NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

He was the 10th overall pick of the 2006 draft, but for QB Matt Leinart, it finally appears his time to be a starting QB in the NFL is here. With Kurt Warner retiring, the keys to a high powered offense in Arizona is now in the hands of Leinart. The bigger question now is – will he crash the car?

“When I start playing, that’s just going to be the true test if I’m ready,” Leinart said Wednesday. “Leading up to then, there’s not much I can do except work hard.”

That’s a big question, as there has been plenty that have felt that Leinart has not worked as hard as he could in making sure he is prepared to be a successful starting QB in the NFL. “I’ve said all along, I know I can play,” Leinart said. “I’m ready to play. I have to go out and prove it. I understand that. I haven’t done a whole lot in my career to this point.

“This is the first time I’ve had an opportunity where I don’t have to look over my shoulder. I feel like I can be myself and be the quarterback I am and can be.”

He takes the role of leader after Warner led the Cards the past two seasons to two division titles, and an outing in Super Bowl XLIII that was spoiled in the final minute by the Steelers. Leinart has stood back and watched the past two seasons, and in his only start almost pulled out a win in Tennessee if it were not for a last play TD by Vince Young and the Titans.

“He’s had three years now in our offense, and there is definitely a different comfort level than when we got here,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “He’s had the opportunity to work behind a quarterback who played at as a high level as anybody in the league.”

Now the question simply will be – can he continue the Cards QB play at the high level that Warner played at the last two seasons?

There’s been plenty of chatter about the return in 2010 of Jason Campbell to the Redskins. It seems that despite never doing much of anything good in his NFL career, new coach Mike Shanahan is ready to see what Campbell can do once again under center. Maybe.

Jason Reid of the Washington Post was having dinner with old co-worker Jason La Canfora Wednesday night, and they both were talking about a rumor about Campbell being sent off to the Buffalo Bills:

we both were busy checking out rumors about a potential Redskins trade that supposedly would send Jason Campbell, a restricted free agent, to the Buffalo Bills for safety Donte Whitner and a draft pick. The Campbell-Whitner talk has been out there a while and really got rolling on a Buffalo Bills message board recently.

The Bills need a QB, and Campbell is a guy that could come in and take the starting job right away. In his career in 52 games, Campbell has a QB rating of 82.3, and has thrown for 10,860 yards with 55 touchdowns and 38 picks. Stay tuned to see if there is smoke on this rumor soon.

With Casey Hampton officially inked for three seasons, the team made their second move on Thursday, putting the franchise tag on kicker Jeff Reed. GM Kevin Colbert says though they still hope to sign Reed to an extension, too. “Our goal is to lock Jeff up long-term,” said Colbert. “We want to keep Jeff as long as we can.”

Though Reed plays in one of the most notorious stadiums for kickers, he has fashioned a 83.3% accuracy rate on field goals, 10th-best in league history. Reed has had some off the field issues, but there is no doubt the Steelers need him, and it is a good move to make sure that he sticks around.

Reed has said he wants to stay with the Steelers, and he’ll likely be able to come to terms with the club on a deal somewhere near what Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski recently got, which was $16 mil over four seasons.

Stemming from a report yesterday from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Dolphins have been rumored to having interest in Arizona Cardinals linebacker, Karlos Dansby.

But here is the kicker. The Dolphins are also being rumored to "willing to pay" for Dansby's services come free agency.

Personally, I hope the Dolphins make the move. It lessens the stress during draft time, because you have one less void on your team to fill going into the draft.

Being the uncapped year that it is, and being that the Dolphins have not yet announced that they will act under a self-restrained cap this off-season, the Dolphins look to be in a position to offer up the amount of money needed to land us a new stud linebacker to lead our defense.

The new-look Dolphins team next year is starting to take shape. I believe Dansby is the start of that movement, and signing him, should be the priority of the off-season for the Dolphins regime.

The NFL announced today that the Bengals have been selected to appear in the 2010 Hall of Fame Game in Canton, OH on August 8th.  The Hall of Fame Game is the first pre-season game of the year, and closes the annual hall of fame enshrinement festivities.

The Bengals will face the 2009 NFC East Champion Dallas Cowboys.  The game will start at 8:00 PM and will be televised on NBC.

The NFL selects the teams for the game, and chose to return to an inter-conference format pitting division champions against each other.

For the Bengals, it will be their first appearance in the Hall of Fame Game since 1988.  That year, they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 14-7.  The Cowboys last appeared in 1999, losing to Cleveland 20-17

Notes:

• For those of you that are superstitious, it should be noted that the 1988 Bengals season that started in the Canton for the hall of fame game, ended with their last Super Bowl appearance.
• The Cowboys will be witnessing the induction of their all-time great RB Emmitt Smith.  The Bengals will see the enshrinement of  long-time assistant and head coach Dick Lebeau.
• One potential sub-plot to the game would be if Chad Ochocinco has his way and Terrell Owens is lured to Cincinnati.  Owens played for the Cowboys from 2006 through 2008.
• The game will be  Mike Zimmer's first against the Cowboys as part of the Bengals organization.  Zimmer coached in Dallas for 8 years.

Wes Welker is recovering well from his offseason surgery from the injury that took place during the final regular season game against the Texans. It’s been three weeks since the key WR had knee surgery to repair a torn left anterior cruciate ligament. With that though, the Boston Herald reports today that he won’t be ready for the start of the 2010 season:

While the early news is extremely encouraging with Welker, counting on him to make it back for the start of the 2010 season remains an unrealistic proposition.

So with that, look for the Pats to take a long look at the wide out spot this weekend at the combine, as well as in the upcoming 2010 NFL Draft. The team made a minor move on Tuesday, bringing in 35, soon to be 36-year-old wide out David Patten. The bottom line though is this team needs to add a WR one way or another to add depth for the 10 season.

The Jets have a very tough decision to make about running back Thomas Jones, who did go over 1400 yards last season, but seems destined for the chopping block. If the team cuts Jones, they need to make sure that Leon Washington is close to 100 percent, and they had better make sure Shonn Greene is ready to be a feature back in the NFL.

When it comes to Jones, Newark Star-Ledger reporter Dave Hutchinson writes today that the Jets and Jones’ agent will talk at the combine this weekend:

Although veteran running back Thomas Jones rushed for 1,402 and 14 touchdowns last season, both career-highs, he could be the next high-profile runner behind LaDainian Tomlinson and Brian Westbrook to be given his walking papers this offseason.

Jones, who turns 32 in August, is due to earn a $3 million roster bonus next month plus a $2.8 million base salary in 2010. The Jets want him to renegotiate his contract or they’ll likely release him.

The club and Jones’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, have had discussions and the two sides are expected to talk this week at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

The Steelers took care of one big problem on Thursday, as it looks as if their biggest free agent to be will not be leaving the team. Nose tackle Casey Hampton has inked a deal according to KDKA-TV that will pay him $21 mil over three seasons.

A source tells KDKA-TV Sports that Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton has agreed to a three year, $21 million contract to stay with the team with $11 million of the contract guaranteed. If the two sides weren’t able to agree to a long-term deal, the Steelers would’ve placed the franchise tag on Hampton. The franchise tag would’ve gotten Hampton a one-year, $7 million contract.

The signing is a big relief for the club, as now they can focus on looking for cornerback and help in other areas of the team that may need it. This deal for Hampton should mean he can retire a Steeler.