NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Saw this in the Post-Gazette this morning, and the National Football Post picked up on it as well. Not good for the Steelers when it comes to the team trying to keep LB LaMarr Woodely in the fold past this season. The team has few options when it comes to retaining his services, as it sounds like the club is going to be stuck in all areas when it comes to trying to keep him at a somewhat affordable price:

The Pittsburgh Steelers have encountered a major, not unexpected stumbling block in their efforts to secure Pro Bowl outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley’s services on a long-term basis. Barring a new collective bargaining agreement, Woodley won’t be getting a new contract anytime soon because of the 30-percent rule that states that new contracts can’t have salaries increasing more than 30 percent above their 2009 level each year.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Woodley made $460,000 last year under his original rookie deal. Woodley has outplayed the contract, though, registering 13 1/2 sacks last season and 11 1/2 in 2008, plus six sacks during the Steelers’ Super Bowl run that year. Per the report, under normal circumstances, Woodley would be in line for a five-year deal worth $40 million at the lowest but now, he’ll have to wait and wait and wait until there’s labor peace.

Wes Welker, the Pats most reliable wide out, only had to have surgery on one of two knee ligaments that were injured last season in the teams regular season finale in Houston.

The NFL’s receptions leader said Saturday at the Wes Welker Foundation’s football camp that the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee were injured during the Patriots’ final regular-season game. Welker, who missed the playoffs, says the MCL didn’t require surgery and “if you have that healing on its own, it almost becomes stronger.”

“We just had to wait for it to heal,” Welker said. “We didn’t have to do surgery on it.”

Welker still isn’t certain when he’ll return to the field, but says the fact he didn’t need surgery on the MCL was “great news.”

“It’s hard to put a timetable on anything,” Welker said. “And plus, whenever you put a timetable on it, now people expect you. If you’re not ready then, they’re like, ‘What’s wrong?’

The Dolphins will enter training camp with four quarterbacks on the roster. This provides a problem for the Dolphins front office, as they are unlikely to want to take up four roster spots on quarterbacks. A more reasonable number is three, so that means there will be an odd man out this summer, as training camp approaches.

As it stands now, the Dolphins will go into training camp with at least two of the three roster spots filled, with both of the Chad's, Henne and Pennington returning for another season.

With both of the Chad's coming back, that leaves only one roster spot left, with the decision to come down to either Pat White, or Tyler Thigpen.

Thigpen would be the option that would draw the most trade value. White would be the option that everyone would not have a problem with his banishment.

To put things plain and simple, we have not seen what White can do with his arm in the NFL. There is really no room for him on the roster as a wide receiver after the Dolphins traded for Brandon Marshall.

We know Thigpen can both throw the ball, and avoid would-be tacklers. We saw what he can do with the ball in his hands two straight years, with him playing against us, (Thiggy passed for 320 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions, while accumulating a 48.8% completion percentage) and last year playing for us in the season finale (throwing for 83 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions).

As you look at the stats above, you notice that indeed, Thigpen did usually throw more interceptions than touchdowns, but it was also Thigpen who kept his teams in games, and that is what you ask of a #2 quarterback coming off the bench.

These days a viable option coming off the bench at the quarterback position is very valuable. Thigpens value would increase as training camp approaches.

White would have little to no trade value, as he has yet to complete a pass in the NFL. But the situation with White is this. He has only been in the league for one year, and he is a proven winner. He may be small, but there has to be some reason why the Dolphins drafted him so high in the 2nd round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

He has awesome game breaking ability, and could be the perfect answer for the Wildcat, and could give the Fins some flexibility with Ronnie Brown next year after his contract runs out.

But the fact that White still has not completed a pass in his rookie career is scary. Often times during training camp last year there were reports saying White's hands were too small to correctly grip the ball. They also said he was having massive accuracy issues.

As the season went on, we started to hear less and less reports on White, so there is still the question on whether he is even physically capable to be a legitimate quarterback option for the Dolphins in the future.

The bottom line is that the Dolphins have nowhere to put White. They have more than enough wide receivers on their roster as it is, the same goes for running back at this point in time. But are the Dolphins willing to sacrifice a roster spot, that could be used elswhere, at a weaker position, on White or Thigpen?

I would not be surprised if the Dolphins tried trading Thigpen, but I would also not be surprised if the Dolphins kept all four quarterbacks as well.

Here is a rundown of each players expected role this off-season:

Chad Henne: He will hands down be the starter all year long, and will be the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins for the foreseeable future. No doubt in my mind.

Tyler Thigpen: Could be used as trade bait, but could serve the Dolphins if he stays. He provides a reliable 2nd string quarterback to come off the bench in case of an injury to Henne.

