The Indianapolis Colts have agreed to terms on a four-year deal with seventh-round rookie linebacker Kavell Conner, according to a league source.
It includes the standard base salaries of $320,000, $405,000, $490,000 and $575,000 as well as a slotted signing bonus and a fourth-year escalator clause that can significantly boost the maximum value of the deal.
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The Kansas City Chiefs have finalized a four-year, $2.47 million deal with third-round rookie tight end Tony Moeaki, according to a league source.
The deal includes the standard base salaries of $320,000, $405,000, $490,000 and $575,000 as well as a roster bonus and a fourth-year escalator clause that can significantly boost the maximum value of the deal.
If the escalator clause is triggered, Moaki can make as much as $3.32 million.
Moeaki is an athletic 6-foot-3, 245-pounder with 4.68 speed in the 40-yard dash and a 36 ½ inch vertical leap and a 10-0 broad jump.
He has also bench pressed 225 pounds 25 times.
Voted first-team All-Big Ten Conference by the coaches, Moeaki caught 75 career passes for 955 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Last year, he caught a career-high 30 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns.
The NFL has suspended Ravens CB Cary Williams two games for violating its personal-conduct policy, multiple media outlets, including the club’s official Web site, reported Thursday.
Williams, 25, played five games for Baltimore last season, starting one. He notched eight tackles. The Ravens signed him off the Titans’ practice squad on Nov. 24.
Williams’ agent, Brett Lillibridge, told the National Football Post that the suspension stems from an incident that occurred before he joined the Ravens.
“Over a year ago while Cary was a member of the Tennessee Titans, he was involved in an incident that fell under the NFL conduct policy,” Lillibridge said, according to the Post. “Through the appeals process with the NFL and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s office, Cary was suspended for two games. Although we’re disappointed we did not win the appeal, we respect the league office’s decision. Cary just wants to focus on the training camp with the Ravens and the remaining games in the regular season.”
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said the team was “aware” of Williams’ situation when he signed, according to the club’s official Web site.
Williams is expected to compete for one of the Ravens’ reserve CB roles.
A month later, Bobby McCray is back with the New Orleans Saints.
The defending Super Bowl champions surprisingly released the starting left end near the conclusion of the club’s offseason program. Now, McCray is back with the Saints, according to Mike Florio of PFT. Per the report, McCray’s deal has a base value of $1.5 million with an additional $1 million in incentives possible. Under the terms of his previous contract, McCray was to receive a $1.25 million roster bonus in July and a $2 million base salary, meaning the Saints have found a way to save at least $750,000 if not more.
A starting job will not be guaranteed for McCray. The Saints signed Alex Brown and the expectation is he will be first in line at left end this season. New Orleans will need players in a rotation and McCray certainly will have an opportunity to compete. Bringing back a veteran who has been a proven performer in the past is never a bad idea. Obvioiusly, McCray couldn’t find a more tempting deal in the month he spent as a free agent.
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Patrick Ramsey, who is expected to sign with the Saints, and second-year player Chase Daniel will compete to become Drew Brees’ top backup in training camp. The rules of the uncapped year made it difficult for the club to pursue other free-agent quarterbacks earlier this offseason, but that restriction expires July 22. Word that the Saints were considering Ramsey, who hasn’t played in more than two regular-season games since 2005, spread months ago. While Ramsey hasn’t played much in recent years, he does have starting experience from the early part of his career, and Daniel, who has never taken a snap in a regular-season game, could end up on the practice squad again if he doesn’t win the job. The team and its fans have to hope neither Ramsey, Daniel nor 2010 seventh-round pick Sean Canfield, another candidate for the practice squad, has to take a snap in a meaningful game this season.
It would be hard to find a bigger non-injury fantasy bust last season than Bears RB Matt Forté.
After entering the 2009 campaign as the fourth-ranked running back in the Pro Football Weekly / Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football Guide 2010, Forté didn’t come close to performing at the same impressive level he displayed the previous season as a second-round rookie out of Tulane.
After finishing third in the league in yards from scrimmage and scoring 12 touchdowns (eight running, four receiving) in ’08, Forte was just another back in ’09, managing a mere four TDs (none receiving) and only two 100-yard games (both against the lowly Lions) while looking tentative and indecisive much of the time.
Never one to make excuses, Forté just kept on grinding after a torn left hamstring in an OTA practice got his sophomore season off on the wrong foot. A subsequent sprained MCL on the same leg certainly didn’t help matters, as the explosiveness he showed as a rookie was hit-and-mostly-miss.
