Dave’s Football Blog

Thanks to their bit Super Bowl XL victory, Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise is selling at a record pace. Conspiracy theorists are already using this information as a weapon against NFL officiating, just in case the Steelers win Super Bowl XLI, too.

There was talk around the NFL scouting combine last weekend that the Houston Texans might trade their #1 overall pick in the NFL draft. This could work if they get the right deal. Here’s why.

First off, Domanick Davis was a 1,000-yard rusher in 2003 and 2004, and he would have been again in 2005 had he not had a knee injury — an injury that won’t keep him out of training camp next summer. Second, free agent running backs are flooding the market. If Davis continues to have knee trouble, the Texans can get a cheap back like Maurice Morris, Chester Taylor, or even Ron Dayne, who had a few big games in new head coach Gary Kubiak’s offense in Denver last season. Third (and most importantly), the Texans need offensive linemen, and there are plenty of good ones in the draft.

A possible trade-down scenario could involve the New York Jets, a franchise that the recently tagged John Abraham is trying to escape. The Jets may decide to trade him to, say, the Browns, for their 1st and 3rd round picks. That would give the Jets the #4 and #12 picks, which they could give to Houston for that overall #1. Reggie Bush gets to play in New York, while the Texans get a couple of highly rated O-line players, like, say, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Winston Justice.

Granted, that assumes the Titans decide to take either DE Mario Williams, whose draft stock is rising, or Vince Young, whose draft stock is falling. On the other hand, rumors of Young’s inability to walk and chew gum at the same time have been refuted.

The point is that the Texans don’t need a running back nearly as much as they need pass blockers for David Carr, and if they can trade down a few spots and get the linemen they need without spending huge amounts of jack on free agents, that should suit them just fine — especially in Kubiak’s offense, which turns ordinary backs into superstars. Ron Dayne on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas. ‘Nuff said.

A report came out of Pittsburgh yesterday that a gas station clerk in McKeesport found what he thought was a severed penis in a microwave. It turned out it was just a sex toy — or so the initial reports claimed. Later reports indicated that it was, in fact, an Original Whizzenator.

Y’know, if Onterrio Smith really wants to get back into the NFL, he really needs to dispose of his, um, equipment a little more carefully.

Remember those rumors about the Baltimore Ravens putting the franchise tag on Jamal Lewis and trading him to Minnesota for Daunte Culpepper? Yeah, forget we ever brought that up.

Lewis isn’t the only Ravens running back about to become a free agent. Chester Taylor is also on the market. Perhaps the Ravens have decided to make a fresh start at that position. They have 13th overall pick in the draft, and either LenDale White or DeAngelo Williams should be available at that point.

Of course, the real question in Baltimore is what they’re going to do with Ray Lewis, who’s acting like he wants out of Baltimore. Given the amount of money Ray-Ray will make and the fact that the Ravens’ defense is still his, there’s only one explanation for his behavior — he’s been snitchin’, and he doesn’t want anyone putting money on his motherfuckin’ brains.

Reports are emerging from the Illadelph that the Eagles are going to pursue Antwaan Randle El. At the same time, Chicago Bears GM Jerry Angelo suggested at the scouting combine that Randle El is just a luxury and not a real need. (Translation: They think they have a shot of adding a receiver in the draft.)

I had figured the Bears were in the lead to obtain the services of this YACrabbit, but that may no longer be the case. Talk around the combine suggests that the big payday Randle El is seeking may not come. I still think the former Indiana QB will leave the Steelers, because he can get the ball more often with another team, but given that David Patten only got $13 million over 5 years with the Skins last year, perhaps Randle El’s market value is lower than any of us thought.

Regardless, with Reggie Wayne off the market, Randle El and the Pats’ David Givens are likely the biggest free agent wideouts out there. There are plenty of other decent names out there, though, including veteran receivers Eric Moulds, Joe Jurevicius and Keenan McCardell, and with names like Santonio Holmes, Chad Jackson and Sinorice Moss in the draft, perhaps there’s just as big a glut of receivers as there is of running backs. That plays into the Steelers’ hands, because it will allow them to offer Randle El a comparable deal. Whether that’s enough to keep him in Pittsburgh remains to be seen.

More scouting combine talk, including the strange drop in Vince Young’s draft value, can be found here.

