You Can Have Him!

So the Superbowl is over and 31 teams are all saying ‘next year’. As we get around to all the offseason business one of the most significant names being mentioned is defensive end Julius Peppers. Peppers is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent. The idea of free agency, at least from a players perspective, is that one will get the best price the market will bare. So for a guy who has had 6 years with double digit sacks and has only missed 6 games in an 8 year career, one would think the market could bare a great deal, and indeed it probably will. In fact one might even say that Peppers could end up being the leagues highest paid defensive player, then again he may not accept that deal, just not good enough. Why do I say this? Because after Peppers worst seasonal performance of his career (2007, 2.5 sacks) the Panthers recognized that they still had an elite pass rusher on their hands and offered to make Peppers the highest paid defensive player, keep in mind this was after Dwight Freeney had received his deal, so Peppers would have been signing a deal worth at least 12 million a year, not good enough. Peppers did a radio interview earlier this month and said that the offer ‘didn‘t feel sincere’. What more sincerity does someone need?
So here it is people, a guy who has his head so far up his bum that he cannot see fit to sign a record deal even after a slump season is no player for me. If I am running an NFL scouting office, I give Peppers a grade ‘I’, as in IDIOT. I know some NFL players are brighter than others, but this guy (and his agent, quite likely) is dumber than a bag of hammers. He would not know a good deal if it smacked him in the face, and a good deal will come March 5th in spite of his ignorance.

By: Matthew Walden & Aaron Tull

Peyton Mannning is Good? Who knew

I have marginalized ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and other main stream football media outlets who cater to the ordinary “fan”. They spew out a plethora of irrelevant football news and superficial information in order to entertain the masses. Now I understand that large businesses and organizations like these mentioned cant market to you and me. They can’t build their magazines, shows and commentary around the 2% of National Football League fans that actually understand the game. They can’t give the depth of analysis that goes beyond Peyton Manning is good. The masses are too happy to be Sunday morning fans from September through January. And I am not even knocking those fans. But for those of us that are looking beyond the first round of the draft. For those of us that want to understand how a change of offensive scheme in our division affects our team or league. For those of us who want to know who is really the “best” and not just the most publicized, thank God for good bloggers. No, I am not claiming to be one of these true fan treasure chest, I am just taking a moment to point out a couple of well keep secretes to those of you like me. I currently found a collection of fantastic blogs that I have linked in My Blog List. It is an individual blog for each NFL team provides some great detail about all aspects of your team and others. I encourage you to take a look if you are a True Football Fan.

P.S. No offense intended to the fine institution of Sporting New, your dedication to insightful football knowledge should serve as an example to the rest of mainstream sports media. Thank you!
By: Matthew Walden