But by all accounts so far this offseason, Forté has been one of the Bears’ biggest hits, routinely flashing his rookie form. Injury-free following surgery on his left knee, his rookie burst appears to have totally returned, as well as his confidence.
There are some observers who have gone as far to suggest that Forté could flirt with Marshall Faulk-like numbers in a lively new Bears offense under the direction of coordinator Mike Martz, Faulk’s former head coach with the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams.
While that might be a bit of a stretch, the odds are getting steadily better that Forté will significantly outperform his lowly 26th-place ranking in the PFW/Yahoo 2010 Fantasy Football Guide.
“He is a different player,” Bears QB Jay Cutler said in mid-June of Forté. “His second year last year he wasn’t the same person he was his first year. Much of it was due to some injuries and stuff. That’s fixed, and he’s really (been) explosive. He’s catching the ball well out of the backfield.
“The system is really going to fit well to his skills.”
It should be noted, however, that the Bears’ No. 22 will be dealing with a Catch-22 situation in a fantasy context courtesy of new backfield mate Chester Taylor, who did yeoman’s work as Adrian Peterson’s backup for the Vikings the past three seasons.
On one hand, Taylor should definitely help keep Forté a lot fresher this season, which could reap fantasy dividends over the long haul.
But on the other hand, Taylor’s presence will result in a lot fewer touches than Forté had as a rookie, when he joined Edgerrin James as just the second rookie in league history to rush for more than 1,000 yards (a franchise rookie record 1,238) and have more than 60 catches.
Although similar numbers in 2010 are probably not realistic, Forté does figure to very adequately hold down the fort as a first-team fantasy back.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP)—The Buffalo Bills have placed tight end Joe Klopfenstein on injured reserve a week before the start of training camp.
In announcing the move on Thursday, the Bills provided no details on Klopfenstein’s injury. Re-signed by the team in March, Klopfenstein appeared in only the Bills’ season finale last season, when he had one catch for 11 yards.
The Bills open camp on July 29 in suburban Rochester
The nature of being a great owner is very contradictory. You must be a successful business person but you can’t be seen chasing profit to the disadvantage of your fans and customers. You have to have a long-term view of your talent, franchise and organization but you will be evaluated weekly on the field and daily in the media. Finally, while you are in business with 31 other people, you are also in business against those same 31 other franchises. And where your franchise is located in that competitive line up will determine how you formulate your strategy for building for the future.
If all this is beginning to sound like Rudyard Kipling’s famed advice poem “If,” it is intentional. The great owners and organizations can keep their heads when all about them are losing theirs and blaming it on them. They can trust themselves and their plans when all men doubt them and make allowance for their doubting too. So let us now look at the eight best organizations in the NFL, those franchises and owners who fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run for their fans, players and cities.
We have one new entrant in this year’s list of the best, which shows how difficult it is to be an elite owner. There are also two big climbers on this list, which shows that rank — along with luck — favor the bold. Several teams did drop back a bit in the rankings, but each franchise that fell also has the present ability to recover.
For the 2010 NFP franchise rankings: Part one, click here.
For the 2010 NFP franchise rankings: Part two, click here.
For the 2010 NFP franchise rankings: Part three, click here.
1. Dallas Cowboys – Jerry Jones 2009 Rank (7)
Jerry Jones has twice “made a heap of all his winnings,” as Kipling advised, “and risked them all said in one game of pitch and toss.” First, he went all in on buying the Cowboys and found new ways to cover that bet and brought a winner to Dallas. Last year, he let it all ride again on the greatest and possibly most expensive stadium in human history. He has revenue from an NBA All-Star Game, a Super Bowl, a Final Four and a destination venue for the world’s biggest events. He did this with a lot of educated observers, including me, saying he wouldn’t and couldn’t succeed. His football team also got its act together on the field and lived up to its potential. Jones still has a touch more generalissimo in him when it comes to running his team than is ideal, and next year he could be back in the No. 7 slot — or worse. But in recognition of his vision and raw courage in building his stadium and covering his huge bets, again, Jones merits the top spot this year.
