NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

According to Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times, Seattle linebacker LeRoy Hill was arrested over the weekend after he was accused by his girlfriend of hurting her.

Per O’Neil’s report, when police showed up at Hill’s home they observed “obvious injuries” on his girlfriend.

Monday afternoon, Hill was no longer in custody.

It’s the second issue with the law that Hill has had in as many years.  He was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession and recently Hill pleaded guilty to it.

Over the past few months, the Seattle Seahawks have increasingly become ‘USC Pro’ with the editions of former Trojans head coach Pete Carroll and many from his staff at Southern Cal.  When Seattle starts its minicamp tomorrow, the team will feature another former Trojan per a report from ESPN.com’s Mike Sando.

Mike Williams, the former 10th-overall selection in the 2005 N.F.L. Draft, will try out for a spot on the Seahawks’ roster.

Williams, 26, was a big-play threat at wide receiver for the Trojans under Carroll’s watch, but Williams fizzled upon entering the pro ranks.  The six-foot-five target totalled just 44 catches and a mere two touchdowns in a combined 30 N.F.L regular-season games that saw Williams in Detroit, Tennessee and Oakland uniforms. 

Defensive Back to Try Out as Well
Also from Sando’s report, Seattle will take a look at defensive back Kennard Cox.  Cox, a free agent, appeared in four games for Jacksonville last season.

As the draft gets closer and closer, I can only think more and more about just how important this draft is going to be for the Eagles. We've all been watching them get increasingly younger on both sides of the ball and make some serious changes in personnel. Guys like Brian Dawkins, Brian Westbrook, and Donovan McNabb are all gone. These are guys that have been staples in the organization for the last decade.

Last season, the Eagles were a fairly average team who may have done better than they should have due to a weak schedule. They won most of the games they were supposed to and did the same thing on the losing end. The finale of their season was an ugly one and also a big time reality check. It's been an interesting offseason to say the least and they haven't made a lot of compelling improvements, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

With that in mind, we are clearly seeing that the Eagles will look to make a large impact in this years drafts and find players who are ready to start right away. They've stockpiled a bunch of picks with 11 this year and even have nine picks in 2011 which could potentially be traded to move up this year. I don't think there's any doubt that the Eagles are ready to make a big splash in the draft and aggressively pursue some players. The only thing we don't know exactly is who these players are.

I think this draft has great defensive depth and that is a real positive for the Eagles as they need a lot of help in a variety of different areas. They didn't bring in any big name free agents, but I believe they will make up for it by trying to land some big name prospects.

Players who get drafted next Thursday, Friday, and maybe even Saturday are guys that the Eagles will look to join Kevin Kolb, DeSean Jackson, and other younger players as the faces of the franchise. The Eagles are looking to develop a core of players who can find even more success than the core that was around the last decade.

I'm extremely excited for this draft and I hope the Eagles make as big of a splash as I expect them to.

As was expected, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is free of any charges today, this after the attorney general in Milledgeville, Ga., announced charges will not follow the accusations of sexual assault made by a 20-year-old woman.

“The sexual allegation against Mr. Roethlisberger cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” District Attorney Fred Bright said. “Therefore, there will be no arrest made, nor criminal prosecution of Mr. Roethlisberger for his actions here on March 5, 2010.”

Bright stated that the woman was examined at a hospital after the alleged attack. A doctor could not say whether a superficial laceration, bruising and slight bleeding in the genital area were evidence of an assault or sexual activity. He said the woman was highly intoxicated during the night of bar hopping with her sorority sisters from the Georgia College & State University.

After the woman emerged from the nightclub bathroom, her sisters took her to a police officer. He initially asked her if she had been raped, and she said no. But she later wrote statements saying there had been sex. Her claim was that Roethlisberger followed her into the bathroom and they had sex despite her saying it wasn’t OK.

In the end though, the QB is not going to face charges, which is a big sigh of relief for both he and the Steelers. Bright though did advise the two-time Super Bowl winning QB to “grow up.” That’s probably the same message commissioner Roger Goodell will send the QB this week when they meet.

He may not only say that though, as some seem to feel that he will slap the QB with a suspension for his conduct, which has now put the team in the limelight for all the wrong reasons twice over the past two offseasons.

Blindsided? Yes Surprised? No.

The Steelers Sunday night made a move that sent shockwaves through the Steel City, sending a 26-year-old former #1 pick who two years ago was the Super Bowl MVP to a rival team in their conference for what – a lousy 5th round pick.

Santonio Holmes – we hardly knew ya.

Let it be said though, the move of Holmes was made for one reason and one reason only – he was a cancer off the field. The team tired time after time to simply give him the benefit of the doubt for his off the field indiscretions, but time after time, he let the team down.

The team wanted to look at Holmes as their star WR of the future, and it seemed like it was going to happen during the 2008 postseason after he ran back a punt, caught a long touchdown, and then made the game-winning score in three consecutive playoff games. It looked like his star was rising, and the Steelers were going along for the ride.

Then, it bottomed out again. The team had already stood back and watched him get arrested back in October for possession of marijuana, but thought that was behind him. They said little when Holmes acknowledged selling drugs on the street corner of his hometown of Belle Glade, Florida as a teenager during Super Bowl media day.

But then, another incident in Florida took place, this time on March 7th when a woman claims Holmes hit her in the face with a glass at an Orlando nightclub and then offered to pay her so she wouldn’t press charges.
Anshonoe Mills also claimed in the lawsuit that Holmes grabbed her face and threw the glass at her because she was sitting on a couch in the Rain Night Club’s VIP section.

Holmes of course says he did nothing.

Whether he was involved or not, another report recently came up stating Holmes would be suspended four games for violation of the substance abuse policy. That likely was the last straw. Make no mistake, this move was made at the top – the very top.

Reports say that it was mandated that Holmes be moved, and quickly. Which is why the Steelers got little for him, unless you think a fifth round pick is a lot better than it really is. This move was made to send a message, and that is – you mess up, your gonna be shown the door.

The Steelers have been the butt of jokes over how they treat their star players with kid gloves, and the latest incidents with Ben Roethlisberger and now Holmes had done nothing to help that image. Then Sunday night happened. The sending of Holmes to New York should put the players in the Steelers locker room on alert – you better keep your nose clean, or else.

From a playing standpoint, Mike Wallace will right away be the #2, and the team maybe had other ideas in mind when they inked two free agent WR’s- Arnaz Battle and Antwaan Randle El. They may have seen this day coming sooner than they thought, though it still comes as a crazy, desperate move that had better not backfire on them.