Chad Pennington: He will serve as the mentor to all of the quarterbacks, especially Henne. He could come in as the starting quarterback at some point if Thigpen were traded before the season, and Henne were to heaven forbid suffer an injury. But other than that, CP10 is still in Miami to recover from his shoulder injury suffered last year, and to mentor Henne, nothing more.

Pat White: Could be the X-Factor of the offense if given time. He creates a threat in the "WildPat", and makes defenses do double takes when entered into the game. He could be released or moved to another position this year, to get him more playing time.

NFL journeyman and former Saints DT Norman Hand died Friday morning after collapsing at his home in South Carolina. His cause of death is unknown.

Hand played for the Saints from 2000-2002, including the team’s first ever franchise playoff victory against the Rams in 2001. He and La’roi Glover anchored one of the most feared defensive lines in Saints’ history. He garnered Second-Team All Pro honors from Football Digest in 2000 as a Saints.

In his 10 year career, Hand played for the Dolphins, Saints, Chargers Giants, and Seahawks and collected 22.5 sacks. He was drafted in 1995 by the Dolphins after a stellar playing career at the University of Mississippi.

His family issued the following statement Friday afternoon:

“Our beloved Norman was brought to the hospital earlier today. He was unresponsive and resuscitation not successful. He passed away early this afternoon surrounded by his family. Respect for our family will be greatly appreciated as we mourn this incomprehensible loss. We ask that you focus on Norman’s life and the contributions he made rather than on his untimely death.”

Meanwhile former Saints coach Jim Haslett had this to say about his former player..

“He was one of the good guys in the business and a fun-loving person who enjoyed life. He was the centerpiece in the New Orleans Saints’ 2000 defense. Norman, along with La’Roi (Glover), Joe Johnson and Darren Howard make up one of the better defensive lines to play the game. Norman has touched a lot of lives and will be missed.”

Former Saints defensive coordinator Rick Venturi also remembers his former pupil..

“He was always just a fun guy, fun to be around.He always loved life. No matter where you were with him, in the locker room or what. To me, he always had that smile. I always enjoyed being around him.

To some football fans Jim Zorn may be only known as the quarterback from 'way back when,' and the Coach who was recently fired from the Washington Redskins after a short two year stint.  It may be good to know that Zorn played the game with much success and as the new quarterbacks' coach for the Ravens his expertise will be of added value.

Zorn the QB

An undrafted rookie from Cal Poly Pamona in 1975, Zorn began his career in Dallas (Cowboys), but was released and he landed with the Seattle Seahawks expansion team in 1976, thier inaugural season. He was named NFL's offensive rookie of the year following the 76' season.

The left-hander had a good amount of success in Seattle and threw for over 3,000 yards three years in a row.   In 1979 the Seahawks went 9-7 as Zorn threw for 3,661 yards. He compiled 20,122 yards passing with 107 TD's during his nine years in Seattle (1976 to 1984). Some of his accomplishments can be attributed to the great receiver Steve Largent, a Hall of Fame member.   In fact, "Zorn to Largent" was quite the combo back in the day.  A skill that garnered some attention was his ability to make plays on the run, scrambling on broken plays to produce completions.  In 1991 Zorn was inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor.

Zorn & Cameron

Cam Cameron as an offensive coordinator excelled in San Diego and for Baltimore fans Cameron has given life to a historically anemic offense.  Zorn has thirteen years coaching experience and as quarterback coach helped Charlie Batch in Detroit and Matt Hasselbeck in Seattle with good results.  Both coaches didn't fair well as head coaches. To be fair, their coaching opportunities were short and the teams they were with had struggles in the front office. With Cam Cameron having shaped the offense and Zorn honing in on Flacco's skills, it makes for a dynamic team.

Zorn has taken a humble approach since being hired only wanting to "tweak" Joe Flacco's game or help him improve where he can. Zorn's game playing experience will be an added benefit to Flacco as well.   At the recent Mini-Camp Zorn said he doesn't want to change things, rather help Flacco with improving on situational plays.

Check out some Zorn videos:

Top 10 Passing Receiving Combo (Zorn & Largent)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiTM8HIUo4Y&feature=PlayList&p=49CE6281588371F7&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=36

Top Mobile QB's (Zorn)

http://www.nfl.com/players/jimzorn/profile?id=ZOR622935

From Profootballtalk.com

There are now two high-profile receivers who play for Ohio teams who want Terrell Owens to join the roster.

Earlier this year, Chad Ochocinco of the Bengals made a big push to get T.O. to Cincinnati.  Now, Josh Cribbs of the Browns is lobbying for the veteran free agent.

Asked where he thinks Owens will be during a live chat on NFL.com, Cribbs said, "Hopefully in Cleveland.  I think he got a little bit left in the tank.   He'll eventually be with a team in training camp.  T.O. is going to go to a team once they figure out what these rookies are made of."

So there you have it.  Cribbs wants to bring T.O. to the Dawg Pound.