2. Indianapolis Colts – Jim Irsay (9)
I took some heat last year for placing Jim Irsay and the Colts just off the elite list. My reason for doing so had to do with how much of the organization’s success was tied to Tony Dungy and the transition that was taking place on the coaching staff. But the organization replaced Dungy with Jim Caldwell and moved forward with key assistants Tom Moore and Howard Mudd in lesser roles and went 15-1 and to the Super Bowl. One of the key factors in evaluating the effectiveness of any organization is how it replaces outstanding performers and the Colts showed organizationally they could replace people. With a state-of-the-art stadium and a key understanding of their system and talent, the Colts and Jim Irsay vault into the elite ranks, in a dramatic change of trajectory from the team’s past history.
3. New England Patriots – Robert Kraft (3)
New England, in a transitional year for the team on the field and in the front office, retains its spot at No. 3 in the rankings. It’s a testament to the consistency of Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick’s leadership. While much of the organization’s success is tied to the unique talents of Belichick, the Patriots have a formula in all aspects of their business and they adhere to that formula and for the most part play the game downhill. So while organizations may vault them periodically, it is hard to argue with New England’s place as a top organization year after year.
4. Philadelphia Eagles – Jeff Lurie (4)
When a team that has never won a Super Bowl parts ways with its top running back and trades its QB to a divisional opponent only to have an unproven replacement, it is seldom cause to celebrate the managerial wisdom of its leadership. But that is just what the Eagles demonstrated in balancing the long-term future of their franchise with their present success. In the process the Eagles have remade their team as a down-the-field passing team and stabilized their roster. While nobody in the Eagles front office structure is a transformational figure like a Belichick or Bill Polian, no team has a superior working formula and is willing to stick to its plan in the face of what’s popular or convenient.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers – Art Rooney II (1)
Dan Rooney has long been regarded as the NFL’s best owner. He embodied the best of league’s group orientation and moderation. Then President Obama made him the Ambassador to Ireland. So he turned the day-to-day operation of the Steelers over to his son, Art Rooney II, after winning the Super Bowl in 2008. It was a tumultuous year for the Steelers: missing the playoffs and off-the-field issues coming from Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes. Now, head coach Mike Tomlin bears the responsibility for reshaping his staff and roster. Rooney has laid down the law with his players, making clear what his family will tolerate and what his players owe his customers and city. Holmes is gone and Roethlisberger is suspended, and if Rooney is successful he will do nothing short of solving one of the league’s greatest crises by showing that a team can both play well on the field and act well off the field.
6. New York Giants – John Mara & Steve Tisch (2)
It was no accident that the only NFL owner to make a public statement on the labor situation to date is Giants owner John Mara. As the heir to one of the league’s most historic legacies, the owner of the dominant franchise in the NFL’s largest market and its strongest proponent of its league-think model, Mara is the league’s most important owner. Mara’s moderation keeps would-be Steinbrenners like Jerry Jones in check and he and the Tisch family effortlessly manage the complexities of co-ownership. Still, the Giants tumbled in the rankings a bit because of some small missteps in roster construction and by having to burn through a three-decades-long season ticket waiting list by charging a big PSL to finance their new stadium, built with the Jets, that rivals Dallas’ in cost but without the roof. Still, the Giants are sold out, will pay their stadium mortgage and get the new revenue from it even if it is less than anticipated before the economy tanked in 2008. And the fans will forgive but the Giants lose their place in the top two for now.
7. Baltimore Ravens – Steve Biscotti (5)
Perhaps no team does a better job than Baltimore at player evaluation and there may not be a better GM than Ozzie Newsome. Owner Steve Biscotti, a self-made man in a world sport with an increasing number of second and third generation owners, is a low key and involved presence. What Baltimore has not done effectively is consistently have enough offense to pressure opponents or play from behind and match its usually stifling defense. This may be changing and while Baltimore dropped two notches they have been remarkably consistent and have an enviable stadium and following in their adopted hometown.
8. Green Bay Packers – None (6)
If ownership is about the infusion of leadership and entrepreneurial spirit, management is about the effective use of resources. In being publicly owned and managed by a board and president Mark Murphy, the Packers are all about the power of management and the effective use of resources. The Pack may have limitations because of a lack of singular ownership, particularly when it comes to quick injections of cash, but they have demonstrated since the hiring of Ron Wolf in 1991 that an organization can do well with strong management, even in the absence of involved ownership, and that the absence of ownership outdistances all but the best organizations annually.