Rumors of DeShaun Foster’s departure from Charlotte — and Shaun Alexander’s arrival — may be highly exaggerated. The Carolina Panthers put the transition tag on Foster today. That gives the Panthers the right to match any offer the strong-running-but-often-injured Foster receives on the open market. It also gives the team until March 17 to sign Foster to a long-term deal, else they forfeit the right to negotiate with him until July.

By putting this tag on Foster, Carolina is risking $5.153M in salary cap space. I don’t think they’d risk this much if they thought that Foster wasn’t worth keeping, nor would they do this if they planned on blowing up their cap setup to sign Shaun Alexander. Given what happened with Stephen Davis, who will likely be released soon, Carolina may not want to give another big deal to a running back pushing 30, only to get one good season out of him before he breaks down.

Another possibility — the Panthers may want to take another long look at Eric Shelton, last year’s 2nd round pick out of Louisville. Shelton was having a subpar preseason before he separated a shoulder and ended up on injured reserve. Given an offseason to work on his skills, though, Shelton may start to look like the big bruising power back John Fox likes.

It’s a gamble, but it might give the Panthers enough cap room to re-sign a more important free agent — linebacker Will Witherspoon. We’ll see…

Do you live in North Carolina? Are you utterly desperate for something — anything — resembling professional football? Then get up off your couch on Saturday and head out to Dorton Arena, Raleigh’s original Cow Palace, where the Raleigh Rebels of the American Indoor Football League open their 2006 campaign against the Carolina Ghostriders, who will be based in Asheville in 2006.

Oh, yes. It’s a 50-yard indoor war without a net. At the Cow Palace. Aren’t you glad you read this blog?

Wait, there’s more where that came from. The National Indoor Football League has two teams in North Carolina as well, the Fayetteville Guard and the Greensboro Revolution, and there’s talk of their expanding into Charlotte as well, though we all know how well indoor football sells in the Queen City.

And just because you can never have too many indoor football leagues, there’s also the United Indoor Football League, which doesn’t have any teams in North Carolina at the moment. They do, however, have the Omaha Beef. And the Omaha Beef have serious fans.

It’s kind of a shame that the Carolina Cobras never got an opportunity to stay in Raleigh after the AFL decided to start its season in February instead of May. Arena Football was starting to find audience around here. But the American Indoor Football League? Yeah, good luck selling that one. The Rebels’ second home game is scheduled for Thursday, March 9, the first day of the ACC Basketball Tournament. I’m guessing the expected first-round byes for Duke, NC State and UNC won’t help the Rebels’ attendance figures all that much.

How many indoor football leagues can one football-crazy superpower support? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

This means I don’t have to worry about the bastards at Time Warner Cable not carrying NFL Network this week. Ha.

Go here to read the NFL.com Scouting Combine Blog, and find out just how disappointed Vic Carucci is.

John Czarnecki says no.

The NFL stood behind the calls of referee Bill Leavy, who was working his first Super Bowl, and his all-star crew, but that is simply the politically correct thing to do.

But what can be done?

Are full-time officials needed?

Well, that argument has never made sense because too many experienced officials would never quit their Monday through Friday jobs to simply work 20 games a year. Plus, the majority of owners have never believed full-time officials made fiscal sense or would actually improve their game-day performances. Besides, what would you do with these guys between February and July?

It seems a bit more likely now. Jay Glazer of Fox Sports is reporting that Reggie Wayne, widely considered the target of Indianapolis’ franchise tag this year, just signed a six-year, $40 million deal to stay with the Colts.

Glazer still doesn’t think Edgerrin James will get the franchise tag, but if the Colts want to keep the current team together for one more January collapse playoff run, tagging James may be the only way to keep him around. So far, only two players — Jets DE John Abraham and Bills CB Nate Clements — have gotten tags slapped on them. Other players, such as Chargers QB Drew Brees, Ravens RB Jamal Lewis and 49ers LB Julian Peterson, will be allowed by their teams to become free agents. More will be salary cap casualties between now and March 3. There’s going to be a lot of movement this offseason.

Oh, and Wayne’s exit from the market means bidding just went up for Antwaan Randle El’s services. Chicago still tops the list, but the Chargers and Eagles are likely to make pitches, too. Stay tuned…