered Tebow a job as quarterbacks coach, according to a Yahoo! Sports report. Clearly that isn't a likely move for him, either, considering he wants to be on the football field, not the sidelines. At least not just yet.

So, it appears the only reasonable option for Tebow in 2013 would be a position change to stay in the NFL. There have been a couple of teams interested in Timmy as a tight end, so the question now is whether he'd be willing to change positions or not.

Okay, sorry. I am officially done with Tebow talk now.
NFC Scout on Geno Smith: "He's a spoiled, pampered brat"

Unfortunately we're not done with the New York Jets, however. Rookie quarterback Geno Smith out of West Virginia was projected to go in the top 10 or 15 by some draft experts in NYC. Instead, he fell out of the first round altogether and was selected by the Jets in the second round, No. 39 overall. It was reported that his maturity is what forced him to fall so hard, costing him approximately $3 million in salary.

Over a week following the draft, his maturity is still being questioned by an anonymous NFC scout:

He's going to have a tough time in New York. Right now he's coming off as a spoiled, pampered brat.

What made matters worse were additional reports that said Smith used his cell phone to send texts and check his Twitter feed during pre-draft meetings with NFL teams. If that doesn't force you out of the first round, I'm not sure what will. After hearing those reports, there's no reason he should have thrown a fit and threatened to go home after being skipped over in the first round, rather than returning to Radio City Music Hall for Day 2 of the draft. Luckily for him, he did end up returning the second night, but the fact that he almost didn't may have also hurt his stock.

Between the underachieving former first rounder out of USC, Mark Sanchez and the seemingly immature Geno Smith, it looks like the Jets will once again have a tough time on offense this season. Look for this to be head coach Rex Ryan's final season at the helm.
Adrian Peterson: "I'm going for 2,500 yards"

There's no typo in that headline. Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has said that he's going for 2,500 rushing yards this season. Coming off his MVP performance of 2,097 yards, just nine shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season record, Peterson thinks he can gain 400 more yards in 2013.

First off, if there's a running back in the game that can do it, it's Peterson. Second off, he was coming off ACL surgery and got off to a slow start in 2012 before breaking out for eight consecutive 100+ yard games.

But, all that being said, there's no way Peterson will manage to join the 2,500 club. Not this year, not ever. Sure, Peterson manages to break out for long runs despite opposing defenses stacking the box with eight guys in anticipation of the run. But with more and more emphasis on the passing game, Peterson won't get enough carries to break out for that many yards in 16 games.

He'd have to run for at least 150 yards every single week. Even for a robotic, freakishly-built runner like Peterson, that's near-impossible. The Vikings brought in some competition for quarterback Christian Ponder this season (former KC Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel) and drafted the young wideout Cordarrelle Patterson. Clearly Minnesota appears to be ready for a more effective passing game this season.

Sorry Adrian, but it'll be tough enough to pull off another 2,000 yard season in 2013. There's a reason why no runner has ever accomplished this feat twice in a career––it's tough to do. Makes for a great debate though.

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