The list to date
9. Denver Broncos – Pat Bowlen 2009 Rank (8)
10. Minnesota Vikings – Zygmunt Wilf (12)
11. Seattle Seahawks – Paul Allen (13)
12. New York Jets – Robert Wood Johnson (16)
13. Kansas City Chiefs – Clark Hunt (11)
14. Houston Texans – Robert McNair (15)
15. Miami Dolphins – Steve Ross Unranked
16. San Diego Chargers – Alex and Dean Spanos (17)
17. Atlanta Falcons – Arthur Blank (23)
18. Tennessee Titans – Bud Adams (14)
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The Glazer Family (10)
20. New Orleans Saints – Tom Benson (25)
21. Washington Redskins – Daniel Snyder (24)
22. Carolina Panthers – Jerry Richardson (18)
23. Jacksonville Jaguars – Wayne Weaver (19)
24. San Francisco 49ers – Denise DeBartolo York & John York (27)
25. Chicago Bears – Virginia McCaskey & Michael McCaskey (22)
26. Arizona Cardinals – William Bidwell & Michael Bidwell (28)
27. Cleveland Browns – Randy Lerner (26)
28. Detroit Lions – William Clay Ford, Sr. (29)
29. Cincinnati Bengals – Mike Brown (31)
30. Oakland Raiders – Al Davis (30)
31. Buffalo Bills – Ralph Wilson (20)
32. St. Louis Rams – Chip Rosenbloom (21)
A few days after this year’s draft I was told that my contract with the Bears was not going to be renewed. It marked the first time in my adult life that I was unemployed.
I had worked in the NFL in some capacity since 1981. But when this opportunity with the National Football Post arose, I was back in the game.
I was lucky. I may not be in the “league” per se, but I get to write about it and offer strong opinions.
There are many well-qualified player personnel people who have spent years in the NFL that are out of work for various reasons. Some have found new jobs but they are not doing what they want or love to do. I thought it was time to talk about some of these guys, mainly because no one else does. Some of these people are friends and some are guys that I have a great deal of respect for because of the work they did.
In the NFL, you don’t always lose your job because you aren’t good at it. It’s usually because of circumstances totally out of your control. Circumstances such as the club you are working for hires a new GM and he wants his own people or your team isn’t winning and someone has to take the blame. But does that mean you shouldn’t be able to find a new job in the league? Unfortunately that is too often the case.
Why? I really don’t know. Sometimes you’re overqualified for a position, but many times the people in position of hiring may be a little scared to pull the trigger and hire you because they don’t want to be put in the position of hiring someone with more skills or experience than themselves. People are very sensitive to their own job security and they can feel that if they hire a guy with a strong resume they may be hiring their replacement. It’s a sad thought, but it’s often true.
I always thought that you hire the best people you can find. The more talent you have in the front office, the better off the organization becomes.
Let’s talk about some of these guys:
Bill Kuharich – Bill started off in the USFL and was part of a very successful Philadelphia franchise. While in the NFL, he was GM of the New Orleans Saints and director of player personnel for the Kansas City Chiefs. Bill is a very intelligent guy and a knowledgeable personnel guy. He shouldn’t be out of work.
Bobby DePaul – Bobby spent the last nine years as director of pro personnel in Chicago. If there is a better pro guy in the league, I would like to know who he is. He is a top evaluator and very knowledgeable.
Phil Savage – Phil had a tough time as GM in Cleveland, but when he was in Baltimore he was considered one of the top personnel people in the league. Did he all of a sudden lose his evaluation skills? I don’t think so.
Ted Sundquist – Ted was the GM in Denver under Mike Shanahan. He did a very good job and he is a very good administrator. After looking for work for almost two years he is now working for a UFL club. He belongs in the NFL.
Vinny Cerrato – Vinny was the top player personnel person with the Redskins for years. He gets blamed for a lot of what went wrong. I wonder, was that really the case?
This is just a sampling of who is out there. If I didn’t mention others that are as deserving of recognition, I apologize.
For those men, I wish you the best!
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OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP)—Baltimore Ravens backup cornerback Cary Williams has been suspended by the NFL for two games without pay for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome says the violation occurred while Williams was playing for the Tennessee Titans. Williams was with the Titans in 2008 and at the outset of last season before joining the Ravens in November.
Newsome says “we were aware of this” before Baltimore signed Williams.
The 25-year-old Williams was drafted in the seventh round of the 2008 draft by Tennessee. He played one game with the Titans in 2008, and last year he played in four games with Tennessee and five with Baltimore.
He will compete to play nickel back when training camp opens next week.